Antigoth said:

I think it's time to consider an open source CCG model, run like EDH magic or something. Multiple formats with Multiple Ban lists. Make your old cards money again I say.

Protoaddict said:

Honestly I'll have a discussion with my playgroup to see if they want to continue, at the rate of one day per week, to play. Just come in and play.

i know a couple of us still dont want this game to die and have already contacted certain people in FFG about this decision i just hope they think about this decision over the hollidays and take back this idea and bring back this game, hell if next year they have to cut down to 3 or 2 sets released per year to keep the game going i'm sure ALL of us would be happy with that, though we need 2 things to happen BADLY, 1) More advertising and 2) SUPPORT FOR LEGACY heck Brian when you get the site back up and running if you need any help you know where i am i'm willing to help make a banned list or a formats list for Legacy as is everyone here that still CARES for the game.

also anyone who wants to contact me about games or anything just lemme know

AIM - njbrock22
MSN/WLM - [email protected]
Skype - njbrock22

N.J.

Protoaddict said:

Totally.

Having helped run the Raw Deal World Championships for the last two years, I would be more then willing to help putting together an ongoing body to oversee UFS. A 'la the Raw Deal Players Committee, but it being the UFS Players Committee.

NJBrock22 said:

I'll be calling ya bud.

Antigoth said:

Before involving myself in this further, I'd still like to get the opinions of my playgroup - no sense in signing up today if I'm not going to play the game anymore.

Know that you have my hat for now, however.

Wow. I have to admit to being somewhat surprised, but mostly disappointed. I do understand that everything (and more!) was done to keep the game alive, but I do also know that due to economic reasons, this game could not continue.

I started playing this game back in 2006. Being an old MtG player, as well as a Star Wars player, Middle Earth player and many other games also, I knew a good product when I saw one, and UFS was such a product. It had that unique play style that pushed it as one of the most original CCGs since quite a while. There were a few mistake cards here and there, and the card pool's power level was heavily fluctuating but it could be understood, considering that this was the 1st set (and that the 2nd had also been made at the same time). I became a scout and promoted the game in my area. Then the 3rd set came out and it was absolutely perfect in every way and the game's future was looking great. "I told you so's", you say? Here they are.

Set 4 was a disaster. I said so. Almost no one listened. Do I hold a grudge? Not at all. Still, it was pretty clear: the game had become clearly imbalanced. I could see many errors made by other CCGs in the past. Instead of coming up with another balanced set like the 3rd, the imbalance grew. I remember saying back in February 2007 that I would have to wait 2 years for set 4 to leave standard play before I could actively promote UFS again. So I waited.

The next few sets didn't solve any problem. They were stronger and stronger, causing the newer cards to be incredibly too strong, again and again. Eventually, Domination and Cutting edge were released. With these sets, the power level had gone through the roof and the prices of cards were ridiculously high and their rarity had become intolerable. I bought something like 8 boxes of Cutting Edge just to get Addes Syndicates...and I got none! I had to purchase two of them from an online store for a lot of money! All this in order to play in one single championship: The 2008 Can Nats.

This, I have to admit, was a great event for me. I loved the challenge. I was the one who played that rogue Huitzil deck. Had I not made 2 mistakes, I would have made top 8...but I ended up ex equo with 3 other people in 12th place. Still, I had a great time, but I realized that the game was no longer going to go in a direction I wanted it to go in, so I sold my Block 3 stuff and left.

Yes, I let UFS down. Well, in retrospect, maybe UFS let me down first, but still, I left. I thought that maybe I would return when the game would have become better. I later heard of massive bannings and reforms and all that until the early rotation was announced. And it was then that I became thrilled! It had been more than 2 years since I had enjoyed myself so much while playing this game. Now, I still didn't feel like handling all the hassle of promoting the game and running tournaments anymore, so I very scarcely played during the year. Still, I was dreaming of participating in the 2010 Can Nats, and proving myself, once again. And NOT making any more stupid mistakes.

And now this happens. Bummer. I'm not surprised, especially considering what happened to this game since way back in February 2007, but I must say that I am disappointed. I never realized how few the players had become, since I wasn't in touch too much with the game anymore. Still, this does sadden me. It still looked as if a few more mistakes were made during 2009, but these were minor, and could be corrected easily. The game's future was looking so bright.

I would still like to thank Steve, and Hata, and so many others who worked so hard to make this game a great one. I'll still be playing the game, from time to time. Thanks to STG for making this game and for FFG for trying to keep it alive as long as possible.

And I have one final piece of advice for anyone of you who dream of publishing a new CCG: Learn from the mistakes of others before you. All CCGs make mistakes. Learn from them.

See you in the arena.

Why would they not wait until after Christmas? The reason people didn't buy the new SCIV is probably because they were waiting until after Christmas you ******* tards. People were going to buy presents for loved ones first, then when they got money from Christmas to buy cards. You released the set right before Christams, what did you think would happen? That people would spend all of their money on ******* cards and not worry about any family or anything? You people are ******* stupid. Not only that, you could have let people know a little bit earlier.

I think an open-source UFS would be a cool idea (Like a print-and-play thing), if it would be okay with FFG and everyone...(I don't know how it would work with the owners of the games though...)

I wonder if there would be a way to keep it balanced if we tried that though.

Actually...Could they do anything about it? If we do it as Create-a-cards...Have rules on how to make them, etc. Couldn't we just continue the game like that?

you mean like what was going on on TCO with WWE Raw Deal, hmm... that could work...

N.J.

I had no idea the game was doing this poorly, and I'm really shocked.

Personally, I think they threw in the towel just a bit too early, and called SCIV a failure too early as well.

Christmas isn't even over yet! It hasn't happened! Personally, I was going to get money ON CHRISTMAS, and use that to buy atleast 2 boxes worth of SCIV, and I can only wonder how many other people had plans to buy cards with money they just didn't have yet because CHRISTMAS HASN'T HAPPENED...

And now? I don't even know what I'll do. I still like the game, and SCIV is an absolutely amazing set I've been hyped for, for a while.

Man I'm just disappointed though.

@ NJBrock22: I haven't been around long, so could you tell me what that is?

I'm really curious

just when i decided to come back too... sigh

The worst part about this is these new sets have honestly been, in my opinion, the best sets in a long, LONG time. I mean ever since SCIV and Shadowar I've thought the game was absolutely amazing, except for a few problem cards but overall just great, this really hit me out of nowhere.

Well son of a *****.

I knew this was bound to happen, but it's still disheartening to hear it all the same. Rest easy, Universal Fighting System. You were an amazing game while it lasted.

Whizzwang said:

Warhammer Invasion really is quite excellent.

Given that I've been pretty much unable to play UFS on Fridays anyhow, this response just comes as a conclusion and satisfying tie in to my own capabilities.

Good bye UFS. I have known you since the demo decks before PA Battle Pack. The CCG market is viscious and cruel. But its been a downward spiral I'd assumed would never end... sorry I didn't get to see more of you before you died.

Game on. (I DO recommend warhammer invasion... shameless plug I know)

nazoenigma said:

TeamCanadaOnline, the site is down temporarilly but it will be back up soon, you can talk to Brian (antigoth) he'll explain what they did over there for a long time to keep Raw Deal up and running for 2 years.

N.J.

That sounds pretty awesome. They've kept it alive that long?

Yeah, I'll try. This is the first game I've actually enjoyed in a long time. So...Yeah, being able to continue playing it would be awesome.

NJBrock22 said:

Raw Deal's demise was announced in December 2007 it was a CCG based on the WWE.

For the last two years we (TCO) have continued to organize the World Championships, and release Virtual cards for the game (that you can print and play), similar to what was done by the Star Wars CCG (Decipher) Players Committee, and the Highalnder MLE Team.

The fact that we're having the site issues we are with the back end is what's making this even more painful for me.

~~~~

Something to keep in mind is that contractually, some of the licenses for UFS may have been expiring at the end of the year. If due to lagging sales FFG wasn't able to retain them, and someone else started putting out a CCG for some of UFS's former licenses, what kind of message would that have sent?

If people were already on the forums screaming that UFS was dying... imagine the vitriolic posts of some other company announced a CCG for on the former UFS licences?

There is never a good time for an announcement like this. For all of those folks complaining "but I was going to buy the SCIV product with my Xmas money!"

Keep this in mind - for you to go out on December 26, and buy that product, your retailer would already have to have it in stock. Which means FFG has already sold that product. Only if your store was to order in more booster boxes after Xmas, would it then drive further sales. Most retailers have been purchasing less and less UFS, and have been doing fewer re-orders. So all that product that you're not buying now, that you're yelling at FFG for screwing themselves? No... they already made the money they were going to make off your purchase. Now it's your local hobby shop who brought in that product expecting to sell it to you who's going to be screwed.

Winnipeg went from having a player base that actively supported 4 stores carrying UFS, today, only two stores carry current UFS product. One of them had been heavily discounting his remaining boxes even of newer stock, because his player base was not purchasing the product..

First thing I did today after I read the news, called both retailers to advise them of the news so they could plan for, and deal with it accordingly.

Those are the folks that I feel for the most out of this.

I should probably do that for my Comic book shop (And tell him I'll be buying more )

Do you think we could get in trouble for the print and play idea? I'm planning on making some Guilty Gear cards right now.

Uhm...yeah...i cannot express how disappointed and saddened i am by this news. UFS was the first ccg i truly got into, because it was the Street Fighter card game, y'know? Even when SF wasn't being released, the other liscenses: Tekken, Soul Cal, and even ShadoWar really captured my imagination.

I think Set 8 will be remembered as THE set that killed off this game. BRT, Owlface, Addes Syndicate...A bunch of NPE cards that i'm very very surprised made it to print in the first place, really set the tone and made "Gray Wars" not just a reality, but a necessary strategy if you wanted to compete. Seriously, everyone's deck was pre-planned with nearly half of their deck needing to run auto-includes.

I think hiring James Hata as lead designer was the best decision for UFS. Ever. With his creative help, these past 4 sets have been AWESOME; what the game truly should've been all along.

However, i think, as the SOTG leads me to believe, it's a sad case of "too little, too late".

I will deeply miss this game. And, even tho' i plan on meeting up with my play group every now and then for some casual OOFS, it will never be the same.

Aristobulus said:

Aristobulus said:

I didn't know people like you were around. The game has been doing poorly since FFG picked it up. I knew the game was close to dead when I heard that James was making his own game, and that nothing was being done on UFS until his own game was finished.

I ma not surprised at all, I think anyone with half a brain knew this was coming. I am looking forward to a few people saying "I told you so" to Antigoth, he was so defensive in the other thread that RuleMonkey started about this game dying. Your argument is invalid sir... the game is dead. Thank you Steve for doing what you could to keep this game alive, hiring a player as card designer was the dumbest move ever, and now FFG has ended the same way almost all other card games that hire players to be designers do. The only way this game could have survived at this point was to get rid of James and hire more than 1 card designer, it was a fatal flaw from the beginning. I never though anyone would make me miss Dave... James proved me wrong. Well, your poor card design helped kill the game... you can't keep players when you overlook obvious flaws in your cards. Anyway, I will miss seeing those few of you I actually liked. Too bad the game had to end this way, but we all knew it was coming. See you... maybe.

nazoenigma said:

Theoretically no. It all depends on if the fair use gudielines are correctly applied, and how the publishers of guilty gear feel about Fanserivce.

Steve and I have agreed to chat after Xmas. At that time I'll be asking for his/FFG's blessing to create fan cards, and keep the game going virtually.

Until I've had that conversation, it's all theoretical.

(IE - For Raw Deal originally Mike Foley one of the games to co-designers was actually going to give us his original card design templates, for us to use and continue making the fan sets from. However due to legal issues surrounding the sale of the Raw Deal engine, he was not able to do that. So we had to make our own templates from scratch. (And they look pretty saucy, especially the cards Bryson Yusik created for New Raw Deal) )

Oh cool.

I found the Magic Set Editor one, it looks pretty cool. However, someone posted some custom Guilty Gear cards on this site (And I can't find them....) With a new layout and it was super awesome. I'll try and dig the thread up.

Ender Dragon said:

Here's a little bombshell for you. I never said the game wasn't in trouble. Go back and read my defensive posts. I was pointing out facts.

I've known the game was in trouble for quite some time. I was always trying to focus people on being productive, and using all the negative energy positively. I even admitted the doomsayers were right:

Antigoth said:

Note my comments above about licences going away. There's a reason why I highlighted that as an issue.