So, does this work like Pokémon?

Actually, it sort of does.

Think of it like that but with no bench, so the deck is entirely focused around the survival of one character and elimination of another. Now turn most Trainers or Items into "permanents" and have about 90% of them work like Land in Magic. Take the attacks away from characters as built-in effects and replace them with more and usually better PokePowers. Now make attacks be their own card.

There are things like blocks, which throw your excess cards in the way of the opponent's attacks, control checks, which basically use your draw-deck cards as dice to try to play stuff (this is where the "land" comes in), and so forth that are instrumental to how the game works, but this first paragraph mostly sums up what someone familiar with Pokemon and maybe a few other card games would think of as how the game "moves" or "works" when they see it being played.

Biggest difference from this and most card games is that card plays are not paid for , they are attempted . You play something that has to succeed its "saving throw" so to speak by way of the control checks on other cards at random. The "Land" (Foundations from here on) is used to make up the difference if you would fail. Your turn ends when you fail and can't make it up. The key is that Foundations generally require far less in the way of CC results to play, so you can use them to establish a safety net to play more intensive stuff later.

I'll rip some words out of the Privateer Press guys' advertising and say that UFS has you managing risks more so than managing resources .

In the sense that it is a collectible card game, yes. Otherwise, UFS is one of the more unique CCGs I've seen, so it's hard to really call it "similar" to pokemon or MTG.

For one thing, there is no mana/energy system. When you want to play a card, you look at its difficulty (top left) and then make a "control check," which entails discarding the top card of your deck and checking its control. (bottom right) If the control >= the difficulty needed, you've successfully played your card. Otherwise you may commit (tap) foundation cards to make up the difference. This may make foundations sound effectively like land, but in UFS foundations all have abilities, and very relevant ones. Since abilities cannot be played on committed cards, each time you have to push a failed check through you give up on being able to use those abilities until your next turn. This adds another layer to the strategy, as opposed to land or energy cards that usually don't do much else besides enabling you to play stuff.

Secondly, there are no creatures/monsters/etc. Nothing at all of that sort. You damage your opponent by playing attack cards, which they then may attempt to block if they have kept a card with a block in their hand and can pass the control check. (whose difficulty is based both on the block and the speed of your attack) Of course, as you might imagine in a game based off of fighters, they have to use the correct block zone (mid, high, low) as well, or else they're taking half damage anyway. So you get into a risk/reward game of how many attacks and foundations do you want to play out on your turn, and how many you want to hold back for potential blocking; same goes for how many foundations you want to commit either to play cards or use abilities, and how many you want to keep open to help block or use defensive abilities on.

Lastly, while this isn't entirely unique, something you don't see in many major ccgs is the use of character cards. You start the game with a character in play that determines your hand size, vitality, elements, and has some built-in abilities that you usually build your deck around. (And unlike WoW ccg, these are truly relevant abilities and not some minor one-time use thing) An Evil Ibuki deck looks worlds different than an Evil Ukyo deck.

So yeah, other than the fact that your basic objective is to K.O. your opponent, and that some cards are harder to play than others, UFS doesn't really have a whole lot in common with other CCGs besides the fact that you play with pieces of cardboard that you collect and build into a deck.

Cetonis said:

It really does, though, if you know where to look. Pokemon essentially are character cards in their respective game, the most fundamental difference being the ability to switch out, which the game then revolves around. On the surface, UFS characters function more like the Magi in Magi-Nation, but when you compare the things they actually DO and how you play around them, they're pretty close to the Pokemon.

Even control checks aren't really original. There are a lot of defunct card games which used nearly the exact same basic mechanic to play cards. The real difference is that those games were all "deck your opponent to win" games, so that the risk involved was something that simply averaged out over time and became just another resource to edge out an advantage on.

There actually aren't all that many of the basic mechanics of UFS that are truly original. What's original is the way they are put together, because it results in a much different playing mentality and game flow than other games get by using them in other arrangements.

You'll notice a trend where common aspects of card games are tweaked just a little, and combined a bit differently, and the way you end up playing ends up noticably different. It can be something as simple as whether you can or can't do something, or do or don't have a certain secondary objective.

Whether or not UFS is "orginial" isn't important. Its much easier to get people to pick-up the game if they can understand it in terms of something they already know. As a scout I've often tried to give Magic equivalent examples of the game to local player as that is what they are most familar with.

In my community everybody plays MTG and as a scout I also have to look at Magic examples to explain UFS. Anyway, this game has a particular way to play cards, not difficult or complex, simply different to other games. Give it a try and you'll see hoe better than Pokemon this is (and I love pokemon, but the CCG is not my favourite).

I am positive mike was not asking a serious question, but rather being a smart @$$ and making fun of UFS....

I'm a hardcore gamer, I have played MTG for years and participated on the protour and grand prix circuits, I play every good board game I can get my hands on, and i'm a very good WHFB, WH40k, and Warmachine/hordes player.... AND I enjoy UFS... I just got into it, and its a quality game that delivers a good time, something you want in a game.

nope it's based on fighting video games and I have personally found it to be similar to Magic the Gathering...

You try and "knock each other out" with attacks, and there are foundations and assets that add to the mayhem.

The whole purpose of the game is to be the best universal fighter by k.o. the other person. There are other ways to win too.

each card has an ability that can help u out in battle.

BTW everyone if you need help with UFS look in the community section or support section for some online demos . Also I am one of the hosts for commit one podcast if anyone would like to be a guest in a new player discussion let me know .

i have actualy found that ufs is sort of similiar to a miniutures game. except with only one miniuture and a little more luck involved. its sort of like a super customizable warhammer miniuture. your whole deck is like optional weapons and specializations, and the resources are similar to factions. i felt like my previous miniutures expiereince has helped me learn to play ufs.