In the grand scheme of things, the Marvel Superdrop Secret Lair sale was pretty terrible for everyone involved. Thanks to the unprecedented levels of hype for this crossover, MTG players and Marvel fans managed to crash the storefront. As if this wasn’t bad enough, hours-long queues left many players unable to buy what they wanted.
To make matters worse, this Secret Lair drop was the latest to the plagued by a line-skipping exploit which further depleted supply. This ultimately led to the entire Marvel Superdrop selling out in under five hours. Sadly, this unprecedented demand has left many MTG players disappointed, as the only alternative is paying obscene secondary market prices.
So, the sale was a disaster, that much we know, but the problems haven’t even stopped there. Now it seems that some players are being left disappointed even after receiving their packages.
Missing Marvels
Now that Secret Lair shipments are making their way into players’ hands, some players are opening their packages only to find disappointment inside. Reddit user TheBigJerm, for instance, was completely missing the cards from the Secret Lair x Marvel’s Wolverine drop. Miraculously, their four other drops seemingly arrived with everything as it should be, which only raises more questions.
Worryingly, this isn’t an isolated incident of just one player getting unlucky somewhere along the packaging process. As LittlePocketHero comments, they’ve been “Seeing a lot of people complaining about missing cards.” Looking on Reddit, it’s not hard to see other users sharing their own experiences about missing cards.
On top of this issue, other Reddit users have also been showing off shipping snafus that have damaged, or lost, their cards. DasOptions, for instance, states their package “looked like Wolverine was handling it with his claws. Meanwhile, users like SSJSonGoku29 stated their Secret Lair was shipped without being properly sealed, ultimately resulting in them getting nothing.
As time goes on, more and more players have shared similar issues where they’re missing product for one reason or another. It’s unclear exactly how widespread this issue is, but obviously, this isn’t good news at all. The Marvel Superdrop was meant to be a celebration for everyone involved, but it’s just been problem after problem for MTG players.
Suspect Solutions
Given the value, and scarcity of the Marvel Secret Liar cards, many MTG players are now worried about missing out. Simply being able to buy these cards was already difficult enough, but now it seems the troubles aren’t over. This is especially problematic for anyone looking to give the Secret Lairs as a gift, such as Apart_Win4648.
Sadly, there’s no ideal solution to ensure you’ve got the cards your cards are all there and accounted for. As such, the recommendation online seems to be opening up Secret Lairs now, and worry about gift giving later. Importantly, when opening up your order, it’s recommended that you record the entire process so you have concrete evidence.
While not mandatory, gathering as much evidence as possible is always helpful when submitting a support ticket. Should you be unlucky and missing cards, contacting Wizards Support should ideally make you whole. That said, while Wizards does have policies and protocols in place, it’s unclear how easy they’ll be to follow.
Currently, the Marvel Superdrop is not on the list of supported MTG products on Wizards’ Product Replacement page. Given the drop was limited run and sold out obscenely quickly, this isn’t too surprising in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless, it’s still a concern as it could theoretically mean that players who are missing cards will simply never get them.
To make matters worse, Wizards Support is currently “experiencing a high volume of tickets.” Due to this, it’s expected that response times may be longer than usual, but Wizards should still get back to you. This may be of small comfort, however, given that the holidays are looming and replacement may not be possible.
Holding Out Hope
Sadly, at the end of the day, we can only hope that this issue isn’t as disastrous as it could be. For starters, we have to hope that this issue isn’t widespread, with only a handful of unlucky players being affected. After that, we have to hope that a resolution is even possible, with Wizards having extra supply for just such an occasion.
Whether or not Wizards will be able to properly compensate players or provide replacements currently remains to be seen. In theory, if this problem is bad enough, Wizards may be able to print replacement copies at a later date. Should this happen, players may be waiting for months, at least, but it would be better than nothing.
Ultimately, we just have to hope that Wizards will sure up their Secret Lair shipping going forward. With the Spongebob Secret Lair in the future and many more to come after that, there’s bound to be more hugely hyped sales. If we see missing cards and disappearing drops every time a sale goes well it’s going to be a problem.
