STAR WARS STATISTICAL INFO AND ANSWERS TO SOME INITIAL
DISTRIBUTION QUESTIONS
This is Tom Braunlich again, pinch-hitting for DAnswerMan this Xmas.
Over the next few posts I am listing some official information about Star
Wars: CCG which I hope will clear up some of the confusion going
around. Judging from the posts and email I've seen today, there are
several major misconceptions out there. I will discuss these in
successive posts:
1) How Many Rare Cards?
2) Weren't the Main Characters supposed to be Common?
3) Distribution?
4) Detailed Statistical Information about SW:CCG
1) Misconception #1 -- "there are only 48 rare cards." I have not been
able to locate the source of this rumor. Perhaps it was a misprint in
some past FAQ, or perhaps one of the many wild rumors that fly about
the net. In any case, in fact there are 108 rare cards, 108 uncommon,
and 108 common cards in SW:CCG. (see the details below, because
there are further frequencies within each group). Since the game is
divided into the Light and Dark side (162 cards in each), this means
within each side there are 54 rare, 54 uncommon, and 54 common.
I know that many people have been trying to puzzle this out, and am
sorry for the inconvenience this misinformation might have caused you. I
talked to DPresident (Warren Holland) about it, and later today he is
going to provide me with the full card list which also lists the rarity level of each card, and I will post it at that time. This will, I hope, provide the
needed information. I apologize for not posting it on Friday, the release
date -- I should have anticipated that the unusual structure of the card
frequencies might cause confusion.
2) Misconception #2 -- "All the major characters were supposed to be
Common. What gives?"
DPresident and I were surprised to hear that this concept was still
out there. Here is the explanation: Early last Spring, in a President's
Letter FAQ written by DPresident, he noted that we were planning to
make all the main characters common. At that time it was true; we had
a scheme in which they were common but the stuff you needed to make
really good use of them was rare. This plan had to be greatly changed,
however.
Why? Because we received an electronic mountain of outraged
email saying please don't do it! Collectors who had already pre-ordered
boxes were angry that the most collectible characters would be
relegated to a cheap card. There would be little to trade, and the
collectibility (which is, after all, a part of the fun) would be "ruined", even
if the game played well that way (which, as we later found out, it didn't).
The change in plans was announced, but apparently a lot of
people didn't get this notice. (That's one of the drags about the internet -
- any information you release sticks around forever, percolating through
the net, and does not adjust itself if a change needs to be made.)
Instead, we found an approach that would please both collectors
and players, which of course is the goal. Here is what we did, and why:
The main characters are rare cards. There is just no way around
this (although we made several of the most collectible cards "Rare - B",
which is more common (see the statistics section posted below)). It is in
all our interests to design it this way -- it's not just "greed" on Decipher's
part. We originally tried to avoid this, as discussed above, but it just
wasn't possible. Not only does it hurt collectibility if the main characters
are common, but our playtesting found that the playability was also
unsatisfactory -- and it also lacked logic since common cards can't be
stronger than rare cards, and thus the remaining cards in that set made
little sense relative to rarity. It just didn't work. In one of my emails a
player asked, "How can you trade if it is so hard to get Leia, etc.?" How
could you trade otherwise? If the main characters were common, no
one would trade them and few other cards would be desirable for
trading either. The most popular cards simply must be relatively hard to
find; that's the nature of these games.
Yet, of course, we recognize that unlike Star Trek (which has a
big cast and a huge number of guest stars), in Star Wars most of the
action revolves around only a dozen or so characters. Therefore, our
design challenge was to make the gameplay still be fun even if you
don't have all the main characters, as well as to provide people with
ways to make better use of the main characters which they actually do
have. This we did in the game design in several ways:
1) First, remember that this is "Star Wars", not "The Luke and Leia
Show." This game is a simulation of the ENTIRE Star Wars universe --
not just limited to a recycling of the plot we have all seen a hundred
times in the movies. The game provides you with ALL the elements of
the Star Wars world, not just the main characters, and lets you explore
aspects of that world not seen in the movie. You can concentrate on the
main characters if you want; or you can play out other intriguing
scenarios with the many other interesting characters in the SW
universe. It brings alive all those aliens in that cantina, each of whom
has their own story, or it allows you to concentrate on any particular
aspect, etc. How would a horde of Jawas or Tusken Raiders do
against the main characters, for example? It is as if the Star Wars
movie is one possible outcome that might be generated out of an infinite
number of games with these card elements.
In other words, the first point is that the game is designed to
play well even without the main characters, so that you don't have to
collect a full set to play -- which is in response to another major piece of
feedback we got from players during the design, that the "average
player" with a small collection should be able to play and compete even
against an "all-star" deck owned by a big collector. You do not have to
have Han and Darth to play the game -- in fact, as you will soon
discover, there are many deck strategies which would make these
characters almost extraneous, and you might intentionally leave them
out if you want. They are certainly good characters, but not necessary
characters.
One other thing -- many character which are minor in the movie
have been bolstered and are quite good in this game, and many are
uncommon and a few even common. This includes people like Motti
and Tagge, many of the aliens like Djhas'pur, etc. They rival the main
characters in playability, if not psychologically.
But of course, Han and Leia, etc. are all our favorites, and
psychologically people want them to both collect and to play with. With
this in mind, we did some other things to make this as easy as we
could:
2) The "TWO-PLAYER INTRODUCTORY GAME" version of
SW:CCG, which will be out shortly, not only provides a lot of basic cards
and thus serves as a good starting point for people, but also has
common versions of LUKE and VADER in it, which help even casual
players easily get some main characters. (This set -- by the way -- will
also have four additional cards in it which are not in the basic SW:CCG
set.) True, the Luke and Vader provided here are weakened relative to
the Luke and Darth Vader in the normal set, in order to protect the value
of those key cards of course, but they are quite good in play, and "work
with" cards that refer to Luke or Vader. More on this later; Decipher will
be providing the full details.
3) The "Back" cards, are an example of many subtle elements
which "bring out" the main characters while helping players get more
out of what rare cards they do have. Cards like "Han's Back", "The
Empire's Back", etc., essentially allow you to get extra duty out of these
rare cards. The back cards are uncommon, but allow you to play as if
you have extra rares -- one Han Solo, for example, could be used as if
you had several of them in your deck. This allows players to design
decks which are "built around" one of the major characters that they DO
have, without the need to get multiples of certain rare characters.
4) There are also many "integrated cards" which have "secondary
uses" that give advantages when certain main characters are in play like
Luke or Obi-Wan (in addition to a more common use). This method of
design on such cards allowed us to make sure the game still plays well
normally even with a lot of common characters, and yet still to have
ways to build upon the rare characters that you do have, making them
stronger and more valuable to you. It is possible to design your decks
around the rare characters you currently have, and make those decks
very effective, by using cards which have these secondary use bonuses.
This is important because it means that you do not need all the main
characters to have a very strong deck -- in fact, a deck which focuses on
1-3 rare characters might be better than one which just has a lot of rare
characters in it. This is all strategy stuff, of course, but is an example of
a lot of subtle elements we endeavored to put into the gameplay
which are aimed at allowing players who cannot get or cannot afford a
full set to still have many ways of creating strong, competitive decks.
It was inevitable that the main characters be rare. It just has to be that
way, and it is best that way for all involved. DPresident might have more
to say about this later.
3) Misconception #3 -- "the distribution of the cards is all screwed up."
Actually, it isn't. I'm sure there might be some instances in which
particular cases were packed incorrectly by the printers, and so on, and
Decipher's customer service department will take care of those. This
misconception simply comes from the wrong assumptions about the
structure of the card frequencies, as discussed above. See the attached
information about the "Statistics" of the game for more details.
Please remember that SW:CCG has a lot of unusual features about it
that are going to be different from what you are used to. Drawing
conclusions by comparing the game to Magic is bound to be off-focus.
Essentially there are two card sets here -- Light and Dark side, with 162
cards in each, even though they are packaged together in equal
proportions.
I think you will also discover many subtleties in the strategy of the game
which, once you see how they work, will explain why certain things in
the design are the way they are. That doesn't mean the design is
perfect, of course, so please keep providing us with your feedback and
suggestions. :-)
Q: Where is R2D2, Chewbacca, Wedge, Boba Fett, etc?
A: Don't worry, all the cool stuff and cool characters you know and
love will be in the game (and more!). But we can't put them all in at
once! The game is being released in stages called "Expansion Sets", in
rough chronological order. Popular characters like Boba Fett, who
appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, will come into the game at the
appropriate time.
The first expansion set, which we are now working on, is called
"A New Hope" and completes the two sets required to cover the first
movie. The initial set is called the "Premier" set, because it provides the
solid foundation upon which the rest of the expansions will be built. We
have many plans for the structure we will build on this foundation! What
you see now is just the beginning; the game will evolve in many ways
and will grow in scope just like the three movies in the Classic Trilogy
do. (That's what Lucas calls them now, the "Classic" trilogy, as opposed
to the coming prequels trilogy.)
In view of these plans, we have to some extent "saved" certain
features of the game to introduce in later sets. Bounty hunters, for
example, will be a big thing in the future. In some cases, we have
introduced them here (like Smugglers), but intend to develop them more
later, etc.
We did also decide to save a few main characters for the ANH
expansion in order to help keep anticipation of that set high. These
include R2D2, Chewie, Wedge, and Greedo; plus lots of other cool stuff
which are not characters, such as cards related to the Death Star and its
super weapon, etc. Lots of juicy stuff! You might say this is a pure
marketing thing by Decipher and to some extent yes it is -- yet you
would also want Decipher to make sure that the expansions are cool
and interesting too, not just the first set right? This requires them to be
somewhat choosy, to spread out the goods in a logical manner. So,
some things were reserved for later, where they AND THEIR RELATED
CARDS can be properly introduced. I feel that we were able to pack an
enourmous amount of cool stuff into the Premiere set, and hope you will
agree that it serves as a good foundation for what is to come.
STAR WARS -- SOME STATISTICS
Here is the basic statistical data on the SW:CCG game. A more detailed
FAQ will be posted on this later.
INDIVIDUAL CARDS:
There are 324 individual cards in the set. The cards are packaged in a
random assorting method. 162 are "Light Side", 162 are "Dark Side"
(differentiated by the card backs) 108 are Rare, 108 are Uncommon,
and 108 are Common (Within the Rare, Uncommon, and Common
frequencies, there are two sub-groups, which are explained below.)
SUB-LEVELS OF CARD FREQUENCY:
Important: Each Level of Rarity is broken into TWO SUB-SETS, "A" and
"B", as follows:
For EACH side (Light and Dark), there are:
54 Rare Cards, 54 Uncommon Cards, and 54 Common Cards
However, on the printing sheets, there is a further breakdown into two
groups because some cards are doubled-up on the sheet, as follows:
RARE CARDS (Out of 78 slots on the sheet, there are:)
30 cards single (RARE - A)
24 cards double (RARE - B) (i.e., there are two of these particular
cards on the sheet)
UNCOMMON CARDS (Out of 78 slots on the sheet, there are:)
30 cards single (UNCOMMON - A)
24 cards double (UNCOMMON - B)
COMMON CARDS (Out of 99 slots on the sheet, there are:)
10 cards single (COMMON - A)
43 cards double (COMMON - B)
1 card triple (COMMON - C)
(The Common - C's on each side are the "Trooper" cards, excellent
when used in multiple)
STATISTICS ON THE TOTAL NUMBERS OF CARDS
The run of limited edition was 199,800,000 cards for the U.S. (half of
which were released by Decipher Inc. on the 22nd of December 1995)
and 101,520,000 cards for international distribution (The second half of
the U.S. distribution and all of the international distribution is scheduled
for release in January 1996.)
United States:
Starters 20,000 cases x 6 displays x 12 starters = 86,400,000
Expansions 35,000 cases x 6 displays x 36 expansions = 113,400,000
Total = 199,800,000
International:
Starters 10,000 cases x 6 displays x 12 starters = 43,200,000
Expansions 18,000 cases x 6 displays x 36 expansions = 58,320,000
Total = 101,520,000
OTHER LIMITED EDITION STATS:
30,000 Cases of Starters:
Common (A, B &C) 30,000 x 72 x 44 = 95,040,000
Uncommon (A & B) 30,000 x 72 x 14 = 30,240,000
Rare (A & B) 30,000 x 72 x 2 = 4,320,000
53,000 Cases of Expansion sets:
Common (A, B &C) 53,000 x 216 x 10 = 114,480,000
Uncommon (A & B) 53,000 x 216 x 4 = 45,792,000
Rare (A & B) 53,000 x 216 x 1 = 11,448,000
Total = 301,320,000
Note: Decipher ran 1,000 uncut sheets of each common, uncommon,
rare cards. Most of these sheet will be cut and are targeted as special
sets to be used in promotions and company gifts. These sheets are not
for sale.
*********************************
STAR WARS CCG
CARD LIST
WITH RARITY AND CARD TYPE
*********************************
12/25/95
This list presents the cards in order of rarity.
(R1= Rare A, R2 = Rare B, etc.)
This is a non-official list, being posted by DAnswerMan.
An official list which is alphabetized and otherwise better,
will be posted soon.
***** LIGHT SIDE CARDS
Rarity Light Side Card Name Type
************RARE CARDS
1 R1 Luke Skywalker CHARACTER: REBEL
2 R1 Han Solo CHARACTER: REBEL
3 R1 Obi-Wan Kenobi CHARACTER: REBEL
4 R1 Leia Organa CHARACTER: REBEL
5 R1 Red Leader CHARACTER: REBEL
6 R1 Dutch CHARACTER: REBEL
7 R1 Kal'Falnl C'ndros CHARACTER: ALIEN
8 R1 C-3PO (See-Threepio) CHARACTER: DROID
9 R1 Millennium Falcon STARSHIP
10 R1 Obi-Wan's Lightsaber CHARACTER WEAPON
11 R1 Jedi Presence LOST INTERRUPT
12 R1 Krayt Dragon Howl LOST INTERRUPT
13 R1 Move Along... USED INTERRUPT
14 R1 Disarmed EFFECT
15 R1 Skywalkers LOST INTERRUPT
16 R1 Gift of the Mentor LOST INTERRUPT
17 R1 Don't Get Cocky LOST INTERRUPT
18 R1 Utinni ! USED INTERRUPT
19 R1 Revolution EFFECT
20 R1 Lightsaber Proficiency EFFECT
21 R1 Death Star PlansUTINNI EFFECT
22 R1 Beggar EFFECT
23 R1 Affect Mind EFFECT
24 R1 K'lor'slug EFFECT
25 R1 Our Most Desperate Hour UTINNI EFFECT
26 R1 Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi USED EFFECT
27 R1 Cantina Brawl LOST INTERRUPT
28 R1 Obi-Wan's Cape EFFECT
29 R1 Yavin 4: Massassi Throne Room LOCATION
30 R1 Tatooine: Obi-Wan's Hut LOCATION
31 R2 Biggs Darklighter CHARACTER: REBEL
32 R2 Dice Ibegon CHARACTER: ALIEN
33 R2 Leesub Sirln CHARACTER: ALIEN
34 R2 Gold 1 STARSHIP
35 R2 Red 3 STARSHIP
36 R2 Gold 5 STARSHIP
37 R2 Sandcrawler TRANSPORT VEHICLE
38 R2 Tarkin Seeker AUTOMATED WEAPON
39 R2 Tagge Seeker AUTOMATED WEAPON
40 R2 Han's Heavy Blaster Pistol CHARACTER WEAPON
41 R2 Thank the Maker LOST INTERRUPT
42 R2 On the Edge LOST INTERRUPT
43 R2 The Force Is Strong With This One LOST INTERRUPT
44 R2 Solo Han LOST INTERRUPT
45 R2 Warrior's Courage LOST INTERRUPT
46 R2 Full Throttle LOST INTERRUPT
47 R2 Noble Sacrifice LOST INTERRUPT
48 R2 Into the Garbage Chute, Flyboy USED INTERRUPT
49 R2 Mantellian Savrip EFFECT
50 R2 Kessel Run UTINNI EFFECT
51 R2 Demotion EFFECT
52 R2 Rebel Planners EFFECT
53 R2 WED-9-M1 "Bantha" Droid CHARACTER: DROID
54 R2 Tatooine: Cantina LOCATION
************UNCOMMON CARDS
1 U1 Jek Porkins CHARACTER: REBEL
2 U1 Pops CHARACTER: REBEL
3 U1 General Dodonna CHARACTER: REBEL
4 U1 Owen Lars CHARACTER: REBEL
5 U1 Kabe CHARACTER: ALIEN
6 U1 BoShek CHARACTER: ALIEN
7 U1 Wioslea CHARACTER: ALIEN
8 U1 2X-3KPR (Tooex) CHARACTER: DROID
9 U1 Red 1 STARSHIP
10 U1 Luke's X-34 Landspeeder TRANSPORT VEHICLE
11 U1 Leia's Sporting Blaster CHARACTER WEAPON
12 U1 Jedi Lightsaber CHARACTER WEAPON
13 U1 Quad Laser Cannon STARSHIP WEAPON
14 U1 Targeting Computer DEVICE
15 U1 This is All Your Fault USED INTERRUPT
16 U1 Alter USED INTERRUPT
17 U1 Sense USED INTERRUPT
18 U1 Panic USED INTERRUPT
19 U1 Special Modifications EFFECT
20 U1 Rycar Ryjerd EFFECT
21 U1 Jawa Siesta EFFECT
22 U1 Crash Site Memorial EFFECT
23 U1 A Disturbance In The Force EFFECT
24 U1 Eyes in the Dark EFFECT
25 U1 Restricted Deployment EFFECT
26 U1 Nightfall EFFECT
27 U1 Tusken Breath Mask UTINNI EFFECT
28 U1 Yerka Mig UTINNI EFFECT
29 U1 Death Star: Trash Compactor LOCATION
30 U1 Dantooine LOCATION
31 U2 Beru Lars CHARACTER: REBEL
32 U2 Momaw Nadon CHARACTER: ALIEN
33 U2 Figrin D'an CHARACTER: ALIEN
34 U2 Corellian Corvette STARSHIP
35 U2 Hydroponics Station DEVICE
36 U2 Caller DEVICE
37 U2 Han's Back LOST INTERRUPT
38 U2 Leia's Back LOST INTERRUPT
39 U2 Luke's Back LOST INTERRUPT
40 U2 Return of a Jedi LOST INTERRUPT
41 U2 Beru Stew LOST INTERRUPT
42 U2 Spaceport Speeders USED INTERRUPT
43 U2 Nabrun Leids USED INTERRUPT
44 U2 Escape Pod USED INTERRUPT
45 U2 Out of Nowhere USED INTERRUPT
46 U2 How Did We Get Into This Mess? USED INTERRUPT
47 U2 Traffic Control EFFECT
48 U2 Plastoid Armor UTINNI EFFECT
49 U2 Yavin Sentry EFFECT
50 U2 Yavin 4: Massasi War Room LOCATION
51 U2 Death Star: Detention Block Control Rm LOCATION
