Batman #38

Apparently demand is spiking on this book due to someone thinking that Matthew Werner, who first appears in this book and is obsessed with Batman to the point of having his own parents killed, grows up without a scar and changes gender to become Punchline.  Go figure but stranger things have happened.

Home Delivery

We are considering offering home delivery of games and comics within a 15 mile radius of the store. Orders would have to be large enough to earn 3 Castle Card stamps, would have to be paid for with credit card or Paypal and called or emailed to the store prior to 6 p.m. Still looking into this as we would have to check into insurance and liability, plus we do not know if there is enough demand for such a service in the Carbondale area. Food yes, but Magic or comic books, maybe not.

Free T-shirt

If you want one of the free Castle Perilous/ Warhammer t-shirts, let us know by Monday at 9 p.m. CT. We are going to be sending in our order on Tuesday and will be allocating them according to Preferred Customer, Regular Warhammer/Warhammer 40K player and everyone else. In the comments Let us know your name, your size and if you would prefer a regular or tall shirt.

T-shirts

We are getting t-shirts made with the store logo and Warhammer Logo  emblazoned on them. Shirts will be Heather blue with the logos on them in white. We are looking at getting 40-60 of these made will make these available for free to Preferred Customers first, then to people who play Warhammer and Warhammer 40K here regularly, then to other customers. If you meet either of the first two criteria, let us know your size and we will get you a shirt

Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Remember the Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica? Well, come June 2, you will be able to take your characters onto the plane of Theros and play, not only as one of the classic D&D characters and races, but as a satyr or leonin. Two covers, one standard cover and one game store only. If you want the game store cover, and you can see it by clicking on the link above, put in a preorder with us ASAP as those are generally one and done.

New GW Releases for This Saturday

Releasing this Saturday Drukhari Incubi (45-40)   Brand-new, all-plastic Incubi miniatures! Previously only available in the Blood of the Phoenix battlebox The elite close combat unit of the Drukhari Includes 6 plastic Citadel miniatures, and includes the parts to make a Klaivex and 1 Aeldari/Drukhari Icon   (45-40) US $55/ CAN $65 For sale in your shop on Saturday 03-07-20

Craftworlds Howling Banshees (46-45)   Brand-new, all-plastic Howling Banshee miniatures! Previously only available in the Blood of the Phoenix battlebox The elite close combat unit of the Craftworlds Aeldari Contains 6 plastic Citadel Miniatures, and includes the parts to make 1 Howling Banshee Exarch and 1 Aeldari/Asuryani Icon   (46-45) US $55/ CAN $65 For sale in your shop on Saturday 03-07-20

Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence (46-49)   A brand-new miniature of Jain Zar, the first Phoenix Lord available in plastic! Previously only available in the Blood of the Phoenix battlebox Leader of the Howling Banshees   (46-49) US $40/ CAN $50 For sale in your shop on Saturday 03-07-20

Drazhar, Master of Blades (45-41)   A brand-new, all-plastic miniature of Drazhar Previously only available in the Blood of the Phoenix battlebox A supreme master of combat, and leader of the Incubi   (45-41) US $40/ CAN $50

WOTC's Drop Strategy

Well, looks as if WOTC plans to hew to   the drop marketing strategy adopted by athletic wear and clothing even more closely than it has with its previous sets as the company released a Theros themed Secret Lair set, Theros Stargazing, with almost no announcement, an even shorter release window (only 3 days Feb. 14, 15^th and 16^th)  ending after the World Championship XXV1 concludes oncludes, and even more limited quantities. I tried ordering a couple of copies for the store and received a notice that we would only receive 1. While earlier in the day, the website indicated that customers could order up to 10 of each set, that language has vanished from the site, although customers can add multiple sets to their cart, just one at a time.

The way I see it, this change accomplishes three things for WOTC

1.       Draws attention to the Magic World Championship series. The handy link provided on the Secret Lair website takes your right to the Twitch Stream for the World Championships. Given the amount of traffic driven to the Secret Lair website this weekend, I imagine a substantial percentage of it clicked on the link just to take a look at the World’s , increasing traffic and awareness of the Twitch channel.

2.       Harvests emails. Prominently displayed at the bottom of the Secret Lair website is a box allowing viewers to sign up for notifications regarding future releases. Given that WOTC apparently plans to keep information about new drops a closely held secret (well it is a Secret Lair) until just before the release, Magic players and customers wanting to know about any upcoming releases will have to give WOTC their email and, since this is information the customers will want to know, it will be an email address the customer checks regularly, not an email they use for signing up at websites to get a freebie and then never check.  Nope, this strategy makes sure WOTC’s emails go right into the frequently checked email box.

3.       Increases the cachet of the Secret Lair drops. Much like the top clothing, show and skateboard manufacturers using this method, by holding information back about the drop until just before it occurs, WOTC has successfully increased the exclusivity of its Secret Lair sets and, hence, the exclusivity of those who have access to it. Even more than with the Mythic sets and the previous Secret Lair drops, I expect demand to increase for these sets after the sale date ends. Sealed sets of previous Secret Lair releases (OMG Kitties, Bitterblossom) sell in the range of $50 to $75 apiece. Unlike previous sets, we have already had customers calling asking if we would get any of this Secret Lair release which tells me something about how much demand there will be in the aftermarket for the cards.

Given the success of previous Secret Lair releases and  the demand for this one, I see no reason to expect Wizards to cease using this model anytime in the near future. Increased sales, increased perception of exclusivity and more emails to which to market, what’s not to like?