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Welcome to the Beginners Guide Series on Trading Card Games. This series of articles is for people that are new to the world of Trading Card Games and want to understand the basics. The first article in the series focuses on the History of the Trading Card Game genre and Gameplay Mechanics.
In today’s world, TCGs are a popular segment in gaming. A TCG is a form of card game that combines tactical aspects of deck building with trading card features. This novel concept of gaming was first presented in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering. Over time, other popular games like Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Legends of Runeterra, and Hearthstone have caught on in the TCG space, each with a different take on the original concept.
When were all these popular trading card games introduced?
Magic: The Gathering – 1993
Pokémon – 1996
Yu-Gi-Oh! – 1999
Hearthstone – 2014
Legends of Runeterra – 2020
Although Magic: The Gathering was the first TCG, Pokemon may be the most recognizable name on the list, because of the incredible reach of their brand, powered by their juggernaut of a parent company, Nintendo.
Regardless of that distinction, it is safe to say that Magic: The Gathering is likely the most enduring TCG brand, as their IP has endured in tabletop and digital play popularity. Pokémon might be the bigger household name due to their movies, tv shows, and merchandise, but MTG is the king when it comes to pure TCG stats.
Each TCG contains a core set of rules that outline the goals of the players, the types of cards that are utilized, and the fundamental principles by which the cards interact. There is additional information on each card that describes how that card will affect the game. To make the card language easier to read, many games use a list of keywords that allude to standard game mechanics.
Within Parallel, they have approximately 30 common words that describe what the card can do. You can find those keywords here on the Gameplay Glossary page. For example, take the word ‘Defender’. It means, ‘An ability of a Unit that allows you to select an enemy attack to block.’ So if an enemy unit attacks, the Defender can block or absorb the attack.
Additionally, each card typically depicts a certain aspect taken from the game’s genre, setting, or source material. The subject matter may be related to the card’s gaming purpose. The cards are called and illustrated after these source materials. In the case of Parallel cards, they are based on the Sci-Fi genre.
The majority of TCGs are built on a resource system that regulates the speed of each game. The cards that make up a player’s deck are frequently viewed as a resource, and the rate at which cards are transferred from the deck to the play area or the player’s hand is strictly regulated. A card’s relative strength is frequently countered by the quantity or kind of resources required to play it, and the pace after that may be set by the flow of cards coming into and going out of play. As a simple example, a more powerful card, will cost more to play. For Parallel, the resource system allows any card to be utilized as a resource. The location where resources live is called the Bank. When a player Banks a card in Parallel, they add one Energy to their overall Energy count. This enables them to play cards from their hand, based on their Energy cost.
Players choose which cards will make up their deck from any available cards printed for the game, unlike typical card games like Poker or Uno where a deck’s content is limited and predetermined. A TCG player can strategically alter their deck to benefit from advantageous card interactions, combinations, and statistics. Although a player’s deck might theoretically be any size, most TCGs have adopted a “standard” deck size – Parallel’s deck size is 40. The game’s regulations may also have an impact on deck construction. The number of copies of a specific card that can be included in a deck varies depending on the game. TCG cards fall into a number of main types. In Parallel some categories include Units that are summoned into battle that attack the opposing player and block their Units’ attacks, Effects that enhance or diminish these Units’ attributes and abilities, and Relics that may have an immediate or ongoing resolution to one or more cards in play.
A TCG match is typically played one against one, though many TCGs offer variations that allow for additional participants. The objective of a game is often to play cards that eliminate the opponent’s life count before the opponent can do the same. If a player runs out of cards to draw from their deck, certain TCGs have a rule that states the match is over. Players begin the game by shuffling their decks and drawing an initial hand after deciding who starts first by flipping a coin or some other randomization method. Many TCGs also let a player take a mulligan if they feel their starting hand is not strong, in which case, they redraw their hand, or a subset of cards in their hand.
After their hands are set, players take turns playing cards from their hand. While the format of each turn varies depending on the TCG, typically it is divided into distinct phases, including some sort of resource interaction, drawing a card, playing any number of cards by drawing from the available resources, making one or more attacks on the opponent, and ending their turn.
A common example of how an opponent can respond to the player taking the current turn in many TCGs is by taking some countermeasure to negate the opponent’s action. In order to prevent potential conflicts, games with such reaction systems often set rules to determine the precedence of reactions. Other TCGs don’t have such immediate response mechanisms, but they nevertheless let players play cards that react to the actions of their adversary.
Remember, each game is different, so the order of operations, functions, and terms will differ from game to game. To learn more about the specifics of Parallel TCG mechanics, check out the glossary here. Thank you for reading and we’ll catch you next week in the Beginners Guide Series on Trading Card Games.