Alright everyone there is a lot to cover this month, some bad news, some good. This month is very long with a lot of information to digest so make sure you read through it carefully. Lets get to it.
The CCG market has gone through a very rough time the past couple of years and it continues to be a difficult business for everyone, us included. We did a massive 3rd anniversary promotion that had a lot of stores sign up but sold very little product. While our sales are stable they are not where they used to be. During this difficult time we have looked at every aspect of the business and have made some difficult decisions.
First off we are not raising prices but we are making some changes. The most frequent feedback we received from retailers who participated in the anniversary event was that having two sets come out at the same time was too much product for them to bring in during hard economic times, we have been hearing this for a while now from stores and distributors.
So starting with the release of set 13 we are going to only release one set at a time, meaning that The Tekken set will release by itself and the SoulCalibur set that was scheduled to release with it will now be released 3 months later as set 14. This will also allow us to get back to releasing sets on time. Both sets are going off to the printer and I will post release dates very soon. We are working for a mid July release for set 13 but if it gets pushed into late July we will spoil/preview the entire set early July so that you can proxy cards and build test decks so that you know exactly what you need for World’s, we should know for sure by the end of this month. The pre release kit contains the following:
6 booster displays of Tekken
16 exclusive promo cards
in addition free of charge:
1 display of SoulCalibur: Soul Arena starter decks
1 display of SoulCalibur: Flash of Blades booster packs
1 display of Street Fighter: Dark Path Starter decks
1 display of SNK: Fortune & Glory Booster packs
1 display of Street Fighter: Domination booster packs
Thats right the stores pays for the six displays of Tekken and the rest is free. This is an amazing kit that should help stores grow their play groups with extra free product to use to run demos with, as extra prizes, run sealed deck events with or all of the above.
The other big change taking effect with this set is that we are dropping foil cards, even though sales are currently steady they are not where they used to be and the current print runs just do not justify the cost. I know that this will really piss some people off but it beats raising the price of the packs, like I said difficult decisions had to be made.
Ok there is the bad news. What are we going to do about it? That is where the good news comes in. We have several initiatives lined up to address problems and make the game more accessible to new players, bring back players who have left and of course make it even more exciting for the current players. The new pre release kit is a very good start, listed below are more
The first one address the other overwhelming piece of feedback we received from the anniversary event, which was that a lot of people wanted to get into the game but were overwhelmed with the amount of past sets they had to chase down to play. Looking at it you can see what they mean, if someone wanted to start playing with set 12 they would have to go back and buy cards from the last four releases (eight sets of cards, one of which is sold out!). With the set rotation we have there is never a good time for a player to start playing but it is also the best rotation block system that gives players the most chance to play with their cards in a standard environment before rotation. So what are we going to do about it? Introduce a new format to go alongside the current ones. Thats right standard and legacy will stay the same but on top of that we will also now offer a new player format, that I believe a lot of veteran players will also like. Currently we are calling it the mini block format ( I know the name needs work, give me suggestions).
This format will consist of the the current base set and the following three expansions. So new players can get into the game and be competitive without chasing the past years cards, then after playing for a year they will have all the cards they need for the standard format. Will this appeal to all veteran players? No but I have already talked to several who are excited about it. It went over really well at the POTM and has been a lot of fun in the current in house league. This will give us a very good entry point every year while not disrupting the standard environment.
The second initiative is an offer that is to good to refuse and should generate new players as well as excite the current player base. We have put together a new player recruit kit that is out of this world. It is called the Fight Night recruitment kit. It contains the following:
1 Display of SNK: Cutting Edge Boosters
1 Display of Street Fighter: Domination Starter decks
As well as all these promo cards:
2x Malicious Intent
2x Lynx Tail
2x Monster Lariat
2x Heel Snipe
2x Realm of Midnight
2x Stand Off
2x Hwang's Protection
2x Strife's Patronage
2x King of Fighters 2006
2x The Tae Kwon Do Zephr
2x Chinese Boxing
1x Blanka
1x M. Bison
1x Dariya (Exclusive)
1x Victor (Exclusive)
1x Ukyo
1x Rock Howard
1x Jubei (Exclusive)
1x Ken
Nearly $200 retail value for only $49.95. As you can see this is a great way for a new player to get into the game and I know that a lot of current players will want these too, just remember to use them to to help recruit new players. These kits are perfect for sealed deck events.
Tell your retailer to contact us if they want to offer this in their stores, if not you can order it direct from us on our online store. We will be making a front page announcement about it today.
Next bans, yes it is sadly time for me to bring out the ban hammer and smash the hell out of some problems with it. The following cards are banned starting July 1st, so yes they will be legal for Nationals:
Olcadan's Mentoring
Lord of the Makai
Chester's Backing
I know that no matter what we do when it comes to this people will be upset, meaning that any card we ban will make some players mad and others will be up in arms because we did not ban the card they hate the most but that is to be expected, so we have to do what we believe is the best for the game overall.
A lot of people have been asking about when the new reprints will be legal, Cursed Blood and Mark of the Beast were legal as of June 1st. Close Throw and Martial Arts Champion will be legal July 1st.
Now OP. Starting in October the Fight Life Championship series will start up with store championships. Every store that runs OP can run one of these a year. These events will have an exclusive promo card participation prize along with other cool stuff. This will lead into City Championship events which will begin early next year, which will also come with an exclusive promo card. The monthly tournament and league kits will get a complete overhaul starting in October resulting in one very robust kit that can be used for both tournaments and leagues.
I know this is a lot to digest but with all of the dramatic changes the industry has gone through the past couple of years these steps are necessary to make sure the game is healthy and strong so that we can keep enjoying it for years to come.