I think we are giving this game too much of a hard time by comparing it to Magic. Magic was the original game and was only competing against itself. Also, Magic went through THREE MOA-like events and it survived: Fallen Empires, Homelands, and Chronicles (the reprint set that was so bad that it caused the company to pledge not to ever reprint a number of cards-this is still an issue today, the 'reprint list' issue.) And then Magic proceeded to go through many more MOA events... many more (not worth listing here since this is a FOW blog). Actually, Magic is in an MOA moment as we speak with a limping Standard (New Frontiers) because it got rid of the Core Set and now the expansions make a clunky format.
Force of Will is evolving in the shadow of three long-running TCGs (Magic, Pokemon, and Yugioh). For better or for worse, when the FOW designers sit at a table to design a new set, they all know at least 99 percent of all the cards they will ever design is in some form already a card in one of the big three TCGs. Elves is the best example I can think of. Magic, as of the latest set, has.... get this: 333 Elves. That's right. Magic can fill a whole Cluster of FOW just with Elves.
I am now working on a Grimm Cluster cube, and I am having a lot of fun. I think the game is in a good place. It helps it that no one is expecting it to be the next Magic. If anything, such a high expectation is the kiss of death for any TCG. Now FOW has the freedom to evolve to be the next FOW, and not the next Magic (that was always a silly expectation!).
