How about they come out with set of their own counters. Cosmic, +1/+1, Twin, Invisible, etc, etc..

These would be something different which people would actually have use for.

Also, a quite expensive idea I had for people who won 50ks would be that UDE would give them their winning deck in EA format.

REP PIONT. Any way you guy probly now how big a fan of the game I am so I'll just take all of the above. Stu you are the man.

I like the idea about the counters and stuff.

What if they used this to give away beta test opportunities for VSO?

Quick clarification: In WoW draft, if you open a loot card (which takes the place of the Hero, or, if you played Magic, basically the land, anyway, not the points card), you get to take it and keep it but not use it in the draft. You then make your first draft pick without revealing your hand to anyone else except the judge, who confirms that your hand had the loot card before collecting everyone else's Hero and point cards. So, no, it doesn't actually #### with the draft.

Upper Deck has a long tradition of redemption cards that are traded in for incredible swag. Game-used jerseys and pucks and sticks and such, autographed cards, even a "buyback" program that created an extremely limited individually-numbered version of a card from a previous set.

It could translate in any number of ways for Vs. System.

Game-used playmats from Day Three of the PC.

Limited edition PC Championship decks.

Vs. System hockey jerseys. (Please?)

Exactly my point, thanks. UDE and the Vs. System community set out to make the big leagues when it came to trading card games. Not to be stuck in the minors with Zatch Bell and Full Metal Alchemist and Epic Battles, but to play in the NHL.

We did it.

Not only do we belong in the same league with the top four TCGs in the world, but we get regular ice time. The objective was not to make the Top Twenty of Marvel and DC licenses... it was to make the TCG All-Star team, and hopefully secure a spot in the Trading Card Game Hall of Fame.

Being fourth best to Kariya, Selanne, and Sundin is as far from "rinky-dink" as I can imagine.

(I must admit that your tone has changed drastically compared to the comments you made about the size of UDE's balls (since they won't adopt your personal plan for banning EoME? Huh?) and the rinky dink rant. I think we all appreciate it, thanks.)

I like the idea of limited edition items...however, we could have them double as pinatas! Fill them with candy and you lose the "niche" market problem. Everyone loves candy!

Caps shield filled with bottle caps...a pure jelly spiderman mask....the thing made of rock candy...I digress.

In the end, loot has to have both an intrinsic value to the buyer and extrinsic value falling outside of the niche. Signed cards and such do not do much to expand the buyer base. Incentive programs for travel or PC points seem to be a much stronger idea.

Zatanna's fishnets woven from Twizzlers? Yum.

Which leads to a piece of Bit o Honey,right?

Not everyone wants an extra card they already have, and not everyone wants a statue or a jersey. That is why offering all of them as possibilities makes it more exciting, because there is a chance for everyone to get something, and maybe even something that DOES excite them.

I have seen the replicas many times and thought they were very spiffy. I've only purchased one ever, and it was a batarang for my brother years ago. I'd love a Cap's shield for my living room, but I'd hate to have an Iron Man's helmut. So, if I had the helmut, I'd either try to trade it or sell it, since these things are quite spiffy whether I love it or not.

UDE could invest a fraction and get back a fortune. And I'd support them for it. The loss of the rewards system was a big irritation for me early on, as I have little interest in non-foil, foil and Extended Art versions of cards ( of course, it makes me have to EA whatever I can, because anything less would be uncivilized ). I'd rather the neat prizes waiting for something cool to be done with them. A hockey style jersey with the Avengers logo, or X-men logo, or even Supes or Bats. A Green Lantern ring would be awesome too. And these aren't things that UDE would need to commission. They already exist. They could easily work out some kind of deal I'm certain allowing for them to offer these wonderful prizes and advertise for a fellow company.

The fantastic part of this all is that how feasible it is really is only a small portion of the presentation. If the reward is worth the risk, then it is feasible.

And if UDE wants to see the game grow more and bring new buyers in, adding an incredible reward system that stays consistent can do just that.

who said it had to take up a card slot? it could easily be just a thin slip of paper put in the middle of the cards. but I heard a different idea, the UDE rewards system. in all or nearly all packs you get a point you can save to buy things off of UDEs site.

300 points = box of set of your choice

500 points = cool EA

1,000 points = cool super hero shwag (caps shield, batmans belt, etc.)

I personally like that idea, it needs a little refinement mind you, but it is still "feasible"

I'm on board for Counters to be an inclusion in a box, that'd be neat.

The other thing I think would be spiffy keen would be original card art.

I agree with Ekin, I think chdb was just putting things into perspective. For example, even Magic the #1 CCG is NOTHING compared to video games (FPS/RTS/Sports) which are in turn NOTHING compared to something like Poker.

I would take any loot, but I think a points redemption system would be cool. They can give away total crap, people will (probably) still hoarde those points...most of the WoW stuff isn't very good. But as long as you have 1-2 high ticket good items, everyone will collect those points.

I think the best loot for the game is alternate art cards not in current release. Not EA's but more like those found in promo sets. We have enough EAs as it is.

and secondly I think that the artist signed cards would be fun, but hell for the artists. Imagine having to sign several hundred or even several thousand cards for these prizes.

The rarity would go up, and those getting sigs at the cons could priceour collection against the loot.

No, you're completely missing the point. The top four of CCGs is still rinky-dink. The top one of CCGs is pretty damn rinky-dink, what with it being a relatively minor kiddie fad level of monetary expenditure. YGO pales next to Bey Blades, let alone serious adult hobbies like poker, Scrabble or bridge. (Seriously, I'm not a big bridge fan, but there is a lot of money floating around in organized bridge.)

..."the Trading Card Game Hall of Fame"? Sweet sassy molassy. If that's a joke, it's a really weak one. Come on, Stu, work the curveball!

UDE's work with VS has revealed themselves as a pretty timid company in regards to game management. They're pretty chicken#### about bannings - I mean, come on, it took them two years to ban Dr. Light after how many degenerate decks with him in it? And then there was the PCLA fiasco where it took basically half the VS community saying "look, if you don't ban some cards your premiere event is going to be a freaking joke" to get them to do anything. And it's been a couple of months since their big announcement about 50Ks and new PC prize structures and all the rest and we haven't heard a single damn thing yet, and I tend to believe that companies like to announce things they've managed to get done as soon as possible to create buzz and excitement, so that's not good.

I know this is the part where you bleat on about Hellboy and gallery packs and blah blah blah how could any company that actually bothers to introduce new products (*gasp*) be called "timid", so I'll just pre-emptively point out that such arguments are really kind of besides the point.