Chaos Vault: The Zeta Set Puts the Playtest in Your Hands
MSCHF is taking Magic all the way back to the beginning. Back to the game's earliest playtest days, when prototype cards were printed out, cut up, and passed around long before Magic reached the public, and players were still figuring out what, exactly, a Serra was.
Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set is a fittingly chaotic chrono-cruise down memory lane. We're firing up the library printers and making you the playtester. This release is set to arrive in the Chaos Vault on September 2, 2026, only at MagicSecretLair.com for $19.92 (a fitting homage to the year Magic was being playtested) while supplies last.
As we continue to test out wild new ideas like this release, we want to be open with where we're headed and why. If you're curious about what lies in the future for us, Matthew Hodgins, director of Secret Lair, recently discussed what's in store. And if you want to know all about this release, we've got you covered—read on!
Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set
Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set
Envelope
Each copy of Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set includes a Zeta Booster, a new creation from MSCHF containing 7 randomized Magic cards that look a bit different than what you're used to. And by a bit different, we mean "incredibly different and inspired by the original Magic: The Gathering (A Deckmaster Game) playtest cards from the 1990s." With artwork developed by the minds of MSCHF to look like it was pulled from the copier in 1992, these aren't like anything in your collection.
Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set includes 1 Zeta Booster. Each Zeta Booster contains the following:
- 7 Magic: The Gathering cards
- 3 Common cards
- From among 52 common cards
- 2 Uncommon cards
- From among 39 uncommon cards
- 1 Wildcard of any rarity
- From among 52 common (60%), 39 uncommon (30%), 20 rare (7.5%), and 10 mythic rare (2.5%) cards
- 1 Rare or mythic rare card
- From among 20 rare (75%) and 10 mythic rare (25%) cards
- 3 Common cards
Please note that common cards from Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set do not affect Pauper legality. If a common card from this release wasn't legal in Pauper, it still won't be legal in Pauper.
Not every card will come out of the printer looking the same—and that's part of the charm. Most cards will appear in this classic black-and-white photocopy treatment. But 10% of the time, you'll find a photocopy negative card, flipping the colors for an even more striking look. And 5% of the time, when the printer decides to get really temperamental, your card will have this jittery CMYK look that we're calling the color banding treatment. It turns out that even an unreliable library printer can contribute to an artistic masterpiece.
There are 121 different cards that you can find in Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set, ranging from Limited Edition (Alpha) classics to contemporary Commander favorites, all given a fittingly retro style by MSCHF and delivered to you in the big '26. You can check out all the cards below in all three of their versions, sorted by color and rarity. Once you've found your favorites, prepare to join us for some MSCHF on September 2.
Select a symbol to see Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set cards sorted by rarity.
Secure Your Spot in the Playtest
Want to be ready for Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set when it arrives on September 2, 2026? Here's a quick checklist to make sure you're set before the sale begins:
- Create a Wizards Account: Save your shipping and payment info for a faster checkout at myaccounts.wizards.com/register.
- Double-check your address: Make sure your shipping details are current so your order arrives at the right place.
- Enter the pre-queue: The pre-queue opens at 8 a.m. PT, 1 hour before the sale goes live at 9 a.m. PT. To enter the pre-queue, add any product to your cart and proceed to checkout.
- Queue placement: When the sale begins, customers already in the pre-queue are randomly assigned a spot in line. Anyone who proceeds to checkout after 9 a.m. PT enters the queue in the order they proceed to checkout.
- Please note: Adding products to your cart does not reserve them. Products are only secured once checkout is completed.
Bring the inkjet-enhanced beta test home, brought to you by the power of math majors, public artwork, and a ton of printer credits. Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set arrives in the Chaos Vault on September 2, 2026, only at MagicSecretLair.com for $19.92 while supplies last. Sign up below to be notified when it arrives, because the past shouldn't stay in the past.
About MSCHF
MSCHF is a multidisciplinary artist group based in Brooklyn, New York, that develops elaborate interventions that expose and leverage the absurdity of our cultural, political, and monetary systems.
The group frequently employs a working philosophy around Cultural Readymades—using parts of culture ranging from objects to images to businesses as working material. MSCHF expands the idea of sampling into a cross-industry practice.
The Zeta Set celebrates the collaged construction and appropriated images of cards from Magic: The Gathering's Limited Edition (Beta) through "Gamma" playtest sets. These cards, xeroxed and taped together from the materials their creators had on hand, speak to ideals close to MSCHF's heart.
Concept comes above all else; you create from what is around you.







