mightbe
10-13-2008, 12:44 AM
Yeah, you know me.
First off, what makes a TCG? From wikipedia:
Collectible card games (CCGs), also called trading card games (TCGs) or customizable card games (CCGs), are played using specially designed sets of cards. While trading cards have been around for longer, CCGs combine the appeal of collecting with strategic gameplay.
My Favorite Active Games
World of Warcraft (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/):
Rich with the flavor of the RTS and MMO games set in the same universe, WoW TCG has had a little more than two years of solid commercial success and has build a large casual and hardcore following. Games are either played one on one or as a party of adventurers taking on wickedly challenging Raid Decks that mirror some of the most famous MMO instances.
Strengths: Fresh, Inexpensive to build decent decks, Great to draft, Clean and easy to pick up
Weaknesses: Still a bit new that it may be tough to find people to play with
Legend of the Five Rings (http://www.l5r.com/):
L5R has built a rabid and well deserved fan following on the integrity of it's rich lore, iconic characters, and involvement of the tournaments in the fate of the game world. If you've ever wanted to lead a clan of honorable samurai, a secretive sect of ninja, or a throng of wretched demons this is the game for you.
Strengths: Loyal fanbase, Awesome lore, Fun Mechanics, Ninja, Samurai, Demons
Weaknesses: Difficult to learn, Can be very intimidating to new players, Not all regions have people to play with
Magic: The Gathering (http://www.wizards.com/magic/):
The original and the standard by which all will be judged. It releases lots of sets at a fairly brisk pace so there's always new cards coming out. The downside to that is that your collection can become outdated very quickly.
Strengths: It's everywhere and has the largest tournament scene of TCG in the world
Weaknesses: Expensive, the players are generally regarded as the least friendly of all TCGs
My Favorite Dead Games:
Highlander (http://www.highlandertcg.com/):
A game that started with a great mechanic that unfortunately was mismanaged and mangled into a shadow of its true potential. The core sword fighting mechanic is so much fun that it's worth going through some of the crappily designed cards and rules just to play this game.
Strengths: My god the sword fighting and "Quickening" mechanics are cool
Weaknesses: The set designers were crazy. There are useless/confusing/ridiculously overpowered cards everywhere.
Lord of the Rings (http://lotrtcg.fanhq.com/):
Decipher hit a home run when they first released this TCG in the wake of the first movie. Working with Weta Workshop, they came up with beautiful designs for the artwork and really captured the feel of middle earth and the journey of the ring bearer. The downside is that Decipher was poorly run and closed stopping the production of LotR TCG. The game can still be fun to pick up and play if you find it on the cheap.
Strengths: Feels and plays loyal to the books and movies
Weaknesses: Difficult to learn on your own
Marvel/DC Versus (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/vs/en/marvel/teamup/default.aspx):
If you're a comic book fan, VS TCG is a great amount of fun to fool around with. All of your Marvel and DC favorites all the way out to some of the most obscure heroes and villains make appearances. The rules are simple but the power of the cards varies wildly from set to set.
Strengths: Heroes and Villains beating the crap out of each other is fun!
Weaknesses: The mechanics are not terribly deep. But do they need to be?
Colonist Favorites
astranoir recommends The Spoils (http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/view.php?pg=home):
The Spoils is a tournament card game developed by a combination of game designers and top players of Magic the Gathering. One thing that could be seen as being either a strength or a weakness is that this card game is created for adults. The humor is something younger players may not enjoy/get, and the game is based around a political spoils system and so may be more difficult to get into than many other card games.
Strengths: Created by players for players, well-balanced
Weaknesses: It's a relatively new game, so it made be difficult to find cards or other players
Answers to stuff you're probably wondering:
-How do I get into TCGs?
Go to your FLGS (friendly local gaming store) and see what they play (probably MtG or WoW). If they don't play what you like, go to the website of the game you want to play (probably WoW :D ) and use their forums and tournament finder to find stores that hold events and sell product. Find out if they have nights where they play sealed or draft, these are great formats to start on. Pick up a starter set and try it out to get a feel for the rules.
-All TCGs are crap because they cost lots and lots of money to play, right?
Actually, no, not really. One of the most interesting ways to play a TCG is to play a sealed format or to draft packs. This usually costs about $10-25, usually less than retail price for the packs you're opening, and you get to keep the product afterwards! If you find this too prohibitive of a cost for 3+ hours of entertainment and some cards to play with later, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.
-How can I get cards for cheap?
eBay is a good source for rares at a reasonable price. Your local game store may have books of cards from each set where you can find extra copies of critical cards for not too much cash.
I'd strongly suggest staying away from buying packs unless you're either getting them at a really good price, or you're using them to play sealed/draft. The random sorting makes it unlikely that you'll get cards you want and the cards are almost always worth less than what you paid for the pack.
-I'm terrible at trading. Help me?
Yeah, I'm pretty bad too. What I usually do is keep eBay handy (on my cell phone) or print out price lists of the cards I'm looking to trade or trade for from various websites. That way you just attach a dollar value and try to trade for an equal dollar value. Sometimes the value of a card can change drastically, but you'll never really know that ahead of time.
Generally, once a card has been out for a while it's worth less than when it first showed up, unless it's one of the top cards in the set it came from. This is what's known as a "Chase" card. It often rises to a crazy dollar value. I'd recommend staying away from these cards as they're really only worth that amount to a competitive player.
-Can you help me build my deck?
Well, not really unless you're into WoW TCG tournament level stuff. I can give you a few pointers though (there are always exceptions to these rules).
*Play with the minimum number of cards allowed (Usually 60) in your deck. More cards means less likely hood of drawing the best ones.
*Play with as many copies as you can of your best cards (usually 4x). Running 1x and 2x copies in a deck means you're unlikely (in most games) to see it come up.
*Research decks online. Building and playing other peoples known as "Net Decking". In some circles this is frowned upon as unoriginal. I'm of the opinion that by playing against and with the best decks around, you'll quickly become a better player. If nothing else you'll learn a bit of deck building theory.
Let me know if there's anything else you guys would like added to the thread.
First off, what makes a TCG? From wikipedia:
Collectible card games (CCGs), also called trading card games (TCGs) or customizable card games (CCGs), are played using specially designed sets of cards. While trading cards have been around for longer, CCGs combine the appeal of collecting with strategic gameplay.
My Favorite Active Games
World of Warcraft (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/):
Rich with the flavor of the RTS and MMO games set in the same universe, WoW TCG has had a little more than two years of solid commercial success and has build a large casual and hardcore following. Games are either played one on one or as a party of adventurers taking on wickedly challenging Raid Decks that mirror some of the most famous MMO instances.
Strengths: Fresh, Inexpensive to build decent decks, Great to draft, Clean and easy to pick up
Weaknesses: Still a bit new that it may be tough to find people to play with
Legend of the Five Rings (http://www.l5r.com/):
L5R has built a rabid and well deserved fan following on the integrity of it's rich lore, iconic characters, and involvement of the tournaments in the fate of the game world. If you've ever wanted to lead a clan of honorable samurai, a secretive sect of ninja, or a throng of wretched demons this is the game for you.
Strengths: Loyal fanbase, Awesome lore, Fun Mechanics, Ninja, Samurai, Demons
Weaknesses: Difficult to learn, Can be very intimidating to new players, Not all regions have people to play with
Magic: The Gathering (http://www.wizards.com/magic/):
The original and the standard by which all will be judged. It releases lots of sets at a fairly brisk pace so there's always new cards coming out. The downside to that is that your collection can become outdated very quickly.
Strengths: It's everywhere and has the largest tournament scene of TCG in the world
Weaknesses: Expensive, the players are generally regarded as the least friendly of all TCGs
My Favorite Dead Games:
Highlander (http://www.highlandertcg.com/):
A game that started with a great mechanic that unfortunately was mismanaged and mangled into a shadow of its true potential. The core sword fighting mechanic is so much fun that it's worth going through some of the crappily designed cards and rules just to play this game.
Strengths: My god the sword fighting and "Quickening" mechanics are cool
Weaknesses: The set designers were crazy. There are useless/confusing/ridiculously overpowered cards everywhere.
Lord of the Rings (http://lotrtcg.fanhq.com/):
Decipher hit a home run when they first released this TCG in the wake of the first movie. Working with Weta Workshop, they came up with beautiful designs for the artwork and really captured the feel of middle earth and the journey of the ring bearer. The downside is that Decipher was poorly run and closed stopping the production of LotR TCG. The game can still be fun to pick up and play if you find it on the cheap.
Strengths: Feels and plays loyal to the books and movies
Weaknesses: Difficult to learn on your own
Marvel/DC Versus (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/vs/en/marvel/teamup/default.aspx):
If you're a comic book fan, VS TCG is a great amount of fun to fool around with. All of your Marvel and DC favorites all the way out to some of the most obscure heroes and villains make appearances. The rules are simple but the power of the cards varies wildly from set to set.
Strengths: Heroes and Villains beating the crap out of each other is fun!
Weaknesses: The mechanics are not terribly deep. But do they need to be?
Colonist Favorites
astranoir recommends The Spoils (http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/view.php?pg=home):
The Spoils is a tournament card game developed by a combination of game designers and top players of Magic the Gathering. One thing that could be seen as being either a strength or a weakness is that this card game is created for adults. The humor is something younger players may not enjoy/get, and the game is based around a political spoils system and so may be more difficult to get into than many other card games.
Strengths: Created by players for players, well-balanced
Weaknesses: It's a relatively new game, so it made be difficult to find cards or other players
Answers to stuff you're probably wondering:
-How do I get into TCGs?
Go to your FLGS (friendly local gaming store) and see what they play (probably MtG or WoW). If they don't play what you like, go to the website of the game you want to play (probably WoW :D ) and use their forums and tournament finder to find stores that hold events and sell product. Find out if they have nights where they play sealed or draft, these are great formats to start on. Pick up a starter set and try it out to get a feel for the rules.
-All TCGs are crap because they cost lots and lots of money to play, right?
Actually, no, not really. One of the most interesting ways to play a TCG is to play a sealed format or to draft packs. This usually costs about $10-25, usually less than retail price for the packs you're opening, and you get to keep the product afterwards! If you find this too prohibitive of a cost for 3+ hours of entertainment and some cards to play with later, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.
-How can I get cards for cheap?
eBay is a good source for rares at a reasonable price. Your local game store may have books of cards from each set where you can find extra copies of critical cards for not too much cash.
I'd strongly suggest staying away from buying packs unless you're either getting them at a really good price, or you're using them to play sealed/draft. The random sorting makes it unlikely that you'll get cards you want and the cards are almost always worth less than what you paid for the pack.
-I'm terrible at trading. Help me?
Yeah, I'm pretty bad too. What I usually do is keep eBay handy (on my cell phone) or print out price lists of the cards I'm looking to trade or trade for from various websites. That way you just attach a dollar value and try to trade for an equal dollar value. Sometimes the value of a card can change drastically, but you'll never really know that ahead of time.
Generally, once a card has been out for a while it's worth less than when it first showed up, unless it's one of the top cards in the set it came from. This is what's known as a "Chase" card. It often rises to a crazy dollar value. I'd recommend staying away from these cards as they're really only worth that amount to a competitive player.
-Can you help me build my deck?
Well, not really unless you're into WoW TCG tournament level stuff. I can give you a few pointers though (there are always exceptions to these rules).
*Play with the minimum number of cards allowed (Usually 60) in your deck. More cards means less likely hood of drawing the best ones.
*Play with as many copies as you can of your best cards (usually 4x). Running 1x and 2x copies in a deck means you're unlikely (in most games) to see it come up.
*Research decks online. Building and playing other peoples known as "Net Decking". In some circles this is frowned upon as unoriginal. I'm of the opinion that by playing against and with the best decks around, you'll quickly become a better player. If nothing else you'll learn a bit of deck building theory.
Let me know if there's anything else you guys would like added to the thread.