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Lawsuit Claims Hasbro Misled Investors Regarding Sales of Controversial Magic: the Gathering Anniversary Set
A new lawsuit filed by shareholders of Hasbro against the company and its directors alleges that company leadership has mismanaged Magic: The Gathering by overprinting sets of cards, thereby devaluing existing ones. It also, quite notably, claims that Hasbro leadership "concealed the true reason" that its widely-criticized, incredibly expensive Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Set was pulled from sale within an hour of its initial release.
The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island earlier this week, is filed by shareholders Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone against Hasbro CEO Christian Cocks, a number of fellow company directors, and Hasbro itself. The lawsuit alleges breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, waste of corporate assets, gross mismanagement, abuse of control, and violations of the Exchange Act.
Specifically, the shareholder plaintiffs claim that, under Cocks' leadership, Hasbro has been printing far too many Magic: The Gathering sets, thereby reducing the value of existing sets. This complaint probably sounds familiar to avid Magic players, as Wizards of the Coast has been printing significantly more sets per year than it used to. This handy chart made in 2022 by jacobwillson2727 at Only on Tuesdays helps illustrate the problem, and it's only gotten worse in the years since:
As noted in the lawsuit, Wizards of the Coast released more sets than ever before in 2020, which served to double the revenue of the Wizards segment of Hasbro between 2018 and 2021, and in 2022, Hasbro released over five times as many Magic sets as it had in 2016. It's worth noting that both the chart above and the lawsuit itself are somewhat generous in what they consider to be a Magic "set." For example, the lawsuit also claims Wizards released 39 separate Magic sets in 2022 - that strikes me as a little high, and most likely includes Secret Lair collaborations in addition to every other possible kind of set.
Regardless of how you count them, it is true that the card release volume has gone up lately, as anyone who's grouchy about the number of Universes Beyond collaborations in 2026 will tell you. But the issue the shareholders have is that the volume, they claim, is exceeding consumer demand, and that Hasbro leadership is only releasing this many to get quick cash to cover up shortfalls elsewhere in the Hasbro business.
The lawsuit itself is 76 pages long, but there are two major accusations that stand out. One is an allegation that Hasbro management used something called the "Parachute Strategy." Allegedly, leadership plotted to "parachute in" new Magic sets whenever there was a shortfall somewhere else in Hasbro. These parachute sets initially consisted of "Masters" sets - largely reprints with low production costs. However, as it grew, more sets got involved, including the aforementioned Secret Lair collaborations and the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate set. Per the lawsuit, "As such, the explosive growth in the Magic business noted just prior to and during the Relevant Period [September 2021 - October 2023] was in fact the result of the Parachute Strategy. Notably, in 2022 such 'parachute' Magic sets accounted for 46% of all Magic releases."
The second, and perhaps even spicier, accusation is the allegation that Hasbro management essentially faked being out of stock of the controversial, extremely expensive Magic 30th Anniversary Set in order to encourage demand. If you're not familiar, this was an unhinged $999 box that contained four booster packs of non-tournament legal reprints of original Magic cards, some of which Wizards had sworn it would never reprint. This box garnered massive criticism due to its price, the fact that the cards weren't even usable, and the seemingly broken promise on the part of Wizards not to reprint classics such as, say, Black Lotus.
According to testimony from several members of leadership shared in the complaint, following the negative reaction from players at this announcement, management made a plan to "pause" sales of the set if it became apparent that they were weaker than anticipated. The company said the "sale has concluded, and the product is currently unavailable for purchase," in a post on X (then Twitter), implying they had sold out, effectively making it look like the product was far more popular than it actually had been. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs accuse the company of claiming the product was "out of stock."
What happened to the unsold cards after sales were paused, then? The lawsuit goes on:
"[Former Employee 6] likewise stated that the Company paused its sales of the Magic Anniversary Set less than an hour after its release, only selling a portion of its available inventory. FE 6 further noted that shortly after the set’s release, he and other Wizards employees viewed photographs of Magic Anniversary Sets dropped off at a Texas landfill alongside older Magic products."
The plantiffs are asking the judge to rule that they, as shareholders, are adequate representatives of Hasbro and therefore can sue on behalf of the company itself, and that each of the individual defendants failed in their fiduciary duties. They are also asking that Hasbro be awarded damages from each individual defendant, and that the shareholders be given significantly more power on the board of the company.
IGN has reached out to Hasbro for comment.
This is far from the first time shareholders have expressed displeasure with Hasbro's handling of Magic. Mentioned multiple times in the suit is a deep dive done by Bank of America back in 2022 on this exact issue of overprinting, which prompted analysts to claim Hasbro was hurting its long-term value with so many frequent set releases.
This year's first set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, is doing all right at least, having seemingly sold out in most places amid excitement at a return to a beloved plane from Magic's history. It's even got a host of super expensive rare cards, topped off with a Showcase Fracture Foil version of Bloom Tender that's going for over $600 at the time this piece was written.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
