ahw: Sounds like an interesting approach, I''ll have to try and get hold of a couple of starters!

SI_78 and others :
The great thing about "modern" games is that they realise that people need to be able to play the game right away without investing tons of money.
This also means that you can buy to starters so you can quickly test the game. If you want to test the variety of the game, you also get yourself a few boosters, and rock n roll !
(personally I always buy at least 1 deck + 3 boosters)

So you dont have any excuse to miss "the next big thing"




Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

I'm just curious, has anyone ever thought to do a card game with a real-time aspect.

I mean how cool would it be if in Magic, after you played your fire elemental it bursted onto the screen and began battling creatures in an arena.

[edited by - shaft on August 23, 2002 7:30:11 PM]

Hmm... Card rarity can also affect the play mechanics, I think that common cards should be just as powerful as rare''s (in terms of cost and effect), only perhaps more general purpose whilst rare''s would be more for a specific role in the deck...

Also Common cards in a set could perform a task similar to a rare card but with a minor flaw I.E Common Card A deals 2 damage to target player when tapped, Rare Card D deals 2 damage to target player when tapped, player may not use any damage redirection or prevention...

Just a thought......

Rather than relying on your card-balance being perfect, just made each card or strategy vulnerable to a particular type of counter-move. That way, if my friend keeps defeating me with a particularly powerful card, I adjust my deck to defend against that type of card and he has to rethink his strategy. So you''re not trying to find an ''ultimate deck'' anymore, you have to adapt to what you''re opponents are likely to do, and which cards or strategies are ''in fashion''.

One bonus is, if there is a group of cards which turn out to be a bit crappy and nobody uses them, then presumably nobody will bother to defend against them either - so the crappy cards becomes more powerful.

-

Aside from that, make sure that each card is interesting, has some kind of personality, and preferably a pretty picture.

g:
Well, that''s basically what M:tG does all the time.
For instance, the latest installements focus on using opposite colours together. Something that had never been done before (with the notable exception of dual-lands, some Legends in the eponymous extension, and the Dark Heart of the Forest in the Dark).
One season, some combo will be all powerful, and everybody will be out to try and beat it in tournaments (Necropotence ?), then the guys release the new extension with the cool cards that will at last kill the monopoly of the previous combo.
It''s all very artificial, but it works thanks to the wonderful mechanism of offer and demand (both being purely artificial in this case )
Of course, you always get the odd guy that will try something totally unplanned, and get through quite a few mediocre conforming decks, until it meets its fate against a good player (Just check the finalists in tournaments, there is always the odd guy that no one saw coming).
It''s actually a very realistic behaviour that you see in Nature (I think it was Fibonacci who described that ? The predator/prey oscillation ?)

SI_78 :
well, that''s what they do in M:tG, too
For instance : the Sol Ring was an uncommon that is not reprinted anymore (so it''s actually quite rare). They edited a sort of new version with the same power but a different casting cost (the Solar Grail IIRC?).
The difference is actually much more than simply cost, because the Sol Ring allowed you VERY early attack, whereas the other artifact allows only support and his much less interesting.
You get the idea.


Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

ahw: I think there''s a new one called Sissay''s Ring in 7th Edition that for 4 mana gives you 2 colourless. Where as the original was 1 mana for 2 colourless(IIRC). The new one shows balancing out the game as the game progresses in it''s lifetime, by giving it a more balanced cost. Not exactly re-inventing the wheel more just polishing it to make the game more balanced...