The Value of a Card

One of the few attractions of a TCG(Trading Card Game) is the collectibility of the cards. People would just buy packets of the cards just so they could keep a few of them in a binder (I'm one of them) . Try seeing it this way, its like collecting stamps, you just have to have that special card for collection sake.

TCG cards are normally seperated into common, uncommon and rare. For example, if you buy a packet of boaster pack of any TCG, say in a pack of 15 cards, 11 are common cards, 3 uncommon and 1 rare.

Most of the TCG currently the market today cater more to collectors than to players. For example Pokeamon TCG rares and Lord of the rings TCG rares ARE expensive if you're able to get the special rare cards that are popular like for Pokeamon TCG, its the famous Pikachu. In Pokeamon TCG, Pikachu is one of the most sought after cards and there are many variations of Pikachu to choose from.


This ANA 2001 PIKACHU & LARVITAR can go as high as USD35 or higher.

For Lord of the rings TCG, its the alternate art version of rare cards or cards depicting famous character that is more sought after, i'm not much of a fan of the game, but it seems most people buy the cards just to get the pretty pictures (BTW the cards uses images from the Lord of The Ring Trilogy films as its art) .


a sample of its gameplay, as you could see all of the card art uses scenes from the movie to attract people to buy the cards.


a nice picture of Gandalf, kinda makes you want one....

Theres a difference in Magic:The Gathering as the collectors actually collects the cards not just based on the arts or how rare it is, but by usability also. Some uncommon cards(supposely lower in rarity from rares) actually caught some high price for itself and sometimes can be more expensive than some rares.


Eternal Witness once went as high as RM15 in some local hobby shops, I even know someone who have paid RM20 just to get the card. And most uncommon cards don't even go higher than RM2. The card mechanic make it a valuable card to have in a green deck. So many players would want their hand on this baby, making it a 'rare' uncommon.


This card is currently priced at RM35 and can go higher depend on the shops you go. It is sought after by Magic players who wants to make their deck stronger. The art isn't that interesting, but it gameplay value is high among gamers.

This is only just a tibits of what makes a card valuable in the TCG world. You always don't know what makes a collector or player ticks, the prices go up and down depending on the wants of players and collectors.

This is just a small peak in the world of TCG, i'll deeper in the next post.
Jya Ne.

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Sway of the stars


a cool art of Sway of the stars by Randy Gallegos

This is the art for 'Sway of the star' card from Magic:the gathering. I like especially the movement of the water on the waterfall. Its simply amazing how the artist gives the feeling of amazement just by looking at the water flow only. Its too bad they have to size it down so it can be fitted into the card.


the actual card


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What makes a card game fun?

What makes a card game fun... hmmmmm an interesting topic.


what do you think makes card game fun?
Is how cool its game mechanics are? The great arts and design of the cards?
Is it if it has cool characters you like like Pokeamon or maybe GI Joes?

well...to me its all those and more:
1) Its simple to play
- All i ask from a card game is that its simple to learn and a newbie can start playing the game without remembering complex rules. RULES damn rules, its hard to play a game if you have to do every phase and every step according to the rules. A game like MTG is easy to learn and once you see someone plays it, and you understand its basic rules , you can start off immediately.

2) The game can evolve into a more challanging game
- Its really important if say you were able to master a game, and you wants to play a harder game. The card game can be made more difficult by introducing cards that causes effects that make the game play more exciting. For example, Pokeamon TCG introduce Stadium cards in the advance level makes the game more exciting where they change a bit of the game rules as long as its in play.

3) Its allows multiplaying
- its really important if a card game can be played in a multiplayer environment. Card games like MTG and pokeamon is successful because they allow multiplaying instead of just the normal one-on-one standard. The Simpson TCG failed because it is hard to be played in a multiplayer environment. For me, i like it if a game allows me to play with all of my friends at the same time. My favorite is when we played a Free-for-all format with MTG. Its interesting to see all of us going against each other, either we help each other eliminate a certain opponent or going against everyone at one time. LOL~

4) I can make cool combos thats shows my own style of playing
- I know its sounds wierd, but thats one of the characteristic i look in a game. If the game only allows a certain type of gameplay, i dont think i will play it anymore. What i like in MTG is that i can mix around some colours and play my own deck even if people will say my deck is weak or not complete, but hey i want to play it that way.
What turns me off the GI Joe TCG is that its has only one style of gameplay. Either you are the Joes and your opponent is Cobra and vice-versa. Its gameplay is interesting to play, but after a long play it will get boring and switching side wont solve the problem.

so far thats all ...i think.
might continue it later if i remember to add anything else.
Jya Ne~


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Magic:The Gathering part 2 : an overview....again

Magic:The Gathering ....hmmm whats to say about it? Well, its just that i LOVE the game. It's one of the few games that keeps me playing it and make me wants more. Some people will call this game as childish or maybe even as a form of gambling ( I still don't get it how they can associate card games as gambling, its to them all card game is gambling and boardgames are family games, sometime i just don't understand people).

Well back to the MTG(a common acronym used to refer to Magic:The Gathering), its a simple game to play actually, you use a 60-card deck to play against another opponents. Each player start of with 20 life points and the objective of the game is to make your opponent life point go to 0 or your opponent have no more card to draw during his turn.

The gameplay is simple to learn, as the background setting is that you are a sorcerer and you duel with another sorcerer. You start off with 7 cards in hand. You draw a card from your deck called the Library(the player who starts first cannot draw a card in the beginning). You play a land and tap the land to produce 1 'mana'. Mana is used to play spells, each spell cards have mana cost on them to play the spells. You can only play a land once a turn.

Then, you enter the 'Main Phase', you play spells during this phase. Let it be a creature spell or sorcery or any spell as long as you have enough mana to pay for the spell.

After that its the 'Combat Phase', first you declare the attackers, which one of your creatures that you want to attack the opponent (when you first summon the creatures(that means after paying the mana cost and play the creature spell) , the creature is in "Summoning sickness" that means you could not use the creature during the turn you play it, you have to wait until the next turn then you can use the creature) , the the opponent delacre the blockers, which one of his or her creatures will block the the attacking creatures. After all that is decided, combat phase begins and the creatures deals damages. Any creatures that receive damages more than their toughness(their life point if those who are still blurred on the toughness concept, i've explained in part 1 that each creature have power and toughness, shown on the bottom right of the creature card in the form of "power*/toughness*". ) the creature 'dies' and go to the discard pile called the 'graveyard'. If an attacking creature was not blocked and it deals damage to the opponent, the opponent lose life point according to the damage.

Spell cards have many types, among the most common are creature, enchanment, sorcery and instant spells. Creature spells allow you to summon creatures out and deal damage to your opponent or his or her creature. Enchantment spell meanwhile create effects like life gaining, card discarding and other effects while its in play. Sorcery spells also creates effects but can only be played during the player's main phase. Instant spell however is unique because its allow a player to play it anytime, even during an opponent's turn to create effects. Anyone interested to learn more should check out the part one of this articel, I even made some basic instruction on how to play the game there.

Well, what makes this game interesting.....
To me, the game is fun and interesting is because the game allows you to try different type of strategy with many combinations of cards. It has 5 types of 'cultures' differentiated by 5 colours: white, blue, black, red and green. Each colour has they own unique traits, for example black usually deals with spells that requires you to lose some of your life points to gain a certain advantage like making your opponent discard cards from his or her hand. Again, anyone interested in learning more should check out the links i provide in part 1.

Mixing different type of color can produce many different style of playing. you can make a deck that is creature-based where you pummeled your opponent with large creatures or a deck with a lot of small and cheap mana-costing creature where you swarm your opponents with them. You can also choose to make a deck with spells that deals damage directly only without using creatures. The combinations is endless.

Try it out yourself and see if its the game for you.
Jya Ne~

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MEW~~

a nice picture of MEW. Yippee

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Introduction to Pokemon TCG

hi hi ...
Raichu i choose you!

The Pokemon phenomenon has been around for quite some time, ever since the first Pokemon GameBoy game came out, we been having a bombardment of Pokemon Merchendising thrown at us.
One of them is the Pokemon TCG.

official site:
Pokemon TCG

a short intro on the game:
Intro

learn how to play:
Game Demo
Basic Rules
Expert Rules

if you want to play the game over the internet, use Apprentice....its really aesy
Download Pokemon Apprentice

Try it!! Hav Fun ;-)

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GI JOE TCG - Cobra Comamander

cool eh?~

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GI JOE TCG

i just found an interesting card game called GI Joe Trading Card Game.

check out its game demo
GAME DEMO

the official TCG website
GI Joe TGC

the official GI Joe website
GI Joe

hav fun~
YO Joe!! Co-Braaaaaaaaa!!

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Introduction to Magic:The Gathering part 1

hi there,

i think i'll start off the the introduction of Trading Card Games (TGC) with the most important and influential games of our time : Magic:The Gathering

this is the link to its official website :
http://www.wizards.com/magic

if anyone wants to know its origin:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listid=5069

this is a simple introduction on the game that i made myself:
http://www.geocities.com/ewa_excelsior/basic1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/ewa_excelsior/basic2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/ewa_excelsior/basic3.htm
http://www.geocities.com/ewa_excelsior/basic4.htm

if you need more understanding of the rules :
basic rulebook
comprehensive rules
tournament rules


thats all for now, i'll put up some more next time
Jya Ne

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EWA's Secret Lair CNY Decree

EWA's Secret Lair

The year of the rooster is coming ;-)

To all that celebretes Chinese New Year : Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!

To all my friends, happy holidays and happy chinese new year

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