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CCG-style game where everyone has all the cards?
Recently I've been trying out lots of CCG and CCG-style games such as Hearthstone, Faeria, Cardhunter, Duels of Champions, Solforge, Infinity Wars, etc. and they all have the same shortcoming to me: the main point of the game seems to be to spend huge amounts of money or thousands of hours grinding to get the "good" cards or the cards needed to build the deck you want.
This has left me wondering, are there any CCG or CCG-style games out there that AREN'T focused on how much money you spend or how many hours you grind? Is there any game where all players start with all the cards, and the game is about deck building skill and playing skill rather than who has the most expensive and rare cards?
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for a good game. If the game costs $50 just to purchase, that's no problem. If it costs $15 a month, that's no problem. Requiring hundreds/thousands of dollars / hours to get cards, that's the problem.
So does anyone know of a CCG-style game I missed that gives all players access to all cards?
Comments
I do not know about CCG here, but there is a lot of talk about MMO's
MAGA
Not sure what your post means, if anything. According to this site Hearthstone is an MMO, and so all the games I mentioned are by the same measure MMO's. Likewise, any multiplayer CCG or CCG-style game would also be an MMO.
CCGs and TCGs are generally based on idea of buying more and more booster packs.
What you are looking perhaps is deckbuilding game. However keep innmind those tend to play out slightly differently from your typical TCGS/CCGs and not many really get their digital versions.
An example would be Dominion ( http://play.goko.com/Dominion/gameClient.html ), keep in mind, you do get all basic cards for free however expansions you have to buy, there is no randomness included and if you play with someone who already bought the expansions you both get access to same card pool.
Yes I played Dominion there a good bit! I even have the actual board game (got it for Christmas). But as you say, it plays differently than the types of games I mentioned. I'm looking for something like a traditional CCG/TCG where a one-time purchase (or a subscription, or a few one-time purchases for expansions) unlocks everything, and the focus of the game is actually on the *game* and playing well and building clever decks. And not on buying more and more booster packs.
Of course, I fully understand no such game may exist. Just checking here in case I missed one that someone else knows about.
Well, i'm afraid it's in the very nature of Collectible/Trading Card Games to have that booster pack element. Not much of a collecting nor point in trading if you can have everything from the start is there?
I'd say MtG: Duels of Planeswalkers comes close to that idea, but same time it's because there is very little deckbuilding involved there and it's mainly about using the preconstruced ones in proper way.
Eventually you may look for some unofficial, free/open-source projects of the big franchises that let you just build your dream deck and play against other people, but the playerbases in those tend to be relatively small sadly.
What Ezhae said. It's the core element in those games, theory crafting and deck building is sadly only secondary.
I've played heavily in the '90s, and that was the reason which helped me to stop burning any more money on boosters and packs
You can't have all the cards. Period.
I mean, you can of course, temporarily, if you spend a smaller fortune and love the trading aspect as well (which I never liked) to cut back the amount of money needed, but as soon as they release an update, you have to start chasing the cards again. Not to mention, it's a real pita to hunt down the extra cards (for example, my main game back in the days did a campaign and put an UR card next to a fanzine, which was published I think in only 5.000 pieces. It wasn't a strong card, but still...)
For the question, you could maybe try Forgotten Myths, it's a pretty average MtG-ish game. (as I wrote in a previous post, I only jumped into it, becaue it runs on Android too, so it's great to play 1-2 matches on my tablet while sitting in the smallest room of the house
)
There's an in-game collection tab, like a catalogue, where you can browse among all the cards in the game, even if you don't have them. So you can goofing around with the theory crafting part, and then buying only the cards you miss for your dream deck. And you can get the cards for free (you can earn both currencies in game with playing matches), but of course it's more convenient to simply purchasing them.
What you are asking for defeats the purpose for CCG and TCG.
For my TCG and CCG needs there is only Magic The Gathering thats worth mentioning.
When it comes to LCG (living card games) then Android Netrunner, Vampire the Eternal Struggle and Warhammer Invasion is the good ones.
Tried Dominion but it's in fact even more boring than even Munchkin in my opinion.
Try Duels of the Planeswalker. Its more like the less competetive version of Magic meant for casuals and beginners, but it doesnt have those powercards so it should be kind of fair. AND it got alot more cards than any of those other online card games.
Im not really a fan of the booster pack system either - its a pretty good business model as far as the company is concerned though. I wont really play any of these games that rely on an endless amount of booster packs hunting for certain cards its just not the best use of my money imo...
Offline theres LCG - "Living Card Games" a term coined by Fantasy Flight Games - I have the Game of Thrones one, they do quite a few others and almost all are very highly regarded games. They work on a system where you buy boxes knowing exactly whats in the pack - so theres none of this blind buying chasing rares.
Sadly theres no online variant - unless you try Lackey or similar. I wish they would make an online version of AGOT or the Cuthulhu one - im sure they would be very popular. Especially given how oversimple Hearthstone is, im sure there would be many looking for a more meaty and complex game.
r.i.p. c!
Infinity Wars is a very good CCG, it is actually my favorite out of the ones I've tried lately (Faeria, Solforge, Hearthstone, Cardhunter, Duels of Champions). It is the first CCG I've played that I think comes close to the depth and complexity of Magic in terms of strategy. I hope more people find out about it and that the devs are successful with it.
However, all that said, it is still a huge grind or money sink to get a competitive deck or decks. Better than the other options? Yes, definitely less grind than say, Hearthstone. But better than terrible in this case is still really bad (grind). I finished the entire campaign, been doing all the quests, login each day for the rewards, do the daily 3 games for more rewards. It would take many, many months of this to get the cards for a competitive deck. I've been playing for about 4 weeks now and gotten 0 Legendary cards, 1 Epic, and maybe 15-20 rares (because you are guaranteed 1 in each pack). Nearly all of the cards the game "hands" you to get you started are commons and copies of the same common (35+ copies of the same card in some cases).
TL:DR: Infinity Wars is good, probably the best option out at the moment, but its still a HUGE time grind or money sink.
Sounds like you need to hone your strategies honestly as usually the way you build your deck is just as able to win as someone who has all the best.
Though if you want something that is a little more new player friendly and has more strategies overall I would suggest Legends of Norrath.
http://www.legendsofnorrath.com/
What you're looking for is a card game with pretty pictures, not a CCG or TCG. There are plenty of those on the various flash gaming sites.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
@Braindome - I tried LoN back in the day, but I wasn't much impressed by it. I think most of the offerings today are substantially better, although it was cool that they tied it in with an MMO. However in none of the CCG games out today is someone with basic starter/common cards "just as able to win" as a (competent) player with all the best. That's just not how these kinds of games work.
@Acidcoconut - Faeria has shown that the "buy more booster packs!" mentality and price model is not the only way to go. They went with a Box purchase only plan, with 0 options to buy booster packs, and it is working for them. Other similar games have conditioned people to think that "pay more get more" is the only option, but its not. I'm looking for a game like Faeria with a box purchase, or subscription, or other similar payment model, but without the card grind. As far as being competitive in IW at the moment, the population is so small that there are only a couple hundred active players, and I only usually see 40-55 players on at any given time. If you made top 60 without a large card selection, you likely could have made top 20, or top 10 if you had all the cards you wanted. A good player with a better card selection has an advantage over an equally good player with worse card selection, that's just the way it is.
@Loktofeit - No, that's not what I'm looking for, as you would know if you actually read, or perhaps more importantly, if you understood the posts.
Duels of planewalker series ( magic tcg without the t).
2013+14 are both decent with good online playerbase.
It's b2p tho but the price tag is low. No boosters. Unlock all cards by playing game + doing the promo codes everyone has access to.
You could always buy a "box" when you start playing card game. Spend $30 or how ever much on a lot of booster packs right when you start so you come in with a healthy card collection right off the bat. That way you don't lose the fun of acquiring new cards but you still have the collection you want. Then each week you could buy a pack as a "subscription" so that way your card base always grows. I can assure you that the competitive scene in Infinity Wars is pretty intense. The leaderboard has current active players and old veterans taking some time off. It is not an easy feat by any means to get on it. The point i was trying to go was really that you can be competitive with a limited selection of cards, you don't need the shiniest cards to be at the top.