Everything arrived just fine; nicely packaged, there was no damage to be found. The mouse pad comes in a common plastic packaging, similar to that you'd find in the store. Nothing shocking here.

As you can plainly see, the Archetype is an attractive mousepad. It's simple design and color scheme make it easy on the eyeballs. The Archetype is available with two different bases, the version we received is the soft-feel base; the other available base is a Machine Billet Aluminum (MBA) similar to the base found on the MBA 1030 LE we reviewed. Both bases employ a no-slip material (usually in form of semi-clear feet) on the back, which performs with satisfactory results.

You can also see in the shot below the slots, near the top of the mousepad base, that allow the cord clip to attach to the base component. With that said, the cord clip does work quite well, and while you only have two placement options, they should suffice for most users.

Even with the large MX1000 on it, the surface area of the Archetype is a mix between portability and usability. It minimizes the use of desk space, but still gives you a decent amount to work with on its 11.5 " x 9.5" plane. The pad cleans up fairly well from spills; as with most other mousepads, a cloth to soak it up, a damp one ot clean it, and then one to dry it works pretty well.

Also included with the mousepad is: the tin it comes in (for sturdy protection during transit to and from your favorite fragfest), an Archetype/Func case badge, cord clip, as well as suggestions to getting the best performance possible by utilizing features available with your combination of mouse and mousepad. The inclusion of a cord clip just reinforces that Func is aiming at gamers. Some companies feel that since we've entered the wireless age with Bluetooth, etc., there's no need for a cord clip. Wrong; most serious gamers use wired mice and could use a cord clip to keep it out of their way. Why use wired? Wireless actually takes a few ms more to respond, therefore wired is faster. Minute difference? Perhaps. But the difference between a headshot and giving away your position is sometimes just a pixel.