Publishing

  1. How did you come to the conclusion you wanted a TCG, and not an LCG or a board game style card game?

    We wanted to build up Grand Archive TCG at the local level, with communities forming around the local game store as a nexus and play area. For that, our approach was to design a product that game stores could move at a sustainable margin and incentivize support for locals, singles trading, and community building to further sustain game stores. The TCG format was perfect for that. The additional focus on collectibility in foils and Collector Rares meant that playable singles would be more manageable for players, but that there’d always be something new or exciting for collectors looking to chase. Also, almost all of us on the dev team played, collected, or traded TCGs throughout our lives. When it came down to what type of card game we ideally wanted to make, there was no question. Being able to recapture the magic of chasing shiny cards in store or trading rares on the playground with the Grand Archive TCG community has been an incredible experience.

  2. Why did you leave out some odd commons from the foil pool?

    Our goal with not including all of the commons, namely the champion and spirit cards, as foil, was to differentiate our product editions. For champions specifically, our four mainline champions, Lorraine, Rai, Silvie, and Zander, have foil versions within Dawn of Ashes 1st Edition, but not Alter Edition. Conversely, Merlin, Tristan, Mordred, and Allen only have foil versions in Alter Edition, but not 1st Edition. Similar cases with the high rarity chases like the CURs and CSRs. Now if you’re wondering where the foil spirits are… keep reading until the end for a sneak peak!

  3. What is your plan to incentivize players to go to local hobby shops and play the game?

    Stores that ordered Dawn of Ashes Alter edition through distribution should have received event kits from their distributor based on their order size. These kits provide very enticing rewards for players that show up to locals, allowing store owners to kickstart their community. Additionally, we’re working on our organized play application, which will allow players to keep track of their rank and performance throughout each season, unlocking additional prize cards and rewards, more akin to rankings or seasons in competitive video games.

  4. As a store, how do we go about getting product and running tournaments?

    The primary channel for a store to buy product wholesale would be from your distributor, listed here on our website. We’ve partnered with major distributors globally to bring Grand Archive TCG to the broader hobby store network. As for tournament support, as mentioned above, event packs are complementary with each set release and are meant for stores to use in organized play and tournament prizing. We have many more exciting things planned to better support OP stores and communities as well!

Gameplay

  1. If a multi-player format were to be created for this game, will there be cards made to support this type of format? Would the game rules still be the same?

    We believe a multi-player will come naturally as the card pool increases in size. All of the cards we design will be compatible with multi-player formats, and key mechanics are also designed with those formats in mind as future design spaces. For the most part, the game rules remain the same, just some minor adjustments in regard to how a game starts. Right now, we’re fully dedicated to developing, testing, and delivering a fantastic product for the main formats for Grand Archive TCG, but we welcome our community to test and try-out their own homebrew multi-player formats, which we will do our best to support!

  2. Will there ever be a banlist for the game with regard to sanctioned tournaments? If so, how often will it get updated?

    As much as we’d like to avoid it, there will inevitably be a banlist. Although we do our best to rigorously playtest each set before each release, there’s always the possibility that a balance or user experience issue slips through. We plan to post an update to our banlist roughly every two months regardless if there was a change to the banlist or not.

Future of Grand Archive

  1. What is the release cadence for future sets? How often will it be full set vs supplemental?

    We’re planning to release a new set every 3-4 months, with our next upcoming set, Fractured Crown, planned for August 25th! Currently, we are planning our sets to alternate between main sets and supplemental sets, with main sets being draftable and supplemental sets supporting or tweaking existing archetypes.

  2. Will upcoming sets have a 1st edition available to everyone or was that a one time kickstarter exclusive?

    Our upcoming set, Fractured Crown will only be printed in one edition. However, we’ll be giving 1st and Alter Edition another go in set 3, which will be a new main set. Our design goals with having an Alter Edition split was to differentiate the product slightly for collectors and players by providing alternate arts, unique chase CSRs, and a subset of cards to tweak the meta, but still provide the accessibility of a main set. This time we’ll be leaning towards the ideas of Alter Edition even more than we did in Dawn of Ashes. We don’t plan to print Alter Edition alongside 1st Edition–only when demand for a reprint becomes necessary. 

  3. Will there be any new champions that will be added to Grand Archive with regard to the available classes and their mechanics?

    Definitely. Champions are such a fun and varied design space that we can explore, not only within the game mechanics, but also within art, lore, and the worldbuilding of Grand Archive TCG. We still have three new classes to explore, Cleric, Ranger, and Guardian, and new champions can bring different archetypes and build-paths as well for players to try out.

  4. Hi Roger! I have seen that your company respects the collectors of the game just as much as the players. Any new exciting ways you are planning in the future to embrace all existing Grand Archive TCG customers while driving newcomers in?

    Hello and thanks for participating in our Q&A! There’s so many ideas and plans we want to try out, not only for drawing in newcomers and building up communities, but also for engaging with players and collectors across the spectrum. We’ve found anime and tabletop conventions to be successful at engaging with new and local communities and want to keep expanding our footprint globally. On the competitive side, while I can’t talk in too much detail about some planned and prospective ideas, we’re excited to host our very first Ascent Houston on September 30th! This will be our first competitive-level event that caters to both players and collectors, and, you guessed it, will have foil alternate art spirits as prize cards. We hope this celebration of the Grand Archive TCG community will be a fun-filled weekend that we can then look to scale globally in the future!

Reminder
Grand Archive TCG is currently available on the TCGplayer Marketplace! List your inventory today. 

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