Tagrineth said:

Ira Spinta: It laughs at Red Lotus. And by laugh, I mean outright guffaws. Why you ask? Simple. In Order, a nice chunk of their deck commits stuff. Let's say you have all four of your Red Lotus' out (and aren't playing Kyo). So one gets commited on your turn by negating my Experienced Combatant, and then on my turn you commit the other three out to negate any combination of multiple Program Malfunctions and Chinese Boxings. Now I Spinta you. How are those Lotus' working out for you now? Oh yeah, and Order has a nifty little card called Charasmatic. I hear it negates responses and blows em up to boot if they're on a non character card in the staging area! Wanna waste a Lotus on that one too? Maybe I'll blow up one of my Seals to negate your Lotus. I mean what Order deck (or any deck now) doesn't run Seals? Wanna waste ANOTHER Lotus? Oh yeah, and there's Psycho Style... Maybe the action side first to make you commit a Lotus? Or maybe I'll just use it's enhance if I have one in my staging area. Mega Spike's action side? Sure why not! Hey wait... How many Lotus' do you have?

Fire doesn't care because it'll simply pump the Spinta up to high heavens, then hit you with someone else.

Air admittedly is a bit more trickier, as it has to rely on Inhuman Perception and the sod awful End It All to push it's Spinta enhance through. But again most Air decks rock Seals, but again admitedly it loses some of it's oomph.

All the commital stuff. Order deals with Torn Hero quite simply... It Spinta's it away. None of Siegfriend's support deals with Spinta. Neither does Tira's support. And with LotM gone, it makes it a LOT harder for symbols that aren't on Algol to get stuff back (or you're Seung Mina).

As for it's kill condition, how bout looping Spinta's+ Counter the Assault? I hear Juni's Spiral Arrow looping is kind of good too. Ever heard of it?

With LotM gone I think it actually makes Chun Li MORE scarrier. Yes she has to run White Magic, but if anything that can prove to be a HUGE bluff. Think about it like this:

You start your turn and see the Chun Li player respond with two White Magic's. Those two momentum will sit there and taunt you, as the player may have a Spike or Hokyo Sen in hand. See with a Lord of the Makai out there were ways to stop it, and even then they had to play an attack in order for it to be used. With White Magic, your turn just needs to start, and now they don't have to worry about pushing an enhance through. And if you negate one of the White Magics, darn? You blow some of your negation on your turn so she can just smack you around next turn with a Spinta followed by a Spike.

The unfortunate thing is I pretty much agree with B-Rad, because he's exactly right, Order is all about commit, and no number of Lotuses (which, realistically, is only 2 to 3) can outnumber Order's China, Programs, Pommels, etc etc.

Getting rid of Makai dampers Spinta. However, anybody who's used it knows that Spinta's days won't end unless the card goes. It's a great card, and while it's no longer unfair due to Makai, it's unfair due to its absolute board control that, as far as I'm aware, is only truly stopped by Red Lotus and Calming the Mind =/

Agree with bans other than Chester's. A Commit for one off Negation? The same logic can be applied to BRT - Commit to Negate one card being played but it didn't go. I would have thought nerfing Spike and Spinta would make more sense. Natural Leader plus Spike still equals a turn 2 kill. I don't think LotM going slowed anything down. Costless abilities seem to be the target with LotM so why is Bitter Rivals still here? It's just plain wrong even if it is a Common.

Stoked about 1 Set releases - it means I can buy more and have a better chance of getting the 9 million chase URs that are printed.

Sad about shiny loss.

Tagrineth said:

This is technically not true as I have so far found 2 other cards that still make mega spike loop possible, one of which makes rejection loop possible as well.

I can't say that I'm a fan of the decision to print only one set at a time, one of the things I really like about UFS was that if you didn't like one of the new sets you always had another option. The other thing that really bugs me is that licences like Street Fighter, Samurai Showdown, and King of Fighters that have yet to see their entire rosters released likely never will do to the small set sizes and only having four characters per set. This latest SotG wasn't all bad news though, I do agree with the bannings and I agree with the others that have said the mini block isn't a bad idea. I'm indifferent when it comes to the removal of foil cards and I'm assuming that based on what Steve said in his post that there will no longer be foil cards period.

By the way, Steve, whatever happened to the Penny Arcade reprints? We haven't heard anything on that lately.

just wondering, now that were not getting foils anymore, will champion cards be non foil or will an exception be made as each one only gets one print run as far as i know? mainly wondering as i'm waiting on the shop asset we won last year and i really want it to be shiny.

Yay, My curse worked as usual!! Every time I get a playset of a broken card, (Mentoring, Kasumi Gaki etc) it gets banned heh. This time I did it on purpose lol. I even dumped a spike for them. Well worth it to see that card never be played again, along with LOTM. Chesters, eh. I guess, but there are ton's of ways around/ways to deal with it.

Well... Where do I begin.... My opinion of this STOG....

In regards to what FFG plans on doing with the sets, I feel this will be a positive move overall! One set at a time gives collectors a chance to focus (Which will stimulate the economy for the game) While it gives players to focus on one set (Really digging into their minds for intelligent combos) and lastly it give the people at FFG a chance to see what the set has done to the game and if there are any problems, they will be able to fix it in the next one!

In regards to no foils from now on, honestly this was one of my favorite aspects of the game! I loved ripping a pack of nothing but shiny but I do see the reason for it. I do have a question, when/if the economy for the game is stable and or higher and closer to when the game started out, would you consider putting foils back up?

Now here is my section that really means nothing to anyone because the choice has already been made

The Bans..... Well I have no Olcadan's so I spent most of my time finding ways around it. I also became very good at it. I really don't care to much about this card being gone. I do ask if someone is willing to give me them I need 4x for my collection, I want a playset of everything in set 9 Soul Calibur Promo's... Please email me at [email protected] I would be really gratefull. Next, Lord of The Maki... well this card was the card that got me into playing the momentum aspect of UFS, I ALWAYS turned the other way instead of playing with momentum in ufs before I learned of this card. Though I understand it was overpowered, I miss my Neo Raging Storm's for over 70 damage.... and it sucks because I JUST spent money trying to get them, that kind of makes me nervous about buying anything for this game because if its good it might get banned... (Such is the risk with any game) but now I will be making my buying VERY carefully... Bye Bye LOTM... Checster's Backing, honestly this was not a cool choice, there are so many answers to this card! Even a common from the soul calibur 4 set! Stops it dead! Ivy's common foundation that negates a player gaining life... Also for a gift one of my boyfriends spent over $50 on 3 of them for me like 2 weeks ago... I never even had a chance to use them.... What a waste.... Also with them being a Set 9 Promo of soul Calibur that is kind of upsetting.

Itachi Uchiha said:

lol how many boyfriends do you have?

Hayamachop said:

2 I am in a three man relationship.

From what I am taking from this is this.

We need more players. The bigger the base, the better the support and the game. More players and Shiny will come back. More players and that will be bigger sets. More players means a more stable game.

How many of us are out there recruiting the Ex VS. players or the aging YGO players?

Stores have to independantly promote and not lean on FFG to hand them players. Better support without store promotion is sold to CSI and a dying game.

I try and help other stores promote. I sent a few hundred promos to Florida and I am working with another group in Arkansas to grow the game. What I hope to get back is a Top 5 played CCG that I have invested time and money in.

If you are waiting for FFG to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours to promote the game, they already have.

Time for us, the player base to get grass roots and help rebuild the player base so in 2010 we have a 250 man Nationals and 50 man regionals.

This is not an unrealistic goal. Collect all your billion of extra cards and help build give away decks for new players. Develop your own store and help the owner. The store owner has to run a business and promote at least 3 different card games and has to rely on the players to promote thier favorite games. More players in your store, bigger trading pool and more buying power.

As for the support being poor, please. They bend over backwards to be helpful. How much does your play group do to pull in new players?

Just my opinion,

HK (Paul)

HamanKahn said:

I already do this, problem is it really doesn't sell product. Most people I build decks for might buy a pack a week tops and are content to play the game with their free deck. It's a good idea in theory, but money's tight and many people don't want to spend it if they have a free deck to play or they get bored in a few weeks and disappear. As for stuff on the store end it would help if we got some large tournaments once in a while down here (southern California) to help promote the game. Frankly the rumor that we're going to have a regional event has done more for the game in our store than the 3rd anniversary did.

I hope that they don't ditch foiling for the prizes for two big reasons:

1) If no more foils are being printed, no more league kits. That means half our prize support goes out the window.

2) Foil promos are a good prize for new players as they're a big status thing. I mean, who doesn't like showing up and walking away with a league promo card and a foil character for just being there. Without them I think a lot of new players are going to be disappointed, especially if they started recently and now have the rug pulled out from underneath them.

I think I would have been fine with either the foiling going or the one set at a time, but both at once is going to hurt the game I think. I know a few long-term guys in my playgroup are now considering getting out of the game from this SotG.

As for the one set a year, with 6 licenses and only 4 sets a year we're never going to see some characters again. We'll go whole blocks without Darkstalkers (the earliest that set'll be out is next year I think). Not only that most of the characters will go untapped in each game as well. It'll be a cold day in hell before we see some characters again, especially if they shove some of the poster boys around like they usually do (We'll probably see Ryu 10 long before we see another Yun-Seong, Maxi, or BB hood). Talim (my fav from the games as well as UFS) wont have another version for probably at least two years since she's been in recently and it'll take at least that long to see another SC set. Plus I'm beginning to wonder how many companies will be willing to grant the licenses again if they're getting a big 'screw off' for an entire year. I mean, you think Capcom's gonna want to keep signing off on these if they wont see one of their games featured until late this year or worse? How about SNK? Namco should be fine since they've got Tekken on the way, but next year they probably wont have anything because they'll have to catch up on SF, Darkstalkers, and SNK before they get another shot.

HamanKahn said:

HamanKahn said:

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and without FFG's support at all because we've been having promotional problems since day one.

So can the white knight routine, since not all of us are selfish pricks.

Homme Chapeau said:

Never said anyone is selfish pricks. Never claimed to be a white knight. If you took anything I said that way, not my issue.

Just said we ALL can do more to promote. Just gave examples of how I do a few SMALL things.

We will still have monthly prize support, it is just going through some reforms. I just think we need to band together more as a CCG community.

And as I end most of my posts,

In my opinion,

HK (Paul)

Oh yes, I could dance right now.

Not to sound whiny, but all three cards are heavily prevalent in my area, and most players posessed two or more, often full sets. Being the newest blood on the block, I have none, and few options to counter.

I can't wait for Canada Day now. Two reasons to celebrate.

As to only one set per release? Thank God for that. As a collector, trying to get playsets for two sets at once was **** near backbreaking, financially. This will help make it easier for the collectors out there as it means we can focus on one set at a time.

Meh at the banned cards. Glad to see Olcadans go, but I'll miss the other two.

We're getting Close Throw back? Whoohoo!

If you guys want to attempt to attract more players, I suggest you bring the game either to your school or to your workplace (during break of course). I know a lot of you have the mentality that it won't catch-on, or that you'll look like a child or whatever, but I promise you, it's a reliable method. 3 years ago I worked at a Subway, and this guy was droning on about, "One of my biggest mistakes was selling my Magic cards. I miss TCGs..."

To which I responded, "Well, I'm getting into this card game called UFS. It's basically all fighting games in one card game."

And he just exploded with happiness as he reminisced upon his days of Street Fighter II and Samurai Showdown II. I then told him the basic principles of the game, and by next week he had started attending tournies with me.

UFS has a giant appeal to it. You just need to go forth and present the game. I've taught ex-girlfriends, co-workers, and even a teacher of mine how to play, and they all had uniform agreement that it was fun as Hell, and that means a lot when the people I taught didn't play card games OR fighting games.

If you want yer shinies back,

DO IT FOR FFG'S SAKE!

I just got a new player from my D&D group. He got interested after he heard me mention going to various places and placing well and having a blast against various players . I demoed the game with him, and got him to beat up one of my other players. He's meeting up with my playgroup on thursday so we'll see if he likes the game or not and if I can make this game grow a little bit.

sir_shajir said:

YES.

Shinji: "Derailing"? Yup, you're just a troll, and a really stupid one at that.

B-Rad: I like how you go

"Red Lotus loses to Order deck because you'll have at most 4x Red Lotus and they'll have Malfunction, Chinabox, Experienced, Charismatic, Seals, AND EVEN THE KITCHEN SINK in play"

completely ignoring the fact that two of Lotus's resources are shared with Oral Dead, one of those is shared with Charismatic as well, Charismatic incidentally sharing Oral Dead's other resource. Lotus shares a resource with Torn Hero. Oral Dead and Charismatic share one with Perfect Sense of Balance. Perfect Sense of Balance shares one with Torn Hero. Calming the Mind shares all three resources with Torn Hero and protects it 100% from Ira-Spinta. Lots of these cards that don't share resources, contain resources that are very easy to combine in a single deck. SoC shares a resource with every card listed above. (edit: and if you want to jump up to character only stuff, soul calibur* is amazing)

That's also ignoring that three of the above resources are also on Destiny, two of them are on Ayame's Scarf. One of the above is shared by both Hoping for a Challenge and Willful, and each of those two brings its own two unique resources to the table to counter Order's other cards.

No, not everything has an answer to the Order board. Not everything should have an answer to it. In fact, the best answers to CC hacking only share Chaos with the best shutdowns to committal, and only Willful and Perfect Sense of Balance share a resource to combine anti-hax + commit punishment.

And then there's also stuff like beating the crap out of them that usually helps against Order decks.

edit: but you know, we only recently really started getting good anti-commit stuff. The original anti-commit effect was "Playable while committed." so we've already come a long way. There's always a chance we'll see more in the future.

^Calming the Mind has Water and Torn Hero Good, and Good also has anti-hax [Destiny] + anti-commit [Hero]

I don't have anything of substance to add, though.

Gotta try and brain storm for the new format name... Micro-mat ? Maybe? No... Accelerated ? That sounds a little more cool. Cruiser Block could work, but don't want to overlap with things like the wieght restriction formats.

Wafflecopter said:

Oops, my bad. You're right, I got a resource on Calming the Mind wrong.

Tagrineth said:

Eeh... that's leaving a game up to chance. I don't like that.

Life, however, doesn't need to.

Tagrineth said:

Useless listing of highly unlikely scenarios is useless.

Order decks run 4 of Chinese and Program. Period. Most Order decks (Donovan, Gill, etc) run 2-3 Experienced Combatant. Every single deck running Charismatic I have EVER seen, only runs 1 copy (but hey, more power to the people who run multiples), so we'll try to use that as the paradigm.

With 3 cards likely to be out within turn 1-2, Evil cannot compete when all it's got is Red Lotus, and perhaps Oral Dead to stop Programs (and does not stop Chinese or Experienced). Evil was B-Rad's whole point; to bring up other symbols not only has nothing to do with B-Rad's point of Evil not being able to keep up, but furthermore, most of the symbols you're attempting to defend have not done well at all the regionals had this year, so why are you bothering?

Also, wtf is with you guys saying Calming the Mind protects you from Spinta? It protects you...FOR THAT TURN. Calming the Mind adds any cards that would be added to the momentum during the combat phase to the end phase instead. Point? Foundations are still removed, just later on, is all.

Also, Soul Calibur* is not amazing because Siegfried is not amazing.