While each card game has certain rules and mechanics that bring a unique feel to them there are some concepts to look for if you want to increase your winrate. This overview will outline these concepts, focusing in on resource based Trading Card Games. While Yu-Gi-Oh and Cardfight!! Vanguard have some things in common with these games, they both have a depth and philosophy of their own and need their own posts.
Each card game is designed around variance. Variance in card games basically comes down to the intersection of two ideas that make card games so fun. First: each game should feel unique and different from the last. Secondly: the value of each card should fluctuate with the situation. In acheiving these two goals TCG’s have adopted different philosophies.
Understanding Variance
In chess we generally assign numerical values to our pieces to rationalize exchanges. A rook for example is a 5 while a queen is a 9. The same can be said for card games. Lets say every card in your deck were rated on a 0 to 10 scale with 0 meaning absolutely useless and 10 meaning game-winning. The value of each card fluctuates between these extremes based on the game state. Basically, a card is considered good based on when it is good and a bad card based on when it’s bad. Magic: The Gathering (MTG) uses Land cards for example. Lands are cards that usually do nothing but produce Mana, a resource for playing your cards. Lets say, on average, a land is rated a 5 out of 10. If you don’t have any land, drawing land is much more important which changes the value of land from a 5 to a 7 or 8. If you just need one more land to cast your game-winning spell, that land and spell are both a 10 because they win the game. If you have tons of land but no spells to play, drawing a land becomes a 1. A card becomes a 0 if drawing it makes you lose.
But if each card fluctuates in value, how do we know if a card is good?
Cards that are generally powerful are cards that are useful the most often and useless the least often. Most of the time a top-tier deck will feature either a lot of these cards or create a context for their cards to be regarded as such. This is why a good-cards-only deck and an aggro deck can both be top tier. The good-cards-only deck is full of cards that have few lose case scenarios and many win cases. The aggro deck plays cards that increase the value of their next card both in this metaphoric sense and sometimes physically in game.
The Role of Resource Systems
Most TCG/CCGs have resource systems. As I mentioned above MTG has a land and Mana system in which you may or may not gain resources every turn. Other games like Hearthstone ensure that you gain resources every turn. Both of these system ensure that the game is played at a reasonable pace and that players are encouraged to include lower costing cards in their decks. This creates a curve – an optimal sequence of cards played based on available resources. Resource based games generally lead to a triangle of archetypes: aggro, mid-range, and control. These archetypes play on the fact that the game will have to be played a certain number of turns to determine a victor.
Aggro decks will have cheaper cards and will get to play more cards faster than the opponent. Depending on the match-up and aggro player will open a hand of 7-9 rated cards whose value will deteriorate over time. Aggro decks do well against most control decks by pressuring them in early turns.
Mid-range decks are your general “good cards” decks. They emphasize playing the strongest options at each part of the curve and having a diverse array of threats and answers. The goal in a mid-range deck is having a 8-9 every turn. Because mid-range decks tend to play consistently strong cards these decks tend to dominate aggro decks however they have a hard time versus control as controls cards get better the later the game gets.
Control decks want to game to go long. The longer the game goes the stronger each card in the control deck gets. Control deck also tend the take cards and resources away from the opponent while usually drawing more cards, giving the control player’s hand a larger net value the longer the game goes.
Ramp decks are specific to resource games. A Ramp deck is built around playing high cost cards early by amassing resources quickly. They don’t necessarily fit the triangle because their strength depends on the power of high-cost cards available. The goal of a ramp deck is to resolve a series of 10s. The Ramp matchup varies with each game but the archetype is generally most viable and popular if there are notable high cost cards that would possibly win the game on there own.
These match-ups are not set in stone however due to the next concept.
Reach
Cards that provide reach are cards that create or relieve pressure in often unexpected ways. In other words they either keep you in the game or end it. In an aggro deck, reach may be a card that damages the opponent directly. In a control deck, reach may cause them to gain life. In the aggro vs control match-up drawing reach is often a determining factor in the control deck stabilizing or the aggressive deck overpowering.
Tempo
Tempo in essence is the concept of resource efficiency over the opponent. A tempo play in a CCG would be something akin to trading token and a 3-cost creature to kill a 4-cost creature followed by playing your own 4-cost creature. Tempo plays usually have little to do with card advantage and more with handling threats to set the opponent back on their curve. In the above example you could have used a 4 cost spell and removed the opposing creature but you would have not been able to play anymore cards. If your opponent plays a 5 cost creature next turn, you could not safely play your 4-cost creature.
In MTG or Hex Tempo is a deck archetype rather than a type of play. A tempo deck is focused on applying pressure while disrupting the curve. The distruption is usually cheap or free and the creatures are usually cheap or free. A good tempo deck plays and early creature that can win the game given time accompanied by cheap spells that can generally be bought back. Tempo cards are generally associated with returning card to the opponents hand. This is an important distinction because those cards would have to be cast again, setting the opponent back a turn and allowing the tempo player more time to press the advantage. Tempo decks are rare in these games because they are often the least fair. The existence of these decks is possible when there are low cost creatures that can win a game if unchecked, cheap or free disruption, and recursion for that disruption.
Hopefully this has been an informative take on the TCG/CCG landscape and how to navigate it. The main thing to take away from this article is the concept of variance being related not only to luck but to the shifting perceived value of the cards in hand. In later articles I will be covering TCGs that break these conventions.
