why is there not a new city champs play mat, that is what i was looking forward for.
:disappoin

Because people wanted t-shirts and apparently, there can be only one or the other.

That is stupid... UDE is stupid. D}:

Then again, I don't assume everybody collects playmats *looks at pile of mats*

I always saw a shirt as a door prize, and the mats as a first place prize.

So first they cut back to 1 foil per 4 packs.
The Elite series (generally) had a deplorable cut in prize support.
Then they cut back from shirts and mats to either shirts or mats.
EA cards appear to have been cut and replaced with regular foil cards (which I do not understand...they are making a card and printing it either way, why not make it look the best you can?).

Anyone else see a trend here?

If I am quick, maybe I can sign this post before UDE makes even more cuts...

True, however they've increased the quality of the shirts such that they aren't just a black shirt with a Vs. logo on the front and a picture on the back that scream "free shirt". These ones at least look like the shirts that comic book shops sell and people pay money for.

Which makes the foils more valuable on the secondary market.

Compared to the one other Elite Series? They swapped certain prize cards for different prize cards. More of them. Sure, they weren't Enemy of My Enemy ... but that's not a 'cut' in prize support ... that's just offering different cards. The perceived cut was because they were charging the same for constructed as they did for sealed ... and some stores didn't take the extra money and reinvest it into sufficient prize support.

The only time they had shirts and mats [and tins] was at Pre-releases. Those were gone, and then they started to have either a shirt or a mat with each tournament kit. Thus, each marquee event had either a mat, or a shirt.

So, they went from having 1 shirt and 1 mat each quarter [4 of each per year] to 1 shirt or 1 mat each month, which is 6 of each per year. Now, they give away less than they did at pre-releases in the past, but there are more different ones.

We haven't seen any EA with the new 'system' ... and they've replaced EAs with exclusive cards, that cost MORE to produce than an EA, because they aren't just using a different version of the same art as the original card, they have to design an entirely new card and get the art for it, etc. Similarly, it is more likely that people will "want" an exclusive card because they can't just pull it out of a pack. Many EAs were unwanted because they were just another version of a card you can pull out of a pack. Outside of wanting them for collectibility or coolness factor, it was only the rares that were hard to find that people wanted as it gave them another way to get a hold of those cards.

The EA to exclusive thing is hardly a 'cut'.

I have rather large collections of both shirts and mats. While the mats are a bit cooler overall, I definitely get more use from the T-shirts. And the T-shirts generate a lot of questions about VS, which is a big plus.

I often get asked, "Cool shirt, where'd you get it?"
Me: "I got it as a prize for playing VS. We play at __<insert local card shop name here__ on Monday nights at 6pm. It's a fun game, come on out anytime and try it."

Fixed. lol. sorry.

All I ever get asked is why i keep wearing the shirts. Only time I ever had ANYONE comment on it was the green lantern shirt but I was wearing a jacket and the guy just thought it was a retro GL shirt.

Oh and some woman screamed at me from a double decker bus that she wanted to have my babies when I was wearing the Hulk shirt. so take that as you will.

oh wait one of the people from Canadian Idol thought the A on my shirt meant A for Aaron when I wore the Avengers T shirt to a show.

That's it! You've found the secret to instant sex-appeal! :laugh:

*goes to ebay to find Hulk shirts*

One of my HeroClix players was hating on me for winning a Heralds of Galactus T-shirt & wanted to trade me for it. Funny thing is I'm a medium & the guy that wanted to trade for it is like a XXXXL.

a play mat is easier to sell no matter where u at.
I sold the spider-man city champs one for $30 to some guy at a yugioh tournament and i could of sold the joker one for $30 too.
Vs mats are easy to sell at other events because no one has them, and u make the price for them.
I dont want shirts that i will never wear

Tangent, but...

You know what would be sick? Like for the next City Champs, R&D picks a set of eight decks and the winner gets to design a playmat to be given away at the next Elite Series.

Unfeasible?

Probably...BUT - they could pick the featured team or character.

It would be very cool. I could get an Alpha Flight playmat before I got any cards. ;)

(Actually, to keep things sane, they'd probably have to let the winner choose between some predetermined teams/characters)

What about any card art could become a playmat.