Hi.

I recently registered on these forums and had a bit of a look around the FFG site, and I noticed these living card games separate from the collectible ones, which intrigued me. You see, I played lots of CCGs at one point and I really enjoyed them to begin with. I only really played with friends and we were all getting similar amounts of cards, and so no-one had any absolute killer decks.

After a while, some of my friends became a bit more "hard core", and started buying single cards for ridiculous prices and making unbeatable combos, and it all got a bit dull for me, being a player who prefers to design a deck around an interesting theme than a particular combination of cards. So I stopped playing for a while, and most of the games I had played died out.

Then I went to university and a friend got me to start playing CCGs again, so I went out to buy new cards and started to bet my head around new rules and eventually became horrified to find that with all the new expansions and all the new kids playing CCGs, the unbeatable combos had moved from an annoying aspect to the only way the game was played, and the new expansions were designed to form these ridiculous and from my perspective unfun combinations of effects and new special rules. So, I founds that the games I liked playing were the ones that had been discontinued, simply because noone seemed to have such complete collections and there weren't so many cards that combinations had become over-powerful.

So, what I'd really wanted to ask is, has making these LCGs non-collectible altered things in any way? Has giving everyone the same cards meant that there's less emphasis on getting hold of rare expensive cards and combining them into unstoppable combinations, and is there any problem with power creep of the new expansions and combinations?

PS I'm sorry I've written so much here, but I wanted people to see where I was coming from

Oh, and I don't mean to offend anyone, I know there's people who like to play the best cards and enjoy that, I'm just saying I don't like to play that way, and I don't think it should be the only way to play.

The answer to your question is yes. This does help to fix the suitcase players as everyone gets the same cards easily accessible. And once LCG's switch over to the new 3 of for all card format that starts in the next cycles for all 3 games[still a few packs to go for AGoT(6) and W:I(4)] it will be even easier and cheaper. I collect both W:I and AgoT right now, I buy two of each new pack and one of most of the older AgoT stuff I am catching up on,that runs me right now at about $45 CDN, once it changes it will be $30 CDN and 3 of everything instead of the 2 of's for some cards I get right now with 2 of each release.

LCG is totally the way to go especially if you are like me and have kid, fiance, rent etc.

A friend of mine who is a huge Magic player has described the LCG model as "being less about who can buy the best deck as who can build the best deck." Equal access to all the cards makes a more even playing field, as the player who before would spend hundreds on a deck no longer has an advantage that literally money can buy. It is one of the reason why I like the format so much anyone can be competitive, without having to commit all their money to a single game.

Exactly - the only case where the Suitcase Factor becomes an issue is with players buying multiples of the core sets to get extra copies of the cards that are dished out as singles, and that's not so much of an issue.

Like the man said, it's more about building the best deck and using it well.

sounds like a good idea to me.

Love the LCG format sad thing for me though I have no players of ANY of these great games in my area...

ImDoneItsOver said:

OCTGN is the way to go for AGoT LCG.

JerusalemJones said:

This, and because of the blind buy aspect. You know exactly what you are getting when you purchase a particular core set or expansion. If you want a certain numbers of cards, you know where to look (if you check out the card lists found around the web anyways). And since FFG are already reprinting certain packs which have soldout, it looks like you can be assured that there wont be a problem with cards becoming rare because of being out of print.

Caveat to the above. There are some sites which try to charge more for certain packs because they are currently out of print. But since FFG is reprinting them, there is no need to pay artificially inflated prices and just wait until they are restocked..

Yup! great idea and great way to make the games more exciting!

"I have no players of any of these great games in my area."

That's why I have kids. :-)

Okay, not really. But it does guarantee me some players.

ImDoneItsOver said:

I have the same problem. It's all about MTG and Yugioh in my area, I have gotten a few of my friends into other games and they love the fact that it's easier on the wallet.

Hello, all. I'm still fairly new to this whole LCG thing (but certainly not to card games in general) and I am really excited by what I've been reading here. The news that the newer expansions of the games give you full playsets from just one box is fantastic news. Definitely something I was curious about. Also, hearing that FFG reprints out of print sets is amazing news. Do they do this for all of their sets, as they go out of print, or just some of them? Either way, this has me even more hooked than I thought.

Another question, though it doesn't seem to really matter much. How is the power creep on sets? After a few months of expansions, do entire swaths of older sets become obsolete? Or are the majority of cards always useful for one strategy or another?

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I'm itching to start playing. Now I just need to go out and get some product.

Evidence so far indicates they'll continue to reprint anything released in the LCG-era. Many cards in the LCGs are inherited from the CCG, but there are probably lots of unique ones. The oldest "cycle" was only two packs, and they're scheduled for re-release soon. At least one card was banned, and another heavily errata'd

Power-creep seems to be taken seriously now, with the recent announcement that they no longer ban cards, but put them on restricted lists. So they agree the cards, or combinations of cards, were just too good so people auto-included these combinations. Now you can pick 3 copies of one card off the restricted list. I think this will force some new strategies - and actual thinking

I also expect that they'll consider their future cards more carefully. One Warhammer:Invasion card is often mentioned as a strange choice for the restricted list, so I suspect they've considered it with certain cards yet to be released.

The LCGs seem to be more about widening options than getting increasingly more powerful units. But WH:I has the most creep of the three I've got. LotR would probably not matter

My opinion of the power and factions in the LCGs so far, seen from a non-tournament perspective:

AGoT - I find this to have a very good selection of cards overall, even when owning less than half of the cycles and expansions. I can make fun decks with mostly in-house only cards for me and the gang to play. There are auto-includes, but there have also been more copies of some nice support cards which people generally include.

CoC - Equally wide selection for each faction as AGoT, if not even better. This is the game I worry the least about sharing specific cards between decks. I've made many mono-faction decks and some mixed without running out of combinations that feel balanced against the others. The "any card is a resource" mechanic helps a lot.

WH:I - At the core, a simpler game, but still fun. FUN! The focus on one faction or one side has been heavy, but overall the latest FAQ change might make this much better (if you play tournaments, or follow the restriction list for friendly play). Chaos has been the red-headed stepchild here, but the latest announced cards right some wrongs.

Without the restrictions, CoC has been most fun designing playable decks for. AGoT a very close second, but some of those locations are in short supply. WH:I and not enough Innovation, Warpstone Excavation etc…not fun.