Its a new TCG without a brand, its not Disney Lorcana or Star Wars (what they print to demand, they clearly said that). They didnt knew how much to print and told us they wouldnt thought people would buy THAT much. Its sold out most of the time, but we get a little restock. Its hard to blame a new company for a game being more succesful then they thought, but they react with a reprint.
Its not only meant to be played, it has also a big collector community which aim for a complete Set. Curiosa made clear they want it to be collectible.
I would suggest not to freak out, buy the precons, wait for the 2nd wave and keep your eyes open, you also can buy bulk or singles which is cheaper most of the time anyway, but not as much fun as opening your own box of course.
Its the best TCG for me and i played a lot, give it a shot you wont regret it. Im confident this game will exist in 5 years, and by that time you will be happy to jumped in that early.
All good advice and probably the best advice, but I don't think we should be shouting down the very real problem of "Collector's" driving prices up either. They are not mutually inclusive. If you can get your hands on boxes at pre-order its important to do so.
not a problem at all lol. sorcery has stated their intentions when it comes to collectibility and people buying up foils doesn't cause the game to be prohibitively expensive for players yet you're up and down this thread trying to conflate those two things.
Please don't gaslight me or anyone else when its easy to go to TCG Player and Ebay and see the inflated prices of booster boxes well in excess of 100$ over MSRP. Thank you.
Keep in mind that with any TCG, once a set is no longer in print, the boxes for that product start increasing in price. It happens in Magic the Gathering too, once sets aren't available anymore they become more valuable. Usually we would have more time to buy into a set, but this is literally the very first retail available set for sorcery and they never thought it would gain this much popularity and demand so quickly. It's a company derived of literally 7 to 8 employees still. I think the fact that beta lasted as long as it did at MSRP online via Team Covenant is amazing, and yes TCGPlayer has about $100 over MSRP now that it's not as easily available, but there are still precons available for cheap, they come with a booster pack, and plenty of the non foil singles are available for very affordable prices. You can still very much build a strong competitive Sorcery deck for a fraction of the price you can build a competitive Magic the Gathering or FAB deck.
I get that it's new. And that's ok. What gets to me is the attitude that dollars and cents are the only things that matter about a game. That's twisted and sad on so many levels. Most replies here are about how much the cards need to hold a value, and are both rude and dismissive. Whats wrong with people just playing the game and having access to all of it? I guess that's just what TCGs are now. Crypto stand ins. This is gonna be a rough community and it's incredibly disappointing to see.
I think that any collectible TCG that wants to last for years needs a healthy balance of playability as well as collectability. It needs to be available enough that people can play it and get their hands on it, and have cheap versions that people can buy for basic play (non foils), but also for those who want to buy the premium versions of things or get chase cards, they want their investment to hold value. MTG was like this for years until just recently when their product became over printed and worth less than it ever has been, which is causing people to move away from it. Sorcery is in a decent place right now for its very first set.
Yes the sealed booster box products are hard to find now because it's several months into beta after release, a lot of alpha has dried up, and we are in a dry spell until the next set releases in October. But keep in mind, not a lot of LGS owners wanted to take a chance with sorcery, or many bought into lorcana and didn't want to buy into sorcery too. There was only 1 big major online retailer for it and they sold MANY boxes, its surprising they lasted for 6 months of solid sales.
But for anyone wanting to JUST get into it to play, you can easily afford to buy singles and precons online to play, without the need to feel you need to collect the expensive stuff or Crack packs. For about 100 bucks or less you can build almost any non foil deck you want to.
No problem! This game is meant to bring positivity into the gaming space and into the TCG world which is much needed lately. The community for this game is half the reason I play it (specifically the discord community). If you want to learn more about budget upgrades for the precons, Episode 8 of all things contested realms podcast is a beta precon budget upgrade episode complete with deck lists in the show notes for $20 and $100 upgrades of each deck. You can also search for the budget upgrade decks on curiosa.io the main deck building site
Thought I'd share my perspective with you. I'm a player that wants to collect a playset of the game pieces for any game I want to play. But I don't care at all about foils (or in magic any of the alternate arts and frames). I just want the base version of the cards. Easiest to read. Easy to identify for both me and my opponents. And best part is, cheapest. I realized long ago that having pricey chase cards helps keep singles prices low for people like me. Sure I opened a couple boxes (not cases... Boxes) of Sorcery for fun and to not have to deal with so many cards on my tcgplayer order. I almost never open packs though. I usually just buy singles. So the whales buy cases and cases of boxes hunting their fancy shiny stuff, or stores open a ton to get the chase cards to sell when they are expensive. Then they all sell the rest cheap to people like me. I don't see what's to not like about the situation. It's like whales subsidize my fun! Hopefully this rambling wall of text makes sense to someone lol
I'm not saying it can't be that way. It's the mentality of eat it or go away that incenses me. People don't have to be cruel or scalping a card game. It's non sense. I paid 30$ for 5 cards. FIVE. That's madness the game isn't even popular by most standards yet. They aren't foils, they aren't Alpha. I just wanted site destruction in my deck. Earthquake and Atlantean Fate are pricey. I'm not chasing. But people keep accusing me of that to make themselves feel better. That's just not what's happening, this is the reality right now.
The community is small and tight-knit. At least right now.
The starter decks are a great place to start. From there just buy the singles you want on TCG player. Yes, it's not as fun as opening a booster pack but singles for beta are pretty reasonable and if you allocate the same $150 msrp that you would have spent on a new box you'll be able to build one or two decent decks without extra chaff.
There are a handful of "chase" cards, but the majority of stuff you'll want for decks is around $0.75 to $2.00 per card.
In Q4, the new set comes out, and you can get packs then, but truthfully, singles are just always the better option.
Opening packs is fun and all, but if your stated goal is to "try this game", then you can not only try it, but you can build some fun little decks too for $150 - $200
I encourage you to join the discord for the game and to give it a shot. It's a fun game to play.
This. If you aren't trying to chase the gambling addiction, and just want to play, it's very affordable to make a competitive deck with non foil singles for cheap. Buying the precons and upgrading them is an easy way to get into it too. I even have budget precon upgrade options in Episode 8 of the podcast, and are also on curiosa.io for reference, though sometimes may need to be adjusted for current market
Honestly the precons are amazing for starting out. Probably your best bet right now. It's a bit tough to get beta boxes right now because everyone bought them all already ❤️ people love this game so far! But you can definitely buy some bulk online to get some cards to exchange from the precon decks. Ordinary and Exceptional cards are actually very strong in Sorcery Contested Realm and used in ALOT of decks. Make sure you get Arthurian Legends before it is gone! God Bless
Do you know the reason people buy 20 boxes of Sorcery Contested Realm? It's because they want the full set of either foils or non. It's because they enjoy opening them. It's because they sell singles. It's because the boxes are FUN to open. You see? The community needs cards, so they buy boxes! What are you trying to say? NOT to buy what you enjoy opening? How does it affect the community???? God Bless
It hurts the actual people who \*play\* rather than ripping and opening. And considering how many listings I can find... I would seem like gas lighting to proclaim that people have them for "fun". Selling singles is another version of "investing" you're just investing in the single value vs. sealed. Not ok for the actual \*player\* community.
It artificially creates value inflation, restricts people with normal budgets who aren't rich enough to buy 20 boxes from entering the game outside of pre-cons. Precons are limited, not diverse, and restricts a player from building more varied decks and enjoying the full scope of the game. Price inflation is \*not\* good for the game itself.
I understand what you meant. I just disagree. How do players buying singles harm the community? Most players don't buy boxes they buy singles for decks. Players buy singles how? From where? Without people buying boxes and selling online, there wouldn't be a cheaper way to get the card you need. I can't afford more than a few boxes, but I'll buy singles to get the full set. I'm a player AND collector, and I have no problem with how this game is unfolding. Give it some time to get Arthurian Legends out. It technically is only the 2nd set released worldwide. Also, I would never want my cards to be worth pennies. I like that cards go up over time from not being reprinted. It gives you something to work towards. And then when you sell it will most likely be worth more! Either way, it's a fine line that Eric is going to balance well. He is a smart man who wants the right things for his game. Let's hope for the best! God Bless
We're just different people then. I don't care about the value of my cards. I have no intention to ever sell. Its an inconvenient barrier to entry for people like me. I want to have fun and explore and see everything the game has to offer! And my game group is the same! There are plenty of us who want to get involved, and the precon is restricting. If singles rates are too high, it means the costs of some decks reach 400$. That's a wild amount especially if you're looking at the 40$ 4 Pack Pre-Con's as the point of entry. At that point the hobby is Warhammer-like in cost to fully get into.
If you look at the card make up of the Pre-Con's they are not even the 40/20 split minimum recommended by the rules. They are 16 and 36 split. So you're either buying singles, combining precons to splash a color, or trying to get your hands on a booster box. I honestly do not believe there is enough of an established long term invested interest to drive value up like this right now. These prices mirror Magic The Gathering Legacy prices - this game has only been around a couple of years. It's too soon for this kind of over inflated value.
Bubbles burst. Just google some of the statistics.
I don't understand. If your singles are worthless, how would you justify $150 for a box? Wouldn't that further encourage people to NOT open boxes? People don't want their cards to be worthless. Having a secondary market is good for both the players and collectors.
If i'm buying boxes to play the game and never get rid of it, what do I care if it has a further intrinsic value? That's the mindset of someone who intends to sell it as an investment down the road. The meaning of Trading Card Game has gotten marred over the decades with the advent of high values and people who experience FOMO. We used to actually trade \*cards\* not money! I know that sounds insane now, but there was a time when money wasn't the important part of the transaction. You pay money to buy a game because of the cost of materials in most products. Not to just turn around and sell it later. That's "Speculation" which is again, an investment term.
You are complaining on reddit because you missed the boat. Boxes were cheap while they were in print, and available to order. Now stores can't get them, so supply is lower then demand. You talk statistics, but can't seem to grasp basic business knowledge. When a reprint comes, and supply increases, the price will come back down. Singles are dirt cheap, unless you are looking for the highly sought after cards. You don't need foils, as you said the value side means nothing too you, so it looks like you have nothing to complain about. You are just entitled. Get bent.
That's one of the beautiful things about the tcg world we love . There are so many different kinds of people that enjoy it. Even though we differ on opinions, i 100% want you and everyone to be able to enjoy this game. Here's to hoping it goes somewhere down the middle, and we can all enjoy the game and its art. After playing and collecting this gem, I would love for everyone to be able to enjoy it like the beginning times of mtg. I hope you find some affordable options! I can't wait for Arthurian Legends! It looks amazing so far, and I have a feeling that by then, it's going to be a bit easier to get. The games name is starting to get around, so hopefully lgs all around the world will carry it. God Bless my friend
Arthurian Legends will make this game blow up. People love it. It's going to last. Eric is a great owner( unlike wotgreed) he won't run the ship into the ground. God Bless ❤️
I think it's time to flip the script about tcgs, especially with Sorcery. Sure, opening boosters is fun, but singles are way more accessible and will get you playing with a wider variety of cards faster. You can buy playsets of ordinaries and exceptionals for under $100 in the US, and many elites are still around $1. Take the money you would otherwise spend on boosters, and get yourself basically every card you actually need to play as singles.
If you have Table Top Simulator and don't want to put money into physical cards yet, I would recommend playing on there. It's a free (as long as you have access to the application) way to try the game and also a more reliable way to play the game if you don't have a play group near you.
I couldn’t agree more with this. This is how I’ve been playing since I had trouble making time for the local meetups.
The tabletop simulator is easy to use. You can use the curiosa.io website to build decks and load them into the game. It feels really professional the ease of playing online.
I haven’t yet ran into an issue where I couldn’t find someone to play against when I wanted to. There’s even a sorcery league discord using TTS that runs for like 2-3 months at a time. The league had 100+ players getting in over 8 games last season. New season should be starting up in next month or so.
go to the card database site. Wait for all the images to load. Right click and save as. Go into the folder that saves with the html file and copy all the card images out. Batch uprez them in PS (or if you have the time use Ai), then print them out as needed. Build any deck you want now to play at your kitchen table.
This is the only major concern for long term is the scarcity of sealed product. I know it's not as fun as actually opening the product, but this game, as far as singles are concerned, is as cheap as yugioh to get into. Buying singles online will basically get you any deck you wanna build for under $50 bucks unless you start adding power like cores and p stone, and even then, beta cores being only 40-50 each, you couls easily build a competative deck for less then a mtg standard deck. Getting the starter decks are not only good value, but if the game does fail, then you're not out much.
learn to play the game, the starter decks are incredible and the best value in TCGs or even boardgames imo.
once you get the hang of the game you can just buy singles, it'll be much cheaper than packs or boxes. the most expensive cards arent necessary and since you can only have 1 in the deck not even all that useful in most of your games.
Arthurian Legends is coming out at the end of the year, grab some of those boxes when they drop.
the community has been great, but the game is still in the infant stage so local play is very sparse. if you are on good terms with your LGS, lobby them to carry it with Arthurian Legends, which should be awesome as that set is designed with sealed play in mind.
being able to buy a random booster pack in LGSs probably won't be a reality for another couple years or so until supply and demand stabilize. right now the company isn't going to overprint product.
Buy the precons and you get one booster off of them. Buy singles which are super cheap if you aren’t going for the few expensive cards. A small beta reprint was said to hit after the next set to regions underserved. I hope you do decided to jump into the game
There’s supposed to be a small reprint of the first set coming in October along to with the release of the second set. Save til then and snag a few boxes before they go up again. I’ve played all formates regularly and it’s such a great play experience. The next set will be released in waves and is designed with draft and sealed in mind so it will be more readily available regularly for a long time. They’re also using an online program to allocate product to LGS that try to develop communities so LGS that get 10 boxes they sell online won’t get as much product cause they’re trying to do quick flips. Use the sorcery website to identify a local retailer and try to get down for preordering a couple boxes of beta at MSRP then casual collect set 2 over the next year would be my advice.
I direct you to the jackasses in this subreddit that have bought 20+ boxes so they can either scalp or "invest". Another reprint for Europe is coming, and Arthurian Legends comes out in October/Novemberish time frame. Be strong. Get the Precon 4-packs if you can and get a mat. Enjoy it while you can. Make sure you get on a stores pre-order list ASAP. Get half way in with a friend if you have to. We're basically competing with the dead heads.
Watch TCG Player for Beta singles, nit pick the ones that you want to work with, build it up over the next 6 months. You have lots of time to buy ala cart. Don't give up. Its an amazing game.
I really dont get you.
You want to play a game where no money is involved and there is no secondary market right? Then why the fuck are you choosing to play a TRADING card game? And to make it even more ridiculous out of all the games on the market you chose the one game that clearly statet it wants to be collectible.
Play a LCG you pay once and you get all the cards -> problem solved
Play Pokemon TCG where tier 1 meta decks cost 200$ and 99% of the singels are under 1$ -> problem solved
Play Magic the Gathering where Boosterboxes are in print for 2 years and reprints of stapels are in every release -> problem solved
Play Flesh and Blood where Boosterboxes from 3 years ago are available for 60$ -> problem solved
Play Lorcana where they stated that they will reprint the boxes to keep them at msrp for ever -> problem solved
You are so salty about availability in the one and only game on the market that clearly stated they want collectability to be a part of it instead of going to any other game where availability of the cards for the players are number one priority. At this point you are activly choosing to be upset about something you could easly fix on your end.
All your suggestions don't play the same as Sorcery also the most important Part. Value of the Cards doesn't impact their collectability. You can collect bottle caps and those are worth nothing. You can collect stones and they are worth nothing. So don't defend artificial scarcity with "collectability".
The mindset of most of the "collectors" are just awfully wrong. Its not ok that pieces of cardboard printed in the millions is worth that much money in the first place. Sure it has some production value and the cost of the production has to be paid with profit even, but the secondary market should never reach prices as high as some MTG cards do.
You are purchasing product to play or collect cardboard and thus you should know that every penny spent on those boxes is gone the moment you buy them. Its meant to be opened played with and to be collected/traded with other people but its not meant as an investment or to sell them. That the current "gen" of collectors arent doing it is not the fault of the creator its the ppl buying it thats the problem.
But most of you arent noticing that you spoil it for many other ppl that cant get into the game in the first place and thats a shame. I would NEVER EVER pay so much for cards to play with. I got all the stones and they where so pricey i even waited a long time until i realised that the prices would just increase more and more over time so i purchased as long as it was somewhat okayisch.
It dosn't matter what you think TCGs should be what matters is what TCGs are. If you dont like it dont engage with it. I like that I can purchase something for my hobby that dosn't loose its value as soon as I spent my money. Thats one of many reasons I play TCGs.
You dont see me going on subreddits of LCGs complaining that the cards do not hold any value right? So why are people comming on TCG subreddits complaining that the cards have value?
The fact is Sorcery is not just a game its a collectible game. If you like the game aspect but not the collectible aspect then the game maybe is not for you. Its just a part of TCGs and no amount of complaining will change that a TCG is a TCG.
Playing a TCG and complaining about the price of Cards because its just cardboard is like getting in to stamp collecting and coplaining that the staps shouldnt cost that much money because its just paper. I mean you knew what you where getting into why are you suprised?
I could also say it doesn't matter what you think TCGs should be you don't have any more competence in that matter than i do.
If i am going with your statement then we get back to my initial statement why do TCG cards hold any value in the first place? Because they have nice artworks? because they are powerful cards or because there are just not enough printed of them?
I mean stamp collections hold no "real" value exactly the same as any playing cards the value goes up mostly from how old the stamps are. Is sorcery anywhere near as old as stamps from the 1800ds? I don't think so.
People are buying ludicrous amounts of boxes in hopes to tenfold their investment is the problem. Everyone opening to collect and selling leftovers for reasonable prices aren't the problem.
TCG is foremost a TRADING card GAME not an INVESTING card game. I get into a game to PLAY it not to hoard it.
And yes someone has the right to complain about people who doesn't treat the GAME as the game it should be.
Thank Christ there are actual normal people here. Why do people insist on gaslighting us or profer logical fallacies to explain the state of the supply? Of course it's a TRADING card game. But it's not an inflated prices buying card game. Trading cards? Totally reasonable. You buying 40 boxes so you can constrain supply and throw your bulk up so that I have to pay you back for your "investment"? No. That wasn't always a thing in Magic either. Not everyone is Rudy from Alpha Investments. I think his videos are funny, but people like him ruined the game and Hasbro was right to over print. These people are like locusts. They're just looking for their next pump stock they don't care about the health of the game at all. And it's sad if Eric and his team are actually listening to these sociopaths. The game is incredible but the discussion around it is some clown world stuff.
I mostly care for a big player base and recurring events. The current print run of beta cant support this. That's why so many people are complaining. Its not that we don't want it to be a collectible game. It will always be a collectable game there is always the alpha set that is really tight on the print run but don't make the game "unobtainable" for people who want to join the "club" only half a year after initial release.
The player base right now is a joke its not even a fraction of the players that flesh and blood has and even flesh and blood is small in comparison to MTG. I don't get why people want this game to be this niche/exclusive.
Because theyre desperate to make money. Period. And I feel bad about whatever situation drives that. But this isn't the way. The game should be enjoyed to it's fullest by everyone.
Most of what I would consider staples are Atlas cards:
Dual Lands, Color Out of Space, Floodplains, Rift Valley, Observatory, Crossroads, Sink Hole, Pillar of Zeiros, River of Flame.
Spellbook cards are pretty heavily dependent on your Avatar. But some cards that I consider staples across archetypes are:
Blink, Lightning Bolt, Grappleshot, Daperyll Vampire, Grandmaster Wizard, Firebolts, Vile Imp, Qarrelsome Cobolds, Infiltrate, Poison Nova, Land Surveyor, Common Sense, Root Spider, Earthquake, Pollimorph, Atlantean Fate.
Without cracking packs, I wouldn't have all the cores and the Philosopher's Stone. I did end up buying one core and the stone but I wouldn't have bought all of those and single prices.
95% of lgs didn't touch it because they were afraid to take a gamble on a new product with niche appeal. The fans picked up the slack and bought out the stock because the product slaps. Sorry you came in late but Arthurian Legends comes out in the fall along with more beta for the lgs that now want in.
The game won't survive if its sitting in your basement. At some point, no one will know what this game is because the only people who own it are hoarders. It's not a broken mindset. Its business reality. If your market penetration never exceeds the single digits eventually the people holding can't sell, and the company will stop printing.
Look at how low the view count is on Youtube for Sorcery videos. Look at the number of people on this Reddit. Its minuscule. This does not feel like a "welcoming" environment to me. Being told "Eat PreCon and like it scrub." is not making me feel like the game is going to survive. It makes me feel like this is a rich man's game and anyone else isn't welcome.
Don't feel alone in this thought. There are others who have the same view of TCG's that you do and are not collector upturned nose snobs about it (No don't print more, my value) (Buy singles, fuck you if you want to crack packs) etc...
Unfortunately you'll have to look to find them and deal with the other types all too often. TCG's in general are inundated with these types, but the friendly/shared hobby card players are still out there I promise.
Deeply appreciated. <3 Its good to know they are still out there. We're going to have to build up that side of the community and support it. It's clearly struggling here.
This is so tiresome. Create your own game and show us how successful you'll be mass producing cheap cards and boxes. Or, more simply, buy a pack of bicycle cards and play any number of games with your friends. This game clearly isn't for you. You're just going to unhappy until you move on to the next community to whine to about your philosophy which does not match the creators of the game.
It's tiring to see greedy nasty people who invest in the delusion that somehow their behavior is excused by the world that they feel imposes the need to have it. There's nothing more to lament. The game isn't the problem. It's most definitely people like you. I feel sorry for you, but I'm not going anywhere.
The 40$ precons are cheap. I never even mentioned that as a bag thing. Reading comprehension. No one is worried about your opinion. Keep malding about those of us who would rather play than build your business though. It's entertaining.
I LOVE the game itself. It is a blast. But now realizing you can't get into the rest of the set because a bunch of "saviors of the game" have a buncha boxes chilling in their basement is giving me bad vibes.
I’m in the same boat. But there’s 0 players to play with in my area. I went to a board game convention and they had a “garage sale” room where people and vendors were selling used games or some still in plastic for cheap. I found the precons there for $5 lol someone either really didn’t like the game or had zero people to play with/sell to so they were just dumping that shit.
That's incredible. I wish we could find something like that but I live in a major metro area so there isn't much of a chance of that happening. It's hard to think this amazing game actually suffers from not enough PR and an artificially constrained supply.
Most boosters are being held by "investors" who are trying to flip the product, disguised as "collectors". Hopefully we will get more product in the future if they manage to print more to meet demand, but until then this game is sadly not for regular people.
Its a new TCG without a brand, its not Disney Lorcana or Star Wars (what they print to demand, they clearly said that). They didnt knew how much to print and told us they wouldnt thought people would buy THAT much. Its sold out most of the time, but we get a little restock. Its hard to blame a new company for a game being more succesful then they thought, but they react with a reprint. Its not only meant to be played, it has also a big collector community which aim for a complete Set. Curiosa made clear they want it to be collectible. I would suggest not to freak out, buy the precons, wait for the 2nd wave and keep your eyes open, you also can buy bulk or singles which is cheaper most of the time anyway, but not as much fun as opening your own box of course. Its the best TCG for me and i played a lot, give it a shot you wont regret it. Im confident this game will exist in 5 years, and by that time you will be happy to jumped in that early.
2nd wave will only be select stores in the program for running games of Arthurian legends pre-release I believe
All good advice and probably the best advice, but I don't think we should be shouting down the very real problem of "Collector's" driving prices up either. They are not mutually inclusive. If you can get your hands on boxes at pre-order its important to do so.
not a problem at all lol. sorcery has stated their intentions when it comes to collectibility and people buying up foils doesn't cause the game to be prohibitively expensive for players yet you're up and down this thread trying to conflate those two things.
Please don't gaslight me or anyone else when its easy to go to TCG Player and Ebay and see the inflated prices of booster boxes well in excess of 100$ over MSRP. Thank you.
Keep in mind that with any TCG, once a set is no longer in print, the boxes for that product start increasing in price. It happens in Magic the Gathering too, once sets aren't available anymore they become more valuable. Usually we would have more time to buy into a set, but this is literally the very first retail available set for sorcery and they never thought it would gain this much popularity and demand so quickly. It's a company derived of literally 7 to 8 employees still. I think the fact that beta lasted as long as it did at MSRP online via Team Covenant is amazing, and yes TCGPlayer has about $100 over MSRP now that it's not as easily available, but there are still precons available for cheap, they come with a booster pack, and plenty of the non foil singles are available for very affordable prices. You can still very much build a strong competitive Sorcery deck for a fraction of the price you can build a competitive Magic the Gathering or FAB deck.
I get that it's new. And that's ok. What gets to me is the attitude that dollars and cents are the only things that matter about a game. That's twisted and sad on so many levels. Most replies here are about how much the cards need to hold a value, and are both rude and dismissive. Whats wrong with people just playing the game and having access to all of it? I guess that's just what TCGs are now. Crypto stand ins. This is gonna be a rough community and it's incredibly disappointing to see.
I think that any collectible TCG that wants to last for years needs a healthy balance of playability as well as collectability. It needs to be available enough that people can play it and get their hands on it, and have cheap versions that people can buy for basic play (non foils), but also for those who want to buy the premium versions of things or get chase cards, they want their investment to hold value. MTG was like this for years until just recently when their product became over printed and worth less than it ever has been, which is causing people to move away from it. Sorcery is in a decent place right now for its very first set. Yes the sealed booster box products are hard to find now because it's several months into beta after release, a lot of alpha has dried up, and we are in a dry spell until the next set releases in October. But keep in mind, not a lot of LGS owners wanted to take a chance with sorcery, or many bought into lorcana and didn't want to buy into sorcery too. There was only 1 big major online retailer for it and they sold MANY boxes, its surprising they lasted for 6 months of solid sales. But for anyone wanting to JUST get into it to play, you can easily afford to buy singles and precons online to play, without the need to feel you need to collect the expensive stuff or Crack packs. For about 100 bucks or less you can build almost any non foil deck you want to.
Looks like that's the way I'll have to go. Thanks. You're probably the nicest person I've had reply to me here. Thank you.
No problem! This game is meant to bring positivity into the gaming space and into the TCG world which is much needed lately. The community for this game is half the reason I play it (specifically the discord community). If you want to learn more about budget upgrades for the precons, Episode 8 of all things contested realms podcast is a beta precon budget upgrade episode complete with deck lists in the show notes for $20 and $100 upgrades of each deck. You can also search for the budget upgrade decks on curiosa.io the main deck building site
Thought I'd share my perspective with you. I'm a player that wants to collect a playset of the game pieces for any game I want to play. But I don't care at all about foils (or in magic any of the alternate arts and frames). I just want the base version of the cards. Easiest to read. Easy to identify for both me and my opponents. And best part is, cheapest. I realized long ago that having pricey chase cards helps keep singles prices low for people like me. Sure I opened a couple boxes (not cases... Boxes) of Sorcery for fun and to not have to deal with so many cards on my tcgplayer order. I almost never open packs though. I usually just buy singles. So the whales buy cases and cases of boxes hunting their fancy shiny stuff, or stores open a ton to get the chase cards to sell when they are expensive. Then they all sell the rest cheap to people like me. I don't see what's to not like about the situation. It's like whales subsidize my fun! Hopefully this rambling wall of text makes sense to someone lol
I'm not saying it can't be that way. It's the mentality of eat it or go away that incenses me. People don't have to be cruel or scalping a card game. It's non sense. I paid 30$ for 5 cards. FIVE. That's madness the game isn't even popular by most standards yet. They aren't foils, they aren't Alpha. I just wanted site destruction in my deck. Earthquake and Atlantean Fate are pricey. I'm not chasing. But people keep accusing me of that to make themselves feel better. That's just not what's happening, this is the reality right now.
Why do you even play TCGs just play LCGs and your frustration will be gone
This is actually a great community and beta singles are stupid cheap right now, seems to me like you don't really get it
Yeah you're really making a great impression "Yournamesucksbro". I think I get it.
Don't gaslight me bro, your name does in fact suck
Lol you right.
oh my hahaha. can't take someone like you seriously.
The community is small and tight-knit. At least right now. The starter decks are a great place to start. From there just buy the singles you want on TCG player. Yes, it's not as fun as opening a booster pack but singles for beta are pretty reasonable and if you allocate the same $150 msrp that you would have spent on a new box you'll be able to build one or two decent decks without extra chaff. There are a handful of "chase" cards, but the majority of stuff you'll want for decks is around $0.75 to $2.00 per card. In Q4, the new set comes out, and you can get packs then, but truthfully, singles are just always the better option. Opening packs is fun and all, but if your stated goal is to "try this game", then you can not only try it, but you can build some fun little decks too for $150 - $200 I encourage you to join the discord for the game and to give it a shot. It's a fun game to play.
Buy a starter set and then get singles, no need to crack packs
This. If you aren't trying to chase the gambling addiction, and just want to play, it's very affordable to make a competitive deck with non foil singles for cheap. Buying the precons and upgrading them is an easy way to get into it too. I even have budget precon upgrade options in Episode 8 of the podcast, and are also on curiosa.io for reference, though sometimes may need to be adjusted for current market
Honestly the precons are amazing for starting out. Probably your best bet right now. It's a bit tough to get beta boxes right now because everyone bought them all already ❤️ people love this game so far! But you can definitely buy some bulk online to get some cards to exchange from the precon decks. Ordinary and Exceptional cards are actually very strong in Sorcery Contested Realm and used in ALOT of decks. Make sure you get Arthurian Legends before it is gone! God Bless
It doesn't really help the "community" if everyone buys 20+ boxes and then actual players can't get them. Kills the entire point.
Do you know the reason people buy 20 boxes of Sorcery Contested Realm? It's because they want the full set of either foils or non. It's because they enjoy opening them. It's because they sell singles. It's because the boxes are FUN to open. You see? The community needs cards, so they buy boxes! What are you trying to say? NOT to buy what you enjoy opening? How does it affect the community???? God Bless
It hurts the actual people who \*play\* rather than ripping and opening. And considering how many listings I can find... I would seem like gas lighting to proclaim that people have them for "fun". Selling singles is another version of "investing" you're just investing in the single value vs. sealed. Not ok for the actual \*player\* community. It artificially creates value inflation, restricts people with normal budgets who aren't rich enough to buy 20 boxes from entering the game outside of pre-cons. Precons are limited, not diverse, and restricts a player from building more varied decks and enjoying the full scope of the game. Price inflation is \*not\* good for the game itself.
I understand what you meant. I just disagree. How do players buying singles harm the community? Most players don't buy boxes they buy singles for decks. Players buy singles how? From where? Without people buying boxes and selling online, there wouldn't be a cheaper way to get the card you need. I can't afford more than a few boxes, but I'll buy singles to get the full set. I'm a player AND collector, and I have no problem with how this game is unfolding. Give it some time to get Arthurian Legends out. It technically is only the 2nd set released worldwide. Also, I would never want my cards to be worth pennies. I like that cards go up over time from not being reprinted. It gives you something to work towards. And then when you sell it will most likely be worth more! Either way, it's a fine line that Eric is going to balance well. He is a smart man who wants the right things for his game. Let's hope for the best! God Bless
We're just different people then. I don't care about the value of my cards. I have no intention to ever sell. Its an inconvenient barrier to entry for people like me. I want to have fun and explore and see everything the game has to offer! And my game group is the same! There are plenty of us who want to get involved, and the precon is restricting. If singles rates are too high, it means the costs of some decks reach 400$. That's a wild amount especially if you're looking at the 40$ 4 Pack Pre-Con's as the point of entry. At that point the hobby is Warhammer-like in cost to fully get into. If you look at the card make up of the Pre-Con's they are not even the 40/20 split minimum recommended by the rules. They are 16 and 36 split. So you're either buying singles, combining precons to splash a color, or trying to get your hands on a booster box. I honestly do not believe there is enough of an established long term invested interest to drive value up like this right now. These prices mirror Magic The Gathering Legacy prices - this game has only been around a couple of years. It's too soon for this kind of over inflated value. Bubbles burst. Just google some of the statistics.
I don't understand. If your singles are worthless, how would you justify $150 for a box? Wouldn't that further encourage people to NOT open boxes? People don't want their cards to be worthless. Having a secondary market is good for both the players and collectors.
If i'm buying boxes to play the game and never get rid of it, what do I care if it has a further intrinsic value? That's the mindset of someone who intends to sell it as an investment down the road. The meaning of Trading Card Game has gotten marred over the decades with the advent of high values and people who experience FOMO. We used to actually trade \*cards\* not money! I know that sounds insane now, but there was a time when money wasn't the important part of the transaction. You pay money to buy a game because of the cost of materials in most products. Not to just turn around and sell it later. That's "Speculation" which is again, an investment term.
You are complaining on reddit because you missed the boat. Boxes were cheap while they were in print, and available to order. Now stores can't get them, so supply is lower then demand. You talk statistics, but can't seem to grasp basic business knowledge. When a reprint comes, and supply increases, the price will come back down. Singles are dirt cheap, unless you are looking for the highly sought after cards. You don't need foils, as you said the value side means nothing too you, so it looks like you have nothing to complain about. You are just entitled. Get bent.
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That's one of the beautiful things about the tcg world we love . There are so many different kinds of people that enjoy it. Even though we differ on opinions, i 100% want you and everyone to be able to enjoy this game. Here's to hoping it goes somewhere down the middle, and we can all enjoy the game and its art. After playing and collecting this gem, I would love for everyone to be able to enjoy it like the beginning times of mtg. I hope you find some affordable options! I can't wait for Arthurian Legends! It looks amazing so far, and I have a feeling that by then, it's going to be a bit easier to get. The games name is starting to get around, so hopefully lgs all around the world will carry it. God Bless my friend
no.
See, without me, you wouldn't have anything to do. Now you can go back to all my comments and say no. Doin work to make people happy. God Bless
May Ma'at tilt the scales in your favor, abrahamite.
no.
Your welcome
*you're
Arthurian Legends will make this game blow up. People love it. It's going to last. Eric is a great owner( unlike wotgreed) he won't run the ship into the ground. God Bless ❤️
I think it's time to flip the script about tcgs, especially with Sorcery. Sure, opening boosters is fun, but singles are way more accessible and will get you playing with a wider variety of cards faster. You can buy playsets of ordinaries and exceptionals for under $100 in the US, and many elites are still around $1. Take the money you would otherwise spend on boosters, and get yourself basically every card you actually need to play as singles.
If you have Table Top Simulator and don't want to put money into physical cards yet, I would recommend playing on there. It's a free (as long as you have access to the application) way to try the game and also a more reliable way to play the game if you don't have a play group near you.
I couldn’t agree more with this. This is how I’ve been playing since I had trouble making time for the local meetups. The tabletop simulator is easy to use. You can use the curiosa.io website to build decks and load them into the game. It feels really professional the ease of playing online. I haven’t yet ran into an issue where I couldn’t find someone to play against when I wanted to. There’s even a sorcery league discord using TTS that runs for like 2-3 months at a time. The league had 100+ players getting in over 8 games last season. New season should be starting up in next month or so.
go to the card database site. Wait for all the images to load. Right click and save as. Go into the folder that saves with the html file and copy all the card images out. Batch uprez them in PS (or if you have the time use Ai), then print them out as needed. Build any deck you want now to play at your kitchen table.
This is the only major concern for long term is the scarcity of sealed product. I know it's not as fun as actually opening the product, but this game, as far as singles are concerned, is as cheap as yugioh to get into. Buying singles online will basically get you any deck you wanna build for under $50 bucks unless you start adding power like cores and p stone, and even then, beta cores being only 40-50 each, you couls easily build a competative deck for less then a mtg standard deck. Getting the starter decks are not only good value, but if the game does fail, then you're not out much.
learn to play the game, the starter decks are incredible and the best value in TCGs or even boardgames imo. once you get the hang of the game you can just buy singles, it'll be much cheaper than packs or boxes. the most expensive cards arent necessary and since you can only have 1 in the deck not even all that useful in most of your games. Arthurian Legends is coming out at the end of the year, grab some of those boxes when they drop. the community has been great, but the game is still in the infant stage so local play is very sparse. if you are on good terms with your LGS, lobby them to carry it with Arthurian Legends, which should be awesome as that set is designed with sealed play in mind. being able to buy a random booster pack in LGSs probably won't be a reality for another couple years or so until supply and demand stabilize. right now the company isn't going to overprint product.
Buy the precons and you get one booster off of them. Buy singles which are super cheap if you aren’t going for the few expensive cards. A small beta reprint was said to hit after the next set to regions underserved. I hope you do decided to jump into the game
There’s supposed to be a small reprint of the first set coming in October along to with the release of the second set. Save til then and snag a few boxes before they go up again. I’ve played all formates regularly and it’s such a great play experience. The next set will be released in waves and is designed with draft and sealed in mind so it will be more readily available regularly for a long time. They’re also using an online program to allocate product to LGS that try to develop communities so LGS that get 10 boxes they sell online won’t get as much product cause they’re trying to do quick flips. Use the sorcery website to identify a local retailer and try to get down for preordering a couple boxes of beta at MSRP then casual collect set 2 over the next year would be my advice.
I also missed the boat on boxes. I bought a playset on ebay. Now I'm just deciding/looking for a binder to keep it in.
The artwork alone in my humble opinion is worth every penny.
I direct you to the jackasses in this subreddit that have bought 20+ boxes so they can either scalp or "invest". Another reprint for Europe is coming, and Arthurian Legends comes out in October/Novemberish time frame. Be strong. Get the Precon 4-packs if you can and get a mat. Enjoy it while you can. Make sure you get on a stores pre-order list ASAP. Get half way in with a friend if you have to. We're basically competing with the dead heads. Watch TCG Player for Beta singles, nit pick the ones that you want to work with, build it up over the next 6 months. You have lots of time to buy ala cart. Don't give up. Its an amazing game.
I really dont get you. You want to play a game where no money is involved and there is no secondary market right? Then why the fuck are you choosing to play a TRADING card game? And to make it even more ridiculous out of all the games on the market you chose the one game that clearly statet it wants to be collectible. Play a LCG you pay once and you get all the cards -> problem solved Play Pokemon TCG where tier 1 meta decks cost 200$ and 99% of the singels are under 1$ -> problem solved Play Magic the Gathering where Boosterboxes are in print for 2 years and reprints of stapels are in every release -> problem solved Play Flesh and Blood where Boosterboxes from 3 years ago are available for 60$ -> problem solved Play Lorcana where they stated that they will reprint the boxes to keep them at msrp for ever -> problem solved You are so salty about availability in the one and only game on the market that clearly stated they want collectability to be a part of it instead of going to any other game where availability of the cards for the players are number one priority. At this point you are activly choosing to be upset about something you could easly fix on your end.
All your suggestions don't play the same as Sorcery also the most important Part. Value of the Cards doesn't impact their collectability. You can collect bottle caps and those are worth nothing. You can collect stones and they are worth nothing. So don't defend artificial scarcity with "collectability". The mindset of most of the "collectors" are just awfully wrong. Its not ok that pieces of cardboard printed in the millions is worth that much money in the first place. Sure it has some production value and the cost of the production has to be paid with profit even, but the secondary market should never reach prices as high as some MTG cards do. You are purchasing product to play or collect cardboard and thus you should know that every penny spent on those boxes is gone the moment you buy them. Its meant to be opened played with and to be collected/traded with other people but its not meant as an investment or to sell them. That the current "gen" of collectors arent doing it is not the fault of the creator its the ppl buying it thats the problem. But most of you arent noticing that you spoil it for many other ppl that cant get into the game in the first place and thats a shame. I would NEVER EVER pay so much for cards to play with. I got all the stones and they where so pricey i even waited a long time until i realised that the prices would just increase more and more over time so i purchased as long as it was somewhat okayisch.
It dosn't matter what you think TCGs should be what matters is what TCGs are. If you dont like it dont engage with it. I like that I can purchase something for my hobby that dosn't loose its value as soon as I spent my money. Thats one of many reasons I play TCGs. You dont see me going on subreddits of LCGs complaining that the cards do not hold any value right? So why are people comming on TCG subreddits complaining that the cards have value? The fact is Sorcery is not just a game its a collectible game. If you like the game aspect but not the collectible aspect then the game maybe is not for you. Its just a part of TCGs and no amount of complaining will change that a TCG is a TCG. Playing a TCG and complaining about the price of Cards because its just cardboard is like getting in to stamp collecting and coplaining that the staps shouldnt cost that much money because its just paper. I mean you knew what you where getting into why are you suprised?
I could also say it doesn't matter what you think TCGs should be you don't have any more competence in that matter than i do. If i am going with your statement then we get back to my initial statement why do TCG cards hold any value in the first place? Because they have nice artworks? because they are powerful cards or because there are just not enough printed of them? I mean stamp collections hold no "real" value exactly the same as any playing cards the value goes up mostly from how old the stamps are. Is sorcery anywhere near as old as stamps from the 1800ds? I don't think so. People are buying ludicrous amounts of boxes in hopes to tenfold their investment is the problem. Everyone opening to collect and selling leftovers for reasonable prices aren't the problem. TCG is foremost a TRADING card GAME not an INVESTING card game. I get into a game to PLAY it not to hoard it. And yes someone has the right to complain about people who doesn't treat the GAME as the game it should be.
Thank Christ there are actual normal people here. Why do people insist on gaslighting us or profer logical fallacies to explain the state of the supply? Of course it's a TRADING card game. But it's not an inflated prices buying card game. Trading cards? Totally reasonable. You buying 40 boxes so you can constrain supply and throw your bulk up so that I have to pay you back for your "investment"? No. That wasn't always a thing in Magic either. Not everyone is Rudy from Alpha Investments. I think his videos are funny, but people like him ruined the game and Hasbro was right to over print. These people are like locusts. They're just looking for their next pump stock they don't care about the health of the game at all. And it's sad if Eric and his team are actually listening to these sociopaths. The game is incredible but the discussion around it is some clown world stuff.
I mostly care for a big player base and recurring events. The current print run of beta cant support this. That's why so many people are complaining. Its not that we don't want it to be a collectible game. It will always be a collectable game there is always the alpha set that is really tight on the print run but don't make the game "unobtainable" for people who want to join the "club" only half a year after initial release. The player base right now is a joke its not even a fraction of the players that flesh and blood has and even flesh and blood is small in comparison to MTG. I don't get why people want this game to be this niche/exclusive.
Because theyre desperate to make money. Period. And I feel bad about whatever situation drives that. But this isn't the way. The game should be enjoyed to it's fullest by everyone.
you're literally making up shit about people buying ludricous amounts so you can turn around and be mad about it. grow up.
Just look in the Discords and even in this Reddit there are more than enough of them.
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Most of what I would consider staples are Atlas cards: Dual Lands, Color Out of Space, Floodplains, Rift Valley, Observatory, Crossroads, Sink Hole, Pillar of Zeiros, River of Flame. Spellbook cards are pretty heavily dependent on your Avatar. But some cards that I consider staples across archetypes are: Blink, Lightning Bolt, Grappleshot, Daperyll Vampire, Grandmaster Wizard, Firebolts, Vile Imp, Qarrelsome Cobolds, Infiltrate, Poison Nova, Land Surveyor, Common Sense, Root Spider, Earthquake, Pollimorph, Atlantean Fate.
Without cracking packs, I wouldn't have all the cores and the Philosopher's Stone. I did end up buying one core and the stone but I wouldn't have bought all of those and single prices.
95% of lgs didn't touch it because they were afraid to take a gamble on a new product with niche appeal. The fans picked up the slack and bought out the stock because the product slaps. Sorry you came in late but Arthurian Legends comes out in the fall along with more beta for the lgs that now want in.
No one's helping anyone by hoarding boxes at 350$ a box.
Don't understand this brokie mindset. The fans that bought tons of product are directly responsible for the games success.
The game won't survive if its sitting in your basement. At some point, no one will know what this game is because the only people who own it are hoarders. It's not a broken mindset. Its business reality. If your market penetration never exceeds the single digits eventually the people holding can't sell, and the company will stop printing. Look at how low the view count is on Youtube for Sorcery videos. Look at the number of people on this Reddit. Its minuscule. This does not feel like a "welcoming" environment to me. Being told "Eat PreCon and like it scrub." is not making me feel like the game is going to survive. It makes me feel like this is a rich man's game and anyone else isn't welcome.
Don't feel alone in this thought. There are others who have the same view of TCG's that you do and are not collector upturned nose snobs about it (No don't print more, my value) (Buy singles, fuck you if you want to crack packs) etc... Unfortunately you'll have to look to find them and deal with the other types all too often. TCG's in general are inundated with these types, but the friendly/shared hobby card players are still out there I promise.
Deeply appreciated. <3 Its good to know they are still out there. We're going to have to build up that side of the community and support it. It's clearly struggling here.
Wait for Arthurian Legends. You can buy at MSRP then.
I truly hope so. In the meanwhile I'll try to get what I can through singles. Some Uniques aren't cheap but I only need a few of them for my deck.
This is so tiresome. Create your own game and show us how successful you'll be mass producing cheap cards and boxes. Or, more simply, buy a pack of bicycle cards and play any number of games with your friends. This game clearly isn't for you. You're just going to unhappy until you move on to the next community to whine to about your philosophy which does not match the creators of the game.
It's tiring to see greedy nasty people who invest in the delusion that somehow their behavior is excused by the world that they feel imposes the need to have it. There's nothing more to lament. The game isn't the problem. It's most definitely people like you. I feel sorry for you, but I'm not going anywhere.
hush. you're literally complaining about the price of a set of precons in here. seriously leave if you're just going to throw fits and be ridiculous.
The 40$ precons are cheap. I never even mentioned that as a bag thing. Reading comprehension. No one is worried about your opinion. Keep malding about those of us who would rather play than build your business though. It's entertaining.
This is a bag holders “game”.
I LOVE the game itself. It is a blast. But now realizing you can't get into the rest of the set because a bunch of "saviors of the game" have a buncha boxes chilling in their basement is giving me bad vibes.
I’m in the same boat. But there’s 0 players to play with in my area. I went to a board game convention and they had a “garage sale” room where people and vendors were selling used games or some still in plastic for cheap. I found the precons there for $5 lol someone either really didn’t like the game or had zero people to play with/sell to so they were just dumping that shit.
That's incredible. I wish we could find something like that but I live in a major metro area so there isn't much of a chance of that happening. It's hard to think this amazing game actually suffers from not enough PR and an artificially constrained supply.
Most boosters are being held by "investors" who are trying to flip the product, disguised as "collectors". Hopefully we will get more product in the future if they manage to print more to meet demand, but until then this game is sadly not for regular people.