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 Shuffling the CCG sites
| Tap, tap, tap ... no, that's
not the sound of some raven gently rapping, rapping at
my chamber door. 'Tis a Magic player, only that and
nothing more!
Over the past four years,
collectible card games (CCGs) like Magic: The Gathering have become some of
the most popular gaming products on the planet. Magic,
from Wizards of the Coast, got the mana ball
rolling in 1994. Inspired by role-playing games (RPGs)
like TSR's Dungeons & Dragons, not to mention the
fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and others, Magic
revolutionized the gaming industry by combining
strategy, role-playing, and the luck of the draw.
Magic players construct decks with cards that represent
fighters, sorcerers, creatures, spells, and magical
items in the land of Dominia. When the player "taps" a
card, he's putting that card into action to attack his
opponent or complete a task. As with any deck of cards,
though, you don't know which card in your pile will come
up next. Even the most brilliant plan can fizzle if your
Helm of Obedience or Chaos Orb ends up at the bottom of
the deck.
The game's appeal quickly spread to
thousands of people who liked the concept of
role-playing but didn't want to spend oodles of bucks on
RPG sourcebooks and modules. After all, to play Magic
you only need a single pack of cards, right? Ha! That's
where the game's insidious nature reveals itself! So
far, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has released five
editions of Magic as well as a dozen expansion sets like Ice Age, Alliances,
and Exodus. (The list of cards is so mammoth that WotC
also created Portal, a starter pack designed
specifically for newcomers.)
Each set has unique
cards, so whether you want to create the best deck for a
tournament or you simply seek to collect
the cards, you want them all, right? However,
some cards are incredibly rare; if you're looking for
the legendary Black Lotus, for example, you might have
to pay at least $300.
The huge success of Magic
unleashed a Psychic Vortex of competing CCGs. They've
conspired to grab shelf space that was once reserved for
RPGs, leading to Internet skirmishes between standard
role-players and "card weenies." (The crushing blow came
in 1997, when the once-tiny WotC bought the collapsing
TSR and its Dungeons & Dragons empire.)
One
of the most popular of the newer CCGs is Legend of the
Five Rings. "L5R" is set in the Emerald Empire of
Rokugan, and you control samurai, ninja, and
spellcasting shugenja in an exciting battle for power in
feudal Japan. Visit the majestic Mountain Keep of the Dragon for more
details about this great game.
Of course, the
smart people like me prefer Shadowrun: The Card Game. Based on FASA's
role-playing game, Shadowrun takes place in a wild
21st-century mix of cyberpunk and fantasy. For instance,
I'm tired of my opponent's Ice Queen using the Decker
Coffeehouse to easily grab Matrix
gear, so I'm telling
Cherry Bomb to blow up the Coffeehouse. Then I'll send
my two shamans, Grandfather Bones and Skag, on a run to
the Haunted High Rise with firearms support from Red
Widow and Shellshock, who's packing the Vindicator
Minigun just in case. Ready, team? Look out for that
Toxic Spirit!
Other CCGs are based on movies or TV series,
like Decipher's Star Wars and WotC's Xena, and many fans
have come to loathe Magic with its confusing supplements
and myriad rule changes. Still, Wizards of the Coast has
had the last laugh: A court ruled that WotC holds the patent on many CCG concepts,
like "tapping." The fiends! Boy, if I only had a Fungus
Elemental handy...
If you want to gorge yourself
on card gaming goodies, check out the collection
of sites on the next page. Happy gaming!
--Ken Hart, who likes his Mafia/Shaman deck in
Shadowrun
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