The collaboration between Magic: The Gathering and the Sonic the Hedgehog series is the latest video game crossover in the trading card game. The announcement of the Sonic the Hedgehog Secret Lair came as a surprise to the community, but a welcome one to fans of Magic: The Gathering and the Sonic game series.
On June 27, 2025, the three Sonic Secret Lair drops coming to the TCG were revealed. The Friends & Foes collection will likely be the most sought-after by players as it contains seven cards based on the Sonic the Hedgehog cast, each of which is a unique addition to Magic: The Gathering. The other two drops both contain seven cards each based on pre-existing MTG cards, skinned with new art to fit the Sonic theme. These are all the Secret Lair Sonic Superdrop cards known so far, but another bonus card has recently been spotted.
Related
Every Magic: The Gathering X Sonic the Hedgehog Card Revealed So Far
Wizards of the Coast has revealed that the next Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair will cross over with Sonic the Hedgehog.
MTG Sonic Secret Lair Leak Reveals Master Emerald Shrine Card
Every Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair drop in the past has included bonus cards, and it seems like the Sonic the Hedgehog collection will be no different. The Master Emerald Shrine card has been leaked ahead of its official reveal as a skinned version of Command Tower. The Master Emerald is an important aspect of Sonic lore, appearing in its unshattered form in two other cards in the Secret Lair drop. Giving the alter its own card is a great callback to the series while providing a solid card for any Commander deck.
Command Tower is a staple Magic: The Gathering card and has featured in many Secret Lairs before, each with unique art. As a skinned card, Master Emerald Shrine maintains the ability to add any color mana to the player’s mana pool when tapped, as long as the color can be found in their commander’s color identity. As well as the Sonic-themed art, there is some flavor text featured at the bottom of the card, quoting Tikal’s Prayer from the original Sonic Adventure. Players hoping to get their hands on the Secret Lair drops would have a great addition to their deck with this card.
Related
Magic: The Gathering’s Sonic Cards Surprisingly Fit Like a Glove
Magic: The Gathering brings Sonic the Hedgehog to the battlefield with an upcoming Secret Lair drop, and it’s impressive to how well the critters fit.
Chaos Emerald Cards Could Follow the Master Emerald Shrine
Sonic Secret Lair References Chaos Emeralds Already
The Master Emerald Shrine is the first bonus card known, but players can expect many others to follow. The flavor text for this card makes reference to the Chaos Emeralds, which are also featured in the art of many of the Sonic Secret Lair cards. This could be a hint that one or more of the Chaos Emeralds may be featured as bonus cards in the upcoming Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair.
If a Chaos Emerald bonus card is added to Magic: The Gathering, it’s very likely that it would be a reprint of an existing card. Throughout the Sonic series, these Chaos Emeralds have been shown to have a vast array of abilities. Sonic Superstars revealed that each has unique Emerald Powers only accessible on the Northstar Islands. If they are featured as MTG cards, there are plenty of cards that match the Chaos Emeralds’ abilities.
Possible Card Choices for the Chaos Emeralds
While it’s the least likely to be the case, there is a slight possibility that a Chaos Emerald card would be a skin for Mox Emerald. What makes this choice so unlikely is that the card is banned in many different formats, as well as it being one of the rarest cards in Magic: The Gathering. For a similarly named card, Emerald Medallion may be a better choice for how much more accessible it is to players, but it again may not be an ideal choice. It reduces the cost of green spells by 1, which is of little use to the upcoming Sonic cards; none have green in their color identity.
Another choice could be Teleportation Circle, which can be used to temporarily exile a card before placing it back on the battlefield, effectively retriggering enter effects. This could work well with other cards in the Secret Lair, such as Tails, Egg Hammer, and Piko Piko Hammer. The ability to teleport cards also aligns with how the Chaos Emeralds work in the Sonic the Hedgehog games, particularly when using Chaos Control.
The most notable use of the Chaos Emeralds throughout the series is to enable characters to achieve a Super form, which is represented by the Super State card in the Friends & Foes Secret Lair drop. It’s possible that a Chaos Emerald card would allow the player to search their deck for the Super State card. Open the Armory is one of the best Aura tutors, but it is already being used in the Chasing Adventure set, and its white color identity means it cannot be used in a deck built around the Rakdos Shadow the Hedgehog card. Two alternatives could be Planar Portal or Gamble, both of which could add Super State to the player’s hand.
A Chaos Emerald card could take inspiration from Sonic Superstars and the abilities players can use in the game. Some of Sonic Superstars’ Emerald Powers do have some Magic: The Gathering counterparts, such as the Blue Emerald’s Avatar power working as MTG’s Clone – which uses blue mana – and the Vision power of the Purple Emerald revealing hidden items much like the Peek card. If a Chaos Emerald card is added to the game, it could draw upon these for inspiration.
Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Sonic the Hedgehog is shaping up to be a great crossover, and knowing that there are more cards to be revealed, fans continue to have a lot to be excited about. It is unlikely that players have seen all there is to see from this Sonic crossover, with the reveal of more bonus cards likely to follow. Players hoping to collect all of these cards should be prepared for when the Sonic the Hedgehog Secret Lair drops at 9 AM PST on July 14.
- Franchise
-
Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
-
1993
- Age Recommendation
-
13+