WotC Partners with Online Juggernaut, Acknowledges Secondary Market

Last updated on March 5, 2025

Halana and Alena, Partners | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the publisher of Magic: The Gathering, announced a partnership with TCGplayer, a leading online marketplace for trading card games.

According to WotC's article “Wizards Play Network is Teaming Up with TCGplayer” on their WPN network, “Select Wizards Play Network retailers that have storefronts on TCGplayer will have the option to participate in a pilot to display a “WPN” badge.”

Source: TCGplayer

This collaboration, set to pilot in spring 2025, will let buyers filter their search results to only show verified WPN retailers. WotC expects that this will “Instill buyer confidence by signaling to customers they are purchasing from a Wizards-verified local game store.”

According to TCGplayer's own announcement of their partnership with Wizards of the Coast, “This badge will let buyers know they’re purchasing Magic: The Gathering product from an official WPN local game store, so that customers can shop confidently and you can stand out.”

What Is TCGplayer?

Lord of Atlantis | Illustration by Billy Christian

TCGplayer (spelled with lower-case “p”, one of MTG's greatest debates) is one of the largest trading card marketplaces you can find online, connecting buyers and sellers of a long list of TCGs that includes MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon, and Flesh & Blood – here's Draftsim's detailed review for more insight.

Acquired by eBay for around $300 million in 2022, this partnership means that Hasbro (WotC's owner) and eBay are now doing business directly.

WotC's Efforts to Understand Magic's Secondary Market

Rohith Thumati, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro, sees this partnership as a win/win for both LGS and MTG players.

“Three years ago, I started a strategy project here to help us understand the secondary market,” Thumati posted on his LinkedIn profile (emphasis added). “That led to building a relationship with TCGPlayer and eBay, and has now culminated in this initiative.”

Source: LinkedIn post – Rohith Thumati

While they didn't share further details, both Thumati in their LinkedIn post and WotC's official announcement hint about further collaborations in the months ahead:

“Hopefully,” Thumati said, “there's a lot more coming.” 

Community Reaction

Wedding Announcement | Illustration by Caroline Gariba

“All it’s changing is adding a logo for WPN stores to be recognized on their site,” wrote u/veryrealadvice in the most-upvoted comment on the Reddit thread commenting the news.

“I don't think much will change as most buyers don't care and will always buy low,” notes u/Damiencbw, “but with this announcement I'm interested to see what happens going forward, and where this is headed in conjunction with those whispers of changes coming.”

Several redditors expressed surprise to see WotC officially acknowledging the existence of the secondary market –  something which Thumati's assertion should now lead no doubt about.

“I thought we were getting Universes Beyond: TCGplayer,” jokes u/Nappingspider.

“I guess TCGplayer is in universe now,” u/inoryte says.