Fantasy Flight Games Announces Change To Their LCG Environments
In a recent Fireside Chat FFG announced changes to their Living Card Games with new Current and Legacy Environments coming soon.
Fantasy Flight Games is taking steps to rework their LCGs on a broader scale. They are introducing “Legacy” and “Current” Environments to their cooperative LCGs like The Lord of the Rings: TCG, Arkham Horror: TCG, and Marvel Champions: TCG. So what are these changes and why?
Current vs Legacy Environments
First up, let’s get into how FFG is defining these two environments and then we can get into the why.
“Essentially, starting later this year, older expansion products for our LCG lines will begin to be retired, which means that we will no longer be reprinting those products, and that they are no longer considered to be a part of the Current Environment.”
So what’s the Current Environment? That will essentially be the “Core Set” plus “any other evergreen (perpetually in print) expansions, as well as the newer expansions that have not yet been retired.” This should translate to roughly 2-3 years’ worth of active expansions for a system. The exact list will be updated and maintained by FFG.
The Legacy Environment is…basically everything that has ever been printed for a specific game system. “All products within each game line will always be compatible with all other products from that line, which means if you have a card, you can play it in Legacy. ”
Why The Naming Shuffle?
The reasons for the change are twofold. First up, there’s a very simple reason: accessibility. FFG’s LCG Design Lead Nate French sums it up this way:
“More than anything else, these changes are being introduced to make the LCGs more accessible and (by virtue of that increased accessibility) more sustainable long-term.
By establishing and emphasizing the Current Environment, an LCG is more appealing and manageable for a retailer to keep in stock, and newer players are not intimidated, confused, and/or turned away by a never-ending wall of product. Such barriers have caused former LCGs to collapse under their own weight, and the primary goal of introducing this change is to avoid these obstacles and continue to publish new content for each line for years to come.”
The second reason was hinted at in that above paragraph. It’s a design issue. These LCGs can get waaaaay to overloaded with cards and sets and it can become impossible to create in that space.
If you’ve ever played around with a CCG, then the concept of a “set rotation” isn’t anything new. What might be a tad strange is the fact that these games are primarily cooperative games. Who cares if a card is busted? Use it, don’t use it, or house rule it…it’s a co-op game, right?
This is addressed in the article. If you’re an aspiring game designer or just want to peek behind the curtain of the thought process of how these LCGs are made you should read it. Nate French does a pretty great job explaining the problem with an example.
For The Long Term Health of the Game
At the end of the day, I think this is a good change overall. If you’re a legacy player and don’t care about the shift, guess what? Nothings really changed for you and you’re card pool is just going to get larger and larger. If you’re a new player, having a Current Environment” to start with gives you a much better focus for your collection. It’s also going to be much easier for stores to stock and for new players to get into.
The Current Environment also gives the designers more freedom in their design/creation of new cards. They can design cards that are specific to a particular set without having to consider the ramifications of previous cards that are out of rotation. I also think it forces players to get more creative within the limited card pool. I can’t tell you how many decks I’ve built for Arkham Horror that have me returning to some old favorites. If those got restricted then I’d have to look for different answers in my deck. That’s kind of the point!
When Are These Changes Happening?
“Right now, these details are a glimpse behind the scenes, impacting how we are approaching the design of future sets. More information regarding the exact makeup of each game’s first Current Environment, along with some tips from that game’s design team regarding how to get the most out of each environment, will be forthcoming as those details are developed. A likely ETA for the launch of the Current Environment as an official format is early 2026. Until then, you can continue to enjoy the games as always, playing within a single environment that contains every card.”
So there you have it. You’ve got until early 2026 until these changes really start to become a thing. In the meantime, you can play with all the cards in their respective pools. Personally, I’m excited to see what sorts of design choices this opens up for FFG to make for their LCG format. I’m also looking forward to playing in both formats, specifically with Arkham Horror. It will be a challenge to run a “Current Environment” Investigator with the limited card pool for sure. And if that’s too restrictive, I can always bust out some old comfort cards in a Legacy play through and enjoy the game that way, too.
