Since this is the first year of CycloDraft, I have been trying different approaches to find the right balance for the game. Based on observations so far, I am making a number of changes effective Monday, April 6th between 8:00-10:00AM CEST.

!Disclaimer!

These changes are part of an ongoing effort to make CycloDraft more balanced. Feedback is always welcome on the Discord. When the conclusion is that these changes are not working as expected and take fun out of the game, I might revert them (but always with an announcement beforehand).

What is changing

Pack size: 5 riders instead of 7

Packs will contain 5 riders instead of 7. With 7 riders per pack, collections fill up quickly and the feeling of opening a pack becomes less fun. Fewer riders per pack keeps each card more meaningful and slows down collection growth in a way that feels more rewarding over time.

Shard distribution adjusted

The number of shards awarded when opening a duplicate rider will be adjusted:

• Lower-rated riders will yield fewer shards than before. These riders are more common, so the shard economy needs to reflect that.
• Highest-rated riders will yield slightly more shards than before, to better reward pulling a rare duplicate.

The goal is to make shards feel like a meaningful resource rather than something that accumulates automatically from bulk pack openings. It should be more intuitive and rewarding to open up better packs instead of spamming the Common Packs.

Golden Spot: your fifth submission slot is now determined by results

When submitting a team for a race, you will now only choose 4 riders yourself. The fifth slot — the Golden Spot — will be filled in automatically after the race results are published with your best non-submitted rider.

This has multiple reasons:

• The main reason is to take away some frustration about not selecting the correct riders for a stage. It does not take away the challenge though; most of the points will be determined by the first 4 selected riders.
• When you miss one or multiple stages (because life happens), you still have packs to open for those. These are not as good as the rewards you would have got when you filled in the stage, but this will keep the gap smaller between rest of the players.
• Riders that are in your collection and occasionally have a good result, are not likely to be in your submitted team. This at least rewards you for having certain riders in your collection, and also for having a broad collection with more riders.