Since their inception in 2019, Secret Lair drops have often been a fantastic source of reprints for MTG players. Not only has this direct-to-consumer product line boasted gorgeous and unique art, but the sub-brand’s reprint equity is often more generous. Unfortunately, while historically Secret Lair drops have been an excellent source of value, Wizards flipped the script in 2024.
Rather than continuing the print-to-demand model that had been so successful, in 2024, Wizards embraced FOMO. Moving to a limited-run print model, Wizards dramatically sped up shipping times at the cost of accessibility. For the first time, regular Secret Lair drops could sell out, making MTG players scramble to acquire art.
Unfortunately, while this change wasn’t so bad at first, the problem may be getting worse and worse. Setting a worrying new record, a new Secret Lair drop has sold out in under 10 hours!
Artist Series: Rovina Cai Is No More
Yesterday, Wizards officially launched the Equinox 2024 Superdrop for MTG players to enjoy. Ten hours later, two of the Secret Lair drops had sold out in the US. These drops are the foil and non-foil versions of the gorgeous Artist Series: Rovina Cai drop.
Only offering a weak $12 in non-foil value, it may seem surprising this Secret Lair drop sold out so quickly. Thankfully, to make up for the lack of value, this Secret Lair drop is utterly gorgeous. Inspired by tarot, each of the drop’s cards is visually stunning, so it’s no wonder players were keen to purchase.
Despite the initial value outlook appearing poor, this Secret Lair drop did have some enticing potential. For instance, while there are plenty of cheap variants available, Arcane Signet is a true Commander staple. With many Secret Lair variants of this card selling for $9 and beyond, there’s clearly demand for unique variants.
Whether this potential value or the good looks enticed players, the results are the same. On the US Secret Lair website, the Artist Series: Rovina Cai drop and the bundles that contained it are no longer available. This means the $350 A Celebration of Everything Foil and Non-Foil Bundle has technically already sold out.
Points of Interest Has Sold Out Too!
As if one Secret Lair drop selling out wasn’t enough, the Secret Lair X Fallout: Points of Interest Foil Edition drop has sold out too! Unlike Rovina Cai’s drop, this sale seems largely fuelled by financial value, rather than visuals alone.
Boasting a reprint of Command Beacon and foil Bojuka Bog, this drop is easily worth $45. Considering many of the drop’s cards are Commander staples, this value could be even higher once in players’ hands properly. Beyond this, there’s also the ever-so-enticing Mana Vault bonus card that some players may find.
While this value is undoubtedly exciting, curiously it’s not the best out of the bunch. That honor, instead, goes to the Secret Lair x Fallout: Vault Boy drop. Containing cards worth $62, or $138 as foils, it’s a wonder it’s not sold out yet! It definitely makes you wonder what’s going on, at least.
A Worrying Trend
Given the drop’s good looks, it’s obviously a shame that Artist Series: Rovina Cai has sold out. As annoying as this is, however, it may be the first glimpse at a much bigger problem coming to Secret Lair and MTG. While it did look good, this Secret Lair sold out a hell of a lot faster than the previous record.
Previously, The Beauty of the Beasts Secret Lair made waves by selling out in just four days. As one of the first limited-run Secret Lair drops, this short sale sparked a lot of concern. Even if four days isn’t the shortest amount of time, it was clear that FOMO had some grip on players. Initially, there was the hope this wouldn’t happen again, but clear that hope was misplaced.
Now that Artist Series: Rovina Cai has sold out in just four hours, we have to wonder what’s going on. When first announcing the printing change, Wizards touted their ability to predict demand, but where is that now? Even accounting for how “popular Secret Lair drops may sell out fast,” selling out in ten hours is still remarkable.
For now, there’s no telling what exactly has caused this worryingly quick sale to take place. Sadly, it seems very unlikely that Wizards will ever tell us what happened either, so we’re left guessing. Thankfully, while they are technically guesses, there are a few clear possible scenarios that led to this happening.
For starters, it’s possible that Wizards simply massively underpredicted demand in an honest mistake. This could have been caused by the Secret Lair’s rather dismal value that theoretically should have dampened demand. Alternatively, if we were to put our conspiracy hat on, Wizards could have done this on purpose to fuel FOMO.
The Wait Continues
Ultimately, while Wizards could have purposefully under printed Artist Series: Rovina Cai, that possibility seems unlikely. After all, if Wizards prints too little of a product, they’ll hurt their potential profit. If there’s one thing we know about Hasbro, they definitely love profit…
With this profit-oriented focus in mind, it’s in Wizards’ best interest to match the print run to demand identically. Subsequently, we can hope this miraculously fast sale was an exception, not the rule going forward. Whether or not that is the case, however, sadly remains to be seen.
For now, all we can do is wait and see what happens in the future, and how the Equinox 2024 Superdrop progresses.
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