Next month Wizards of the Coast will bring something totally new to Magic: The Gathering. Starting December 2, a new “sub-brand” called Secret Lair will group existing cards into small collectible sets with strange themes and wild new art styles.

This initiative will kick off with the Secret Lair Drop Series: a collection of seven unique set drops that Wizards calls “a love letter for its fans.” IGN is excited to give you the first look at one of those drops – an adorable cat-themed set aptly named “OMG KITTIES!”

Flip through the slideshow below to see all the cards in this drop, and read on for more details about Secret Lair, the next drops, and more:

OMG KITTIES! Cards – Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair Drop Series 17 IMAGES

Wizards Product Architect Mark Heggen told me they built Secret Lair “from the ground up to be a home for the stranger, more experimental, more unexpected cards that we think some players will love but don’t fit into our sets and other products.”

None of the cards in this first batch of drops are new, drawn instead from previous sets throughout Magic’s history, and they won’t impact the competitive landscape. However, Heggen said they are tournament legal in the usual formats each card would be. “We’d be thrilled for tournament players to sleeve up these versions if they like the art,” he explained, but admitted that they are probably more likely to appeal to Commander decks or more casual play.

“ "Someone wrote ‘cute cats’ on the whiteboard. The whole room was like, ‘Yep, obviously, ship it.’"

“We have a lot of passionate Magic fans here at Wizards working on the game, so a lot of conversations in the hallway start off with ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’ Secret Lair is the result of conversations like that.” That passion and desire to deliver something silly and fun for the heck of it is at the core of Secret Lair.

So how did Wizards decide on the themes for each drop – and why adorable cats? “I remember being in one of the very first brainstorms for the project and someone wrote ‘cute cats’ on the whiteboard,” Heggen recalled. “The whole room was like, ‘Yep, obviously, ship it.’ We started from that core idea and then found cards and artists to support it.”

But not everything was that cat cut and dry. Other drop themes (which you can see all the names of below) grew from a single card or a certain art style Wizards liked, but they are all fundamentally about doing something fun for fans that Wizards otherwise couldn’t. “We can now create these unexpected cards in a way that’s a lot lighter and more flexible than if they were part of a full set.”

Loading

Once Wizards had a direction for a drop, the team would pull together “a huge list of options from throughout Magic’s history, and then started narrowing that down.” That’s why, in the example of OMG KITTIES!, you have a card like Leonin Warleader from the 2019 Core Set alongside Regal Caracal from 2017’s Amonkhet – each with their own adorable and unique cat token card.

“Not all of the Secret Lair cards are this cute and cartoony,” Heggen said, “but we wanted to reveal these first to show off how out-there some of these cards would get in terms of visual style.” He explained that they really wanted to push the boundaries and print art you wouldn’t expect to see on a Magic card, saying “some of them get pretty wild.”

“ “Not all of the Secret Lair cards are this cute and cartoony... some of them get pretty wild."

To enable that, Wizards is trying to work with artists they usually don’t on Secret Lair. “We’re working with street artists, comic book artists, traditional Magic artists working with very non-traditional art briefs, album cover designers, and on and on and on. It really is a chance to welcome new artists and styles into the game, which is a big part of what makes this all so fun.”

And that’s sort of the point here: this is Wizards having fun, and hoping players enjoy it too. Heggen even admitted that this sort of thing or these particular set themes may not appeal to everyone, and that’s perfectly okay. He said they designed each set to thrill a specific fan that might be out there, aiming to excite someone with each drop even if it’s a niche group.

These seven drops won’t be the end of Secret Lair either. While Wizards isn’t sharing details yet, Heggen says they “have more plans for Secret Lair in 2020,” even saying it will “absolutely continue” beyond this first series. Better yet, things are only going to get “even weirder and more surprising.”

This isn't the first time Magic has gone cutesy, here's its recent My Little Pony crossover:

Cards, Sleeves, and Playmats in Magic: The Gathering's My Little Pony Charity Crossover 13 IMAGES

Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair Drop Series Details and Dates

The Secret Lair Drop Series will kick off on December 2, and each drop will only be available to purchase for 24 hours on the official Wizards of the Coast site. While a drop won’t be available after its 24-hour period, it also won’t run out of stock during that time – a system Wizards called “timeboxed to demand.”

“Everyone who wants one can have one, as long as they show up during the 24-hour window that the drop is happening,” Heggen said, explaining that this allows the drops to both feel like a limited and special collectible without forcing people who want one to race to order before they are sold out.

Drops will contain between three and seven predetermined cards and tokens in a customized collector box, costing either $29.99 or $39.99 depending on the drop – some of which will use premium foil cards as well. A bundle will also be available for $199.99 that guarantees you all seven drops.

Here is the schedule of when they’ll be available for purchase, as well as the names of each:

Secret Lair Bundle (all seven drops) - 12/2, 9am PT, $199.99

- 12/2, 9am PT, $199.99 Bitterblossom Dreams - 12/3, 9am PT

- 12/3, 9am PT Eldraine Wonderland - 12/4, 9am PT

- 12/4, 9am PT Restless in Peace - 12/5, 9am PT

- 12/5, 9am PT Seeing Visions - 12/6, 9am PT

- 12/6, 9am PT <explosion sounds> - 12/7, 9am PT

- 12/7, 9am PT Kaleidoscope Killers - 12/8, 9am PT

- 12/8, 9am PT OMG KITTIES! - 12/9, 9am PT, $39.99

Additionally, ordering a drop will get you codes for digital goodies in MTG Arena and Magic Online. You’ll get the cards themselves in Magic Online, but Heggen explained that since most of the cards in this series don’t exist in Arena, you’ll instead get sleeves as “expressions of the drop’s theme.”

As for what the other drops in that list will include, Wizards of the Coast said it will be showing off more them today on its official Twitter account , so you can keep your eyes peeled there for further reveals.

Tom Marks is IGN's Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker. You can follow him on Twitter