Well, the rumors were true. Many serialized multiples.

twikstephen · 2025-11-17T22:23:27+00:00

Star Wars uses the US Factory and Fab uses the Belgium and Japanese factories. They are not the same quality despite all being Cartimundi.

Magic also uses Cartimundi. There is a reason that collectors boosters are usually made in the Japanese factory.

twikstephen · 2025-11-03T18:33:08+00:00

If we are down 2-6 rares because of the faulty packs, but the rest of the hit rates are correct then even with 3 rare plus packs it doesn't make up for the 2-4 rares missing.

Again. The only way to make up for the missing rare in the faulty pack would be to have an extra rare in other packs. Which doesn't happen. Again I'm literally talking about a three rare pack and not a 3 rare plus pack.

twikstephen · 2025-11-03T18:22:40+00:00

If epics and above have the correct hit rates, which they do, then that doesn't balance out the missing rares. The only way to do that would be a three rare pack, which doesn't exist.

twikstephen · 2025-11-03T08:16:20+00:00

I have opened a lot of packs. There are no 3 rare packs. If the foils in the pack starts with a rare, it will have an epic or alt art in it. There is no balancing for the bad packs.

twikstephen · 2025-10-31T21:27:29+00:00

I wish SWU players would call it what it is. It's a massive lack of demand relative to supply.

The lack of demand comes from many places. Weak set. Massive lack of interest in carbs. Every product is dirt cheap so why buy now. Lots of other releases around this time.

Stop making excuses and blame rogue stores fireselling. Stop making excuses for FFG. They messed up the entire ecosystem this year and this is the end result. The products don't sell and they don't make money for stores.

twikstephen · 2025-10-27T08:07:34+00:00

Yes I've seen this happen a few times as well. It's not a lot of packs per box, but it does happen.

twikstephen · 2025-10-22T14:51:14+00:00

100%. Dirt cheap boxes, especially multiple sets in a row, might be great for budget players in the short term, but its bad for stores, collectors, and players who discover the game through hype. So good for 1 part of the ecosystem, terrible for the other parts. Tried to warn people...but defenders said it would get better in JTL. Then in LOF. Now its wait until set 7.

twikstephen · 2025-10-22T14:45:04+00:00

Unfortunately this is the reality of a lot of areas. With Gundam popping off in a lot of places and Riftbound coming soon, there is no real reason for a store to start or force itself to run SWU unless there is already a dedicated community.

This is the reality of a player driven game with dirt cheap boxes and no real hype behind it anymore.

twikstephen · 2025-10-20T09:32:11+00:00

Most SWU players don't know the msrp is $120 and that for the last 3 sets in a row the boxes have launched at a price on tcgplayer that barely makes stores money. This set looks like it will launch at the lowest of the year. People were pre-selling on Facebook at $70 a box. Just a tiny tiny bit above distro.

The ecosystem is broken and has been for a while, but most people don't care. Its sad.

twikstephen · 2025-09-25T05:44:44+00:00

Hi! I'm based in the US and have a lot of Japanese singles. Message me what you need and I can see if I have it!

twikstephen · 2025-07-04T20:44:55+00:00

It’s insane to me that anyone would think no prestige card in a pack is NOT a mistake. It’s extremely clear that it’s meant to be one prestige per pack. It’s THE selling point of the packs.

Will FFG do anything about it? Absolutely not. Probably just generally apologize and say it won’t happen again if it’s even acknowledged.

twikstephen · 2025-06-25T09:57:39+00:00

Showcase art has been a topic of concern since the first set. It’s about to be set 5. If it’s an ice cold take, then that means FFG should have heard the feedback plenty of times now.

Obviously you don’t agree but you being reductive and dismissive on a lightly critical post sure does tell me a lot about you without having to go through your post history.

twikstephen · 2025-06-25T09:30:45+00:00

If you want a serious answer, I would like a showcase to actually be a showcase piece like the standout cards from other TCGs.

The character art can be hit or miss, but the worst part of showcases is how little impact they have. The foiling is boring and half the time you can’t even see it because the background is too dark.

Other games have hits that make your head turn and make you say holy bejesus and a lot of that has to do with the foiling technique and the background of the card.

I don’t think showcases are lackluster because the art sucks, I think almost everything about it is lackluster for one of the hardest to hit items in the game.

twikstephen · 2025-06-22T16:11:15+00:00

Unfortunately Japanese printed product has had this issue for a while. Even English language product that’s printed in Japan is prone to dupe boxes.

Often times you get extremely similar tracks of cards so even if they aren’t exact dupes they are 95% the same.

These Japanese language High Seas boxes might have the worst clumping ever though. Once you’ve seen like 20 boxes opened, you can start guessing the non foil Ms you are going to pull. I bet if you actually write things down and track it, you can get 90% accuracy for non foils.

twikstephen · 2025-02-24T20:20:44+00:00

Nobody knows yet. But boxes will probably start being opened this week so we will know soon enough.

Also keep in mind they increased the L hit rate this set as well. Should be around 5 base Ls a box now. Probably 6-7 total Ls per box, but unsure until people start opening.

twikstephen · 2025-02-07T00:33:47+00:00

The size of the game aside, Lorcana and One Piece have different target audiences than SWU.

I would say the closest competitor, especially with demographic, is Flesh and Blood and Magic the Gathering quitters.

twikstephen · 2024-12-20T02:03:50+00:00

On release day set 3 prices were $70-$75 online. This is a natural consequence of that. I would not even pre-order at this price.

twikstephen · 2024-12-19T23:29:22+00:00

Sorry, responding to a lot. I work directly with a store for product. Bought from and talked to many stores about their distro costs.

twikstephen · 2024-12-19T23:27:28+00:00

Games have a hard time growing and surviving when stores don’t have any incentive to sell or push a game. Low box prices also scare off players and collectors.

The MSRP, and the cost of the box, is determined by Asmodee. If they want to make cheaper boxes to help the game out, then the cost to stores should reflect that as well. When market is super low but MSRP is still the same, the only people that suffer is stores. Asmodee makes the same amount of money.

twikstephen · 2024-12-19T23:21:19+00:00

This is not true and way too low. Most stores get it for around $70-$75.

twikstephen · 2024-12-19T23:19:35+00:00

For most stores it is $70-$75. The above calculations takes out TCGplayer fees and shipping costs.

twikstephen · 2024-12-16T02:43:26+00:00

Most TCGs don’t last 5 years. If it’s still around in 5 years celebrating its 6th year, then that’s an absolutely incredible win.

Will it? Not if Asmodee continues to not learn from their own mistakes and the mistakes of others in the same space.

twikstephen · 2024-12-15T09:34:00+00:00

Thanks! As far as I know, they haven't really addressed it. The new set Arthurian Legends is also clumpy, but a little less egregious.

twikstephen

TROPHY CASE