A few days ago, Achroma dropped 3 announcements on their discord and webpage. I thought I’d go over them, and my thoughts on the subjects.

Norso teasers (and delays)
The final installment in Chapter 2, The Monsters of Norso, is now due for a (further delayed) release of mid-October. It’s been quite a wait, but apparently delays with the artist set them back considerably.

There were two teasers shared on discord, so I thought I’d look at them here. First up:

Positively oozing with achrom, I wasn’t the only person to think this looked a bit like the Glenfinnan Viaduct, famous as the curved railway bridge from Harry Potter.

It’s difficult to know whether this scene continues the underground theme of the first Norso release, but our second teaser makes it a little clearer:

I assume this cosy looking shelter is above ground, so maybe we’ll get a slightly more colourful palette from Norso this time round, the subterranean Wishwell expansion being decidedly muted. That being said, I first thought this but was under a starry sky until I noticed that the stars were also hovering in front of the hut, suggesting a magical presence. Intriguing.

Kickstarter
Back in March 2023 the Kickstarter campaign for Rise of the Realm Runners ended. It was so successful that there were numerous stretch goals unlocked. However, some of these are yet to be fulfilled. A few days ago Achroma announced that these are nearing completion and that backers can expect their stuff soon. This was the announcement:

• Draw-string bags – received at HQ! These are looking sweet, check them out:

• Pin badges – received at HQ, check previous updates to see them
• Deck boxes and lids, received at HQ
• Achroma VaultX sleeves will be arriving in the next month

Looking back over the details of this Kickstarter, I was reminded that one of the missed stretch targets was an alt-art release of the Curse of Curdle Hill location promo. I’d love it if Achroma made alt-arts of the old promos for newer players struggling to get hold of these powerful and rare cards.

Boosters
Ending with the most controversial of announcements, Achroma have revealed that they will start selling official booster packs, following on from the trial boosters they released earlier in the year. These boosters contain cards from across Chapter 1, including limited edition cards, alt-arts, and even (curiously) Shard Cards (e.g. HAIM Shard Cache). Boosters have long been part of the game plan from Achroma, with Jack Constantine (Achroma co-founder) stating his intention to release boosters at the end of Chapter 1, way back in June 2022.

An exciting part of this news is the plan to officially introduce Realm Rifts, a playing format that uses the booster packs. The full details haven’t been announced, but I would imagine this would be very similar to the cross-realm draft format used at the Achroma 2.0 release event.

However, the big story behind this announcement is that Achroma are fazing out all other Chapter 1 products, filling the boosters using current unlimited and limited edition stock. The upshot is that new players wanting to obtain all cards from, say, Salum Planum, may find themselves unable to purchase any Chapter 1 Salum cards directly.

It must be said that this was quite a shock. Many community members have repeatedly made their concerns clear about moving towards this form of distribution. It makes it harder for me to recommend new players enter the game, if I’m worried that they won’t be able to purchase the cards they want in the future. In a Q&A on achroma.tools, Achroma stated that:

“We never want to stray away from the palette boxes as we love the current format Achroma has. Palette boxes will remain appealing to all players who wish to get all cards at once guaranteed whereas boosters will appeal to collectors and deck-builders alike. Boosters will always be just another way to collect achroma and not a product to outshine palette boxes.”

One of the biggest appeals for me of Achroma as a deck-building card game is that I could buy a product and know exactly what cards I was getting, generally for a very good price. This is in contrast to the classic booster oriented collectible card game distribution model. It’s by no means a unique model: Fantasy Flight Games have a number of card games that utilise the same model, and term these games LCGs or Living Card Games.

I fully appreciate that Unlimited Edition releases have not sold as well as hoped, and that by moving stock into boosters Achroma are hoping to generate much needed revenue. I just wish they’d promise to just keep at least some unlimited stock live for all factions in Chapter 1, so that new players would always be able to buy complete realms, should they wish to.

One other concern is that if existing stock is used to fill boosters, since it is known that Draco Planum, and Stone Waste Drakes in particular, has been the most popular realm to date in terms of sales, I would be worried that boosters would be less likely to contain the most popular cards, unless guarantees were made of an even distribution.

Whatever happens, I am genuinely looking forward to seeing these boosters in real life, and trying out the new draft format. Additionally, all the chatter resulting from this announcement has got me thinking more about Achroma lately and playing a few more games. It’s still a great game, irrespective of concerns regarding its future, and I hope it continues to grow in the future.

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