Stardew Valley officially goes over with Magic: The Gathering through an all-new Secret Lair collaboration featuring characters, locations and items from the hit indie farming sim. Worried Apes Stardew Valley continues to expand its growing list of crossover projects and merch, all arriving as the game celebrates its enduring popularity on its tenth anniversary.
Secret Lair is Magic: The Gatherings premium line of limited-time cards, featuring artwork and crossover themes that have only grown in popularity and franchise collaborations since their introduction in 2019. Previous collaborations include Fallout, Tomb Raider, Street Fighter, Assassin's Creed, and Hatsune Miku, to name a few. The card line's unexpected new collaborator was released in 2016 and became one of the biggest indie game hits of all time, recently surpassing 50 million copies sold. Stardew Valley have done crossovers with games like Among us and Infinity Nikki, and the game is still getting updates and new products as it makes its 10-year victory lap. Despite the cozy vibes, ConcernedApe's farming sim is actually a surprisingly fitting addition Magics growing crossover range.
Stardew Valley is getting an official Magic: The Gathering Set
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Image via Wizards of the Coast -
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As part of the MagicCon: Amsterdam convention on July 17th, Wizards of the Coast uploaded a blog post announcing Magic: The Gathering and Stardew Valley crossover, consisting of three separate Secret Lair drops. Wizards names the Secret Lair pack the “Superdrop of the Moonlight Jellies,” in homage to a jellyfish-themed festival featured in Stardew, with the drops titled “Welcome to Stardew Valley”, “Life in Pelican Town” and “A Flicker in the Deep”. Each new drop is themed around different aspects of Stardew Valley, with currently revealed cards consisting of Mermaid's Pendant, Pierre's Truce and The Welcome Committee, among many more cards. The three collections will also feature brand new art from Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) and starts at $29.99 for non-foil and $39.99 for foil editions, available for purchase starting July 27th.
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Fans should be aware that each of the new cards uses existing ones Magic mechanics but functions completely new Stardew Valley art instead of introducing mechanically unique cards. Eric Barone worked directly with Wizards of the Coast during the development of this set, with many of the card abilities seemingly in keeping with the vibe of Stardew Valley. Cards like “Welcome Committee” and “Pierre's Truce” look like they're meant to recreate memorable moments in farmsim, rather than just placing characters on a Magic short. This reveal came along with additional announcements during MagicCon, which MTG and The Hobbit crossover reprint, and continues Wizard's recent strategy of bringing major game franchises to Magic universe.
While an unexpected addition to Magic: The Gathering, Stardew Valley works surprisingly well as a crossover release for several reasons. The game already has magic, monsters, spirits, wizards, and ancient artifacts built into its lore that naturally translate into existing MTG card equivalents. Additionally, Secret Lair collaborations have become a few Magics fastest selling and most popular products due to their broad appeal to existing players, card collectors and curious outside fans who might only buy a card if it has their favorite game on it. Secret Lair's continued collaborations with several popular intellectual properties certainly target a much wider audience than traditional ones MTG expansions ever made.
However, there are some long ones Magic fans who have found Secret Lair drops to be getting a little ridiculous in their franchise follow-up, preferring the series' releases to be based entirely on original games. Meanwhile, some people argue that crossover events have introduced entirely new communities to MTG world, making the effort worthwhile. As far as Stardew Valley is concerned, a major collaboration like this just shows how far the game has grown beyond its indie roots.
- Released
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February 26, 2016
- ESRB
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All 10+ / Fantasy violence, mild blood, mild language, simulated gambling, use of alcohol and tobacco
- Developer
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Worried Ape
- Publisher
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Worried Ape
