Living or Trading? (The Debate)
If you’re as knowledgeable with the card game community as I am, then odds are you’ve heard of this new format popping up known as a Living Card Game. In short, these games work in expansion sets where you get all the cards of each set in one buy rather then trading and buying pack after pack. The strategy remains the same in each game, but it takes away that whole idea of “the player with the most money automatically wins”. But then the question becomes, which format is the true card gaming format?
For years now, from the early days of Magic to the random anime based games we see popping up, players have loved the thrill of opening up pack after pack to see what their treasures are. The simple rush of getting that one chase card that no one else can pull, but what really makes it worthwhile is that the random pack style produces an economy of sorts. One card is suddenly worth more than another and people are willing to pay big bucks for that one game breaking rare card. It becomes its own stock market and people begin to make money off of the game itself. Whether its right or wrong is another question, but because the cards become suddenly randomized in packs, the game has become more than just that.
Recently however, the new format known as the Living Card Game (LCG for short) has been becoming more and more popular. The format itself started (I believe) with Fantasy Flight Games and their whole line of games of the LCG format. The key to this though, is that it keeps from players overspending on cards and creating the economy that is listed above. The expansions ensure that each player is automatically on the same level and ensures that the best players truly win the tournaments rather than people who spend money on the big cards. However, the player base itself is actually a bit small due to the fact that players are attracted to that thrill they get from the whole randomized packs, plus they love the hunt of looking for those special chase cards.
Whether or not the LCG format will truly take off big with a Magic level game is tough to say. However I believe the reason Magic has gotten so popular is because of the willingness for people to chase cards like they still do today. If Magic had shipped all their cards in one box for each set, honestly I don’t think it would’ve survived past the first few sets. The game would’ve got boring with everything handed to them and every deck would be the same. The TCG format that we have today is something special that has created the community that we love today with its competitive nature towards getting that Black Lotus.
