Disclaimer: I don't work for FFG, and I have very strong doubts that they will ever publish a product like this, or reprint previous products with different distributions. But I've seen this idea mentioned several times, and I'm curious how much people would be willing to pay for such a product, since ultimately, if the price is high enough, it seems likely that FFG might consider it.

A "Completist Companion" would be x2 copies of all of the cards from a Chapter Pack cycle that originally had a x1 distribution. For example, a "Time of Ravens" Completist Companion would contain the 2 copies each of the following cards:

Kings of Summer
Dragon Sight
Jeyne Westerling
Priestess of the Pyre
Selyse Baratheon
Red Warlock
Maester of the Sun
Lion's Gate
Open Market
A Song of Summer
Kings of Winter
War Horn
Maester Vyman
Janos Slynt
Valyrian Spirit
Obara Sand
Mance Rayder
Ser Arthur Dayne
The Wall
The Winds of Winter
The Long Winter
The Long Summer
Demon's Dance
Shadow Stalker
Theon Greyjoy
Maester Aemon
Walder Frey
Den of the Wolf
A Time for Ravens
Unconventional Warfare
Dawn
Grand Maester Pycelle
Renly Baratheon
Kraznys mo Nakloz
Samwell Tarly
Vale Rookery
Heart of the Kingdom
The Tower of Joy
Desolate Passage
The Raven's Song
Needle
Cat o' the Canals
Arena Knight
Alannys Greyjoy
Bandit of Winter
River Bandit
Bandit of Summer
Gilly
War of Five Kings
The Tides of War
Northern Cavalry Flank
Northern Infantry
Tommen Baratheon
Pirates of Orkmont
Retreat and Regroup
Missing Recruit
Spy in Their Midst
Beguiled Bodyguard
Winter Reserves
Summer Reserves

That's 60 different cards, so x2 would be 120 cards. This immediately draws to mind the "Princes of the Sun" expansion, which was 120 cards (x2 copies of 60 cards), and was priced at $25 retail. But I don't think FFG would realistically publish it at that price point, since it would have a much smaller market than Princes of the Sun (the market for a "completist companion" would be everyone who has bought those chapter packs, but hasn't bought them in multiples).

For each "Completist Companion," I would pay $30 retail (the same as a big box expansion). I've bought multiple copies of the Core Set, Kings of the Sea, and the Princes of the Sun, but I won't buy multiple copies of the Chapter packs because each additional pack would represent 50% waste. But I would by a "completist companion" for each of the four x1/x3 distribution cycles (Clash of Arms, Time of Ravens, King's Landing, and Defenders of the North) for $30, and be quite happy.

What would you pay for a "Cycle Completist Companion"?

I think your reasoning is sound for where you arrived at your price point. I'd buy something like this, and be willing to pay $25-$30 for it.

ASoIaFfan said:

Might be tempting for folks getting in the game now. Most tourney players already have 3x of everything at this point.

Stag Lord said:

Most but not all of us. I generally only get 2 of each Chapter Pack, under the old distribution model, at least as far as Kings Landing and Defenders are concerned. And I will admit that it can bite me in the tookis.

I too only ever get at most two of the chapter packs under the old model and there are alot that I only got one of so I would be interested in something like this.

So would I, and a lot of the newer players who are just getting started. And $30 would be an acceptable price point. I would definitely get one for each block.

As someone just getting into the game, i'd definitely be interested in this, and would buy it at that sort of price.

However

The first cycle of chapter packs seems to be out of print over here (UK) - would probably make more sense to just see a re-issue of the first cycle in the new format -and while they're at it, someone with computer/publishing skills how much effort would it be to get rid of the black borders?

So, yes would like it in theory, but can see there being complications

I'd happily buy a pack of 2 x 60s for each cycle of chapter packs for the same price as the Martell expansion. I'm just getting into the game, so I'd love to get multiples of some cards, especially from the King's Landing Block.

I don't see this happening as long as there are ways to buy these products sitting on shelves and in warehouses. I could see them instead reprinting cards in the x3 format, but not until their and their distributors warehouses are empty, because as soon as they announced this was being done, no stores would buy any more, and few players would.

They would be competing with themselves and that is never an ideal way of doing business if you don't own the marketplace.

Penfold said:

I completely appreciate your perspective, and I think it's why they won't reprint Greyjoy or the Core Set with an alternate distribution.

But for I don't think what I've suggested would be a competitive productrather, I think it would be a complementary product. From my perspective (having one of each chapter pack), I'm not going to buy multiple copies of any chapter pack. So I won't be buying that existing product, regardless of whether they publish a "completist pack" or not.

For a new player, who doesn't own any of the chapter packs of, say, the King's Landing cycle, buying the completist pack for the King's Landing cycle isn't a disincentive for buying the individual chapter packs (after all, 75% of every chapter pack would be cards not included in the completist pack). It is a disincentive for buying multiple copies of each chapter pack. I guess FFG would just have to gauge if they would make more money from the additional sales to gamers like me (who won't buy more than one copy of a chapter pack) than the money they would lose from those players who would have otherwise bought multiple copies of individual chapter packs.

Ultimately, I suspect FFG will keep moving forward. I doubt very much that they'll change the distribution of any previous product, and I doubt that they'll publish "completist packs." It's mostly wishful thinking on my part, but I wanted to throw it out there, in case anybody on the marketing team was reading this thread. And if you are: hey, If you want to milk another $120 out of me, four "completist packs" would be the way to go.

Any product with duplication of cards would be a competing product though. You are just as likely to get new players who think that it is silly to buy a chapter pack with x3 commons when they could get x2 rares. Not saying this is valid thinking, but the retail psychology has little to do with common sense and far more to do with perceived value (take a look at all the people paying 2-3 x the price for an Apple product and then not using the product for anything that the Apple product does have an advantage in).

Another option would be to sell entire cycles at x1 for reprints if you want to look at making things easier to buy for people just starting out and creating a low entry point for them. Whatever it is I'm sure it will make sense from a business perspective for them, and some segment of their customers are going to be very happy.

Great idea and I'd personally buy at the PoS price point. With virtually no R & D required it would be easy for FFG to do something like this, although I honestly don't see it happening.

Penfold said:

Does this notion of Rares vs Commons really apply in the LCG world? it's not like most of these people are going to be buying the cards with a view to trading them is it?

With Ancient enemies being out of print here in the UK (and the cost of getting it from the States being silly by the time you've included postage) I'd jump at the chance of a reasonably priced way to get hold of the "rare" 'Fury of the...' plots, but surely anyone who's played the game more than a few times would rather have the "common" foxes teeth or vanguard scouts in their deck than extra copies of the "rare" King whoever's host at a cost of 8.