A couple problems with this theory.
1) It's already been announced that kits will be allocated, we just don't know by how much. However that happens it's very clear that people won't be able to buy a ton of them.
2) There are lots of clix items that don't sell well at even a quarter. Supply and demand would dictate that if people can just go and buy a bunch of kits then supply will be, well, up the wazoo, and demand would die within days.

I am pretty sure you need to buy a case before you can get the prize support kit.

I'm glad that prize support is back and I think this is good way to get the system back up so we have something for Hammer of Thor. Is it the best system in the world? No, but it's better than nothing.

The one argument I don't understand is that by having prize support bought by the venues and having it widely available will hurt the game. Magic has prize support that the stores buy, it is widely available, it goes for very little on ebay, and yet I can still find players in stores playing this game every week. Yes, Magic is the big game for most stores but the model works there so why won't it work for Heroclix. Heck, games like Warhammer and 40K work without prize support and seem to be doing fine as well. I think long term that Heroclix will be fine whatever they do with prize support.

I'm just glad that the game I love to play is back.

Magic's model for "LE" cards doesn't really boost attendance IMO.

Every MTG tournament I ever went to had a cash or store credit prize or booster packs for 1st place and below (2nd place, top 8, etc). The special foil cards that Wizards makes is just a hand out they give away for free on FNM (Friday Night Magic) or the special event because they have very little value. If players are there for a prize, they don't come because of those LE cards, they come for the real prize of credit, cash or packs that the venues supply themselves.

I for one didn't even care when it seemed like they weren't going to have any AP at first. I hadn't even been to any AP since April of last year anyhow. I got tired of the judges wonky rulings and decided enough was enough. The prize poachers were getting on my nerves too. I didn't really care for the LE's since after the starro games anyhow. So friendly games at home worked out just fine. I still miss going to AP but would much rather just see new clix.

It is nice to have a good debate over this stuff. The thing is that no matter what they put in place we would be here arguing about it. Not everyone can be pleased and no one should expect anyone to please everyone.

I'm intrigued by the disaster scenarios being proposed.

Our group has been going strong since the game lost AP - one oldtimer showed up and asked "Why are you still playing?"

My response - "Why not?"

If you're playing HC only to get prizes, then you'll keep playing only to get prizes. If you're playing to have fun with a game that technically has thousands of variations available with people who you like to hang out with, then AP doesn't make a difference.

Strangely enough, chess has been around for decades without prizes. So has go. And I hear they're still somehow surviving in competitive play without goodies being handed out by stores.

The kits sound great and we're looking forward to getting ours. But we'd still be playing, with or without the prizes. Just having a new set come out is great!

I hear you, and a lot of this makes sense, but I do think you're misreading some of the points. First, most people are talking about tweaks, fine tuning, not disaster scenarios. One way of distributing prizes MAY be more effective than another. That's how I see the discussion.

My venue's clix group exploded AFTER Wizkids was shut down. They aren't there for prizes, but in many venues, and as we see right here on realms, many people really are motivated to come to a tournament only when there's a prize of consequence. Not all of those people are sharks, either, some just want to have that bait dangled and are still happy even if they aren't the one to get it.

As for chess and go, neither of those games are generating the revenue to have 3x year exansion sets. That's definitely an apples and oranges argument. For many of us we could be happy with this game forever, using pieces already made, but for almost everyone it would be better if more gets made. There's great excitement in new figures, unmade figures, new maps, etc.

Friend of mine works in a boardgame store, and they sell a lot of chess sets!

I by no means want to argue with a retailer who would obviously have much more facts in regards to sales to base their comments on, but I am of the mind that the idea of losing "prize sharks" does not necessarily equal a drop in overall sales and attendance. I know I as well as at least one other player that I play with is completely put off by the idea of playing in B&M stores for Organized Play due to the ultra-competitive players ruining the fun aspect of the game. For that reason the only games I have ever gone to were Sealed Events, I feel it evens out the playing field although I still wind up losing.

I would be much more obliged to show up for a game knowing that the atmosphere and players are there for the fun of it and not because figure A is up for grabs and there are only so many #'s of it made and it will fetch such and such a price on the secondary market, so they bring the game killing pieces that they have spent more time and money than I have (which is anyone's right of course) to assemble a team that if used a certain way is able to bend the chances of the outcome in the game to their favor by a percentage of odds that even bad rolling would not effect.

Now how many people are of like mind to me, I have no clue. I am just saying that those are numbers that have not been seen to date as we have not gone through a period with prize support structured that MAY discourage "prize sharks" during the same period where new product is available.

Also, with stores only being able to purchase 1 AP pack per case bought, with no idea yet if a max amount of AP packs can be purchased as yet, the number of AP packs out there with still be somewhat limited by fact that for every figure such and such that may garner a higher price on the secondary market they had to have purchased so many boosters that the profit margin is not worth it.

Well it already happened here.....I knew it wouldn't be long...One of our past judges went to LCS and tried to get the owner to order the prize support so he could buy it for himself

The Le, I'm curious. If you buy the OP/tournament prizes, will you put them all on Ebay/for sale in your store?

Absolutely, and some for 100s, even 1,000s of dollars.
But the R&D costs for the makers are MUCH lower.
It's still an apples and oranges argument.

Did he receive a thorough beat down?

More important question...will he still attend tournaments if he already has the prizes?

The point some are making is .... no.

Oh I took care of it already.....He won't be buying them from that store anyway.....