Last November, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announced a sustainability initiative to upcycle test sheets into Secret Lair packaging. Now, Magic fans are finally seeing the fruits of this labor and getting some fun surprises along the way.
Recently, Reddit user /u/Explains_Your_Glitch shared a post to the MagicTCG Subreddit showing off the internal packaging of their Secret Lair drop — a test print of basic lands from Kaldheim.
Since the original announcement of this initiative was fairly quiet, many Magic players are just now learning about it for the first time, making for a fun, extra surprise in their drop. The PixelSnowLands.jpg drop was the first Secret Lair product to feature this upcycled internal packaging, and since it’s still a work in progress, not every drop will have it – however it has proven effective in reducing plastic where possible.
A limited number of these sheets are created to calibrate colors and image quality ahead of our full print runs, and we’re exploring this as a way to reduce our industrial waste by repurposing these test sheets into Secret Lair packaging components.
We reached out to Magic’s Senior Communications Manager, Blake Rasmussen, and he tells us WotC’s focus is on “reducing waste and continuing to eliminate plastic from packaging where possible. Upcycling is just one of the more visible ways we have to make our packaging more sustainable, and we’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to do just that.”
Many in the Reddit comments are not only applauding WotC on following through with their sustainability efforts, but also speculating on the potential value of these of inserts. The general consensus (at least for the time being) is they have no real value, but the coolness factor has some interested in collecting them and possible even cutting out the basic lands to use in their Commander decks.
So what do you think of WotC’s continued sustainability efforts? Currently, we’ve only seen test sheets from Kaldheim being used, but which set’s basic lands would you be most excited to find in your Secret Lair drop?