Back in 2019, Wizards of the Coast launched their foray into ‘premium’ card re-printing and presented high-quality, highly collectible cards in small run batches. They called this Secret Lair, and this direct-to-consumer approach gave fans of Magic: The Gathering a new collection to gather when a new drop occurred. I remember purchasing my first Secret Lair in Winter 2023, it was called “Ssssssnakessssss” and the Lotus Cobra included was a must. Although it took maybe two months to ship, one thing was certain: it would ship eventually. I would get my treasured CROM artwork Lotus Cobra, including the trademark gardening shears. The time spent on the site was anywhere between waiting for a pop-tart to eject from the toaster and waiting for hot soup to cool down enough so my mouth would remain unburnt.
What did burn, was the fan backlash to the Secret Lair distribution model. Antsy fans waiting for their specialized cards (like my Nicol Bolas) took to the internet to complain about how long it takes to appear in the mail after ordering. At this time, I would relate Secret Lair drops to Limited Run Games’ drops, except you were certain to receive the item you paid for with your cash within a quarter calendar year, unlike the latter, which may take actual years. Let’s face it, wait times for these specialized cards were stiff in the beginning, and after grabbing the Lotus Cobra, I pondered ever returning to the Lair for another purchase.
Wizards of the Coast and Magic: the Gathering then decided, in what felt like overnight (in January 2024), to change their distribution model to a limited amount printed per set instead of the print-to-order model they initially installed. At this time, I decided to jump back in and snag the Secret Lair Drop Series: Dungeons & Dragons 50th Anniversary Superdrop, which was an incredibly painless experience, and lo and behold, the drop showed up within a week of placing my order. “This must be real Magic!” I thought at the time, having all of these awesome D&D cards to show my friends was akin to show and tell in Kindergarten, everyone loves to show off their new cards let’s be real. I had fallen head over heels for these releases, and Secret Lair and I became semi-exclusive, seeing each other maybe once every 3-5 months thereafter.
Trouble in Paradise
After what I assumed was an incredibly positive change to the Secret Lair formula, Wizards of the Coast announced a banger mash up, Magic: the Gathering x Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The artwork, mixed with flavor text ripped straight from the film was a match made in heaven. The drop included an assortment of reprints with artwork inspired directly from the Monty Python film. On the typical Monday release schedule (9 a.m. PST), I sat in front of a screen I hadn’t seen before since purchasing Secret Lair, a line queue. I initially thought, ‘there’s a line to get into a website?’ And it turns out the first rule about Secret Lair was broken, and the secret was out. A LOT of fans wanted these cards, and I know a few who were genuinely infuriated by this drop (including Shuffle Up & Play’s The Professor).
Being my first confrontation with the queue, I luckily got into the purchase screen and was able to secure copies of the Monty Python drop. On checkout, I noticed a warning Wizards of the Coast gives consumers, which basically said if you order than the allotted amount they would cancel your order. I listened to the rules, and got only my copy hoping friends could gain access. It turns out they weren’t able, and many fans were left in the cold for this drop.
One week later, images popped up on the internet of boxes and boxes of this Secret Lair drop stacked on top of each other, in what seemed to be against the Wizards of the Coast warning. Although I followed the rules, others hadn’t and within a few more days these drops were listed for double (sometimes triple) their MSRP pricing. Now, these drops are still being listed for ~$60 USD, which is a significant markup from their retail pricing. Resellers have listed multiple of each set, with some sellers having six of the item up for grabs under “Unopened” for more than their MSRP to this day. This is when Secret Lair started showing some red flags.
Maybe We Should Be Friends
Last year, possibly the biggest Secret Lair drop of all time happened. A massive Marvel drop happened, with iconic characters and awesome card effects that make sense to each of the characters strengths outside of Magic: the Gathering. Excellent reprints of cards like Berserk, Jeska's Will, and The Ozolith were redone in Marvel flavor, showing off how close to the source material each drop got. Captain America’s color combination was even shifted in his color identity to feature Red, White & Blue for the flag he represents.
For this drop, I was again greeted by the queue screen, but something new happened. As I waited for over 3.5 hours in the queue, items started to sell out. At the four-hour mark, I was able to secure Captain America and Iron Man, but everything else flew the coop as SOLD OUT. Because I missed out on Storm, I popped over to TCGPlayer a week later, and the exact same thing happened, stacks of unopened Secret Lair product up for sale for way more than the MSRP price. There is a warning in place to deter scalpers, but there’s no evidence of enforcement on these rules.
Worse still, Secret Lair started implementing Secret Bonus cards in each drop. A bonus card is given with each Secret Lair drop, and normally it’s an extended art foil Sliver creature, a Reclamation Sage, or even Xorn for the Dungeons and Dragons set (it goes with the flavor). Little did I know, there were cards that were bigger secrets than the lair itself. Dungeons and Dragons has a Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes with special art of the heroes on dragon back, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is clad in Thunder Junction artwork, and Marvel launched Abundant Groot (a reskin of Abundant Growth). The market price for Abundant Groot alone is $150, Elesh Norn sits at a whopping $560 market price, and the heroes go for ~$420 USD. These are the prices for SINGLE cards that are random to the consumer.
For those that can afford stacks of each drop, this incentivizes consumers to forgo the rules in favor of seeking these highly collectible cards that are already priced at a premium. While this isn’t inherently Wizards of the Coast’s fault, putting ‘chase’ cards inside already limited product almost assures a sell out leaving fans who wanted a single product on read.
SpongeBob and the Way Forward
Secret Lair launched SpongeBob SquarePants this week. Yes, SpongeBob SquarePants has invaded Magic: The Gathering, and although the mere mention of him is enough to hearken the oldest of fans back to his insane laughter, it was obvious there may be another problem on the horizon due to the sheer popularity of the rectangular cleaning product. This time, one of my favorite cards in Magic: The Gathering was on order, Master of Cruelties. I thought I’d for sure be able to secure a non-foil copy of this card from the side Tragic Romance drop, but man was I wrong.
After trying to jump onto the site at the launch time, I was met with a notice that said the site was having technical difficulties and it would be down for a few “moments”. The site reopened over 200 minutes later to the same line queue, except there was a new item on the menu, a $2000 option that guarantees the consumer four copies of each dropped card in foil and non-foil. Instead of attempting to stop scalping further, there’s now an option exclusive to resellers. I’m sure some consumers may have pooled money together for one purchase and everyone gets what they want out of the super drop, it’s technically a really good idea. But in today’s scalper-riddled market where adults are seen literally ripping Pokémon cards out of children’s hands at target and other stores, this is a bad move.
After waiting until nearly FIVE hours after the drop, Tragic Romance was SOLD OUT completely. I’m sure many other fans had this exact problem, but lucky for me, Secret Lair allowed me back onto the site to purchase items that were still up for grabs. Normally, this move is done for shoppers who missed out on clearance, but the remaining cards I didn’t enter the site for are not on clearance; they’re full-priced. While this is a solid let those who actually waited in line have an opportunity to grab some limited artwork without having to wait another FIVE hours, the item I waited that time for is gone so the opportunity felt genuinely bad as a consumer and a fan.
There’s only one surefire way forward for Secret Lair to re-establish itself as a worthwhile investment: make people wait. Return to the old way of print-to-order. Secret Lair Magic: The Gathering cards are an excellent way to boost visibility in the product, add cool new designs, promote truly awesome artists, and give MTG more revenue to continue crafting the game we all love.
Secret Lair cards are not consumer monthly prescriptions, so it really is not life or death on whether the cards ship fast. Returning to the old way of Secret Lair will assure all fans can get the cards advertised (as well as giving them a chance at the super-secret cards) without prohibiting more wealthy consumers from buying many in attempt to pull the chase. The only issue is shipping will delay, and some fans won’t be happy. But at least it will be fair. Until a correction to the current scalper-friendly system is made, Secret Lair and I should just be friends.
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