To kick off 2023, Wizards of the Coast announced a monumental change to the Secret Lair product line. Going forward, Secret Lair drops, not just the unique preconstructed decks, would be printed as a limited-run product. According to Wizards of the Coast, this move was made to dramatically increase shipping times to players around the world.
Earlier this week, the first Secret Lair Superdrop since this change came into effect was released. Dubbed the Winter 2024 Superdrop, this collection of Secret Lairs had players hugely excited, even if the value was lacking. Despite some drops being duds, there was a huge expectation that the limited-run sale would be absolute chaos.
Somewhat surprisingly that wasn’t the case as, for the first four days, it was business as usual. Now, however, the expected has finally happened. One of the new Secret Lair drops has sold out!
The Beauty of the Beasts Sells Out!
At long last, it has finally happened, The Beauty of the Beasts Secret Lair drop has sold out! Well, the foil version has, at least. For the time being, the non-foil variant is still sticking around, but there’s no telling how long that will last. Considering The Beauty of the Beasts was considered the prettiest Secret Lair in the Superdrop, it’s no wonder it sold out first.
While many players may have loved this drop’s good looks, unfortunately, the reprint value is somewhat lacking. Only offering $26 worth of reprints, this foil drop doesn’t come close to breaking even, however, that may be underselling it. Alongside the reprints we already have prices for, The Beauty of the Beasts contains a never-before-seen foil.
First printed in Theros Beyond Death, Serpent of Yawning Depths, this card was previously only available in Theme Boosters. Unfortunately for fans of sea creature Typal decks, this meant it had no foil variant until now. In theory, since it didn’t exist before, the new foil copies of Serpent of Yawning Depths could be incredibly expensive.
Right now, while a few of the cards are desirable, the major of The Beauty of the Beasts’ value will likely come from the art. As we mentioned before, this Secret Lair looks absolutely fantastic, so people will want to own these cards. With that in mind, these reprints may well be significantly more expensive than the normal foil variants.
Speaking of normal variants, the non-foil edition of The Beauty of the Beasts is still available at the moment. If you’re interested in this drop, I wouldn’t wait around as it may only be a matter of time before it sells out. Although, that may just be the FOMO talking.
No More $300 Bundle
Remarkably, as if one Secret Lair selling out wasn’t enough, three other major drops have all sold out too! Curiously, the other three freshly sold-out drops are all bundles from the Winter 2024 Superdrop. Remarkably, one of the three, now unavailable, bundles is the $300 Everything on the Menu Bundle!
On its own, this bundle selling out would certainly be an impressive feat thanks to its immense price tag. Sure, it may technically be financially viable due to some insane foils, but it selling out definitely wasn’t expected. Confusingly, this seemingly impressive sale might not be as straightforward as it seems.
Currently, the Beastly Breakfast Omens Bundle Foil Edition and All the Sweet Foils Bundle are also both sold out. In case you’re unfamiliar, these bundles, all contain a copy of The Beauty of the Beasts Foil Edition. With this detail in mind, it seems just one Secret Lair selling out has made all these bundles unavailable.
Rather than selling out on their own merit, it appears that every Secret Lair drop and bundle is interconnected. Rather than bundles getting their own dedicated print volume, they instead deplete the supply of each Secret Lair and vice versa. Admittedly, while this detail is interesting, it doesn’t mean much for the average MTG player.
The only real downside of this model is that The Beauty of the Beasts Foil Edition is well and truly completely sold out. Considering the secondary MTG market exists, allowing players to buy singles, this is hardly the end of the world.
The Real Secret Is the Supply
Sadly, while the first Secret Lair has sold out, we still have no idea about supply. In theory, The Beauty of the Beasts Foil Edition may have just been supremely popular. Alternatively, Wizards may have under-printed this product, causing it to sell out faster. Right now, we simply don’t know which reality we’re living in.
At the end of the day, thanks to the lack of information from Wizards, FOMO is now a very real concern. Plaguing each new Secret Lair release, players may feel like they have no choice but to get in fast lest they miss out. Currently, it seems like players will have at least four days to make up their minds, but this time frame could easily drop in the future.
Depending on the quality of future Secret Lair drops, the next Superdrop may sell out even faster. If this happens, Wizards may need to change their print volume going forward to stop players from missing out. Thankfully, while this is a concerning fear, there’s no guarantee it’s going to turn into a reality.
Read More: 36 Board Wipe Deck Fuels Calls for New Standard Bans