Oh my fuck secret lair being print to order was the whole point. They've gone back to the scarcity bullshit that FTV and other limited sealed products were but also cut out LGS. So they fixed one problem, created another, then unfixed the first problem.

Fuck hasbro or wotc or whoever is making these fucking decisions.

I agree about the limited print runs and scalpers. Plus I really don't like the urgency around having to buy them before they sell out, it's very frustrating as a consumer if it's something you're on the fence about.

I imagine the answer is just “money!” but surely they could do both - an up front print run and then on demand print as well

Hate everything about this, and I've been a secret lair diehard from day 1. I love the cool art treatments, I buy the overpriced basic lands, I really enjoy the crossovers even when I don't personally care about the property, overall a big fan. But what I do NOT like is turning it into hyper-FOMO "buy quick or never get it again!!" bullshit. Having them be limited to the sale was fine because you got like a month to think about it, being forced to buy it in the first (day? Hour? Minute??) or else the stock disappears means I won't bother, I respect myself too much for that nonsense.

With 4 years of sales data they can probably target there printing numbers close to their expected sales. Unless a Secret Lair is a surprise hit I don't think this is that big a deal.