Magic finally explains why print-to-demand Secret Lairs is gone: ‘It’s better for business’

When you’re a Magic: The Gathering fanatic, there’s a superb likelihood you’ve had this expertise earlier than: You head to the Secret Lair website at 12 p.m. EST sharp to purchase some cool new playing cards, spend an hour or longer ready in a digital queue, and wind up with nothing after the brand new drop sells out. The growing recognition and jankiness of the Secret Lair gross sales expertise has led many followers to rally round a seemingly easy request: Deliver again print-to-demand.

This looks like an apparent repair, but it surely seems it’s not that straightforward. To totally clarify why, nevertheless, we’re going to have to return to the very starting of Secret Lair.

When Secret Lair started in December 2019 (kicking off with Bitterblossom Dreams), new playing cards have been offered throughout a restricted window of time after which printed to fulfill demand. When you went to the web site on the proper time, you’d all the time be capable to purchase the most recent drop, guaranteeing whoever wished them had entry to the playing cards. However the print-to-demand strategy got here at a price.

“The one time that Secret Lair has really been print-to-demand was within the very early days,” Secret Lair senior director Lindsey Bartell mentioned through the Feb. 3 stream of Weekly MTG. “[Customers] have been ready six, seven, eight, 9 months to obtain their product.”

In accordance with Bartell, these delays weren’t simply irritating for gamers; in addition they induced issues for the corporate. As a result of Secret Lair shares printers and suppliers with the remainder of Magic’s launch schedule, ready to print till after orders closed created unpredictable bottlenecks in Wizards of the Coast’s provide chain. “By the point we acquired the order, then we’ve got to determine a spot within the provide chain, and it may be disruptive,” she mentioned. “It’s arduous to foretell when issues will likely be printed.”

Wizards tried to handle these issues by experimenting with a brand new technique known as “time-boxed demand.” The corporate nonetheless used mounted ordering home windows but in addition stocked up on a considerable amount of pre-printed playing cards meant to fulfill whoever wished to buy the drop. However the guesswork concerned with time-boxed demand launched a unique downside totally.

“We ended up with a ton of stock that was type of like lifeless inventory,” Bartell mentioned, referencing years-old photographs of unsold Secret Lair merchandise circulating on-line. “There was a Reddit thread a few years in the past of similar to, ‘Right here’s a rubbish dump stuffed with Secret Lair merchandise.’”

Image via vantha/Reddit

Over time, Wizards of the Coast shifted away from time-boxed demand as nicely. The corporate announced in January 2024 that it was pivoting to a “limited-print-run mannequin.” What it in the end meant, nevertheless, is that until gamers log in proper when the drops go dwell and wait within the probably lengthy buy queue, they will miss out on Secret Lair playing cards totally. Regardless of quite a few requests that Secret Lair return to the print-to-demand mannequin, Bartell confirmed throughout Weekly MTG that it’s not going to occur.

“The brief reply — and once more, not an attractive one — is that this one is healthier for enterprise,” Bartell mentioned, including that the present mannequin permits Secret Lair to operate like an experimental arm of Magic, funding riskier tasks and weird releases that wouldn’t have been viable beforehand. Restricted portions additionally stop Secret Lair from disrupting main tentpole releases. “The very last thing we wish is, ‘Oh, Secret Lair needed to get in there, so now Closing Fantasy goes to be late.’ We don’t need to be that man.”

Bartell additionally shut down one other well-liked request: reprinting older Secret Lair drops. When requested whether or not Wizards would ever deliver again previous releases that offered out shortly, her reply was an emphatic “No.” She added, “We’re a collectibles enterprise. It’s a one-and-done scenario.”

Picture: Wizards of the Coast

Wizards has additionally adjusted the way it handles mechanically distinctive playing cards. Most Secret Lair drops reprint pre-existing cards or reskin legendary creatures for regardless of the crossover-of-the-week is. However there are instances, just like the lately launched Fallout-themed Rad Superdrop, the place characters like Lucy and The Ghoul get new playing cards that includes distinctive talents. Bartell mentioned playing cards like these are now not meant to be unique to Secret Lair. Beginning final 12 months, such drops have remained obtainable on the Secret Lair web site longer and have obtained non-foil releases by way of sport shops within the Wizards Play Community within the weeks that comply with.

The Q&A portion of Weekly MTG additionally touched on different frequent complaints associated to bots and scalpers probably crowding the queue instances and buying the drops to resell them. Bartell, nevertheless, mentioned inner evaluation confirmed that solely about “0.5 % of orders got here from dangerous actors.”

As for queues, Bartell acknowledged that there have been issues up to now. “It’s by no means okay for me for folks to be ready 5 hours for his or her drop,” she mentioned. “That completely doesn’t meet my customary, was completely embarrassing, and isn’t one thing I ever need to see once more.” She mentioned Wizards has since elevated checkout throughput by greater than 300 %, with latest drops seeing most prospects wait below an hour. Bartell additionally confirmed that the beforehand stalled Monster Hunter Secret Lair is on monitor for a launch someday later in 2026.

It’s a superb signal to see Wizards being so clear about a few of its extra hotly debated methods associated to Secret Lair. Whereas this system might proceed to experiment with the way it’s priced and distributed transferring ahead, with just a few stumbles alongside the best way, one factor is obvious: print-to-demand will stay a factor of the previous.