I know many people do not understand why card games cycle out sets.

How do I know this? Many times over my ccg career I hear one of these complaints:

1. I will quit because they are banning my cards!

2. They just want to make more money!

Both of these are very common complaints when talking about set cycling/formatting of cards.

The first is true, in a sense. Yes, they are removing cards from one tournament format. Having been on a playtest/development team I know exactly why this happens. At some point in time a ccg can really only support so many cards before the balance and integrity of the game starts to fade. It is just too difficult to design and test around every cards that has ever been printed.

Also, try to remember that even though part of your card pool has been removed from one format type they are still legal in another. Another point to remember is that you can always use these cards outside of tournament formats.

If every card was allowed to be played in MtG right now ,with their current banning list, you would find the game really is less attractive to new players as they have to track down massively priced cards from years ago.

Which leads me to the next point...

Yes, ccg producers are out to make money. There is no argument about this. They are however not looking to make it the way you thnk they are. In marketing you get to a point where you try to evaluate the ease of transition for a new player to enter your game. After many years of cards it increases in difficulty for a new player to want to join in. It is a pretty daunting task to try and track down years of cards.

Creating a restricted format opens this door again. It creates a new ground level that new players can jump in and compete without the massive card pool advantage that the older players have.

The idea is not that you will have to buy the new set everytime they release, most of us do this anyways. The idea is to create an easy entrance for new players. I hate the argument of they are making us buy the new set by creating formats. If you are serious about how you play this game you are going to continue to purchase the same amount each set.

I am not in fear of Vs creating formats for quite awhile yet. Many games can go for at least two years before even considering the weight of the card pool. Also, Vs seems to have more of a balance than other games I have experienced in infancy.

I just saw a post with someone complaining about formatting and it lit a fire. Hopefully this helps people understand the real reasons why ccgs go to set cycling.

Sweet. I agree. It is also much more fun for those of us blessed enough to have the funds to afford it. Let's just take the current example: If the first Pro Circuit event were only Marvel Origins, we would know what would be played. Now there is at least some doubt, and after Chicago there may be delicious chaos.

Rian

Delicious Chaos that would be a wonderful deck name. You should use it.

I know for fact if it haden't been for Type 2, I wouldn't even be playing Magic right now.

TheBeats, thank you for explaining why CCGs cycle, I was started to get pissed off how all the YGO players were dissing Magic for that very reason.

the only downside i see to cycling, is not a game mechanic or balance issue, i agree with everything you said about those, but it a flavor issue.

this is a game based on mythic and iconic charachters and ideals, many players picked up the game to use their favorite superheroes, while at the same time participating in a great tournament setting. by removing certain sets and therfor certain charachters out of one block and most likely the most popular and well soppurted format, you risk alienating those players that just want to play with spiderman, or wolverine, sure they can play at home or in a less soppurted format, but then they would lose the thrill of competiting with the highest level of player for the highest level of of rewards,

sure in magic i had no problem with blocks, as they were just made-up charachters,and i wont mind it if they do it in VS, i am a gamer first and foremost, but i can see where some of the casual players are coming from as i have a very strong affection for certain charachters.

Personally, I'm not thrilled about cycling. I understand its use and if it is someday put into the VS system, I'll accept it, but I'd rather that doesn't happen. It would tear apart some teams! ...This, however, could be good, if a second "core" or whatever its called was released of say, Marvel Origins, minus Lost City. :)

We all know how Marvel likes to string their main characters through every book possible.

With that in mind we can make a very concrete assumption that we will never be without fan faves. No matter how amny formats they split the game into.

I wouldn't expect a rotation system like Magic uses. I would expect something like Revised/4th/5th/6th/7th/8th and soon to be 9th editions.

Once the 6th Marvel and 6th DC set comes out, they could take the first three from each and do Marvel/DC Act One. So what you would have legal are the Act One cards and sets 4 thru 6. This way you would have some cards from the first three sets rotating out and keeping the game "fresh"