My thoughts

Actually I dont know what to talk about anymore...
Being too busy with my assignments and dont have the time to try out new games.
so, for today I'm going give my thoughts on the TCG industry.

Well, what I can say about the industry is that its dominated by hype.
Most of the popular TCG now are trading card games that have the most hype, either being promoted aggrasively, or having an animated series or movies based TCG.

Games that is inovative like Magi Nation isnt doing well because its getting less publicity.
People are more excited about new games that has the most hype than games that are playable.
Look at the disaster that is Harry Potter TCG, it got people playing when it first come out, but look at it now, no players at all.
People play it because its a game based on the Harry Potter world. These People are either fans of the movie or the book. But not many turn up as serious players.

Seems to me people are more interested if the game is hyped enough, or they wont bother about it.
Cant say I blame them. With all the current TCGs in the market, people would tend to go for the flashy games.

Would I go for this type of games?
Maybe...you wont know until you tried it right?

To be fair, some hyped up TCGs are actually good, like Yu-gi-oh TCG.
It just that I dont see any good games being produced often, being a consumer of TCGs in the malaysian market, we tend to get only TCGs that is comercially produced. Many of the good indies are hard to come by here...

Well, thats the life here and I have to suck it up here with what is available.
Anyway, playing Magic:The gathering is more fun because the availability of different formats of play available, which I cant find in other TCGs.

thats all for now
Jya Ne

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WOTC is taking over the world!!!!!

No...just kidding LOLz

But its actually true in a sense, that WOTC (Wizard of the Coast) is trying to dominate the Trading Card Game world.

WOTC known for its Magic:The Gathering TCG and Dungeon & Dragons RPGs. Is dominating the market as MTG is becoming more popular around the world.

I've been surfing in Wikipedia looking for some material, and this interesting articel on WOTC caught my eye. Its about WOTC patenting the gameplay for MTG.

WTH, by patenting the whole MTG gameplay, is basically owning THE WHOLE TCG GAMEPLAY!!!

Theres a lot of game that is similiar to MTG, this patent has given WOTC the right to practically sue them all!! o_O

WOTC has already gone to court over Pokemon TCG with Nintendo, but they're able to settle it outside of the court. I don't know if they are going for other TCG yet, but if they did, it'll be a WOTC dominated TCG market. With other companies limited with what they can release.

WOTC website
website

The page in Wikipedia
TCG page

The patent
patent

interesting isnt it?
Wonder how it will continue?
Will the other game companies sue WOTC for trying to monopoly the market?
We have to just wait and see for now ;-)

Thats all I can give today,
Jya Ne

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CCGWORKSHOP.COM

Today I browsed a bit a forum introduced to me by my friend No-wing, its an interesting site which held dicussion on many types of game from board games to trading card games.

I found the site interesting, but dont have time to browse thru its many discussions.

The site :
ccgworkshop.com

Check out its forum and all the discussions on the many games available XD
forum

Its very informational, its also a good place for anyone who is interested in TCG, board games or any type of games to find out a particular information of certain games.

That's all for now,
Jya Ne

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Yu-Gi-Oh TCG -- my comments

Just as I promised last Monday, my comments on Yu-Gi-Oh TCG.

I've became a fan of it by reading its manga, that time the TCG hasn't come out yet. It has a good run as Yugi(the main character) plays a lot of games and made them into Dark Games to punish evildoers (don't laugh, its in the sypnosis). When Yugi started playing a trading card game called 'wizards and monsters', it proved a hit among fans and they wants more of it. The publishers, like the hungry vultures they are, ask Kazuki Takahashi to start a new storyline concentrating on this trading card game. Well what can I say more, it was such a hit that they produced a TCG based on the it. The rest as we say, are history.....

Yu-Gi-Oh TCG uses an interesting gameplay where you summon monsters on fields and have them do battles. If a monster is defeated, the monster's owner will have his or her life point reduced according to remaining attack point from the attacking monster(well it basically means that: the attacking monster attacks for 150 point, the defending monster has defense point of 100, the defending monster is defeated and its owner received damage the balance of the attack point that is 50).

It also utilizes trap cards and spell cards to improve the gameplay, almost like MTG(well almost, the trap cards are an innovation, these cards can only be activated during certain conditions and it make the game really unpredictable).

The game started off a bit unstable, because most of the cards are adapted from the manga. After releasing a few sets, they have improved a lot and has become a dominant player in the TCG market now. The cards released now does not refer to the manga much, and most of the gameplay is changed for real life playing. Now totally independant from the manga, the game is set to make waves in TCG world.

Thats all for now,
Jya Ne

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USD100 found in Topps Pack Wars

My friend No-wing send me an interesting link today. Its from a message board in Beckett.com, the board is a kind of a forum for Baseball trading card enthusiasts.
Link

The link send me to a specific thread in this message board where someone discovered a USD100 bill in his pack. He post it up, and members of the forum discuss together about his dicovery.


Look at the last statement at the bottom left of the sell sheet.

Even their advertisment look suspicious.

This is the most DESPERATED attempt by a trading card company to attract customers. I mean, putting in money to lure potential buyers is really 'cheap' (this i mean by their tactics, not how much money they have).

Really, trading card collectors (like myself) buy the cards for their collection value, this giving away money attempt is going to make the card values go down(really down), making it pointless in collecting them.

Putting in a USD100 bill in the packs would get people to buy their product, but these people are just in it for the money, its just like buying the lottery for them. In the end the company might make a profit from the sales, but dont think their Baseball cards will have any value in the future.

It seems that current Trading Card market must really be bad, with Trading Card companies doing gimmicks like this. With all the competition from Trading Card Games, normal Trading Cards have problem attracting new customers. But that doesnt mean those companies can do this kind of cheap scam to help the sales.

Hopefully I'll never see this kind of cheap scam in my favorite Trading Cards, Comic Trading Cards(there arent much now as most of them converted to TCG like Marvel and DC).

Thats all the rant i can do today,
Jya Ne

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

Today I'm going to do a short introduction Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game.

Yu-Gi-Oh! started as a manga series by Kazuki Takahashi in 1996, the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise has since grown to an immensely successful global brand, spawning various manga and anime series.
Its trading card game started as part of the franchise, but slowly grows into its own franchise as the game picks up fans around the world.

Yu-Gi-Oh! official website
This is Yu-Gi-Oh! official website, see the new updates on Yu-Gi-Oh! animes and TCG. If you can read japanese XD
official website

Yu-Gi-Oh! in wikipedia
I'm too lazy to go around all the information in here, its too much for me to say. Check it out yourself, theres tons of Yu-Gi-Oh! information to feed you for a month. LOL
wikipedia

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in wikipedia
Enough Yu-Gi-Oh! history and TCG information for you to be a Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG expert.
wikipedia on TCG

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG website
Contains links to Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG websites from around the world.
website

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG website in Malaysia
It seems Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is popular in Malaysia too....only that there's isn't much publicity on it.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Malaysia

Learn to play Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game
Check these 2 sites for the rules of the game, and how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game.
zeldaguide.com
yugioh-land.com


A really cool combo from Yu-Gi-Oh. If you are able to collect 5 of these in your hand, you automaticly wins the game. Interesting.....




A sample card from Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game.


I'll talk more on the game later, for now check the game out yourself and see if the Yu-Gi-Oh! phenomenon is for you or not.

Jya Ne

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Magi-Nation Duel

Magi-Nation....it has a really good game design if you ask me. Maybe bad marketing choices has made it a relatively unknown game to most people.

A really nice concept, even though they still followed a bit of MTG gameplay, but their unique gameplay make them stand out from all the others. The game focuses on the 3 Magi you put in play. They are the resources of energy that you will need to play spells.

Its a simple enough game to play, you use energy from your Magi and cast out Dream creatures. These Dream creatures will then battle with the opponent's Dream creature. If the opponent have no Dream creature, your Dream creature will attack the opponent's Magi. Until your opponent has no more Magi in play, you win the game.

Not to mention the cool artworks on the cards. Magi-Nation uses animesqe art on it. It looks a bit childish, maybe thats why it has not been able to attract hardcore gamers. But my friend No-wing likes it, so does me. :P

By the way, an animated series of Magi-Nation is expected to be aired in worldwide markets sometime between Spring 06/ Fall 06 and Spring 07/Fall 07. They are going to re-release the card game during that time too. I think they are trying to copy the success story of Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Master that is a Trading Card Game and was able to reach the public with its animated series. Hope Magi-Nation will do well as well(hopefully).

Magi-Nation online tutorial
A simple tutorial that can get any newbie know how to play Magi-Nation. Try it out. You'll never regret it.
Tutorial

Magi-Nation Website
For more information on Magi-Nation.
website


A cool looking dream creature. A fine art for any collector's eyes.


Try Magi-Nation out, it doesn't hurt to try new things.
Jya Ne

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Duel Master TCG

Ahh...an interesting subject.
A new Trading Card Game, but already a big hit in Japan and America.
I don't know when the hype is gonna catch up with us Malaysians. But so far not many Malaysian gamers are playing this game.
I havn't touch the game yet, but i've gone thru its tutorial and check out its rules...
It has a interesting game play...using your own cards as shields and all the cards produce mana...
But all the other mechanics are like Magic:the gathering. From summoning monsters to playing spells.
Its sad though...that most TCG now copies MTG and just add a few new mechanics and gameplay rules to make it different.

An online demo of Duel Master TCG.
This is a good place to start if you want to learn up the game fast. Its tutorial is easy to understand and clear(it have to be cause its targeted for kids :p ).
Demo

Duel Master TCG website
I don't know why its website is on Wizards of the Coast portal, but its got all the information on Duel Master from the Trading Card Game to the TV animation. (hmmm, i thought the game is from Japan? oh well...)
Website

Duel Master anime website
If anyone is interested in its anime(or cartoons as the americans call it).
Anime website


Anime News Network's information on Duel Master : the animation
This one is a trusted anime source, from here i've found out it also has a manga (or comic to those who don't know what i'm talking about). I don't know which comes first, the anime or the manga? But what i know is that the Trading Card Game is adapted from there.
Duel Master anime


A card from the game. I like the design, especially the scythe.

It got lots of cool card arts. many of them looks like it came from a anime. But some of them looks really stupid like the helicopter dinosaur ROFL

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Sorry for the late updates

I've been kinda buzy right now with all the assignments (all 5 of them and I have 3 weeks to finish them all T_T). But expect more posts from me during the weekends ;-)

Get ready for more TCG goodness this weekend


The Hand of Sauron is from Realm of the Elf Lords expansion from Lord of The Ring TCG

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Richard Garfield Ph.D

Richard Grafield is the game designer who created card games like Magic : The Gathering, Netrunner, BattleTech, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and board games like RoboRally. Magic: The Gathering is his most successful game and is credited with developing the collectible card game or trading card game genre.

He has a bachelor of science degree in computer mathematics. He also has a Ph.D in combinatorial mathematics from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He has taught as a professor of mathematics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Richard Garfield later left academics to join Wizards of the Coast as a full-time game designer in June 1994.

What i can say about him? He's one of the few game designers that i looked up to. His games are really good and its interesting to see how the mechanics of the games works. His ideas always fresh and innovative, he was able to apply his knowledge of mathematics in his games. For example, many might have not notice this but Magic: The Gathering requires you to think and calculate a lot during its gameplay. Either its to count the resources needed to play certain cards, or how much damage can be dealed in a turn if you play certain cards in certain combinations (remember Fireball? everytime I play that I need to take my time and think, if I want to pay the extra cost to deal the damage evenly to the creatures and/or player).

Richard Garfield's Biography in Wikipedia
Richard Garfield's Biography

Check out Richard Garfield's top 5 games and their reviews
Top 5 Richard Garfield Game

An interview with Richard Garfield by Starcitygames.com
Interview

Lastly, a card of Legendary status:

psst, its Richard Garfield, Ph.D from the Unhinged set(MTG)

Jya Ne

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My Secret Lair (psst Its a secret)

For those who still havn't figured out why I called this blog Ewa's Secret Lair while most of my bloggings talk on TCG(Trading card games). Well its because of this:



Its a MTG card!! LOL

Part of the Unhinged set. Its one of the few cards that I really like. The 'Play at your own risk' sticker is funny. So is the addictive ink comment. :-)
Definately a good collector's item.

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Wikipedia : the site of information

I'm been surfing the net and somehow just out of curosity I check out wikipedia and search for Magic : The Gathering. Wow, it has one of the most comprehensive details about the game(well almost) . The explaination is easy to understand and its recommended for any newbies to check it out first before you start on the game.
MTG

After reading thru all of it, I began to see that most of my earlier posts regarding MTG is blurry and not clear. Gomenasai m(..)m . I'm still new at this and i'm not good at explaning stuff to others.

Anyway Wikipedia is a good place to start if you need to look for any information. And it is recommended by me for anyone who wishes to learn more on TCG to look it up in Wikipedia after checking out the links i've prepared.
Wikipedia

Happy net surfing
Jya Ne

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the TRADING factor

The 'TRADING' factor in the Trading Card Game.

What is it anyway, why does the 'trading' factor is just as important as the gameplay in TCG?
Well, could it be just a scam by game manufacturers so that we will keep buying their products?

In truth, the 'trading' factor is really as important as the gameplay. Having cards that is collectible means you can have a lot of different type of cards. Being collectible itself is to make THE card itself valueable.

If you have read my earlier post 'The value of a card' and 'The TRADING card game'. I have talk about some details regarding what makes a card valueable and the 'trading business' players held (i'll get to that in a moment). The trading factor is one of the deciding factor in making a TCG successful.

The trading part is to encourage players to either buy the cards they want or trade a card another player wants for it. Trading cards started as Collectible cards, it used to be that you the collecter buys cards you want. But when you buy the cards, it came in a closed packages, you don't know what you will get. To get the cards you want, you need to spend a lot of money on buying the packages. But the collectors started to trade extra cards they don't want with other collectors for certain cards that they want. Thus, Collectible cards have become Trading cards. (if you find old packages of cards from maybe 7 years ago, TCG were acttually calling themself Collectible Card Games).

The trading factor is introduced in TCG as add-ons to card games. I don't know who started it, but i know that Richard Garfield(creator of MTG) spend about 2 years (i'm not sure about the exact time spend, but this i derived from after reading The Creation of Magic:The Gathering by Richard Garfield) playtesting MTG with a group of playtesters to balanced not only the gameplay, but also the rarity of cards to balance out the economics of cards. You need a certain good quantity of rares, uncommons and commons to make them valuable enough for players to buy(or trade).

The Trading factor have sometimes kept TCG's that really bad from dying out. For example, the old Star Wars CCG(Customizable Card Game) from Decipher seem to be keeping itself alive because of the millions of fans of Star Wars. The fans would buy the cards containing their favorite characters, space ships, planets, weopons and many more items from the Star Wars universe. Gameplay-wise, the game really doesn't have that much a chance to be successful because of its REALLY complex gameplay. Only really hardcore gamers who is willing to learn all of its complex rules are able to play the game. Commercially, it failed to get the general public's attention. Its hard for newbies to start on the game, and play the game directly. One could argue that if I try playing the game, it won't be that hard after a few tries. Well, think from a casual gamers perspective. I want to play a game on my spare time, I need a game i can start immediately and have fun with it. See where i'm getting?

OK, OK, back to the topic.

The Trading factor have given the card game industry an edge in the gaming business as their game is made not only for gamers but also for collectors.

The trading factor IS important after all, it made TCG appeals to 2 type of audiences (collectors and players). It can keep a dying TCG alive if the cards itself is interesting enough to be a collectible. And gaming industry likes TCG because its one of a few stable source of incomes.
(A really bad TCG can stay in the market for a few years before actually die out, for example the Simpsons TCG and Harry Potter TCG)



Well, thats all for now
Jya Ne

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My favorite artist -- John Avon

well....today instead of talking about TCG, i will give a bit of a introduction on one of my favorite artist, John Avon.

A regular on MTG artworks, he has made many card arts for MTG. Beside that, he also do cover arts for books, music CD covers, and advertisements.

check out his website and see his portfolios. Theres a lot his artwork displayed in it. You can also purchase some of it by ordering it online.
John Avon

I've found an interview session with John Avon by one of the MTG website articel writer, Toby Wacher.
It has a brief history on John Avon himself and some insightful comments by John Avon on MTG. It also contains some of John Avon's best work with MTG and his comments on them.
Interview on MTG website

Beside working on cover arts and MTG card arts, recently I've found his name on a RPG campign book, Eberron Campaign Setting (2004) as an interior artist. Which I can say his art in there is still Superb!

Anyway, this is my favorite art by him, Life Burst.




the actual card

Have fun discovering John Avon ;-)
Jya Ne

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March 2005 DCI Banned and Restricted List Announcement -- Magic: the Gathering

on March 1st, DCI (the body that handles the tournaments of most of Wizards of the coast games, including MTG) put up an interesting new ban list.
LINK

They actually banned the Artifact lands, LOL. The heart and soul of many artifact based decks. They only wanted to end the Affinity-Ravager monopoly from keep winning every match on every sanctioned Standard tournements. To ban Ravager and Disciple of the Vault is expected (these 2 are the most devastating combo ever!), but the Artifact Lands too? T_T

Without Artifact Lands, many prominent decks from the Mirrodin block have been weaked completely. Decks like Affinity, Affinity-Beatdown, Affinity-Modular all have become allmost worthless decks. I was told by my friend Zie Aun today that the price for March of the Machines has dropped really low ever since people heard the news.

Theres actually a good side to it too. Since the artifact monopoly on Standard format are no more, well Magic can go back to its normal self again. Now theres no more worries that you'll lose to the overpowered Affinity-Ravager deck again. Now all is fair play again among the players.

Bye bye Affinity-Ravager, its been nice having my ass kicked everytime. So now its just Sayonara LOL (damn i'm evil) . Good bye Artifact lands, its been nice working with you. T_T

p.s : Players can still play them in Extended, just no more guaranteed win for those playing Affinity-Ravager on the Standard format.

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the 'TRADING' card game

I recently just bought some old Marvel trading cards, these cards are just for collection and the arts are DAMN cool.

Which brings me to the topic, the Trading part in the Trading Card Game.
Why would anyone pay RM100 for a card?
is it because :
a) if you have it, you can win the game easily?
b) if you have it, you are a special individual?
c) theres only a few prints of the card?
d) the art is special?
e) its shiny(sometimes called premium cards or foil cards) ?

Well, theres no one correct answear. It can be any of the selection above, or all, or even more.

Trading Card games are a combination of Trading Cards and Game cards.
Trading cards are cards that are solely for collection purposes. They usually have depictions and information of famous people or characters. For example, baseball and basketball trading cards are a big hit in the US. People there likes to perihelias that have pictures of their favorite players. Comic-based trading card is also popular there with Marvel-based superheroes being the most popular. The collectors usually trades cards with each other for the cards they want or use money to buy it.
Game cards meanwhile is were made for fun only. Not many game cards are there thats requires expert skills in playing. Most game card that come out before the trading card game boom is targeted towords casual players and normally is family-oriented. Games like UNO and power cards are the most popular of these early game cards.

Trading Card Game is a good combination of these two; as a card game it has gameplay value and interactivity among players, as trading cards the cards itself has values and it makes people want to buy more of it. Read my earlier post 'The Value of a Card' for more info on what makes a card valuable.

Having the 'trading' part in TCG have made the TCG concept itself very profitable in the eyes of game makers. Now more and more TCG are coming out than normal trading cards and game cards. TCG is the next standard for card games while Trading cards are still alive with sports-based trading card still a hot commonity for collectors in the US.

Well, thats all i can talk about.
Jya Ne

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Pokemon TCG, can it still survive?

I 'm sure most you know what Pokemon is, either you've seen it the anime or played the game. You've must also heard of its trading card game. DUH, it generate more hype in Malaysia than any other TCG. Everyone play it, from kids to adults, its a fairly simple game to play actually.... check my earlier post on "Introduction to Pokemon TCG" for more info on how tp play it.

Anyway, this articel i'm not going to gloat on how good the game is or how the gameplay is fun blah blah, today its about how this game is spreading its TCG franchise so thin that its losing its appeal to both kids and adults.

For those who played the game or even watch its anime, some of you might be familiar with the characters, monsters and storyline of the Pokemon world. You would know there is a limited number of monsters, for a TCG that is based on creatures(well, the Pokemon TCG have the Pokemons as the main game point, if you have no more pokeamon in play, you lose the game). For the TCG to survive, they have to make lots of different type of monsters for every new sets they released. So far there are 24 sets released so far from 1999 till 2005(that is known to me anyway), each new sets suppose to come new monsters, but the makers of Pokemon TCG only recycle the monsters from older sets. Since Pokemon was first introduced in Gameboy, the TCG have to follow the Pokemon world in the Gameboy version closely or they would face backlashes from its fans.

So anyway, The Pokemon world have a limited number of monsters and the TCG game itself depends much on the monsters. 24 set released and they can only reprint the monsters. How long can this game survive anyway?

You can argue there are new game mechanics introduced, like the Poke-Body and Poke-Power mechanic, or new tools like the Stadium cards, Supporters cards, Poke Tools and new Energy cards. But the main objective of the game is to knockout all of your opponents Pokemons, so you would very much depend everything on the Pokemons you played. The only way the makers of the game did to keep the game interesting is ... when a new set comes out, older sets cannot be played in sanctioned tournaments. They don't even have a format ready for players to play they older cards. Which is kind of dissapointing, because you buy a lot of cards from one set to play the game, then when a new set come out, you cant play it anymore. Thats really sad.....

Currently, the current makers of the game, Nintendo(before this it was Wizard of the Coast, and supported by Nintendo) is making new characters for the TCG that is not related to the video game or the anime. New Pokemon monsters like Deoxys, Legends were made specially for the TCG(i think, because i cant find them in the anime or video game, if someone knows better, let me know in the comments). But i don't think coming out with new monsters now can save the game though.

The game is losing its appeal and more players are getting out the game than new players getting in. I hope the game makers can turn this around soon cause the Pokemon TCG is really a good game. I really don't want such a nice game like this die out.

So far, thats all.
Jya Ne

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