Yesterday, I awoke to the news that Secret Lair’s Chaos Vault was dropping the highly anticipated Dandan deck. Dandan aka Forgetful Fish is a highly interactive fan-created game mode, that graphic designer Nick Floyd pioneered 30 years ago, that uses a shared 80-card deck. The announcement that it was coming to Secret Lair was birthed in a shroud of controversy as Floyd wasn’t initially contacted about it. Thanks to an outpouring of support from the MTG community, Nick Floyd was able to get credit for his creation, and the Dandan lead from Secret Lair, Carmen Klomparens, even posted to her social media that she could “not stress enough that this wouldn’t be possible” without Floyd.
The excitement over this Secret Lair drop was palpable. Though the initial announcement went out on Sunday, players got their first taste back at MagicCon Atlanta. It was at that time that Floyd posted to his Bluesky account that he had not been contacted about it and was concerned he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on one due to the nature of Secret Lair selling out of hot ticket items and being scalped on the secondary market. He even said this wasn’t about getting the credit. 5 months later, he’s become very cooperative with Wizards as part of the Dandan release.
His initial concern about Secret Lair inventory and scalping issues wasn’t unfounded. The Dandan Secret Lair deck sold out in just 45 minutes. While this outcome was very predictable, it presents two different problems that Secret Lair has created. The first of these is that people who just want Secret Lair for the cards are unable to get them. I’ve never played Dandan and I was very interested in getting my hands on it not because I’m a collector but because I’m a player and I want to play the game. They sold out before I even became aware that they were on sale. Limited stock releases choke the market in such a way that players have to rely on luck just to get their hands on one at MSRP.
The second issue this creates is a money issue both for Wizards and consumers. Wizards could be making more money by releasing them at MSRP in a much broader capacity but instead the only people truly winning are the scalpers that sell the deck on the secondary market. As of this morning, only 1 day after the initial sale and before anyone who bought it has even had time to receive it, the market value on TCG Player is ~$270. The MSRP for this deck when it went on sale just 24 hours ago was $99. That’s nearly 3 times the cost because Wizards wasn’t willing to sell more than their initial print.
That was a change in how Secret Lair operated that dates back to 2024. Prior to that, Secret Lair orders were taken, then the print happened and customers were shipped their items. Yes, the secondary market still existed for those who missed the initial drop, but because the likelihood of getting a drop if you wanted it was much higher, the re-sale was less predatory. In an attempt to speed up delivery times, the decision was made to pre-print so that the deliveries could go out right away.
So how would I overhaul the system? I think there are three things that could and should be done to improve the customer experience for Secret Lair. The first thing is that the pre-printed run should continue but orders shouldn't be cut off just because that stock sold out. There is obviously a demand for the cards if people are actively struggling to spend money on your product. This solves the issue of players not being able to get their hands on it. Secondarily, it also alleviates the scalping issue. Scalping has always existed in places where the demand for a product far outweighs the supply. The only reason why someone would spend $270 on a deck that previously cost $99 is because there is no other option. If Wizards removed that obstacle, they could be making more money instead of just giving it away to people who are only buying their product as a business venture of their own.
The second thing Wizards should implement for Secret Lair is a second-run print. To be clear, they’ve addressed this already. While I couldn’t find a link to the actual video, Redditors in the magicTCG subreddit recapped an episode of Weekly MTG from February featuring Secret Lair Senior Director Lindsay Bartell. The recap states “Secret Lair will never reprint older drops. She beats herself up over Secret Lairs that sell out quickly and has a list of ones she can think of and she owns it. One of the promises they made is that it’s one and done as Secret Lair.”
There would be a benefit in changing course on that position. While the reason given is that it’s meant to be highly collectible, too many of Secret Lair’s offerings are unique new-to-Magic cards to relegate them to only being collectible. So let’s say 6 months after the initial print, if there’s still an unusually high demand for a print that is causing resale values to skyrocket, Wizards could open the vault and release it again. Again, this could be done for a limited time with a pre-printed run for the earliest orders and longer shipping times for those who come later in the ordering window. It still helps solve both player accessibility issues and pricing/scalping issues.
The third thing Wizards should do is give customers a longer window to prepare. What I mean is that when the drop is ready, an announcement with a date should be made for a minimum of two weeks but preferably a month out to give customers time to prepare for their order. As I mentioned, the announcement for Dandan dropping came on Sunday for a Monday morning release. I personally didn’t see it until it was sold out. I didn’t just fall through the cracks, I missed the whole meeting. A longer lead time from the final announcement to the release means people can prepare to do battle with scalper bots because they’ll have time to set it in their calendars and make sure they can afford the drop when it happens. The current model only rewards scalpers who make it their whole business to know when limited run items are going on sale.
Unfortunately, there’s no perfect fix. There will always be a secondary market that sells limited stock items for a higher price point than MSRP. There will always be someone who couldn’t get in on the Secret Lair at the time that it was available. That doesn’t change the fact that Wizards can, and has the responsibility, to look out for their consumers by making changes that will improve the consumer experience.
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