Decipher's new CCG: Fight Klub

[Axlotl]

Its a CCG with a mashup of live action movie properties, with a lot of neat ideas as far as CCG selling goes.

Its invitation only, and 10% of the purchases of everyone you invite goes in your pocket, like a pyramid scheme. =P

quoted from their site: The image you see to the left is a Kilo. It's equal to ten booster packs. (Boosters? Those old things?) A Kilo contains 120 cards, ten of which are rare cards. You purchase Kilos online at the Fight Klub™ website; they are then shipped worldwide directly to your door.

And Kilos have aggressive pricing. The normal price of a booster today is $3.99 or more. In Fight Klub™ its equivalent is $2.99.

And that's not all. Each expansion set is designed to be collected for under $100 as opposed to the $250 to $300 for other trading card games. (Yes, there will be a play format called Kilo Draft.)

Beginning in Fall 2008, we will offer ground-breaking subscriptions with even greater savings. When you sign up for an annual subscription, three Kilos of each new expansion set (plus every promotional card for that year) will be sent to you automatically. You can choose to receive those three Kilos simultaneously upon release, or spread them out to receive one Kilo per month for the entire year.

[Axlotl]

The first expansion set is special. It's called, "One."

"One" is a complete expansion set in a single box. Unlike other games with starters made from cards also in booster packs, "One" contains all unique cards not found anywhere else. It is sold in a single Kilo of 121 cards for $29.95. There are no starters in Fight Klub™.

"One" arrives at your door ready to create two 40-card decks. The first deck is designed around heroes; the second deck around villains. The remaining 40 cards provide a healthy mix for customization right out of the box. Every player should enter Fight Klub™ with "One." Besides the low cost, it provides a shared, common experience for every player regardless of when they enter the game.

From set "Two" forward, Kilos are randomized. Each expansion consists of 100 unique cards (30 rare, 30 uncommon, 40 common). There are 10 rare cards in a Kilo, so three Kilos gets you 30 rare cards. You can trade for a complete set or buy more cards. It's up to you.

"One" and "Two" start shipping back-to-back, so there are 200 unique cards in the Fight Klub™ universe out-of-the-gate. Thereafter, a new expansion set will be released each quarter. Because each set features 4 heroes and 4 villains, you can pick and choose which sets you buy based on your favorites characters.

[Axlotl]

[Corporal Hicks]

So...this is a CCG made from loads of different movies?

[Axlotl]

Yep. Set ONE features Rambo, Crank, Saw II, Army of Darkness, Silence of the Lambs, and Friday the 13th. Set TWO has Tank Girl, Reservoir Dogs, Lost Boys, Devil's Rejects, Species, and Delta Force. Then theres some Terminator 2 promos you get if you buy 3 packs (kilos) of set TWO.

[mrdomino]

Skeptical doesn't even begin to describe it.

This scheme looks great from the perspective of a quick look-over, and from the perspective of the store-less gamer.

However, having worked at a games store all my life, most of what I can see here is yet another way to try and cut retailers out of everything. Now, the argument could be made that a store could set itself up as a connector, get their local players to buy into that game, and reap 10% of the profits without any of the overhead costs, but sadly, 10% just can't cut it for retail unless you're operating on a ginormous London or New York City type of level. So retail gets cut out.

Decipher is a great company, I have no doubt that this will be a great game, and for people that get in on the ground floor, it could very well be a free game, which, as a gamer myself, I have to admit is pretty awesome. The concept of a sort of action movie of Super Smash Bros. also sets my inner fanboy wild. I just wish Decipher wouldn't cut out the traditional economic model in this. True, the market may be evolving and whatnot, but frankly with economic times the way they are, my store, my families livelihood (I'm the owner's son) is jeapordized enough without Decipher making the next great CCG without us.

Here's hoping I get proven wrong and Decipher works up a way to work with retailers on this. Otherwise, I just can't in good conscience condone this one.

[Axlotl]

I do agree that that is a problem

[Axlotl]

The site is finally online, my handle is Axlotl. If anyone wants to join, you create an account by saying the name of whoever sent you. which, in this case, is me. =P

There are demo decks and plenty of card images to get a feel for the game before buying anything.

EDIT: www.decipher.com to join

[Axlotl]

Well, I've been enjoying the game so far. My only criticisms are that the card pool is a bit thin right now, and the card type "effect" has way to many sub-par cards, in compared to Gear cards. (Effects boost 1 combat and are discard, Gear do the same thing, but are reusable.) I also don't like how random some card titles seem, but really, any complaints i have don't really effect the enjoyability of game play, thus far. I'll admit though, it might be hard to say if I'll like the game as much after I play it a while, and get past the joy of a new, active game I'm interested for the first time in like 5 years.

The cards look nice. Its been so long since I smelled new cards, that might sound weird, but i love the new card smell, and I associate that "new card smell" to many good memories. lol.

The characters tend to play different enough to notice, which is good. Currently i'm personally looking to run a Sil (Species) deck , she's got a few nice combos, and plays a decent game of control.

The Kilos I ordered arrived way sooner than I ever thought the would, once they started shipping. customer service has been great. people with damages or missing cards have gotten their entire orders replaced for free. The websites really nice also.

I'm really hoping to be able to play an active CCG in tournaments again. Tournament play was always the major draw for CCGs, AVP is pretty much the only CCG I really played extensively in a casual environment.

Its also worth noting, that where AVP plays exactly like the movie, Fight Klub game play is fairly abstract. Its not so easy to image the card game events playing out in a cinematic format like you can with AvP. (I swear you could write an AVP movie script based off the play-by-play of a GOOD game of AVP) While I would prefer a game where the concepts are more concrete, and things are very flavorful, I do like the gameplay of Fight Klub and am happy enough with it.

[Axlotl]

[Axlotl]

So far 6 cards have been previewed, all Terminator 2 cards. And I think the set looks excellent so far!

T-1000 is probably going to be my deck of choice, he looks amazing so far.

The sites also more accessible now to people who are just looking into the game, no credit card required to register, and you can now join the site without an invite, although if you do join, its better to use someone's name, like, oh, say... Axlotl.

[mrdomino]

If they add more sci-fi licenses that I actually care about, I would seriously consider this.

I just can't bring myself to shell out decent money for characters from movies I hate and/or am indifferent to/don't like all that much - Saw, Platoon, Rambo, Devil's Rejects...

Bring on the Alien and the Predator, bring on Korben and Leeloo, Rick Deckard, Roy Batty, James T. Kirk, Neo, Morpheus, Luke and Vader.

[Axlotl]

While I like all those suggestions, the problem is, its not just a scifi movie-based CCG, so the scifi stuff would have to be staggered out over multiple releases alongside action and horror movie characters.

[mrdomino]

Yeah. And while I understand the reasoning behind it, it means the game just really isn't for me. There's just too many other demands on my wallet to be spending money on a game I only want some of the cards for.

[Axlotl]

You know, this makes me think that maybe they should consider doing "movie packs" with only cards from 1 movie in them.

]Maybe I'll suggest that on the forums.