The End of an Era in Lorcana History The Death of Pixelborn

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Scott and Dan Breakdown the Latest News of the End of Pixelborn, give our Honest thoughts on the announcement, and we should move forward with Lorcana!
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[@TheForbiddenMountain]

This Video was a portion of our Live Stream on Twitch - Follow us on Twitch -www.twitch.tv/theforbiddenmountain

[@jartree]

I have two young kids and a full time job. I have no time to go to organized events. 99% of all of my play was on Pixelborn. Yet I still have spent thousands on cards to support the game, build a collection, and for the rare occasions when I could play with a friend at home. I haven't made a final decision yet, but I am likely going to quit this game. What is the point if I can't play?

[@bigpopa8751]

What did you expect? Pixelborn isn't a licenced platform. It was set to die at some point.

[@connorstaehs9164]

Exact same boat here! Really upsetting

[@connorstaehs9164]

@@bigpopa8751 we expected it to get shutdown only an official online client was ready.

[@RvBnerd618]

Just curious, but why not have your kids try the game out? That way when there does come a free time with them it can be one of the games for you all to bond with. You may not be able to support it as much since you'll just be playing what you and your kids enjoy running, but it's a good way to still keep some of your collection and have it be something on the sideline.

[@jartree]

@@RvBnerd618 they are 4 and a newborn. Not gonna be able to play with me for a while...

[@patrickmcclain5692]

Possibly the worst take I've seen so far. Pixelborn helped Lorcana grow into something, it possibly could have failed at launch due to lack of product availability and scalpers seizing on it right away. I've followed the game since before it came out, played 1000 games on PB by now, yet also spent money on real cards, have sets 1 to 3 fully complete. People still went to LGS even though PB was going on because of the prizes, it didn't detract people from doing so. If there is a 5K in real life somewhere what's the difference of their being one online? Also the Pack which was the one's doing those 5K's or 10K's were NOT Pixelborn itself. They just used the online client so that they could allow anyone from any country across the world to play the game and compete together. They offered money prizes for the top cut, but Mr. Beast's GF was the one who ran the pack so I don't think much if any was kept as profit as they certainly aren't hurting for money. Maybe they paid a fee for a few people to be Judges, or maybe they did it for free, who cares. I actually think they gave all the money away today's tourney was 277 players x 35 entry = 9695 $, so they actually had to pay out the entire entry fee money and give out an extra 305 $ out of their own money to pay the winners tomorrow. I don't see how that harms Disney or Lorcana, I would think that would inspire more people to play both online and in person. After set champs I never returned to my LGS, I live in a large city and have access, single father whose son is away for the summer. However I don't like the time they play at one of the LGS, and I just don't feel like wasting weekend time doing it. I might have gone back, but overall playing Lorcana made me miss MTG more and realize its always going to be a superior game. I strangely still found myself playing Pixelborn but after its announcement of closure, it makes quitting all that much easier. I haven't spent anything on set 4, I don't like some of the overpowered cards in that set, and I do believe that closing pixelborn will greatly hurt the game. It won't kill it, probably not, but it will have a severe impact. I honestly don't like playing in person, so I just went back to other games like Fortnite, and my son never liked Lorcana that much; even at 11 I couldn't get him into it while playing it with him multiple times. He just likes collecting Pokemon and so I spent $100 on more Pokemon for him the other day. To each their own I guess.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

So you don’t like it. Got it

[@NatexCarr]

Not a unique situation, but our entire team would not have started playing Lorcana if Pixelborn didn't exist. Some of us dont have an LGS thats easily accessible, others have families and other responsibilities that inhibit us from playing "live" outside of larger events. We'd never have traveled to SCGCon's, Charlie's 8k, or the DLC's. Now our participation in Ft. Worth is in question because we simply wont have a good way to test and amalgamate data, and as such will be going in blind, or ar least under prepared. Sucks.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

No wonder as well when the TWITCH category appearde it pissed off disney most people were playing pixel born and NOT actual cards made by Ravensburger with the Disney IPs

[@chriscovey1230]

i loved pixleborn, but disney had every right to enforce this decision and they are not the bad guy. You can't expect in our current digital eco-system with microtransactions that have the ability to generate profit for this to exist. People are now demanding a client by ravensburger while they may get it the ability to have the full library of cards to choose from makes no financial sense for them. I expect a pay to build a digital library format. Which sucks on two fronts 1. paying to pay sucks lol 2. i have invested alot of hobbie money into the paper product and then to keep competitive i will have to duplicate that by paying for e-packs will suck. I really wish that as they had the QR codes in the paper packs when you scan that it would allow you to access those cards from an e-format.

[@ccgprime]

I mean sad to see it go, but saying "from left field" is kind of naive. This was bound to happen, as with MTG Arena and a lot of other TCGs and their digital versions making money, you know they were thinking of getting around to a client of their own.

[@ffejinator40]

This “support your local game store” thinking is flawed. Digital helps maintain interest when you can’t make it in & allows you to stay up with meta better which ultimately drives more pack sales. I would expect interest to dip over the next 12 months until Ravensburger figures its shit out. Frankly they should just buy it from Pável & sanction it as official

[@Xoulrath_]

I've played a half dozen games, or less, LITERALLY, in paper that wasn't me running decks against one another. Pixelborn was great in that it helped me to quickly and easily test decks. For a brewer like myself, it was invaluable in that regard. As an actual game client, it was trash. I get really tired of people talking about Pixelborn working better than Arena or Hearthstone or Legends of Runeterra, because it didn't. The meta, even in Lab, was stale and boring and not worth playing. It had nothing to do with other decks not being available. It had to do with more players than not taking the easy way out and netdecking. Netdecking isn't an issue per se, but when ALL cards are available to ALL players at ALL times, it's really easy to just use what everyone else is using to stay competitive. Pixelborn should have remained nothing more than a test bed for brewers to test builds, and for tournament grinders to get in reps. People got greedy. Pixelborn drew the wrong type of attention. Disney said nope. All that said, I spent $400 on Ursula's Return yesterday. I'll probably drop another $100 or so tomorrow. And then each week from here on out until the next set, I'll pick up 10-15 packs per week. This, in SPITE of the fact that I've still LITERALLY only played about a half dozen games in person. Lorcana sells itself. Pixelborn helped people check it out.

[@Zarar5]

I completely agree with this comment, unless they are about to announce an well polished online client with Set 5 (2nd chapter maybe?) I don't see a lot of hope with Lorcana in the long run, I am sorry but not everyone can go sit at locals, I purchases so many boxes and when to locals only because I felt confident that I was able to practice on Pixelborn before going there.

[@Xoulrath_]

@@Zarar5 then you're part of the problem. Whether us tournament grinders like it or not, Ravensburger does NOT want people to do that! The Stitch Enchanted set championship became an absolute joke. Multiple reports of "teams" hunting Stitches at multiple venues RUINED the experience for a LOT of players. You seem to believe that because SOME people can't easily play in person that Lorcana, a card game based on Disney properties, and a massive installed customer base of people willing to buy all things Disney, is going to fail because of Pixelborn not being available?! Dude, I'd like to say that I mean no disrespect, but honestly I can't, because you are delusional if you believe that. Pixelborn was NEVER official. It was NEVER something that Ravensburger or Disney promised! But here we are, with people getting mad about an unauthorized client being shut down, and blaming the people who NEVER authorized this in the first place! Look, I enjoyed Pixelborn as a great way to test decks quickly and easily. I could build a deck, play a few games, find strengths and weaknesses, make changes on the fly, then run another few games and repeat the process. I made some seriously great decks doing thus. Not that it mattered, because I'm currently one of the players who doesn't have a Lorcana tournament scene near me. It's all godawful Commander at the 3-4 stores within 20 minutes travel time. Yet I still spent $400 on Ursula's Return yesterday. Why? Because I can still play with my kid and her boyfriend. The game is simple enough that I'll be able to let my 70 year old mother play with us in a multiplayer free for all, or being part of the team that takes down Ursula when using the Illumineer's Quest. This game, and MOST card games, tend to be played far more at the kitchen table than at game stores around the country (or world for that matter). Ravensburger made a PHYSICAL card game. That's it. They made a great one at that. If you're mad at anyone, it needs to be yourself for ever believing that Pixelborn could last forever. The fact that it existed at all is a miracle in and of itself. It taking this long to get shut down is surprising as well. So, you're upset because why? You spent money on cards? OK, so use those cards! You can't practice as much and clean up in tournaments? Welcome to old school card games!

[@Zarar5]

@@Xoulrath_ First off, thanks for your WELL-THOUGHT-OUT novel. It’s always entertaining to see people get so WORKED UP over a card game. Look, I GET IT. Ravensburger wants people to play in person, but NOT EVERYONE HAS THAT LUXURY. You’re acting like Pixelborn’s existence was some kind of blasphemy. Guess what? For a lot of us, it was a lifeline. You complain about teams “RUINING” tournaments. How about addressing the real issue: the accessibility of the game? NOT EVERYONE CAN DROP EVERYTHING AND GO TO LOCALS. Some of us have LIVES, JOBS, and FAMILIES that make constant travel IMPOSSIBLE. Pixelborn offered a way to practice and enjoy the game without that hassle. And seriously, you’re boasting about spending $400 on cards like it’s some badge of honor? GOOD FOR YOU. Some of us don’t have that kind of disposable income. Pixelborn let us test decks without burning through cash. Also, NEWSFLASH: Just because the game is simple enough for your grandma to play doesn’t mean it’s above needing an online client. Look at how successful other card games have been with online versions. It’s about making the game accessible to EVERYONE, not just those who can sit at a kitchen table or find a local scene. So yeah, I’m mad Pixelborn got shut down. And you know what? That’s valid. It’s not delusional to expect modern conveniences for a modern card game. Ravensburger and Disney could have asked Pixelborn to stop when they had something ready, not this prematurely. Maybe if Ravensburger embraced an online client, they’d expand their player base even more.

[@josephandrees5381]

@@Xoulrath_ My local event had 4 people today. I didn't bother staying. Now I have to wait another week for MAYBE they have a good turnout? Vs me being able to play pixelborn any time during the week. You understand that not having a digital client is a problem in 2024 right? Because not everybody can make locals every week, but cards are so expensive

[@MrFDBookman]

I think it realy sucks that we dont have a good online platform anymore and realy hope that Ravensburger will make an own one. I spent so much money in Cards (playset in every set and and fullset foil) and just used pixelborn to train for tournaments. I have two little kids at home and work everyday during the week and my next local store is about 20 minutes away. So as a father I realy love lorcana as a hobby but i dont have the time to train every week in local stores and I realy want to take the time because the time on weekends is mostly for the kids not to play lorcana in stores.. and on evenings hey are closed and still to far away and i dont have anyone else who likes to play the game. As a family friendly company i realy hope they have this in mind an create an own good client fot everyone. ;)

[@connorstaehs9164]

There are so many of us in this same boat! They don’t realize majority of ppl playing this game have families and no time to play IRL…

[@MrFDBookman]

​@@connorstaehs9164I just realy hope they make an own online Client realy soon. If not I think a lot of people like me will stop buying Lorcana Cards and Stop playing the Game completely. I Just hope that Ravensburger has a good plan for it

[@MarcusPaternoster]

Well said, Dan and Scott. Get out to your LGS and support Disney Lorcana

[@TheGregDoyle]

This was a great video guys. Great response to the shutdown at a different angle.

[@sideeffectv]

Wow finally a well thought out response about pixel born's shutdown. I've been really disappointed in how most lorcana content creators have chosen to handle this. The second they started doing cash prize tournaments on pixel born was the second pixel born was living on borrowed time. People got too loud and crazy and ruined it.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

Thanks !

[@SchuckPipe]

I just hope/assume that this is an early decision that is paving the way for their own official online platform?

[@Rocketblaze]

Collectors will still collect. Probably most of the competitive scene will try to hang in there for awhile. A chunk of casual players that were Disney's actual target audience are going to move on. Maybe some will come back when an official client releases. Just keep in mind that these games don't run on our patronage. They are able to exist because casual players and collectors buy sealed product.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

I think recent events have shown that the game will be just fine

[@Rocketblaze]

@@TheForbiddenMountain I hope so. I'm more concerned about events in 6 months and beyond. We're not going to see the effect of PB shutting down until the next set release. People want to play now, I just hope the excitement can hold out in the absence of PB streaming content.

[@AmoraTheBrewer]

What id love to see out of this is an official video game like Yu-Gi-Oh had on the GBA in the 2000's. It would give builders a chance to try a new deck before completions, let people who cant afford cards every month have a chance at the game and let those in very rule areas get to enjoy the game. If Disney was smart they'd make this happen alongside there physical TCG.

[@LLLorcanaKatie]

The most reasonable take on Pixelborn's end that I have heard. Yeah, it's terrible for a lot of people, but I don't know what choice Disney had with how it had grown... And the game will certainly go on.

[@Sele123]

It was inevitable but it is a big shame that this happened without an official client being announced. There are a lot of people I have interacted with that got into the physical game after pixelborn, there are a lot of people that don't have a viable LGS that played pixelborn and the current alternatives are no way near as viable. Hopefully RB recognise the fact that an official client would be a huge success, I have heard one of the senior staff members working on Lorcana is ex Konami so you have to imagine they will be encouraging RB to move in that direction

[@josephandrees5381]

Regardless of what boomer tcg players say - online clients are required for tcgs to be successful (and I mean massively successful, not just your local event firing with 10-15 people per week). There is no reason to maintain a collection to maybe play once per week. Unless an LGS has a monopoly on the playerbase in a region, the most people will likely get is 10-15 people, and most of them aren't there to play competitively. Pixelborn gave competitive players a place to test builds and get infinite more games in per week. Without it, I'm going from at least 100 games per week to maybe 6? It's just not enough to warrant play sadly. The times of going to your LGS with the homies and testing for an event is just gone. Magic players don't even do that anymore

[@edmundtetch3357]

They can be upset. What he was doing was illegal. Deal with it. Pixelborn single-handedly killed in person play in my area. I'm glad its gone. I don't have an ounce of sympathy for these kids (adults included). All these people crying about how they have to drive an hour to an LGS to play, I call bullshit. If you have to drive an hour to an LGS chances are you have to drive an hour for everything else. Deal with it. As for the content creators that chose to take a gamble and make a living off Pixelborn, to bad so sad, you shouldn't have quit your day job. The only people that think its a dead game are the same people that exclusively played on Pixelborn anyway. The entitlement of this community makes me sick to my stomach.

[@timsmith6706]

Pixelborn was also sort of mentioned on the Challenge live streams (Something like people playing together online) which I'm sure didn't sit well considering the timing.

[@ssykage]

I understood it was gunna happen eventually. I’m just bummed I can’t play my favourite game online anymore.

[@patrickmcclain5692]

P.S. there were several players from The Forbidden Mountain team that played in those 5ks that The Pack held online. It said it under their names in rankings. So lets try to not be hypocrites and act like all of us never used it because most everyone did.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

We never said we didn’t use it nor do we speak for everyone on the team we spoke about ourselves and how we used it to test and not play in events. So not hypocrisy

[@patrickmcclain5692]

Yet in the video Scott mentions the 10k tournaments sort of crossing the line. Well, your team was in some of those cash prize tournaments. So you were part of the problem as well. You can't blame the tournaments when you also partake in them. If no one joined those tournaments, they wouldn't have kept having them. The pot calling the kettle black here. ​@TheForbiddenMountain

[@jamesgeaton]

Removing Pixelborn without an alternative is the worst part for me. I get the IP issues (it was bound to happen). But removing viable option while offering nothing, and no roadmap is hard. I think this will slow down the meta as well. Lack of access to full play sets of cards and the costs associated with building decks is not a cheap thing. I have 4 people in my family who play. So we have to divide inks for our decks to make the most of the cards we have bought over the last year.

[@crystalburns3327]

I was lucky to have product right away. I was late to the game to try Pixleborn. I agree that the down fall was the tournaments.I used it the way you described in the beginning. I was going to my locals first and tried Pixleborn later for the ease of putting together fun decks and being able to try them right away 24/7. I prefer in person play but really loved whipping up crazy decks to try then build with my cards and take back to locals. I would also attribute my skill gaines from a brand new TCG player to feeling like I could go to Set Tournaments and soon DLC Chicgo to the confidence I gained playing on Pixleborn with out the stress and stigma that I sometimes feel at LGS.

[@Zarar5]

But Dan, you do realize that Pixelborn was the best thing that happened to Lorcana right, without it you wouldn't see the same or even 25% of success you see today.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

Seems a bit harsh (Scott not Dan). Atlanta seemed a bit successful

[@Zarar5]

@@TheForbiddenMountain My apologies Scott, The oozing success you saw at Atlanta and the next couple of events (announced pre PB closure) which people have already bought tickets for, was also because they got into it by practicing on PB. At Atlanta 7 of the 9 folks I faced either started the game because of the existence of an online client or because they got a chance to practice their decks on PB giving them enough courage to appear in an in person event.

[@josephandrees5381]

@@TheForbiddenMountain Atlanta was only successful because the vast majority of those players were able to test on Pixelborn

[@Dunston205]

Thank you.

[@der_magische_Investor]

Disney had enough time to build their online version of the game and shutdown Pixelborn when their version is ready - or buy pixelborn and hire Pavel.

[@Stamorassos]

There are countries that don't have official Lorcana products yet. No official retailers no Set championships not enough people playing. I participated in Lille which i couldn't if I haven't played enough in Pixelborn.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

It shows the months it took disney to build it's case and prepare for lawsuit if on the 16th of June they don'T stop PixelBorn. They told them,m and now they wait un til the 16th to see if the PB team listened to the demands of Disney / Ravensburger.

[@smithhover676]

With a family at home and a fulltime job, pixelborn was the only possibilty for me to prepare for tournaments and championships. Weekly playing in stores are not an option (Stores are one hour away from home, starting time doesn´t fit because of my job and weekends are for the family) and without testing und training with new dards and decks the participation on tournaments and Set-Championships are also out of the window. That sucks, i really enjoyed the community, the competetive circle of Lorcana and hanging around in stores for tournaments. Hopefully they launch their own online plattform until then i´m unfortunately out.

[@connorstaehs9164]

I don’t have time to play Lorcana until about 10 pm every night after both kids are asleep. Pixelborn was the way I could interact with it daily. It didn’t deter me from buying cards either. I’ve spent nearly 2k buying cards only after playing Pixelborn. I would’ve never came to the game or bought cards without it. I’m lucky to play IRL 1 time a month. Need an online client asap from Disney, idc if the only way to get cards is through IRL packs like pokemon, I just want to be able to play online

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

There’s always TTS

[@connorstaehs9164]

@@TheForbiddenMountain it’s finicky and takes too much time to get a game set up. Not to mention it is difficult to swap decks out and just play stuff for fun.

[@thefallenmonk605]

Pokemon is doing online Tournaments with cash prizes.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

Official or unofficial client?

[@d3mi519]

Probably the best take on this I've heard. Crazy to me that so many folks don't get monetizing someone's IP is a no no. Once there was money involved the days were numberedd

[@Xoulrath_]

You can monetize card games through tournaments IRL, and the IP holder can't do a thing about it. I doubt that the $10K tourneys had anything to do with it. Disney knows that they weren't going to see that money, nor do they care about chump change. I suspect, as was mentioned in the video, was the Twitch streaming. It wasn't authorized and they do PROTECT their IP and its image. Again, the money would have been small. The IP possibly being damaged because of the streamers could have been huge. Another thing that has been mentioned in plenty of content creators channels, is the fact that Pixelborn created a very hostile playing environment for new and/or younger players. The meta developed extremely quickly, and tournament grinders were able to playtest decks with ease. Then they can bring those decks to league play and to the Stitch Enchanted events and dominate against players that had little to no experience with card games at all. Don't get me wrong, I wish that Pixelborn existed just for the ease with which playtesting could be done. I build lots of decks, and part of that process is tuning them. It's so much less effort to use a digital client to do that, when compared to having to constantly sleeve up cards and recheck decks manually for cards and then having to do a count every single time that the deck has a minor change. It also allowed for playtesting of more expensive cards, which was great for determining whether or not it was worth shelling out the big bucks for those cards that have pushed well past $20 (my personal limit per card). People keep bringing up the money, and this is just a mild irritation to Disney. The damage to the IP ans pushing the target audience away from the game and league play were far more likely the reason for the cease and desist.

[@Killytheblame]

Your argument at 4:43 is like...idk. "He put a lot of effort into it"... u think Ravensburger developed Lorcana in like 5 minuts? Just think about how long they testet and how many ppl did there job to develop the TCG. If you say its ok to steal (yea, steal!) the game from others, just so u can get some attention and getting payed for the job others did for you...dont know what to say. We are just gonna lose the online players, no harm is done to that.

[@TheForbiddenMountain]

I think you mean online players. I don’t think we disagree it wasn’t his to use or “steal” as you said it not sure what your take isn’t much different from what we said

[@hatertime]

Youre dead on. Thank you for having a detached perspective on it. It's counter intuitive, maybe a little provocative, but I wish that Pixelborn never existed. No one from Ravensburger ever said Lorcana would have a similar service available, even at a price. Now everyone is sad that something that never should have existed was then taken from them. Plenty of people would be willing to pay their money for something like Pixelborn, however, it is not available for purchase from the parties responsible for bringing you Lorcana at this time. All of those complaints people have are things would still be true if Pixelborn never existed. Wasn't it always true that people around the world wouldn't be playing the game? Wasn't it always true that going to the LGS is an impediment for some players? Wasn't it always true that some people wouldn't invest unless they knew the cards were competitively viable? Would there be countless streamers upset for lacking an easy way to make gameplay content? The plan was to roll it out to the LGS, put it on sale on Amazon and offer awesome prize support to drive enthusiasm. I got so much blow back from saying just what you're saying. So many people said "We knew it was going to be shut down at some point, but..." They don't act like it. I am thrilled now that Lorcana can actually grow into the game that Ravensburger - for better or worse - intended it to be. Pixelborn probably would survive as long as it wasn't used for streaming and 10k Tournaments, but we will never know