Few features of Magic: The Gathering are quite as divisive as Secret Lair. The one-time print-to-demand service has since adopted a limited-run approach, incessantly leaving players without the chance to buy products they genuinely want. These players then turn to overpriced listings on the secondary market or proxies. No one wins in the long run except the scalpers.
Following the stacked Secret Lair reveal-a-thon at MagicCon Amsterdam, I had the possibility to sit down down with Steve Sunu, principal product lead for Secret Lair, as a part of a press roundtable, and talk in regards to the way forward for the limited print service. This included potential changes to printing demand and whether there are any exciting Secret Lair concepts that were ever left on the cutting room floor.
The Secret Lair Drops We’ll Never See, Or Even Hear About
Through the Secret Lair Q&A, the subject of undeveloped or unreleased ideas got here up twice: once when Steve Sunu was asked about ideas potentially being left on the cutting room floor, and again about ideas reaching a late stage of development before ultimately being canceled for any variety of reasons.
On the previous, he addressed how the team is all the time “attempting to do what’s right for the concept,” meaning that when a drop is planned, Wizards wish to ensure they’ve the appropriate depth in place to do the property justice. This may sometimes mean having five bundles, like with The Hobbit: A Marvelous Mathoms superdrop, or possibly three bundles, like with the Stardew Valley drop.
This forward planning helps be certain that content doesn’t have to be cut at any point. On projects that potentially reach deep development yet still don’t release, Steve joked, “There are projects that I’ve worked on that won’t see the sunshine of day; don’t ask me what they’re, I won’t inform you.”
On a serious note, nevertheless, it’s clear that not every partnership the Secret Lair team works on meets the standard requirements to see release. Steve would go on to say, “There are projects that probably won’t see the sunshine of day, because we got to a certain stage and we looked out and said, it’s not quite right. It’s not likely what we would like. It doesn’t meet the extent of authenticity.”
Authenticity was a relentless theme in every discussion I had with designers and artists at MagicCon, but it surely felt especially vital during my chat with Steve. It’s clearer now that Secret Lair isn’t only a vehicle getting used to churn out exclusive crossover content or supplemental drops alongside Universes Beyond sets. The Secret Lair team has high standards and isn’t afraid to stop a project dead in its tracks if it believes it doesn’t bring anything to the table value putting within the hands of Magic players.
I’d like to know what a number of the canceled drops were and just how late in development they got, I believe it’s fair to assume that numerous players will feel that way, but on this instance we’ll just must trust that it wasn’t right, and the confidentiality of all of it is to guard the team from having to take care of a relentless barrage of questions and complaints about why.
Possible Changes To Printing Demands And WPN Delivery System
One other vital query that got here up involved the move from print-on-demand to a limited-availability model. With the announcement that the Reality Fracture Secret Lair bundle can be sold in WPN stores, it was asked whether there’s a consideration for future Secret Lair drops to even be sold in stores, offering an extra probability for players to grab exciting drops that do not depend on a randomized online queue.
On this, Steve says that “We’re all the time experimenting with things, but I wouldn’t expect to see anything with the business model shift anytime soon for the core Secret Lair business.” That is confirmation that while certain products may receive unique delivery methods, similar to the Reality Fracture bundle, which was all the time designed to be available via Secret Lair and WPN stores, the day-to-day operations of Secret Lair aren’t set to alter.
Nonetheless, Steve was keen to make sure it was highlighted that the philanthropic drops will all the time be print-to-demand. These drops, just like the Global Fund for Women one, are about giving players the possibility to contribute toward a vital cause. There aren’t any plans to alter this, and all demand can be honored, even when it takes a bit longer, with the most recent philanthropic drop already setting a backorder date for as late as June 2027.
Recent drops just like the Stardew Valley bundles were still available greater than three days after the initial drop, whereas others didn’t last past the primary half hour. I understand the present model, but clearer and more honest transparency is required to assist players understand how each drop works.
As an example, we have now one other Commander deck drop coming up in August for Hatsune Miku, and players will want an idea of the stock levels to know whether this drop goes to survive past 24 hours or be gone immediately just like the Goblin Storm deck earlier this yr. Scalpers are keen to make a profit off Secret Lair products, and it’s a growing frustration for players to see products they genuinely wish to own and use find yourself on a secondary market moments after launch for 3 times the worth.
I even have little doubt that Secret Lair will proceed to be divisive inside the Magic community, but having the possibility to speak with Steve Sunu gives me confidence that the service is basically a vehicle for good, even when it might probably be a source of frustration on account of its availability woes.