I've dreamed of playing magic with my son since before he was born. I dreamed of all the things I'd teach him through magic: math, strategy, politics, community building, being a good loser and more importantly a good winner.
I got seated across from a very young kid at a Friday Night Magic in a draft match. At first, I thought he was saving the seat for his dad cause he was so young. Then I saw him take out sheets of card rankings to study before the draft. One of the other players gestured over to him and said "Look out! Kid's good." I faced him in my second match. He beat me 2-1 playing Modern Horizons with an Esper Blink deck that was nowhere on my radar of archetypes. He took his wins and his loss with equal poise. No lost temper. No whining about bad luck. After the match I complimented him on his deck and mentioned that his soulherder put in real work and how I'm hoping to open one to add to my Roon blink deck. He said, "Here you go. I don't need it." I thanked him and headed home amazed that a kid that looked 7 could demonstrate so much focus, character and compassion. I could see how the game was helping turn him into a better person.
When the Walking Dead Secret Lair was announced, all I could think of was how this kid would learn who Negan is because of it. There's plenty of problems with their decision to make this product. The predatory sales tactic of limited release in both time and quantity for a product clearly aimed at Commander Players is what most folks have been upset about. The IP is so far from the world of magic. But I think I'm most worried about maturity of the themes it brings to a game I've been looking forward to playing with my son.
I've read the walking dead comic, through the place where Negan is introduced. I've watched the show for a few seasons though I stopped before Negan came along. I loved the first few years of the series, but it just started become clear that it didn't know where it was going so I stopped. Now even though I love the series, it's not something I want to introduce my son to possibly ever. The power of the story in the Walking Dead is the way that it tackles the brutal questions that people would face in the midst of an apocalypse. The real enemies are not the zombies but the other people trying to survive. Negan's character survives by brutalizing his enemies into submission with the barbed wire bat he's holding on the card of a card game that's made for kids. I don't know any dad that wants their kids exposed to that. I definitely don't want mine.
"If you don't want him to see it, don't buy it for him." Sure, but now when my son and I are putting together decks on Scryfall, Negan can come up on a search. Then he'll ask me about Negan or worse go searching him up on the internet and get exposed to some scarring scenes from the series with Negan bashing someone's head in with a bat.
"There's already violent imagery in magic." Sure, but the fantasy world it's set in helps me to make it clear that these are just stories and how we don't solve our problems with violence in real life. Negan's story is set in the modern day with modern weapons used against real people, innocent people. Those are images I plan to keep away from my son as long as possible. Now I can't if I want to share the experience of playing Magic with my son.
What worries me the most is that printing a barbed wire bat wielding sadist as a magic is going to make other dad's decide that magic isn't an appropriate game for their kid. These are my people! I don't want to lose them. The other magic playing dads I know share the same passion for the game that I do. We talk about how to teach the game to our kids. We share our proud stories about their wins and even more about how they learn from their losses. They put in the time, effort and money to help develop their kids' passion for the game. I have a friend hosts his son's playgroup each week and gives them starter decks and cards to help them learn the game. Dad's like this are planting the seeds for the next generation of magic players. They should matter more to you than a profit grabbing product with very questionable IP.
I'm not quitting magic yet. This isn't enough, but it's a door that the rules committee should never have let WoTC open. If they keep letting graphically adult IP into the game, I will have to abandon the dream of playing magic with my son. Sadly I'm pretty sure they will. I expect more Secret Lairs with even more questionable IP, maybe Secret Lair Altered Carbon featuring Laurens Bancroft who gets his kicks murdering prostitutes. I think he'd be Mardu too.