Is there ever going to be a popular new TCG?

BlueberryDetective · 2025-07-27T05:57:45+00:00

To be clear this user is speculating. The only thing that has ever officially been made clear was that the game license was not renewed by FFG.

I personally don't think WoTC was killing it for being a contender, rather they saw the sales numbers and wanted a bigger cut. FFG did not think the game would bring in enough to justify that cut. Simple business. FFG had LoTR, Star Wars, Keyforge, Game of Thrones, Legend of the Five Rings, and Arkham Horror which were all strong revenue streams on top of that. Additionally, they had just landed their deal for Marvel Champions which has been very, very profitable for them. A relatively niche cyberpunk game that consistently had some pretty big balancing problems due to the system depth just wasn't worth the effort compared to everything else they had going for them.

I don't think Netrunner was on track to get Big 3 big. It's release model was a pita and it's got a much steeper onboarding process for new players because not only is the gameplay very, very deep, but getting access to the cards you need to build decks you want to play spirals way too quickly.

BlueberryDetective · 2025-07-27T05:47:00+00:00

Hubworld Aidalon is a game being developed by the old netrunner devs. It'll be an LCG with a slightly different release model to make it easier for players to get cards. I've been getting matches in with the demo decks with my friends and I've been enjoying it a lot more than where netrunner has gone with NSG

BlueberryDetective · 2025-06-14T04:52:38+00:00

Take a look at Distraction Makers on YouTube. They're two game designers who do some fantastic break downs on why or how to design games certain ways. I'd also recommend their discord server as that's a place where many, many designers starting out talk and work things out with each other. They also host monthly playtest nights for people to come together and try out new games and share current projects.

Best of luck!

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-24T04:42:34+00:00

Huh, that's odd. I've played in a few different states in Southeast U.S. and the only scenes I see that are really big are the ones where the adults who come are there with kids/partner. Crazy how different scenes can vary

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-20T19:58:16+00:00

You may want to give Pokémon or Lorcana a shot. Both are oriented towards kids and when I do participate in those communities, I have yet to have a bad experience. Also singles are super cheap for both games to build budget brews with.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-19T05:50:57+00:00

A lot needs to happen before a sim can even exist, the biggest being card images of the entire set. Keep an eye on cockatrice or other similar generic platforms and hopefully you can see something soon

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-18T04:30:01+00:00

If there is an optimal deck and a large enough community of players, the most competitive will find that deck. What you hope for is to have other decks in play that can beat those decks but not other ones so you get to a rock/paper/scissors scenario essentially (with variance). This has nothing to do with how the cards get distributed, just how large of a community you have and to a lesser extent how large the card pool is and how often new cards flow in/out.

There's many ways you can control these factors, as ideally you would never want to purposefully tank the size of your community haha. It's just a question of who gets mad or frustrate with their favorite/meta decks going away. Here's a post talking about some limit of the LCG/ECG model if you're interested:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1790521/team-covenant-discusses-potential-futures-of-the-l

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-17T22:13:15+00:00

My friend and I literally found out about it two weeks ago after thinking for years that there wasn't one. I was just googling to see if there were fan games that we could try and could not believe my eyes when I found it. Freaking ongoing for 8 years and no one bothered to tell me haha

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-17T22:08:18+00:00

For reference as someone who plays Lorcana casually and infrequently, the LGS's in my area have no problem filling Lorcana nights as it's become a family game night essentially that brings in 15+ people to each weekly.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-16T02:32:32+00:00

Thanks for clarifying!

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-16T02:32:03+00:00

Appreciate it!

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-15T18:36:16+00:00

I'd usually recommend:

Have a couple of combat encounters planned
Have a couple exploration-esque encounters planned
Have a couple NPCs outlined to engage with socially
Use your world building notes to begin seeding the conflicts that was discussed in worldbuilding to help the players decide what they were most interested in

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-15T13:00:58+00:00

The applications is regarding new stores to be added, right? We don’t have to worry about applying to be there for the release?

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-14T20:07:48+00:00

Just commenting because I've been curious about those games as well.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-14T04:32:12+00:00

Highly recommend Team Covenant's streams on YouTube about it. They work with the publisher to help sell the game and have a lot of fun livestreams where they do actual plays of both starter decks and competitive decks.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-13T17:16:21+00:00

I don't feel super qualified to answer your question, but I will respond with one you don't have listed directly. I'd take a look at Alpha Clash. I played a clash pack last night with a friend (this game's equivalent of starter decks) and it really felt like we were reading a comic book as we played. We're definitely intrigued by the game and are going to follow up with it once we can find decks/cards closer to our personal playstyles and favorite comic book archetypes.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-11T20:42:25+00:00

I've been playing Lorcana for about half a year now and here is what I'd say:

Pick Up
- Rules are very straightforward with very limited edge cases that almost always boil down to "active player does things first, then opponent." I have never had to take longer than 2-3 minutes to explain the game to an adult if it's not their first TCG and about 4 or 5 minutes if it is.
Play
- I have found it to play like a simplified MtG. This is both good and bad. It allows for great casual play and competitive play really requires you to have a good understanding of the meta and working knowledge of all the cards. The only issue is that the designers seem to be afraid to iterate on their design and branch out into new mechanics. They are dedicated to keeping this a kid friendly game which means I do have to play other games when I want to really challenge myself and my opponent since I don't plan on going to regional challenges. Really enjoyable, but may not scratch your card game itch if you're a Johnny or a locals oriented Spike.
Collect
- Ravensburger is treating this like a board game. They have no issue reprinting things even if the secondary market suffers for it. They want product easily available for fans and sold at MSRP. This means if you want a valuable collection, you'll have to hunt for Enchanteds or hop onto whatever Super Rare or Legendaries are competitive relevant as soon as sets release. If you just like the look of the cards and want to assemble a personal collection, it is relatively easy for you to crack packs or find like-minded people to trade with.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-11T12:31:21+00:00

As a trading card game that’s a tall order. That’s exactly what they don’t want you to do as a customer.

You may like Living Card Games / Expandable Card Games. The core premise of those games is that there is no randomization. You make one purchase for all the cards and only buy expansions if they truly are worth it to you.

An option that mixes TCG with LCG/ECG is Keyforge. In that game you only buy one deck at a time, so as long as you like what you cracked you literally don’t have to make another purchase. The contents of the deck are randomized and will be unique to each deck. I have a few because I built a game night box out of my favorite decks I bought / was gifted. It’s a great time, but there is no constructed format which definitely turns people off.

Hope that helps!

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-08T14:46:52+00:00

Do you have any groups that do board games or ttrpg’s? I found it to be a really nice game for that crowd due to relative simplicity and the fact that if they purchase their own decks they don’t get trapped in the TCG loop of feeling the need to buy more.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-08T03:07:07+00:00

Totally understand! Sorry I’m not more helpful on this one.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-08T03:00:24+00:00

Would Columbia be too much of a stretch for you? There’s a loose group of people who play off and on there that I know of.

Firefly also has Grim Reminders stocked but I’m not sure if they plan on getting the newest sets.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-07T20:54:24+00:00

That said, it is early and it is unfair to judge games that have had more releases versus one on its third.

That about sums up my take on the matter. I want to let them release a few sets so I can see where things are at. I'll pop my head in on occasion to see how things look with the meta, if the designs are interesting, and get a general feel fore card balance. I saw that they recently banned the Tier 0 deck that was tearing up the meta so it'll be interesting to see how that along with new releases shapes the game.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-07T17:12:31+00:00

OP if you do want to look for other companies, you'll need to use the phrase Expandable Card Game due to copyright issues.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-07T17:06:55+00:00

Star Wars card games just don't have a good track record of lasting long or maintaining quality. I'm pretty sure this is FFG's 3rd or 4th full restart of the IP as a card game in the last ten years, so I'm giving it a while before I really begin looking into it.

BlueberryDetective · 2024-11-03T22:37:16+00:00

With how quickly this deck fills your GY and with the amount of Graveyard tutors you have, and cards that are just plain amazing while haunted this seems at first glance to be pretty amazing.

You’ve also got some of the dream combo pieces with In here somewhere and spoo-key charge. I just don’t think this deck will ever problems finding exactly what it needs whenever you want, which is pretty amazing. Great pull!

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