|
Yeah, I work at an LGS up in the Northeast US, and it's a little weird, tbh. Magic is big, as you'd expect, but it's basically only Commander, with a couple of people showing up for our cEDH and Standard Store Championships (and by a couple of people, I mean literally 5 people for standard, with a decently expensive textless foil on the line). When I've been there for RCQs, though, those get busy. Yu-Gi-Oh players are non-existent, outside of literally one store in three local counties, another a 30+ minute drive away, and a third nearly an hour south.  Pokemon is kinda small, too, with maybe 3-4 regular kids for the weekly league, barely 8 people once a month to fire a win-a-box challenge, and even the bigger cup events are fairly small, just breaking double digit attendance at times. Also kinda agree with mikeycp, some of the players are absolutely insufferable cockheads, moreso than even mtg financebros. However, Digimon pops off pretty regularly, with 10-12 people on a regular basis and another 7-8 people that are in the area and may show up at any given point. Prereleases for new sets are also pretty popular, with a few more irregulars crawling out of the woodwork, but in general this is one of the bigger communities. Lorcana, too, has a good crowd, with only a couple of the Digimon players moving to it and the rest being primarily Lorcana. We run a free league as well as tournaments, and not only regularly fire both, but are also considering a draft night as well due to demand. Flesh & Blood has its own group of regulars, too, and typically gets enough to fire tournaments (but it also helps that they just need 4 to run official tournaments). There was a big Road to Nationals not that long ago, and there was a decent turnout, but not as much as RCQs. What's probably grown the most, though, has been One Piece. Started off firing maybe one or two weekly tournaments a month with 4 people to regular attendance of 10-12, with a couple others who may or may not make it due to work schedules. This past weekend, though, was the set 6 prerelease, and even with distribution weirdness and having to get kits overnighted (which despite not being enough kits for the 30 people we'd had signed up, still definitely appreciated), we still had 25 people show up for it. Now to hope that we actually get product to be able to sell to people for showing up. We did get a couple people to show up for our Star Wars Unlimited prerelease, and have been selling decently through the boxes on release. Game seems real fun, reminds me of the old VS. System with the shared turn and "cards in hand becoming resources" thing that's been pretty popular in games trying to do something different from Magic. Do I want to spend more money I don't have and basically start going into negative free time in order to play yet another card game, especially one from Fantasy Flight? Probably not. On the other hand, there is multiple format support, decent (and cheap) tchotchkes like mats, sleeves and tokens, and even memes and in-jokes they're playing super seriously you guys, so stop laughing. Seems neat enough. Oh yeah, and Keyforge. We literally get a case in because one of the F&B guys will buy a box at a rip, even though I've literally never even seen anyone play the game in the store since before the plague.
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 06:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 21:57 |
|
|
Aniodia posted:Pokemon is kinda small, too, with maybe 3-4 regular kids for the weekly league, barely 8 people once a month to fire a win-a-box challenge, and even the bigger cup events are fairly small, just breaking double digit attendance at times. Also kinda agree with mikeycp, some of the players are absolutely insufferable cockheads, moreso than even mtg financebros. and them aside i don't want to play random kids, because i neither want to be the one to beat a child, nor do i want to lose to a child
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 07:01
|
|
|
Aniodia posted:Yeah, I work at an LGS up in the Northeast US, and it's a little weird, tbh. Magic is big, as you'd expect, but it's basically only Commander, with a couple of people showing up for our cEDH and Standard Store Championships (and by a couple of people, I mean literally 5 people for standard, with a decently expensive textless foil on the line). When I've been there for RCQs, though, those get busy. My buddy that runs a store in southern Maine has pivoted, successfully, away from MTG a bit. It's always going to be there for sure, but he follows what his customers are playing (with some reservations about stuff that he can tell is flash-in-the-pan). He tries to host events literally every day, and it's been easier to do that with CCGs diversifying in the last few years. FFTCG isn't big there yet, but One Piece just started up, and he has regular Pokemon and Yugioh events. I think he's hosted Locana events, but for some reason it's not as big there as I've heard it is elsewhere. Between board game events and this second resurgence of CCGs, he's been doing well post-COVID. I sincerely hope that MTG lets some air back into the room for a while here. Back in the late 90's, there were a ton of these janky CCGs that got smothered by MTGs market dominance. But most of those games (see the entire thread, above) weren't very good. The ones that were good got smothered all the same. But now games like FFTCG, One Piece, and Lorcana are trying to solve some of the old design problems baked into MTG and Pokemon. We can have a ton of new games like we did in the 90's, but with the benefit of better design principles learned over the last 25 years.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 13:02
|
|
|
And here I was thinking of picking up a box of MTG Murders at Karlov Manor just for fun and because the set theme amused me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 13:25
|
|
|
Are we allowed to bitch about WotC/Hasbro's marketing decisions here? Because they ramped up magic sets so much that it's gotten to the point where it feels like not only do we have endless preview seasons, but that they're now overlapping. And that it feels like they keep going back to Ravnica over and over and over and over and... while other planes get MAYBE a Return to... set if you're lucky. And not to mention how long they dragged their heels on going back to Kamigawa because "well, the last time didn't sell well" despite the fact that block was a cyclical "power down" set. And what about Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Eventide? Why haven't we returned there yet? Or Rabiah? ... so with Akira Toriyama's death, how's that new DBZ game?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 13:42
|
|
|
Randalor posted:Are we allowed to bitch about WotC/Hasbro's marketing decisions here? Because they ramped up magic sets so much that it's gotten to the point where it feels like not only do we have endless preview seasons, but that they're now overlapping. And that it feels like they keep going back to Ravnica over and over and over and over and... while other planes get MAYBE a Return to... set if you're lucky. And not to mention how long they dragged their heels on going back to Kamigawa because "well, the last time didn't sell well" despite the fact that block was a cyclical "power down" set. And what about Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Eventide? Why haven't we returned there yet? Or Rabiah? It’s pretty good but Bandai seems to have a lot of jank in their translations
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 13:59
|
|
|
Randalor posted:And not to mention how long they dragged their heels on going back to Kamigawa because "well, the last time didn't sell well" despite the fact that block was a cyclical "power down" set. New Kamigawa was probably my final straw for the game. Creature equipment was a fun idea, but it was the first time I saw myself seeing cards and just not clicking. But it reminded me of Hana Kami and Rebecca Guay so that's nice. Randalor posted:And what about Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Eventide? Why haven't we returned there yet? Or Rabiah? Rabiah specifically is on a "I won't say never, but it would require a major miracle" level of "it's not happening". It's not WotC's IP, for one. As to the others, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor are "Not optimistic, we need the right place", probably replaced by Eldraine I'd imagine. Muraganda seems more likely than them, which sucks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 14:22
|
|
|
Serperoth posted:Rabiah specifically is on a "I won't say never, but it would require a major miracle" level of "it's not happening". It's not WotC's IP, for one. It’s public domain, so there shouldn’t be any legal barriers to revisiting it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 14:35
|
|
|
Judgy Fucker posted:It’s public domain, so there shouldn’t be any legal barriers to revisiting it. The problem is there aren't any barriers from other people revisiting it, either.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 14:38
|
|
|
CitizenKeen posted:The problem is there aren't any barriers from other people revisiting it, either. I don't know why that would be a problem, but that's one reason why I'm not some high-level corporate exec, I suppose.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 14:40
|
|
|
Lorwyn is getting a return set in 2025.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 15:19
|
|
|
Turbinosamente posted:And here I was thinking of picking up a box of MTG Murders at Karlov Manor just for fun and because the set theme amused me. I mean, nothing is stopping you. The most recent stuff I bought into was the most recent Phyrexian block, because I'm a sucker for those evil robits (and some of the stuff in there went well with some of my better Commander decks, and there were some lucrative money cards to flip out of ONE). It's not so much individual sets that bug me, but the sheer number of them and ancillary products. Randalor posted:Are we allowed to bitch about WotC/Hasbro's marketing decisions here? Because they ramped up magic sets so much that it's gotten to the point where it feels like not only do we have endless preview seasons, but that they're now overlapping. And that it feels like they keep going back to Ravnica over and over and over and over and... while other planes get MAYBE a Return to... set if you're lucky. And not to mention how long they dragged their heels on going back to Kamigawa because "well, the last time didn't sell well" despite the fact that block was a cyclical "power down" set. And what about Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Eventide? Why haven't we returned there yet? Or Rabiah? Exactly. Hasbro realized WotC could have been printing money this whole time and then they started churning out Secret Lairs and IP cash-ins and Commander poo poo with every set in an already accelerating schedule. I know I'm not the only one with burnout for a game that, quite frankly, was just ok to begin with. Also, they should go back to Tarkir and fix the loving timeline. OG Tarkir is the best setting they ever had. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 03:49
|
|
|
Everyone's got their own opinions of Magic, when it was good, when it jumped the shark, etc. I don't want to see this thread turn into Magic-bashing, we have the Magic thread for that. I actually learned to like the rapid-fire set releases and unending spoiler season, but I have self-control (okay, partly caused by lack of disposable income). I don't buy packs or decks anymore, just the two or three single cards I want to update my Commander decks with per set. I mean I'm a massive Fallout fan but I only bought Dogmeat and four other bulk rares with art I liked. I like going into my LGS and seeing a binder full of new cards to look through. There's lots of other valid reasons to hate Hasbro/WotC (mostly Hasbro) like power creep, complexity creep, predatory price increases, the loving Pinkertons, etc. Sometime in the past two years I discovered that not every set was for me, and I could tune out Magic somewhat during the boring releases and instead play board games, other card games, etc. The next set I'm actually excited about is Bloomburrow, the one that's basically Redwall, which comes out in late July. The next set is a Wild West thing which doesn't appeal to me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 13:26
|
|
|
LifeLynx posted:Sometime in the past two years I discovered that not every set was for me, and I could tune out Magic somewhat during the boring releases and instead play board games, other card games, etc. The next set I'm actually excited about is Bloomburrow, the one that's basically Redwall, which comes out in late July. The next set is a Wild West thing which doesn't appeal to me. I gave Magic until Ice Age and Fallen Empires. Haven’t looked back because if I did I’d see a collection I could sell now to pay for my house.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 15:32
|
|
|
PuttyKnife posted:I gave Magic until Ice Age and Fallen Empires. Haven’t looked back because if I did I’d see a collection I could sell now to pay for my house. Big same. I weep anytime I see how much something that wasn't that big back then, like dual lands, goes for now.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 16:24
|
|
|
Railing Kill posted:I mean, nothing is stopping you. Mostly my budget is. To that end: LifeLynx posted:The next set I'm actually excited about is Bloomburrow, the one that's basically Redwall, which comes out in late July. Oh god a cute adventuring animals set and I like the art they've released so far, why did you have to tell me this?!
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 16:30
|
|
|
people out here really into shadowverse evolve and cardfight as well whatever those are
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 16:28
|
|
|
That reminds me, do people actually play Weiss Schwarz or how ever it's spelled? Or is it still the domain of collectors into the "art."
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 16:36
|
|
|
Turbinosamente posted:That reminds me, do people actually play Weiss Schwarz or how ever it's spelled? Or is it still the domain of collectors into the "art." Yeah. Less in the West, except anime dorks, but it's pretty well played in Japan.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 16:43
|
|
|
I asked a FLGS about it and they said it had “major balance issues” so they never really tried to drum up interest in it (which they did for Cardfight Vanguard)
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 18:22
|
|
|
Huh. Makes since that it's not as big in the west as in Japan. I didn't know if I was just seeing a biased sample from the one time I saw a box breaking stream for Weiss, and since it was a vtuber based set, people in the chat were only there for their waifus.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 18:33
|
|
|
mtg is now functionally weiss schwarz for americans, so i don't think it'll get traction among the old people who completely bounce off of anime for w/e reason
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 18:39
|
|
|
hyphz posted:I asked a FLGS about it and they said it had “major balance issues” so they never really tried to drum up interest in it (which they did for Cardfight Vanguard) Weiss Schwartz was the first game to do cross-overs. When I watched Attack on Titan, only the first season, I built a deck and it was fun for a while. I suspect part of the "balance issues" is that new sets come out and power-creep out someone's favorite anime and they get discouraged. I quit because there was some young girl beach volleyball set and the crowd of young white men were getting way too into it. There's a few other licensed properties in that game that makes me not want anything to do with it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2024 18:43
|
|
|
John Romero posted:people out here really into shadowverse evolve and cardfight as well whatever those are Shadowverse started pretty strong in my city for a few weeks but there was a big supply issue a with set 1 where there was undersupply on top of someone who kept buying all the boxes and cases, so it lost steam very quick. I'm pretty sure it was the guy who showed up to my local at the time with the 4 foot long deck box that dominated every store tournament by virtue of being the only one capable of building the decks that were doing well in Japan. Also the same guy who qualifies for all the big Shadowverse competitive tournaments, lol. Now the only people I know that really play it are diehard Bushi game players. It's a shame because I liked the game, but the shortage made the whole trade scene very competitive and aggressive and just generally uncomfortable to be around. Redezga fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Mar 15, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 06:15
|
|
|
Mister Olympus posted:mtg is now functionally weiss schwarz for americans Not really. An important part of the business model for games like Weiss Schwarz is not being able to mix different ips in a deck. They function less like single TCGs in the traditional sense and more like collections of one or two set games for ips that couldn't necessarily sustain a game on their own that people interested in those ips can buy into without worrying about whether they'll be able to establish a player base.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 06:38
|
|
|
So would it be fair to say Union Arena is going to try fill that niche by allowing mixing? Or is it the same deal but Bandai version?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 07:25
|
|
|
Union Arena does not allow for mixing ips. It does have a couple of potential selling points over Weiss that aren't just "are you interesting in whatever ip the latest set specifically is tied to" though. It has an ip spread leans a lot more towards Shounen Jump properties and Namco games and a bit less toward seasonal late night anime and waifu factory media mix properties. It also plays more like what you probably expect out of a TCG than Weiss' weird competitively performing rituals to the top deck gods gameplay. Other games currently active in Japan in the lots of small licensed games that share a player pool genre include: Rebirth for You. Another game operated by Bushiroad, I have no idea what their logic is behind running multiple of these in parallel. Weiss Schwarz Blau. Literally just Weiss Schwarz again with a separate card pool with simpler card effects and an ip spread targeted towards nerdy women. Osica. Arguably a simplified revision of an older long running game called Precious Memories that alleviates that game's first turn decision paralysis issues. A succession of games (actually marketed as separate games but they even use the same card frames and the player base treats them like one of these) based on second string Japan only gacha games using a simplified pokemon ruleset that lets you play any card face down as an energy put out by a company literally called TCG co,. Ltd.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 10:01
|
|
|
weiss seems like fun and id love to play persona decks but i dont feel like going up against somebody who's only got near nude big tiddy 13 year old characters but theyre actually 30000 years old no big deal like i went on collectr just now and one of the most popular cards is two women groping eachother wild that theres nickelodeon properties in this
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 17:26
|
|
|
wateyad posted:Union Arena does not allow for mixing ips. It does have a couple of potential selling points over Weiss that aren't just "are you interesting in whatever ip the latest set specifically is tied to" though. It has an ip spread leans a lot more towards Shounen Jump properties and Namco games and a bit less toward seasonal late night anime and waifu factory media mix properties. It also plays more like what you probably expect out of a TCG than Weiss' weird competitively performing rituals to the top deck gods gameplay. union arena is going to be a beast IMO probaly gonna launch a digital version soon. the digital DBS fusion world rules. also rules that bandai is a billion dollar company that still has janky rear end translation
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 17:30
|
|
|
Digital versions seem to be a territory Bandai really wants to explore right now. Even for Battle Spirits Saga there's been a sort of semi-official digital browser based version (in the sense Bandai is actively promoting it) in closed beta that just became an open beta version a few hours ago if anyone is curious.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 17:50
|
|
|
Is Shadowverse the paper version of the digital ccg that came out 5-6 years ago? I remember the app playing relatively simple and straight forward with decent synergies.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2024 19:19
|
|
|
Yeah, though the way it plays is slightly adjusted to the point it felt like like it was like 98% the same game. I can't remember exactly what the difference was but I think it had something to do with the board size and the evolve mechanic. It also uses an app you scan the leader cards with that keeps track of life and action points, but more importantly has an awesomely annoying Mario Golf style soundboard that a Bushiroad rep confirmed to me in person is tournament legal.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2024 05:46
|
|
|
i'm usually very anti-app integration in board games, but that's extremely powerful and i respect it
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2024 15:46
|
|
|
I haven’t seen much (any?) posting about it in this thread, but I played in a 64 player Sorcery: Contested Realm TCG tournament this past weekend here in Denton, TX and had an absolute blast, going 3-3 for 30th place despite my very minimal practice. Can confirm that the game definitely has competitive legs, there’s a variety of viable archetypes, and every game is just so dynamic and fun due to complexity of the grid system. If anyone has access to any local limited events I highly recommend giving it a try, but limited might not pick up heavily again until the next set Arthurian Legends drops in Q4 due to allocation. There is also an active Discord league that plays on Tabletop Simulator with a super chill and welcoming community. Main point: the game has serious legs as an actual game, sits in a unique spot gameplay wise, and is quite accessible due to how it handles rarity and playsets.* I was skeptical about it until this weekend, but now I’m totally hooked and hope that it keeps slowly growing. If anyone wants more of an effortpost about mechanics, cards, archetypes, let me know. *Rarity limits copies allowed in deck. So, using Magic terminology which maps onto Sorcery’s four rarities, a deck is limited to 1 copy of any mythic, 2 of any rare, 3 of any uncommon, and full 4 of any common. This means that your consistent deck strategy really has to live in the common-uncommon range, with the more powerful cards showing up far less frequently and complimenting rather than dictating the strategy. e: here is full-day match coverage from the event, if you’re curious! https://www.youtube.com/live/3lTYRntmAKM?si=WSgo6JSPXX8sXwwM Flutch fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Mar 19, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2024 00:50
|
|
|
Sorcery looked cool and unique and I probably would have picked it up if I didn't already have three other TCGs I'm spinning. I didn't know they were giving so much space between sets. I might check it out if I can find an active local, but knowing it's active on TTS sounds promising too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2024 08:00
|
|
|
Redezga posted:I might check it out if I can find an active local, but knowing it's active on TTS sounds promising too. I definitely strongly recommend it. It keeps revealing itself more and more as I play. I’m really impressed with how balanced and dynamic the base set is. And yeah, part of their business model is restricting set releases to one per year, trying to intentionally set themselves apart from the endless release cycles of other games. Will mean longer meta cycles, easier collectability, and a feeling of ‘it’s Sorcery season!’ on new set release. Core set is quite large, 400+ individual cards. The next set is apparently going to be less than 300. Here’s a link to info re: the TTS Discord league. http://irafay.com/Sorcery/. You can also easily find TTS games on the official Sorcery discord, but most of the serious action seems to happen in the league/in the practice matches arranged on the league server. Finally, I’ll mention https://curiosa.io which is a deck building and collection tracking tool. Here are links to the top 8 of the tournament I played in, to get a sense of what decks are looking like. 2024 March of the Mortals Top 8 Decklists; 1st - https://curiosa.io/decks/clf7hjfxc002lmk0gy6nyzgl9 2nd - https://curiosa.io/decks/cltc7a3kc000j3qn80t99awxd 3rd - https://curiosa.io/decks/clts1uatl00e88olijstzn7xt 4th - https://curiosa.io/decks/clrno48s50029nptuqqoxyioa 5th - https://curiosa.io/decks/cltc5xjmi002xdcokqw35gpmn 6th - https://curiosa.io/decks/clsniihyt00041496v50m7mdm 7th - https://curiosa.io/decks/cltdoa4n3002ibwrr99jg0ph6 8th - https://curiosa.io/decks/cls7u7sdy008v113v0551f2gh I’ve been really enjoying Sorcerer decks, which aim to top their curve around 5 or 6 and then gain huge card advantage off of Sorcerer’s tap -> draw a spell ability. The popular meta menace right now, which won SorceryCon last month, is Fire/Earth Sorceror. You can see the list in 4th place above. I really like the looks of the 3rd and 8th place lists running Earth/Air Sorceror, and have the cards for the 8th place list, so am gonna be running that now at locals. It feels really fun to be in on the ground floor, and outside of the ‘Power 5’ cards (Philosopher’s Stone and the 4 Cores) and a few other Uniques, singles are really affordable. Of course, the all hand-painted art is another huge selling point for me. Love it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2024 01:57
|
|
|
Flutch posted:It feels really fun to be in on the ground floor, and outside of the ‘Power 5’ cards (Philosopher’s Stone and the 4 Cores) and a few other Uniques, singles are really affordable. Of course, the all hand-painted art is another huge selling point for me. Love it. Jeff Menges did some art for it and he always seems happy to be doing TCG artwork. I do like the early 90s Magic nostalgic look. Are there any good YouTubers for this that don't give off extreme finance bro energy?
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2024 04:43
|
|
|
Flutch posted:I definitely strongly recommend it. It keeps revealing itself more and more as I play. I’m really impressed with how balanced and dynamic the base set is. And yeah, part of their business model is restricting set releases to one per year, trying to intentionally set themselves apart from the endless release cycles of other games. Will mean longer meta cycles, easier collectability, and a feeling of ‘it’s Sorcery season!’ on new set release. Core set is quite large, 400+ individual cards. The next set is apparently going to be less than 300. Cheers for that. I actually did have a look around one my locals online stores and the first set stock seems mostly gone outside of the precon decks. I don't know if there's going to be reprints but I guess I've got time to figure it out between now and the second set.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2024 04:49
|
|
|
LifeLynx posted:Are there any good YouTubers for this that don't give off extreme finance bro energy? Agreed that the easiest to find content has unfortunately heavy finance energy. Here is the best channel that I know of, all gameplay from Tabletop, frequent videos. Golden Eagle All of the gameplay videos on the official channel are good. and here are two channels with less videos but still quality. Local Game Group On the Play Re: Jeff Menges, here are a few of his cards that I dig.    
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2024 06:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 21:57 |
|
|
Bandai just announced that the second Grand Open season for Battle Spirits Saga is going to be a BO1 format with no topcut and people are fuming about it (I'm not). I've heard this mantra that a game can't be successful in a western market unless it's BO3 and I'm wondering if there were ever any exceptions to this? BSS is based on a the Japanese version Battle Spirits, which to my knowledge was never a competitive game in its sixteen year existence, so it would suggest to me that its well suited for the BO1 format, and in fact every store in Sydney with an active scene for BSS runs it BO1. I heard Lorcana is planning to have similar large tournaments running BO2 and that Shadowverse Evolve is doing something similar too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 15:45
|
|