Chapter 224: 224 Champion Deck_1
"Autographed Cards?"
Wen Jiang had been about to enter secluded cultivation when Tang Qian stopped her to discuss this very matter.
Tang Qian nodded and began to explain to Wen Jiang, "After every competition, the various Card Associations promote their Match Card merchandise, especially those belonging to the champions and runners-up, which sell even better. Typically, we have both a regular edition and an autographed edition."
"The autographed edition requires you players to sign them by hand. However, you only need to sign one card; we’ll photocopy the rest. I originally went to see Lady Hua, but she told me that you’re handling card merchandise issues this year. So, regarding this year’s pricing, we’d like to hear your opinion."
In the past, Mount Flower’s cards weren’t priced highly, mostly because their competition rankings weren’t good.
This year, Mount Flower won the championship, and the whole internet was abuzz with excitement. With the new card merchandise for the Four Heavenly Kings and Su Daji, many fans were eagerly waiting; it was a sure bet they would sell well.
"For Su Daji, as she’s a Dual-Change Card, we could release one card with her fox form and another with her Humanoid Card form, and include them in a gift box," Tang Qian suggested, then asked, "What do you think?"
Wen Jiang laughed. "That model won’t effectively stimulate consumption. There’s no real point to a limited-edition autographed version. We might as well continue with the blind box format."
Tang Qian was surprised. "Still going for blind boxes? The pricing of Match Card merchandise is quite different from that of blind boxes. Plus, with cards like these, if you don’t release a full set, some fans will be discontent if they can’t complete their collection."
"That’s why we’ll change the blind box format a bit by adding extra items as bonuses inside."
Wen Jiang tilted her chin up. "From Mount Flower’s debut until now, how many competition-level A-Level Cards do we own the rights to?"
Tang Qian was taken aback for a moment before responding, "178 cards."
That was a frightening number. Many of those cards had actually been phased out long ago, though they had all been used in competitions at some point.
"Then let’s turn these 178 cards into individual chibi cards. We’ll include them in a set as blind box items that people need to collect, placing only two in each blind box."
Tang Qian looked confused. "Older cards aren’t very popular. If you forcibly include them for collection, you’ll need a substantial incentive. What do you plan to offer to entice them?"
Wen Jiang curled her lips and declared something shocking, "Anyone who collects this entire set of chibi cards will be able to receive any season’s A-Level Card Spirit from Mount Flower, including those of the Four Heavenly Kings and Su Daji."
They were giving away Card Spirits, not just cards.
Tang Qian was immediately shocked. "That’s insane! Those are our Match Cards, and you plan to give them away for free? What if someone from overseas completes the collection? The more they understand our cards, the more disadvantageous it is for us!"
Wen Jiang gave Tang Qian a strange look. "Coach, you should know, I’m now the heir to the Jimo Family. Why not take advantage of any way to make money? With more money, we can discover more talent."
After all, making money was the main goal.
Wen Jiang then dropped an even bigger bombshell. "For those who collect 10 sets, we’ll gift an SSR Card. If they collect 100 sets, I’ll customize an SSR Card for them for free."
Tang Qian gasped, almost wanting to pinch her philtrum in her shock. "But where would we get the authority to make SSR Cards?"
Wen Jiang replied, unfazed, "I can do it."
She was about to advance in rank, and naturally, she would have to create SSR Cards.
Tang Qian was dumbfounded.
Wen Jiang blinked. "Of course, at this stage, we can’t rule out someone collecting like mad to achieve this. So, we’ll only release 100 sets of these chibi cards initially. For the rest of the blind boxes, we’ll add 22 less significant chibi skin cards. Only 100 sets will truly be collectible, and they’ll be spread out enough so that no one can easily complete a collection. Moreover, each season will require a different number of chibi cards. As we release new cards, we’ll also add corresponding chibi cards to the mix."
"Anyway, the exchange is permanent. If they haven’t collected them all now, they can wait until the next season."
Wen Jiang’s approach precisely targeted the desperate psychology of many people.
Releasing Card Spirits was a risky decision. Collecting 100 sets would be quite difficult, but getting just one set wasn’t that hard. One set could be exchanged for an A-Level Card Spirit, and anyone not foolish would definitely exchange for a Card Spirit of the Four Heavenly Kings or Su Daji.
Even though these exchanged Card Spirits could only be used by the owner and wouldn’t appear in matches, some people would definitely try to secretly copy them for research. There was a threat, but considering the difficulty of obtaining the cards, it didn’t seem to be a fatal issue.
Tang Qian voiced a concern, "Will the Empire agree? They currently don’t allow the sale of your Moon Palace Card Set."
This method would indirectly circulate Wen Jiang’s newly created cards.
"As long as I can ensure a sufficient supply of cards, they won’t care about the loss of one or two of them."
To put it plainly, for the sake of such a large family, Wen Jiang also needed to secure benefits for herself. The Empire couldn’t stop Wen Jiang’s factory from growing. Furthermore, even if the Jimo Family established such a system, not many would dare to follow.
Wen Jiang could continuously create new cards to replace the old ones, so losing one or two new cards wasn’t a significant problem for her.
At most, they would be used for research and couldn’t be used in matches anyway. This was unlike the previously sold Moon Palace Card Set, which had sold quickly and was already widely circulated.
One set could only be exchanged for one Card Spirit, and any private copying had to be kept secret—other Empires still cared about their reputation. Otherwise, the market for selling and renting new cards would have been chaotic long ago.
It wasn’t so easy to mass-produce copies of A-Level or higher Card Spirits.
SSR Cards were even less of a concern. Few S Rank Spirit Card Masters could guarantee successful replication; otherwise, wouldn’t the number of available cards be decreasing?
Yan Moling had inadvertently revealed that the cost of copying cards was higher now than before, and the failure rate among Spirit Card Masters was increasing.
Moreover, Wen Jiang could use this opportunity to collaborate with Yan Moling and others. She could sell the intellectual property of her cards to the Empire, allowing them to get the cards in advance, which was a slightly better method than this collect-to-exchange system.
If one ignored the difficulty of obtaining the cards, Tang Qian wasn’t stupid; she immediately saw the terrifying profits involved.
It was difficult to sell a complete set of cards outright. But if marketed with the gimmick of a free Card Spirit exchange...
Each blind box card set would contain two of the required chibi cards for the exchange, and these might even be otherwise useless. The cost to collect even one full set of these chibi cards would be an unimaginable sum.
Tang Qian swallowed hard. "Then... how much should we price them at?"
Wen Jiang was already asking Zero Egg to send her the prices of Match Card sets from other associations on the market. She glanced over them and said, "Wasn’t our previous selling price 500 per set?"
Merchandise related to Match Cards was priced higher than other items. The more famous the Card Association, the more expensive its products.
For associations like the Temple of the Gods, the base price for a set of cards was usually several thousand. These weren’t even Card Spirits, just Ordinary Cards, yet they were quite expensive.
Tang Qian still felt a bit embarrassed. "Yes, but they didn’t sell very well."