This is an independent protest site, not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering and Secret Lair are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of Hasbro), used here only to identify the products and companies being criticized.

Secret Lair has the potential to be one of the most fun parts of Magic: The Gathering, while also increasing revenue for Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and helping artists.

Secret Lair can provide:

• More opportunities for players to express individuality.
• More connections to the history and community of the game.
• A richer pool of artists and art styles.
• More work and more creative freedom for artists.
• Better engagement with overlapping fandoms.
• Reprints of cards that are hard to reprint otherwise.
• More money for Wizards of the Coast through direct sales.
• A great vehicle for charity fundraising.

For a time, that is exactly what it did. Secret Lair drops were (mostly) printed to demand. People bought the cards they wanted.

But then… Well… I’m sure there is something very satisfying about seeing a long line of customers waiting, eager and excited, for a true “limited drop.” It would be very natural to look at what other collectibles businesses are doing and think “Why not us? This is just how collectibles are sold.”

And so, for the 2022 holidays, Secret Lair experimented with a true limited drop (30th Anniversary Countdown Kit). It sold out in about thirty minutes. The webshop failed. Even shipping and fulfillment were reportedly plagued by a variety of problems.

WotC apparently decided that they really liked this.

In the four years since Secret Lair launched, we’ve learned a lot about the community’s habits and preferences. We have a much better idea of how many people want what kind of drop, and we can use that data to help us determine how much of each drop to print ahead of time.

Don’t misinterpret this statement to mean “we will print enough so that people can get the cards.” CEO Chris Cocks stated explicitly that they expect some sets to sell out “immediately.” That is the expectation — the system working as designed.

So now, if you want a highly desirable Secret Lair, you must reorient your life around the drop release window. And even then you must either cheat, buy from cheaters, or get very, very lucky. Secret Lair is not for:

• People with jobs.
• People with childcare or elder care responsibilities.
• People with iffy internet connections.
• People who are unwilling to buy from scalpers and hackers.
• People in Asia or Oceania, who would have to be up in the middle of the night.
• Kids.

But Magic, as the shirt says, should be for everyone.

The problems with limited releases continue to this day:

• The queue regularly malfunctions. Accidentally losing your place in line is a routine occurrence.
• Scalping is highly incentivized, which can only exacerbate technical challenges through excess “get-rich-quick” traffic.
• Per-customer limits harm normal people but do not eliminate bad actors.
• The implicit promise that Wizards won’t reprint or re-release drops — once a set is gone, it’s gone — removes an important tool for addressing these problems.

There is no shortage of negative press coverage about the repeated store failures and the unfairness of the process. It is a great disappointment that Secret Lair has done so little to fix things.

The Magic: The Gathering community has come so far. We are more welcoming than ever, less toxic than ever, more fair than ever, more supportive than ever, and more accessible than ever.

Secret Lair, however, is toxicity: FOMO, and exclusion, and dysfunction, and callousness, and predatory capitalism. Secret Lair is the Reserved List in miniature.

Since complaining on social media has not worked, what can we (the community) do?

• Don’t buy Secret Lair.
• Don’t sell Secret Lair.
• Don’t play Secret Lair.
• Use Magic: The Gathering to demonstrate your kindness, empathy, enthusiasm, inclusivity, fairness, community, and love.
• … and find me or one of my elves at a Magic event near you to get a free button.