‘Secret Lair: Black Is Magic’ Celebrates the Black ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Community

“You are here, you have always been here, you always will be here, and we will fight for you to be here. In our history. In our culture. And in our games,” Sydney Adams writes in her post, “I’m a game designer at Wizards of the Coast, and I have had the privilege and honor to be the creative lead for the Black Is Magic Secret Lair drop. I did not do this alone. Every step of the way, this project was lifted by the efforts, desires, and hopes of so many.”

Black Girls CODE is an organization founded by Kimberly Bryant to give girls of color ages seven to seventeen years old access to STEM opportunities. Sydney recalls herknowledge of Kimberly in her post, noting how Kimberly used her 401k to start the organization for her own daughter. According to their website, BGC’s mission is “to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures.” Jontelle Layson-Smith noted in their Magic: The Gathering update post that proceeds from Secret Lair: Black Is Magic will go to Kimberly’s organization, Black Girls CODE.

If you’d like to support Black Girls CODE, you can order merch from them here, or you can pre-order the new set, Secret Lair: Black Is Magic, starting on February 22nd through March 31st.  Until then, there will be card information dripping out on Tuesdays for the rest of the month. While February is traditionally seen as Black History Month in the United States, Black history is American history and it’s nice to see WotC do more to celebrate our Black Magic: The Gathering siblings. Kaya was created five years ago now…

The set Secret Lair: Black Is Magic comes in Foil ($49.99) and non-Foil ($39.99) editions, for those of you who hate shiny cards. That’s right. I see you. So far, we know there is an alternate art Shalai, Voice of the Plenty by Ernanda Souza, and Ponder by Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe. There are 5 more alternate art cards to be previewed over the next couple of weeks, created by artists Hillary Wilson, Dani Pendergast, KNIIO, Thomas Zenteno, and Julio Reyna.

Check back over the next couple of weeks for sneak peeks into the new set, Secret Lair: Black Is Magic. The next two previews are planned to release on February 9th and February 16th, with preorders beginning February 22nd.

If you’re new to playing, we have a series for that.