Legend Card Changes: Making GDS More Sustainable
Legend cards are moving from "1/1 forever" to a seasonal 1/1 model, same system that's working for Football this year. This is an opt-out service. If you own a Legend today, you decide what happens to your card. Opt in and you're rewarded. Opt out and your card stays exactly as it is.
Why we're making this change
Since launch, every Legend in GDS has been 1/1 forever. At the time we thought that was the right call. Since then we've learned it isn't sustainable:
New coaches joining today have no realistic path to the top because those Legends will never exist again
Dormant accounts are sitting on Legend cards that are effectively dead to the game
Coaches at the top have no reason to keep building, all the top Legends are already packed
Nathan Cleary's Legend has never been played in a single GDS competition. Nick Martin's Legend sat out of the game before he did his ACL. That's not how this game should work.
If we don't change this, the value of Legend cards eventually goes to zero, because coaches stop playing when they can't compete.
This isn't about hurting Legend value. It's the opposite. We're protecting it by keeping the game alive, and sustainable moving forward.
Football has already proven this works
Earlier this year we rolled out seasonal Legends for Football. One 1/1 per season. A 2025 Legend, then a brand new 2026 Legend next year. About 95% of Legends have been packed. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. That's given us the confidence to roll this model out across the platform.
The most important thing: this is opt-out
If you own a Legend card and don't want any of these changes applied to it, you don't have to do anything. Your card stays exactly as it is, 1/1, forever.
You make the call.
Your options
You've got three paths for any Legend you own:
Option 1 — Opt in (end of season offer)
Hand your Legend in at the end of the 2026 Aussie Rules / Rugby League season and you get:
A Historical Legend of that same player. 1/1. 1.5x multiplier, $1M salary cap, locked in forever. Never recreated and always able to be bought and sold.
A 2026 Legend of that same player. 1/1. Handed to you at the end of the 2026 season at 1.45x / $950k (because the 2027 Legends will be dropping at that point).
1x 10-player Elite Pack. If you own a Legend you believe is worth more than one Elite Pack, reach out to us directly. We've already had these conversations with a few coaches and we're happy to work with you individually over the coming months for coaches with top 5-10 players that would be considered elite.
Every future special card for that player, automatically. Any special card GDS ever produces for that player lands in your account.
Achievement rewards for real-world milestones. Brownlow Medal, Norm Smith Medal, highest fantasy score and the Rugby League equivalents. Full detail at end of season when the offer goes out.
So you walk away with a Historical Legend and a 2026 Legend, one Elite Pack, every future special card for that player, and ongoing achievement rewards.
Option 2 — Pre-exchange now
Don't want to wait until end of season? From this season onwards, any coach can create a support ticket and pre-exchange any existing Legend for 1x 10-player Elite Pack, anytime.
This is the faster, lighter-weight path. You give up the Legend now, you get an Elite Pack straight away. No Historical Legend, no 2026 Legend, no ongoing rewards, just a clean immediate swap.
Option 3 — Opt out
Your Legend card stays exactly as it is. 1/1. Nothing changes. It remains a standard Legend.
The card cannot be played in any GDS special competition, current or future. We flagged this when we launched special comps earlier in the year, so this isn't new.
Standard competitions remain available as always.
That player will never be added back to exisiting player pool and will remain a 1/1 forever legend with no legends created for future seasons
We're not taking anything away that we haven't already told you about.
How Legends work going forward
Starting with the 2027 Aussie Rules and Rugby League seasons:
2027 Legend, during the 2027 season
1.5x
$1M
No, untradeable and unsellable for the full season
2027 Legend, after 2028 Legends release
1.45x
$950k
Can bought and sold
When the next season's Legends drop (e.g. 2028 Legends release), the previous year's Legends automatically drop to 1.45x / $950k and become available to sell.
No limit on how many Legends a coach can own. Every opted-in player gets a new 1/1 Legend each season. New players added to the game will also get Legends.
Card naming from here on:
Historical Legend — the 1/1 forever card from the opt-in offer. 1.5x / $1M locked.
2026 Legend / 2027 Legend / 2028 Legend etc. — seasonal 1/1 for that year.
Legend — existing 1/1 cards that were opted out. Unchanged from today.
Changes happening this week
1. Legend drop rates are going up on select packs. No price change. This is one of the biggest pack changes we've ever made, designed to get as many Legends into the game as possible before the end of the season.
Drop rates below are per card. Each pack contains multiple cards (9 for Common/Rare/Unique, 10 for Elite), so your chance per pack is much higher than the per-card rate.
Common 9
0.01%
1 in 1,111
0.08%
1 in 139
Rare 9
0.03%
1 in 370
0.24%
1 in 46
Unique 9
0.17%
1 in 65
1.34%
1 in 8
Elite 10
0.99%
1 in 10
7.79%
~1.4 in every pack
Elite 10 is the headline. Before, you'd open around 10 packs for a Legend. Now, most Elite 10 packs will drop one.
2. A brand new pack. A new pack is coming that cannot be purchased. You earn it by winning or scoring highly in weekly and seasonal competitions. Full detail tomorrow.
3. Any Legend packed after this announcement is auto opted-in. The opt-out offer only applies to Legend cards owned before today. This is the condition that comes with the increased drop rates, the goal is to get as many Legends out into the game as possible.
Which Legends are still unpacked?
The lists below show every Aussie Rules and Rugby League Legend that has not yet been packed. Any of these cards, when pulled from a pack from today onwards, will be automatically opted into the changes above.
Timeline
This week: Increased drop rates go live, new pack details shared, announcement rolls out, pre-exchange tickets open
End of 2026 Aussie Rules + Rugby League season: Opt-in offer goes out to all remaining Legend holders. One-time offer. The coach who owns the card at end of season is the one who makes the decision.
Other sports: same process, rolled out in each sport's preseason. We will begin work on them shortly
FAQ
Do I have to hand my Legend in? No. Completely opt-out.
What if I want to opt out of the offer? Your card stays as is, 1/1 forever, but it's ineligible for special competitions.
Can I still play my Legend in regular comps if I opt out? Yes. Standard competitions will always be available for opt-out Legends.
What if I think my Legend is worth more than 1 Elite Pack? Reach out. We'll have the conversation. We've already done this with a few coaches.
What happens to Legends I pack between now and end of season? Auto opted-in. No choice on those, but you also get the benefit of the increased drop rates.
What's the difference between pre-exchange and the end-of-season opt-in? Pre-exchange is a quick swap: 1 Legend in, 1 Elite Pack out, done. The end-of-season opt-in is the full offer: Historical Legend + 2026 Legend + 1 Elite Pack + every future All Star Card+ potentially achievement rewards (TBD). Pre-exchange suits coaches who want to move on now. Opt-in suits coaches who want the full long-term value.
Can I pre-exchange a Legend I just packed? Yes. Any existing or newly packed Legend is eligible for pre-exchange via support ticket.
Will there be new Legends every year? Yes. A new 1/1 per opted-in player per season, for every sport, forever. Is this for all legends? No,this will only be for legends who are active for the 2027 season. Any inactive at the start of next year will not be considered for this offer.
Will the Historical Legends and the 2026 legends be exchangeable with GDS Exchanges? No, these a cards will never be able to be exchanged using GDS exchanges.
Why we're doing this
The goal isn't to diminish what Legend holders have built. It's to protect it. A game where new coaches have no path forward is a game that dies. A game where the best players in the sport never see the field isn't the game we want to run.
We've tested the seasonal Legend model with Football this year and it works. About 95% packed. Coaches love it.
This is the next step for every other sport.
If you've got questions, jump in the Discord, message us directly, or wait for the full offer at end of season. We've got time and we want to work with every Legend holder individually.
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