This game helped a small game company called Wizards of the
Coast, formerly known for the Talislanta RPG and systemless
sourcebooks for RPGs, to become the biggest member of the gaming
industry.
I have been playing Magic since Fallen Empires. However, I
stopped buying cards after Mirage and haven't bought a single
card since (Magic, that is). I usually don't compete in
tournaments, except sometimes at our local Club, The Magical Druids (now The Society
Against Magic) in Cambridge, and rather concentrate on Fun
Decks with a theme to it. There's a group of players in the club
who also prefer that style and our multiplayer games are usually
much fun.
Over the recent months, however, I've lost more and more the
interest in Magic. I haven't bought a single card since January
'97, because I can't and don't want to keep up with every new
release. It's nothing more than a big rip-off, in my opinion.
I play Magic now and then with one of my old decks, but very
rarely.
Therefore, I've joined the Society Against Magic, a subdivision
of our club (which in itself won't continue as it has been). We
emphasize other TCGs like XXXenophile, C23, Shadowfist etc. and
non-collectible games like Great Dalmuti, Groo and RoboRally. A
review of Deadlands Doomtown should be up next week. At first
glance it looks a bit cumbersome.
As a result, I'm trying to get rid of my card collection (cards from Revised, 4th, Fallen Empires, lots of IceAge, Alliances, Homelands, and Mirage. It's two biscuit boxes full of cards plus 11 constructed decks. If anyone's interested, please email me. I'll set the price to a negotiable £ 150.
Richard Garfield's second TCG, based on the Vampire RPG and
unfortunately not very popular.
A decent game should have at least 4 players in it and can last
pretty long. A six player game can last up to four hours. There
is much strategy and politics involved, creating a great
atmosphere.
It's not a game for your lunch break but if you want a complex
but elegant game (unlike the Middle Earth CCG), this is for you.
A Gangrel deck designed to burn opposing minions with
aggravated damage.
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One of the best CCGs around. Unfortunately, nobody knows it.
After I've read the review in Inquest Magazine I bought two
starters. The small rulebook is clearly written and I instantly
liked the game. I showed it to a friend at the Druids club, we
played a test game and we've been playing regularly.
The game is based on the Kult Role Playing Game. Players control
one Major Arcanum (either an Angel of Death or Archon). Object of
the game is to control the majority of counters on the table.
The game is very easy to learn and you don't need many cards. Two starter decks and two boosters are enough to build two average decks. Unfortunately, the game has been out of print for a while, and I haven't seen the Second Edition yet.
The artwork is also worth mentioning. If you are looking for dark, sometimes scary and gory pictures, you'll find them here.
Inferno, the first expansion is out now. New cards, new Major Arcani and even more gory and dark art.
No X-Files fan should be without it.
The game itself is not too bad but nothing fancy. Your opponent
has to find out what your X-File is. A match can last between 15
minutes and an hour, depending on how lucky you are to ask the
right questions at the right time.
Sadly, USPC Games have discontinued this game.
An adult-only TCG based on Phil Foglio's XXXenophile Comics,
featuring funny art by Phil & Kaja Foglio and many popular
artists like Anson Maddocks and Drew Tucker.
The special feature of the game is that all cards have the same
commonality. And they have to because there's no card ownership
in this game. After a match, you could end up with a totally
different deck than you started with.
Fun, Fun, Fun.
Check out the official website
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This TCG is based on the roleplaying game of the same name.
It's quick and easy to learn and plays equally well with 2 or
more players.
Check my Review
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This game is based on the Deadlands RPG and takes place in the town of Gamorra.
Every player builds a street using his cards which are paid for with Ghost Rock, the player's resources. The street consists of locations called Deeds, which produce Ghost Rock.
The object of the game is to control as many deeds as possible by moving characters called Dudes to these locations (own and other players'). Many deeds have a Control Point value, many Dudes an Influence Point value. The player with the most Influence at a given location controls that location.
Confrontations between Dudes at a location are resolved by playing poker with the game deck (every card also has a poker suit and rank). Dudes can either be Draws (you can discard and draw cards to improve your hand) or Studs (you draw a specified number of cards more to begin with). The loser has to discard a number of players equal to the rank difference in the poker hands (three of a kind is two higher than one pair, that means the loser has to discard two dudes).
With more than two players a game can be quite long and
complex. However, I haven't played often enough to say more.
For deck construction it's more important to get good poker hands
than specific cards, as you cycle through your deck a lot (you
play game cards and poker from the same deck) - similar to Star
Wars.
Note: There have been a few changes in the club. The official club is now The Society Against Magic (SOCAMAG for short. People will still play at the pub and there will be tournaments (organised by The Magical Druids).
We meet every Tuesday from about 5 pm at the Ancient Druids Pub, Cambridge, UK (Napier St., behind the Grafton Centre). The table in the non-smoking window corner is the meeting point for SOCAMAG. If you want to play a little more unusual games, ask for the Society Against Magic. We play XXXenophile, Great Dalmuti, Groo, RoboRally, Settlers of Catan etc. and, most recently, Baron Munchausen, a storytelling game. Any game really, as long as somebody brings one along.
Tuesday, 23rd September, saw the first officially WotC
sanctioned Great Dalmuti tournament.
I'm proud to announce the winner: Neil Pawson.
This will be an irregular event in the Club. Watch my Events page for this and other tournaments
(Groo, Lunch Money).
There are still a number of very sad people who play Magic:The Gathering on Tuesday nights. We also cater for them by running the odd tournament.
So, if you live around Cambridge why not visit the Druids on a
Tuesday night. You won't regret it.
By the way, beer and food are excellent.
See ya there!
For more information, including tournament rules for our main games, visit the official Website. Please be patient with Webmaster and Co-President Colin, he's working hard to get it going.