At 12 PM EST today, July 29, a rather strange Secret Lair Superdrop known as “Inside an Elevator” went live. This Secret Lair Superdrop features a multitude of intriguing collections of cards for players to purchase. A group of artists and designers known collectively as Brain Dead brought their illustrative talents to a few Secret Lair products. Bloomburrow also inspired a product showcasing some cool, animalized Planeswalkers for players to collect.
The group of Secret Lairs that had the most players talking, however, was none other than the Monty Python and the Holy Grail crossover. Two different options became available for purchase, both highlighting amusing references to the hilarious comedy. Who doesn’t love a Birds of Paradise being portrayed as a European and African Swallow?
Well, as you might expect, this Secret Lair was as popular as you can imagine. Foil and non-foil editions of both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the Monty Python Secret Lairs sold out within two hours of going on sale! For reference, this was comparable to the selling out of the foil English Hatsune Miku: Digital Sensations Secret Lair just over a month ago. Given the reaction from players when the Monty Python Secret Lairs were announced, this shouldn’t be too shocking.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Secret Lair Sellouts
Neither of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail Secret Lairs lasted too long. Vol. 1 features a neat mix of Commander staples and Constructed role players, like Dismember. Meanwhile, Vol. 2 contains cards like Legacy all-star Dark Depths and funny alternate win condition Door to Nothingness.
In a similar vein to the Hatsune Miku: Digital Sensations Secret Lair, these cards aren’t the best from a reprint value perspective. That being said, as we will discuss more later, this likely won’t stop either of the Monty Python Secret Lairs from dropping in price. This is, in large part, thanks to the change Wizards of the Coast made at the beginning of the year that made Secret Lair products into a limited-print-run model.
The goal here was largely to address rather outrageous shipping times for Secret Lairs. Previously, within the print-to-demand structure, players would have to wait for each individual order to be processed and printed. With the new system, the shipping process has become significantly faster, which is definitely a plus.
Unfortunately, this change has caused its own set of problems. First, in any instance where demand for the Secret Lair far outweighs the supply provided, sellouts happen in short order. Second, scalpers that are interested in trying to utilize the limited-print-run experience as a way to make money can contribute further to fast sellout times. Little did we know, these issues would become exacerbated over time.
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Getting Quicker and Quicker
Back in February, we got our first glimpse at these downsides in action. The Beauty and the Beast Secret Lair, another relatively popular crossover, sold out in four days. At the time, this seemed pretty fast. Since then, though, the sellout times for various products have been trending upwards at an alarming rate.
In April, the Artist Series: Rovina Cai Secret Lair sold out in 10 hours. In June, the foil English Hatsune Miku: Digital Sensations Secret Lair sold out in under three hours, with non-foil and Japanese versions following suit soon after. Now, we have an instance where all variants of the Monty Python Secret Lairs are gone in under two hours.
This is very worrying. There are frequently tons of players frantically trying to buy the most sought-after Secret Lairs almost immediately, and they are often still put in a “waiting room,” hoping they can get the products they want successfully.
It’s clear that with many Secret Lairs (most notably, popular crossovers), Wizards of the Coast has been rather consistently underestimating demand. It’s obviously not easy to predict this stuff in advance, but given the consistent trends as of late, an adjustment almost certainly needs to be made.
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Irrelevant Reprint Value
As we mentioned earlier, another problem that has arisen as a result of certain Secret Lairs being in limited supply is that those products tend to become quite pricy in the secondary market. Take the Hatsune Miku: Digital Sensations Secret Lair as an example.
The reprint value from this edition was frankly very poor. Chord of Calling is worth roughly $6 in its cheapest traditional version, and the rest of the cards aren’t worth much period. However, that hasn’t stopped the prices of the Hatsune Miku versions from rising considerably.
Child of Alara, a card that is worth under 50 cents in Double Masters according to TCGPlayer market price, is consistently on sale for $15+ with the Hatsune Miku artwork. Meanwhile, the Rainbow foil version is being sold for nearly $30. Given that the Rainbow Foil English Hatsune Miku Secret Lair was originally on sale for $39.99, if you were lucky enough to get the product before it sold out, you got a complete steal.
In fact, recent sales on TCGPlayer show the Rainbow Foil Hatsune Miku Secret Lair product going for just under $80. I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happens to both Volumes of the Monty Python Secret Lair, further encouraging scalpers in the future to take advantage.
It’ll be interesting to see if any adaptations are made in the near future. It’s unclear how sustainable this method is, especially considering how poor the reprint value of recent Secret Lair products has been across the board. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for any other Secret Lairs selling out and act fast if you want one of the other products still in stock.
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