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[CreedP]

Ever notice your OCTGN deck is made up of low-resolution card scans, proxies of various shades of the same card colors, all mixed with the clean new look of Virtual cards? How about those old cards with giant paragraphs of text, full of old clunky wordings with so much unnecessary verbiage, like Test of Strength and Stare Down Opponent? Superstars that still say "play" instead of "pack", High Risks made before "successfully played" was used (thanks, Rabid Wolverine, haha)

What if we could recreate the original cards with modern wording, clean card templates, and fresh crisp pictures?

Welcome to Vintage Raw Deal: where proxies, errata, and the modern Raw Deal age all blend together.

The method for using these Vintage versions would be like Throwbacks, you could pack one Unique card or up to 3 non-Unique cards with the same name, regardless of original, Throwback, or Vintage. In many cases, the Vintage version just has a shorter version of the same wording, as seen in recent errata. Another example is old cards with long text to allow Maintain Hold (Mandible Claw, Walls of Jericho etc) just say "Can be Maintained." Even the question of whether a card is "foil" or not can be solved with the addition of the "foil" tag (like Unique or Active).

Another perk is that we no longer need cards to intentionally be sub-optimal. In the printed game, rares were supposed to be better, so commons needed to be more situational - or flat-out just not good. Gotta fill those starter decks with something! But we can also tweak some underplayed cards that aren't otherwise perked (Back to Basics, all "Slam" or "Punch" cards) to have some potential usefulness.

Clearly this isn't all going to happen right away, that's a few thousand cards to make! The framework would be grouping cards into 15 Vintage sets, each around a major release. Vintage 1 is Premiere but would include the title belt promo cards, Vintage 3 is Backlash with It's All About the Game tin cards (plus SS1 Superstars), and so on.

A major benefit of this is reintroducing Classic play, even at the level of power creep from the original release. In other words, there could be a Vintage tournament with the rules: Vintage 1-5 only, so Premiere to Summerslam would be allowed (including era-relevant promos and prize cards).

So what's the status of this project? Well, it was actually started back in 2023, behind the scenes when time allowed between the Virtual sets, and we're proud to say that Vintage 1 is actually ready!  However, offering just Premiere cards feels boring (that doesn't even cover all the B2B cards!) so when Vintage 2 brings the Fully Loaded stars in, we'll make this available.

Hopefully this is as well-received as the new cards, and will give a more cohesive look to Raw Deal play on OCTGN.


FAQ:

Q: How will this be released?
A: The current plan is just to add it to OCTGN, but if there's enough interest (and not enough negative response) we could make it available for printing.

Q: So how long is the wait for Vintage 1 + 2 to release?
A: The time it takes to finish the non-Superstar-specific cards, but somewhere in the next few months optimally.

Q: How long will future sets take to make?
A: Unclear, as the new content in Virtual is the priority. Also, some Superstars will be difficult due to picture issues (Al Snow and Rene Dupree come to mind) but we'll figure it out!

Q: What happens when there just isn't a picture available for certain maneuver, like Noble's Trailer Hitch or Christian's Impaler?
A: In some cases, we have the right picture now! (Impaler, Taking Care of Business) Other times, we might switch it for another move with the same weight - Noble also used a Dragon Sleeper as a finisher, and that can "Count as The Trailer Hitch" to prevent someone packing both versions.
Other times, we can use the same move done by another wrestler and add their logo to it, like Chyna's Handspring Elbow (thank you Tiffany Stratton!)

Q: Will there be alternate versions of Superstar  cards?
A: Yes! But the priority is to have a good "classic" style Superstar card first, and we can always add more alts later to reflect different looks over time. (DX Shawn Michaels vs. Heartbreak Kid gear, etc)

Q: What happens when the SS3 version moves a perk to the Superstar ("your X is -5F") but the original version had the -5F on the card itself. Can you double-dip?
A: In small cases like that we'll probably errata the Classic card so there's only one perk, as intended. However, people seemed to prefer the old way  (shorter SS card text vs. the paragraphs added in SS3 versions), and despite a lot of PT feedback against it, it was done anyway - so we want to restore toward the original approach of simpler Superstar card text.

Q: Couldn't you guys have picked a different word that isn't so close to "Virtual"?
A: Sorry, blame Michael Cole. Plus it has a logo already from WWE!

Q: Will there be other changes to the original cards? Will that become the new standard for that card?
A: Yes, for example, Disqualification and Ref KO'ed! can be updated so they aren't actually played on the opponent's turn, ending the exceptions to that rule. And unless there's a major issue, one goal is to phase out the Classic cards as official versions (they can still be used, but Vintage would become the MRP for that card).


Here's some comparisons of the cards currently in OCTGN, contrasted with the Vintage versions.





Let us know what you think in the comments below!

[bridgepete]

I love the idea!!!  Let's do it!!!!

[MrPerfick]

Love this

[Shadowhyena1015]

Yooo that is an amazing idea!!

[Le_Chaps]

I have been trying to do something like this in ACCESS for a while now but I'm no DB guy and as a single father with a mortgage and zero free time for 2 years now... I'm so much hoping to see this in printable form since I have a crew of 5 guys with who we try to play as much as we can.

I've been trying to keep this wonderful game alive, and succeeding a little, with my friends and this would be a game changer to get older interested parties with us.

If you need help... I can't offer more than a virtual 🍺 and all my gratitude from a 43 years old guy whose been playing since Armageddon.