With Murders at Karlov Manor’s spoiler season happening right now, it would take something big to steal the set’s limelight. Somewhat remarkably, however, MTG players got exactly that yesterday as a brand new Secret Lair deck was released. Offering gorgeous art, a boatload of reprints, and immense financial prospects, this new product looked like a slam dunk.
As a result of its immense potential, it’s no surprise that the Raining Cats and Dogs deck has already sold out. In fact, from the moment the deck was released, it only took around six hours before every copy was snapped up. Considering the hype around the deck, this truly wasn’t a surprise at all, however, the sale did seem to go better than expected.
It’s Free Real Estate Value
At $149.99, the Raining Cats and Dogs deck is one of the most expensive preconstructed decks in all of MTG. Due to this, you might think that you need to put a lot of thought in before parting with your hard-earned cash. If you’re after value, however, you barely had to think twice, as Raining Cats and Dogs is jam-packed with reprints.
Between Anointed Procession, Rin and Seri, Inseparable, and Jetmir’s Garden, this deck has some serious gems. As good as these cards are already, however, their value is bound to be propelled even further. Featuring reversible and themed Secret Lair artwork, these cards may well be even more expensive than usual.
Thanks to the immense popularity of cats and dogs in MTG, many players will surely want to own these cards. Since they’re in limited supply, this will cause value is bound to soar post-release. For better or worse, this made the Raining Cats and Dogs deck even more of a stellar value proposition.
Sweetening the deal even more, basic lands, tokens, and a Sol Ring all got the Secret Lair treatment. Historically, these cards have gone on to become some of the most expensive of their kind, thanks to astronomical demand. With all these cards together, it seemed impossible to lose money on this Secret Lair.
As a result of this insane value, buying the Raining Cats and Dogs deck seemed like a foolproof idea. From a financial perspective, it was a seemingly guaranteed win, and that’s not even factoring in personal enjoyment. If you’re a fan of cats and dogs, of course, you would want this deck, so it’s no surprise it sold out!
If anything, it was just a surprise it took so long to sell out altogether!
A Slow Sale Successfully Scalped
Previously, limited-run Secret Lair sales have been mixed, to say the least. On one hand, the last Angel-themed Secret Lair Commander deck managed to hang around for an entire month. On the other hand, however, products like the 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit were sold out in an instant. With technical troubles plaguing the start of both sales, many players were definitely concerned about potential trouble.
Thankfully, this time around, Wizards of the Coast seemed to have sorted out most of the worst kinks. This time around, the Secret Lair website remained intact, with players waiting in the queue as they should. Across social media, it seemed that any technical issues were rather limited, with the majority being unaffected by any troubles.
Further adding to the positive improvements, players were only able to purchase five copies of the latest Secret Lair deck. While this is still more than you’d need for an entire pod, this restriction is nonetheless better than unrestricted sales. After all, with so much value on the line, there was a serious concern this product would be scalped.
Unfortunately, while the sales limit surely helped, some scalpers did manage to sneak through the cracks. Immediately listing their haul on secondary market sites, it’s clear there’s profit to be made. Right now, on TCGplayer, copies of the Raining Cats & Dogs deck are listed for $385.99 at the lowest. Six copies of the deck have reportedly already sold for this price.
Thankfully while TCGplayer has some astronomical prices, those on eBay are a lot more reasonable. Here, you can find plenty of sales around the $280 mark, which is the expected value of the deck. While this is still giving scalpers a hefty chunk of instant profit, technically it’s not a bad deal. Still, scalpers are just the worst.
A Worrying Future
Ultimately, since it was a limited-run sale, it was expected the Raining Cats and Dogs deck would sell out quickly. On its own, this isn’t the worst-case scenario as players still had a few hours to place their orders. Unfortunately, however, this trend of Secret Lair drops being scalped and selling out may become the new normal.
In 2024, Wizards of the Coast changed the way Secret Lair drops are sold. Rather than being printed to demand, now each SLD is limited-run. Ideally, this means each drop will be shipped to players upon purchase, however, there is definitely the potential for problems. Should Wizards not anticipate demand correctly, it’s entirely possible the scalers could cause havoc.
Hopefully, as with Raining Cats and Dogs, limits will be placed on how many copies can be purchased at once. While this may help, it’s clear that profit-hungry scalpers are still able to slip through the cracks. Thanks to this, we may well see plenty more marked-up resales once the next Secret Lair Superdrop is released.
For better or worse, we sadly don’t know what is going to happen when that time comes. According to Wizards, the pre-printed volume has been balanced to demand, but that remains to be seen. Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens while hoping everything goes smoothly.
Read More: Karlov Manor Spoilers Cause Multiple Sudden MTG Card Price Spikes!
