Realm of Midnight and Cutting Edge

By DrUnK3n_PaNdA, in UFS General Discussion

I heard recently that both of these sets have had their printing halted. I have to say that on FFG's part, that's a huge mistake. In what I can only see as an attempt to cut down on the absurdity of Feline Spikes, Lord of the Makai and Blood Runs True, they're creating a larger dichotomy of power than already existed between players. If a rare or box-topper card is broken, the absolute worst thing that can be done is to halt printing the set.

Sure, answers are needed for the broken cards, but can be worked into upcoming sets, and have been. All stopping printing does is handicap players who don't yet have those power cards already. If no more are printed, there's simply no way to get them. No one will part with BRT's or Lord of the Makai's in trade, and if they're impossible to buy or extremely expensive, you're essentially creating a play environment where players are divided into two categories. Haves and Have-nots. The person who had the money, the forethought or the luck to aquire those power cards while they were still available now has an overbearing advantage, and the Have-Nots will need to spend half their decks trying to answer some of the super-rare problem cards. In other words, simply not printing any more copies creates more problems than it solves. You have less copies of those cards in production, but they're only possessed by an elite few who will be far, far more likely to win games because they own those cards.

Suffice is to say halting printing is not the answer that is needed. But, rather than just ranting, I'd like to bring up a few suggestions of what really could be an answer that will not imbalance the game.

Firstly, add Lord of the Makai, Feline Spike, Blood Runs True and possibly Assassination Arts to prize packs. This will mean that everyone has a fair shot at getting the game's power-cards right now. There may still be broken cards in the game, but if everyone has opportunity to use those broken cards, then there's no imbalance spawned because of it. Players may either choose to run those cards or not. (This is my favorite of the ideas)

Flooding the playerbase with broken cards as prize support may cause some frustration for new players, so it's not necessarily the best option. Another option would be to outright ban the cards that you've halted printing on those sets for. Again this isn't a great option because it will frustrate old players who spent considerable resources trading for or buying those rare cards. Perhaps set up a program where players could redeem their banned box toppers and ultra rares for newer (and likely more balanced) cards of the same type.

You could also rename or reprint the cards (perhaps using a new picture to avoid the legal hassle of mixing licenses within a set) and distribute them as rares or less preferably as box-toppers. Again, this gives everyone a shot at getting those cards, which in the current play environment is very important.

Hopefully someone at FFG will listen and see the sense in this post. Printing answers only solves half the problem.

They haven't halted the printing of those sets, they print X amount of every set and that is it. Most sets don't sell out, Realm of Midnight was a good set and is the only one I know of that has sold out (FFG doesn't have anymore but you can still find them on web sites, ebay, and distributors). Cutting Edge is still very easy to find, in fact FFG is sending out each store that signs up to run the UFS 3rd Ann Event a booster and starter box of Cutting Edge. They are also sending out Cutting Edge starter decks as part of the trade up promotion, sounds like they have an abundance of that set if you ask me. As far as BRT goes they admitted it was a mistake to be a starter deck box topper, they won't be reprinting it. Yes it sucks but if you really need them you can find them. Feline Spike on the other hand is a different subject, you really can't find those if you tried but most people believe the card is only in such ridiculous demand right now because there is a lack of real killing power right now and that card just stands above the rest. Over the next few sets the power and demand of Spike will probably come down.

I can't even give my Spikes away for BRT (admittedly, I already have a set, but it's the only one in our playgroup...).

But yus. Realm went out of print quite some time ago. This is old news; they're certainly not going to print any more, even if it DID make them more money. But you can still find boxes here and there (there's a seller on Ebay right now with 3 boxes of Realm at a very nice price).

MegaGeese said:

I can't even give my Spikes away for BRT (admittedly, I already have a set, but it's the only one in our playgroup...).

But yus. Realm went out of print quite some time ago. This is old news; they're certainly not going to print any more, even if it DID make them more money. But you can still find boxes here and there (there's a seller on Ebay right now with 3 boxes of Realm at a very nice price).

Well I think BRT will be easier to get with all the big event were most stores are getting a free cutting edge starter box . So hopefully it wont be so hard to get a hold of like before.

Scubadude said:

MegaGeese said:

I can't even give my Spikes away for BRT (admittedly, I already have a set, but it's the only one in our playgroup...).

But yus. Realm went out of print quite some time ago. This is old news; they're certainly not going to print any more, even if it DID make them more money. But you can still find boxes here and there (there's a seller on Ebay right now with 3 boxes of Realm at a very nice price).

Well I think BRT will be easier to get with all the big event were most stores are getting a free cutting edge starter box . So hopefully it wont be so hard to get a hold of like before.

yeah my store owner has two thats hes giving away to the winner of a tourney after the cutting edge boxes come in to the winner of a special tourney that we havent set up yet but its coming thats going to be sweet

Fact checking:

Fantasy Flight Games never printed Cutting Edge. Sabertooth Games did. (Go look at the packaging).

JDub pretty much nailed the rest of it.

They print a static amount of each set, once the set sells through the initial print run, it's done.

I doubt Kitty Spike will be as sought after in three months.

I doubt F spike wil be sought after in 1 month.

BRT will always be good. Even if a billion anti hax cards see play BRT will still be good as a 2/5 with a high block foundation with even the remote chance of working, which is where i would invest my money give the 2.

Protoaddict said:

BRT will always be good until block 4 rotation because there is no support for Legacy. Even if a billion anti hax cards see play BRT will still be good as a 2/5 with a high block foundation with even the remote chance of working, which is where i would invest my money give the 2.

Fixed for accuracy.