Everything You Need to Know About Stranger Things in Magic

Last updated on October 26, 2023

Eleven, the Mage | Illustration by Pauline Voss

As more properties are added to Magic’s Universes Beyond roster, it seems as though any popular piece of media is fair game for an MTG adaptation. As a wildly popular show with some firm connections to nerd culture, it isn’t too surprising that Stranger Things was picked for a Secret Lair. While it doesn’t fit in as well as something like Lord of the Rings, it’s still slightly less jarring than The Walking Dead or Fortnite as far as crossovers go.

For fans of the show, Magic’s design team did a pretty good job translating the relative skills of each character into a card. Luckily, if you aren’t a big fan of the show but you want to play with the cards, Magic’s Stranger Things cards have since been reprinted as Magic cards with new in-universe characters.

Let’s take a look a Magic’s Stranger Things cards, and run through all of the important information you need to know about them!

What Are the Stranger Things MTG Cards?

Will the Wise | Illustration by Pauline Voss

Magic’s Stranger Things cards were released as a Secret Lair drop. At the time of its release, each card was a mechanically unique card, though they’ve since been reprinted in The List. Each card depicts a character from the popular Netflix series Stranger Things or a location from the show.

How Many Cards Are in the Stranger Things Secret Lair?

The Stranger Things Secret Lair contained nine new Magic cards as well as a Clue token with unique art connected to the show. The bulk of the Secret Lair was made up of legendary creature cards representing some of the show’s main cast: Lucas, the Sharpshooter, Eleven, the Mage, Max, the Daredevil, Dustin, Gadget Genius, Mike, the Dungeon Master, and Chief Jim Hopper.

Each of these cards has a new mechanic introduced in the set called friends forever. This mechanic is essentially a reskin of the partner mechanic, though it importantly doesn’t allow you to use these cards with other cards that have a partner. It was a way for Wizards to allow you to play with any pair of Stranger Things cards as your commanders without needing to rebalance the cards in reference to the rest of Magic at large. One fun bit of flavor is that partnering Eleven with Mike, who in the show are a couple, allows you to build a 5-color deck. This is the only pairing of Stranger Things cards that lets you play all these characters together in a single Commander deck.

There’s a seventh legendary creature included in the set, Mind Flayer, the Shadow. Similar to Theros’s god cards, it starts out as an enchantment until a requirement is met. The Stranger Things version of the card is also printed upside down since the Mind Flayer in the show resides in the alternate universe known to the characters as The Upside Down.

The final card in the Stranger Things Secret Lair is Hawkins National Laboratory, a legendary land card that represents one of the key locations from the show. This is actually a double-faced card, with the back side representing The Upside Down. It makes sense since Hawkins Lab is where the portal to the other dimension was hidden in Stanger Things. Similar to the Mind Flayer card, The Upside Down is also printed upside down on the back of this card.

When Did the Stranger Things Secret Lair Come Out?

The Stranger Things Secret Lair was released as part of the October Superdrop in 2021. The only way to buy new copies of the Secret Lair was to purchase them during the preorder window, so they’re now only available on the secondary market. Some local game stores buy copies of Secret Lairs to sell, so if you missed the preorder there are still places to find the cards.

The Stranger Things Controversy

The controversy surrounding the Stranger Things cards was an extension of the one surrounding the Walking Dead Secret Lair. Essentially, players weren’t happy that mechanically unique cards were being printed in limited numbers through Secret Lairs as opposed to being made available in typical booster products. Additionally, some players weren’t thrilled to see more mechanically unique cards that weren’t set within the world of Magic: The Gathering. If one of the cards became popular in competitive Legacy or Commander, it would be impossible to play a version of the card that didn’t break somewhat drastically from Magic’s theme and aesthetic.

Wizards has somewhat addressed this issue with its Universes Within versions of the cards. Now, if someone wants to play with the Eleven card but doesn’t want it to be Stranger Things themed, they can play with the Universes Within version Cecily, Haunted Mage, a new unique character from within Magic’s own world. Despite the reprinting of these cards, fans still feel as though the availability is being hampered by how unlikely it is to pull one. Wizards has still yet to re-release the Walking Dead cards, which is a further source of frustration in this issue.

Where to Buy

Since you can no longer buy the cards from Wizards, you’ll need to turn to the secondary market. TCGPlayer has both the foil and non-foil versions available for purchase sealed. Singles of the specific cards are also available on the site if you don’t want to buy all nine.

CardKingdom also has Stranger Things singles available, though not the sealed versions. Though the singles are slightly more expensive than some TCGPlayer sellers, you do get a pretty good guarantee on the quality of the cards. If you’re placing a large order of singles, it may also be helpful to get them all from one seller to avoid multiple charges for shipping.

Finally, some local game stores order Secret Lair drops to sell later. From my experience, these stores follow TCGPlayer Market Price for sealed Secret Lairs, give or take a couple of dollars.

Best Stranger Things Cards Ranked

#9. Will the Wise

Will the Wise is pretty underwhelming. Unless you have a way to consistently bring it back or flicker it, you’re not getting all that much value out of this card. Even when you do, you’ll be stuck with a bunch of clue tokens but not much else.

Though most of the Stranger Things cards are built around creating clue tokens, there isn’t a super strong payoff for them on any of the friends forever commanders. Will could potentially slot into the 99 of a Commander deck built around clue tokens, but outside of that this card isn’t that useful.

#8. Chief Jim Hopper

Chief Jim Hopper has a more consistent way to make clue tokens in larger numbers. Having menace also makes it a better attacker, especially in Boros when you have lots of good equipment at your disposal. That said, you need to build another way to pay off the clue tokens since Hopper doesn’t do anything for that itself. Artifact decks could make good use of this card because clues can be good sacrifice fodder for cards like Daretti, Scrap Savant or Kuldotha Forgemaster.

#7. Lucas, the Sharpshooter

Lucas, the Sharpshooter is one of the few Stranger Things cards to actually have a payoff for all the clue tokens most of its potential partners can make. Being able to goad the biggest threat on the board consistently can be a pretty powerful addition to your deck, and if you build in ways to untap Lucas, you can cause a lot of chaos.

#6. Max, the Daredevil

Max, the Daredevil’s best quality is its ability to untap one of your creatures each turn. There are plenty of creatures that become much stronger when they can use their activated abilities multiple times, and you can also copy Max’s ability with cards like Strionic Resonator to untap multiple creatures on a turn.

Max, the Daredevil pairs really well with Lucas, the Sharpshooter because Max can both provide Lucas with more clue tokens to sacrifice and untap Lucas so it can use its ability multiple times. This is another example of Wizards building in good synergy between the show’s romantic couples, another nice bit of flavor for fans of the show.

#5. Dustin, Gadget Genius

Dustin, Gadget Genius works as a very nice mana dork for artifact decks. It slots well into the 99 of my Urza, Lord Protector Commander deck, and it also synergizes well with a lot of the other Stranger Things cards. Its ability can be used to activate the ability of your clue tokens, making Dustin a good partner for Hopper, Will, or Max.

#4. Eleven, the Mage

Having a hand size increase on a commander already makes Eleven, the Mage an interesting card. Its triggered ability can be very powerful; even if you don’t get free casts off of it you’re still getting an extra card on a consistent basis. Giving Eleven some form of evasion would be helpful in triggering its ability more regularly, but it has decent toughness as well.

#3. Hawkins National Laboratory / The Upside Down

Any deck built around using Clue tokens can make good use of Hawkins National Laboratory. Six mana to draw three cards and transform this into The Upside Down isn’t that steep of a price since you also get a creature from your graveyard when you do. You can also sacrifice clue tokens to other effects, potentially reducing the amount of mana it costs to transform this card.

#2. Mike, the Dungeon Master

On its own, Mike, the Dungeon Master can be a great resource to have. For only two mana, you can essentially reverse a single instance of targeted removal once per turn making it harder for your opponents to take your important creatures off the board. This works especially well in decks built around ETB effects.

While Mike, the Dungeon Master works well in most decks, it works especially well with some of the other Stranger Things commanders. With Will, the Wise you can sacrifice Will, get clue tokens, then bring Will back immediately and get more. Mike also allows you to attack with Eleven, the Mage or Chief Jim Hopper to trigger their abilities, then bring them back right away if they die in the attack.

#1. Mind Flayer, the Shadow

Mind Flayer, the Shadow can be a very powerful card in decks that are designed to take other players’ permanents. Commanders like Sen Triplets, Captain N'ghathrod, and Xanathar, Guild Kingpin all benefit from this card and make it more likely that Mind Flayer, the Shadow is a creature.

Are the Stranger Things MTG Cards Legal?

The Stranger Things cards are legal only in Magic’s Eternal formats, meaning Legacy, Vintage, Commander, and the recently recognized Oathbreaker.

Wrap Up

Chief Jim Hopper | Illustration by Greg Staples

Magic’s Stranger Things cards are a pretty good translation of the show’s characters into cards. While the cards aren’t overly powerful, they work together in interesting ways. It’s nice that there’s a built-in way to have them all in a single Commander deck led by Mike and Eleven. The Universes Within versions of these cards are also very cheap, which can give fans some hope that future reprints of unique Secret Lair cards will be equally as affordable.

Which Stranger Things cards are your favorite? Do you have any decks built around them? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one!

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