Hi Guys;

Do you know if FFG plans to stop CCG releases distribution? I am a great fan of drafts (which in CoC are double fun) and I am wondering if I will be forced to use vile cube draft with Asylum Packs?

Maybe it is good idea to release (let's say annually) 1 box of CoC CCG? The cards could be even the same as in few Asylums but box/boosters would allow Draft Tournaments.

Cheers;

I love drafting as well and would really, really like some product which would allow it. However, it looks like FFG is planning on releasing only packs with fixed contents. It's the new policy that puts everyone on the same line.

I myself ordered a lot of CCG era cards when there was the big holiday sale to draft with.

Yeah! me either! I ordered 5 boxes for myself and friends. As I organize draft every 2 months - we have nearly 1 year of fun :D :D

I wish, I really wish, that FFG would think about people like us. I understand that LCG concept (which I do like) does not allow booster releases with random cards, but FFG must understand that they kill 70% of the game fun.

Maybe Cube Draft is an idea for some gamers, but the feeling of Real Draft game which is opening new boosters , this strange paint/plastic smel l, new cards, this kind of event is just unreplaceable. In addition it allows n00bs to challenge masters and win. This is not a war of superb cards / decks / combos / money for new cards etc. Everyone is equal. Strategy first. Pure pleasure.

I hope that FFG will not end this topic by just saying: WE DO NOT AND WILL NOT SUPPORT DRAFT GAMES ANYMORE. ;(

What is a Cube Draft?

[email protected] said:

Take one copy of a lot of cards, say 500, and put them in a box. Mix them up and randomly distribute them. If you have rarities or resource divisions, you can draw separately out of different boxes--40 cards out of resource A box, 60 cards out of B. A lot changes depending on the particular game.

I guess I don't get your point, Veross. The whole point of the LCG is to level the playing field in regular play. A draft of randomized cards hardly does that. Get the right cards and you basically walk over everyone playing junk with no synergy.

I also don't see any advantage of randomized boosters over a cube draft. You have a lot more flexibility in a cube draft since you aren't limited by what happens to have been released in a certain set.

Kobu said:

The trick of Draft is giving everyone a shared card pool, which they evenly divide. So, even with the added randomness introduced to draft, the field should in theory be levelled; This depends on each drafters' skill though.

Dear Kobu;

I cannot agree with you. Even with LCG concept, guys that had access to past Asylum releases and have money to buy 3 Asylums will always be on privileged position. More to that - what is inevitable in every card game - there will be overpowered cards and winning combos that will cause WIN to everyone that possess them.

[example: in CoC CCG - without 3xAssistant and 3xMentor you do not even show up on a tournament] - I do not want to start any overpowered cards discussion here, I just give an example.

Draft strengths are:

- opportnity to play with cards that usually would be discarded

- hardly allows combos, as someone will usually counter-dwar your overpowered cards

- when new release comes - it is great opportunity to add it (with your friends) to your collection

- the one that WINs in not the one who gets overpowered card of his winning combo first, but the one who drafted good cards, made risky decisions regarding fraction and made good counter-draft. In draft you have to think and plan from opening the first booster until the last game. When card game (any) is mature - in regular game - the whole game is up to who gets winning card first. Sad.

Cube draft have few drawbacks:

- one player knows what cards are in cube so can from the beginning draft toughest (in his opinion) fraction

- no new cards are added to your collection

- not the same cool gameplay

Cheers;

I cannot agree with you. Even with LCG concept, guys that had access to past Asylum releases and have money to buy 3 Asylums will always be on privileged position. More to that - what is inevitable in every card game - there will be overpowered cards and winning combos that will cause WIN to everyone that possess them .

[example: in CoC CCG - without 3xAssistant and 3xMentor you do not even show up on a tournament] - I do not want to start any overpowered cards discussion here, I just give an example.

well since they included 3 snow graves in every mountains of madness pack everyone can have a simple fix to assistant. its a every faction card so..... and i think if youre not willing to commit to spending 20-30 per month (well with it being ffg that will be per 3 months)cant blame anyone but yourself for not having cards of equal strenght to everyone else. since coreset will be full of reprints we shouldnt be hearing too much about rare chasing to stay competitive in coc soon. so everyone can have access to the powerful cards unless youre not willing to spend anything on the hobby.

Veross said:

I agree with PearlJamaholic on the entry barrier. It's so low compared to other games that I don't see it as much of a problem at all. If one is floundering for $30 a month (less with preorder and other discounts, less again with a bit of trading), maybe a monthly competitive tournament scene isn't appropriate for that person.

Anyway, regarding your three points here:

1. Not true in a standard cube draft. Either everyone is aware of all cards in the cube, or no one is. If an organizer is throwing in cards without telling anyone, then playing in the tournament, they are doing it horribly wrong.

2. I really couldn't care less. I can buy the exact cards I want normally, so being handing cards in a tournament isn't that great. The fee is generally lower since packs don't have to be purchased, or the prizes are bigger. Fine with me. I am guessing you also don't play winner-take-all random drafts. You don't walk away with any cards there unless you win.

3. Again, I don't understand this point. The pool is as big as you want and not limited by the particular packs available at the time. In MtG for instance, you can have an Alpha cube draft which would be absurd to attempt with packs. In short, you can have the exact same pull as in a random draft and so much more if you desire it.

Gyus;

We are missing certain point here.

I am NOT complaining about LCG - I like the idea.

I am NOT complaining about prices - they are OK.

I am not complaining at all. If you could read my first mail - I am asking if FFG is thinking about reselasing boxes with randomized cards (even very rarely). Those boxes could even contain the same cards as in APs or whatever. I am aware that this is not fitting into LCG idea well, but it gives some space for good-old Draft games.

Kobu, I have to stop you here, as you are pushing this discussion so it goes wrong way. You may not understand, or do not like Legacy Draft Games at all - I can read that. If you would like to argue with me about that open your own topic! Please let this one be for FFG to answer my quiestion above. Thank you for your understanding.

Veross said:

We haven't heard of it so far, alas. So, you'll have to resort to creating a CUBE, or create some other draft format. I miss drafting too, but it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a replacement format for it.

Cube draft would be disgustingly fun in this game. Also, what about an "Elder Dragon Highlander" style deck format? Google it if you're not a Magic player, GOO's could act as generals!

But yes, I do think the only way FFG would support a draft format is by sanctioning Cube, which wouldn't be hard to do with this new LCG set up.

Pandafarmer said:

Hahaha... EDH would be sick But it would be cool to try though. Ofcourse, Human factions don't have a GOO, so maybe use any unique character?

Veross said:

Just so you understand--I have never even played CoC. I have a ton of stuff on order and will be playing soon.

I do though have extensive experience playing draft tournaments in MtG and played them almost exclusively over pre-built. I once swept a venue winning the 64, 32, and 16 player drafts. Given that I've been playing draft tournaments for 15 years, it's likely I have a lot more experience with them than you do. I also have played many variations on cube tournaments, long before they were ever called that. I have nothing at all against draft tournaments, but I have yet to hear any persuasive reasons for playing a random pack over a cube format.

Creating a topic and then asking people to not comment on it is not good form. If you just wanted to communicate with FGG, an e-mail would be more appropriate.

Veross said:

actually, I won last Polish League and was second on the one before that, and I had 0 assistants (only mentors)

Marius said:

Oh for sure! Heck, if a bunch of us are headed to GenCon this year, we should organize an informal "EDH" tourney if anyone would be down!

Though its not quite the same thing as a regular booster draft, something that I ran a couple times for my local group a while back was a random Asylum Pack event. A random mix of AP's were put into a bag and players bought 2 or 3 (I think we ran with 2 usually) at random from the bag. They then had half an hour to build a deck cominbing the cards from those packs they bought. So long as you have a venue that can get or still has the older AP's and the new ones, it might work for you. I know that we enjoyed it as an occasional change.

You know, with the upcoming monthly releases of Asylum Packs, you may not be getting random cards in the sets, but you can certainly set up a premiere event at your game store for release day.

While not a Draft, pre-se, at least you get the fun and time-pressure of having to figure out new cards with a time-crunch and make a working deck. Since only twenty new cards are released at a time, some new rules are going to need to be made to cover these monthly events. Has anything like this been set up yet?