Cards & Boards

One of my most memorable card gaming experiences happened early in my “journey” – actually, 1996 to be precise. I was getting bored of Magic: the Gathering, and thanks to my cousin’s persuasive powers, I was lured into the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SW CCG), made by Decipher Inc.

Decipher was cashing in on the card game craze then, and Magic was still two years old at the time, but already making massive inroads. Mind you, I actually bought a starter deck in Penang, of all places.

The SW CCG was, for all intents and purposes, the first Star Wars-licensed card game. It had all the trappings of a typical card game then: loads of pricey but staple “main” character cards (we just called them “mains” in short) such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader; engaging but otherwise lengthy playtimes by today’s standards (each player had to have both Light and Dark Side decks, 60 cards each, and you had to duel each other twice with both decks, easily taking an hour per game), and a huge amount of useless cards, if one bought the cards via packs (well, not every 36-pack booster box would have a main character).

Looking back, it’s even a wonder that the card game even did well at all. For the longest time, SW CCG ranked a close second to Magic, until the cutesy Japanese anime/manga card games starting arriving.

Seeing games such as SW CCG hit and disappear, as well as the evolution of Magic itself, really gives us a perspective on how far the card games of today have come. Deckbuilding games, and Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Games, extract the more successful themes and concepts from the older games, giving us thoroughly refined experiences.

One common change though, is the time factor. I honestly think that today’s card games have less of a chance to do well if it gets too complex, plays for too long, and is too expensive to collect.

Need to play a card game but don’t want to ever study tournament results and create decks? Deckbuilding games would be up your alley, as the setup and play is immediate, straight from the box.

Looking for something meatier and easy to collect and play, but not as time-consuming and involving as TCGs? Then LCGs could be it. It has fixed assortments, that is, card sets that have cards which are distributed in non-random fashion, as well as good out-of-the-box playability, with customization options for advanced players.

Well, I have to say, I won’t miss my SW CCG days too much. Though the artwork (actual screenshots of the movies) on those things, are still brilliant and flawless I have to say!

Ever played SW CCG and its ilk? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

So I recently blogged about how I’m trying to revive the pretty-defunct LOTR TCG, which was made by Decipher Inc. And the initial results are promising, with several Fellowships and Shadow forces coming into intense skirmishing over the past week and a half!

In a nutshell, the game has everyone fielding their preferred Fellowships, consisting of Companions (the main and supporting characters of LOTR, such as Aragorn, Eowyn and Gandalf) who attempt to escort the Ringbearer (Frodo), who’s bearing the One Ring across the various sites of Middle Earth.

Mechanically speaking, the LOTR TCG has players guiding his or her Fellowship across nine site cards. And each opponent – the game is easily playable by more than two players – has the chance to spring their respective Shadow, or villainous cards against the various good folk.

There are swords, sorcery, Nazgul, Orcs, Elves and more. The fact that the LOTR TCG has actual, touched-up high-resolution imagery from the movies make the cards a dream. Amazing stuff, I must say.

The gameplay is gripping enough, though those who are not used to TCGs might struggle to grasp the rules. I found that learning from someone who’s experienced it, is optimal, else the first two or three games can be pretty heavy going.

So far, the Rohirrim seem to have been more consistent, though I have to concede the point about the player wielding it, being able to have the right supporting cards in play, early enough. The main force of Eowyn, Eomer and Theoden, backed up by a bunch of more generic Riders of Rohan (the common “red-shirt” types), always end up wearing enough armor, weapons and steeds, and eventually being able to overwhelm almost all the fattest minions around.

Well, looks like I’ll be hoping to take my Gondor deck for another few spins in the coming long weekends. The motley assortment of Aragorn and Boromir seem rather underpowered, and easily overwhelmed, in the face of some very fierce Uruk-Hai and Nazgul. Then again, the insufficient equipment might have accounted for their lack of survivability!

Meanwhile, I found this great blog, The Lord of the Rings TCG Blog which has tons of introductory info on the game. Started last year, it even features dream cards from the recent The Hobbit movie! Enjoy!

Does anyone still play, and would like to sound off below? Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

Yesterday I blogged about the LOTR Deck-Building Game (DBG). DBGs by the way have been picking up in momentum, especially in the last few months, with some big name franchises making the simple yet fun “cardboard” transition.

Wait a minute, a card game about Lord of the Rings? Now where did I hear that before? Yup, over a decade ago, when the first LOTR motion picture was fresh and all, a little game company known as Decipher Inc scored the rights to produce a trading card game (TCG) based on the huge franchise.

Decipher had already carved out a reputation for cranking out some solid licensed material: it started and popularized hugely popular TCGs based on the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises, and LOTR seemed like a natural home for the then-game company giant.

Each player in the LOTR TCG would take turns playing their own heroes (“Free Peoples” cards) and villains (“Shadow” cards) as they raced their respective Fellowships across nine Site cards. It was a bit of a “compromised” experience I have to say, but it allowed for everyone to be good and bad at the same time.

I enjoyed the game immensely, and there was even a budding tournament scene for it, to help spur the more competitive TCG enthusiasts. All in all, it felt like one of the more thematic card games out there!

Unfortunately, the game never really broke the dominance of the leading TCG of all time, Magic: the Gathering, and Decipher stopped producing it when its license to produce it, ended by 2007.

Well, the LOTR DBG has gotten me rekindling my once-love affair for the TCG. Stay tuned to see if I succeed!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

By CHEE YIH YANG
alltherage@thestar.com.my

AS I grow older, the lure of trading card games (TCGs) and boardgames that clock longer than one hour (I’m talking “official” play times that game companies quote, so actual set up and gameplay is closer to two hours), has all but vanished.

However, gone are the days when I actually had free nights to open TCG booster packs, buy (and sell) single cards online, download the latest cool decks, and then tune my own decks accordingly.

This was why Fantasy Flight Games’ Blood Bowl: Team Manager Card Game worked so well for me. My deck was only 12-cards thick, plus five smaller “team upgrades”. I ran the local “league”, even introducing home-brew dream teams and Star Players. It’s awesome fun, and has no “upkeep”. OK, the score-keeping was time consuming, but hey, it’s easy thanks to spreadsheets.

Another genre that’s catching my eye these days is deck-building games, or DBGs in short. Everyone starts with a small selection of cards and slowly builds their decks up by acquiring new cards from the game with every turn (hence the genre’s name).

Deck-building games are arguably most suited for casual (or time-strapped) gamers – like those in my playgroup, as they do not require players to buy additional cards to buff up the decks, which is what LCGs (living card games) and TCGs are all about.

There’s the Legendary: A Marvel DBG based on the famous Marvel Comics franchise, as well as DC Comics one by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Cryptozoic is also making a Lord Of The Rings DBG based on the 2001 movie trilogy.

Marvel DBG

I was looking forward to the Marvel DBG, having read some of the comics before. I mean X-Men was always my thing, so any game that features them was always going to get my curiosity going.

Unboxing Legendary Marvel felt a little deflating though, as honestly, I was expecting a lot more from the artwork. The layout of the imagery with the text also looked messy. And, while this sounds like a minor gripe, sleeving and prepping over 550 cards for play proved to be tiresome, even with four friends helping out.

Gameplay was solid though this game is definitely an interesting introductory-level type of card game, with some obvious synergy and strategies to be found, once your decks start accumulating enough key cards.

In a nutshell, you start by choosing from a bunch of hero “decks”, which are mini-piles of cards that depict the heroes’ special abilities and whatnot. You start with a very small deck with means of recruiting hero cards (SHIELD Agents) and killing villains (SHIELD Troopers).

Villains are drawn and enter the play, into five spaces within a gameboard (“The City”). Villains “escape” if you don’t kill them with your cards. Each card has a victory point on it, giving everyone a quick way to tally up and see who did the best. The Marvel game has co-operative and solo modes as well, making it accessible for one to five players. The players win when the Mastermind card is defeated four times in the game.

Overall, the Marvel DBG is a decent enough game if you’re looking for something simple, like if you’re a fan of the comics but not a hardcore gamer.

DC Comics DBG

I have to say that my first impression on the DC Comics DBG was excellent: the Jim Lee-inspired artwork really makes the cards look awesome. Mind you, I’m not even a DC Comics fan, being more of a Marvel/X-Men fan.

The card layout makes a lot of sense too, with the names and game text clearly jumping out at the players. There are over 200 cards and the gameplay is simple enough, with key differences from the Marvel game. In DC, you control a Hero card throughout the game (including icons such as Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash and Aquaman).

You also have a starting “deck” of cards that enable you to buy more cards to add to your deck, and defeat villains, who then go into your deck as well.

Eventually, your decks are beefed up considerably thanks to the heroes, equipment, superpowers and villains that are won, bought and defeated. DC DBG requires two to five players, and is a typical winners-take-all card game.

Overall, the gameplay is simpler compared to the Marvel one, and seems to clock faster too thanks to the easier mechanics. After playing both games, I have to say that there is very little comic book flavour and “realism” in either, especially DC.

That said, I would readily recommend the DC Comics DBG to any DC/comic fan, super casual gamers, or even veteran gamers that are looking for simpler pleasures compared to the time sinks that are TCGs and LCGs. I found it to be a great way to spend less than one hour with four other guys. And did I say that the cards look awesome?

E-mail the esoteric gaming nut at yihyang@gmail.com if you have comments, questions, hot gaming news and tips, and trading lists and deck ideas. Check out blog.rage.com.my and follow him @arcturus_mengsk.

How about gaming for a good cause? Classroom Café is running a unique World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (WoW TCG) charity event, named “Chase the Can”, where all attendees have to do is to bring in canned food as part of the “entry costs”.

The cans you bring will actually give players bonuses each game, so the more you donate, the more you’ll get. For instance, donating five cans will allow you to enter a lucky draw.

Curious? Check out their Facebook page here, for more information. Else, do get in touch with Eric Tee, who owns and runs Classroom Café, at yh_tee@hotmail.co.uk.

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

Magic: the Gathering fans must be lapping up all the Return to Ravnica spoilers that’s pretty much being revealed one by one, by the official game producer, Wizards of the Coast,  as well as numerous fan sites.

Plenty of interesting stuff has been revealed already: from awesome-looking and very powerful planeswalkers, to the tons of useful spells and what-not. Don’t forget the whole reprinting of the original cycle of Ravnica shock lands are causing quite a stir as well.

Well Wizards seem to be milking the hype for this pretty well. When the original Ravnica set was made available, the cycle was memorable enough. Plenty of powerhouses and staples, and thematically a smashing success. Would you blame Wizards for this encore? (Though it did sound a little lame when the first announcements hit – here we go, Scars round two!)

As an MTG-neutral gamer now (thought about returning, but nah, the love for TCGs is still missing somehow), this looks like a pretty darned impressive set. If only these things would be less expensive, LOLs!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

Cryptozoic Entertainment keeps bringing in the goodies, as the World of Warcraft TCG’s latest expansion set, War of the Ancients, is slated for a late September sneak preview event.

And in case anyone wants to play here in Petaling Jaya (or the Klang Valley), check out the local WoW TCG community’s Facebook page here for latest info and dates of the same event.

War of the Ancients will be a new block, and marks a literal return of sorts, to the Warcraft universe’s roots, by focusing on the first races that was more prevalent in the very first expansions of the TCG. Yup, say hello again to Taurens, Orcs, Elves and Humans, among others, as Cryptozoic seems to be stepping off the Monster-and-Dragons theme for a wee bit.

More spoilers incoming, as the weeks roll on, so stay tuned to Cryptozoic’s official WoW TCG site for all sorts of awesome updates on the new stuff!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

It’s halfway through August, and what do you know, Wizards of the Coast has just announced a new Duel Decks set, as a nice lead-up to the Return to Ravnica block that’s incoming, in around a month.

Duel Decks: Izzet vs Golgari gives us a glimpse on what the “new” Ravnica block is all about – across two what is likely to be very fun and interesting 60-card decks.

The previewed cards so, looks awesome too I must say. Hmm, will it tempt me to return to my Magic ways, after being off it since late last year?

All I can say is, I’m sure you’ll be curious to find out more about this noob-friendly set. Can’t wait!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

It’s not very often that card bans in trading card games (TCGs) happen, especially for a masterpiece such as WoW TCG (World of Warcraft Trading Card Game). But fans will be disappointed to note that the proverbial axe has fallen on three cards, to be exact.

But sometimes, despite best intent, games do get broken. With thousands of cards to manage and monitor, Cryptozoic has decided to remove Sava’gin the Reckless, Bottled Light and Etched Dragonbone Girdle from the more open, and very new Contemporary Constructed format.

Well, with majority of players having yet to take to the new format, the effect of the card bans remain to be seen on the secondary marketplaces. Sava’gin was worth a princely sum, so let’s see how this ban filters through?

I’m still deeply divided over card bans. How much should a game company do before implementing the ultimate ban sanction? What about cards that negate or overcome the powerful effects of other cards? Discuss away!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

WoW TCG (World of Warcraft Trading Card Game) fans will be excited to know that there will be a new Raid Deck product next month.

Battle of the Aspects has a worldwide street date of August 7, which is very, very soon! Now, there’s just been a whole spoiler-full article summary on the official Cryptozoic Entertainment website, right here.

Raid decks are standalone multiplayer products, and function with special rules, so players can get going and participate in a many-versus-one contest, against a preset deck.

The backstory for this special set, involves a huge dragon thing named Deathwing the Destroyer. Well, what matters more is that we’ll be getting more new treasure pack cards, in this very primo and special set. Well, there’s already a new Thrall confirmed for the set: can you say, uber-powerful? I’m drooling too much!

Now, the other interesting bit about Battle of the Aspects is the new WoW TCG variant that will debut with it. Dubbed the Chaos Format, you will be able to build decks that can only have single copies of your favoritest cards.

Yes, Magic fans will instantly recognise this as a ripoff, errr, homage to the now-staple Commander format. The Chaos Format has another neat rule, in which every ally can protect a hero, regardless on whether they have the Protector keyword or not.

Well, looks like we’ve got to hang on a little bit more before we try the new stuff!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.