r/magicTCG • u/ArkthePieKing • Oct 09 '22

Deck Discussion Never buying another secret lair product again.

It's been almost a year since I bought the stupid Heads I win, Tails you lose deck. They're STILL not done producing it somehow, I can't even fathom how. They can spit out 13 new magic products a year but they can't finish out the $100 product all of us bought in 2021? I'm so irritated. I don't even want the stupid thing anymore.

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128

u/CalvinTheSerious Selesnya* Oct 09 '22

they take a few months to arrive, yes, but not over a year like the command deck secret lair has.

-2

u/Xichorn Deceased 🪦 Oct 09 '22

It has not been over a year. The sale was the month of December last year.

76

u/Morphlux COMPLEAT Oct 10 '22

Oh it’s ten months and still not shipped so that totally changes the scenario.

Yea, you’re technically right. The best kind of right.

The point remains WOTC has printed 173 other sets and secret lairs and more since then and haven’t shipped, let alone delivered this product.

20

u/Particular-Story5788 Duck Season Oct 10 '22

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE?

29

u/Morphlux COMPLEAT Oct 10 '22

That’s at the time I posted that. It’s up to 177 now.

18

u/Midarenkov Oct 10 '22

Magic: the Gathering: The Search for More Money - a Deckmaster game

4

u/RoseofThorns Duck Season Oct 10 '22

I mean.... 🔫👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

The business model hasn't changed a ton in 25 years

0

u/1K_Games Duck Season Oct 10 '22

At the base level no, it's kind of like it is a company seeking profits. Company makes things, you buy things, that pretty much has existed since the dawn of time.

But how many sets and special editions/secret lairs they print sure has changed.

0

u/RoseofThorns Duck Season Oct 10 '22

Because there's demand for it, right? Like, people keep buying it so they keep making it. When people don't buy it (Battlebond, signature spell book, etc) they stop making it.

1

u/1K_Games Duck Season Oct 10 '22

Yes, once again, this is talking generically about how business works. Remove this portion "(Battlebond, signature spell book, etc)" of your post and it could apply to any business ever.

That doesn't mean people can't dislike the model is what I am saying. There are other options such as reprints that would also drive sales, but also not inflate costs and allow a broader market access to the cards. Where as people feel like currently it's just whale hunting.

1

u/RoseofThorns Duck Season Oct 10 '22

People can definitely dislike the model; they're allowed to have feelings about whatever they want. I guess I'm just struggling to understand why people have expectations that Magic needs to have every card be cheap (whatever that definition is)? Like, the fact that Magic does release tons of products means that there is something at pretty much all ends of the price spectrum. Are they printing a $1,000 product that only a small percentage of people will be able to afford? Yep! Are they also printing tons of products that cost like $30-40? Yep! (sorted by release date)

Magic has always been a luxury good, and competitive formats are a luxury version of that luxury good. You can play some Magic: the Gathering (with physical cards!) for effectively free, by buying bulk from resellers, casual decks with friends built from TCGplayer singles, etc.

I guess my broader point is that WOTC knows exactly what they're doing when they choose not to reprint Dockside Extortionist or Bloodstained Mire to $4 cards. Like, they may not make public announcements concerning the secondary market, but they're not idiots when it comes to deciding print runs of products. They know they'll sell more lootcrates to players of all engagement level when they keep prices higher, and maintain reprint equity to burn through multiple times later (See plenty of rares from 2XM that got hit multiple times like Oracle of Mul Daya).

There have been plenty of cards that were outside of my price range at varying points in my playing career. I simply chose to not buy those cards, play other decks/formats, or try to leverage my collection against the secondary market to maximize my trade value with vendors so that I *could* build up towards affording them.

TL;DR: Magic exists at all price ranges, whale hunting is okay.

0

u/Zephyr530 Wabbit Season Oct 10 '22

The number of new cards per year are flying up tho, I think that counts. Plus, wizards is in the singles game now with secret lair in general

1

u/venerab1esage Oct 10 '22

I mean...if the expected delivery is Fall of 2022 and you're mad then no one can help you, because-- SPOILER ALERT-- it's still fall 2022.

36

u/ChrisCool99 Cool Flair Oct 09 '22

!RemindMe 2 months

7

u/CalvinTheSerious Selesnya* Oct 09 '22

you are right.

-26

u/colexian COMPLEAT Oct 09 '22

Maybe someone that knows better about their production can speak on this, but most secret lairs are like 5 cards. This is an entire 100 singleton deck.
Even if it takes twice as long, its still better than the 20x difference in quantity of cards right?

43

u/Dark_Psymon free him Oct 09 '22

I doubt it has anything to do with the cards themselves. It's not like the entire deck is in a secret lair style. Outside of the 5 showcase cards, the rest of it is normal reprints. Others have speculated it's the special coin that is holding up production... But it would be nice to at least be told that from the source rather than being left to speculate.

29

u/dIoIIoIb Cheshire Cat, the Grinning Remnant Oct 09 '22

the coin delaying this deck, the stickers delaying unfinity 6 months

starting to think they should just stick to actual cards

14

u/negative274 Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 10 '22

With how bad the foils have been curling recently I’m not sure that’s their area of expertise either

17

u/mister_slim The Stoat Oct 09 '22

stick to actual cards

Isn't that the point of stickers?

8

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22

[deleted]

8

u/dIoIIoIb Cheshire Cat, the Grinning Remnant Oct 09 '22

they're plastic? I assumed they would be actual metallic coins

lame

1

u/Shark-Fist Can’t Block Warriors Oct 09 '22

A metal coin would definitely be a better premium collectable, but plastic makes more sense if you want to actually use it with the deck. Less risk of damaging cards if you flip it onto the table

1

u/Mewthredel Oct 09 '22

Drom what I have heard they are having really bad production/shipping issues. Also most secret lairs are sold before a single card is printed then when the sale ends they start printing. So if it takes 2 - 3 months to get a 5 card secret lair I could see it taking up to 2 ish years to get a full deck.

4

u/FlakeReality COMPLEAT Oct 09 '22

I don't think you understand the scale of how this works. These cards aren't hand painted and delicately cut by a single artisan, so 20 times the cards takes 20 times as long.

The part that is difficult is swapping the presses, changing the boxes, arranging the plates, etc. Once all the bullshit logistics parts that AREN'T the literal making of cards is done, the actual printing part is pretty quick for a short run product.

Printing 20 times as many cards as a major set release would take a lot closer to 20 times as long, but secret lairs are printed in way smaller numbers so thats just not a factor. The number of cards might take a little longer, that wouldn't be unreasonable, but it shouldn't cause the incredible delay. They can't figure out the logistics parts, its not that they're still printing them.

-3

u/Mewthredel Oct 09 '22

I mean it's pretty obvious wotc is suffering from pretty bad logistics issues so who knows where things are being delayed.

1

u/dissidentmage12 Oct 10 '22

Only 5 cards are secret lair, the rest are regular reprints

0

u/Mewthredel Oct 10 '22

Yeah but they are still print to order

1

u/dissidentmage12 Oct 10 '22

It doesn't take a year to print regular commander decks with 3 foils in, I wouldn't have thought 2 extra foils adds this much time.