The Mountain Goats Created A MTG Secret Lair!

If you're a fan of excellent music, you're probably a fan of the North Carolina-based Indie Rock band, The Mountain Goats. And if you clicked this article, you're probably a fan of Magic: The Gathering. If so, that's something you and The Mountain Goats singer/songwriter John Darnielle have in common. He's such a big fan that he has collaborated with Wizards of the Coast on a Mountain Goats Secret Lair. The drop theme, the cards & concepts, how they came to be, and more will all be covered below.

The Mountain Goats Secret Lair - "Featuring: the Mountain Goats"

The Mountain Goats singer/songwriter John Darnielle has loved to play Magic: The Gathering (both draft and MTGArena) since he was given packs of Dominaria and M19 and began playing over lunch with a friend. This love of the game led him to collaborate with Wizards of the Coast for the premiere of his Dungeons & Dragon's themed album "In League with Dragons" in 2019. A live stream accompanied the announcement of the album on Facebook and Twitch, hosted by Wizards of the Coast.

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Sometime after that collab, John was approached by Wizards to design a Secret Lair drop, which he accepted. John was given complete creative control over the 10 cards (which he set on Lorwyn), "created the art descriptions, hand-selected the artists, and reviewed the art as it was being produced. On top of all that, he penned the epic prophecy featured in the flavor texts."

The Cards

Of course, The Mountain Goats Secret Lair contains nothing but Mountains.

The lands tell a ten-part journey through the mountains of Lorwyn, with the flavor texts telling an apocalyptic prophecy for the plane. A fictional Kithkin prophet, Narvek Riag, tells the story. John told the artists (which he also chose) precisely what he envisioned for each card in his ominous, prophetic tale. When asked about how his description aligned with the finished product, he had this to say about card 10:

"You had to say what the intent was for each card. For this one, the intent... 'This is part four of a 10-part journey through the mountains of Lorwyn.' After that, the following categories have to be filled in..." "After that came location, action, focus, and mood..."

"Intent. 'This is part 10 of a four-part journey through the mountains of Lorwyn. Location. A narrow valley between two high mountain walls in the Lorwyn mountain range.' Action... That's the biggest part for the description - 'Black markings climb the mountain walls from the ground up, smudged shapes suggesting the long work of fire. It's late at night. The moon illuminates the valley from a cloudless sky. This card depicts a place of action. The serious life of the flamekin governs here... A busier scene than what we're seeing in most of the mountains.'"

"'Here we enter a place with connections to the world outside... Not the solitary keep of the giants. This is a foreboding place of mystery and danger. Rogue elementals nest here.' For focus and perspective: 'Down at the end of this valley, there's an exit, but the darkness and narrowness of the path suggests that we might not pass through unmarked.'"

"Mood: 'Danger and the fear of the unknown.' Notes: 'The black markings that climb the valley walls can run from deep-black at their base to traces of grey at their peaks - A spectrum of menace.' Then I wrote, 'Note: Flamekin references are for Flamekin structural notes only; No Flamekin should be shown.' That's what a description looked like. And some of them were longer than that and some shorter, but that's how it worked."

Here is a link to the full interview this quote is from - WeeklyMTG | Secret Lair Chat with John Darnielle

Reading the process behind them being created lends them so much flavor. And if you're a fan of The Mountain Goats, this epic poem will be right up your alley. And it's worth mentioning that this is the first extended art basic lands for all you red players out there who like unique lands. So, that's pretty cool. If you want to pick up this Mountain Goats Secret Lair, you can do so here - Featuring: the Mountain Goats.

Conclusion

I must say that this drop surprised me - A Mountain Goats Secret Lair is not something I think anyone foresaw, but many, many people (myself included) will be excited about it.  I've been a fan of the band for quite a long time now, and I love it when my favorite things come together. If you've never heard the band check out Color In Your Cheeks (this was the first song I heard) and let me know what you think.

Aside from being a fan, this is one of the most unique Secret Lair drops I've seen. There's something unique about it beyond being a theme for the cards and new art. Perhaps this will start further collaborations between people/artists from outside the MTG world.