Hatsune Miku Meets Magic: The Gathering in New Secret Lair Drop

Over the years, Magic: The Gathering has had all kinds of crossovers: Godzilla, The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, Warhammer 40K, even Doctor Who have graced the cards. But one crossover is perhaps the weirdest Magic hosted, and she’s an absolute star.

Even if you don’t know her name, you’ve probably seen Hatsune Miku. The Vocaloid mascot is one of Japan’s most enduring icons, and you can run her in your favourite Magic decks thanks to Secret Lair. Wizards of the Coast has announced that four different Hatsune Miku releases will launch throughout 2024, and you’re definitely going to want to get your hands on them.

Introduction To Secret Lair Drops

Secret Lair is Wizards of the Coast’s direct-to-consumer platform, where it sells exclusive Magic: The Gathering cards for a limited time. These could have new art treatments never seen before, or even be wholly new cards made available before they appear anywhere else.

Secret Lair drops are only available for a limited time through the official site. Particularly popular drops can sell out in minutes, but generally releases will be up for sale for a few weeks before they’re never made available again.

Each Secret Lair also comes with a secret bonus card. Often this will be part of a series, such as extended-art Elves and Slivers, but in select cases it could be an on-theme bonus that’s worth more than the rest of the drop combined!

Most Secret Lair drops are available in two forms: the cheaper non-foil edition, and a foil edition that will cost you about £10 more. If you’re not feeling every card in a drop, though, you’re usually able to find them as singles on sites like Magic Madhouse just a few short weeks later.

An Overview Of The Universes Beyond Label

On top of being available through Secret Lair, Hatsune Miku’s cards are part of Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond brand. Universes Beyond was introduced in 2021 as a way to bring third-party series into Magic, following the success of the Walking Dead Secret Lair in late 2020.

Universes Beyond has since gone on to include some of the most popular MTG releases. 2023’s The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth was a slam-dunk success of a set, Warhammer, Doctor Who, and Fallout gave us incredible Commander decks, and mini-sets like Assassin’s Creed helped introduce new people to the game more than any other set.

Aside from Assassin’s Creed and Lord of the Rings, which are also Modern-legal, Universes Beyond cards can be played in your Vintage, Legacy, and Commander decks alongside regular Magic cards. I’ve got Video Game-themed Commander deck that runs both Assassin’s Creed and Fallout cards together, for example, and it’s a blast to play.

In 2025, we’ll be getting even more Universes Beyond, with crossovers with Final Fantasy and Marvel being a big part of the year’s focus. With such an eclectic mix of properties coming to Magic, anything and everything is up for grabs. Personally, I would love to see Dishonored and Tron make their way to Universes Beyond at some point.

So What About Hatsune Miku?

Hatsune Miku is, at its core, a “Vocaloid” soundbank – a digital voice that the Vocaloid software can use to produce music. However, she’s so much more than that, quickly becoming the mascot of Vocaloid and the cornerstone of Japanese pop culture. She’s by far the biggest face in anime and manga fandom, and has been since she debuted way back in 2007.

For Secret Lair and Universes Beyond, Magic: The Gathering has enjoyed multiple Hatsune Miku releases. The first was earlier this Spring, when the Sakura Superstar drop included copies of Elvish Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Shelter, Chandra’s Ignition, Harmonize; Feather, the Redeemed; and Inspiring Vantage, all with exclusive Hatsune Miku art.

A few months later, Miku popped up again with the Digital Sensation drop, and this time she brought her friends too, including Kagame Lin and Kagame Ren in the art for Diabolic Tutor, and KAITO and MEIKO in Song of Creation. We also got Chord of Calling, Thespian’s Stage, Child of Alara, Sol Ring, and a bonus Command Tower to round out an incredibly playable, if not massively valuable, Secret Lair Drop.

Coming next week, the third of the four drops will hit the stage, and her friends are finally making more than cameo appearances. In Electric Entourage, Miku and the gang are taking on the role of Planeswalker cards. Miku’s getting Elspeth Tirel and Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury, Megurine is Liliana of the Dark Reals, Len and Rin become The Royal Scions, and, slightly confusingly, KAITO becomes… Jace, Unraveler of Secrets.

With this drop, you can finally make a wild Vocaloid Super Friends deck full of Vocaloid Planeswalkers! Combine it with Child of Alara and Sol Ring from the second drop, and you’ve really got something cooking.

Bonus cards, and that final fourth drop due some time this Winter, haven’t yet been announced. If I had to speculate, it might be a holidays-themed drop, with a final handful of cards to tie the Commander deck these releases have been slowly building up together.

Fan Reaction To Hatsune Miku Has Been Mixed

Hatsune Miku is a huge name to appear in Magic: The Gathering, but the response ot these drops hasn’t been completely positive. The art in particular has come under fire across all three sets, as non-Japanese artists have been adapting Miku into their own styles to varying degrees of success.

Considering Magic is currently heavily courting the Japanese market with sets like Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty the Japan Showcase that debuted in Duskmourn: House of Horror, it is slightly odd that so many of these cards have less of a manga look and a more realistic, textured one instead. Some cards are utterly gorgeous, like Miku, Divine Diva, while others like Chord of Calling can look a bit weird.

But that’s the great thing about Secret Lair and Universes Beyond. These aren’t mechanically unique cards you’re missing out on by not buying, and if you’re a Hatsune Miku megafan they’re a fantastic addition to your collection. I’m sure somebody out there is looking at these and rubbing their hands together with a J-pop idol themed Super Friends deck, and if that isn’t Magic at its very best, I don’t know what is.

Hatsune Miku: Electric Entourage will go on sale through the Secret Lair website on September 30. You’ll be able to buy singles, and pick up the cards you’ve already missed, through Magic Madhouse.