A brand new lawsuit filed by shareholders of Hasbro in opposition to the firm and its administrators alleges that firm management has mismanaged Magic: The Gathering by overprinting units of playing cards, thereby devaluing present ones. It additionally, fairly notably, claims that Hasbro management “hid the true purpose” that its widely-criticized, extremely costly Magic: The Gathering thirtieth Anniversary Set was pulled from sale inside an hour of its preliminary launch.
The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island earlier this week, is filed by shareholders Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone in opposition to Hasbro CEO Christian Cocks, a quantity of fellow firm administrators, and Hasbro itself. The lawsuit alleges breaches of fiduciary responsibility, unjust enrichment, waste of company property, gross mismanagement, abuse of management, and violations of the Alternate Act.
Particularly, the shareholder plaintiffs declare that, below Cocks’ management, Hasbro has been printing far too many Magic: The Gathering units, thereby lowering the worth of present units. This criticism most likely sounds acquainted to avid Magic gamers, as Wizards of the Coast has been printing considerably extra units per 12 months than it used to. This helpful chart made in 2022 by jacobwillson2727 at Only on Tuesdays helps illustrate the drawback, and it is solely gotten worse in the years since:
As famous in the lawsuit, Wizards of the Coast launched extra units than ever earlier than in 2020, which served to double the income of the Wizards phase of Hasbro between 2018 and 2021, and in 2022, Hasbro launched over 5 occasions as many Magic units because it had in 2016. It is price noting that each the chart above and the lawsuit itself are considerably beneficiant in what they contemplate to be a Magic “set.” For instance, the lawsuit additionally claims Wizards launched 39 separate Magic units in 2022 – that strikes me as somewhat excessive, and almost definitely consists of Secret Lair collaborations along with each different potential type of set.
Regardless of the way you depend them, it’s true that the card launch quantity has gone up recently, as anybody who’s grouchy about the quantity of Universes Past collaborations in 2026 will let you know. However the difficulty the shareholders have is that the quantity, they declare, is exceeding client demand, and that Hasbro management is barely releasing this many to get fast money to cowl up shortfalls elsewhere in the Hasbro enterprise.
The lawsuit itself is 76 pages lengthy, however there are two main accusations that stand out. One is an allegation that Hasbro administration used one thing known as the “Parachute Technique.” Allegedly, management plotted to “parachute in” new Magic units every time there was a shortfall elsewhere in Hasbro. These parachute units initially consisted of “Masters” units – largely reprints with low manufacturing prices. Nevertheless, because it grew, extra units received concerned, together with the aforementioned Secret Lair collaborations and the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate set. Per the lawsuit, “As such, the explosive progress in the Magic enterprise famous simply previous to and through the Related Interval [September 2021 – October 2023] was actually the end result of the Parachute Technique. Notably, in 2022 such ‘parachute’ Magic units accounted for 46% of all Magic releases.”
The second, and maybe even spicier, accusation is the allegation that Hasbro administration basically faked being out of inventory of the controversial, extraordinarily costly Magic thirtieth Anniversary Set so as to encourage demand. In the event you’re not acquainted, this was an unhinged $999 field that contained 4 booster packs of non-tournament authorized reprints of unique Magic playing cards, some of which Wizards had sworn it might by no means reprint. This field garnered huge criticism as a consequence of its worth, the indisputable fact that the playing cards weren’t even usable, and the seemingly damaged promise on the half of Wizards to not reprint classics comparable to, say, Black Lotus.
In keeping with testimony from a number of members of management shared in the criticism, following the destructive response from gamers at this announcement, administration made a plan to “pause” gross sales of the set if it grew to become obvious that they have been weaker than anticipated. The corporate mentioned the “sale has concluded, and the product is at present unavailable for buy,” in a post on X (then Twitter), implying they’d offered out, successfully making it appear like the product was way more well-liked than it really had been. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs accuse the firm of claiming the product was “out of inventory.”
What occurred to the unsold playing cards after gross sales have been paused, then? The lawsuit goes on:
“[Former Employee 6] likewise acknowledged that the Firm paused its gross sales of the Magic Anniversary Set lower than an hour after its launch, solely promoting a portion of its obtainable stock. FE 6 additional famous that shortly after the set’s launch, he and different Wizards staff considered pictures of Magic Anniversary Units dropped off at a Texas landfill alongside older Magic merchandise.”
The plantiffs are asking the decide to rule that they, as shareholders, are satisfactory representatives of Hasbro and subsequently can sue on behalf of the firm itself, and that every of the particular person defendants failed of their fiduciary duties. They’re additionally asking that Hasbro be awarded damages from every particular person defendant, and that the shareholders be given considerably extra energy on the board of the firm.
IGN has reached out to Hasbro for remark.
That is removed from the first time shareholders have expressed displeasure with Hasbro’s dealing with of Magic. Talked about a number of occasions in the swimsuit is a deep dive finished by Financial institution of America again in 2022 on this actual difficulty of overprinting, which prompted analysts to say Hasbro was hurting its long-term worth with so many frequent set releases.
This 12 months’s first set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, is doing all proper a minimum of, having seemingly offered out in most locations amid pleasure at a return to a beloved airplane from Magic’s historical past. It is even received a bunch of tremendous costly uncommon playing cards, topped off with a Showcase Fracture Foil model of Bloom Tender that is going for over $600 at the time this piece was written.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.