Over the past week or so we've gotten a lot of news regarding the future of Lightseekers. This has led to a lot of discussions. Some of these discussion have led to confusion, some have led to worry, and yet others have led to dismay.
So today I hope to take a closer look at what we know to perhaps offer some clarity, relieve some worry, and provide some hope for the future.
What Happened?
A lot of things have been announced (and we're expecting a few more this week), but the big news is that when the new set (Wave 4 – Uprising) lands in early 2019, a large portion of Lightseekers Awakening cards will no longer be valid for tournament play.
While at first glance this might sounds scary, it's not as bad as it seems.
Anything that has been (or will be) reprinted will still be valid for tournament play. This includes all the reprints in Mythical, all the reprints in Kindred and the Kindred Constructed Decks, as well as a few more reprints recently announced in the upcoming Rift Packs.
I've taken the time to put all of this information into spreadsheet form along with some other information I'll discuss later in this article.
Long story, short, there were 372 unique cards released for Awakening. Currently 126 of these cards have been reprinted or will be by the end of the year.
Keeping this in mind, let's dive a little deeper.
My Thoughts
Before we get too far into this, I would like to say that I am fully on board with these changes.
The shear amount of bans, errata, and cards missing family icons that we needed to remember was getting ridiculous. While this doesn't stop me from playing the game I could see it as being a detractor for anyone who might just be getting started.
It is particularly troublesome for those who regularly host tournaments or other events.
So personally, I am very happy to see Awakening being phased out.
From a business perspective, here at Delivery Crab, it certainly creates some new challenges, but for the long-term (and short-term) health of the game I honestly think this was the best decision.
Lightseekers: Uprising
Wave 4 also now known as Lightseekers: Uprising is due out in early 2019.
For the first time ever, alongside the new wave, we will be getting a Core Box. This set will include reprints from the first three waves. It is very likely that this will add to the 126 cards that have already been reprinted.
But naturally this is the one thing that everyone wants to know. Which cards will be reprinted in the Core Box?
Based on information we have and extrapolating some past behavior I think we can get a pretty good idea of what to expect.
I'm going to break this down in a way that makes sense to me, so I hope that it makes sense to you as well.
Heroes
I do not expect to see any key Awakening heroes reprinted in the Core Box.
I think most of us can agree that there are only one or two heroes per Order that are worth playing. And if you're completely honest with yourself you can admit that these few were broken, overpowered, or at the very least heavily abused.
Regardless, I don't think too many of us are going to be heartbroken when these heroes disappear. With 7 or 8 heroes in each Order that's 50 cards that we don't have to worry about.
Additionally, considering the 60 heroes (54 new, 6 reprints) from Mythical and the 51 heroes in Kindred there are still plenty of options. I suspect that we'll get a few more options in Uprising as well.
Combos
The combos are where we start to run into some problems.
There were 4 combos from each Order reprinted in the Kindred Constructed Decks, but that leaves 10 combos from each Order unaccounted for.
We only got 3 new combos per Order in Mythical, but then 10 new combos per Order in Kindred.
Between the first three sets I felt that there was a good balance of what the combos could do and how you were able to pay for them.
Certainly some of the combos from Awakening will be missed, but I feel that very few (if any) additional combos will make it into the Core Box. I think that we'll just see a solid number of new/replacement combos in Uprising and we'll be good going forward.
Action Cards
Now this is where it gets fun. This is where I think that we'll see the bulk of the reprints in the Core Box which only makes sense because the action cards make up the bulk of your deck.
There is one factor that some of you may have already considered, but I would agree that it makes cards perfect candidates for reprinting.
Families.
Awakening is the only set that wasn't printed with the family icons. However, when PlayFusion finally explained these icons they also provided us with a list of cards that belonged to particular families even though they've never been printed with the icons.
This list includes an additional 66 cards.
Hypothetically, if we got these 66 cards along with the 126 that have already been reprinted, that would give us a grand total of 192 reprints. This would be a little more than half of the 372 Awakening cards.
While this is roughly the amount of cards that I expect to see overall, I do have some problems with it being those 66 cards.
My biggest problem comes from past precedent. PlayFusion has always had a thing about keeping things even and balanced across the six Orders. There were 14 combos for each Order in Awakening. There were 30 action (attack, defend, and buff) cards for each Order in Awakening.
But if we say that the 66 cards are included in the reprints then we will have:
- 26 Astral action cards
- 21 Dread action cards
- 23 Mountain action cards
- 22 Nature action cards
- 22 Storm action cards
- 24 Tech action cards
It doesn't quite work.
It is my opinion that after the Core Box is released we'll still have access to 20 action cards from each Order in Awakening. There may be a few tough cuts, but think about it…I bet you can come up with at least 5, maybe even 10 cards from each Order that you wouldn't miss.
Could they leave us with uneven amounts of cards? Could they supplement Uprising with a number of cards to even out the Orders?
Yes and yes, but that wouldn't feel right and I think that may lead to an uprising from the player base once again and that's certainly not ideal.
Items
Yes, yes, I know items are technically action cards, but I wanted to cover them separately.
Even moreso than the combo cards, the items put us in a bit of a predicament.
The big boost in item cards from Kindred certainly helps, but when you add in the items from the Rift Packs the balance is off again.
Because some of the toy items were never released there was always a bit of a gap between the Orders here, but I think this is something they would definitely like to avoid going forward.
So the question is: Do the “vanilla” items from Awakening get reprinted or do we get another boatload of items in Uprising?
In any case, regardless of what we end up getting, remember that this is not the end.
We will also be looking for other opportunities to reprint appropriate cards from Awakening in Boosters, Bundles & Decks so that they can be used again in tournaments.
Just because your favorite card wasn't reprinted now doesn't mean that it never will be reprinted. Or you may just find a new favorite in Uprising.
2019 is looking very promising for Lightseekers. I hope you'll be there with me to experience it.