Please forgive if this has been asked already and if you would be so kind as to point me to the appropriate thread. I'm wanting to purchase the game and would like to know how much of the core and future adventure packs I should get of each? My understanding is 2 core sets would be appropriate for optimum deck building options. Is that true? What about the # of adventure packs when they are released? My goal is to play single player initially and have the optimum deck building options.

That said, what would the difference be if I wanted 2 players, or more?

Thanks!

one of each adventure pack should be sufficient. Each pack comes with 3x of every card so you will have playsets of everything you should need. 2 core sets should be more than sufficient for any deck you would want to build. Enjoy!

Madduxx said:

If you want to supply up to two players with cards you won't need anything else since you probably won't have sphere overlap in two decks that are supposed to complement each other. The only reason to get more than one copy of an AP would be if it contained a super-powerful neutral card that is a must-include in every deck (like Gandalf in the core set).

assuming 1-sphere decks, then a 2nd core set would give you about 13 extra usable cards per deck (2nd or 3rd copies of cards not included x3)

a third core set would only give you 3rd copies of the 1x cards from the core set, so about 12 useful cards, instead of 50ish for the second set. (I've not included Gandalfs in these figures, so it depends how many decks you're running at once.

Obviously, quest and encounter cards from extra sets serve little purpose.

Roughly though, on UK prices, a 2nd core set will see you paying about 50p per useful card, a 3rd set, more than £2 per card. However, as jhaelen said, if you want 3 of everything, 3 sets is the only option.

Interesting. Thanks for the info! I would have thought they had considered the players that would want full deck building options, and don't want to buy 3 core sets or multiple adventure packs for a small % of cards they'd need/want. Especially considering they have had this same issue with other games. It also sounds like an easy fix if they'd offer additional options for purchasing duplicates of just the cards you'd need out out of the core set. One can hope!

It has been said before about the other LCG's but it is not likely to change any time soon. That being said as this is a cooperative game I would say that 2 core sets would be plenty and you could use your friends if you needed more of the cards as that would not be giving either of you the advantage since the game is played together.

I bought 2 core sets. It turns out that there are some really good cards which you only get one of per core set, such as Dwarven Tomb or Celebrian's Stone.

I plan to buy a 3rd core set to get three copies of every card.

I also plan to buy two copies of each expansion so that I can have two play sets for potentially maintaining two different decks in a playable state.

I ordered 3 core sets, but what do i do with the enemy/encounter cards? for those only 1 set is needed i guess, so lots of unuseable cards?

Yeah, this game seems to really have more unusable extra cards than most if you buy additional sets. I guess you could try to make up your own scenario, but they're otherwise unneeded. Some of those 1 cards are really good, but I don't think its worth going over 2 sets. But to me, that's a lot of money.

2 core sets are ok but if you want all cards X3 3 core sets is a must.If you are a casual player just buy one.

servant of the secret fire said:

That's what I'm struggling with. I would like full deck building options. I'm hesitant to invest knowing how little I'll get post 1 core. And specifically knowing FFG knows that too. I'm sure they have done the % on how many skip on the game because of that vs. those that are willing to do it and it comes out in their favor, but it just seems wrong (sucker?). I don't want to have to do this sort of purchase on future products too.

The longer I wait and consider it, the more likely I believe I'm going to pass on the game. That said I hope players enjoy it and it does look fun. Just not > $100 initial investment fun. I'll likely wait and try to pick up a lot once someone quits the game to pick things up at a more reasonable price.

You only need one core set and can be more than happy with just that. Especially once the adventure packs are rolling out. 60 new cards per month. I myself plan on getting two but that is because I am a bit of a completist and like to have a set for my binders. I do the same thing with AGoT and I own at least one of every card for that game. Was more than happy with one core set for a very long time. Only reason I ever got a second was because I wanted to build more decks than I really need. I have 8 decks for AGoT.

You can be happy with 1 core set, and it is a great game so I'd say if that's all that's stopping you but you're otherwise interested, just get 1 and be patient. If you're still not sure, give the game a couple months to get some adventure packs out, then the card pool will be much bigger with different cards and you probably won't mind much not having 3 of each core set card since you'll have more choices. You can also see what direction the new cards go in to see if that gets you more excited or not.

If you have a friend that also likes the game, then you can split the second set with them. You'd need to devise a way to split the "rare" cards, but there'd be less card waste and it would be more economical. With 6 Gandlalf cards and 3 of every "uncommon" card you can build 2 decent decks. That's what I did with a buddy of mine.

But the enemy/encounter deck cards are all not used with a second or third core set right? Because putting in those 1x and 2x cards up to 3x in1 encounter deck probably makes it too tough to win

Primus_Magicus said:

Not all of them but the 3 core sets give you the possibility to build all 3 quest encounter decks without adding/sorting cards out after finishing one quest. That's kinda handy.

That is a really good idea Ahzrab.

Thanks for all the thoughts and responses! I may just break down for 1 core eventually.

Well here's my recommendation:

Buy a second set. Then use some of the spare cards from the 2nd set to proxy the cards you want a 3rd copy of (Dwarven Tomb, for example).

If you don't care about custom/homebrew quests or encounter deck customizations, then yes, there will be a lot of wasted cards in the 2nd set. For me, not so much - I plan on working out some custom scenarios and perhaps modifying the existing quests by adding more cards of one type. You don't have this option if you only have one set.

Therefore, if you enjoy the game enough, a second core set is a great investment (its really not that expensive anyways).

I find the 3rd set a bit of a waste, especially if you don't mind proxying for cards that you'd like a 3rd of.

I plan on getting a 2nd for sure, and maybe a 3rd, there are some cards like celebrians stone I would like 3 of. Plus then I could setup all encounter decks in sleeves and not have to share between the scenarios. Have them all set and ready to go.

lonelord said:

I have 1 set, and this is what I plan to do. If you buy 2 sets, you will only be missing 1 of each of the 12 cards that come as singles. Easy enough to proxy those 12.