New tool for store registration, event organizing and more. And also, we get a pre-release program and changes to the set championship!
Introducing Ravensburger Play Hub
Ravensburger is bringing in a new tool called the Ravensburger Play Hub, which seems to be taking over the role of Melee.
In an announcement to distributors and stores in the Ravensburger Retailers group and first shared by Eric Switzer of TheGamer, Ravensburger Play Hub is noted as a new tool for Lorcana in-store play reporting. Powered by Carde.io, the tool will be used for “Ravensburger Play Hub store registrations, the event organizer, and event manager tools in early February”, with more features coming soon.
Ravensburger Play Hub (RPH) will be first available in February, though retailers / event organizers are advised to continue using Melee for set 7, then start using RPH only from set 8 (Reign of Jafar). In the meantime, retailers and organizers should head to RavensburgerPlay.com to sign up for updates.
Pre-Release and Buy a Box program
Starting with Reign of Jafar, a pre-release program will commence which takes place 1 week prior to the full set release (the mass retail date). 1 week prior the mass retail date is incidentally the LGS release date for Reign of Jafar.
Hobby retailers will be able to register for a Reign of Jafar Pre-Release event, and successful applicants will be able to sell product in-store starting with their pre-release event.
Promo cards will also be included in Disney Lorcana OP kit to support a new “Buy-A-Box” promotion, where these promos will be only available at RPH retailers to incentivize purchases in RPH stores rather than online, and also support Pre-Release Pack Rush events (while supplies last).
Set Championship Prize Updates
Set Championship applications will have to be made through RPH following Archazia’s Island, and stores can schedule 1 set championship event per set.
In addition, some changes have been made to the prizing, starting from Archazia’s Island:
- Aside from the 8 enchanted foil set championship promo cards, each set championship kit will also include 40 non-foil promo cards which have the same artwork but have a standard card format, to be used as pre-registration incentives.
- There will now be only 1 champion playmat (Previously, a mat was also provided to the runner-up)
Weekly Play
Programs for weekly Constructed and Pack Rush play will be introduced to encourage players to come back and play weekly to easily build communities through the OP Kit.
In addition, there will be digital support like store-specific leaderboards in the Ravensburger Play Hub.
That is all the information released at the moment, though more details are expected soon. With regards to the changes, it is pretty nice to let all set championship participants get in a bit of action for the set championship card art. Pre-Release events and support for regular pack rush are definitely welcome events to make it more interesting for players to return weekly, while having a digital store leaderboard to support all that will be even more exciting.
