Last week, it was announced that the Chaos Vault would be opening for the second time. Along with it, we finally got an explanation of what the newfangled Secret Lair promotion actually was. Honestly, it seems like more of what we’ve already seen. That doesn’t make the bizarre offerings from the Chaos Vault any less enticing.
Earlier this week, a Basic Land Chaos Vault drop was announced. While Basic Lands rarely excite the MTG community, one particular Basic Land did. As you may have guessed by the title, the Island, which has been termed the ‘vagisland’ all over the internet, has sold out.
Erotic Island Sells Out
If you’ve been a part of the MTG community for some time, chances are you saw this happening from a mile away. It’s very common for one Secret Lair drop to get tons of attention compared to the rest. This time around, of the five Strange Sands Basic Land packages from artist Scott Balmer, the Island got the biggest reaction. As you can see, this is due to the way it looks.
As mentioned by many players, including Reddit user TheJapuma, “The island looks like a vagina.” This, alone, caused the card to go viral over MTG-related socials, triggering massive demand and leading to a sellout. Notably, at the time of writing, only the foil version of these ‘vagislands’ are sold out, so you can still purchase nonfoil versions of the card, but that drop is in low supply.
This isn’t the first time that erotic depictions in artwork, intended or not, caused an MTG card to see a surge in demand. Earthbind was not reprinted in the 30th Anniversary Edition set due to risque artwork. This announcement caused a temporary surge in demand for the card. In another case, a Stonecoil Serpent from a Secret Lair with a penis in its artwork had to be errata’d before going to sale. In the end, anyone paying attention to social media should have seen this coming, and that creates its own problems.
Scalpers Abound
Because the excitement for these exotic Islands was so easy to follow, it also meant that scalpers flocked to the purchase. There are already multiple sales for the sold-out foil Strange Sands: Island bundle for the $100 mark. For reference, the original bundle cost only $40.
This is another frustrating pattern that players across trading card games commonly see. Whenever it appears that supply is going to squeeze demand, scalpers swoop in to make an additional profit. This also makes gauging demand for Wizards of the Coast even more tricky. If one drop gets a lot of buzz after being revealed, the demand for that drop is going to multiply, attracting multiple interested parties.
Ultimately, no one can tell the future. That includes Wizards of the Coast. Prior to players’ reactions regarding the appearance of the Island, there was no telling that this Basic Land was going to be more popular than the rest… unless the likeliness wasn’t an accident.
So, Gush jokes and failing to find aside, it seems that the foil Strange Sands: Island bundle is truly gone, at least for its MSRP. Anyone looking to purchase this drop will now have to do so through unofficial channels. That will likely be the same for the non-foil bundle sometime today.
