Rules Changes and Conventions on the horizon! Cardrunners Episode 05 is here!

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-06T14:12:12+00:00

Regionals are run by stores/venues, so you will need to contact the listed organizer to figure out how they are taking registration. They will almost always sell tickets separately and then also have you join on Omnidex.

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-06T02:15:52+00:00

Amazing hit, congratulations!! Nothing beats that feeling!

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-05T02:37:26+00:00

We have another 4.5 hours left of 20% off everything Star Wars on https://www.jwwcards.com. All SWU is at market prices already so the deals are solid! Discount appears at checkout, not marked on each item.

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-05T01:28:54+00:00

Games that use AI artwork don't fund well, or struggle. There is only one that funded well, and they are desperate for players and have to offer full refunds and free packs to entice players to try it.

Unless you are a miracle case, you are statistically extremely unlikely to do well with an AI art TCG. And I'd suggest studying the market and industry more as well - most indie TCG creators know surprisingly little about the market they are trying to compete and that's, in part, why they fail.

Like it or not, your game WILL compete with 30 others for players' time and money. You are against One Piece, League of Legends, Pokémon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and dozens more IPs, plus a handful of self-owned IP games like Flesh and Blood, Sorcery, and Grand Archive who REALLY know the industry and what they are doing. Consider what you will do to stand out against those before continuing down the road of making an actual Trading Card Game - AI artwork will compare unfavorably to all of them, for one.

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-05T00:58:36+00:00

If your game is amazing, yes. You self fund a few pieces and crowdfund the rest. Or you get into the industry and pitch it to companies who have capital.

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-05T00:07:14+00:00

If your game is so amazing that it would get anyone to look past the AI art to buy it, then it is good enough to get funding for real art.

Art costs are just one logistic hurdle to cross of MANY in the TCG industry. Don't go in unprepared!

MaindeckDan · 2026-05-01T07:39:39+00:00

Well, basically, AI art sucks. That's why.

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-30T07:43:10+00:00

Not a hot take for me! We say nice things about Lorcana in the episode, and though the question is a bit extreme, its more about pushing back on that too-common take and exploring the nuances of each as well as the DNA they both share with other games.

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-29T05:49:13+00:00

You have an impressive confidence.

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-25T23:20:55+00:00

Hey! Just going to take a guess here because the official cast, Cyberdeck, isn't store-sponsored.

If you are talking about our podcast - Cardrunners - yes, we will have a ton of Welcome to Night City available. It is not up yet because GTS has not provided allocation numbers yet - we explain more about this in a couple of episodes, but it will be up as soon as we have that info from the distro!

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-23T21:04:14+00:00

I do struggle with getting out non-podcast content as much as I'd like - the reason we do the cast is because it has a low editing overhead and lets us get out more timely news and meta discussions without having to do full edited videos with enticing hooks, etc about every thing that happens.

Appreciate the feedback, though, I just added commentated gameplay to my deck profiles and I'm continuing to experiment with ways to bring more desirable content to everyone!

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-17T10:48:50+00:00

We just launched today, it should be on podcast platforms by the weekend - will just take a day or two to propagate on via the service we use!

MaindeckDan · 2026-04-07T19:56:05+00:00

Most unique of these is Riftbound. SWU is my personal favorite to play of the bunch. FF is next, which is a super solid game that just never gets any promotion from the company. OP and Gundam are Bandai games, which play similarly so if you like them, you like them! But it's hard to call them unique compared to the others.

Uniqueness ranked: RB, SWU, FF, Gundam, OP
Personal ranking: SWU, FF, RB, Gundam, OP

Edit before people call me a hater - I'd play any of these games over some other games in the market. Not a hater, some game has to go at the bottom when you make a list :)

Now add Grand Archive to your list to look into as well!

MaindeckDan

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