Ladies and gentlemen,

Many of you know me by name. If you've been a part of the tournament scene over the last few years, we've probably even met. I've always been an avid CCGer, and have held a number of play testing, scout and tournament organizer positions over the last half-decade. Raw Deal in particular holds a special place in my heart, and even today, long after its last release, I still maintain RDC (Raw Deal Classic) to be the greatest collectible card game of all time.

My area never carried any RDR, nor have I ever seen RDR sold in stores. Regardless of the reason for this, my final exposure to Raw Deal was through my extensive play testing for RDR1, after which I withdrew from the play testing process (and was offered an invitation to return should my situation ever change). Needless to say, I've missed RD dearly, and despite my numerous objections, arguments and disagreement with the later products, I've always wished the very best for RD and its community and was heartbroken when I received an email from Mike Foley informing me of its termination.

Why am I here rambling at you today? The answer is a bit complex; I don't expect many to read this whole article, so I'll give you a one-line synopsis:

We need new Raw Deal.

It's a terrible crime to let this game die, and it seems a large portion of the community agrees with me. A few prominent RD splinter cells have turned up since its demise, aiming to revitalize the community and make certain that the World Championships (and corresponding qualifiers, conventions, etc.) remain on schedule.

Part of the problem we now face is the long-term viability of this idea, or lack thereof. RDC is stuck eternally spinning its wheels at twenty releases, and likewise with RDR's three. There's only so long a community can stay alive, particularly so dynamic a community as a CCG's, without some kind of new or revitalizing content to shake things up and create new avenues of play and new ways of thought.

This is where I come in.

I am offering up my services as a designer and an organizer, to orchestrate a team designed to bring Raw Deal forward. Hopefully, with your support, we can keep this game going indefinitely, not just for the benefit of those who have been around for RDC and RDR, but also for those who have never had the opportunity to play this wonderful game and experience its magic themselves.

There are obvious pros and cons to this approach, some of the former being the attachment of the ground-level player base to the design process and the comparative inexpensiveness of producing 'counterfeit quality' cards, and some of the latter being the lack of corporate tournament support and minimal quality control between printings. Many of these issues have already been discussed at length, and though some of the cons are serious issues, I'm one of those idealistic types who tends to believe anything is possible if people are willing to work together toward a common goal.

Anyways, that's just about enough blather about the proposal itself. I'm sure there are those of you who are uninterested or unwilling to participate, but here is not the place to try to change your minds. To those of you who find yourself a bit curious or interested, read on; I'm now going to touch on some of the proposed ideas/concerns for the cards and system itself.

The largest hurdle that we're going to need to cross as a player base is the inherent incompatibility of cards from RDC, RDR and likely the new product. As much as I would like to say that this project is going to be a continuation of RDC, merely picking up where it left off and leaving full compatibility, this would only be half true. Though theoretically all new design would be compatible with old design, there are a number of very strong reasons in favor of a somewhat fresh start.

1. The inherent nonsensical nature of the last two to three sets of RDC.

I dislike rumor on principle, but I also recognize that at the heart of many rumors there remains a core of truth. Throughout the last few sets released of RDC, many veteran players began to get the nagging feeling that something was wrong. How could a card game be in existence for five years and still be making so many questionable decisions? First-turn kills, power combos, rampant nonsense were abound in the tournament scene, turning away many and creating the 'idea', for lack of a better word, that Raw Deal was correspondingly unfriendly to the masses and only lent itself to a hardcore tournament crowd which revolved around the same decks, the same strategies, and the same meticulous mind-games and exact card-text memorization required to play, let alone to win.

As the last year of RDC went on, the cards became more powerful and convoluted until, as sad as I am to say it, Great American Bash was effectively a gong-show. Shortly after, RDR was announced, citing the lack of non-hardcore playability of RDC. This is about when the rumor I was referencing above cropped up: That the last year or so of RDC was a sort of a ruse: A deliberate attempt to tank the game's playability and balance in order to justify wiping the slate clean and bringing a new product on the market.

I don't know the truth of this, nor do I particularly care, but I am aware that this needs to be touched on to be fair to those who went through it and those I am asking to stand by me now. RDC, because of the above, is effectively useless. It's not so simple as cutting out a few sets, or creating a ban list the length of my arm, and pretending it never happened; There were always problems, in virtually every set, and to go through and meticulously pick the viable cards from each set would be more of a rehash and less of an attempt to revitalize the game.

I am correspondingly proposing a fresh start. Much like RDR, the virtual cards would be backwards compatible, but wouldn't really be designed with this in mind. You'd also find that the first release would be very much akin to a Survivor Series set, with many of the old staples and concepts you already recognize salvaged from the wreckage.

2. The false dichotomies built into the former features.

The world of wrestling is an interesting thing, and I think you would be hard pressed to find a strong reason to put an inherent wall between Face and Heel, between Raw and Smackdown, or between Cheater and Fan Favorite. I'm sure you can think of a half-dozen examples for each of the three dichotomies above, wherein a character acted in both manners throughout a single run.

What I would like to do is to create a number of possible 'styles' or 'archetypes' or 'personalities', or whatever they would be best labeled, and then offer the player the ability to pick a couple from the list rather than be forced to choose a side. For a similar idea to this, you can reference one of the most recent WWE console games, which allows the player to choose two traits to apply to their character from a list of eight (Brawler, Powerful, Submissionist, High Flyer, Technical, Hardcore, Showman and Dirty). This allows for the greatest range of card and deck design, whilst not restricting the player in ways which don't match the 'license' itself.

3. The limit of the license.

When Raw Deal held the license to use WWE images and likenesses, it entered into a contract wherein the likenesses of characters and likenesses from outside of the license would not be tolerated. Even classic characters or modern characters which were recently taken off the show were stifled in terms of growth; I can't tell you how many times a character who was playtested for months would suddenly be pulled from WWE's active roster and we'd have to put them in the recycle bin, or how often we'd have to throw out a character's superstar-specific card for the set just because they had a few weeks off close to printing time. Therefor as much as I'm sure some of you would have liked to see TNA Raw Deal or any number of other licenses, CI was effectively kneecapped in its ability to expand the game.

We are not limited by a license. As we're creating fan-produced product, which will not be sold or profited from (assuming I understand the law correctly), this type of product remains in the same domain as fan fiction or artistry, and correspondingly we can print anyone we want, regardless of circumstance.

4. Predefined printing schedule.

When a CCG is locked into a printing schedule, often times product gets released that could have stood to have more attention given it, in terms of play testing and forethought. Being locked into a production schedule virtually guarantees that at least some decisions will be made in haste, which can (and has) lead to mysterious and disastrous results. Given that our 'release' of a product would consist of PDFs put online which you would take to a print shop to print for yourself, and that we correspondingly have no printing contract to maintain, we can take as much time as necessary to make sure that the product is up to the perfect standards that the players deserve.

5. The power of democracy.

No one's appointed me into this position; My fitness for it is derived only from the belief my peers have in me. Creating a design/play testing team from all backgrounds and skills virtually guarantees that the sets will be better fleshed out; I have to bow to their wishes, because if they were to withdraw their support the players' support would soon follow. Given that I am not doing this with corporate backing, I do not have an established position in which I can lord over my peers and make whatever decisions I want regardless of consequences. Every decision we make needs to be careful, and thus designed to create the best game overall rather than treat the CCG like a social experiment.

I recognize the above was a bit of a heavy read and for this I apologize. There was no better or more concise way to express both how I feel and what my intentions are regarding this wonderful game. Hopefully, with the help of you, the players, we can get things back going strong and keep Raw Deal alive and strong forever.

One last question...
...are you ready to fight?

Bryson Yuzyk
AIM: Barius16
MSN: ryjaih@hotmail.com (NO EMAILS HERE)