The Town Herald

The e-zine about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Collectible Card Games

By [wicked fae mage]



Modern Collectible Card Games (CCG), sometimes referred to as Trading Card Games (TCG) were introduced by Magic: the Gathering's designer Richard Garfield. Wizards of the Coast published Magic: the Gathering in 1993. Collectible cards existed before Magic, for example Baseball cards, though Magic: the Gathering introduced strategy to the game play.

Each CCG has specific rules to the game that describes the objective to the game and governs the game play (though some know that Duel Monsters could get complicated with different trap cards and the triggers for the traps). Each card will explain the card's purpose in the game and any effects it has on game play.

The illustrations differ from game to game, Magic: the Gathering, for instance being focused on the fantasy genre and creatures and spells from the fantasy genre; Pokemon cards feature: Pokemon, trainers, gym leaders, stadiums and energy cards; Duel Monsters features different monsters and classes along with magic cards, trap cards and spell cards. All of the illustrations reflect the styles of the game and no two illustrations are the same.

The typical CCG phases include drawing a card from your deck, placing cards on the field, buffing or healing preparations, attacking, discarding cards (some games have a remove cards from play option) and ending your turn. Some games have a more complex playing system and some are simple.

Getting cards is simple. You can find a tournament deck for games in most toy stores and hobby shops. The starter decks usually are usable right out of the pack and include a functioning deck with the minimum number of cards that make a deck legal for tournaments. To improve your deck there are booster packs that give roughly ten cards, they are usually random and one of them is usually rare and sometimes is the ever-coveted hollow foil. Starter sets include two decks, or enough cards for two people along with instructions on the game play. The themed decks are quite popular as well. Themed decks have cards that work together and aren't as random as a booster deck. Duel Monsters had several themed decks of the famous duellists from the show including: Yugi's deck, Pegasus' deck, Joey's deck and Kaiba's deck to name a few. Each of the decks includes central cards like Yugi's signature Dark Magician and Kaiba's signature BluevEyes White Dragon as well as supporting cards that fit the deck's theme.

Today there are even video games that include the cards from the CCG. In this case, the player gets the electronic copy of the cards for the game use and plays the game in a similar way as the actual card games. The video games sometimes include a card number to add to register with the game, allowing the use of the cards in game. Blizzard released World of Warcraft's own CCG which allows rare mounts and other items to be obtained via the code on the card. Some items are only available in the games through the cards' codes.

What is the appeal of the CCG? Collectors everywhere pay good money for seemingly worthless cards with a creature depicted on the card. With the rare hollow foils, desired effects and personal identification with cards, we have found the tootsie pop of the fantasy lover and collector's worlds. Why are CCG so popular? The world may never know.




Go or Return to:
...The Town Herald - Issue 22 entrance page
...TH Issue 22 Index page
...The Town Herald official wiki page