This artificial narrow window from Secret Lair is really what's saving the LGS while at the same time cutting them out of the supply chain. Everyone knows that MTG and others like it have been following the predatory practices of the loot crate model for years now, it's just that the Triple A video game industry is more of a prime target due to having a much wider appeal. Kids and young teenagers these days just aren't into paper tabletop games like the previous generation was.DirkGently wrote: ↑4 years agoI find the secret lair product to be deeply worrying. They're releasing them constantly, with artificially narrow windows to give customers a sense of urgency and the inability to see how the prices will shake out in any meaningful way, cutting out LGSs, and selling what are essentially premium cosmetic upgrades...Gee, does that maybe sound like the predatory practice of another, perhaps related, industry? Nah, clearly just my imagination.
I do feel that it's a bit disingenuous of Wizards of the Coast to bring back Buy-a-Box Promos in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths when it doesn't even have the same appeal as Secret Lair. I just don't understand why they would bring them back as they got salty with people flipping and selling FNM Promos online when it originally should've went into the hands of FNM participants. LGS owners pissing off Wizards of the Coast was what really got us into this mess in the first place and now it feels like we've come full circle.