Wizards Turned a Beloved Fan Format Into a Secret Lair — Then Scalpers Took Over

One of Magic: The Gathering‘s most beloved community-built formats is now a Secret Lair product that sold out in 30 minutes. Publisher Wizards of the Coast is the culprit, with people relisting it for around three times the original price before fans could even finish checking it out.

Dandân, known as “Forgetful Fish,” is a fan-made two-player format created by Nick Floyd in 1996, framed around an 80-card deck where the only way to win is to land hits with the blue Fish creature. It’s been a grassroots community staple for three decades.

Wizards was actually selling an 80-card ready-to-play deck for $99.99, featuring 46 borderless foil cards with brand-new artwork. Released exclusively through the Chaos Vault on March 16, it featured retro-frame treatments, two life wheels and a how-to-play guide. You can find it at MagicSecretLair.com.

The launch had an entirely different story. Many players said they reached the checkout page only to find the product was sold out, even though it was in their shopping cart. Within hours, the deck began selling on other resale sites for about $300. One copy of the Dandân card (a card you will need ten of to make a full set) was being offered for sale for up to $250.

Before the launch of the Dandân Deck, Secret Lair senior manager Lindsey Bartell had already set the stage for the hype with her comment that “Everybody’s been really excited about the Dandân deck,” although it seemed to make the fact that all of the decks sold out even harder on those fans who were unable to obtain them, in an episode of Weekly MTG after the firestorm caused by the sell-outs, Bartell recognized the issue and admitted, as well, that she never wishes to see products sell out before the queue clearing, and that if/when they do, she will hold herself accountable, as far as reprints go, however, there appears to be no chance for Secret Lair — their longstanding position is that each drop is a one-and-done event.

This seems to be a recurring pattern with Secret Lair drops, with the Dandân situation being the latest example of Wizards of the Coast’s scarcity model letting bootleggers succeed and failing the players for whom the product was made.