Our Set 4 Pre-Release Experience
3/07-3/13: Gameplay videos and pull rate stats included.
Table of Contents
Total Breakdown (← feel free to skip to this if you’re only interested in the stats)
Here’s my playlist for the JTL pre-release gameplays and a deck building video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLL9k1mVeS6gkV3HkaFImVtrjn-ZgDHU_
How much we preordered
I actually toned it quite down - we only have a single Carbonite box preordered. I was initially planning to order regular boxes from the Vegas PQ store, because we had store credit via Alyssa’s Set 2 Finalist PQ prizing, but I decided not to. The idea/hope being that I can trade a Prestige card or something from the Carbonite box for one or two C/UC playsets and just buy whatever singles we may need.
~ Need a refresher on what’s inside a Carbonite pack? ~
~ ~ ~
During pre-release week, we went to Kingslayer Games Lake Forest to utilize our gift cards to pay for our entry fees. They had Carbonite boxes in stock in-store, so we bought two additional Carbonite boxes (using our gift cards).
So, a total of three Carbonite boxes “pre-ordered.”
Our 4 Pre-Releases
3/07 - Kingslayer Games Lake Forest
I recorded all three rounds at Kingslayer Games.
Format: Bo1, 3 rounds, 11 Players. https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/251281
We both went 2-1. Alyssa played Vonreg Yellow, and I played Luke Yellow. We got matched against each other in the very first round, such an early friendly fire rip.
Our Two Kits:
Legendary: 3 regular, 1 HS, 1 HSF
Rare: 9 regular, 2 foil
Our 6 Prizing/Participation packs:
Legendary: 1 HS
Rare: 6 regular, 1 HS
Nothing notable from the Weekly Play packs
3/08 - Pyscho Turtle Collectibles
I couldn’t really record at Pyscho Turtle Collectibles, due to inadequate table space (basically mats touching mats) and I didn’t have the neck mount strap for POV recording at the time.
Format: Bo3, 4 rounds (played until there’s an undefeated player), 24 Players. https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/263116
We both went 3-1. I placed 2nd and Alyssa placed 4th.
Alyssa played Rose Red. I played Luke Colossus for the first round, then changed the deck to Boba Yellow after realizing that I have a bit of indirect damage cards. Just like at Kingslayer yesterday, we got matched against each other in the very first round, such an early friendly fire rip.
Our Two Kits:
Legendary: 2 regular
Rare: 8 regular, 1 HSF, 2 bases
Our 10 Packs Prizing:
Legendary: 1 HS
Rare: 6 regular, 1 HS
Nothing notable from the Weekly Play packs
3/09 - Pyscho Turtle Collectibles
Format: Bo3, 4 rounds, 13 Players. https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/263894
Alyssa went 2-2, I went 4-0. Same event prizing as above.
Alyssa played Rose Red, and I played Vonreg Yellow. We got matched against each other in the third round. My final round was a mirror, against yesterday’s 1st place.
Our Two Kits:
Legendary: 3 regular, 1 HS, 1 HSF
Rare: 9 regular, 2 foil
Our 1 Box and 2 Packs Prizing:
Legendary: 5 regular, 1 HS
Rare: 19 regular, 1 HS, 2 Foil, 2 bases
S: 1 Foil
3/11 - Cardboard Games
Here’s a POV pre-release gameplay at CBG, I recorded all five rounds.
Format: Bo1, 5 rounds, 26 Players. https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/263084
Alyssa went 3-2, I went 5-0.
Alyssa played Poe Yellow, and I played as Boba Yellow. The notable thing is that I felt that this was my weakest pre-release deck vs the other three pre-releases we’ve attended, but I guess other people’s decks are just worse / I had decent matchups (which I didn’t think so, not vs Asajj or Vonreg), idk.
Our Two Kits:
Legendary: 2 regular
Rare: 10 regular, 2 HSF, 1 HS, 1 Foil
S: 2 Foil
Our 8 Packs Prizing:
Legendary: 1 regular
Rare: 7 regular, 1 foil
Nothing notable from the Weekly Play packs
Our Pull Rate Stats - 3x Carbonite Box
Carbonite Box 1 (Cardboard Games)
Prestige:
Tier 1: 7 (2 L, 2 R, 3 UC)
Tier 2: 5 (4 L, 1 S)
Non-Prestiges:
Showcase: 1 (Rose Tico 💀)
Legendary: 7 (2 HSF, 2 HS, 3 Foil)
Rare: 22 (3 HSF, 7 HS, 12 F)
S: 5 (1 HSF, 1 HS, 3 Foil)
Carbonite Box 2 & 3 (Kingslayer Games)
Prestige:
Tier 1: 15 (3 L, 5 R, 7 UC)
Tier 2: 9 (4 L, 1 R, 2 UC, 2 S)
Non-Prestiges:
Showcase: 1 (Lando)
Legendary: 11 (2 HSF, 4 HS, 5 Foil)
Rare: 44 (5 HSF, 14 HS, 22 Foil, 3 Foil bases)
S: 13 (3 HSF, 4 HS, 6 Foil)
Total Breakdown
For context: For Set 3, we went to three pre-release events (+17 prizing packs) and had five boxes by release (173 packs = ~7.2 boxes total).
Recap on total products:
3 Carbonite boxes
8 Pre-release kits + 50 prizing packs (including the box prizing) = 98 packs = ~4.08 boxes
Prestige:
Tier 1: 22 (5 L, 7 R, 10 UC)
Tier 2: 14 (8 L, 1 R, 2 UC, 3 S)
Others:
2 Showcases
41 legendaries
159 rares
Total cost (boxes + pre-release events): $1,116.78 (over $800 of this is from the three Carbonite boxes, two of which were paid with gift cards that were going to expire.)
Conclusion
No more buying JTL products; going to try to trade for my wants + cover gap with money. Definitely not sustainable for us to buy this many Carbonite boxes in future releases, depending on well/badly Prestige cards hold in value.
[Shameless plug: if you’re local to Orange County, I continually update my Google Sheet of my Wants/Haves - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12htidA63N8_IXpZ9pnaJNlLl4fyO6LWdRJh_xlB46ME ]
Onto the Set 4 deck building and weeklies!