Considering the success of the Lord of the Rings IP in Magic: The Gathering through Universes Beyond, one can argue that Game of Thrones would be great for sales in Magic: The Gathering since both franchises are very similar to one another and have respected fan bases for each of them. I can see Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro enhancing on the Monarch mechanic in Commander as well as the whole "Winter Is Coming" moniker with more Snow themed cards similar to what we saw in Kaldheim. I'm not too familiar with the Game of Thrones IP as I am with the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit IP's but it'd be interesting to see what Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro would do with Game of Thrones in Magic: The Gathering going forward.
You are approaching this in a very odd way. It's a fun gift for employees and not intended for actual play. You want to talk about bad card design? Actually look at these cards - they are tokens of appreciation first, not gamepieces.
The whole argument surrounding "game pieces" mostly had to do with collectors, whales, and people who buylist card singles getting upset about their non-Reserve List cards not being worth any monetary value due to the number of variants released in each product where as these Heroes of the Realm cards in particular are good enough to see actual play but aren't. Bad card design from what I've seen mostly revolves around reprint fatigue and Hasbro corporate not giving Wizards of the Coast enough time to properly design good cards for the game where we're stuck with only one or two good cards in each new set release with the rest of it being draft / sealed fodder. They can't rely on popular land cycles to sell sets like they used to especially with Shocklands being the cheapest they'll ever be in Ravnica Remastered since they've been reprinted into oblivion so many times.
These cards are completely broken and/or silver border territory. I wonder why anyone would even want to play them.
They look good enough to be in Commander Pre-Cons however they're not broken in the slightest. Elusen, the Giving is a card I can see the most play from these because she does things that most group hug Commanders don't do. In fact she's a better version of Zedruu the Greathearted with green added to the color identity but functions similar to Karona, False God where you can pass her around to other players at the table and isn't just a Voltron Commander that can pump dudes. Svega, the Unconventional is mainly built for 5 color Superfriends in Commander who run the following Planeswalkers mentioned in her abilities. I like how Heroes of Kamigawa adds a new restriction to deck building in Commander where all the cards have to be from a Kamigawa expansion minus basic lands where as Wizard from Beyond is only good in a 5 color deck that's Dungeons & Dragons themed.
This is the problem I have with Heroes of the Realm cards because all it does is divide the Magic community further through class warfare not in terms of how it's defined in Dungeons & Dragons but through a real life economical class system between the poor, middle class, and rich in Commander. Oh you're a peasant that doesn't own a real copy of Elusen, the Giving? Go run Karona, False God or Phelddagrif. It's actually kind of insulting to those who want to play these Heroes of the Realm cards in Commander but can't due to circumstances beyond their control unless they decide to proxy them. It also doesn't help that the print run of these cards are extremely low.
It's already scummy enough that they print and design mechanically unique Commanders as Secret Lair Drops but it's even worse when Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro prints and designs cards solely to keep for themselves instead of sharing them with the rest of the Magic community all while expecting us to pay double or triple the price on their Paper Magic products with lower quality and bad card design. No wonder why Reserve List prices are tanking right now because everyone is liquidating their collections just to get through this terrible economy right now. It's hard for me to be optimistic about Paper Magic when Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro continues to screw themselves over time and time again.
Bandai Namco is launching a new Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game called "Union Arena" due in March 2023 consisting of popular Intellectual Properties such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Bleach, Tales of Arise, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Unfortunately we don't know when Union Arena will be released outside Japan to compete against UniVersus TCG which also has the My Hero Academia IP or what the Gameplay will be like compared to UniVersus TCG but like most of Bandai Namco's TCG / CCG's they're very linear. Thought I'd share this to see what you guys think thus far.
I talked to a couple of my friends about this and one of them thinks it's unlikely that Union Arena will be released outside Japan like with the new One Piece CCG and Digimon CCG that came out just recently from Bandai Namco. That and Bandai Namco will have to amicably resolve a number of licensing issues before even considering importing it overseas. Not quite sure how Jasco was able to get away with it for UniVersus TCG while Bandai Namco is now wanting to compete against Bushiroad's Weiss Schwarz TCG. If Union Arena does make it to the West then I expect the playerbases who are playing it and UniVersus TCG for the My Hero Academia IP to become more fragmented.
Turns out we ARE getting a North American Release for Union Arena after all:
Bandai announced an English Edition of Union Arena TCG, which will be heading to North American markets in October 2024.
Union Arena is a popular Japanese common rules TCG engine that was launched in March 2023. The engine is built to support any number of IP titles working on a single rules set. The first three titles released for Union Arena will include Bleach: Thousand-Year War, Hunter X Hunter, and Jujutsu Kaisen. The cards released into the NA market will be localized into English, and the brand logo and back of the cards will be unique designs for the English version.
What Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro doesn't understand about Paper Magic is that it's been around long enough to develop different "ecosystems". Yes there's the Commander ecosystem however the Paper Standard ecosystem is what the entirety of the game was built around since the very beginning 30 years ago. Back when the game first debuted in 1993 you didn't really have a variety of different formats to choose from where players could only run 4 of playsets of individual cards minus basic lands with a Banned / Restricted List and that was it. Then Wizards of the Coast came in and invented the Paper Standard format which back then was known as Type 2 Constructed before they were bought out by Hasbro. Granted there was A LOT of push back when Wizards of the Coast first introduced Type 2 Constructed to Paper Magic because players wanted to play their cards how THEY wanted but ultimately Paper Standard is what saved the game from just falling off to being just a card game where people were like, "If you didn't have the best cards that were old then you can't compete". It kind of created a little gated playground that you could come in and play as a new player where you wouldn't have to worry about needing to run the last decade's worth of cards and acquiring all the stuff where you only needed to be concerned about the last two years worth of cards. More importantly, it also provided people to play with in-person right? If you don't have people to play then you're not going to have people come out to their Local Game Store (LGS).
Wizards of the Coast found out about this the hard way by messing around and it looks as though we're moving back to how Paper Standard worked in the past so having that kind of Organized Play program where you move up in tournament brackets is extremely crucial now at the local level instead of the convention level but you could still build up to the convention level. Wizards of the Coast used to have a very healthy release schedule for Paper Magic products where they mainly focused on Paper Standard which allowed all the other formats to take care of themselves but by catering to other formats through dramatically changing that release schedule to avoid power creeping Paper Standard those solutions created their own set of unforeseen problems creating a diminishing returns scenario. There's only so much that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro can try to get from Commander players because Commander players don't consume products the exact same way competitive Paper Standard players do. The fundamental market dynamics between Paper Standard and Commander are quite different to where the company NEEDS to actually create demand for Paper Standard, not Arena, by having FNM and In-Person Paper Standard events at Local Game Stores (LGSs). Healthy Paper Standard play is vital to Local Game Stores (LGSs) which leads to more new players coming into Commander without Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro trying to advertise the game in a way that isn't anti-LGS like what they've been doing for the past few years with all this gatekeeping nonsense.
Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro feels as though the Local Game Store (LGS) is a hindrance to the game itself and they actively want to get rid of the social stigma that comes from playing In-Person when that's what the game was actually built around in the first place. Magic: The Gathering was originally intended to be a localized community based card game that helped those who didn't fit in with the rest of society to feel welcome where as now they're unwelcome because they no longer fit in with today's societal norms. So Commander doesn't have to be competitive to get more new players at Local Game Stores (LGSs) when Paper Standard needs to be the driving force behind WHY these players migrate to other Paper Magic formats like Commander without it feeling as though it's being advertised more as a "take home and play" tabletop board game like Monopoly and Scrabble. I don't understand why that's so hard and difficult to understand because clearly Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's marketing team for Paper Magic nowadays still feels anti-LGS when it shouldn't be. That's what happens when they copy directly off of a famous YouTuber's business model along with partnering with Amazon to dump products that didn't sell while somehow making their money back where there's literally no financial repercussions for them whatsoever. Even the gatekeeping by Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro on Social Media has gotten out of control as well.
Liliana, Dreadhorde General would've looked gorgeous as an Anime Showcase Variant in Ravnica Remastered unless they're saving it for an upcoming Secret Lair Drop to screw over LGS's like they always do. I also knew that they had to change the artwork of Voidslime because If you've seen it's original printing you know what I mean. Kinda surprised that Vandalblast didn't receive a reprint even though Cyclonic Rift did. Sad that the rest of the Transmute cycle didn't make the cut such as Brainspoil, Dimir Machinations, Dizzy Spell, Clutch of the Undercity, Perplex, and Shred Memory. They probably only decide what gets reprinted based on statistics and analytics from EDHREC.
Maybe Universes Beyond IS taking up resources to help improve the game. Imagine If those resources went into fixing Paper Standard which has been dead since the pandemic started. Sure they'd probably lose sales due to the majority of Paper Magic players playing Commander but at least it would show that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro still gives a damn about In-Person Play at Local Game Stores (LGSs). That Competitive Paper Magic doesn't HAVE to be just Modern and Pioneer that only fires once every few months but it is. The better question is how do you go about making Paper Standard as fun as Commander? Brawl wasn't the answer and neither was Companions from Ikoria.
Also returning to UniVersus CCG back when it was known as Ultimate Fighting System (UFS) is Yu Yu Hakusho which covers the Dark Tournament Arc. The last IP that UVS (formerly Jasco) worked on before re-launching the game with the My Hero Academia IP was in fact Yu Yu Hakusho in which this Dark Tournament expansion will contain reprints of cards from the last Yu Yu Hakusho set released before UVS (formerly Jasco) launched My Hero Academia:
UVS Games announced the return of Yu Yu Hakusho CCG to the UniVersus CCG system.
The Yu Yu Hakusho CCG first rolled out to market with Score in 2003 (see "Score Plans Two-Prong Push for Yu-Yu CCG"), and headed to Jasco Games (now UVS Games) in 2019 (see " 'UFS: Yu Yu Hakusho'"). Now, after a brief break in production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yu Yu Hakusho CCG is coming back with the Dark Tournament expansion. Dark Tournament was the second set published in the original Score run of the game (see "Free Tournament Kits"), and was very popular upon its initial release. The UVS version of the expansion will features fan favorite reprints and will only be available at FLGS, which can sign up for special prerelease events for the set.
UniVersus will also include the Attack on Titan IP in 2024 including Cowboy Bebop, Trigun Stampede, Godzilla, and Critical Role:
UVS Games had an excellent year in 2023 during which they changed their name, redesigned the look of the UniVersus cards and had their biggest event ever: Pro Hero Nationals in Dallas, Texas. UniVersus is their signature CCG, featuring classic and fan favorite pop-culture franchises and characters. Looking ahead to 2024, there are a wide variety of products coming to UniVersus - both booster sets as well as Challenger Series decks.
Here are the various IPs coming to UniVersus in 2024:
Previously announced, Cowboy Bebop: Challenger Series and Trigun Stampede: Challenger Series will be released on January 19th 2024.
Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament boosters will be released on February 23rd and will feature a special release event available to UGN stores.
Critical Role
Two Critical Role Challenger Series will be released on March 21. First is Vox Machina: Challenger Series, featuring the twins Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan and their adventures through Exandria during Campaign 1. The second release, Mighty Nein: Challenger Series, based on Campaign 2 will feature Jester and Nott from the Mighty Nein. Preorders start right now at your local game store.
My Hero Academia: Girl Power & More
Coming May 17th, the My Hero Academia: Girl Power booster set will feature all your favorite female students, heroes, and villains. Every character card will have an exclusive, never-before-seen alternative art version. This release will also feature a prerelease event occurring on May 11. In addition to Girl Power, we will have products featuring My Hero Academia releasing in Q3.
Godzilla
Godzilla, The King of the Monsters, is joining the UniVersus collectible card game. With two Challenger Series products, these giant and powerful creatures will significantly impact the UniVersus game and players’ collections. They will be available in your local game stores on June 21.
Attack on Titan
The first set, Attack on Titan: Battle for Humanity, will be released in Q3 2024. Along with the boosters, a Challenger Series product and Clash Decks will be available. We will release a second Attack on Titan booster set and a Challenger Series product in Q4 2024. Based on the manga, these releases will bring a fresh look to this popular franchise. More details will come about these exciting releases, including details of the Prerelease Events for UGN stores.
Sci-Fi IP To Be Announced
Another franchise that will blow everyone’s mind is also being developed for Q4, 2024.
Products Coming to UniVersus in 2024 -
Cowboy Bebop and Trigun Stampede (January 19) - Challenger Series
Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament (February 23) - Booster Set
My Hero Academia: Girl Power (May 17) - Booster Set
Godzilla (June 21) - Challenger Series
My Hero Academia (Q3) - products to be determined
Attack on Titan: Battle for Humanity (Q3) - Booster Set & Challenger Series
Attack on Titan (Q4) - Booster Set & Challenger Series
Sci-Fi IP To Be Announced (Q4) - Challenger Series
UVS Games will continue to make announcements on the details of these products in the coming months. You can find information about releases, their UGN play program and more on their website UVSGames.com.
Since the dawn of UniVersus time (2006), the heart of the game has always been about battles between players using their favorite characters from popular creative worlds. Whether that was Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, Cowboy Bebop or even My Hero Academia, the promise has always been for fighters to prove which world’s fighting style is the most powerful. Building on that history, 2023 has been a big year of announcements and exciting changes to the game where worlds collide!
Today we’re sharing some exciting updates and clarifications about our play formats for UniVersus. This information will help you plan your training regimen as you prepare for epic battles against the best UVS fighters in the land.
A Few Things Before We Begin
A “format” defines the types of cards players can use to battle one another in a UniVersus tournament. There are three additional terms that further define the parameters surrounding who and what is allowed to play in the event. They are:
Limited: Events that are “limited” include formats like Booster Draft and Sealed Deck in which fighters are limited to using the cards provided to them at the tournament.
Constructed: Events that are “constructed” include formats like Standard and Retro where fighters construct their decks with their own cards before attending the tournament.
Team: The term “team” refers to events in which more than one player battles per side. We don’t have any updates on team events today, but they’re a popular part of the tournament pantheon for UniVersus players.
So how do we at UVS Games think about formats? Because UniVersus players enter our world of play through recognizing one of their favorite worlds being represented in it we think of our formats in three categories:
Formats that are good for engaging players new to the game (such as Sealed and Spotlight Constructed)
Formats that are ideal for tournament play, like our primary tournament format Standard
Formats that provide a higher complexity ceiling, like Booster Draft or Retro
Let’s dive further into what each format is.
Booster Draft and Sealed Deck
Our Limited formats are perfect for players who want to explore the world of a specific universe, train up in the strategies of that plane, and be prepared to adopt those tactics in future battles. Sealed Deck is ideal for new players as you don’t need to have any cards before playing and you’re limited to the six packs you’re given at an event for building. That’s why we use it for our Prerelease events!
Booster Draft is our most skill intensive format challenging players to both figure out what strategy they’ll build their deck around on the fly and defeating their opponent through combat with that strategy. Both Booster Draft and Sealed Deck are fantastic formats for building your collection for playing other formats while learning the fighting styles of these worlds.
Starting with Undaunted Raid in My Hero Academia we’ve redesigned UniVersus to power fun Sealed and Draft formats, including a character card in every booster pack. These formats are some of the most fun ways to play the game, and offer unique gaming experiences you can’t find in any other format. In fact, in 2024 we’re going to be leaning into Sealed and Draft beyond our Prereleases in ways we haven’t before. Stay tuned for full details coming soon from our Organized Play team.
Spotlight Constructed Format
Spotlight Constructed has fighters build their decks for battle using only cards from a specific universe. Fans of My Hero Academia will recognize this as the “My Hero Academia Only” format from the past few years. Moving forward we’ll call that format “My Hero Academia Spotlight Constructed,” and you’ll be hearing more about it for play next year as we announce our organized play schedule for 2024. The cards in a Spotlight Constructed format include all cards printed from that world, including those from boosters, promos, and Challenger Series.
As an example, the first Yu Yu Hakusho set was released in 2019. In 2024 the second set, Yu Yu Hakusho: The Dark Tournament, will be added to the YYH Spotlight Constructed format. We’ve got a special experience centered around The Dark Tournament that we’re excited to share with you soon that will make this world a one-of-a-kind adventure for UniVersus players unlike anything seen in card games before!
Spotlight Constructed is a great format for taking the collection you’ve started building through Booster Draft and Sealed and trying the fighting strategies in that world before colliding with other worlds!
Standard
The first step into the arena of worlds colliding is our most important tournament format: Standard. Historically it’s featured the worlds we’ve visited over the past ten booster releases, allowing players to experience the thrill of pitting the fighting styles from Cowboy Bebop against the sonic booms of Street Fighter. With a shift in our product releases and an increase in the worlds UniVersus will be visiting we’re adjusting Standard slightly: instead of covering the past ten sets, Standard will now feature cards printed as far back as the two years preceding the current year.
What does this look like in practice? In 2024 we’ll “rotate” cards from Standard that were printed before 2022. This means the first My Hero Academia expansion and any promo cards printed in 2021 will no longer be legal for play. Cards printed from Crimson Rampage forward will be legal for Standard play, including all cards from 2022, 2023, and 2024. This includes Challenger Series cards, promo cards, and the Yu Yu Hakusho expansion. In 2025, cards from 2022 will rotate making Standard consist of cards from 2023, 2024, and 2025.
We’re making this change for two reasons:
To allow players more time to play with their cards in Standard as we visit more worlds each year.
To make it easier to explain to newer players what cards they can play in Standard as our community continues growing.
The rotation will happen alongside the first booster release each calendar year. In 2024 rotation will happen alongside the Yu Yu Hakusho release. Cards that are reprinted in new products after they’ve rotated from Standard will become eligible for play in that format again. Standard will also transition to being the marquee combat format for UniVersus fighters; stay tuned for exciting announcements on this front from our organized play team soon!
Retro
The Retro format is where all worlds collide, and celebrates over a decade of epic battles between extraordinary fighters. With the exception of banned cards, anything goes in Retro, including using our “classic” rules set. All expansions, promos, and additional products like Challenger Series are legal in Retro. Players new to the UniVersus arena may want to consider working their way through the ranks of the other formats, training to ensure they’re ready before tackling the black belts who inhabit these events.
We’re very excited to provide this update to our fans on what our formats are. Up next: our announcements about organized play for 2024. We can’t wait to share what we’ve got in store for next year, including representation of all the formats we’ve discussed today and more!
If you’d like to share your thoughts, join in on the conversations happening in our:
The Fifteenth Doctor really should've been RGWU instead of UR for those who are wanting to build Doctor Who decks in EDH / Commander with three or more colors. His abilities could've even triggered off of colored spells similar to Aragorn, the Uniter. HUGE missed opportunity on Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's part. The Meep has some interesting card design and makes for some aggro shenanigans even though other colors specialize in that much more.
What If a banlist was curated to where fast mana wasn't allowed for these In-Person EDH / Commander Tournaments at Local Game Stores (LGSs)? Sure it would slow games down exponentially akin to playing with or against Stax but it would help keep the game at a reasonable pace I suppose. If worse comes to worse Judges can still call time and allow 4 player pods at each table two turns left and whoevers life total is the highest wins though it'd be single or double elimination instead of swiss rounds so that the tournament can end quicker. Adding the option of a top cut for undefeated players seems like extra hours and adds pressure to Local Game Stores (LGSs) that are scheduled to close down due to set business hours.
Then again I've been noticing some major pushback against how Organized Play is ran for other Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games where slow play is mostly frowned upon. I know it's no longer allowed in the Pokémon TCG and Konami's actually been cracking down on this for Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments in Japan. Magic: The Gathering is arguably the only game of it's kind to allow a certain level of slow play in competitive tournaments though for it's competition from Japan not so much and time is money. As someone whose more of a fan of Swiss rounds over single or double elimination this is disheartening to say the least. The consequences of the pandemic through monetary inflation has made it even harder to play in-person.
The Biden administration has asked the FCC to take complete control of the way internet service providers do business in America. Currently governed by the private sector, the FCC would take control and establish rules and regulations to strangle the free market by deep government policies and regulations.
This would include dictating broadband prices to consumers, tower and satellite locations, and expansion of services by your local internet provider. It would tightly regulate providers to the point that they would basically become an extension of the government itself.
Next week on November 15th, the five FCC commissioners will vote to put President Biden’s plan in place.
This policy is so bad that one FCC commissioner is speaking out publicly against it. Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration’s “digital equity” plan for all internet services and infrastructure an “unlawful power grab.” You can read Commissioner Carr’s warning here.
In particular, Carr says, “For the first time ever, those rules would give the federal government a roving mandate to micromanage nearly every aspect of how the internet functions—from how [internet service providers] allocate capital and where they build, to the services that consumers can purchase; from the profits that ISPs can realize and how they market and advertise services to the discounts and promotions that consumers can receive.”
The text of Biden’s order expressly provides that the FCC would be empowered, for the first time, to regulate the following for every ISP:
“speeds, capacities, latency, data caps, throttling, pricing, promotional rates, imposition of late fees, opportunity for equipment rental, installation time, contract renewal terms, service termination terms, and use of customer credit and account history”
“mandatory arbitration clauses, pricing, deposits, discounts, customer service, language options, credit checks, marketing or advertising, contract renewal, upgrades, account termination, transfers to another covered entity, and service suspension”
For an in-depth report of exactly how frightening this prospect is, listen to this podcast by Abraham Hamilton III. Abraham is general counsel for AFA and radio host of the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
A successful Biden administration takeover of the internet will result in poorer service, higher prices, and less privacy for every citizen in the country.
I hate to break it to you, but standard (and most other competitive formats like Modern) have taken a far backseat to Commander. I don't think we're going to see sets elegantly designed to make great competitive formats thrive anymore. Pretty much everything that happens from WotC is just them tweaking formulas to min/max our wallets. All that being said the set looks pretty fun to play limited with.
Even before WotC started designing Paper Magic products for Commander it felt like there were more options available where as now there's less to where it seems every Commander deck feels too "cookie cutter" where everybody is running the exact same cards because they're the most popular and consistent cards in the format. They're designing less new cards that serve as being functionally identical with their predecessors but are made worse in order to drive the price of these older functionally identical cards that see more play in the format even based on statistics by EDHREC.
Why is most of Lost Caverns of Ixalan just draft / sealed fodder?
Because that is objectively the best way to play this card game.
But WotC got rid of Draft Boosters because people were only buying them to play draft / sealed and replaced them with Play Boosters which is essentially a regular Set Booster. Not everyone who plays Paper Magic enjoys draft / sealed and WotC doesn't realize that you can't please everybody. They think they can but realistically they can't. Having too many Paper formats has a detrimental effect on the game's Secondary Market and creates a potential pay wall to prevent other players from being able to play in their preferred format of choice unless you're playing Pauper because Pauper.
Am I the only one disappointed with Lost Caverns of Ixalan? Yeah the Jurassic World tie in is cool. Dino DNA is a infinite combo enabler. But it seems that with every new Standard set we end up getting too many new Commanders and non-Secret Lair reprints oversaturating the game as a whole. Why are we getting fewer toolbox cards to work with?
Oh but they're normally printed as one to two normal rares and a mythic in every Standard set. Why is most of Lost Caverns of Ixalan just draft / sealed fodder? Why lower the power level so low to give players fewer good options to work with? Is this intentional in order to reset the power level of Paper Standard in an attempt to save the format?
Just a reminder that Echoing Deeps doesn't combo directly with Dark Depths. Echoing Deeps comes in AS a copy, so If you choose to copy Dark Depths then Echoing Deeps will come in with all the counters. Since Echoing Deeps enters the battlefield tapped you'll need Amulet of Vigor to get the ball rolling especially If you're wanting to crack Fetches twice a turn. Had Echoing Deeps enter untapped to trigger it's ability it would've been bumped up to Mythic Rare guaranteed.
Yeah but then you'd be paying 3 per trigger, 2 for cracking the Food token to gain 3 life and 1 to get an additional effect which seems less efficient IMO.
They look good enough to be in Commander Pre-Cons however they're not broken in the slightest. Elusen, the Giving is a card I can see the most play from these because she does things that most group hug Commanders don't do. In fact she's a better version of Zedruu the Greathearted with green added to the color identity but functions similar to Karona, False God where you can pass her around to other players at the table and isn't just a Voltron Commander that can pump dudes. Svega, the Unconventional is mainly built for 5 color Superfriends in Commander who run the following Planeswalkers mentioned in her abilities. I like how Heroes of Kamigawa adds a new restriction to deck building in Commander where all the cards have to be from a Kamigawa expansion minus basic lands where as Wizard from Beyond is only good in a 5 color deck that's Dungeons & Dragons themed.
It's already scummy enough that they print and design mechanically unique Commanders as Secret Lair Drops but it's even worse when Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro prints and designs cards solely to keep for themselves instead of sharing them with the rest of the Magic community all while expecting us to pay double or triple the price on their Paper Magic products with lower quality and bad card design. No wonder why Reserve List prices are tanking right now because everyone is liquidating their collections just to get through this terrible economy right now. It's hard for me to be optimistic about Paper Magic when Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro continues to screw themselves over time and time again.
Bandai Namco is launching a new Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game called "Union Arena" due in March 2023 consisting of popular Intellectual Properties such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Bleach, Tales of Arise, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Unfortunately we don't know when Union Arena will be released outside Japan to compete against UniVersus TCG which also has the My Hero Academia IP or what the Gameplay will be like compared to UniVersus TCG but like most of Bandai Namco's TCG / CCG's they're very linear. Thought I'd share this to see what you guys think thus far.
I talked to a couple of my friends about this and one of them thinks it's unlikely that Union Arena will be released outside Japan like with the new One Piece CCG and Digimon CCG that came out just recently from Bandai Namco. That and Bandai Namco will have to amicably resolve a number of licensing issues before even considering importing it overseas. Not quite sure how Jasco was able to get away with it for UniVersus TCG while Bandai Namco is now wanting to compete against Bushiroad's Weiss Schwarz TCG. If Union Arena does make it to the West then I expect the playerbases who are playing it and UniVersus TCG for the My Hero Academia IP to become more fragmented.
Turns out we ARE getting a North American Release for Union Arena after all:
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/55893/bandai-announces-union-arena-tcg-english-edition
Wizards of the Coast found out about this the hard way by messing around and it looks as though we're moving back to how Paper Standard worked in the past so having that kind of Organized Play program where you move up in tournament brackets is extremely crucial now at the local level instead of the convention level but you could still build up to the convention level. Wizards of the Coast used to have a very healthy release schedule for Paper Magic products where they mainly focused on Paper Standard which allowed all the other formats to take care of themselves but by catering to other formats through dramatically changing that release schedule to avoid power creeping Paper Standard those solutions created their own set of unforeseen problems creating a diminishing returns scenario. There's only so much that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro can try to get from Commander players because Commander players don't consume products the exact same way competitive Paper Standard players do. The fundamental market dynamics between Paper Standard and Commander are quite different to where the company NEEDS to actually create demand for Paper Standard, not Arena, by having FNM and In-Person Paper Standard events at Local Game Stores (LGSs). Healthy Paper Standard play is vital to Local Game Stores (LGSs) which leads to more new players coming into Commander without Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro trying to advertise the game in a way that isn't anti-LGS like what they've been doing for the past few years with all this gatekeeping nonsense.
Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro feels as though the Local Game Store (LGS) is a hindrance to the game itself and they actively want to get rid of the social stigma that comes from playing In-Person when that's what the game was actually built around in the first place. Magic: The Gathering was originally intended to be a localized community based card game that helped those who didn't fit in with the rest of society to feel welcome where as now they're unwelcome because they no longer fit in with today's societal norms. So Commander doesn't have to be competitive to get more new players at Local Game Stores (LGSs) when Paper Standard needs to be the driving force behind WHY these players migrate to other Paper Magic formats like Commander without it feeling as though it's being advertised more as a "take home and play" tabletop board game like Monopoly and Scrabble. I don't understand why that's so hard and difficult to understand because clearly Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's marketing team for Paper Magic nowadays still feels anti-LGS when it shouldn't be. That's what happens when they copy directly off of a famous YouTuber's business model along with partnering with Amazon to dump products that didn't sell while somehow making their money back where there's literally no financial repercussions for them whatsoever. Even the gatekeeping by Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro on Social Media has gotten out of control as well.
Maybe Universes Beyond IS taking up resources to help improve the game. Imagine If those resources went into fixing Paper Standard which has been dead since the pandemic started. Sure they'd probably lose sales due to the majority of Paper Magic players playing Commander but at least it would show that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro still gives a damn about In-Person Play at Local Game Stores (LGSs). That Competitive Paper Magic doesn't HAVE to be just Modern and Pioneer that only fires once every few months but it is. The better question is how do you go about making Paper Standard as fun as Commander? Brawl wasn't the answer and neither was Companions from Ikoria.
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/55182/yu-yu-hakusho-returns-universus
UniVersus will also include the Attack on Titan IP in 2024 including Cowboy Bebop, Trigun Stampede, Godzilla, and Critical Role:
https://icv2.com/articles/sponsored/view/55813/sponsored-critical-role-my-hero-academia-girl-power-godzilla-more-coming-universus-2024
Also be sure to check out the UniVersus CCG Gaming Network at https://play.uvsgames.com/
UniVersus CCG Formats Explained:
https://uvsgames.com/all-news/the-future-of-universus-formats
Since the dawn of UniVersus time (2006), the heart of the game has always been about battles between players using their favorite characters from popular creative worlds. Whether that was Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, Cowboy Bebop or even My Hero Academia, the promise has always been for fighters to prove which world’s fighting style is the most powerful. Building on that history, 2023 has been a big year of announcements and exciting changes to the game where worlds collide!
Today we’re sharing some exciting updates and clarifications about our play formats for UniVersus. This information will help you plan your training regimen as you prepare for epic battles against the best UVS fighters in the land.
A Few Things Before We Begin
A “format” defines the types of cards players can use to battle one another in a UniVersus tournament. There are three additional terms that further define the parameters surrounding who and what is allowed to play in the event. They are:
- Limited: Events that are “limited” include formats like Booster Draft and Sealed Deck in which fighters are limited to using the cards provided to them at the tournament.
- Constructed: Events that are “constructed” include formats like Standard and Retro where fighters construct their decks with their own cards before attending the tournament.
- Team: The term “team” refers to events in which more than one player battles per side. We don’t have any updates on team events today, but they’re a popular part of the tournament pantheon for UniVersus players.
So how do we at UVS Games think about formats? Because UniVersus players enter our world of play through recognizing one of their favorite worlds being represented in it we think of our formats in three categories:- Formats that are good for engaging players new to the game (such as Sealed and Spotlight Constructed)
- Formats that are ideal for tournament play, like our primary tournament format Standard
- Formats that provide a higher complexity ceiling, like Booster Draft or Retro
Let’s dive further into what each format is.Booster Draft and Sealed Deck
Our Limited formats are perfect for players who want to explore the world of a specific universe, train up in the strategies of that plane, and be prepared to adopt those tactics in future battles. Sealed Deck is ideal for new players as you don’t need to have any cards before playing and you’re limited to the six packs you’re given at an event for building. That’s why we use it for our Prerelease events!
Booster Draft is our most skill intensive format challenging players to both figure out what strategy they’ll build their deck around on the fly and defeating their opponent through combat with that strategy. Both Booster Draft and Sealed Deck are fantastic formats for building your collection for playing other formats while learning the fighting styles of these worlds.
Starting with Undaunted Raid in My Hero Academia we’ve redesigned UniVersus to power fun Sealed and Draft formats, including a character card in every booster pack. These formats are some of the most fun ways to play the game, and offer unique gaming experiences you can’t find in any other format. In fact, in 2024 we’re going to be leaning into Sealed and Draft beyond our Prereleases in ways we haven’t before. Stay tuned for full details coming soon from our Organized Play team.
Spotlight Constructed Format
Spotlight Constructed has fighters build their decks for battle using only cards from a specific universe. Fans of My Hero Academia will recognize this as the “My Hero Academia Only” format from the past few years. Moving forward we’ll call that format “My Hero Academia Spotlight Constructed,” and you’ll be hearing more about it for play next year as we announce our organized play schedule for 2024. The cards in a Spotlight Constructed format include all cards printed from that world, including those from boosters, promos, and Challenger Series.
As an example, the first Yu Yu Hakusho set was released in 2019. In 2024 the second set, Yu Yu Hakusho: The Dark Tournament, will be added to the YYH Spotlight Constructed format. We’ve got a special experience centered around The Dark Tournament that we’re excited to share with you soon that will make this world a one-of-a-kind adventure for UniVersus players unlike anything seen in card games before!
Spotlight Constructed is a great format for taking the collection you’ve started building through Booster Draft and Sealed and trying the fighting strategies in that world before colliding with other worlds!
Standard
The first step into the arena of worlds colliding is our most important tournament format: Standard. Historically it’s featured the worlds we’ve visited over the past ten booster releases, allowing players to experience the thrill of pitting the fighting styles from Cowboy Bebop against the sonic booms of Street Fighter. With a shift in our product releases and an increase in the worlds UniVersus will be visiting we’re adjusting Standard slightly: instead of covering the past ten sets, Standard will now feature cards printed as far back as the two years preceding the current year.
What does this look like in practice? In 2024 we’ll “rotate” cards from Standard that were printed before 2022. This means the first My Hero Academia expansion and any promo cards printed in 2021 will no longer be legal for play. Cards printed from Crimson Rampage forward will be legal for Standard play, including all cards from 2022, 2023, and 2024. This includes Challenger Series cards, promo cards, and the Yu Yu Hakusho expansion. In 2025, cards from 2022 will rotate making Standard consist of cards from 2023, 2024, and 2025.
We’re making this change for two reasons:
- To allow players more time to play with their cards in Standard as we visit more worlds each year.
- To make it easier to explain to newer players what cards they can play in Standard as our community continues growing.
The rotation will happen alongside the first booster release each calendar year. In 2024 rotation will happen alongside the Yu Yu Hakusho release. Cards that are reprinted in new products after they’ve rotated from Standard will become eligible for play in that format again. Standard will also transition to being the marquee combat format for UniVersus fighters; stay tuned for exciting announcements on this front from our organized play team soon!Retro
The Retro format is where all worlds collide, and celebrates over a decade of epic battles between extraordinary fighters. With the exception of banned cards, anything goes in Retro, including using our “classic” rules set. All expansions, promos, and additional products like Challenger Series are legal in Retro. Players new to the UniVersus arena may want to consider working their way through the ranks of the other formats, training to ensure they’re ready before tackling the black belts who inhabit these events.
We’re very excited to provide this update to our fans on what our formats are. Up next: our announcements about organized play for 2024. We can’t wait to share what we’ve got in store for next year, including representation of all the formats we’ve discussed today and more!
If you’d like to share your thoughts, join in on the conversations happening in our:
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Discord
Also the Official Ban List for the My Hero Academia Block Constructed Format is as follows:
Then again I've been noticing some major pushback against how Organized Play is ran for other Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games where slow play is mostly frowned upon. I know it's no longer allowed in the Pokémon TCG and Konami's actually been cracking down on this for Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments in Japan. Magic: The Gathering is arguably the only game of it's kind to allow a certain level of slow play in competitive tournaments though for it's competition from Japan not so much and time is money. As someone whose more of a fan of Swiss rounds over single or double elimination this is disheartening to say the least. The consequences of the pandemic through monetary inflation has made it even harder to play in-person.
Oh but they're normally printed as one to two normal rares and a mythic in every Standard set. Why is most of Lost Caverns of Ixalan just draft / sealed fodder? Why lower the power level so low to give players fewer good options to work with? Is this intentional in order to reset the power level of Paper Standard in an attempt to save the format?