A VTES model for the gamestore

excuse me if this has been said before -and it's not a very pleasant observation - but wouldn't the price of a lot of commons unintentionally go up instead of down with print on demand?

silly as it is, i would always make some distinction between an enkil cog reprint and a flak jacket... keeing some tension there might also give a sense of history the game went through even as we all know it to be completely illogical.

anyway, on a sidenote, i've always preferred the older card-clanbackgrounds like the bright green one for the !Tor or the original tile-one for the jyhad-Malks. could there be a printing option to allow the choice for these backgrounds? also the neutral grey background for the Bloodlines-modifiers was a lot better-looking IMHO than the later LoB-ones...

porphyrion wrote:

anyway, on a sidenote, i've always preferred the older card-clanbackgrounds like the bright green one for the !Tor or the original tile-one for the jyhad-Malks. could there be a printing option to allow the choice for these backgrounds?

I so totally agree with you that the newer backgrounds are horrendously gross.

But I don't really think that those will be changed back to what they sued to be.

I beg to disagree on commons becoming more expensive. As old one would not go away, the only way they could go up in price is by actually being bought, which is not a bad thing by itself. If commons would be more expensive on PoD, than eBay (or the like), people would just print rares and buy old commons.

Indeed, common cards are not going to vanish in a night if PoD arrives. There are mountains of usable commons which can now be given away freely for new players and old players have enough of those cards for a lifetime. Even though commons would have same cost as rares the point is that people can get commons more easily than rares without resorting buying them from eBay or PoD. So likely people would just mostly ingonre common cards and go for the rares or buy some commons which are very usable or very hard to come by.

To get this game into game stores, you need a crack-model like MGT: ie draft.

If I had X Million $$, here's my master plan to get VTES huge like YGO or MGT or PKM.

1.) Secure rights to Deckmaster and World of Darkness from WotC and CCP (or whoever owns the rights now - Onyx Path?

2.) Issue a set of new cards that has about 30 new vamps and 50+ new library cards. But wait. The set would be produced like this:

15 card booster packs, random assortment in pack, priced at US$4
Box comes with 40 packs
4 new vampires
11 new library cards, with 6 commons, 3 uncommons, 2 rares.
Cards would have rarity symbols.

30 card draft packs. Each draft pack is a set assortment, priced at US$5.
Box comes with 20 draft packs, 2 of each type, with the same packaging so you don't know which archetype you are going to get.
10 deck archetypes (S&B, B&B, S&P, B&P, Wall, 1-2 types of Rush, Grinder etc etc). The draft packs are a set assortment with 5 set vamps that are classic representations of that archetype (reprints). Then the minion cards are: 1 Pentex, 2 Blood dolls, 2 Villein, 2-4 Wakey types (Wake, OtQV, or Forced), plus the rest are *good* cars for that archetype. If it's weenie animalism, some Deep Songs, Carrion Crows, Aid from Bats. Don't *f* around with janky cards. Draft packs are entirely reprints, no new cards, or perhaps 1 new card that is widely playable - so if you buy a box you get 20 of that card.

Draft tournament format would be: 1 draft pack (not drafted, or partially drafted), 2 booster packs (totally drafted) (US$13). So by buying 1 of each box retail $260, you can host up to 20 players in a draft. Store makes approximately US$130 on those 20 players, plus snacks and all ancillary sales.

Sets would be focused on each sect, with a Bloodlines set every 5th set. (Cam, Sabbat, Indy, Laibon, Bloodlines, then Cam again and so on). Sets would be released once a year or so.

Finally, there would also be a starter deck set released each year as well. Those starters would be selected from the pool of the Continental and National Champion decks of the previous year.

3.) Finally, create a robust OP (Organized Play Program). The focus of that program would be draft tournaments. Yes draft. Stores love love love love draft. So does Ian Lee and Dennis Lein, but that's neither here nor there. They love the regular infusion of !!Paying!! customers. Drafts would be only US$13 (approximately same price as an MTG draft, maybe a bit more, but not much).

Constructed tournaments would also be supported, with little change from the current format. Perhaps an incentive for princes who partner with public retail outlets (includes Conventions) so that the game gets visibility.

Also Storyline events would continue, because they are awesome, and popular.

Prize support would be great - new promo cards that aren't broken, that will eventually be reprinted in sets down the line. Other sweet swag would also be sent. Prize support would come through distribution, or through vendors like Rose Tatu and W&N.

Speaking of princes, princes who run and report a certain number of events would automatically receive swag.

Ok, that's what I'd do if I had a several million dollars, and wanted to invest that into this game.

Love draft?

I don't love playing drafts. I guess, though, I'd be happy if draft was a common thing as, really, it's a huge reason for Magic's level of popularity. I'll support draft if it's something other people want to do. I may not have unopened boxes sitting around for draft purposes, but I do have boosters back through CE meant for limited play.

I really wish sealed was better. Precons are just too focused for good sealed play. On the other hand, since the game got afflicted with draft text, sealed booster is probably not that far from old school draft. ... hmmm ...