This thread is a bunch of things as told by somebody who is actually at Worlds, since it appears nobody else here in IN has Internet? >_>...

1. Yes, come Tekken, rotation DOES hit. Not just that, but Rotation has officially been moved from Spring to post-Gencon, each and every year. Now, to also clairfy, this does NOT mean that 5-shuriken cards Rotate in 2010. Instead, they rotate post-Gencon 2011.

2. One question raised vis-a-vis this situation was "Horvath, don't you fear diversity?" Horvath boldly and simply answered, "No", and I agree. Although between SC4, ShadoWar, and Tekken, there are only a few characters, many promos are on the way (including Astrid, Jin Kazama, and Bryan Fury), and furthermore, as if you guys haven't already noticed, characters are geting a LOT better and a LOT more unique in their playstyles.

3. Legacy is not getting any major support. Sorry guys. It will get prize support, but Horvath said, "If I focus too much on Legacy, that's too much time away from the current game, which matters most." Have fun, win prize support, but don't expect anything major out of Legacy.

4. Horvath simply hates going to the forums (although apparently he knows a LOT about me and my asshattery =D). He described them as "poison", and basically told me, "Everytime something is done, there's always a mountain of people just waiting to complain to no end. And while the customer is definitely our most valuable asset, it gets to a point where I just can't take it, and I really don't want to spend all of my time and heart and James' time only to hear people give us no end." (that of course was paraphrased) So yeah, don't expect to see much of Horvath outside of SOTG.

5. Just to return to point #1, why this sudden drastic manuever? Well, a couple of reasons. First, EVERYBODY loves mini block. Period. It's simplistic, it's fun, it's attack-oriented...it's what it should be. Second, while there are a LOT of cards that Horvath inadvertantly admitted they wanted to ban (meaning Prowess lol), it wouldn't change the fact that the game pace set by Sets 12 and onward is not even the same game let alone pace of what we already have. Current block vs Mini block are two different games entirely, and well, it's either we stick to the current format, and as Horvath said, "the game dies", or we cycle now and get not just new players, but old players back into it.

Guys, this is one of the few and major times FFG (basically Horvath and Hata) have truly listened to the people and made a change that DOES make this game better. You really have no reason to *****.

6. Life is going to get better, for fact. I've seen Hata's 5-star Life deck (using unreleased ShadoWar, Soul Cal, and Tekken cards), and yeah, Life matters.

7. Speaking of Soul Cal, it's CONFIRMED for October, is already "in the warehouse", and while I don't want to spoil the entire roster, I think it's fair to spoil two since their support made up a large portion of James' deck: Xianghua and Mitsurugi are in the next Soul Cal, and according to Horvath, Mitsurugi is quote, "******* badass" and "the first good Mitsurugi made."

8. When it comes to Street Fighter 4 (and other licenses), Horvath said the responsible, "I can't tell you anything". Sorry guys, you're just gonna have to wait.

9. I don't recall the top 8, but off memory, the chars are Akuma, Sakura, Donovan, Hilde, Zi Mei, Sagat, Andrew Olexa, J. Talbain

So Mill, suck it. Suck it hard (sorry Goo and Shaneth, but Mill can eat a D). I'll try to report winner by tomorrow. My money's on Viewtiful Joe running Donovan!

10. Tons of promo cards, most of which focusing around ShadoWar characters. Ragnar has a foundation with an effect similar to "E Destroy this foundation: Your attack gets +X damage. X equals the number of vitaliy lost during this enhance phase."

There's an action that, after you take damage from an unblocked attack, play ANY attack from your hand.

There's a Tekken action called The Devil Within (Chaos-Death-Void) that negates a keyword ability, and if it has a rating, your opponent loses vitality equal to that rating.

Jin Kazama is a 3/6 character, 6HS 28V, Chaos-Death-Fire. IIRC, his two character abilities do control checks per copy, and +2 damage per copy to your attacks. Something like that. He's quite popular.

Lu Chen foundation allows you to play any 4 diff reversal at no control check (King-like much?)

Rashotep terrain prevents players from revealing any cards from any hand (as in, even Saikyo, Strife's, etc, wouldn't work if legal). It has an E Commit the opponent cannot play: "E Commit: Select 1 asset in your opponent's staging area. That asset is blanked until the end of the turn,"

Promo Astrid treats Assets as foundations, and can dump I think the top 3 cards of her deck per turn (I think. Ask Dani)

Unique asset called Tablet of Gilgamesh is interesting. When it enters your staging area, your opponent loses 2 vitality. I think the E Commit is "E Commit: If this attack deals damage, both players lose 2 vitality."

Those are all I've got off memory.

11. Don't take my word on this at all, but I was talking to Jon Herr, and he informed me about some big tourney going on at FFG headquarters towards the end of the year (to accomodate never having tournies during the Fall-Winter season). Don't hold either of us against this: he isn't certain, but brought it up. Figured I'd share.

Speaking of Herr, I pretty much managed to meet...well...just about everybody from the forum, and I'm...pretty sure all went well. Nobody impaled me with iron stakes, so I'm assuming my real life visage overcame my internet persona (which even ******* Horvath knew of).

Also, very important. Horvath and I had somewhat a double interview kinda thing, and here's something we both brought up:

Instead of waiting for FFG to coddle you guys, why not call them? They do listen, they do answer, and you can get proper feedback. They're respectable people, and assuming you're not badgering for spoilers constantly, then I'm sure you're good to go really.

Anyways, that's basically it for now. I'll bump this thread with Worlds winner unless somebody else does so.

P.S. Dude, Archimedes looks like Johnny Rzeznik.

Thanks for the report. Good to know my call on life being an up in commer was on the money.

Thanks for the update, man! I appreciate it.

While this all sounds great I either want bigger sets or more frquent sets(If SC is coming out in October that helps) like a set every 2 months would be nice that would be 6 a year which is still 2 less than before and there is 6 liseneses at the moment(SF,SC,SNK,DS,SW,Tekken) so wouldn't that just make the most sense?

I do think that people are going to be pissed about some of the rotations though I mean Warriors Dream and Flames of Fame have hardly been around an it sucks for people that actually spent money on those sets.

So Yeah I for one an pro early rotation but as I said if that happens I would like to see a set every 2 months or bigger sets.

I'm going to propose the idea of making Warriors Dream and Flames of Fame be treated as if they have 5 stars. The themes are very balanced and interesting, and Horvath did say the set would get about a month's additional play post-cycle.

I'm positive nothing will come of it, but I'll try.

wow if they really do rotate blocks straight after worlds that proper ****'s and but **** the uk nats in the ass and all down the stairs as thats like 2 weeks after the set is out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjl9aNLvgf0

1. Yes, come Tekken, rotation DOES hit. Not just that, but Rotation has officially been moved from Spring to post-Gencon, each and every year. Now, to also clairfy, this does NOT mean that 5-shuriken cards Rotate in 2010. Instead, they rotate post-Gencon 2011.

One of my fears alleviated, and one of the things I've been saying for a while they should do, considering most of the tournaments die out at Worlds. What the hell? Have we entered Bizarro World yet?

3. Legacy is not getting any major support. Sorry guys. It will get prize support, but Horvath said, "If I focus too much on Legacy, that's too much time away from the current game, which matters most." Have fun, win prize support, but don't expect anything major out of Legacy.

Two questions :
1) Is Scott Gaines gon' have to choke a *****?
2) Prize Support as in...?

4. Horvath simply hates going to the forums (although apparently he knows a LOT about me and my asshattery =D). He described them as "poison", and basically told me, "Everytime something is done, there's always a mountain of people just waiting to complain to no end. And while the customer is definitely our most valuable asset, it gets to a point where I just can't take it, and I really don't want to spend all of my time and heart and James' time only to hear people give us no end." (that of course was paraphrased) So yeah, don't expect to see much of Horvath outside of SOTG.

THE FORUMS? POISON? SURELY HE JESTS~. So long as it is clear that they're reading and not interacting, we're good. I think. Mostly (and it will be what people will be bitching about) it's that we get a feeling that everything is decided barely two hours before announcing it.

5. Guys, this is one of the few and major times FFG (basically Horvath and Hata) have truly listened to the people and made a change that DOES make this game better. You really have no reason to *****.

Not bitching, just raising some concerns that... well, for the past year most of the movements FFG has made don't seem well planned in advance.

7. Speaking of Soul Cal, it's CONFIRMED for October, is already "in the warehouse", and while I don't want to spoil the entire roster, I think it's fair to spoil two since their support made up a large portion of James' deck: Xianghua and Mitsurugi are in the next Soul Cal, and according to Horvath, Mitsurugi is quote, "******* badass" and "the first good Mitsurugi made."

That will satisfy one of the potential players here

10. Tons of promo cards, most of which focusing around ShadoWar characters. Ragnar has a foundation with an effect similar to "E Destroy this foundation: Your attack gets +X damage. X equals the number of vitaliy lost during this enhance phase."

I. Just. Came.

There's an action that, after you take damage from an unblocked attack, play ANY attack from your hand.

Symbols?

There's a Tekken action called The Devil Within (Chaos-Death-Void) that negates a keyword ability, and if it has a rating, your opponent loses vitality equal to that rating.

Temujin will feel that one coming.

Promo Astrid treats Assets as foundations, and can dump I think the top 3 cards of her deck per turn (I think. Ask Dani)

René will be pleased.

Instead of waiting for FFG to coddle you guys, why not call them? They do listen, they do answer, and you can get proper feedback. They're respectable people, and assuming you're not badgering for spoilers constantly, then I'm sure you're good to go really.

No published number (scouts know who to contact in case a problem arises, but players? Nope, and the site being broken as hell doesn't help in that regard), and history of poor communication from the company has led many to believe that :

A) FFG is inaccessible to whomever isn't connected.

B) FFG will not answer your concerns.

Nothing but respect for Steve Horvath, but unless he outrights states this in a SotG people will keep this belief alive.

Life Matters!?

Weeioou! I love Life, bought time!

I love the fact that SC comes out in Oct, this eases some of my concerns about lack of cardpool and whatnot.

Thanks for the report shenji it was very informative

I like the decision that was made, it is for the better of the game. But I wish this info would have came out just a tad earlier. Say in the July SotG (just forgo the new bannings altogether and do this)

Tuesday - It's up to the UK Worlds organizer's discretion about whether he wants to run either B3 or NEWFS. If he wants Block 3, then expect results like ours. If not, well ****, expect some interesting new developments of who is "top tier" in the new game.

Hatman - Few things...

1. Legacy prize support as in...**** I don't know dude. I'm assuming promos, which after seeing the promos today, I'd call that a win. Although yeah, there's going to be character promos, which GENERALLY you need only 1 of (except Jin Kazama), there's actions, assets, and foundations. So...yeah...

2. Everything is decided two hours before being announced? Well...I don't know. On Thursday, during Teams, Horvath made the official announcement that mini block would "replace" standard (but not destroy it completely). At Singles, however, he announced that rotation would hit as soon as Tekken was shipped out. Whether they do or do not make "snap" decisions, as long as they're good ones, I wouldn't really go so far as to say, "Horvath/Hata panicked, and as a way to rally crowd support, told us what we want to hear." I mean...he's not Hitler >_>...

3. The action where you can play anything from your hand, IIRC, is called Clash of the Ancients, is a 4/5 +2-MID Breaker: 2, and has Air, Earth, and Fire.

4. Well, everytime I've called FFG I've been satisfied, but maybe I just got different people. I know Horvath listens because, well, the dood actually told me he was "specifically interested in hearing MY thoughts" (what in the ****?), and Hata listens because, at least according to my friend Jasco Games, if you propose a gameplay idea, and he likes it, there may be a chance he implements it in the actual game.

NintendoMan - Mitsurugi and Xianghua both have Life, if that means anything.

1. Legacy prize support as in...**** I don't know dude. I'm assuming promos, which after seeing the promos today, I'd call that a win. Although yeah, there's going to be character promos, which GENERALLY you need only 1 of (except Jin Kazama), there's actions, assets, and foundations. So...yeah...

So no larger tournament support, but you won't be leaving empty handed if you play Legacy. Interesting, so long as the prizes are slightly worth it.

2. Everything is decided two hours before being announced? Well...I don't know. On Thursday, during Teams, Horvath made the official announcement that mini block would "replace" standard (but not destroy it completely). At Singles, however, he announced that rotation would hit as soon as Tekken was shipped out. Whether they do or do not make "snap" decisions, as long as they're good ones, I wouldn't really go so far as to say, "Horvath/Hata panicked, and as a way to rally crowd support, told us what we want to hear." I mean...he's not Hitler >_>...

Don't put words in my mouth. From this side of the fence (meaning the consumer side), it just seems that way. June saw a lot of bans, July saw a ton of bans and August sees the dumping of an entire block. Couple that with the news that Steve Horvath didn't know how the game had transformed into permanant gray wars, and... well, it doesn't seem like a company that's on top of things. Which is... well, I'll say worrisome but then again y'all have access to info I simply don't have (and a Steve Horvath/James Hata combo).

Still, if they did think about it and truly believe it's best for the game, I'mma hop on that bandwagon.

3. The action where you can play anything from your hand, IIRC, is called Clash of the Ancients, is a 4/5 +2-MID Breaker: 2, and has Air, Earth, and Fire.

Don't know in what deck I will use it if I will use it but thanks.

4. Well, everytime I've called FFG I've been satisfied, but maybe I just got different people. I know Horvath listens because, well, the dood actually told me he was "specifically interested in hearing MY thoughts" (what in the ****?), and Hata listens because, at least according to my friend Jasco Games, if you propose a gameplay idea, and he likes it, there may be a chance he implements it in the actual game.

Again, I'm speaking as far as perception is concerned. Especially on this forum, perception is reality, so if people perceive FFG to be a company that doesn't listen and is unreachable, people are going to keep on thinking that. Maybe if Steve said "If you have any problems with UFS, please contact FFG there (insert e-mail / phone number)" or something of the sort right out of the gate, said problem would be solved. I know they listen, or least they did when Bromen was around because I actively tried to contact the guy. Now, I haven't tried for one single reason - wouldn't know where to start. Still, it looks like FFG thought long and hard about what was best for the game and did so. Especially if next rotation is in 2011.

The new promos will be like a mini-expansion to the current mini-block so it wont feel so small. I think thats a great move if they complement the existent support of each character as it seems. I hope the new promo characters have some kind of synergy with the current characters so they can actually be build or that the new promos would be some of their "support". I will miss the foils though

Tuesday said:

Actually, Steve announced that UK Nats would still be in b3 format, he's very aware of how rotation would impact/anger those going to UK Nats.

Say, Shinji, do you have any word on what the Yi Sha n -oriented promo card is? Since I'm gonna be running Yi Shan** , I'd like to know.

There is no Yi Shan oriented promo, at least not that I've seen this weekend. None of the 9 possible new promos given out as participation prizes were Yi Shan oriented unfortunately.

ShadowDragon said:

>.> ... Well, that SUCKS. Hopefully, it'll show up in prize support sometime soon...

Who knows, you may find at least one of the new promos to be useful for your deck. Most of the symbols (if not all) got access to at least one of the new cards. Though I think All may have gotten the short end of the stick... My memory is still shot >_> conventions have a terrible effect on my sleep schedule.

LordAggro said:

Steve said in his announcement that they just printed over 25 new promos so I am pretty sure there is a Yi Shan one in there somewhere just not one that anyone got or saw.

Mini-thread hi-jacking...

Dani, I want your Astriddddddddddsssss.

Omar is a haxor at Naruto and apparently he can't find his invisible deck...

I didn't play in Singles and have a 10 dollar UFS singles ticket that is non-refundable anymore.

I am lacking so much sleep.

And finally since Steve announced the new rotation... I am getting back into UFS. woo. maybe.

PS. I want to win wandering master...

Just Doin' Work said:

Dani, I want your Astriddddddddddsssss.

First on the line I am

Admiral Ren said:

You know that Dani has rocked AStrid since POTM?

Antigoth said:

You know that René and Dani have a trading agreement that goes beyond the forums?

The only thing I would like to say is that I look nothing like Rzeznik and Shinji is a werewolf.

Yeah Shinji is a werewolf, but he somehow also knew that I was a werewolf, dammit haha

mattkohls said:

Yeah, Shinji is 'always' a werewolf... I, uh, made sure of that lol.

And yeah, how did he know Matt? I asked him, and he's like - I just know, the look on his face blah blah blah... What is scarier though, Shinji = werewolf? or Shinji studying the famous Matt Kohls (wouldn't shoot anyone with a gun) expression?

That's a rhetorical question btw.

- dut