The Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond collaborations have brought countless new players to the card game, but haven't been without their share of controversy. Beginning in 2020 with MTG's Walking Dead Secret Lair, fans have expressed concern over how these collaborations and their sales methods affect the game's health, especially when it comes to purchasing them. While Universes Beyond and other Secret Lair drops are more popular than ever, their implementation has left many players feeling frustrated or ostracized by the iconic MTG.
The problems with MTG's collaborations have been shown more clearly than ever thanks to Marvel's Secret Lair collaboration, being a prime example of why WOTC needs to fix its supply chain issues. Unlike the more recent full collaboration sets like the ever-popular Lord of the Rings crossover, the exclusive nature of Secret Lair products makes it frustrating and sometimes impossible to purchase them at all. While there's always some benefit to driving up demand with a feeling of scarcity, most fans are simply confused at why WOTC won't take the hard-earned money fans are desperately trying to provide them.
The Marvel Collaboration Disaster Explained
Disappointing Many Fans Excited Over The New Release
Being the monolithic franchise Marvel has grown to, the demand for MTG's latest Secret Lair was bound to be incredibly high for both long-term fans and new players alike. While this Secret Lair had the makings to be one of Magic's best yet with iconic characters' featuring unique abilities, the release caused widespread frustration among buyers like Reddit user CheshireTsunami, who were feeling let down by the state of the hobby.
Fans were already prepared for the drop to sell out quickly, with some players even booking time off work and waiting hours in a queue to purchase them just to be told they were entirely sold out.
Secret Lair's struggle to have enough stock to last more than a day is a recurring issue lately, with products like the recent Monty Python collaboration selling out within an hour. While MTG has gotten better at quickly responding to increased demand after release and occasionally even providing a second drop for unlucky fans, many players are confused about why WOTC doesn't just prepare more stock in advance.
Based on Secret Lair's history and current goals of expanding the Universes Beyond line, MTG's collaboration issues are likely to go deeper than a simple supply chain problem.
The Biggest Problems With Secret Lair Exclusivity
Damaging The Health Of The Game With Exclusive Cards
Secret Lair is the prime stage for most of MTG's Universes Beyond collaborations, allowing for much smaller sets involving a handful of cards at a time rather than the dedication required for a full set release. While this platform may seem like the perfect way to inject some fan-favorite franchises into the popular card game,Secret Lair's current sales method thrives off predatory exclusivity and premium pricing models.
Current business practices are pushing out many long-time fans by favoring this culture of exclusivity.
While these are easier to digest for fans when it comes to simple reprints of existing cards with new art, Universes Beyond cards with unique mechanics and designs are where WOTC gets the most backlash from the community.
By far one of the largest problems facing MTG's Secret Lair collaborations is how it plays into the card-scalping community, creating a sense of urgency from intentional card shortages that can easily be taken advantage of. Some users on Reddit like Uuddlrlrbastrat have even reported seeing users re-selling their Marvel Secret Lair cards for absurd markups before even receiving the product, likely using bots to get a hold of as much product as they can.
While Secret Lair and other Universes Beyond initiatives are a way for MTG creators to showcase their creativity and bring new life to the franchise, their current business practices are pushing out many long-time fans by favoring this culture of exclusivity.
Concern Over Future MTG Collaboration Sets
Hurting Long-Time Magic: The Gathering Fans From The Most
Where Magic The Gathering's supply chain problems affect more casual players is with MtG'sUniverses Beyond commander decks, as card stores struggle to get as much product in as they can in advance. Most predominantly seen with the incredibly popular Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000 decks, they would often sell out within days, resulting in players scrambling to buy them from resellers or untrustworthy markets.
While WOTC has learned from the explosive popularity of the Warhammer 40k set and provided more stock for the highly anticipated LOTR collaboration, it still took a long time for the supply of the more popular decks to stabilize after its release.
Recovering from the latest Commander backlash, WOTC is introducing a brand new initiative to hopefully avoid future controversies over format changes.
Given the upcoming Universes Beyond collaborations with popular franchises like Final Fantasy and Spider-Man released in the next year, players are understandably worried about repeat supply issues. Luckily for fans hoping to get their hands on these releases, commander decks don't have the exclusive shelf life of MTG's Secret Lairs, with a drastically higher amount of supply to match demand. Regardless of which sets will be a bit trickier to get a hold of for the first few weeks, players will receive the same incredibly high-quality and flavorful Magic: The Gathering cards they've come to expect from previous collaborations.
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