Stardew Valley is officially crossing over with Magic: The Gathering through a brand-new Secret Lair collaboration featuring characters, locations, and items from the hit indie farming sim. ConcernedApe's Stardew Valley continues to expand its growing list of crossover projects and merch, all arriving as the game celebrates its enduring popularity on its ten-year anniversary.
Secret Lair is Magic: The Gathering's premium line of limited-time cards, featuring artwork and crossover themes that have only grown in fan popularity and franchise collaborations since their introduction in 2019. Previous collabs 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 has done crossovers with games like Among Us and Infinity Nikki, and the game is still receiving updates and new merch as it does its ten-year victory lap. Despite the cozy vibes, ConcernedApe's farming sim is actually a surprisingly fitting addition to Magic's growing crossover lineup.
Stardew Valley Is Getting an Official Magic: The Gathering Set
Image via Wizards of the Coast
As part of the MagicCon: Amsterdam convention on July 17, Wizards of the Coast uploaded a blog post announcing the Magic: The Gathering and Stardew Valley crossover, consisting of three separate Secret Lair drops. Wizards is naming the Secret Lair package 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 Welcoming Committee, among plenty more cards. The three collections will also feature brand-new art from Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) and start at $29.99 for non-foil and $39.99 for foil editions, purchasable beginning on July 27.
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Fans should be aware that each of the new cards uses existing Magic mechanics but features entirely 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 aligning with the vibe of Stardew Valley. Cards like "The Welcoming Committee" and "Pierre's Truce" look like they're meant to recreate memorable moments in the farm sim, rather than simply placeing characters onto a Magic card. This reveal came alongside additional announcements during MagicCon, like the MTG and The Hobbit crossover reprint, and continues Wizards' recent strategy of bringing major gaming franchises into the Magic universe.
While an unexpected addition to Magic: The Gathering, Stardew Valley works surprisingly well as a crossover release for a number of reasons. The game already has magic, monsters, spirits, wizards, and ancient artifacts built into its lore that can naturally translate into existing MTG card equivalents. Moreover, Secret Lair collaborations have become some of Magic's fastest-selling and most popular products due to their wide appeal to existing players, card collectors, and curious fans coming from the outside who might just purchase a card if it has their favorite game on it. Secret Lair's continued collaborations with multiple popular intellectual properties certainly target a much wider audience than traditional MTG expansions ever did.
However, there are some longtime Magic fans who have found that Secret Lair drops are starting to get a bit ridiculous in their franchise outreach, preferring the line's releases to be based entirely on original game lore. Meanwhile, some people argue that crossover events have introduced entirely new communities to the MTG world, making the endeavor worthwhile. As far as Stardew Valley is concerned, a big collab like this just demonstrates how far the game has grown beyond its indie roots.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90/100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- February 26, 2016
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Simulation
