Hah, you got me! I missed the discord link in the description of this one. But great to hear your thoughts on them as well, thanks for sharing! Going to pin this comment as it adds a lot of nice context that I agree with, as well as calls me out XD

Set 2 I think for star wars. I think they are going in the order of trilogy release

But thats not the same? With unique cards and all

Except it is an NFT. They are printing one of one cards with a QR scan. Minus the QR scan (in most cases) that is an NFT.

@@manwithnoname9580 this is not an NFT if it's not on a blockchain, think of it as the steam inventory

No an NFT is run on block chain. Altered is like your steam library except open that you can sell your digital items.

@42Randomise dude, QR codes are basically block chains minus the cryptocurrency. Block chain by definition: a system in which a record of transactions, especially those made in a cryptocurrency, is maintained across computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network. A QR code tracks your purchases whether you think it does or not. You buy your pack, scan the QR into an app (a peer to peer network database), and now you are participating in a block chain. An NFT as you state is run on a block chain. So you literally proved my point. And if you note, it specifies especially on cryptocurrency, but not exclusively. Block chains aren't new. The concept of NFT is. But this is an NFT.

Yes, absolutely! Fresh and familiar is a great way to put it. This is the Star Wars TCG I've been looking for for years, I think!

I wish I had hammered a little more that I really did enjoy playing the game and sought out more games during the weekend! I think I lingered a bit too much on some of my smaller criticisms. It's very fun!

​@MaindeckGames btw it's leader is a hangover from the original digital game cause its a cygames mobile game

Also it's not a system to have jp be ahead they literally just started first English releases are like a week per set faster so we are on route to catch up if this keeps up

plenty of time for more coverage in the future! Cheers @@MaindeckGames

Then there would be the digital ramifications of "ownership" which won't really do anything. I know it's not an NFT but... it is just as a card.

I'll be right there with you. Can't wait!!

I love SWU. I tried getting into Lorcana but the earlier supply issues kept me away. I still play just to be involved in the community at my local LGS. Once SWU drops I’ll be playing that exclusively. Until Lorcana drops some Gargoyles.

Yes! I enjoyed Ashes more than Destiny (sadly, I really wanted to love Destiny!). But I'm really happy to see it used in multiple card-focused rulesets now!

I agree that Altered is very ambitious. And I am hopeful they have not bitten off more than they can chew. I'm not that worried about the PoD though. That truly is only available to those who have bought and registered cards and want buy extras of cards they own for deck building or those who have foiled a card and want to have it in their deck foil. And of course for those selling their cards to others across the globe. I think that later action is going to take some time. It is not going to be like Magic where everything in a release has been spoiled and a meta is evolving along with a list of the most OP cards that are a must have, has hit the internet. The uniqueness of the game and the cards I think are going to take some time to blossom. Look at Sol Forge as an example. It was a Kickstarter that was a bit delayed by the Pandemic but a number of game stores bought heavily into the Kickstarter and were selling product before the retail release hit the market. I bought into both the after market Kickstarter boosters and the initial Retail release. But that was because I was not aware of the Kickstarter until after it was too late. I am 6 months early on this one and am budgeting heavily to ensure I have everything I want delivered with my Kickstarter. Before the Retail edition hits the shelves. It could be a huge waste of money or it could be like buying into the First Magic set. Only time will tell. I think it is an endeavor worth supporting if for no other reason than to encourage a new paradigm in TCG's.

Share away and I'll link it in the description!

I'm glad it came off that way. It's hard to rank something low on a list yet still explain why it could be someone's number 1 game instead! I can totally see how people would love it and I absolutely hope LRAW finds all the players like yourself to keep succeeding!

They've been pushing the game at tons of cons! They're doing a great job of getting the word out.

Lorcana definitely isn't going anywhere anytime soon!

Thanks! For Altered, the major difference is that it's not using the blockchain. It's more akin to any online game with digital "objects," where they are simply stored on the server. That means it's managed by Equinox entirely, but unlike digital purchases in online games, you still own the physical cards if, for example, the game ends up flopping.

Thanks - I do my best to be honest! And in that vein, Grand Archive is a game that I have a lot of belief in, so you're going to get likely a slightly biased answer from me on that. I think for which is the best investment - considering long term collectability or future potential - here are some differences between the two that are relevant (in different ways): - GA is an American made TCG from a small company, SVE is a Japanese TCG from two larger companies. - GA was a Kickstarted TCG that's survived into standard distribution, with Set 1 1st Edition boxes still holding over double the retail price in value. GA's Alter (unlimited) edition Set 1 boxes are at about 80% MSRP in value, or roughly standard value for most TCGs. SVE's Set 1 booster boxes are down to about half MSRP in value. - SVE is a better known IP than GA, though both are original Anime-themed IPs. - SVE is highly popular in Japan, though is having trouble gaining that same popularity here. It'd be tough for me to accurately predict which investment is better objectively - however, from my conversations with people in the GA company and my experience playing the game and with the community, I'm highly supportive of GA and think it has real possibility to do extremely well in the long term. Bushiroad games tend to have solid collectibibility down the line (early Cardfight!! cards command solid prices now), so I think that's maybe a safer bet but with lower potential returns. If GA ever really hits it big, I think the returns are much higher, but as it's more of an unknown quantity from a small company, there's more risk involved too. It's totally cool if you aren't into One Piece, etc. Solid game, definitely highly collectible, but also not my exact cup of tea. If you were asking ME which of the two I'd pick - well, I already have, and I am big on Grand Archive. I do think the game is better competitively and the company is absolutely top tier. But hopefully all that info will help you make your own, more informed decision!

@@MaindeckGames Great in depth point of view, thank you very much! I thought Dawn of Ashes is the first set of Grand Archive, but now I noticed there is another set called Fractured Crown, which seems not available anymore where I am from.. Somethings went horribly wrong with that print run I was told?! Do you know something about this and how this impact the current and future of the game.. Would you recommend to buy into the Fractured Crown set and or what would you be missing out on?!.. All I see sold and advertised are the Dawn of Ashes cards..

Yep, Dawn of Ashes and Fractured Crown are the two available sets, with Set 3, Alchemical Revolution, releasing in January. Fractured Crown didn't have anything wrong with the print run - in response to feedback from Set 1, the company wanted to adjust how they seeded CSRs (the highest rarity cards) into product in Set 2. They made a few changes, such as dropping the box size to 20 packs, and upping the case size from 6 boxes/case to 18 boxes/case. In doing this, they made it so at least 1 CSR was now guaranteed per case, with a small chance of 2 (about 1/5 cases). This was done with good intentions: to make it so that anyone who purchases enough wouldn't have a chance to miss hitting a collectible, rare card, like they do in Set 1 (watch my livestream 3x case opening for an example XD). However, this backfired slightly, as a huge amount of product got opened to chase those guaranteed CSRs, leading to low value of other cards in the set; and a number of sellers would open cases until they found 1 CSR, and then sell the rest of the boxes which now had a low chance of a CSR. These semi-"soft" boxes then started to reach a low price on the secondary market, as the Rs and SRs were in high supply and the CSRs were hard to find. The company quickly issued a very clever plan to solve all of these issues - The Fractured Crown set redemption, which allows players to bring in Playsets of Fractured Crown to major tournaments and redeem them for exclusive foil promos of one of the best cards in the game - or 3 sets to also get a CSR version of the promo. These redeemed sets will be warehoused and saved to give out at events in the future when Set 2 cards become more valuable as the supply dries up. This plan successfully achieved a lot: It propped up the value of the set as a whole, which brought the box value back up from its drop, and it also set up for the future to allow them to push those cards back into the economy through events if their prices start to go too high (as Set 2 is not going to be reprinted). They also announced that in Set 3, they'll be returning to the print model from Set 1 after seeing how this panned out. Hope that makes sense - if you can find either set, they are totally reasonable to buy into, though of course as Dawn of Ashes is the first set, it's got a lot of key cards that various decks need to exist so it's probably the first one you should grab.

Two months later and no one has responded to this, but I think you hit on a point that no one is willing to consider while hyping up Altered. Cyber Security and protection are a VERY big concern considering their business model, and your questions need to be addressed.

@gamma626 I appreciate you acknowledging it, at least! But yes, it's shocking how I have seen zero tubers, streamers, content creators, etc. Talk about this topic. They just stop on the point of how consumer friendly it is in theory.

Yes, the back and forth action is more like LoR, while the way attacking and combat works is very reminiscent of Hearthstone (can attack either enemy or their units, damage sticks turn to turn), but with two lanes. Great call on LoR as a reference point for the actions!

@@MaindeckGames Ok. Thanks for the info. Keep up the good work!

I do enjoy Draw 2 games a lot!

I get why people enjoy it! It's not going to get much coverage here, but I had to give it props for being a fun system.

Absolutely! I get the appeal...it just wasn't for me! I don't play a lot of MTG these days either, though!

It didn't feel worth losing monetization over 🤣

Asking the real questions.

You could say that for MTG too.

I think the way they are doing it is less disastrous than people think at first brush. If you haven't, I recommend listening to our long interview to get the details! But either way, yes, SWU is super exciting!

Yes that is my main concern too. Balance is one problem, but the other would be a "feeling of uniqueness". I played a game where "algorithm" was used to create unique cards but none of them were actually unique at all. And if the player base is big, how can that be sustained? The core gameplay sounds cool for Altered TCG but I feel iffy about everything else.

The entire game was design around the generation of unique cards: 3 stats + 2 mana costs + 2 text zones. All of these parameters provide enough tools to generate truly unique cards. Furthermore, cards can only be played twice per game, which should strongly limit the snowball effect of overly powerful unique cards. And the number of unique cards per deck is limited. I don't know if the game will be successful, but a lot of work has been done to anticipate the issues you mentioned! :)

@@MonkeyMihawk Your points make sense, I also like the restrictions around the "unique cards" but there are other problems too. Aside from what I already mentioned, my other worry is: How will one make the art for those cards? And how will the "unique" cards be incorporated from a narrative standpoint? Are they going to use AI art or hire a ton of artists? Technically, in any TCG, there is enough design space to make 10,000,000+ cards. But only limited specific mixes and matches are made to make the game good from a game balance & narrative perspective. I trust that the designers behind Altered TCG are far more competent and knowledgeable than I am, I will wait and see how they execute this seemingly impossible idea and then make more judgments.

It was never said that the visuals of the cards would be unique, only their effects! And I imagine that many unique cards will lose some of their initial mecanical identity, but I think that's also what makes it exciting: to think that a card we own doesn't look like any other.

Altered is very different, but they have the logistics totally figured out with Cartamundi. We have more videos covering it if you want to get a feel for more of the details! As of today it's the highest funded TCG of all time on Kickstarter, and with the highest backer count as well so there are certainly people as excited as I am :)

I felt bad about missing those! I had a pretty packed schedule and just never happened on them.

@@MaindeckGames I'm sure there will be other opportunities. :) both are about to release new sets too.

Lmfao first tcg, right?

@@MrWarmot Been playing TCG’s competitively since 2019. And over 20+ years, if you count kitchen table play. Your comment is dripping with ignorance, but I get it. It’s a Disney card game, so surely it has to suck, right? Or, at the very least, be a game for kids and non-TCG players. But Lorcana is a really fresh, elegantly designed game. Paired with a strong IP, the only bad thing I can say about the game is it had a rough launch due to the scarcity of product. But those issues have since been alleviated-and the game itself is a ton of fun to play. If you haven’t tried it, I would definitely recommend giving it a go. If you’re being an asshole just to be an asshole though, I can’t help you there.

I was unable to find the time to visit their event space, unfortunately! But I've got Sorcery product in hand and will have it played and have opinions on it soon!

It's *pretty close* now, but still a couple months behind, unfortunately!

You actually do have to build your decks and register them for events through the app, which is just a streamlined version of the decklist system used in all TCGs. I would be more apprehensive if this weren't coming from a company built by an already established and respected designer in the board game space. There will certainly be hurdles to overcome, but any progression always requires that. We'll absolutely have to wait and see if this is "the real deal" or if it doesn't pan out, but the innovations they are trying are what makes it so exciting.

@@MaindeckGames another worrisome aspect, is this idea of “unique” cards. Functionally unique cards that are not available to everyone are bad idea. The card is either OP and restricted to one player, or they are so toned down competitively that they aren’t quality play pieces. Players should have access to all play pieces, with special treatments for collectors.

Sounds like the game won't really be for you, and that's totally cool! The unique cards will absolutely be quality play pieces, and everyone will have their own that nobody else will have, but you will only be allowed a limited number of Unique cards in a deck. These will be algorithmically created, upgraded versions of cards at common and rare rarity, and the algorithm is being tuned to try to prevent any individual card from being too overpowered compared to the rest. Currently, the game has been tested with Uniques as 3/40 cards in your deck, so they are, on average, not likely to massively swing win ratios in your favor, and more emphasis will still be on archetype choices and good deck building. Because the uniques are upgraded versions of cards you can get at both common and rare rarity (rares being limited to 10 per deck as well), there will be a lot of deck building decision making in which 13 of the 40 cards in your deck you want to "bump up" to the higher rarities. And while every new opponent you face will likely have 3 cards you've never seen before, they are still going to be similar to the base card, so it's nothing entirely out of left field - they may just have a new ability tacked on or a different stat and cost distribution, etc. Still, it's exciting to see what unique cards other people have and to pull ones that only you own! This is really going to be a different beast of a TCG, and just like all of the games in this video, it will be very exciting for some people, and not as exciting for others. :)

@@MaindeckGames Seems a case of "For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not understand, no explanation will suffice." In your opening you listed Lorcanna as something that was not for you but that others will probably love. I have heard people rave about the art work on SW Unlimited and I think it is pedestrian at best while I love the Art Work of Altered. We all come to gaming and TCG's with biases and preferences. Rather than hating on something that is clearly not for them, just move on and do not buy in rather than listing all the things they see wrong with it. Many Magic players were and are hating on Lorcanna. My FLGS bought into it at a level they had never invested before and still had a wait list a mile long and limited people to one of each thing available for those who got in at the beginning to allow those who came to it later to get some. And still they ran out and have more people on the waiting list. There is something out there for everyone. I love that a company with a highly experienced captain at the helm is trying something out of the box and between two realties as it were. Succeed or fail they are trying. The irony of the market place is that people can use it to simply sell in person and actuate the trade for free on the app. No cut taken. They are getting a cut from the printer for cards printed as I understand it. And they have negotiated or are negotiating a fair price for cards. I suspect that to simplify things in tournaments you likely create a deck like you do in SolForge and that has a unique identifier which requires you to have both halves of the deck. Given this is qr code driven I could see building a deck with your owned cards and then registering that deck for a tournament and getting a unique qr code printed at the bottom of your printed deck list to use for that tournament and it is checked at the start of each match to ensure you own the rites to the cards and have the correct cards in your deck. Where others see problems and scammers I see creativity, ingenuity and possibilities. I have little faith in my fellow man but have a great deal of hope in humanity! We can look at the world as if everyone is against us or everyone is for us. Neither reality is true, but in one you are very very alone and fearful. I live cautiously but hopefully. Trust but verify for those old enough to have lived through the first Gul War. 🙂

Just my opinion, it's what you signed up for here!

@@MaindeckGames Opinions aren't exempt from feedback, and the substantiation provided for yours implies that you were not playing Lorcana at a competent level, which is especially rich given the patronizing tone with which you described the game. Didn't sign up for anything because I didn't subscribe, your channel came up when I searched for Altered, and I won't be signing up any time soon!

@@user-qo2bk4qb6v All good, have a good one!

I appreciate the added info! Regional metas do tend to develop differently - but still there's something less exciting to me personally about a game with delayed localized releases. I think a few small changes to the mechanics would have made me more excited - such as leader cards having different unique abilities to build around in each craft. Does the game happen to go that route at any point down the line?

Yup.

Why?

Agreed

Yeah fully unique cards didn't work for Keyforge and I'm pretty positive it's not gonna work here.

That’s not what Keyforge did.