Magic: The Gathering creator Wizards of the Coast has partnered with Extra Life to create a charity Secret Lair featuring professional artists’ interpretations of kids’ drawings.
For the Extra Life 2022 Secret Lair, three children aged four to eight have drawn their own interpretations of famous MTG creatures like Birds of Paradise – and written their own flavour text. (For instance: “If you saw her, you’d go ‘Aaahhhh’”.)
Magic artists have then taken those drawings and made their own versions of them. Both the original doodles and the professionals’ efforts, along with the kids’ flavour text, have been slapped onto the six Magic cards featured in this Secret Lair.
This endeavour is part of the annual Extra Life fundraising event, where gaming communities come together to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a charity that supports children’s hospitals. Wizards says 50% of each purchase of the Secret Lair will go towards the organisation – in particular MTG is supporting a specific group through Extra Life: Seattle Children’s Autism centre.
According to Mike Turian, who discussed the Extra Life fundraiser during the WeeklyMTG stream on October 20, this is the eight year in a row that MTG has taken part in Extra Life (DnD has been in on the action for over a decade). Wizards of the Coast has made an Extra Life Secret Lair as part of its efforts since 2019 (i.e. for as long as Secret Lairs have been around) and did a very similar thing with kids’ drawings of Craterhoof Behemoth, Mulldrifter, and Metalwork Colossus in 2021.
The three different creature cards in this Secret Lair are one of the best MTG Slivers, Sliver Legion; one of the best MTG dragons, Lathliss, Dragon Queen; and famous mana-making avian, Birds of Paradise. They’ve been drawn by Mohamed, age 4; Eli, age 8; and Said, age 6. (And also Tyler Jacobson, age 39; Andrea Radeck, age 35; and Steve Prescott, age 48.)
Magic: The Gathering is supporting Extra Life in a couple of additional ways. Sleeves with the Secret Lair artwork will be sold on Magic Arena, and T-shirts and playmats featuring the planeswalker Ajani are up on Extra Life’s online store. The company is also taking part in the Extra Life fundraising streaming event on Saturday, November 5.
The Extra Life 2022 Secret Lair is available in non-foil and foil versions, at $39.99 and $49.99 respectively. You’ll get six cards in total – the two versions of each creature featured. There’s only a short preorder window, so you’ll want to mark your calendars if you’re clamouring for these. They’ll be available to purchase from November 4-7, aligning with the Extra Life stream.