When it was first announced all the way back in November of 2021, there was a lot of excitement about the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Secret Lair drop. As Secret Lair’s first Commander Deck, the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose promised stunning art, reprints aplenty, and value. Subsequently, as with many Secret Lair drops, MTG players flocked to the website to put their money down, securing their order. Unfortunately, following this, once eager MTG players would be left waiting for quite some time. Typically, as print-to-order products, Secret Lair drops can take a considerable amount of time to ship. The Heads I Win, Tails You Lose drop, however, took this shipping delay to a whole other level.
Despite players putting their money down in November of 2021, dedicated players wouldn’t get their cards until late 2022. In fact, many MTG players were left waiting over a year for this Secret Lair drop to ship, with no word from Wizards. It was only in October of 2022 that players heard from Wizards once more when they promised a revised shipping date and compensation to understandably disgruntled players. A little while after that revised release date passed, the Secret Lair drop started to ship mercifully. After such a wait, many players understandably rejoiced, finally receiving their cards at long last. Unfortunately, however, for some players, the saga was not over just yet.
Tails You Lose
Due to various factors, unfortunately, it is not uncommon for MTG players in specific regions to be left wanting upon a product’s release. Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, we’ve seen several products significantly delayed throughout recent years. Most recently, The Brothers’ War suffered both delays and cancellations throughout the Asia-Pacific region due to “logistical issues.” Thanks to these issues, it’s not uncommon for Secret Lair shipments to also be delayed in the Asia-Pacific region. Usually, this, thankfully, isn’t too much of a problem. However, the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose is once again proving troublesome.
Due to the length of the delay, exacerbated by the region-specific shipping issues, some MTG sellers have seemingly had enough waiting around. In a recent Reddit post, u/cafetuerca revealed that the e-commerce platform Shopee had taken matters into its own hands. Acting without warning, Shopee, which facilitated the Secret Lair drop in certain regions, unexpectedly canceled remaining Heads I Win, Tails You Lose orders. Refunding players for their purchases, it appears that 13 months is too long for Shopee to wait. Understandably, upon being confronted with this unexpected situation, u/cafetuerca wasn’t too happy. Explaining the situation, u/cafetuerca wrote the following message.
“I’m a player in Singapore, where the HIWTYL decks were offered for purchase by Wizards through the Shopee online platform. The latest chapter in this sad saga is that the platform has canceled the HIWTYL orders after WOTC failed to ship out after numerous delays, including its latest estimate of Christmas 2022.
No compensation was provided over the more than a year that WOTC held our money – the NEO collector boosters that were supposed to ship earlier were somehow decided by WOTC that they would be shipped with the decks, and of course, we now know how that turned out.
This morning, I woke to the news that the orders had unilaterally been canceled without action from the customer’s end. Not a peep from WOTC when I enquired what happened, looks like Shopee got sick of its logistical standards (or lack thereof) and just canceled these long overdue orders.
I guess what I’m trying to say is at least some of you folks in NA and EU at least saw these decks ship out, which is more than can be said for us in SEA.
Shame on you, Wizards.”
u/cafetuerca
Heads I Win
Upon hearing this news, many MTG players quickly supported u/cafetuerca in their justified anger. Players such as u/Lord_Jaroh, for instance, simply stated, “sucks. I would suggest not supporting Wizards anymore until they stop being anti-consumer. :/ It’s the easiest solution, honestly, and will cost you zero dollars.” Similarly voicing their disapproval of Wizards, u/rezaziel commented that this is a “legitimately a pathetic display here from WOTC.” Alongside these damning statements, other players offered their condolences instead of an apology from Wizards. “Wooooowwwww that sucks dude I’m sorry,” u/Snoo64700 commented.
Thankfully, while u/cafetuerca experienced more woes, not all players were afflicted by this surprise cancellation. Reddit user u/CapAmerics, for instance, thankfully suspected something might be afoot due to the problematic length of the delay. “Hey foresaw this coming, so I extended the Shopee guarantee and let WotC Shopee know in advance. Will update again on the 31st if mine gets canceled lol.” Expecting the worst, u/CapAmerics went on to say that “I suspect they don’t have any stock, to begin with, and were never planning to fulfill orders nor compensation.” A few hours after this damning statement was made, however, u/CapAmerics mercifully got some good news at long last. “Seems like my order got shipped today. A couple of the guys got theirs as well. Hope you get yours for free OP!”
While u/cafetuerca admits that they’re not holding out any hope anymore, other players offered possible solutions. For example, Reddit user u/Tinwookie suggested “try eBay. I scored one for $130.” Unfortunately, as u/Xinhuan noted, this solution is far from perfect due to additional costs, however, it’s nevertheless an option. More generously, one player even offered their own additional product to u/cafetuerca to rectify this issue.”
The End at Last
While it may not be the solution that some players were hoping for, it appears that the Heads I Win, Tails You Loose saga may finally be over. With remaining orders either being shipped or canceled, we’ll hopefully be able to put all this behind us soon. We can only hope that due to the outrage that’s been caused, Wizards learns from this disastrous shipping fiasco. Thankfully, the first steps of this plan may already be in place. Recently, Wizards of the Coast implanted a change to take players’ money sooner when purchasing Secret Lair drops. Rather than waiting until shipping, Wizards now charges MTG players upon checkout via the Secret Lair website.
At first, many players were skeptical of this decision. However, Wizards states this process should expedite the shipping process. Thankfully, this new strategy appears to be working, as several Secret Lairs are shipping faster than ever before. The recent Just Add Milk Secret Lair, for instance, was recently commended on Reddit for just how quickly it was shipped. Poster u/UmichMike even stated that it “seems like this is the fastest SL shipping ever.” While it’s too early to tell if the Secret Lair shipping problem has really been solved, hopefully, the Heads I Win, Tails You Loose fiasco will never happen again.
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