WotC changes how Secret Lair releases work

Wizards of the Coast is making a change to its Secret Lair releases designed to speed up the process.

According to an announcement from the company, the print-to-demand Secret Lair releases, which can sometimes take quite some time to arrive to customers' doors, will no longer be purely print-to-demand.  Rather, the company says they will be moving to a model in which a limited number of Secret Lair releases are pre-printed for immediate release.

"Starting in 2024 and to expedite shipping and reduce wait times for receiving some of the wildest treatments in Magic, Secret Lair is officially shifting from a print-to-demand model to a limited-print-run model for most of the product line," states WotC.  "There may still be some exceptions wherein Secret Lair drops continue to be print to demand for an ordering window, but moving forward, you should expect that most drops will be pre-printed and therefore able to ship out and reach you more quickly once you've placed your order."

The company does point out, however, that in moving to this new process for Secret Lair releases, there is a risk that products may sell out before their respective selling periods end.

"While popular Secret Lair drops may sell out fast, we now have four years of Secret Lair sales to base our print-run numbers on, and we're aiming to get as close to overall demand as possible," WotC says.