The introduction of Magic’s Final Fantasy theme was a long-awaited and exciting event for fans of both Magic: The Gathering and the video game series. As a result, it makes sense that any limited products in this release will be incredibly exciting. That was the case for the recent Final Fantasy Secret Lair release that occurred this week, almost as exciting as trying your luck with a $50 pokies chip in Australia.
Unfortunately, while the contents of the Final Fantasy Secret Lair was not only heavily sought after, but a great deal reprint-wise, which is rare for Secret Lair, the sale was an absolute disaster, and Scalpers are part of the problem.
Final Fantasy Secret Lair Summary
Part of the larger 2025 Secret Lair Summer Superdrop, The Final Fantasy Secret Lair drops had three different products to offer:
Game Over: This Secret Lair features powerful instants and sorceries based off of defining moments of Final Fantasy villains. Reprints include Praetor’s Grasp, Temporal Day of Judgment and Toxic Deluge.
Grimoire: Headlined by Cyclonic Rift, enjoy five reprints reskinned as iconic Final Fantasy Spells from even more iconic characters
Weapons: Powerful MTG Equipment spells are reimagined as iconic Final Fantasy Weapons. This has the best reprint value of the three Secret Lair options thanks to Sword of Truth and Justice
Final Fantasy Secret Lair is available in both foil and non-foil versions, ranging from $29.99 to $39.99.
Scalpers Impacting Initial Sales
It didn’t take long for players to notice a discrepancy with the Summer Superdrop 2025 sale. Despite players lining up just seconds after the sale went live, Final Fantasy Secret Lairs were selling out before they could purchase product.
Finding the reason behind it was not tough. Allegedly using a loophole in the Secret Lair queue system, Scalpers were able to purchase absurdly large quantities of Final Fantasy products by skipping the line. They can then relist these products on secondary sites, driving sales prices due to a lack of demand.
Because of this, the ‘five products per purchase’ limit could be completely ignored, allowing the lucky few who queued up for sale first to buy out absurd amounts of product.
Why This Matters
Magic’s potential for premiums on limited product is well known in the Scalper world. As you may imagine, this is not the first time Scalpers have targeted MTG Secret Lair products. More importantly, it’s also not the first time that Scalpers have been able to find a loophole in the Secret Lair queue system, potentially throwing the sale in disarray. These loopholes have also negatively affected past Secret Lair sales for Universes Beyond IPs like Monty Python.
This means that many MTG players who just want to play with the cards for themselves are unable to acquire these Secret Lair products. It doesn’t even matter if you lined up within a minute of the sale going live.
The constant existence of loopholes in the Secret Lair queue system is a massive problem from Wizards end, and fans want to see it fixed. Many fans are already walking away from Secret Lairs altogether thanks to the sales experience.
Fans Offer Fixes
Outrage from fans poured all over X, Reddit, Facebook, and more regarding the less than satisfactory result of the Final Fantasy Secret Lair sale. Among these comments, fans were quick to offer some potential fixes to the Scalper issue:
- Limit sales to one of each product per customer instead of five, at least for the initial opening sale. This can slow down the rate at which Scalpers can hoard Secret Lair product
- Actively monitor to discover any line-jumping exploits, and shut them as soon as possible
- Consider somehow putting a limit on individual IP addresses
Is Change Possible?
Wizards of the Coast has made no official statement on players’ complaints about how the Secret Lair sale went. This song and dance is something we’ve seen multiple times with past Secret Lairs like MTG X Marvel and Tomb Raider.
There is always the chance that Secret Lair will adapt a hybrid print-to-demand model to satisfy players, but this option has been on the table since 2024, when the limited print change to Secret Lairs was initially made, and despite player complaints, no changes appear to be on the horizon. In other words, it is unlikely we will see any changes.
Few things to try
Here are some recommendations to keep up with Secret Lair sales:
- Assort your cart before the sale goes live. Line up as quickly as possible once the sale goes live.
- Friends can help! If you have multiple people queuing up for the same product, your chances of securing your desired cards increase.
- You can check your local game store, as they usually get small amounts of Secret Lair products. This commonly happens after initial sales conclude.
Final Thoughts
This is yet another instance of a botched Secret Lair sale, something we’ve all seen before. Players can still purchase Final Fantasy Secret Lairs on secondary sites if they really want them, but they will suffer ludicrously high markups as a result.
We’ll just have to wait and see if Wizards of the Coast does anything about Scalpers targeting Secret Lair product.