Stardew Valley is the subject of the next Secret Lair drop for Magic: The Gathering, going on sale from 9am on July 27 through the Secret Lair website, PC Gamer reported.
Secret Lair releases are limited runs of existing Magic cards reprinted with new art on an unusual theme; previous drops have covered Monty Python, Dwarf Fortress and Garfield. They are known for selling out quickly and for being difficult to buy at list price afterwards.
The Stardew Valley set uses illustrations by the game's creator, ConcernedApe. Cards named in PC Gamer's report include Mermaid's Pendant, a reskin of Wedding Ring, and a Stardew-themed take on Sword to Plowshares. One card depicts the mayor's purple shorts, and another shows the autopetter inside a cave chest.
The reaction to the character art
Most of the discussion has centred on Elliott, the writer who lives on the beach and is one of the game's romanceable characters. Fan artists have long drawn him as slight and delicate; the Mermaid's Pendant art gives him a noticeably squarer jaw, and the Stardew Valley subreddit has spent the days since reveal comparing the portrait unfavourably to a range of other figures.
Other cards have drawn comment for smaller departures from what players had inferred from the game's own pixel art. Penny is drawn with ringlets rather than the buns her sprite suggested, and Leah's build differs from the common fan reading. Clint, who becomes a marriage candidate in the 1.7 update, is also redrawn.
The gap is partly a matter of resolution. Stardew Valley's in-game portraits are small and stylised, which leaves a great deal of room for interpretation, and a card-sized illustration of the same character necessarily resolves details that the sprite left open.
Separately, PC Gamer reported that the game's 1.7 update will let players romance both Clint and Sandy, and will add a new farm type.
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