Does MSRP Matter in Magic: the Gathering?
Magic has a fraught history when it comes to price transparency. In its early years, things were pretty straightforward. Sealed product had prices displayed as part of the official packaging, making it hard to argue with what something should cost…at least, close to that product’s release, that is. Eventually this fell out of fashion, but Magic nonetheless retained MSRP – manufacturer suggested retail price – providing some sense of consumer clarity.
In 2019, however, this was fully done away with, as Wizards of the Coast argued MSRP muddied business communications across their global product line. Flash forward a little over five years later, and now MSRP is back. So what, if anything, does this mean for Magic prices?
The Goal of MSRP
First up, a bit of context. Manufacturer suggested retail price is, as the name implies, nothing more than a suggestion. The role of MSRP is to provide a public signal to business partners – as well as consumers more broadly – as to what the manufacturer intends a product to sell for. As such, these signals aren’t binding in any way. A product can have an MSRP of $100 and be sold by a local store for $200 without any direct repercussions. So, why all the fuss of having one in the first place, and what was the point of getting rid of it at all?
When products are first released and have little comparison, such as Magic back in its infancy, MSRP can help to set a baseline expectation before the market fully receives it. For more established products, MSRP can serve as a throughline, connecting a product’s price to other comparable products. Alternatively, if there is a sudden change in a product price, MSRP can send a market signal ahead of time, preparing consumers for what lies ahead.
The issue with MSRP, however, is that it can create negative sentiment when multiple MSRPs are issued for the same product (such as one product having a different MSRP depending on the country in which you purchase it), as it draws increased attention to forces which may increase prices elsewhere. Most Magic products cost more outside the U.S., so having regional MSRPs only increases the negative public sentiment associated with that difference.
MSRP Success
Despite the issues of regional MSRP variance for global launches, MSRP signaling can play a not-insignificant role as an insulator against price volatility in the early weeks of a product’s launch. However, this is primarily the case in already-stable assets, as MSRP works as a norm-stabilizer, not necessarily a norm-setter.
Norm-stabilizers are forces which amplify pre-existing trends for an asset, while norm-setters are the forces which work to establish those characteristics in the first place. An excellent example of this can be seen in the case of preorders for Standard Magic releases. These are among Magic’s most stable releases, with few exceptions coming to mind as cases where a product was so negatively or positively received that its baseline products (Play/Draft Booster Boxes, depending on the era) experienced noteworthy volatility in the immediate post-release window. The price norms for such products were set by supply and demand, but the price elasticity and volatility within the early window is susceptible to additional signals, like MSRP.
MSRP Failure
If Standard Play Boxes sum up when MSRP can play a noticeable role, then just about every other product line sums up where MSRP doesn’t. But first, let’s talk about the From the Vault Series and their modern counterpart, Secret Lair.
The From the Vault series was a set of specially-curated, high-demand, limited-release products which were distributed to game stores, usually carrying an MSRP of $40. However, rarely – if ever – did they sell for that. Instead, most From the Vault products went for much, much higher prices.
Secret Lair releases are, by all metrics, From the Vault but with fewer cards and sold directly to players. That last part – the direct-to-consumer pipeline – is the most significant difference in their product structure, allowing purchasers to readily buy them for the WotC-dictated price. However, these are also among the most volatile of Magic’s products, frequently selling on the secondary market with significant markups within days of reaching consumers.
Why do I bring these products up? Because both cases display that norm-setters defeat norm-stabilizers with ease. Price signaling, like MSRP, is helpful for planning how to navigate stable, tepid conditions, but that’s a very small chunk of Magic’s product pipeline. Despite its MSRP, From the Vault wasn’t $40, and it never was going to be.
Wrap Up
Overall, Magic’s history displays a pretty consistent trend of products ignoring MSRP once they begin to mature in the broader market. Sure, local stores may have a bit of a tougher time straying too far from MSRP on release weekend but give any item enough time and its value will certainly drift. So, rather than imagining a world where MSRP prevents substantial price deviations, it makes more sense to think about MSRP as an advertising tactic. It’s not that MSRP doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t confine things the way we first might think.
Further Reading:
Harvey McGuinness is a student at Johns Hopkins University who has been playing Magic since the release of Return to Ravnica. After spending a few years in the Legacy arena bouncing between Miracles and other blue-white control shells, he now spends his time enjoying Magic through CEDH games and understanding the finance perspective. He also writes for the Commander's Herald.
