It’s all go for MTG Spider Man at the moment. Prerelease events for this set kicked off last weekend, and today, six brand-new Secret Lair drops were released. Unsurprisingly, as is all too common for Universes Beyond-themed Secret Lairs, it didn’t take long for things to start selling out.
At the time of writing, it hasn’t even been two hours since the latest Spider Man Superdrop went live. Despite this, two of the drops have already sold out, and a third seems primed to follow suit. Curiously, it seems all the attention is focused on one specific drop at the moment.
Venom Unleashed Secret Lair Sells Out
It didn’t even take an hour and a half for the first variants of Venom Unleashed to sell out. So far, foil editions for both the (Colors) and (Inks) variants of this drop have sold out. Meanwhile, the non-foil (Colors) drop has a low stock warning and may also sell out soon. Clearly, this Venom-themed drop is the one that everyone wants.
Despite being the first to sell out, Venom Unleashed is by no means the best Secret Lair drop we’ve ever seen. Damnation is a good reprint at $19, sure, but prices fall off fast after that. Dark Ritual is the next most expensive card, and that’s only worth around $3 on average. That said, since this card is a Commander staple, this premium printing could be quite pricey.
In total, the raw reprint value of the entire Venom Unleashed drop is around $27. With non-foil and foil prices at $30 and $40, respectively, it’s not like players are making free money from positive value. Despite this, the drop has still managed to sell out first, undoubtedly due to the love for Venom.
As much as he’s the face of the set, Spider Man doesn’t have the same cult appeal as Venom. More people might know who Spider Man is, but Venom arguably has more diehard fans. At times, these fans can be a little bit rabid in their support, in fact, as the Spider-Man 2 Collector’s Edition proved.
While this Secret Lair drop might not let you “Treat yourself to 19-inches of Venom,” these cards are still compelling collectibles. Naturally, there are bound to be plenty of players looking to use these in Commander decks, or even just frame them. That said, while this audience definitely exists, they weren’t the only ones buying this Secret Lair drop.
Scalpers Strike Again
As always, scalpers have once again reared their ugly heads to disrupt this Secret Lair sale. While this isn’t really news at this point, it’s nonetheless very disappointing to see. Already, tons of copies of Venom Unleashed are up for sale on eBay, with prices far exceeding the original purchase price.
Sadly, a lot of scapers are already asking for around $100 for this foil Secret Lair drop. Hopefully, these scalpers are a tiny minority of the overall number of purchasers, but it still hurts to see them winning. Unfortunately, it seems that Wizards can’t stamp out this issue for good, no matter what is tweaked and changed.
This time around, players were limited to purchasing two copies of each Secret Lair drop. While you could still double up thanks to bundles, scalpers couldn’t clear out the storefront as easily. In theory, this change allowed each Secret Lair to remain on sale for longer than usual, but selling out in under two hours still isn’t great.
Ultimately, there’s still only one real solution to this Secret Lair problem. Wizards of the Coast needs to adopt the hybrid printing model for all Secret Lair drops. This distribution model has proven effective repeatedly for charity-supporting drops, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be used elsewhere.
At the moment, Wizards of the Coast is simply forcing FOMO, and it might be causing the company to lose money. Since Venom Unleashed sold out so quickly, there are bound to still be players who’d want to purchase this drop. In theory, this means Wizards of the Coast left money on the table, which isn’t exactly good business.
Speed Over Sense
At this point, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before each Universes Beyond Secret Lair drop sells out. Even while writing this article, the non-foil Inks version of Venom Unleashed has sold out. This makes it seem inevitable that everything else will sell out soon. This, in turn, encourages the FOMO WotC seems to want.
Sadly, it seems unlikely that Wizards of the Coast will move away from this strategy anytime soon. A Secret Lair drop selling out so quickly is hardly new news, and recent sales have been even worse. Due to this, it seems MTG players have little option but to act quickly whenever a new Secret Lair drop is released.
Stick with us at mtgrocks.com: the best place for Magic: the Gathering coverage!