Designing UniVersus: How We Think About Set Size

Today we talk about an important part of design that isn’t all that glamorous: the size of sets. We use set size to influence the amount of worldbuilding we can fit into an experience, the nature of the gameplay possible with that set, and even the types of cards that go inside. At present we bucketize our products into one of three sizes: a large set, a medium or “standard” size set, and a “mini” set. Let’s break them down further.

Large Sets

A “large” set is roughly any product that has between 250 and 300 cards. The most powerful thing these size sets provide is an opportunity to worldbuild and tell a story. In our latest set, for example, we introduce a world in which we’ll be spending 3 set’s worth of time. To deliver a compelling experience in that world we felt it was best to start with a large introduction into who the characters are, what their motivations are, what is happening in the world, and what’s compelling about the story as it’s happening. This provides a thematic “hook” to engage fans of the world in order to introduce them to UniVersus via something familiar, and to translate the story to fans of UniVersus who may not be familiar with it already.

In addition to providing us space to reflect the story, a large set allows us to provide a bigger puzzle for players to “solve” when building decks, particularly in a spotlight constructed format. When we create three sets for a world, spotlight constructed is a key part of the intent for players to experience that world. Starting with a large-sized set gives players more to explore for the initial spotlight format before “solving” it by finding which strategies are most powerful and settling into a stable metagame. 

For collector fans, large sets provide the most compelling challenge to “complete” your collecting quest, whether that’s chasing Chromes, putting together complete sets, or finding the blingiest versions of your favorite alts to display in a trade binder. A large set lets us pack in the most of the things that makes for a compelling experience for this demographic of UniVersus fans.

In the history of UniVersus we have not leaned on large sets frequently. The reason is that while they have powerful tools we can leverage, they also have real costs associated with making them. They’re twice the work of a “medium” sized set for game designers, but also the creative team that has to source art for each unique version of card that appears in the set. In some cases, a licensing partner may not have enough art assets to even fulfill a large set. Players face different challenges with large sets too: it’s a lot bigger world to learn than the more common medium-sized set, and while some players love collecting the set and the thrill of chasing after the cards they want, many others view that as a downside.

Large sets are great for telling stories, framing spotlight constructed formats, and forming the basis of a world we’ll be in for multiple sets. Their costs, however, mean they won’t don’t lean on large sets very frequently. Most of our sets are instead “medium” or “standard” sized, like the rest of our booster expansions coming in 2024.

Medium/Standard Sets

Our “medium” set size is 150-250 cards, and this is what we consider our “standard” or default set size for a booster-based product. When we build a set that is not this size, we are doing so intentionally because we want to accomplish something we feel we won’t be able to do with our standard set size. So what is this size good for?

While you can’t tell as deep a story in 150 cards as you can in 300, you can still capably establish the key themes of a world, build interesting characters, and provide a compelling play experience. A single medium-sized set isn’t ideal for spotlight constructed; while it could support fun occasional events, as a format it’s too quickly solved to be relied on for a qualifier season or championship tournament. You can build fun Limited play, and a card pool that tweaks Standard enough to keep that format compelling over time as well.

For collectors medium sets aren’t as thrilling because there is less to chase. To combat that we’ve worked to improve our collectability by bringing Chrome rares back, distributing secret rares more equitably, and even introducing new types of collectibles that appear in different frequencies in booster packs. This means conversely that medium sets are easier to collect for players who don’t enjoy this aspect of UniVersus. These benefits and costs balanced against one another are why this size set is our “standard” choice, but there’s one more we rely on regularly. The mini set.

Mini Sets

Mini sets are non-booster products that introduce mechanically unique cards to UniVersus, typically in fixed-deck products like the Challenger series. While it may seem odd to consider a “set size” for these products, considering them from that vantage helps us as designers scale our goals as to what they’ll accomplish and to decide which worlds make good fits for them. A given Challenger release may have 20-60 mechanically unique cards total, a miniature size indeed.

What can you do with a “set” that small? From a creative perspective it’s good for a taste of what a world might offer, and in fact a test to see how our fans like a sample of a world. You might be able to establish a theme, but often we rely on previously established elements from UniVersus due to the difficulty of introducing a new mechanic in a compelling way with so little room for design. Worlds that have very limited art availability are also a good fit for this size product. In fact, the Challenger series was created entirely to allow us to work with more worlds more quickly, and particularly with partners who didn’t have a lot of art assets available for us to use.

The collector persona benefits least from mini sets. There is the least amount of chase from any of our products making it less thrilling to that type of fan. The size of these sets can also make it challenging to include some types of cards, particularly non-attack or non-foundation cards. You need a minimum of both of those card types to have a cogent deck which means adding lots of other card types can be problematic.

Looking Ahead

For now those are the three set sizes we rely on when building UniVersus. Our latest release is our only planned foray into the large set arena for quite some time, while almost all booster sets will be our more typical medium size. Challenger Series will continue to be released along both. What could the future look like? The #1 rule in design is “never say never.” Could we have a 100-card booster product in the future? I wouldn’t say no, and if we do you’ll be able to read our thought process right here!