As Gods Unchained continues to grow, we may need to reprint cards from future sets to ensure a healthy balance between the amount of players and cards available. This excludes the Genesis set, which will never be reprinted.
Those who’ve kept an eagle eye on the Gods Unchained Roadmap may have picked up we’re laying down the groundwork for expansion. We’ve kept things within a tight-knit community so far, but as we continue to grow we’re looking at options to ensure we can preserve the long-term health, as well as the balance, of the game in a scenario where Gods Unchained becomes hyper successful and our user numbers move into the millions.
This is difficult because Gods Unchained leads a double life: by day it is a TCG that’s fun to play and extremely competitive, by night it fights crime in a cowl and a cape is a platform for mortals to collect and trade valuable assets. These are the fundamental pillars of Gods Unchained, and we want to make sure that both sides remain strong.
Balancing act
It’s this duality that has led us to consider reprints on all expansion sets going ahead (excluding the Genesis set, which will never be reprinted) in the game’s future. While these aren’t planned any time soon, they look to be a viable option that protects both pillars and users if player numbers exceed card supply. Let’s take a look at the two extreme ends of things:
On one side: if we flood the game with assets in order to meet a growing playerbase, cards become available for all to take into the Arena. This is good for the game as everyone is on an even playing field, but not great for the economy; cards are no longer special as they become commonplace.
On the other extreme: if we leave cards as single prints only, these cards become incredibly scarce as the game grows – which is great for those who hold those cards – but not so great for the game. This would tip the balance too much in favor of a select few, as the utility of these cards would only be available to a small portion of the crowd. It would also leave the majority of players with base level cards, as trading or purchasing cards becomes either too expensive or too difficult when assets are few and far between. New sets would continue to release, of course, but doing so at a cadence required to meet the growing demand could become insurmountable.
Both of these extremes are danger zones and, with reprints, we’re looking to land right in the middle.
Prestiging cards
To ensure original items and sets aren’t undercut by reprints, all reprinted versions of cards would have alternative card art but the same in-game utility to ensure there is a fair playing field in the Arena. What’s more, when a card is selected to be reprinted, the original card would “prestige” – ascending to a new form. What this new form would entail is yet to be confirmed, but the current idea would be that Prestige cards are given a prestige border (or collectors edition cosmetic) to show that they are original cards from an original set.
Prestiging would be available to all sets from Trial of the Gods onwards. We committed to never reprint Genesis cards, and we are definitely maintaining that commitment, making this the only set that would be excluded from the possibility of being reprinted.
Growing together
This is in the early stages of planning at the moment, but we’re keen to hear your take as it’s something that’s close to the hearts of a wide spectrum of users. We love our community’s passion for the use of blockchain in innovative ways and, while we’re building out new ways for cards to interact here, this is the perfect time for you to weigh in on what you’d like to see happen when it comes to reprints and making the original prestige cards stand out.
You can let us know your thoughts by joining (or starting) discussions on Reddit or Discord. At the center of Gods Unchained is the ability to own and trade assets that are actually worth something and we plan to not only retain these pillars, but improve them as we continue to grow – for collectors and players alike!
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