MTG X Deadpool’s sudden appearance on April Fools may have seemed like a joke, but those who didn’t take it seriously are the ones who ended up being fooled. The good news is that, as of the writing of this article, the foil Deadpool Secret Lair drop is still available more than 24 hours after the unannounced sale started. Even better is that the Secret Lair drops will be available again at the end of the month.
MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool Available at Your LGS
Considering that one of the MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool Secret Lair drops is still available more than a day after the sale, which surprisingly appeared on April 1st, it’s safe to say that most MTG players interested in the drop have probably successfully grabbed a copy of it. That said, there is a solution for nonfoil fans who couldn’t get the Lair before it sold out.
MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool Secret Lair drops will appear in WPN stores. Players interested in grabbing copies of the newest Marvel crossover will be able to do so starting April 25th while supplies last. Notably, the only copy of the MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool Secret Lair that will be available at stores will be the nonfoil drop.
This is part of a larger initiative to make Secret Lair drops with mechanically unique cards easier for the player base to access. Sadly, the reception to this overall promotion wasn’t the most positive.
Difficult to Access and Potentially Expensive
Players cited a large number of concerns when this initiative was first announced. The idea to bring mechanically unique Secret Lairs to WPN stores was mainly due to the abolishment of The List. Wizards of the Coast considered this the vehicle to make mechanically unique Secret Lair cards easier to access for players. Now that The List has been abolished, Wizards is trying something new.
The biggest concern with this initiative is the amount of supply being allocated to it. Many players suspect that the supply won’t actually be enough to alleviate demand for mechanically unique Secret Lair cards, and therefore won’t have a meaningful impact in any way.
Otherwise, there’s a good chance that WPN stores will sell the Secret Lairs for above their MSRP, especially if the cards within the lair are in demand. This ruins the whole point of adding availability to Secret Lair product. To quote a previous article on the subject: “It’s not difficult to access mechanically unique Secret Lair cards for an increased price; it’s difficult to access them for their MSRP. Legions of scalpers will be more than willing to sell you in-demand Secret Lairs for twice the price. This is unquestionably better than turning to a scalper since you’ll be supporting your LGS, but prices likely won’t be too far apart from one another.” From the Vault has already stained the reputation of this idea.
Finally, this new initiative may be a nail in the coffin for Universes Within. Not every MTG player wants to play mechanically unique cards with characters from different intellectual properties, and would rather play with an MTG adjacent of the card. While this was provided for the first few Universes Beyond crossovers, the project has seemingly been, more or less, discarded.
Player Opinion
Despite the potential setbacks to this promotion, players are still happy about the additional availability. There is a subset of players who don’t like Secret Lair’s online queueing process, and they are excited to have an alternative.
There are also already questions about how many Secret Lairs will be available through this promotion. One commenter claims that their LGS bought 20 of them, which seems like quite a reasonable number. Since these are only going out to WPN stores, most of the stores offering MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool will be rather large in nature.
There is also great concern about the price at which LGSs will sell these Secret Lairs. Many players expect their LGS to sell them for way over their MSRP. There is no guarantee that stores will gouge prices, but it will likely be at least a little more expensive than online. Regardless, supporting your LGS is still better than supporting the scalper economy.
Ultimately, making mechanically unique cards more available can only be good, even if further improvements could be made. If you missed the MTG X Marvel’s Deadpool Secret Lair, you’ll have a second opportunity to secure it.
You can find your neighborhood WPN LGS here.
