Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, Thorne offers up questions he would’ve posed at the Universal Distribution Summit had he been able to attend.
The store had to miss out on the Universal Distribution Summit, formerly the Alliance Distribution Open House due to last minute transportation problems (it is pricy to get a car towed 120 miles). However, if we had managed to get there, here are some of the questions I’d liked to have asked:
For Wizards of the Coast: I have several questions about what the company is doing to fix its supply chain problems. There are stores that still have not received their orders of The Hobbit Play Boosters and Wizards of the Coast just sent out a notice that, due to a drought in Panama lowering the level of the Panama Canal, stores may see a delay in the arrival of their order of Reality Fracture Play boosters. Couple this with delays of Bundles and Commander decks for the previous few sets and WotC has a supply chain problem that certainly needs examining.
However, WotC sent representatives from the company’s OP team to explain the new metrics system rolling out October 1, 2026, meaning no answers about supply chains (and no Q&A) either. I would have liked to find out how much the player surveys will weigh into the new metric figures as our players have submitted zero surveys, which tracks with other stores which have reported 1,000+ ticketed players and only 0 to 10 surveys completed.
Research consistently shows people do not complete feedback forms when they are satisfied or happy. They complete them when they are unhappy. If players are satisfied with an event, they will generally not complete a survey, even if WotC sends out one to every player after a completed event. From what I heard from an attendee who asked WotC about the program, high ratings in most areas should compensate for a lower score in surveys submitted.
For The Pokemon Company International: I would have asked about more supply and what actions, if any, the company was taking in response to the number of fake Pokemon cards in the market. Unfortunately, representatives from the company did not appear until sometime Saturday.
For Ravensburger: With the announcement of collector boosters and serialized cards for Disney Lorcana, I’d ask if they are learning the wrong lessons from WotC’s introduction of the same type of card into the Magic market, especially since in-store play of Lorcana has dropped significantly and non-playing collectors have moved into the market, driving up the price of booster boxes and seeking out store championships at stores where they have never played before.
Also, does Ravensburger have an official policy regarding how the company wants stores to deal with promo cards? Stores were told to destroy the Buzz Lightyear promotional card sent for the Toy Story 5 event, but it appears Ravensburger currently has no official policy on how to dispose of other unused promotional cards sent out for league play and other special events. I emailed one of Ravensburger’s OP representatives for some information regarding what to do with them and, as of last Friday, he was still looking for an official policy. Personally, I hope the company opts to follow WotC’s policy and unless directed otherwise, after a new set releases, stores may distribute, but not sell, older promotional cards as they see fit.
Comments? What would you have asked? Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Source: ICv2
