Wiz-kids is pretty much the pinnacle of bad rarity distribution.

How is that?

Overall they gave a habit of including even more rare rarities to thier games, along with generally following a model in which more rare = more better.

Now obviously there is always the urge to justify the rarity by making the item worth it, but there is a tipping point on which it becomes problematic. Tsarina and Gobby being prime examples of this. They were both of the highest rarity and absurdly powerful compared to everything else.

For instance in Heroclix they have the following rarities. Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Chase. But then there are also Primes of each rarity except Chase. And then you also might have special items that could be in any pack. They might even have Super Chases at this point, it wouldn't suprise me.

On the other hand, wich are some of the most played cards? Hulk (starter set or uncommon) Professor X (common) The two banned cards? basic actions from the starter sets. DM is actually a game that has very good commons and uncommons. I got me 3 decks without rares and only thing that comes close to stopping them is hulk,

Wizkids isn't alone in that: one word: yu-gi-oh (is that one word?)

If I buy in, beyond the 2 starters I mean. I'll just buy a box of boosters, that's 36 packs, so that's 36 rare/legendary. I wonder of the 36 how many would be legendary.

If I buy in, beyond the 2 starters I mean. I'll just buy a box of boosters, that's 36 packs, so that's 36 rare/legendary. I wonder of the 36 how many would be legendary.

That's the big question. I wonder if you are guaranteed a cerain amount per display.

If I buy in, beyond the 2 starters I mean. I'll just buy a box of boosters, that's 36 packs, so that's 36 rare/legendary. I wonder of the 36 how many would be legendary.

If there are 8 legendary cards then the box will contain 6. So I would go with L-2 where "L" is the number of legendary cards to collect.

Wiz-kids is pretty much the pinnacle of bad rarity distribution.

How is that?

Overall they gave a habit of including even more rare rarities to thier games, along with generally following a model in which more rare = more better.

Now obviously there is always the urge to justify the rarity by making the item worth it, but there is a tipping point on which it becomes problematic. Tsarina and Gobby being prime examples of this. They were both of the highest rarity and absurdly powerful compared to everything else

You know, TBH you need to make rare cards better than common and uncommon cards. Otherwise there wouldn't be any point in them being rare if you think about it. I also honestly believe that 99% of the time the ridiculous power rares are simply a designer whoopsie and not malicious. It's a Hanlon's Razor thing I guess.

For every really bonkers rare card in any set of any game you have at least one, and most of the time a dozen, rubbish cards in the same rarity. It's true that the first Dice Masters set you cite had one completely obnoxious Super Rare in the form of Tsarina (after I hit her in a booster and played a couple tournaments, I quit the game. Having that card literally made playing the game pointless, it was GG as soon as I pulled her out of the deckbox and I wish I was exaggerating) and one pretty bonkers but occasionally beatable SR in the form of Gobby. It also had the SR Wolverine, which was an okay card that wasn't embarrasing to play, but nowhere near as good as some of the regular rares or even uncommons. It also had the SR Mr Fantastic, which was so hilariously bad it was quite literally pointless to play, ever.

You know, TBH you need to make rare cards better than common and uncommon cards. Otherwise there wouldn't be any point in them being rare if you think about it. I also honestly believe that 99% of the time the ridiculous power rares are simply a designer whoopsie and not malicious. It's a Hanlon's Razor thing I guess.

For every really bonkers rare card in any set of any game you have at least one, and most of the time a dozen, rubbish cards in the same rarity. It's true that the first Dice Masters set you cite had one completely obnoxious Super Rare in the form of Tsarina (after I hit her in a booster and played a couple tournaments, I quit the game. Having that card literally made playing the game pointless, it was GG as soon as I pulled her out of the deckbox and I wish I was exaggerating) and one pretty bonkers but occasionally beatable SR in the form of Gobby. It also had the SR Wolverine, which was an okay card that wasn't embarrasing to play, but nowhere near as good as some of the regular rares or even uncommons. It also had the SR Mr Fantastic, which was so hilariously bad it was quite literally pointless to play, ever.

I think you're forgetting another important aspect: the collectible part of "collectible game." Even if the legendary characters aren't any better than the rares, they will still have value because they will be the more popular or well-known Star Wars characters. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are probably legendary. I'm guessing Darth Vader will be too, considering Captain Phasma is also purple (which I'm assuming is legendary). People will want to play with these characters even if their abilities aren't the best simply because they are the main characters of the movies. Leia and Count Dooku are rare, which makes sense because fewer people will be excited about pulling them.

So even without a power differential, character popularity can still be a significant factor in enticing people to keep cracking open packs.

All of this being said, I do believe the legendary cards will tend to be more valuable. Just look at the Millennium Falcon , for example.

I am relatively new to FFG so let me ask when the did the old CCG models back in 08 was it? Does anyone know what their rare/ultra rare distribution was? Like was it a risk to buy a whole box and not get the one hard to get card you were looking for? This MAY help us determine how rare certain cards/Dice will be. Either way I trust FFG, they continue to make utterly fantastic games for star wars and I am willing to take it on faith this one will be as well.

I am relatively new to FFG so let me ask when the did the old CCG models back in 08 was it? Does anyone know what their rare/ultra rare distribution was? Like was it a risk to buy a whole box and not get the one hard to get card you were looking for? This MAY help us determine how rare certain cards/Dice will be. Either way I trust FFG, they continue to make utterly fantastic games for star wars and I am willing to take it on faith this one will be as well.

The old AGOT CCG had 11-card boosters, 1R, 3UC, 7C. It never had a "more rare than rare" tier, that wasn't a thing until Magic did that in 2008 and by that point AGOT was already an LCG. After 2008 everyone copied the Mythic Rare thing because most companies seem to think the #1 rule of doing a collectible game is "copy anything and everything Magic is doing".

Then again, the AGOT CCG was released in 2002, that's almost a decade-and-a-half ago. I don't think that's a good barometer for anything, the industry moved on a bit since then (case in point: the aforementioned "rarer rares" concept).

I am relatively new to FFG so let me ask when the did the old CCG models back in 08 was it? Does anyone know what their rare/ultra rare distribution was? Like was it a risk to buy a whole box and not get the one hard to get card you were looking for? This MAY help us determine how rare certain cards/Dice will be. Either way I trust FFG, they continue to make utterly fantastic games for star wars and I am willing to take it on faith this one will be as well.

The old AGOT CCG had 11-card boosters, 1R, 3UC, 7C. It never had a "more rare than rare" tier, that wasn't a thing until Magic did that in 2008 and by that point AGOT was already an LCG. After 2008 everyone copied the Mythic Rare thing because most companies seem to think the #1 rule of doing a collectible game is "copy anything and everything Magic is doing".

Then again, the AGOT CCG was released in 2002, that's almost a decade-and-a-half ago. I don't think that's a good barometer for anything, the industry moved on a bit since then (case in point: the aforementioned "rarer rares" concept).

YuGiOh did that way before Magic did it ^^

I am relatively new to FFG so let me ask when the did the old CCG models back in 08 was it? Does anyone know what their rare/ultra rare distribution was? Like was it a risk to buy a whole box and not get the one hard to get card you were looking for? This MAY help us determine how rare certain cards/Dice will be. Either way I trust FFG, they continue to make utterly fantastic games for star wars and I am willing to take it on faith this one will be as well.

The old AGOT CCG had 11-card boosters, 1R, 3UC, 7C. It never had a "more rare than rare" tier, that wasn't a thing until Magic did that in 2008 and by that point AGOT was already an LCG. After 2008 everyone copied the Mythic Rare thing because most companies seem to think the #1 rule of doing a collectible game is "copy anything and everything Magic is doing".

Then again, the AGOT CCG was released in 2002, that's almost a decade-and-a-half ago. I don't think that's a good barometer for anything, the industry moved on a bit since then (case in point: the aforementioned "rarer rares" concept).

YuGiOh did that way before Magic did it ^^

I'll take your word for it. I know nothing about that game (and all the other Asian CCGs for that matter) other than the fact that it exists, and researching/understanding it if you don't play it is pretty much undoable.

Case in point, a list of the different rarities from the YGO wiki page:

I am relatively new to FFG so let me ask when the did the old CCG models back in 08 was it? Does anyone know what their rare/ultra rare distribution was? Like was it a risk to buy a whole box and not get the one hard to get card you were looking for? This MAY help us determine how rare certain cards/Dice will be. Either way I trust FFG, they continue to make utterly fantastic games for star wars and I am willing to take it on faith this one will be as well.

The old AGOT CCG had 11-card boosters, 1R, 3UC, 7C. It never had a "more rare than rare" tier, that wasn't a thing until Magic did that in 2008 and by that point AGOT was already an LCG. After 2008 everyone copied the Mythic Rare thing because most companies seem to think the #1 rule of doing a collectible game is "copy anything and everything Magic is doing".

Then again, the AGOT CCG was released in 2002, that's almost a decade-and-a-half ago. I don't think that's a good barometer for anything, the industry moved on a bit since then (case in point: the aforementioned "rarer rares" concept).

YuGiOh did that way before Magic did it ^^

I'll take your word for it. I know nothing about that game (and all the other Asian CCGs for that matter) other than the fact that it exists, and researching/understanding it if you don't play it is pretty much undoable.

Case in point, a list of the different rarities from the YGO wiki page:

Yeah both YiGiOh and Pokemon went crazy on their rarities.

When Magic added Mythics people were scraed that tournament staples would be printed at Mythic but WotC assured the people that would not happen... a few years later and so many tournament staples are prited at Mythic.

Well most tournament staples are rare and mythic these days.Thats why standard decks (in print cards only pretty much) reach prices around 500$ and higher.

Since Magic is the #1 selling CCG by a longshot, it's probably not realistic to compare card values with Destiny. Yeah, decks cost 300-3000 dollars (depending on format) but there are CONSTANT tournaments and ways to make money playing the game. It gives people the sense that the cards are "worth it" even if they never actually win those tournaments.

I see Destiny as more of a Force of Will level game, with the most valuable card being in the 15 dollar range (if you don't care about super duper special editions of the same card, which Destiny does not seem to offer) and most rares being 2 dollars or less.

I don't think the price of competitive Magic decks is due to a deliberate insertion of "tournament staples" into the Mythic Rare slot. Rather, it is due to the fact that Mythic Rare cards, by the definition, have to be at least minimally 'better' than the more common cards. If they're not, there is no point in them being rarer - they have to be a functional improvement over more easily available cards, otherwise you might as well design an entire set of cards in one go and then assign rarities to individual cards randomly.

The fact that good Rare and Mythic Rare cards become tournament staples stems from the fact that Magic has grown so enormously big and so cutthroat competitive that any leg up over the competition in card efficiency, no matter how miniscule, has become simply invaluable.

Let's leave (Mythic) Rares for a moment and look at the ground scale of Magic efficiency economics. Consider two Common cards: Shock and Thunderbolt. They're both 1 mana red instant cards that deal direct damage to a creature or player. Only difference between them is that Shock deals 2 damage and Thunderbolt deals 3. If you switch out Shock for Thunderbolt in your red deck, let's simplify things a bit and call that a 33% upgrade in efficency for that card slot, since it deals 33% more damage. And yet, Shock is, at most, a 0.20$ card, while Thunderbolt is, on average, around the 4$ mark. That's a 33% efficiency increase for 2000% the price.