Wizards of the Coast, the creators of Magic: The Gathering, appear to be surveying players about a new potential subscription service option for some of the game's limited products. The new survey is aimed at Magic players and asks how they'd feel about a variety of subscription and membership options for future Secret Lair products.
Magic: The Gathering - Secret Lair Subscriptions?
Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair is a series of limited-run products directly aimed at selling singles to players for the first time from Wizards of the Coast in the game's history. Since the end of 2019, the company has released 39 Secret Lair drops, each with special one-off artwork based on a single theme. The Secret Lair Valentine's Day 2021 featured 6 Cherub-art-themed Boros single reprints costing $29.99. The new survey doing the rounds on Reddit seems to be suggesting that players will soon be able to take part in subscription and membership programs, related to Secret Lair.
The surveys were revealed by Reddit user Munocard on the magicTCG subreddit. The various screenshots show the survey asking how the player feels about various subscription and membership options. The subscription option is described as automatic payment for each Secret Lair drop in a year and came with benefits such as free and early delivery of each drop and the ability to cancel at any time.
While there has been some interest in the subscription service, not everything in the survey was received as well. The main membership option costs $199/a year, and including a discount on Secret Lair purchases, free shipping, and the opportunity to buy 4 members-only Secret Lair drops each year. There's also a $99 dollar option that drops the 10% discount but kept the rest of the 'features' of the more expensive membership.
As you might imagine, player reaction to this news has been mixed, at best. While most responders on the Reddit thread are actually pretty into the idea of the subscription service, the membership tiers were not received so favorably. One commenter said:
"..the notion of paying $100 or more EXTRA just for the privilege of spending, even more, seems a bit ludicrous to me."
While another agreed:
"...the membership program is one of the most predatory things I've ever heard. You're paying for the privilege of standing in line for a product and getting the right to buy something secret. And because the subscription model literally reduces supply (and therefore drives prices up like crazy) you're preying on FOMO by creating an absurd level of artificial scarcity. The SL model *already* creates artificial scarcity for these printings!"
If general player responses to the survey are comparably poor, we might never have to actually see the membership option come into play.
What do you think of the Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair survey? Would you pay for the membership or subscription services? Let us know in the comments below.
