Yes folks – that’s right – it’s the time of year again where speculation is abound about whether we will see a Dice Masters rotation in 2022.
Once again prompted by the announcement of the Heroclix rotation (and the realisation that “its been around this time in previous years”) folks across the community have started to wonder if it may happen.
There’s lots of factors involved, so here’s some thoughts on whether there will be a Dice Masters rotation in 2022…
The History of Dice Masters Rotation
To start: let’s read in our newer players on the history of Dice Masters rotations.
A “Set Rotation” in a collectible card game is when older sets are “rotated out” and are no longer legal for competitive play. There can be any number of reasons for this. It mainly serves to re-fresh the meta and shift dominant strategies to keep it from becoming stale and repetitive. It also improves accessibility for newer players; minimising the overwhelming volume of older releases.
There have been three set rotations for Dice Masters. These were:
In the very first rotation the card pool was divided into two categories: “Golden Age” and “Modern Age”. These became the standard categories for rotation each subsequent time.
| Golden Age | Modern Age |
| Cards are legal from any set, unless specified on the Wizkids official ban list | Legal cards are from a list of sets released after a specified date. (with the exception of the Wizkids official ban list) |
The “Modern Age” card pool was the main focus for competitive events. The Championship titles in those years were awarded for performance in the core Modern tournament. The “Golden Age” card pools were largely used for competitive side events or casual formats at the local level.
One note: you may have noticed that there was no rotation in 2019 or 2021. In 2019 Wizkids decided that there would be no rotation that year citing intended synergy between the legal sets at the time and upcoming releases. 2021 was a little different: the release delays were significant enough that a rotation would have impacted the card pool too much.
So… there’s a bit of a pattern with it, but clearly some bumps along the way…
So… What’s the Leading Theory With Dice Masters Rotation This Year?
While I’m writing this blog there has been no official word from Wizkids about Dice Masters rotation. There is, however, two key reasons to imagine that a rotation will be taking place in 2022.
Here’s the “why’s” and “why not’s”…
The Dice Masters Schedule
One reason for Dice Masters rotation being passed over in 2021 was the card pool size. The international crisis situation with manufacturing and supply chain meant that releases were significantly delayed.
BUT, things now seem more back on track with the release schedule to address this. Dark Phoenix Saga has finally come out and is on the scene in North America. There are strong indications that Kryptonite Crisis is ready to go for a summer release. There are also indications that the Secret Wars release is in a good place too. (More news on that coming soon)
The release schedule will arguably give the card pool the injection needed to keep competitive team building less restricted. This makes the likelihood of rotation higher, although possibly later in 2022 than is traditionally the case.
The other scheduling factor is the competitive calendar. Once again; this has been impacted by events outside of Wizkid’s control. When Jimmy visited us on the podcast we asked about rotation at the time. He said that a key contributing factor they were looking at was the competitive convention schedule over 2022, with a careful eye on Covid etc. In casual play we’re free to do what we want, so rotation wasn’t necessary in 2021.
We’ve seen on the Heroclix side of things that the Convention exclusives schedule is in place and we may find Dice Masters follow suit. Although, one point of note, we should always careful to follow ‘Clix’s lead for Dice Masters, alignment can be rare. If Dice Masters rolls into their convention schedule, I suspect it will be a “tag on” as the less profitable game of the operation.
So… it’s definitely being discussed over at Wizkids, and if it does happen it is probably going to happen in line with competitive events.
The Dice Masters Meta
Speaking of competitive schedules: while there have been no official Dice Masters events for some time, they are aware of the online scene flourishing through 2021. I know for fact that they’ve been keeping an eye on team lists and such like. The absence of official tournament play data contributed to the 2021 rotation decision, but it seems less to be the case now.
There was already a bit of a case for shaking up the meta last year (Becky Lynch *yawn*). However, it was suggested by Wizkids that meta card strength had been factored into set design for the new releases.
The Dark Phoenix Saga set also appears to have some meta-classic game-texts in one form or another. This speaks to the “hibernation and re-launch” view from Wizkids’ perspective, and may also suggest an impending rotation. Filling the card pool with re-prints of game effects from days gone by strengthens the chance of a new Modern on the way.
Additionally; the re-prints cater to one of the other desired outcomes of a rotation – improving new player experience. Anyone coming to the game fresh now will have less impetus to go diving into the back catalogue. If an individual started now, and wanted to participate in Golden events, they could find equivalent game-texts in their collection to try out. Some may have been nerfed a little bit, but largely speaking the experience will be decent.
That said: the release schedule may still only provide a smaller card pool than is ideal for a solid competitive meta. We have only seen one new release so far. This may impact on the depth of the “cut” and the point in the year when they decide to do it…
So… It’s Likely To Happen?
Yep – that’s our leading theory here at the MoD. It’s a case of Wizkids finalising a decision on the cut off point and determining the best time for it to happen.
Some further “off the record” conversations we’ve had with Wizkids seems to indicate that it’s likely and not “if” but “when” too. To be clear: that’s not official, it just came up in conversation, and circumstances have been known to change.
So – the next logical step is to speculate on the Modern rotation point, and our bet is it will be at the Warhammer 40K sets. This would make the DC Dice Masters Justice campaign box & team packs the first set in Modern.
It just makes sense to us that this be the case. For a start: it retains 2 key campaign boxes that have “tribal synergy” with new releases. (Justice and X-Men Forever). These are also somewhat useful to have in rotation as they provide a starting platform for new players. (Although the product is getting reportedly harder to find.)
We also know that Warhammer 40K is an IP that will no longer be continuing with Dice Masters. Cutting Golden at that point just removes a theme that doesn’t have a future with Dice Masters. AND it’s not likely a set that will be hugely missed as far as the competitive meta goes. (Further to that; we know one of its key innovations – the “Range” keyword – is returning in Kryptonite Crisis. Keep an eye out on our YouTube channel for more word on that *big wink*)
What do you think?
We’d love to know your thoughts though – this is just informed speculation on our part. Where do you think the rotation cut off point will fall?
So there we are – the annual BR6 post about the possibility of Dice Masters rotation. I’m certain that the minute it is confirmed either way it will be widely disseminated. We’ll certainly get it out there if we hear anything so be sure to follow us across all the socials & what nots to be the first to know what we know.
Let’s see what happens…
