First let me start by saying I like this game very much. I am a Lovecraft and Trading card game fan, but never played the CoC CCG.

However, something has been bugging me:

(i) I am feeling like I have only a part of a game, or a subset of what I suspect went before

(I have the basic set and all the packs thus far)

(ii) There are terms used on the cards that have no apparent meaning, that were either used before or perhaps will be used again?

(eg Servitor)

(iii) Some of the things like Polar are miniscule and have played no significant part at all yet. Unless I went out and bought several editions of that particular asylum pack.

(iv) Some of the cards I thought were rather odd and extreme, the kind of mad thing that comes after a game has been developed for years and the designers need forever more new and outlandish ideas. Is this because the more straightforward and fundamental ideas have already been "used up" in the CCG?

e.g summer school seems silly when applied to a monster

e.g the dinner lady pinning down Cthulhu

(v) I have read the forums and noted some peoples' deck designs which I can't make unless I go and buy the base set 3 times! Is that what we need to do?

And related to that is this strange thing: The aslyum packs have 3 copies of some cards. The basic (I think) had no copies. But sure the basic cards cry out for having duplicates. But how to get them as I wouldnt want to be buying that great big box with the counters, board all over again

I apologise if this reads as criticism! It is intended as observation only.

TokyoSyndicate said:

(i) Yes, the core set + pack is very limiting deckbuilding wise. You cannot build a decent combo deck out of it and I have doubts a rush strategy is useable.

(ii) Some subtypes (like Servitor) are not referenced by the wb card set. They were before, they might be in future.

(iii) No, Polars would be bad even with several copies of that set.

(iv) Comedy cards (which some players and playtester love) and oddly worded, narrow cards seem to be Nate French (current developer) contribution to this game. The current trend has more to do to the design team than with ideas being exhausted.

(v) Yes, if you want 3x cards in the core set, you need to buy 3 of them. You could also find many of the previously common cards in their black border version for cheap (many of us CCG players did dump a lot of multiples on the newbies). Buyer beware, the black border version of a wb card might not be tournament valid and has a different back.

Thanks.These black bordered cards you speak of, are they otherwise the same ?

It does seem odd that I can't buy multiple copies for the LCG of the basic set

I hope FFG will address this

The base set contained some of the key cards from what I believe were several different expansions of the CCG cards. None of them were original cards and except for correcting errata they are the same.

As far as the polar cards, I don't really have a deck built around them, but some of the events are pretty good. I like the up to 8 sled dogs and the carnivorous penguins.

As was stated before, you can get copies of a lot of the core set in the black border cards probably pretty cheap, you'll have to sleeve them of course. In a tournament setting they may not be allowed, but in casual play it could be agreed to. Otherwise, you'll have to buy multiple copies of the core set.

2> Regarding subtypes like Servitor, there used to be cards that triggered off them and I'm sure there will again. In my opinion, there's certainly nothing wrong with putting subtypes on cards in advance . . . that way when a new pack comes out with something like an event that triggers off Servitors, you can go back to the older sets and have more options to play with, rather than just the few Servitors printed that set.

3> An all polar deck is likely unplayable on a serious level, but some of the cards on their own (such as Polar Mirage) are definitely usable.

Warning, if the topic of proxy cards makes you uneasy, please stop reading now and save me the punishment of your pointless whinging.

If you really only want to play for fun at home, it is absurdly easy to make perfect proxy cards. Just take a card to the stationery store and buy some glossy cardstock of exactly the right thickness. Take this and all the cards of which you want more to Kinkos and use their excellent and easy to use color copiers to print whole sheets with nine proxies on each. Don't worry about getting them lined up perfectly. Take them home and use sharp scissors to trim them by hand. Put them in opaque-backed sleeves, and they will be indistinguishable from FFG's cards.

Four years ago I did this with all the rares of the Arkham edition, making three copies of each. Even though I knew exactly what to look for, I just could not tell the proxies from the FFG cards. ( I liked the game well enough that I eventually bought enough FFG-printed cards to have a playset of every card, and then ceremonially destroyed the proxy rares.)

Be certain NEVER to take such proxies out of your home, however, as they are completely inappropriate for tournaments or other competitive play.

Chick

chicklewis said:

Just off to the corner shop that has a copier ;p