While I do love a good Collectible Card Game (and several poor ones), I can see why they're rarely sustainable as a business model. Aside from the biggies such as Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, it's hard to build up a rabid fanbase and pull in the kind of money you need in order to keep running. Sure, there are upstarts like Cardfight: Vanguard (ask your kids) but generally it's a market to be avoided. The randomness of opening countless card packs and possibly not getting anything useful to you just turns too many people off.
Some companies have gone down another route. Fantasy Flight now have their Living Card Game systems, initial big-box releases that provide everything you need for a decent gameplay experience that are then followed up with extra decks or small-box expansions. No randomness occurs at all –you know exactly what you're going to get in each package and the skill comes from building decks with full knowledge of what's available.
For years I've been thinking about getting into MTG but frankly, I've been terrified to make the leap. There's just so much stuff out there, such a dense and deep history... I'm amazed that anyone would want to get involved in a game with such a high barrier to entry. Of course, the longer I leave it, the more cards there are to deal with and the scarier things get. What I really want is something that gives that feel of Magic but isn't so impenetrable. Something like Seasons, published by the guys at Asmodee.
I'm a big fan of this one. Sure, it's not just cards – there's a lot more in the box and it's all very beautiful – but it does give me that CCG vibe that I crave. Boiled down to the basics, it's a race to score as many points as possible, but Seasons is far from simply pushing a cube along a track. The game is divided into three 'years', each one split into four areas – the seasons that give the game its name. Before play begins, everyone is dealt out nine cards that you then sort into three piles. The first is available to you at the start of the game,the next when the second year begins... you can probably work out when you'll get the third.
At the start of each round, one player rolls the gloriously chunky dice for that season – one for each player plus one extra. Everybody then gets to choose one and do what the symbol says, from taking element tokens (Water, Air,Fire and Earth) to scoring points, grabbing new cards or 'selling'the tokens you've collected. Stars on the dice faces are also vital as they let you play those cards you have in your hand. The dice that's left over is also important – each one has between one and three dots, and the remaining dice's amount is how many steps around the seasons you'll move. Different areas mean different dice, each with their own focus on the elements they'll potentially roll.
So, the game progresses, elements are collected and spent on bringing your cards into play. Not only will these bestow those points you need upon you, they'll also let you trigger abilities to further your progress or hinder your opponents. Some activate when the card is played as a one-off, while others function on a more permanent basis. The most powerful cards are the ones that you can use again and again, often at the cost of spending a few of your element tokens – a personal favourite is the one where one element forces other players to lose points. Pull that one off again and again and you'll quickly become the least favourite person at the table, but this isn't a popularity contest... You're playing to win, after all.
Once the dice have decreed the end of the third year, points are totalled up – everything you've scored throughout the game is added to the value of each card you've managed to play to your tableau. The highest amount is, as you'd expect, the winner... and that's the whole game. Despite its cutesy look and utterly beautiful production (precisely what you'd expect from the guys behind the wonderful Dixit), Seasons is a spectacularly cut-throat game where aggression is rewarded.
Even though you only begin the game with three cards in your hand, you'll immediately be trying to work out the best options available to you in combination with the dice that get rolled. Each turn requires a bunch of thought as you react to what possibilities are available to you so yes,there's certainly the chance of Analysis Paralysis sneaking into the group if you know people who are prone to that kind of thing, but even so – Seasons comes well recommended. It manages to scratch that CCG itch by introducing how different things interact with each other as well as many of the basics you'd find in many card games. And who knows, after a few more plays I may well build up the courage to step up to something a bit more Magic shaped...
Some companies have gone down another route. Fantasy Flight now have their Living Card Game systems, initial big-box releases that provide everything you need for a decent gameplay experience that are then followed up with extra decks or small-box expansions. No randomness occurs at all –you know exactly what you're going to get in each package and the skill comes from building decks with full knowledge of what's available.
For years I've been thinking about getting into MTG but frankly, I've been terrified to make the leap. There's just so much stuff out there, such a dense and deep history... I'm amazed that anyone would want to get involved in a game with such a high barrier to entry. Of course, the longer I leave it, the more cards there are to deal with and the scarier things get. What I really want is something that gives that feel of Magic but isn't so impenetrable. Something like Seasons, published by the guys at Asmodee.
I'm a big fan of this one. Sure, it's not just cards – there's a lot more in the box and it's all very beautiful – but it does give me that CCG vibe that I crave. Boiled down to the basics, it's a race to score as many points as possible, but Seasons is far from simply pushing a cube along a track. The game is divided into three 'years', each one split into four areas – the seasons that give the game its name. Before play begins, everyone is dealt out nine cards that you then sort into three piles. The first is available to you at the start of the game,the next when the second year begins... you can probably work out when you'll get the third.
At the start of each round, one player rolls the gloriously chunky dice for that season – one for each player plus one extra. Everybody then gets to choose one and do what the symbol says, from taking element tokens (Water, Air,Fire and Earth) to scoring points, grabbing new cards or 'selling'the tokens you've collected. Stars on the dice faces are also vital as they let you play those cards you have in your hand. The dice that's left over is also important – each one has between one and three dots, and the remaining dice's amount is how many steps around the seasons you'll move. Different areas mean different dice, each with their own focus on the elements they'll potentially roll.
So, the game progresses, elements are collected and spent on bringing your cards into play. Not only will these bestow those points you need upon you, they'll also let you trigger abilities to further your progress or hinder your opponents. Some activate when the card is played as a one-off, while others function on a more permanent basis. The most powerful cards are the ones that you can use again and again, often at the cost of spending a few of your element tokens – a personal favourite is the one where one element forces other players to lose points. Pull that one off again and again and you'll quickly become the least favourite person at the table, but this isn't a popularity contest... You're playing to win, after all.
Once the dice have decreed the end of the third year, points are totalled up – everything you've scored throughout the game is added to the value of each card you've managed to play to your tableau. The highest amount is, as you'd expect, the winner... and that's the whole game. Despite its cutesy look and utterly beautiful production (precisely what you'd expect from the guys behind the wonderful Dixit), Seasons is a spectacularly cut-throat game where aggression is rewarded.
Even though you only begin the game with three cards in your hand, you'll immediately be trying to work out the best options available to you in combination with the dice that get rolled. Each turn requires a bunch of thought as you react to what possibilities are available to you so yes,there's certainly the chance of Analysis Paralysis sneaking into the group if you know people who are prone to that kind of thing, but even so – Seasons comes well recommended. It manages to scratch that CCG itch by introducing how different things interact with each other as well as many of the basics you'd find in many card games. And who knows, after a few more plays I may well build up the courage to step up to something a bit more Magic shaped...
