Everything You Need to Know About the Magic: the Gathering Tomb Raider Release

Last updated on December 31, 2023

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider | Illustration by Greg Staples

If you grew up in the 1990s, you may remember playing the 1996 hit game Tomb Raider on your Sega Genesis or PlayStation. Now, you can play this same video game on Steam, PlayStation 5, and other modern-day video game consoles, especially if you love reliving the retro gaming experience.

Magic: The Gathering and Tomb Raider are teaming up to release Secret Lair x Tomb Raider for the Secretversary Superdrop 2023. Relive your love of Lara Croft’s adventures delving into ancient tombs throughout the many video game sequels and reboots as well as live-action and animated movies for the past almost three decades by getting your hands on this secret lair drop, only available for a limited time!

Tomb Raider Basic Information

The Grim Whisper | Illustration by Eliz Roxs

Set Details

Here are the key details about the Secret Lair x Tomb Raider set listed below.

Set Symbol
Set Code	SLD
Hashtag	#mtgtombraider
Number of Cards	6
Rarities	5 rares, 1 mythic rare, and 1 token.
Mechanics	Discovery counter, raid, surveil, and graveyard recursion.

Important Dates

Here are the important dates related to the Secret Lair x Tomb Raider drop. The sale begins at 9 am Pacific Standard Time (PST) on debut day.

About the Set

Add a new commander card to your Magic collection with Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. All the other cards in the Secret Lair drop are essentially reprints with alternate art to fit the Tomb Raider story line.

Yamatai is a lost kingdom is one of the main settings in Tomb Raider where Lara Croft explores. Storms of Yamatai are depicted as a sorcery card, while Anger of the Gods pays an ode to this key setting in Tomb Raider.

Lara Croft’s journey to Kitezh was to find The Divine Source, which is an artifact that grants immortality. Kitezh, Sunken City is depicted as a reprinted Academy Ruins to be reminiscent of this part of Croft’s explorations.

The Lost Valley is the setting of the third level in the original 1996 Tomb Raider video game. The Lost Valley is the alternate version of the land card, Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin, which is a land that transforms from the legendary enchantment, Search for Azcanta. Heart of the Explorer is the set’s designated name for the Search for Azcanta card.

The Grim Whisper as the Bow of Nylea pays homage to the weapon of that name that the Tomb Raider can discover in the Founder’s Crypts. In the 2015 Rise of the Tomb Raider game, you can find the Grim Whisper in two locations throughout the Geothermal Valley or another couple locations in Soviet Installation.

Totec's Spear is reminiscent of the weapon that Lara Croft discovers in the video game, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Set Mechanics

Secret Lair x Tomb Raider touches on a few key mechanics of Magic’s past and even introduces a new one called discovery counters.

Discovery Counter

Discovery counters are unique to the Secret Lair x Tomb Raider drop and have never been a MTG mechanic until now. They’re reminiscent of how Lara Croft discovers artifacts in ancient tombs like Atlantean Scion in the original 1996 Tomb Raider game.

The only card that utilizes the discovery counter mechanic in this drop is Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. When you attack with Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, place a discovery counter on any artifact or legendary land card that’s in a graveyard, which can be yours or an opponent’s. As you accumulate more artifacts and legendary lands with discovery counters on them in exile, you can play them as you want on each of your turns that you attack with Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

Raid

Raid is a MTG mechanic that was originally introduced in Khans of Tarkir that gave you additional benefits if you attacked with at least one Mardu Horde creature with the mechanic listed on the card. Raid was also a prevalent mechanic in Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan on pirate creatures.

The Secret Lair x Tomb Raider drop wouldn’t be complete without the thematic flavor of having the raid mechanic on Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. This Temur guild aggro commander’s raid ability rewards you with a Treasure token at the end of combat as long as you attack with any creature during your turn.

Surveil

Heart of the Explorer is an alternate art version of Search for Azcanta, which is the only card in this drop that has the surveil mechanic. On every upkeep, you surveil 1 which means you look at the top card of your library and decide if you want to place it in your graveyard or keep it on the top of your library.

You have the choice to transform this legendary enchantment into a legendary land once you have 7 or more cards in your graveyard. The Lost Valley is the alternate card version of Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. Its mana ability lets you search for an instant, sorcery, artifact, or enchantment to put into your hand since it specifies tutoring for a noncreature, nonland card from the top 4 cards of your library.

Graveyard Recursion

The Grim Whisper has a picture of Lara Croft ready to attack with a bow and arrow which is the Secret Lair x Tomb Raider version of Bow of Nylea. With the legendary enchantment artifact’s mana ability, you’re able to place a maximum of 4 cards from your graveyard on the bottom of your library.

River Song from Doctor Who would be the perfect card to help you draw from the bottom of your library after doing The Grim Whisper’s mana ability to get your best cards back into your hand.

Official Spoilers

• Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
• Heart of the Explorer
• The Lost Valley
• Storms of Yamatai
• The Grim Whisper
• Totec's Spear
• Kitezh, Sunken City
• Treasure token with the flavor text “A scar means I survived”.

Available Products

Secret Lair drops come in their usual foil and non-foil versions. The Secret Lair x Tomb Raider foil package costs $49.99 while the non-foil version costs $39.99.

Secret Lair x Tomb Raider Foil Package

The Secret Lair x Tomb Raider foil cards are:

• Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
• Heart of the Explorer
• The Lost Valley
• Storms of Yamatai
• The Grim Whisper
• Totec's Spear
• Kitezh, Sunken City
• Treasure token with the flavor text “A scar means I survived”.

Secret Lair x Tomb Raider Non-Foil Package

The Secret Lair x Tomb Raider non-foil package comes with the cards listed below in their original printed forms.

• Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
• Heart of the Explorer
• The Lost Valley
• Storms of Yamatai
• The Grim Whisper
• Totec's Spear
• Kitezh, Sunken City
• Treasure token with the flavor text “A scar means I survived”.

Wrap Up

Storms of Yamatai | Illustration by Eliz Roxs

And there you have it! Secret Lair x Tomb Raider drops on November 20, 2023 and is available for sale for only a limited time on Magic’s Secret Lair website.

Do you love Secret Lair drops? Learn about all of the Secret Lair drops of Magic’s past on the Draftsim blog. Check for more updates on when content releases for Magic: The Gathering news, best ranked cards, and deck guides on the Draftsim Facebook page.

Until next time, go raid some tombs alongside Lara Croft on a Tomb Raider video game. Before you know it, you’ll be doing the same thing with Lara Croft, Tomb Raider as the commander when you receive your new Secret Lair drop package in the mail!