Players, Retailers, Scouts, UFS Fans of the World,

There is a lot to cover this month, some of which is not pretty, so let's get to it:

As October begins, we are heading into the final stretch of the current block. However, unfortunately, the metagame is not where it needs to be. UFS is a game based on the coolest fighting games in the world and should have that kind of action and brutal combat, not the foundation wars that seem to dominate the game right now. Steve, James, and myself have had several meetings discussing the problems and potential ways to solve them.

Here's where we're at: Set 9 did a great job addressing some issues and opened the game up a lot, but some key problems were still present. Set 10 has some amazing cards but did not address the key issues in the meta, making it clear more action was needed. Looking at Set 11, it was evident that it was not going to be what is needed for the play environment and did not match with where the game needs to go. with that in mind we made the decision to redesign 70-80% of the set to make it what the game needs and what you deserve. James and some of the other R&D guys did an amazing job of jumping in and reworking the set to become what could very well be one of the best sets ever! (nothing like jumping into the deep end on day one, James:)

Even with this, there are some problem cards that will keep the game from getting to where it should be, so more action is needed. That action is taking the form of five cards being banned. The following cards are now banned from sanctioned play with immediate effect:

In addition, these cards have errata:

Maternal Instincts
Should read: E Commit: If your attack deals damage, draw X cards and then your Combat Phase ends. X equals your hand size minus the number of cards in your hand (minimum 0).

Arrogance
Should read: At the end of your turn, lose X vitality. X equals 4 minus the number of forms you played this turn (minimum 0).
During your opponent's turn, they may only play as many forms as you played in your last turn. If you performed no forms other than to pass in your preceding turn, your opponent plays as normal.
(We are watching this card very closely, invest wisely.)

These cards create an environment that forces all competitive decks to have one turn kills, and be foundation based. This is not an environment that simulates fighting games, or stimulates positive player interaction. These bannings represent a refocusing of the game to its roots. Future sets will be designed so that attacking and blocking over multiple turns is viable and worthwhile. The symbols will also be returning to their roots and have real meaning again that will be reflected in the cards' abilities and stats.

Don't worry — control decks will still have their place in the game and be very competitive, but remember: this is a fighting game and we need to make aggro/fighting decks top tier again.

Price Change

We have always worked long and hard to keep our prices down while delivering the best value and play experience possible for our players. However, as you all know, times have gotten tough economically. Every part of our process, from buying paper to shipping to maintaining and acquiring new licenses, has increased in price.

In order for us to continue to provide the best quality product we can for you, the player, and still be viable as a game, we are forced to raise the price of UFS booster packs to $3.99 . This price is comparable with most other CCGs on the market.

These price changes will not take effect until November 1st. Also, Starter Decks will not increasing in price.

Organized Play

The organized play system is being totally overhauled. The old system was great at its launch, but now it's getting old. Here is the first pillar of that system:

REGIONALS
Regionals are a chance for the competitive UFS player to compete with the best. Everyone should be one epic road-trip away from a premier event. To make prize support fair, transparent, and consistent, we are creating regional kits that stores and Scouts can apply for. These are designed to support a tournament of at least 32 people. These kits will contain unique prizes available only to the top 8 players at regional events, as well as cool participation prizes.

The UFS Regionals signup website will be live by the middle of October. Regional winners will be invited to a UFS Masters Dinner . This event will be held every year at GenCon. Steve, James and I will be there along with all of UFS 's former World Champions. There will be a special ceremony recognizing each regional winner, a short speech by Steve, plenty of awesome food and time to swap battle stories.

MONTHLY OP
Look forward to a total update and revision of our monthly OP program. We will have it ready to go with the launch of set 12 and the new block, more info coming over the next few months.

To make the monthly prize support less of a headache, we are officially severing our ties to the GRT software. When it worked, it was brilliant software for the registration, reporting, and running of events, but it has caused a lot of frustration. We have instead designed an intuitive OP registration website and tournament software. Unlike the GRT, these elements will not interface with each other. This was the source of trouble with the old software, and we want to avoid that. In the future, we may add a reporting function to the website, but for now it is focused on getting tournaments registered and sending out prize support. We will be doing external testing this month and hope to launch it in November.

As always, thank for your time and support.

ENOUGH TALK. SEE YOU IN THE ARENA!