So I'm learning more about LCG's and they seem pretty awesome. I especially like that they eliminate "the chase" and spending a ton on singles to put your deck together, but my question is about jumping into them when they several years old. I have not aspirations of playing a Worlds but do like a little bit of competition even though I am mostly a casual player. Basically, I want the option of solid deck building on the table. With this in mind, for already well established LCG's, would it be necessary to retroactively buy ALL the deluxe expansions and chapter packs? I've got the Arkham Horror core set and the 2nd addition GoT is fairly new but I was also just considering waiting for the Legend of the Five Rings LCG to drop so I could get in "on the floor level". What say you, FF community?

I'd suggest you to hang out a little bit on cardgamesdb and check a few decks there. People post their decks and you can see what works and what doesn't, and then decide which cards you need and purchase the packs accordingly

The great thing is that you can choose your level of involvement. If you want to be competitive, then maybe you eventually own everything, but you should feel zero obligation to buy product faster than you prefer.

So for any given game:

1. Buy a Core Set. Play through its permutations until you feel like you want to add more options.
2. Buy a Deluxe set for a faction that interests you (Not applicable to AH AFAIK)
3. Peruse the cards available in various monthly packs. Proxy any which seem interesting to see how you like them. When you feel ready to compete at the Casual tier (Game Night Kits and Store-level Championships) you could easily have a well-tuned deck list, and a very short list of specific packs you'd need to buy in order to make it a real deck.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 at your leisure.

16 hours ago, Grimwalker said:

The great thing is that you can choose your level of involvement. If you want to be competitive, then maybe you eventually own everything, but you should feel zero obligation to buy product faster than you prefer.

So for any given game:

1. Buy a Core Set. Play through its permutations until you feel like you want to add more options.
2. Buy a Deluxe set for a faction that interests you (Not applicable to AH AFAIK)
3. Peruse the cards available in various monthly packs. Proxy any which seem interesting to see how you like them. When you feel ready to compete at the Casual tier (Game Night Kits and Store-level Championships) you could easily have a well-tuned deck list, and a very short list of specific packs you'd need to buy in order to make it a real deck.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 at your leisure.

That's very helpful. Thanks. I hadn't even considered LCG's that really interest me like Star Wars because the card pool is so large from being around so long that it felt overwhelming to jump into. This could be a good option.