by Andrea Davis, Lead Game Designer of Gods Unchained
As we get closer and closer to the launch of Season One and Trial of the Gods, we have been easing the entry point into the game for new players. As the game continues to grow, this will continue to be an essential part of our success. After looking at the data and looking at our short-term and long-term expansion plans, we decided to make new cards that were aimed at users that might be completely new to these sorts of games… while still providing a worthy experience for our most-dedicated fans.
The plan was to initially release this set of cards following the launch of the Trial of the Gods expansion, however, given the ongoing development leading into Season One as previously reported, we didn’t want to hold these new cards back. So without further adieu... welcome to Welcome Set! We’ve never released a set quite like this one, so join us as we explore the new entry point of the game.
Product Info
Welcome Set is a collection of 70 cards. Every card is marked as “common” though there is no true rarity to these cards, because everyone gets them for free! These cards are designed to be easy-to-learn for new players, while also opening new and powerful deck building opportunities for existing players. You can see all of the cards in the set by going to our cards page. Click the Set filter and select "Welcome" to see the new cards.
Existing users and new users alike will each receive two copies of each card in the set – 140 cards in total.
https://youtu.be/bM3wnw4VUJA
The set is “open” like the Core Set. This means that the card contents can change at any time, and that there is no end date planned for future changes. That said, we do not anticipate many changes to these cards in the future.
Please note: These cards are not on the blockchain and cannot be traded or fused
The cards granted to your account are of plain quality. Just like Core cards, they are not on the blockchain. Unlike the Core cards, they cannot be fused to create higher-quality versions. We may award or sell higher-quality versions of the Welcome Set in the future and those may be on-chain, but there are no imminent plans to do so.
Product Availability
New accounts created on or after Thursday 18 June will have these cards in them. Existing accounts will have them either that day or very soon thereafter.
In the future, new accounts will only be given a subset of these cards, and they will unlock the remainder as part of our revised onboarding process. This change is not expected until at least Q4 2020.
New Starter Decks + Why We’re Making This Change
Starting Thursday, the previous starter decks will be replaced with new ones, entirely made up of cards from Welcome Set. The overall power level of each starter deck is a bit lower than before, but that is only at the beginning. For the first time, these starter decks can be edited. Which means that players can improve their decks and make them their own, right away.
We made the change because we saw a pattern where players would join the game, choose a god’s domain and go with that deck for a while… then stopping to make edits. Except they couldn’t, because the cards in the starter deck “weren’t real.” They didn’t belong to the player. So, they’d try to make one from scratch. To make their own deck, they would need at least 30 cards from boosters. To make one even close to the power level of the starters, they’d need dozens of boosters. The players that stuck with it were rewarded, but many players were frustrated and gave up. It is our expectation that players will stay and play more with this format.
To edit a starter deck, go to the Workshop in the game and double-click any of them. Make whatever changes you like, swapping cards in and out. Once you are happy with your changes, click “Save Deck.” A copy of the deck will be created with the changes you’ve made. The original deck will still be there, ready to be selected (or copied again) in the future.
27 Essential welcome set cards
You can include any cards you want in your edited deck. If you want to find cards from Welcome Set, you can use the “Sort by Set” feature and select “Welcome.”
Note: If you’d still like to reference the card lists in the old starter decks for any reason, we’ve made a spreadsheet with a legacy list here.
Future Plans: New Modes For Everyone
We have plans to use Welcome Set in a variety of ways. In the future, we may have a midweek constructed mode that only uses Core Set and Welcome Set, as a way for players to get up-to-speed with the game. We also have plans to revive our Sealed Deck and Draft modes, and these will feature Welcome Set as a way to increase player’s limited-format collection without increasing the cost of entry. And, of course, you should expect that many of these cards will feature in the Sanctum for the foreseeable future.
Summary
With Season One in the near future, now is the perfect time to jump in for the first time – or to return to the game after some time away. Either way, we are excited to get these new cards into your hands, and can’t wait to see the new decks players create!
Please let us know what you think in our Discord server, in the #feedback channel.
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