I've come to eat crow and publicly admit, I was wrong. I was very wrong. This game is amazing, while I never doubted the game play aspect of this game, I was very critical of the business model. I was sure it was at worst greed, and at best short sighted.

Over the weekend I went to a few game stores to play in the pre-release parties. As soon as I played my first deck and really let it sink in that this was now MY deck and no one else would ever have an exact copy it really hit me how good (albeit very different) this model is. It is not significantly better or worse that the traditional models of a LCG or CCG. The fact is every single deck has been playable. I have opened 10 so far personally. They have all been, at worst, decent. Some are a bit stronger against the field of what we have seen in our local groups, but none were hopelessly bad.

The game play is also so good, that even though I LOVE deck building, I still am totally in love with this game. Bonus: my wife, who is not the best at deck building and doesn't care about doing so, also loves the game!

All in all, hats off to Richard Garfield for once again making a revolutionary new game that defies what has come before. And FFG, thank you for bringing his vision to life!

TLDR: To all those who also were critical of the model, I implore you, go find a FLG and try the game. They will most likely have decks so you can try it at no cost. You may, like myself, find that the model improves the game.

Welcome aboard.

Good on you mate. I admit, I wasn't skeptical of the game per se, but I wasn't particularly interested until I learned:

A) No deck building. That appealed to me because I'm aging and lack the patience to do it much these days. I loved it in my youth, but now I'm an impatient old man.

B) Just how bloody fun it is. One demo game was all it took to hook me.

Now, several games in, and I'm buying into the game fairly enthusiastically. Can't wait for my full starter box Thursday. I had my doubts about the two "fixed" decks in the starter box, but having actually played them, I can honestly say they are perfectly viable and competitive. They aren't, by any demonstrable measure I've seen, limited or hamstrung in any way. So, the starter box really is, in fact, giving us four decks.

My only minor gripe is not being able to know what houses are in each deck before you open it. I'm perfectly fine with not knowing the card list itself, but I'm sad we can't at least buy decks based on what houses we favor.

Me, I like Martians (and demons, let's be honest) a lot. Like a LOT. I'd love to be able to buy a deck knowing I'm gonna get more of my evil little green men.

Ah well. Hopefully luck is with me Thursday, and I get more of my beloved angry space midgets.

(And indeed I did, as well as a Brobnar, Sanctum, Shadow deck that is turning out to be an aember generating/denying big monster powerhouse ? )

Being able o see what houses are in the deck would just leave alot of product on the shelf rotting. Most every one would want Shadow & Logos hoping to get cards like Bait & Switch and Library Access. Most would avoid Brobnar.

It happens all the time on other TCG/CCG’s. If they have any knowledge of something the favor they’ll avoid the stuff they have no interest in.

On 11/12/2018 at 8:53 PM, Hyperjayman said:

Being able o see what houses are in the deck would just leave alot of product on the shelf rotting. Most every one would want Shadow & Logos hoping to get cards like Bait & Switch and Library Access. Most would avoid Brobnar.

It happens all the time on other TCG/CCG’s. If they have any knowledge of something the favor they’ll avoid the stuff they have no interest in.

Not me compadre. I want my green space-mens with maybe a splash of Dis and Shadow, or even Sanctum (who doesn't love holy powered space knights?). Though I could get behind the idea of a SPACE SCIENCE deck with a Logos, Martian, third-house-whatever deck.

Little mad martians with roboscientists handing them super-weapons. What's not to love?

But it's not as if there won't be a secondary market for trading decks anyway. What you propose is gonna happen regardless. Even if it's just by way of the community horse trading decks. I'd just as soon skip the after-market to simply buy decks with houses whose themes I favor.

But it’s largely a superfluous concern as each deck I’ve bought so far has had its great charms.