4 replies to this topic

[Gearfried the Omnipotent]

I just had the thought that Konami should do away with super, ultra, secret and ghost rares for booster sets except for ultimate rares (since they're just foil versions of random cards such as spiral serpant). It won't affect the hidden arsenal boosters since they're all super and secret rares anyway. Instead of there being 20 rares, 10 super rares, 10 ultra rares and 5 or so secret rares there should just be 45 or so normal rares. Good cards would be so much easier to pull and even little kids can have a shot at having a good deck.

[Sho Shinjo]

Gearfried the Omnipotent, on 28 February 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

I just had the thought that Konami should do away with super, ultra, secret and ghost rares for booster sets except for ultimate rares (since they're just foil versions of random cards such as spiral serpant).

Ultimate Rares are only variants from Ultra and Ghost rares from Phantom Darkness onwards IIRC. Nowadays, the ratios on a box are:

1-2 Secrets
4 Ultras/Ultimates/Ghost (those 3 count as the same thing for a box)
6 Supers

Somewhere around that, approximately.

Gearfried the Omnipotent, on 28 February 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

Good cards would be so much easier to pull and even little kids can have a shot at having a good deck.

While I do agree with this, you'd also put marketing on a pinch.

People like shiny stuff. People also like stuff that wins. So it makes sense that some of the best cards are Supers/Ultras/Secrets. Since you put only so many foil cards in a box, people needs to buy more boxes in order to get them. That's how the business is kept afloat. If everything had the exact same chance of being printed, then there wouldn't be any need to buy so many cards.

Of course, Konami is also aware that the secondary market can get very troublesome, and that's why they make reprint sets, like the Dark Beginning/Revelations/Legends, the Legendary Collections, Collector's Tins, Special Editions, the upcoming Battle Pack, Structure Decks, etc. They want to make money, but also want to expand the player base.

The problem for us (and profit for them) is that, as soon as something good is released, we want it ASAP. Sadly, the cards are worth as much as you're willing to pay for them: just see Maxx "C", Zenmaines, Tour Guide, etc., or Rai-Oh, Judgment Dragon, Doomcaliber, Mirror Force and other cards in the past. They're worth a damn lot now because people are willing to pay those prices to have them ASAP. And then people whine when reprints are made, but is Konami really at fault for giving all players the chance of using a good card? Before you complain about that, think about it: Didn't you have the card before anyone else you knew, used it and enjoyed it before all others could? What if the price of your possessions dropped? Didn't you enjoy them more than enough to be able to bear with the price drop?

I think Konami is doing a decent job at this. I mean, there's a reason YGO is the biggest TCG there is, regarding profits. They release good cards in foil so people have to buy a lot to get them, then after a reasonable time has passed, they reprint it at a much lower value and high accessibility so everyone can play it.

Before people complains about rarities, they should think about their own habits. I mean, Konami has derped badly with the rarity changes (Rare to Secret with Rabbit, Super to Secret with Duality), but is really their fault? Or is the fault of those guys that think that paying $120 for shiny cardboard is reasonable? And let's not forget they've given us a lot of cool things as well. Rare Formula Synchron? Rare Snowman Eater in a regular booster pack, when in Japan was only a hard-to-get promo? OCG inserts that, while sometimes are Supers/Ultras/Secrets, are a lot more accesible here than in Japan (even if the rarity is higher) because they're in regular booster packs? Reprints full of awesome cards? (Common Rai-Oh, Common Mirror Force, Special Edition Dandylion/Absolute Zero/Veiler/Warning/Duality/Brionac, etc) Rarity upgrades of cards tailor-made for people who like foils? (The whole HERO build, Crystals, Samurais, etc).

I agree there are issues. The best cards should be available on all rarities so everyone can have a chance to get them, but even now, some commons and rares are pretty amazing, and we still have crappy foils. And Structure Decks do wonders for card availability and the ability to build competitive Decks from scratch (Dark Worlds, Agents, Machina Gadget, Dragunity, etc).

IDK if it's just me, but while even I had lots of trouble getting cards, I think the current way things are being made and printed is a really nice way of Konami to handle stuff. Now they only need to get a banlist right, but eh, nothing is perfect xD

[Rothon the Keymaster]

I agreee with the above, plus i also think not having any card helps a bit in creativity, if everyon could get the cards to build dino rabbits then they would quickly become too numerous, its actually a good form of crowd control. its makes things interesting making players run what would be tier two stuff and see alot less play if everyone had easy access to whatever cards they wanted making the game much more diverse and fun to play.

[Sho Shinjo]

Rothon the Keymaster, on 28 February 2012 - 05:47 PM, said:

I agreee with the above, plus i also think not having any card helps a bit in creativity, if everyon could get the cards to build dino rabbits then they would quickly become too numerous, its actually a good form of crowd control. its makes things interesting making players run what would be tier two stuff and see alot less play if everyone had easy access to whatever cards they wanted making the game much more diverse and fun to play.

This is also a good point.

Sometimes, not having "X" card makes you think "what can I do with what I have right now?". Sure, popular cards are good (that's why they're popular), but there are a lot of underrated cards that go unnoticed until someone who doesn't have access to the other, more expensive ones discovers it and exploits it.

This is also one cool advantage of online YGO: Since there aren't rarities here, people can explore the cards to their full potential, which is cool by itself.

[Gearfried the Omnipotent]

^{You guys make some great points. I am a patient person. When I was a little kid I wanted an old Charizard pokemon card. Those things sold for over $100 at one time but as the years went on I found one at a garage sale for 25 cents. I learned after a while to not buy so many individual booster packs. Normaly I don't buy cards unless they are from tins, special edition packs (they're usualy $2 cheaper), or structure decks. Retro Pack 2 had alot of really good common cards in them that were ultra rares at one point. Patience pays off in the end.}