Force of Will started off on fire when it released in the US but after not being able to balance the game, and killing the fan base. Where does Force of Will stand today?









The best way to think about Force of Will now is a clean slate. At the time of writing this article Rudy from Alpha Investments posted his interview questions with Jeff Finnigan from Force of Will about the game and business. What impressed me was how honest Jeff was with Rudy. He was willing to admit the mistakes that were made and how the company is shifting their views on the whole game.













So of course after watching these videos it got my mind racing back on Force of Will. For when I played I was having a blast. It was refreshing and most importantly fun. That was until Reflect Refrain hit. This J-Ruler destroyed the game and my local gaming community, thus the end of me playing Force of Will. But these videos being released and the honesty from Jeff kept me wanting to play again. So I began to search what is new.





New Regulations

This was the first interesting piece for me is the structure of formats for Force of Will:





New Frontiers - Players may use only cards from the last two clusters released. This format is based on clusters rotation which happens as soon as the first set of a new cluster is released.





Wanderer - Players may use cards from all released sets and non-sets to build their decks, with the exception of cards from Valhalla cluster.





Origin - Players may use cards from all released sets and non-sets to build their decks. Origin format may be played in two different modes: Origin/Valhalla (with Lifebreak) and Origin/Bifrost (without Lifebreak)





Cluster - Players may use only cards from a specific cluster





Basically New Frontiers is "Standard" and Wanderer is your "Modern" if you wanted to make the comparison to Magic the Gathering. To add Force of Will typically has 4 sets in a cluster, so if your interested in New Frontiers there should be 2 more sets coming out in the New Valhalla Cluster, then a new cluster has to be released before Reiya Cluster rotates out.





UPDATE 1/25/2019: Thank's to Reddit user ImSabbo for more clarification on the formats

"Just a clarification regarding the extended formats:

Wanderer is "All cards from the Grimm cluster onwards are permitted." (which is basically what the article said), while Origins is actually "All cards in sets that have gone on sale thus far and all PR cards distributed thus far are permitted." (which, in addition to all Valhalla onwards sets and non-sets, adds the Peter Pan teaching decks, the useless Force of Will: The Movie card, and the numerous promo-only cards from the time of Valhalla cluster.)"









New Focus

During the interview with Rudy, Force of Will wants the game to be more accessible for players to play what they want to. Meaning if you get 3 boxes you should have a play set of everything! Additionally the rarities have been fixed. So no longer will we see foils, stamped foils, and the black white secret rare cards. Now it is Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, and Secret Rares. Enclosed in each box will be a basic ruler pack containing two copies of each three sealed format rulers, six copies of each basic magic stone, and a promo card. Secret Rares are hard to find cards that have alternative art and are hunted for by the players. Of course GOD PACKS are still around and can always be a pleasant surprise, the chance to pull a God Pack is 1 per case which is the same odds for a Secret Rare. OH and you get a full art card in every pack, which just makes opening packs fun again.









So even if your local game store does not support Force of Will picking up a box with friends will allow for interesting sealed play while having options with rulers. You could also hunt for New Valhalla's starter decks, which are now running around $35-40 on eBay. You could even ask players at your local game store if they would be interested in playing if you bought a box and brought it in. I know it's an investment at the start but if you do like the game it will be worth it!





Looking at Force of Will has me excited again for the company and they are proving what they are saying with the releases of New Valhalla sets "New Dawn Rises" and "The Strangers of New Valhalla". It feels like they are giving the honest attempt to bring back the players who were interested in the start. Now I'm not saying that Force of Will is just going to jump back to the top, it's going to take time for the company to earn distributors, local game stores, and most importantly the players' respect and business again. At least this is a step in the right direction and maybe a new opportunity to see this card series become great again.