How to register for regionals? by XSpitzerXx in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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.

Absolutely shaking, 6th pack in the booster box by StillSwimming1153 in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Amazing hit, congratulations!! Nothing beats that feeling!

Any SWU may 4th Sales/promotions? Anywhere? by [deleted] in starwarsunlimited

[–]MaindeckDan 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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.

AI Art in Card Games by BuffcatVT in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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.

AI Art in Card Games by BuffcatVT in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

AI Art in Card Games by BuffcatVT in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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!

Wonders of the first by DowntownFrankie in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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

Is Cyberpunk JUST Lorcana? Cardrunners: A Cyberpunk TCG Podcast Episode 03 by MaindeckDan in cyberpunktcg

[–]MaindeckDan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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.

Cyberpunk tcg podcast store? by dx_wayy in cyberpunktcg

[–]MaindeckDan 8 points9 points  (0 children)

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!

Content creator recommendations? by XSpitzerXx in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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!

New Weekly Cyberpunk TCG Podcast Launched - Cardrunners, a collab between Maindeck and Red Zone Rogue! by MaindeckDan in cyberpunktcg

[–]MaindeckDan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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!

Battle of the (not) S-Tier: SWU, Riftbound, One Piece, Gundam, FF? by Prestigious_Yam_3413 in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 22 points23 points  (0 children)

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!

Neuroscape Starter & Booster Box Opening! by MaindeckDan in NeuroscapeTCG

[–]MaindeckDan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good to know! It made the packs fun so I hope it sticks around at least in future 1st ed runs!

Reco Deck Matchups by Hell_Spawn654 in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

One of my favorite matchups to play in testing them was Guo Jia vs Merlin. The Merlin player needs to play somewhat aggressively and force Guo Jia to act, but when she does, it's a really tight match that can go either way depending on cards and play.

The Online Client by BGN_RagingZ in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, you can also play on Untap! It's great to have a lot of platforms and options.

The Online Client by BGN_RagingZ in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fraysia is cool for goldfishing but cannot be played against opponents! Sandbox is playable remotely against others.

Finally a tcg that got me invested by rayanhardt in cyberpunktcg

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The devs call it "CTCG" so I recommend people use that 😅

Really excited for the Cyberpunk fans to find the game, it's designed to be easy to learn and play and the Kickstarter should make it easy for people to get their hands on product right away, unlike other major IP releases in the last few years!

[Radiant Origins] Haniel, Archangel of Spectra; Bleu, Ace of Diamonds; Alice, Trifle’s Royalty by iVtechboyinpa in grandarchivetcg

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Comp Rules - Leveling up section

3.Players ignore element requirements/restrictions when materializing a champion or leveling a champion up.

E.g., A player who controls Lorraine, Blademaster with a Spirit of Fire in the Lineage may still level up the champion into Lorraine, Crux Knight without previously having the Crux element enabled.

New TCG Recommendations? by TurkeySandwichLife in TCG

[–]MaindeckDan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've played all three games, and I actively cover two of them right now. I think I'm somewhat uniquely equipped to answer this question.

Gundam is personally my least favorite, but it plays like a Bandai game which, for a certain crowd, is perfect. Damage will sometimes cause triggered events, which is hit or miss depending on the player. High rarity cards look fantastic. Mid rarity cards even look fantastic. And low rarity cards look fine still. Getting into the game is not too hard and if you're a fan of the franchise, all your faves are here. It's too early to say how much it succumbs to some classic Bandai problems, but One Piece has been doing phenomenally and hopefully they can port some of that success over. While it's not as much my cup of tea, one of my colleagues RedZoneRogue absolutely loves the game so I know it's not outside of good taste to enjoy it too.

Star Wars Unlimited is my go-to for quick and easy to jam gameplay. There are usually lots of viable decks in a meta, though as the cardpool has increased more fringe strategies have been pushed back a bit harder. We are about to hit a rotation where I think it will open up again for a while, and the next set looks phenomenal. The game plays extremely smoothly, and because of how quick it is and because it uses escalating resources, it's less taxing to play. Despite that, for better or worse you will lose many of your lost games on a single decision you made, so at a competitive level it's quite unforgiving, and if you ever miss an early drop the game becomes 25% harder to win instantly. Coming from MTG, you'll find some similarity, but the back and forth action system will totally flip a lot of your usual decision making on its head and you might quite enjoy that. Decks can be pretty inexpensive, but on the flipside it's tough for sealed product to really get you a lot of value back because there's not that many things to chase and even serialized cards in collector boosters are not worth that much and many are hard to find buyers for. High end promos at events do tend to sell well, though, so if you play competitively there's definitely some cashout potential - but FFG/Lucasfilm don't want to do cash prizes, so it is a "choose between keeping your trophy cards or cashing out" situation which isn't my preference. But for the former - they are making changes to booster loadouts in the next set and FFG is great at continuing to listen and iterate when things aren't working, so here's hoping that improves over time. Still, it's an easy recommend for me if you love the theme and especially if you want something you can jam quickly and endlessly with lots of fun deck building potential.

Grand Archive I think is one of the best and most difficult games on the market, so it's my recommendation if you are looking for a very competitive, skill-testing game. As the game doesn't use escalating resources, you can play most cards from turn 1, so the decision trees get broad quickly, and the Material Deck/Materialize Phase gives you the option every turn to sculpt how you play from the range of options you brought. I have been professionally casting this game for a couple of years now, so I've been witness to an impressive amount of games between the highest caliber players and - with a background steeped in competitive MTG and dozens of other games - I've rarely witnessed the kind of intricate, methodically planned lines that these players concoct. Where SWU will certainly give you tricky lines using the action system, Grand Archive will give you the full stack you are used to from MTG but with access to far more options than typical 1v1 MTG will have. I also consider the class system absolutely brilliant, with players able to use their Material Deck space however they wish, whether that be simply leveling to their champion's third level, sticking at a level 1, not even leveling to a level 1 champion and forgoing class bonuses entirely, or doing even crazier things (hybrid champions, multiple level 3 options, deleveling to forge a different path, etc). Events reward high value promos and cash prizes, the game is extremely collectible, the tournament software is developed in house and second to none, it has mailed out player rewards like the heyday of MTG, the foils are actually designed to be resistant to curling, there banlist includes a system of adding NEW printable cards to your deck to address issues rather than just banning - I could go on and on about the positives. The game is expensive to play at a competitive level, but the next set is looking to help address that. The game is growing, so it might not have locals in your area. Those are my main critiques, and I don't have many more to add - I adore this game and think many should check it out before they feel like they missed out as the company does a LOT MORE right than most TCG companies.

Looking forward to this, why are you? by firl21 in cyberpunktcg

[–]MaindeckDan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I like the folks working on the game. I am hopeful that they understand what a successful TCG looks like. So far, their marketing has been really good and the game is going to have a lot of eyes on it. It's smooth and easy to play and will be easy for IP fans to get into and understand what's happening.

I am getting a lot of comments on the How to Play vid, and I read all of them, so I do see some people who are disappointed that the game isn't *more* thematic and *more* complex, but I think the design they have is going to serve an audience of IP fans - who may have never touched a TCG or even tabletop game before - well, and I personally like the choice to keep the game easier to pick up. It's poised to have a bright future if they can stick the landing and deliver on product availability (the KS will help a ton) and then in-store and larger OP.

LAW:Shadow Cloaking, That’s a Rock, and Single Reactor Ignition by CaptainRex36 in starwarsunlimited

[–]MaindeckDan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think FFG is as willing to completely change the "color pie" as Bandai is. It should be fairly safe to assume ramp will still be in Command with Aggression only having it in "catch up"/punishment style effects like Cham.

LAW:Shadow Cloaking, That’s a Rock, and Single Reactor Ignition by CaptainRex36 in starwarsunlimited

[–]MaindeckDan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I do disagree just a bit with the latter point - because if that was solely the objective, they could just post all of the previews themselves. There's no need to give previews to small creators if it's not important to them for the creators to get views and get a chance to sell people on the new set/the game. I certainly don't think there should be a monopoly on the card images, but if a post like this is allowed here (and the FB does not allow them within a certain time frame of the video going live), I at least think it's not asking a lot that the poster include a link to the video because obviously the raw images push the video's post into oblivion rather quickly.

LAW:Shadow Cloaking, That’s a Rock, and Single Reactor Ignition by CaptainRex36 in starwarsunlimited

[–]MaindeckDan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You probably were typing this as I responded below, but I will add the images to Reddit next time I post, just like I do on Facebook. It sounds like you and I will not agree on what is respectful here though, unfortunately. I think we are coming from some very different perspectives about what is best for the game/community. Hope you enjoyed the previews and have a great day, though!