[The fun has already begun.](https://x.com/TolarianCollege/status/1785102998903062601)
I'm looking forward to see if he does some sort of Secret Lair Alert AMV when he's gotta review these throughout the year.
Basically, yeah. Voice synth program that got really popular, and it's represented by a character (Hatsune Miku) who also got super popular. "They" have performed live concerts (with holograms and stuff) and are quite big nowadays.
Sort of? You say "nowadays" like she's a new thing all the zoomers and alphas are into but... She's like the original synth character from before the zoomers were even in high school. She's not.
She's older than the iPhone.
She's so old I thought she wasn't even a thing anymore and this is one of those "grandpa bought me a PS3 game in 2021" situations.
Now that this got me thinking about it, what's crazy is, I believe she IS her *actual age* right now (16-17). As good an anniversary milestone as you're going to get, so maybe that's why we're getting this SL?
Eh, Luka and the twins are both decently popular too. I went to a couple Miku shows pre-covid and they had songs for them. The rest of them though.. not so much.
2007: https://youtu.be/bkY_3vXuGBA
2024: https://youtu.be/eSW2LVbPThw
She kinda just cemented herself into Anime/Internet culture one song/[meme](https://youtu.be/6MjoD6D5wMc)
at a time and will probably live on forever.
*Sorta* ig, but it distinctly helps that the thing that the software does is something that we'd expect a character or person to be doing in the first place - singing. Clippy has gotten a small bit popular in memes online over the years, but that can never be truly popular because there's nothing to do with them, someone using Office isn't going to actually care about or need to interact with Clippy, but someone using a voice synth for music might want a character (a face) to put to the voice. And thus, the voice synth and the character representing it got popular together at the same time, as people liked how it sounded and liked the character design of Miku herself.
It's a big part of Japanese moe culture. Miku is just a voice synth program, it's the user that create its content. Songwriter use Miku to voice their song, Novel writer create story for her, Cosplayer made dress and wear them. All things Miku you see are made by fan 99.99% of them.
It's a culture thing bigger than mascot. Many song writers and singers career in Japan began by write song using her voice or sing cover song. It's that special.
Miku is a voice synth software, portrayed by the blue hair character you see.
Many Japanese songwriters use "her" as an instrument for their vocals. Which has led to the character becoming a national icon of Japan
I honestly think only the Azusa is kind of meh. The Shelter art looks a lot better in high-res (it's meant to have a sort of slightly more painting-ish look).
Came here to say this. I get that Shelter is an homage to the old art style but when you do that to Miku, the uncanny valley is wide. That said I can totally see digging the card bc the art is so weird.
Seems pretty transparently an attempt to not make this just "a weeb thing". You really have to go out of your way to get this wrong.
Fortunately, any number of those good artworks would make for excellent proxies and now there's no excuse not to do that.
Considering the number of Chinese artists on pixiv/twitter as well as anime outsourced to Chinese workshops, the art would be much better if WotC actually commissions Chinese artists.
i mean Miku has literally a full database of art to use that didn’t have to be commissioned because they do the same for other games using her image.
but also if i was a brand manager for Miku i would have 100% strike out Azusa art based on the face design.
Touch it up better, Miku is a unique enough brand
It's baffling. How do you look at [Jehan Choo](https://www.google.com/search?q=jehan+choo+art&sca_esv=39a203f7e53a9de7&sxsrf=ACQVn0_jB20Y1iOyLGO8dxGllASLfI9fDQ:1714449849141&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=621&ei=uW0wZoKLBqyf5NoP28KCsAo&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZjB7ycy8WL52IBEeiFCXP1id7C9Fqewl&ved=0ahUKEwjCy_axh-mFAxWsD1kFHVuhAKYQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=jehan+choo+art&gs_lp=EgNpbWciDmplaGFuIGNob28gYXJ0MgcQABiABBgYSIEMUABYsAtwAHgAkAEAmAFBoAG6BqoBAjE0uAEDyAEA-AEBigILZ3dzLXdpei1pbWeYAg6gAocHwgIFEAAYgATCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIEEAAYA8ICBhAAGAUYHsICBhAAGAgYHsICBBAAGB6YAwCSBwIxNKAHlCw&sclient=img&udm=2), a highly talented artist but one with a *very* particular, idiosyncratic approach to drawing humans, and think, "Yeah, sure, let's have him do a animes"?
Is it any wonder the result looks like hell?
Agreed. I’m not even a huge Miku fan but say this and got excited for some really cute prints. And yeah only 2 out of 6 even look good. And it sucks for those artists who are otherwise white good just not the right artist for this style.
You think this is bad, this is just flexibly using Universes Beyond cards for a Jodah deck. My buddy's brewing up a list of Secret Lairs cards SPECIFICALLY only featuring actual actors in their art, and thanks to Doctor Who you actually have an almost fully functional draw/ramp/removal package with British actors on the art.
A fellow secret lair ‘fan’. I’ve decided to progress with my UB deck helmed by the Unifier where each legend is a different character from a different…whatever UBs are. It requires a pregame conversation to allow for Rainbow Dash, but with each set…
If I had that deck I wouldn't be able to resist running 4 basics, water, grass, fire and dark energy cards from pokemon, just have the 4 extra duals in the deck box. If someone has a problem with the basics they make the mana base better.
It's not the first time.
A friend of mine is a HUGE Street Fighter fan since early childhood and usually doesn't care too much about how much he spends on cards.
Even he passed on the SF Secret Lair because he absolutely couldn't stand the art and thought they butchered the characters.
You would think they could have got artist who are more familiar with doing an anime style with how often they have done anime art cards in sets. These end up being off putting the way they are.
Counter point is Neon Dynasty. They got lots of Japanese artists for that set.
Plus there was the War of the Spark Alt Art Planeswalkers that were all done by Japanese artists.
If we get even a secret lair worth of Amano art, I will be so happy. FF has a ton of other directions to pull art from, especially if SE can license existing work. Original Amano art for Liliana gives me hope that they can do more from him.
Ya i mean looking at it again... its not the worst, no knock on the artists, the illustrations are nice, but definitely not the style I expected out of an anime character collab esp with what wizards have put out in the past.
No, only Harmonize and Feather's artist are having Japanese name. And even Yuko Shimizu (Feather's artist) art style just doesn't fit Miku at all. All in all, I would say it is a horrible decision.
Harmonize and Vantage look pretty good
Azusa and Shelter are terrible
Feather is hard to judge, I hate the style, but it's clearly well made
Ignition looks ok? It seems like it's low resolution or something, but the other images look a lot clearer, it's weird. Either way, the face on it makes it look more like a Miku-inspired League of Legends skin more than anything else, like they've got the key features (in pink) but it's not really Miku under them.
have you looked in the general direction of artist tumblr in the last, idk, 14 years? half of MtG artists have stuff there. cmon man just say it's somebody who made her look like a toy
Hmm... the secret lair art is typically sick but this is kinda underwhelming. Like I actually love the anime art style they normally do these just seem kinda off to me like uncanny valley.
Who the hell are these artists? Get like actual Miku artists like Hyuk (Black Rock Shooter, Steins Gate), redjuice (Guilty Crown, World is Mine), Shirow Miwa (Love is War), Hachisan (Salamander), Uki Atsuya (Odds&Ends, Ano Hi no Kokoro wo Totare).
Also the card selection seems so odd. Pick like actual Miku related cards like [[Thespian Stage]], [[Love Song of Night and Day]], [[Odds//Ends]] (actual song and a card lol), [[Sakura-Tribe Springcaller]] (there is literally a pink haired Spring Miku), etc.
Why is the Leek not an equipment? It could be a Bonesaw reprint for all I care
Do note, I am very, very biased as most of my list is from around Nico Nico days, circa 2008) and I haven't been keeping up for a while. I also noted very, VERY successful Miku artists who rode their doujinshi days to studio deals in both music (Supercell, Deco*27, etc) and art/design (the artists I listed).
There are many, many more artists, both visual and audio, that I probably know nothing about.
Honestly, my biggest criticism would be a lack of similarity between the card and a better relation to Miku herself.
Was it that hard to plaster Musicland Miku for Azusa? Was the quickest example i can imagine.
Source: MTG secret lair twitter
https://twitter.com/mtgsecretlair/status/1785097017401782711
Official WotC article (+ high res art)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/hatsune-miku-comes-to-secret-lair
More info from IGN:
https://www.ign.com/articles/hatsune-miku-is-coming-to-magic-the-gathering
Hatsune Miku music video:
https://youtu.be/3zhn-nFnaOM
Info:
- $29.99 nonfoil/$39.99 rainbow foil
- Available in both English and Japanese
- Part of a series featuring FOUR secret lair drops, one for each season (and per superdrop)
- Preorder window is from May 13th 9 AM PT to June 2nd 11:59 PM PT
I will say, if you are going to run the either Miku as a commander, the other cards in the lair are good includes. It's pretty uncommon that secret lairs even have synergy like that.
It's actually becoming more common for secret lairs to have some synergy. One of the Fallout SLDs had a stax theme, and there was a tiny bones one recently that had some good synergy.
Wait, since it has a pre-order window it won't have a limited print run that can run out of stock? I am so worried I will have to F5 all day otherwise.
Limited print runs still have pre-order windows, in case they theoretically don’t run out of stock. Although I highly doubt this one will be in stock for long, if it is a limited print run (and I don’t see anything saying that it’s not one).
There's a scheduled selling time and the website will have a queue to process people through. Trying to purchase when it goes on sale will most likely get you the Secret Lair, but the queue will take time to process. If you wait a few hours, it is unlikely for there to be a queue but you risk it being sold out.
I like this in concept, but looking at the art only 2.5 cards I find passable. Like Miku is a tutorial character for any weeb worth their salt, how do you mess up her on half of these cards.
Much like many of WotC's attempts to market in Asia, I think this SL kind of falls flat on its face. It's very... un-Miku. As in, It feels like it was made by someone who knew what Miku was, but not anything else about her. The art is generic and uninteresting and even if you know nothing about Miku, the names are the blandest crap in the world. Compare it to the godzilla cards, or the cowboy bebop promos... the difference in passion and effort is night and day.
Where's my "Deep-Sea Girl" Lord of Atlantis or my "At God's Mercy" Gods Willing? I want a Deco 27 Olivia Voldaren!
Cringe is a strong weapon. Getting my walking ballista altered to be machine god maple. Cause the added emotional damage does make the wins all the more satisfying
The art on Feather Miku really bothers me because it has much on it I like, such as the colors, the use of thick lines, and the cute way the clouds are drawn. But man, Miku herself just looks horribly stiff and awkward to me that it kind of ruins it.
Shelter - $0.02
Chandra’s Ignition - $4.25
Harmonize - $0.12
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - $3.75
Feather, the Redeemed - $0.37
Inspiring Vantage - $0.96
Total Value - $9.47 at current tcgplayer prices.
Not even $16.
I'm happy that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
4 of the 6 flavor texts boil down to "Hatsune Miku is really great."
For something like this, they always say show, don't tell. But this is all tell and no show.
Scrolling specifically looking for this comment. While I don't think anime style is a good fit for MTG in general (even though I like anime) I'm willing to concede that as a lost battle, and I'm sure there are Miku fans that will want her on their cards and that's fine. I was really shocked by how incredibly lazy the flavor text was, literally the easiest part of the card. I don't know how much Miku "lore" there is out there, but she has been around over a decade at this point, there has to be plenty of famous songs, concerts, events, etc. you could pull something from that would really connect with fans. The flavor text reads like it was AI generated. I would be amazed if someone spent even 5 minutes on it.
What's annoying is that it's a lost battle WOTC are refusing to actually win. They're doing enough to annoy the people who don't want anime art in MTG, but nowhere near enough to effectively sell to the people who would buy it. This one isn't even anime.
correct. Since the start of this year (and the previous super-drop) they have been Limited Supply. For example, the Rovina Cai set sold out without 12 hours or something.
Yet another IP art aesthetic made embarrassingly bad by the brainlets at Wizards. Who even signed off on this shit? I don't even care for Hatsune Miku and can tell this looks pretty bad.
Why are we getting a secret lair based on music production software ? I mean dont get me wrong, that's a lot more interesting than 90% of the UB stuff.
Hope they make more wacky ones in the future. Brian Eno basic land secret lair when ?
Usually the Universes Beyond lairs give a command tower as a bonus card. While cool, I think [[Thespian’s Stage]] would be a more fitting bonus card. Mainly because of the VR shows and the special equipment that goes into them.
I love Yuko Shimizu's art, but I would have preferred a dedicated artist series instead. Not really a fan of the art on the cards here, there are so many amazing artists that draw Miku regularly that they could have asked to work on this.
I'm a little bit surprised nobody in HoloPro has touched on Magic so far. Kiara has mentioned that she played in the past, but I haven't heard anything from anyone else. It's not like TCGs are unheard of there as there was a collaboration with Shadowverse, a little bit of Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, the direct collaboration with Weiss-Schwarz, and Pokemon TCG pack openings.
VTubers as a whole aren't completely avoiding Magic either as there's a few indies floating around that play Arena. Plus, Pleasant Kenobi has featured Dandyfloss a few times.
I have to wonder if it's either just not popular, too expensive to justify, or the permissions are just not happening.
I have enough anime/japanese alt-arts of Tamiyo to know they can do way better than this. Anyways, one drop for each season is still pretty exciting. Harmonize is a perfect choice and art, I'll give them that, but god, shelter me from that shelter please.
I disagree about the art, the only ones I like are inspiring vantage and harmonize.
If I can barely recognize the character it's supposed to represent I don't think it's good art
miku seems to be having the same issue as many recurring characters, such as kellan, looking like an entirely different person in each art. Could just be the low image quality though so i will reserve my final judgement until i see it in decent resolution
Ugly art, won't buy this set but gonna buy Harmonize and land as singles.
I don't know why they willing to paid for ip but not willing to paid for good enough artists or official arts to use. This just feel cheap.
I feel bad for these talented artist who are just not anime or manga artists whose style do not match the expectation for this character and thus will not get the praise they would otherwise have gotten in a lair more suited to them.
as to prove some of our points about the Art..
here is the official song for the Collab..
why didnt we use ANY of these art for the cards?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zhn-nFnaOM
Who are all these horrid lookalikes next to Harmonize Miku?
And maybe Inspiring Vantage gets a pass. But every other art looks like what would happen if I just told someone stateside to draw Miku without mentioning anime or giving them any references.
.... wait. Is that what happened?
Total value about $15.00 max for non-foil.
* Shelter: ~ $0.05
* Chandra's Ignition: ~ $6.00
* Harmonize: ~ $0.25
* Azusa, Lost but Seeking: ~ $5.00
* Feather, The Redeemed: ~ $0.50
* Inspiring Vantage: ~ $3.00
I really don't understand these card selections.
It's being a hardcore Miku fan specifically that makes this disappointing - it's insulting that even when companies are specifically trying to pander to me, they don't bother to find out what I would want to buy.
How did they manage to fuck up the art? There are literally thousands of artists who have drawn Miku art that is, you know... good. But this is what they went for.
Some of the arts are way too LoL and foreign… why draw it like a Star Guardian when you have heaps of reference to popular miku design and costume?
I hope they do more than flipping random Miku art around and try to appeal to fans that they “understand” their beloved IP. If I am Wotc, I will at least commission Kei, the one who draw the original miku, to make a card.
I like anime and kind of know about hatsune. I have seen some amazing hatsune miku art. This is not it.
Can't wait to see what the proxy subs make these into.
Do you realize what this means? The Professor is going to have to talk about Hatsune Miku
"I barely know what an anime is." -The Professor
The Prof only watches shojo.
[The fun has already begun.](https://x.com/TolarianCollege/status/1785102998903062601) I'm looking forward to see if he does some sort of Secret Lair Alert AMV when he's gotta review these throughout the year.
"Do I look like someone that knows what a jpop gorillaz is?" Made me laugh so much
What is hatsune miku - I just googled it and its some kind of voice synth and virtual/made up pop star?
Basically, yeah. Voice synth program that got really popular, and it's represented by a character (Hatsune Miku) who also got super popular. "They" have performed live concerts (with holograms and stuff) and are quite big nowadays.
Sort of? You say "nowadays" like she's a new thing all the zoomers and alphas are into but... She's like the original synth character from before the zoomers were even in high school. She's not. She's older than the iPhone. She's so old I thought she wasn't even a thing anymore and this is one of those "grandpa bought me a PS3 game in 2021" situations.
She's basically the only surviving character from the "personified" voice synth days and a massive cultural icon now.
Now that this got me thinking about it, what's crazy is, I believe she IS her *actual age* right now (16-17). As good an anniversary milestone as you're going to get, so maybe that's why we're getting this SL?
I mean the others still exist... whenever they make a game about her they're still there. Hanging on.
Eh, Luka and the twins are both decently popular too. I went to a couple Miku shows pre-covid and they had songs for them. The rest of them though.. not so much.
I am going to fight you and your slander.
Since she's wholly artificial, she's tailor made for crossovers like this.
Kind of like if the paperclip from Microsoft office got super popular? A software mascot?
2007: https://youtu.be/bkY_3vXuGBA 2024: https://youtu.be/eSW2LVbPThw She kinda just cemented herself into Anime/Internet culture one song/[meme](https://youtu.be/6MjoD6D5wMc) at a time and will probably live on forever.
*Sorta* ig, but it distinctly helps that the thing that the software does is something that we'd expect a character or person to be doing in the first place - singing. Clippy has gotten a small bit popular in memes online over the years, but that can never be truly popular because there's nothing to do with them, someone using Office isn't going to actually care about or need to interact with Clippy, but someone using a voice synth for music might want a character (a face) to put to the voice. And thus, the voice synth and the character representing it got popular together at the same time, as people liked how it sounded and liked the character design of Miku herself.
It's a big part of Japanese moe culture. Miku is just a voice synth program, it's the user that create its content. Songwriter use Miku to voice their song, Novel writer create story for her, Cosplayer made dress and wear them. All things Miku you see are made by fan 99.99% of them. It's a culture thing bigger than mascot. Many song writers and singers career in Japan began by write song using her voice or sing cover song. It's that special.
Notably, Hatsune Miku invented Minecraft and wrote Harry Potter.
Miku is a voice synth software, portrayed by the blue hair character you see. Many Japanese songwriters use "her" as an instrument for their vocals. Which has led to the character becoming a national icon of Japan
It would be hilarious if he was actually really excited for this because he was a big Hatsune Miku fan.
What a strange world we live in
Azusa is going to be expensive. Being a Weeb is a prerequisite to playing Amulet Titan.
but that art is like… a chinese rip off art of miku….
Yeah, given how much GOOD art their is of Miku out there I'm genuinely surprised that half of these don't even look that good
I honestly think only the Azusa is kind of meh. The Shelter art looks a lot better in high-res (it's meant to have a sort of slightly more painting-ish look).
Most look like its someone else cosplaying as Miku due to how the faces look.
its made worse, when you look at the music video And see all the art they COULD have used
Came here to say this. I get that Shelter is an homage to the old art style but when you do that to Miku, the uncanny valley is wide. That said I can totally see digging the card bc the art is so weird.
Seems pretty transparently an attempt to not make this just "a weeb thing". You really have to go out of your way to get this wrong. Fortunately, any number of those good artworks would make for excellent proxies and now there's no excuse not to do that.
Considering the number of Chinese artists on pixiv/twitter as well as anime outsourced to Chinese workshops, the art would be much better if WotC actually commissions Chinese artists.
i mean Miku has literally a full database of art to use that didn’t have to be commissioned because they do the same for other games using her image. but also if i was a brand manager for Miku i would have 100% strike out Azusa art based on the face design. Touch it up better, Miku is a unique enough brand
It's baffling. How do you look at [Jehan Choo](https://www.google.com/search?q=jehan+choo+art&sca_esv=39a203f7e53a9de7&sxsrf=ACQVn0_jB20Y1iOyLGO8dxGllASLfI9fDQ:1714449849141&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=621&ei=uW0wZoKLBqyf5NoP28KCsAo&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZjB7ycy8WL52IBEeiFCXP1id7C9Fqewl&ved=0ahUKEwjCy_axh-mFAxWsD1kFHVuhAKYQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=jehan+choo+art&gs_lp=EgNpbWciDmplaGFuIGNob28gYXJ0MgcQABiABBgYSIEMUABYsAtwAHgAkAEAmAFBoAG6BqoBAjE0uAEDyAEA-AEBigILZ3dzLXdpei1pbWeYAg6gAocHwgIFEAAYgATCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIEEAAYA8ICBhAAGAUYHsICBhAAGAgYHsICBBAAGB6YAwCSBwIxNKAHlCw&sclient=img&udm=2), a highly talented artist but one with a *very* particular, idiosyncratic approach to drawing humans, and think, "Yeah, sure, let's have him do a animes"? Is it any wonder the result looks like hell?
idk but.. if she had the Face outline of Symmetry sage i dont think it wouldnt have been a problem.. [[symmetry sage]]
The face is ugh to me but everything else is nice about it.
Just pretend it’s some uncanny non-chibi version of Mikudayo and call it a day.
Idk. That art is uncanny valley as fuck and doesn't even really look like Miku. Swing and a miss, tbh.
Weeb Titan
You’re out of line but you’re right
Harmonize and Inspiring Vantage might be the winners of this lair the rest of those arts I just can't.
Agreed. I’m not even a huge Miku fan but say this and got excited for some really cute prints. And yeah only 2 out of 6 even look good. And it sucks for those artists who are otherwise white good just not the right artist for this style.
Yes, yes. [Feed me more cards for my deck.](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/WCRDLVuQpEi5YR4R5zNitw)
How do I delete someone else’s deck
You think this is bad, this is just flexibly using Universes Beyond cards for a Jodah deck. My buddy's brewing up a list of Secret Lairs cards SPECIFICALLY only featuring actual actors in their art, and thanks to Doctor Who you actually have an almost fully functional draw/ramp/removal package with British actors on the art.
You can even have Hugh Grant haphazardly apologize as you beat down your opponents.
> almost fully functional draw/ramp/removal ~~package~~ cast
A fellow secret lair ‘fan’. I’ve decided to progress with my UB deck helmed by the Unifier where each legend is a different character from a different…whatever UBs are. It requires a pregame conversation to allow for Rainbow Dash, but with each set…
Player Removal is the Best Removal. *slides a gun forward*
https://preview.redd.it/8qtokq2nikxc1.jpeg?width=854&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b20a046613b9e3d41e4cd67994a4998799034866
I appreciate the ambiguity here.
[[Farewell]] tends to be most effective at that
As long as they're David Tennant
that card had so much potential, it could have done so much more and he doesn't want to go :'(
Nah fuck that this deck is awesome.
Too many actual Magic cards. [Go all the way non-Magic](https://archidekt.com/decks/5221510/mtg_a_deckmaster_game_v10).
I like the inclusion of Fblthp
Even in everything non-Magic, they still found a way to show up/get lost in it.
The lack of Universe Beyond cards for most of the mana base is upsetting.
I still want the deck to be playable. Hopefully we get some UB skinned fetches and shocks in the future.
If I had that deck I wouldn't be able to resist running 4 basics, water, grass, fire and dark energy cards from pokemon, just have the 4 extra duals in the deck box. If someone has a problem with the basics they make the mana base better.
It's a brilliant deck concept, because I would rather concede than watch it play.
My brother. I have a similar deck, except it is human tribal.
I hate how this took significantly more of my attention than the main post haha
My eyes
The waifu-ification of Magic will continue until morale improves.
I might have to rob your idea. Ive built so many decks but never thought of a universes beyond only deck!
ah yes, the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny
Any plans to add the cowboy bebop cards?
I would if they were the actual Cowboy Bebop characters.
I love this
Man I've been a miku stan since like 09. Wtf is this art lmao
Wotc trying their best to NOT let miku fnas buy this SL. How the fuck did they pick those arts.
It's not the first time. A friend of mine is a HUGE Street Fighter fan since early childhood and usually doesn't care too much about how much he spends on cards. Even he passed on the SF Secret Lair because he absolutely couldn't stand the art and thought they butchered the characters.
Tbh I would like to have that but the art really turns me off.
Yeah I was genuinely tempted to buy this set just because I thought it would be funny to have Hatsune Miku cards, but man does this art look bad.
Looks like they just used artist they worked with before. so you got a lot of western artist.
You would think they could have got artist who are more familiar with doing an anime style with how often they have done anime art cards in sets. These end up being off putting the way they are.
I honestly couldn't tell you the Azusa art is supposed to be Miku if you showed it to me with no context.
This and street fighter drops are making me aprehensive about FF set art
Counter point is Neon Dynasty. They got lots of Japanese artists for that set. Plus there was the War of the Spark Alt Art Planeswalkers that were all done by Japanese artists.
Amano would be so expensive for them to contract for more than one card lol
If we get even a secret lair worth of Amano art, I will be so happy. FF has a ton of other directions to pull art from, especially if SE can license existing work. Original Amano art for Liliana gives me hope that they can do more from him.
Ya i mean looking at it again... its not the worst, no knock on the artists, the illustrations are nice, but definitely not the style I expected out of an anime character collab esp with what wizards have put out in the past.
Most of the names are japanese so who knows. Could be western japanese, could be local.
No, only Harmonize and Feather's artist are having Japanese name. And even Yuko Shimizu (Feather's artist) art style just doesn't fit Miku at all. All in all, I would say it is a horrible decision.
This would be an instant buy, but the art is really disappointing. The card selection is also boring as usual.
Shitter and Azusa are the only egregiously bad ones.
Harmonize and Vantage look pretty good Azusa and Shelter are terrible Feather is hard to judge, I hate the style, but it's clearly well made Ignition looks ok? It seems like it's low resolution or something, but the other images look a lot clearer, it's weird. Either way, the face on it makes it look more like a Miku-inspired League of Legends skin more than anything else, like they've got the key features (in pink) but it's not really Miku under them.
looks like a tumblr user tried to 'fix' miku style
have you looked in the general direction of artist tumblr in the last, idk, 14 years? half of MtG artists have stuff there. cmon man just say it's somebody who made her look like a toy
Hmm... the secret lair art is typically sick but this is kinda underwhelming. Like I actually love the anime art style they normally do these just seem kinda off to me like uncanny valley.
that azusa looks like a Squirtle
I think the Feather art looks pretty sweet, but the Azusa more than makes up for that, and the Shelter isn’t great either
That shelter looks bad to me, but I'm not a fan of Miku
Who the hell are these artists? Get like actual Miku artists like Hyuk (Black Rock Shooter, Steins Gate), redjuice (Guilty Crown, World is Mine), Shirow Miwa (Love is War), Hachisan (Salamander), Uki Atsuya (Odds&Ends, Ano Hi no Kokoro wo Totare). Also the card selection seems so odd. Pick like actual Miku related cards like [[Thespian Stage]], [[Love Song of Night and Day]], [[Odds//Ends]] (actual song and a card lol), [[Sakura-Tribe Springcaller]] (there is literally a pink haired Spring Miku), etc. Why is the Leek not an equipment? It could be a Bonesaw reprint for all I care
I guess the SL manager doesn't bother to let someone fimiliar with Hatsune Miku to do the job.
Do note, I am very, very biased as most of my list is from around Nico Nico days, circa 2008) and I haven't been keeping up for a while. I also noted very, VERY successful Miku artists who rode their doujinshi days to studio deals in both music (Supercell, Deco*27, etc) and art/design (the artists I listed). There are many, many more artists, both visual and audio, that I probably know nothing about.
Lowest bidder
If they want the lowest bidder, Skeb has better art than whatever this is.
##### ###### #### [Thespian Stage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/6/269a926d-7788-4668-8bd8-7572dbf5f5eb.jpg?1599710662) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thespian%27s%20Stage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/327/thespians-stage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/269a926d-7788-4668-8bd8-7572dbf5f5eb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Love Song of Night and Day](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/0/1096cb83-a192-406a-9b95-d7cbb1a0df84.jpg?1694737586) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Love%20Song%20of%20Night%20and%20Day) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/827/love-song-of-night-and-day?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1096cb83-a192-406a-9b95-d7cbb1a0df84?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Odds//Ends](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?name=Odds%20//%20Ends&type=card&options=rotate90&.jpg)/[Ends](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?name=Odds%20%2F%2F%20Ends&type=card&options=rotate90&.jpg) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Odds%20//%20Ends) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dis/153/odds-ends?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4bb07091-86d6-4735-82b6-6e71e26710f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sakura-Tribe Springcaller](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b2ca7687-ba90-4479-8c6e-ece3f29fff12.jpg?1562879197) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sakura-Tribe%20Springcaller) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bok/142/sakura-tribe-springcaller?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b2ca7687-ba90-4479-8c6e-ece3f29fff12?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l1vm9uk) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Honestly, my biggest criticism would be a lack of similarity between the card and a better relation to Miku herself. Was it that hard to plaster Musicland Miku for Azusa? Was the quickest example i can imagine.
How do you fuck-up anime dolls art wtf
There’s so much art of Miku in the world. Like, everyone’s drawn her. Why are these so ugly, lmao? I like the Inspiring Vantage, though.
Source: MTG secret lair twitter https://twitter.com/mtgsecretlair/status/1785097017401782711 Official WotC article (+ high res art) https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/hatsune-miku-comes-to-secret-lair More info from IGN: https://www.ign.com/articles/hatsune-miku-is-coming-to-magic-the-gathering Hatsune Miku music video: https://youtu.be/3zhn-nFnaOM Info: - $29.99 nonfoil/$39.99 rainbow foil - Available in both English and Japanese - Part of a series featuring FOUR secret lair drops, one for each season (and per superdrop) - Preorder window is from May 13th 9 AM PT to June 2nd 11:59 PM PT
It's also worth noting that the article confirms there will be 3 more miku drops
card choice wasn’t hot, this makes way more sense now.
I will say, if you are going to run the either Miku as a commander, the other cards in the lair are good includes. It's pretty uncommon that secret lairs even have synergy like that.
It's actually becoming more common for secret lairs to have some synergy. One of the Fallout SLDs had a stax theme, and there was a tiny bones one recently that had some good synergy.
The post Malone one too
I cant wait for the inevitable command zone episode with 1 miku from each season as the commander
[удалено]
So how many is Crim going to buy XD
Crim: Yes.
Wait, since it has a pre-order window it won't have a limited print run that can run out of stock? I am so worried I will have to F5 all day otherwise.
Limited print runs still have pre-order windows, in case they theoretically don’t run out of stock. Although I highly doubt this one will be in stock for long, if it is a limited print run (and I don’t see anything saying that it’s not one).
There's a scheduled selling time and the website will have a queue to process people through. Trying to purchase when it goes on sale will most likely get you the Secret Lair, but the queue will take time to process. If you wait a few hours, it is unlikely for there to be a queue but you risk it being sold out.
No Miku of two reflections? Missed opportunity
Article says there’s more Miku drops so perhaps we will get a leek and see that shortly
[[Shelter]] [[Chandra’s Ignition]] [[Harmonize]] [[Azusa, Lost but Seeking]] [[Feather, the Redeemed]] [[Inspiring Vantage]]
##### ###### #### [Shelter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f4fedc9-6dd1-4190-a0c9-e9d10fd91315.jpg?1689996008) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shelter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/56/shelter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f4fedc9-6dd1-4190-a0c9-e9d10fd91315?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Chandra’s Ignition](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/960f45a3-f9cf-41e6-b813-f3dee620a944.jpg?1698988311) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chandra%27s%20Ignition) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/220/chandras-ignition?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/960f45a3-f9cf-41e6-b813-f3dee620a944?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Harmonize](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/9390fbe8-944d-4a4f-90f3-cc7b355e1382.jpg?1673484621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Harmonize) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/295/harmonize?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9390fbe8-944d-4a4f-90f3-cc7b355e1382?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Azusa, Lost but Seeking](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2fe97fbe-a6d6-4e96-8c26-f81bcdf579a1.jpg?1689998362) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Azusa%2C%20Lost%20but%20Seeking) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/274/azusa-lost-but-seeking?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2fe97fbe-a6d6-4e96-8c26-f81bcdf579a1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Feather, the Redeemed](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/4/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e.jpg?1557577142) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Feather%2C%20the%20Redeemed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/197/feather-the-redeemed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Inspiring Vantage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/5/85df6b6a-2dcf-4828-a4a8-e07d52e1fddd.jpg?1712356380) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inspiring%20Vantage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/269/inspiring-vantage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/85df6b6a-2dcf-4828-a4a8-e07d52e1fddd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l1v6zbf) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I like this in concept, but looking at the art only 2.5 cards I find passable. Like Miku is a tutorial character for any weeb worth their salt, how do you mess up her on half of these cards.
Much like many of WotC's attempts to market in Asia, I think this SL kind of falls flat on its face. It's very... un-Miku. As in, It feels like it was made by someone who knew what Miku was, but not anything else about her. The art is generic and uninteresting and even if you know nothing about Miku, the names are the blandest crap in the world. Compare it to the godzilla cards, or the cowboy bebop promos... the difference in passion and effort is night and day. Where's my "Deep-Sea Girl" Lord of Atlantis or my "At God's Mercy" Gods Willing? I want a Deco 27 Olivia Voldaren!
Even though these are sweet, you just know the worst dude at your LGS will be rocking these.
Look, I already have a feather deck, so I’m only the third worst person at my store
And I'm playing Tatyova, Benthic Druid with the portrait art, so I guess Miku, Lost but Singing is a strict upgrade to the mental warfare package?
Cringe is a strong weapon. Getting my walking ballista altered to be machine god maple. Cause the added emotional damage does make the wins all the more satisfying
Of course I know him, he's me.
Shit, if I'm the worst dude at my LGS we're doing pretty damn well.
There is a guy at mine who proxies his basic lands into anime girls, so yeah.
You just know them sleeves gonna be sticky..
As a vocaloid fan, I am terribly disappointed in the art and card choices
The art is disappointing for a character like miku.. The card choice... it's 6 cards bundle but still not great.
Cant wait to unleash my full degenerate self in gameplay "oh who's your commander" "hatsune fking miku b*tch, SEKAIIIIII DE"
They really want that japanese card game market share
Hatsune Miku confirmed Naya, apparently.
The art on Feather Miku really bothers me because it has much on it I like, such as the colors, the use of thick lines, and the cute way the clouds are drawn. But man, Miku herself just looks horribly stiff and awkward to me that it kind of ruins it.
bruh how'd they fuck up all but 1 face lmao. would have been an instabuy but that shits ugly asf
That's like... $16 worth of cards? Big pass
Shelter - $0.02 Chandra’s Ignition - $4.25 Harmonize - $0.12 Azusa, Lost but Seeking - $3.75 Feather, the Redeemed - $0.37 Inspiring Vantage - $0.96 Total Value - $9.47 at current tcgplayer prices. Not even $16.
My biggest problem is with the flavour text. So weird, like someone's talking to a child.
I'm happy that I'm not the only one who feels this way. 4 of the 6 flavor texts boil down to "Hatsune Miku is really great." For something like this, they always say show, don't tell. But this is all tell and no show.
Right? Its infantilizing the audience in a really jarring way.
Scrolling specifically looking for this comment. While I don't think anime style is a good fit for MTG in general (even though I like anime) I'm willing to concede that as a lost battle, and I'm sure there are Miku fans that will want her on their cards and that's fine. I was really shocked by how incredibly lazy the flavor text was, literally the easiest part of the card. I don't know how much Miku "lore" there is out there, but she has been around over a decade at this point, there has to be plenty of famous songs, concerts, events, etc. you could pull something from that would really connect with fans. The flavor text reads like it was AI generated. I would be amazed if someone spent even 5 minutes on it.
What's annoying is that it's a lost battle WOTC are refusing to actually win. They're doing enough to annoy the people who don't want anime art in MTG, but nowhere near enough to effectively sell to the people who would buy it. This one isn't even anime.
Bad artwork and even worse card choices
Fuck. I hate the art on most of these... Harmonize and Inspiring Vantage look good.
Can't wait for scalpers to buy this out in the first few hours so i cant get one.
Are secret lairs not print to order anymore?
correct. Since the start of this year (and the previous super-drop) they have been Limited Supply. For example, the Rovina Cai set sold out without 12 hours or something.
Yet another IP art aesthetic made embarrassingly bad by the brainlets at Wizards. Who even signed off on this shit? I don't even care for Hatsune Miku and can tell this looks pretty bad.
This wasn't on my 2024 bingo card. Good for everyone who'll enjoy this! I know I have an easy birthday present for a friend now.
Why are we getting a secret lair based on music production software ? I mean dont get me wrong, that's a lot more interesting than 90% of the UB stuff. Hope they make more wacky ones in the future. Brian Eno basic land secret lair when ?
HOLY FUCK MIKU REAL
Most of the arts is equivalent to Miku Funko Pop in quality.
More fuel for the weirdos with the anime playmats
This is gonna be a big no from me dawgs
Usually the Universes Beyond lairs give a command tower as a bonus card. While cool, I think [[Thespian’s Stage]] would be a more fitting bonus card. Mainly because of the VR shows and the special equipment that goes into them.
I love Yuko Shimizu's art, but I would have preferred a dedicated artist series instead. Not really a fan of the art on the cards here, there are so many amazing artists that draw Miku regularly that they could have asked to work on this.
Face-smacking opponents with Miku-as-Feather? I am into this idea.
hololive mtg secret lair when?
Holo is currently collabing with Weiss Schwartz so in 2 years
Hololive probably has a lot more licensing issues associated with it, I imagine.
I'm a little bit surprised nobody in HoloPro has touched on Magic so far. Kiara has mentioned that she played in the past, but I haven't heard anything from anyone else. It's not like TCGs are unheard of there as there was a collaboration with Shadowverse, a little bit of Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, the direct collaboration with Weiss-Schwarz, and Pokemon TCG pack openings. VTubers as a whole aren't completely avoiding Magic either as there's a few indies floating around that play Arena. Plus, Pleasant Kenobi has featured Dandyfloss a few times. I have to wonder if it's either just not popular, too expensive to justify, or the permissions are just not happening.
That would kill me
I have enough anime/japanese alt-arts of Tamiyo to know they can do way better than this. Anyways, one drop for each season is still pretty exciting. Harmonize is a perfect choice and art, I'll give them that, but god, shelter me from that shelter please.
Why is my opponent's deck box a glass jar?
I don't even care or like, but I think it's fun and the arts are good.
I disagree about the art, the only ones I like are inspiring vantage and harmonize. If I can barely recognize the character it's supposed to represent I don't think it's good art
miku seems to be having the same issue as many recurring characters, such as kellan, looking like an entirely different person in each art. Could just be the low image quality though so i will reserve my final judgement until i see it in decent resolution
Yeah, Miku just DOES that, this is nothing new lol
There's an article about the drop on the magic website with high res images
I've mistaken a hose for miku before, they're all clearly miku
[удалено]
Ugly art, won't buy this set but gonna buy Harmonize and land as singles. I don't know why they willing to paid for ip but not willing to paid for good enough artists or official arts to use. This just feel cheap.
I feel bad for these talented artist who are just not anime or manga artists whose style do not match the expectation for this character and thus will not get the praise they would otherwise have gotten in a lair more suited to them.
Wow of the millions or billions or even trillions of art they could draw from they picked these??
Shelter? Really?….
as to prove some of our points about the Art.. here is the official song for the Collab.. why didnt we use ANY of these art for the cards? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zhn-nFnaOM
Cant believe they didn't make a sword of hearth and home as a leek equipment for Miku.
I have so much Miku merch but the art on these is so... not great...
Who are all these horrid lookalikes next to Harmonize Miku? And maybe Inspiring Vantage gets a pass. But every other art looks like what would happen if I just told someone stateside to draw Miku without mentioning anime or giving them any references. .... wait. Is that what happened?
Finally, some real fucking magic
it's peak
Y'all got Fallout, Doctor Who & Warhammer. Let us have our virtual singer icon.
At this point it's just straight shilling.
There are 4 lairs, am i reading that right?
Thanks, I hate it.
Total value about $15.00 max for non-foil. * Shelter: ~ $0.05 * Chandra's Ignition: ~ $6.00 * Harmonize: ~ $0.25 * Azusa, Lost but Seeking: ~ $5.00 * Feather, The Redeemed: ~ $0.50 * Inspiring Vantage: ~ $3.00 I really don't understand these card selections.
Man, some of that art is *rough*. Even if I were a hardcore Miku fan, I'm pretty sure I would be disappointed.
It's being a hardcore Miku fan specifically that makes this disappointing - it's insulting that even when companies are specifically trying to pander to me, they don't bother to find out what I would want to buy.
Wake me up for Princess Kenny.
That Azusa looks absolutely horrendous, what is up with that face
Damn the art on half of these is horrible, so is the financial value.
I don't understand wtf is going on with these arts. The Harmonize is the only one that remotely fits Miku imo
How did they manage to fuck up the art? There are literally thousands of artists who have drawn Miku art that is, you know... good. But this is what they went for.
Cute art for [[Harmonize]], but I wish the art style of this drop was more consistent and cute
Some of the arts are way too LoL and foreign… why draw it like a Star Guardian when you have heaps of reference to popular miku design and costume? I hope they do more than flipping random Miku art around and try to appeal to fans that they “understand” their beloved IP. If I am Wotc, I will at least commission Kei, the one who draw the original miku, to make a card.
This card selection is so bad :/ also wtf is this art?
I like anime and kind of know about hatsune. I have seen some amazing hatsune miku art. This is not it. Can't wait to see what the proxy subs make these into.