It’s a bad time to be a Magic player with a slow trigger finger. Just a few days ago, the Hatsune Miku Secret Lair sold out incredibly quickly on release, disappointing scores of fans. Now, the same fate has befallen the special ‘Black Lotus VIP’ tickets for the upcoming MagicCon Las Vegas. Despite costing $750 each, eager players managed to drain the supply almost immediately.
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The Black Lotus VIP Experience
The Black Lotus VIP package is the highest tier of ticket available for MagicCon Las Vegas. At a base level, it provides access to all three days of the event, October 25-27. It also unlocks an exclusive Progressive Sealed Event, which begins on Thursday and continues across all four days. Each day also has its own Black Lotus-exclusive event, be it a Duskmourn/Bloomburrow mix Draft or a unique playtest Planechase format.
The big draw of the ticket though, at least for players like Raleldor_Jax, is access to the Black Lotus Lounge. This is a VIP area that serves food and drinks throughout the event and also hosts Magic celebrities and giveaways. Big events like MagicCon are notorious for their expensive food and lack of non-event seating, so this is a huge plus for players. In addition, being a Black Lotus VIP also nets you early access to the show floor each day, letting you avoid the worst of the merchandise queues.
These are some great benefits, but the Black Lotus VIP package is also more than double the price of the next most expensive option; the Legendary package. It’s somewhat surprising, then, that these tickets have sold out so quickly. As joaoyuj and metalgear085 noted on Reddit, similar tickets for events in Minneapolis and Amsterdam were available for far longer. Perhaps it’s a quantity issue or the ever-present pull of Las Vegas, but this isn’t a recurring phenomenon.
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A Scalper’s Paradise?
It’s easy to look at the Black Lotus VIP MagicCon Tickets selling out as another example of the scalper culture that has long been prevalent in Magic. Even more so since Secret Lairs became such a regular occurrence. Is this really the case, though? As we mentioned above, this isn’t something that’s been happening regularly at Magic events. MagicCon Las Vegas is an exception, not the rule.
That said, it’s undoubtedly frustrating for players to miss out on an exciting product like this. Especially because, given their premium price tags, only the most dedicated would even be interested in the first place. As TheOnlyBS notes, a mere 14-minute delay in joining the queue was enough to miss out on a ticket. The same has proven true for a number of Secret Lair drops in recent times.
Is there a good solution to this problem? In the eyes of Wizards of the Coast, is selling out of a premium product this quickly even a problem at all? Current trends point to the contrary. We may well see some changes made to the online stores selling these items soon, but as long as the line goes up that’s unlikely. In the meantime, your best bet is to make like Thunder Junction’s Slickshots and practice that quick draw.
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