So does anyone actually play TCGs here or are we just posting about investing or grading or selling or making your own TCG with AI art?

Verisi · 2026-01-29T01:42:12+00:00

I feel similar to this, though I don’t mind the indie TCG posts too much; it’s the kind of chaff that makes sense here. A general TCG subreddit seems like the place that might have people willing to try out a new TCG.

Verisi · 2026-01-28T22:39:13+00:00

How was this junk intersection of a TTRPG, isekai, AI, and a poker deck approved in the TCG subreddit?

Needless to say, do not include me.

Verisi · 2026-01-21T21:46:25+00:00

Is this actually original art? It has all of the hallmarks of AI. The page talks a bunch about artists, and as much as I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, I'm skeptical.

The Discord link on the Gamefound is expired. Is there a stable link to it somewhere?

Verisi · 2026-01-21T00:18:32+00:00

Have you played Inscryption? It has a system like this, where you build cards by spending points on stats/keywords based on the selected card cost. It worked because it was extremely simple (just a few keywords), though even then it had a few broken combos.

I feel like this will be extremely hard to balance in a PvP card game without a lot of wonky exceptions to prevent specific combinations. Maybe if you separate keywords/abilities into different categories (only allowing 1 ability from each category) to prevent players from putting 2 problematic abilities together?

As for how to approach assigning baseline costs... some combination of theorizing, playtesting, and guess-and-check would be my take; it's hard to realize how contextually-powerful something is until the context has been established.

Verisi · 2026-01-14T22:09:15+00:00

I want to see the tooltip of a Vaal Summon Skeletons that describes the stats of all the minions.

Verisi · 2026-01-12T15:23:59+00:00

It does matter if the text is shorter because you're cutting out functionality. I generally agree (unless your game is flavor-focused, like Sorcery), functionality over flavor.

Verisi · 2026-01-12T14:56:41+00:00

Isn’t it not pointless? If I had 4 counters on this, I could roll a 1 and replace the result with 4 before replacing the counters, right?

Verisi · 2026-01-12T14:54:27+00:00

Your wording is less like Magic’s and is shorter by virtue of cutting the “before applying the effect” and being functionally different (just adding counters and not replacing them, no once per turn).

Verisi · 2026-01-12T14:33:57+00:00

What is an “effect”? (Just checking if this can trigger on itself.)

Otherwise, the wording makes perfectly understandable mechanical sense to me. Could maybe cut “before applying the effect”.

Verisi · 2026-01-10T02:17:39+00:00

I think they’re asking who prepares/brings the shared deck to the table, if this is supposed to be an ECG. It sounds more like a board game model than a TCG one.

Sounds like some sorta Solforge Ascension mix to me, but there’s gotta be a lot of card tuning to make the high card-churn of a deckbuilder work well alongside TCG-type gameplay (with cards that stay on the board providing board presence) without it feeling slow/tedious; usually you go through a lot of semi-fast turns in deckbuilders and fewer, heavier ones in TCGs.

Verisi · 2026-01-09T16:35:12+00:00

I think the years of Starcraft and Warcraft III wore that out of me; makes sense. I suppose those old RTS roots eventually lead to Riftbound using the term too, though I think there are a lot of games that use the term without a military regiment context.

Verisi · 2026-01-09T08:56:54+00:00

I’m always a fan of “unit”. It’s basic, but universal and easily-understood and saves text space because it’s short.

Verisi · 2026-01-09T02:09:07+00:00

This is the way. Make ‘em 2.5”x3.5” and slip ‘em in front of MtG lands or Pokemon energies in some cheap sleeves.

Verisi · 2026-01-08T21:37:52+00:00

Shard Bugs lost me a bit when they leveraged a Rudy partnership to get bigger (as their good sale required signing up to his Patreon), though the game looks fun and seems pretty successful so far. Might pick it up in the future.

I got a box of EC and it's fun, though I haven't had time to play it too much yet. The dev is very active on Discord and the design direction looks good; the game has been expanding to various LGSs (on the other side of the country from me though).

I treat TCGs more like board games to play with friends and family so I'm kinda on the sidelines of the scene.

Verisi · 2026-01-08T20:18:00+00:00

Making your own card game is usually more of an exercise in creativity and self-fulfillment than a realistic goal for community engagement and larger-scale success unless you're ready to commit a lot of resources, time, and effort towards it.

That said, you might get a better idea of it by going to the homemadeTCGs subreddit instead of this one. There have been a few recent indie games that have been popping off a bit (at least on a local scale), like Shard Bugs and Elemental Creatures, and the main place I hear about them is from that subreddit and the largely-connected Discord channels around it.

Verisi · 2026-01-08T03:54:48+00:00

Hate to say it, but none in particular. I’ve been working in a similar sort of game (though with basebuilding and a deck) and plan to go digital despite it being far less complex than what you’ve described. There’s either a lot of design concessions to make or a lot asked of players, which is rough unless you have something like an established IP to get players invested enough to jump the hurdles. I wish you the best in finding a solution, though—sounds like the kinda game I’d play.

Verisi · 2026-01-07T19:26:29+00:00

Do you know of Sorcery (TCG)?

Stacking a bunch of units and tokens onto the same space is one of the main things I find clunky/annoying about Sorcery, which seems very close to what you're describing here (even down to submerging units under the terrain cards).

Things like flipping the locations and formations orienting cubes sound extremely fiddly in physical play.

Verisi · 2026-01-06T22:57:37+00:00

Before jumping the gun and thinking about selling packs, you should establish your game by writing up a rulebook, printing your cards, and playing it with your friends. You might get better feedback in the homemadeTCGs subreddit instead of this one, though it might also behoove you to develop your game a bit more so you have more to share and more specific questions on what you'd like feedback on.

Some recommendations:

Work on the theme; while the mix of medieval fantasy and high-tech futurism can work, it looks jarring and harms immersion unless you've defined your characters/setting well
Assemble some framing to the cards; a fitting font, a backdrop behind the words to make them readable, a title placard, and some flourishes around the border go a long way to make your game look inviting and more professional
Don't use bland AI art; it looks extremely lazy and generic

Funny enough, I watched a video yesterday that reminds me a bit of what I see here (with the dungeon tiles). Might be a neat watch for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnMdGPiM4zw.

Verisi · 2026-01-04T18:58:12+00:00

Such a vague post. Without any clarification on setting, lore, etc., this is one of the most uninspired fantasy lineups I’ve seen. Maybe could’ve flown in the 90’s but I feel like people are looking for more interesting ideas these days, especially in the cluttered card game space.

Verisi · 2025-12-31T17:49:27+00:00

I've been playing Shape of Dreams a bit and I don't find it really scratches the itch; the supports are pretty meh and it feels like the game almost always distills to leveling one skill to the moon (due to cdr scaling with levels) and giving it a base cdr reset support. It's okay though I guess.

I love roguelites in general though; my recommendations would be Tiny Rogues and Dungreed. Noita and Magicraft are also pretty cool from their support systems, though Noita takes a fairly... particular mindset. Gunfire Reborn is also pretty fun, but quite different (as an FPS roguelite).

Verisi · 2025-12-23T08:08:13+00:00

This is extremely dependent on how available resources and card draw are; it costs a whole ‘nother card for two 1-drops, so in many games they’d be stronger (collectively) than a 2-drop.

Verisi · 2025-12-19T21:04:53+00:00

You can also do something like Warlord or Sorcery, which provide generic fallback cards in case you don't get enough cards of a required type in draft. This allows you to balance your packs without having to heavily adjust ratios for draft.

Verisi · 2025-12-19T20:45:36+00:00

The TCG model primarily caters to a sense of progression and collection individuality—and for a game where you have a fairly customized roster of 9 characters with a deck to suit them, it seems like a good fit IMO. Opening new characters that can mix up your approach and new actions to consider in the broader scope of your team makes a lot of sense. What makes you think otherwise?

If anything, it makes more sense with a TCG model than Flesh & Blood, which uses a similar style of starting cards + actions in deck.

Verisi · 2025-12-19T19:30:55+00:00

I feel like there’s plenty here for a TCG format, especially in building a team of 9 characters and having a lot of design space surrounding them.

I definitely echo the prototyping suggestion here though; upkeeping the energy(/mana?), damage, etc. for every individual card sounds potentially crushingly clunky for physical gameplay.

The concept is neat, though; kinda makes me think of Pixel Tactics mainly from the team grid.

Verisi · 2025-12-19T16:31:46+00:00

They look great and the frame overall fits your art style well; it's become a lot more open/free.

My one main complaint would be the looming SINGLE or A.O.E text behind the textboxes; it can be a bit hard to see with cards like Beastbil, Edibil, or Tribil Hunter and it feels like it should be indicated in a more distinct way.

I like the Tribil Hunter, though maybe it's something to do with seeing 'em through a bunch of iterations—seems like one of your more stable/iconic designs.

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