Anniversaries are a big thing for Magic: the Gathering. I've been in the game long enough to have seen several now and I remember how big some of them would end up feeling. The tenth anniversary saw some huge changes with the first major card frame revision in Eighth Edition, which itself was meant to be a celebration featuring cards from every Magic set thus far. The 15th anniversary didn't have a whole lot that I can remember, but the anniversary was frequently noted on a lot of the packaging. A handful of promos were given out, like the 15th anniversary stamped Kamahl, Pit Fighter; but otherwise there simply wasn't a whole ton going on.

With the 20th anniversary in 2013, we were getting a really cool, special release to celebrate such a big milestone in the game's history. That product was none other than the From the Vault: Twenty box set. From The Vault sets were generally products sold to stores at a low rate that the stores were able to sell well above MSRP, thereby being a sort of thank you to local game stores every year. They often featured rare and expensive cards with a central theme. They were far from perfect (few people liked the foiling process on them) but they were usually seen as a solid way to get reprints in the hands of players.

With the From the Vault: Twenty product, the goal was meant to show off a card from a variety of different sets to showcase the amazing history of the game in one collection. The primary way it would do this would be to pull from major tournament decks throughout those many years. Unfortunately, the product failed to deliver and outside the its marquee inclusion - the first reprint of Jace, the Mind Sculptor - the majority of cards simply weren't worth it. There were a handful of other solid choices like Green Sun's Zenith, the first foil printing of Fyndhorn Elves and Hymn to Tourach, accessible foil versions of Dark Ritual and Swords to Plowshares, and the inclusion of Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni.

A majority of the sweet cards weren't all that major, though. Yes, getting foil versions of Dark Ritual, Swords, Hymn, and Fyndhorn Elves was great, but they weren't actually worth all that much. Cards like Fact or Fiction, Impulse, and Char were pretty much straight up bulk. Worse yet, most people felt the card choices didn't represent the respective years of Magic as a whole and, in many cases, it was uncertain how they represented tournament play in those years as well. For example, when I think of Onslaught-era tournament play, I don't think of Akroma's Vengeance. I think of cards like Astral Slide and Goblin Piledriver. With Mirrodin I think Affinity. Kamigawa is something like Umezawa's Jitte not Ink-Eyes. Using Chameleon Colossus to represent the year Faeries completely dominated? A choice to be sure.

The result was a release that was just deeply disappointing and very few people enjoyed it. Players would buy it for Jace and little else. Worse yet, this was generally the one true anniversary release and it bummed people out that this was basically the celebration. Heck, Modern Masters 2013 released that year and wasn't even advertised as an anniversary product the way this one was. Rather, it was more all about being an exciting reprint set meant to show off the brand new Modern format instead.

The 25th anniversary actually did try to use a Masters set as a celebration tool, as Wizards realized that they needed to do more for a big anniversary than in previous years. Masters 25 was meant to be an awesome send up and tribute to the game's long history. Unfortunately, it flopped really hard. In my opinion, it managed to succeed and capture a lot of awesome things about the game's history. Many iconic cards were reprinted and included in one big package that, if you'd been with the game through the majority of its 25 years, you were bound to feel something about- especially with expansion symbol watermarks.

The problem was in the set's general value. Masters sets are loved for their powerful reprints of rare and hard to find cards. The issue here was that many of the cards simply weren't all that rare or valuable. In many cases, there were several bulk rares that could have easily been put in the uncommon slot instead. I really loved seeing cards like Laquatus's Champion, Brion Stoutarm, and Akroma, Angel of Wrath as much as the next person, but did we really need so many of them? Even the actual valuable cards weren't that valuable compared to previous Masters sets, and that was exacerbated by this set releasing so close to Iconic Masters which was another low-EV Masters release.

This release, coupled with some strange events like the Silver Showcase and low-attendance Grand Prixs like Grand Prix Richmond, made Magic's 25th anniversary a weird one. They certainly tried to make the best of it and still managed to succeed on several fronts. The release of Dominaria was a home run in every way, we got a cool 25th anniversary Pro Tour, several Beta booster drafts, and more. The successes were big, but it was clear there were some serious failures and it looks like Wizards learned from their mistake with the 30th anniversary this time around.

The celebrations have only just begun and we've gotten some awesome things. Dominaria United was a killer showcase of both the game's history and where it's heading. Now we have The Brothers' War giving us a look into the past through an all new lens. The Pro Tour is coming back, the Magic 30 convention was largely a success, and there's even more awesome things happening as we go into next year. The one really contentious piece so far - the 30th Anniversary Edition re-release of Limited Edition Beta - has taken up most of the conversation, but I think, for the most part, this anniversary has been a resounding success. I think no product represents this better than the 30th Anniversary Secret Lair.

The moment this lair was announced and we saw the first initial offering of cards, my jaw was on the floor. The very first words out of my mouth when this was shown off were simply, "This is everything From the Vault: Twenty should have been and then some." For all intents and purposes, this release is basically doing what that box set tried to do: include cards representative of the game's history up to this point in one sweet package. Where FTV:20 felt weird, stingy, and a bit out of touch, this product completely knocks it out of the park.

Just looking at the first seven cards really showcases this on its own. Nicol Bolas is one of Magic's most notorious villains, so featuring the version from a block entirely focusing on his own personal world is a masterstroke. Necropotence and Birthing Pod are not only popular Commander cards but are incredibly famous banned cards as well. Elspeth, Sun's Champion especially represents several beloved things all at once utilizing a popular planeswalker, art from Rebecca Guay, and classic card templating in a single package. The crown jewel, so to speak, is definitely the sick Dan Frazier illustrated Chrome Mox. I never would have thought we'd see an old frame Mox painted by the original artist of the classic Moxen from ABU and Stronghold but it's here and it's amazing. And I haven't even mentioned the outstanding treatments for Bloodbraid Elf and Shark Typhoon.

That's just a taste of the awesomeness included. A mere seven out of thirty. Once the rest of the cards were previewed, we truly got to see a wide representation of what made Magic so great over the last thirty years. Cards like Shivan Dragon and Mishra's Factory might not be worth all that much these days, but it's more about what they represent for the game that makes it so awesome. In the early years, Shivan Dragon was bar none the most powerful creature you could hope to play. Mishra's Factory featured some amazingly iconic artwork and was used by a myriad of decks to both give you mana and be able to attack if you no longer needed to use it. Even the art on this card pays homage to the original tree factory art used on the original Antiquities printing of the card - an outstanding touch that highlights the card's importance.

There are several tremendous tournament inclusions as well. I feel nowadays you're likely to see a lot of players scratch their heads at cards like Tradewind Rider, Bogardan Hellkite, and Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, but each of these completely dominated in Standards past. Tradewind Rider was a control staple, allowing you to bounce problem permanents and could even hit lands. Lin-Sivvi utilized the then one-sided legendary rule to take over games with rebels in a deck so powerful that she's still banned in Block Constructed. Most people would probably see Bogardan Hellkite as a worthless overcosted dragon, but it was the big finisher you'd play in your Dragonstorm decks during Time Spiral block to decimate your opponents' life totals.

Some of the other less valuable options are very storied in their own right. Squee, Goblin Nabob was once one of the big chase rares in Mercadian Masques because of how you could repeatedly use him to fuel strategies that took advantage of you discarding cards. Lightning Helix is a slam dunk if you've ever seen the famous clip from the Top 8 of Pro Tour Honolulu in 2006 ("OH, IT'S LIGHTNING HELIX! OH MY GOD!"). Even the Wild Mongrel inclusion, with its amazing derpiness, is simply inspired given how major the card was in the Madness decks of the Odyssey era. Each of these feels iconic, so deeply representative of their eras of Magic, that they just feel right.

This is all to say nothing about the cards that still see play. There's the trippy new Ponder art, the combination of both Glimpse of Nature and Heritage Druid being present, and the casual all-star Sun Titan. Then there are more modern powerhouses like Deathrite Shaman, Arclight Phoenix, or the famous "might see play when Polukranos rotates" Siege Rhino. You even get Smokestack to cater to a very niche audience of players who love playing Stax decks, as it's appropriately the namesake for such an archetype.

In the end, you get a set of cards that really, truly represents Magic as a whole. It represents what the game was like 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. It shows what competitive play was like, and what casual play was like all at once. It shows off sweet unique artwork and treatments that appeal to a broad stroke of aesthetics and styles of the past, present, and future. Most importantly, the sheer variety of cards reflects the multitude of players that exist in the game. This product is a home run in every sense of the word.

It's a shame the release was marred by a limited print run and an overwhelmed system for selling it. It's also a shame that the 30th Anniversary Edition packs took a lot of the wind out of this product's sails the very moment this Secret Lair was announced. In some ways, it feels like this release didn't get the amount of love it deserves. It's disappointing because to me, as this - along with the special retro frame prerelease promos being distributed throughout the next year - is truly a home run representation of the game and an incredible way to celebrate the game's anniversary.

There's a lot of negativity flying around lately. There's certainly an amount of it that's justified, but I think there's room to share a little joy as well. This product - purchasing fiasco aside - was that little bit of joy for me and will continue to be just that for some time yet to come. It's a great celebration of the game that's meant a tremendous amount to me throughout the majority of my life and has created endless friends, memories, and more in that time. This release is Magic, and it rules. I hope that, with time, we'll see more like this as time goes on. It's been a great thirty years so far, and I'm dying to see what the next thirty bring with it.

Paige Smith

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