We are all really enjoying CoC but we only have 1 copy of CORE to play with and it is borrowed, and we have to give this back.. Still we are convinced it is worth dipping into our game group money pool to buy a decent amount of this product.

So I went to the site to buy as many packs as the site had on sale but I am mega confused....

Some packs have tons of cards, some only have a few, each "story" I guess has a set of packs inside it, and there is core + 2 major expansions. Now you can only have 3 of any individual card in your deck (apart from some specialty cards like sled dogs I think is one that you can have 8 copies)

Anyway... what should we buy here.

Is 1 copy of everything what we want.. or are you meant to buy 3 copies of everything? Like how many unique cards are in these packs? Do these packs have 3 of each type?

Then there are the "Forgotten Lore" packs? What exactly are these? These are re-prints.. so I am meant ot buy them instead of other packs in teh product list? It is so confusing.

OK, so a couple of things. First, the Sledge Dogs have been changed so that they are no longer 8 per deck. You can only have 3.

As a general rule, having 3 of each card means you can build any deck you want. Personally I have 3 of everything because I want to be able to do that.

To help out, the new model for the Asylum Packs (the small expansions) is that they contain 60 cards - 3 each of 20 different cards. The original Asylum packs had 40 cards - some with 3, some with 1. So when you look for the packs, make sure they are the 60 card pack and you will be set.

The Core Set has 3 of some things and 1 of others. So for completeness you would get 3 Cores, but that is pricey.

Secrets of Arkham of 2 of each, so you need one and a half of that :-)

Shifting Sands (Asylum pack) has the newest story set in it and that should be available soon.

ok

What about the "Forgotten Lore" packs.. are they unique or are they re-prints of other packs in teh new 60 card thing... like if I get all of them.. do I in fact HAVE a bunch of the older packs already, or if i buy them am I getting duplicates?

Let me try to give you a breakdown:

Core set: This set intentionally has lots of cards to show more variety, the idea is that this is probably all you have starting out and it wouldn't be as much fun with 1/3rd the cards. Eventually, if you decide to get competitive, you may want 3 copies of the Core set but it's not really necessary. Personally I think 2 copies are a good compromise. That's all I have and I'll probably pick up the 3rd only after I finish collecting the rest of the cards.

Secrets of Arkham: Similar to the Core set, in that it has a lot of card in it, but 2 copies of each card this time. So theoretically, you would want 1 1/2 of these - meaning you could split with a friend or whatever. But, 2 copies is basically enough that it's not a big deal unless again you're talking about very competitive play. For now I'd just get one of these.

Silver Twilight: The main point here is to kick-start a brand new faction into the game. It's got 3 copies each of all the cards, but most of them are for the new guys. You can probably put this one off for a while unless you really like the new faction.

From here down are the regular Asylum Pack releases...

Originally, some of the early Asylum Packs were released with 40 cards, you'd get 3 copies of each "Common" and 1 copy of each "Uncommon". This was basically back when FFG was still figuring out the LCG format. Do not buy any of these. Almost all of them have been rereleased as 60 card packs with 3x copies of everything now and there's only one more cycle to go - the Dreamlands cycle.

So basically you can buy the 60 card Asylum Packs in any order, all of them contain 3 copies apiece of 20 new cards. Some people prefer to buy all the packs in a cycle together, others pick & choose for specific cards they want. The Yuggoth Cycle is commonly suggested as a good place to start, it's got a lot of good cards in it. Ancient Relics is shaping up pretty nicely, but only 2 packs are out so far. Rituals of the Deep is good if you like Silver Twilight, it introduces more new cards for them.

I'd say Secrets of Arkham should be at the top of your list, maybe a second Core set, and then start picking up some Asylum Packs unless someone in your group really likes Silver Twilight.

The Forgotten Lore packs are being reprinted, but some cards are changed. If the card is the same, you can still use your old black-bordered cards (it's a good idea to sleeve them so you can't tell). I'd probably put these packs at the bottom of your list - just use what you can out of the cards you've got for now and buy the packs featuring all new cards.

So every single product on the product page is unique?

Like if i buy summon of the deep or w/e there isn't a new product that is a re-issue of that AGAIN. So aside form the problem with getting 3 of each card by buying multipul packs, each product on sale has unique cards inside them.. so if i could afford it (and I can't ... if I got one of every product on the list, I would have no real dupllicates and have a large pool for us to have some fun, and then the option to buy multipuls if we start to get deep into deck editing.

Is that correct?

What is confusing me the most is that it "looks" like some products with diffrent names are in fact teh SAME product but done as a re-release with some extra cards to make them 60 card packs ... so if i got that AND the otiginal packs I would have more cards that can be played in a deck...

booored said:

Correct. There are something like 30+ different Asylum Packs, they're more or less a monthly release. So over time, there get to be quite a few.

booored said:

I think I see the source of the confusion. Summons of the Deep is the name of a cycle, not an actual product. Each cycle is a series of 6 Asylum Packs released consecutively. Often, the packs in a cycle share a common theme. For instance, the Dreamlands cycle contains a new Night/Day mechanic and has lots of cards dealing with this. Or a cycle might contain cards that are meant to go together. For instance, there might a card that buffs Deep One characters, and then also several new Deep One characters in the same cycle. So in the Summons of the Deep cycle, there are six individual Asylum Packs:

The Spawn of the Sleeper, The Horror Beneath the Surface, The Antediluvian Dreams, The Terror of the Tides, The Thing from the Shore, and The Path to Y'ha-nthlei

It might help to think of a cycle as a 6-month "season" with the asylum packs being individual episodes. There are no overlapping/duplicate cards between the different asylum packs in a cycle - they're all unique. The only thing that's been reprinted is that some of the asylum packs used to be in a 40 card format and have since been reprinted in a 60 card format. As long as you check and make sure the packs you're buying have 60 cards then you won't end up with duplicates or wasted cards. You only need to buy *ONE* of each asylum pack ever, because they all contain 3x copies.

Again, there is no reason to ever buy the 40 card packs. Only buy the 60 card packs. Some stores or online dealers may still have old stuff left on the shelves from years ago but ordinarily you wouldn't come across these. Cycles from "The Yuggoth Contract" onward never had a 40 card version, they came out after the update to the modern 60 card format. There is no such thing as a product that's the same as another product (with a different name) with some cards added to it. The difference between 40 cards and 60 cards is that the old version has 3 copies of some cards and 1 copy of others. The new versions have 3 copies of ALL cards, but the list of cards in the pack are identical.

but those new packs that are now 60 instead of 40 have diffrent names... how can io tell witch packs they are ment ot be replacing?

booored said:

Asylum Packs don't change their names when reprinted, the 60 card format simply means that there are 20 different cards and three copies of each card in that pack, the old 40 card format was the same 20 different cards, but only 2 copies of each card. The only difference between the two formats is the 60 card format gives each of those 20 different cards an extra copy.

Forgotten Lore is made up of cards that are reprinted from the old Call of Cthulhu Collectable Card Game. Aside from that, there's nothing that makes them any different from any other asylum pack cycle.

The only cycle that has not been reprinted in the 60 card format is the Dreamlands Cycle. I'd hold of on buying anything from that cycle until they get it reprinted. I don't know when FFG will do it, but they will.

Unless you have the resources I would not buy all the Asylum Packs in one go, just spread it out over time. I'd start with Secrets of Arkham, a delux expansion and then I'd buy the Asylum Packs from the Yuggoth Cycle and the Shifting Sands AP from the Ancient Relics Cycle.

This site lists all the current Asylum Packs that are out now and what cards are contained with each pack:

http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/CoC/CoCCards.html

Ok, well for now I got ...

1 Core + 1x Secrets of Arkham Expansion

and I also got the entire Yuggoth Contract, so 1 pack each and 6 in total...

I supose we will just go from there.

That sounds like a good start. Whenever you feel ready to pick up a bit more you can start on the Ancient Relics cycle (2 packs out so far, maybe more by that time) or consider whether you want a second Core set.