MTG players blast “unreadable” Secret Lair promo card

A new Secret Lair promo card from the recent drop has Magic: The Gathering fans criticizing it as “unreadable”.

Magic: The Gathering’s limited-time “drops”, Secret Lair, has just sold out of its most recent mega bundle. This nets you every Secret Lair currently on sale, including new Fallout-themed reprints.

It also includes a promo card not found anywhere else, a reprint with new art for the card Ignoble Hierarch. This goblin card was released in Modern Horizons 2 and is an inverse of the classic Noble Hierarch card.

Now, Magic players have lambasted the new design as “unreadable”, as developers, Wizards of the Coast insist on using similar designs. A key part of playing MTG is a complex series of rules, which the card explains in a separate text box to avoid confusion. The new art on Ignoble Hierarch features an integrated rules text, positioned on the hand of the goblin.

One MTG fan said in reference to previous convoluted designs:

“Was this designed to be the most stereotypical unreadable Secret Lair card ever?”

The thread continued, with other players pointing out how hard it is to read it:

“Considering how long it took me to find Exalted? Yes.”

In response, a third said:

“I just realized that this actually had text on it besides its name.”

While most players seemed content to point out the card’s flaws, others were thinking on a grander scale. Speculation about how someone on staff must be pushing for these designs sparked a thread. While questioning if someone in the art department has “a boner” for this style of card, another responded by saying that it’s potentially related to data.

“Or they have data that suggests that these are HIGHLY desirable for a subset of the population and are catering to them.

“[For example] if “whales” disproportionally like them, they’re going to keep getting printed even if 80% of folks dislike them.”

Further in the thread, an age-old adage from the game was joked about:

“Reading the card explains the… hoo-boy…”

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