Trading card games have been around for a while. The oldest one still being played today is Magic: The Gathering, born 30years ago in 1993. Collecting and playing cards definitely is a time-consuming (and money-consuming !) hobby. But how does it work ?

What are TCGs (Trading Card Games)?

A trading card game is a set of cards that can be both collected and traded as well as being played during events, tournaments or simply at home with some friends. I would argue the two most famous ones are Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh which you certainly heard of thanks to their extensive pop culture presence. They had anime when they got out in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Later on, they gained additional highlight with the development of memes: in particular, Shocked Pikachu comes to mind.

Image: Shocked Pikachu meme

The game most people forget when thinking about TCGs is the oldest one still being played today: Magic: the Gathering. It was created in 1993, 3years before Pokemon (which already existed as a Game Boy video game) and 6years before Yu-Gi-Oh. Baseball cards had been around for a while at that time with some cards valued in millions of dollars but it had become much more a collecting hobby rather than a game to play with friends. TCGs also differentiate from baseball cards as they introduce some fantasy universe with a specific lore, thus appealing to a different audience.

Now, before I get into any details about how much I love the game, i’d like to offer two disclaimers. First one is: I don’t have any stakes in any TCG company as I’m writing these lines. I am not trying to advertise them, simply sharing my experience. Second and most importantly: if you want to get into the game, you should know it can become expensive quickly. Thankfully, it is still accessible to newcomers but keep in mind it can get out of hand pretty fast (believe me – sigh).

As I’m more familiar with Magic than any other TCG, I’ll refer to Magic for the rest of this article.

How does it work ?

There are three aspects to Trading Card Games: collecting, deck building and playing.

Collecting

Similar to non-playable collectibles (like comic books or stamps), one can collect Magic cards in binders and boxes just for the sake of collecting it. There is a rewarding feeling to “complete” a given set of cards. Now, to give you some additional context, Magic now has more than 22,000 unique cards with some of them having dozens of different printings. This means some cards have been printed several times and in different artworks. That makes the task to collect them all nearly impossible – c’est la vie ! However, some narrower collecting objectives are more achievable, such as collecting every card printed the first year Magic was released (it would be very costly though).

Keep in mind that new products are released every month, generally available at Local Game Stores (LGSs) which also host events and sell other TCGs and board games. These new products introduce new cards to the game as well as reprinting some of the existing cards.

Deck building

You’ve just bought your first Magic product and want to play the game, aside from collecting. That’s great ! Now you need to build a deck. A deck is a pack of selected cards which generally have a specific synergy. As a straightforward example, you could build a Goblin deck where most of your creatures are Goblins and will benefit from having other Goblins around.

Image: Goblin Rabblemaster

Now the richness of Magic comes from two aspects: formats and archetypes.

Formats

As a 30-year-old game, Magic can be played in different ways. Think of it as having several games in one game. The foundations are still the same (you’re using Magic cards and a deck) but some rules and conditions vary. The reason for that is that not every Magic player wants to play the same game, even though they all love playing Magic.

Going back to you, you will probably want to avoid formats which include the oldest (and most expensive !) Magic cards as the entry barrier would be too steep. Instead, you could start by playing a format more accessible to new players, like Standard or Commander. Standard is basically restricting cards older than ~2-3years so you have a limited pool of cards to choose from, making it more affordable and limiting the possibilities and archetypes you’ll play against (we’ll get to that in a minute). Commander however is allowing a very wide pool of cards in 4-players game. But some pre-constructed beginner-friendly decks are released very often so it’s a good place to start. Also note it’s been the most popular format for a few years – it’s the only format I’m playing right now.

Archetypes

You’ve picked a format and know the pool of cards you have access to. Great ! Now you will gradually discover the different archetypes when playing with other players. Archetypes are typical ways to win. Say you want to climb on top of a mountain, how would you do it ? You could..

• pack a bag and climb on foot
• find a car and drive it on top
• get dropped by a helicopter on its summit
• dig a tunnel that goes up vertically (may not be the most efficient way, uh ?)
• etc, etc

These are your archetypes. In the end, the goal is the same: to win the game. But the way you get there varies in efficiency, style, cost and personal preference. I mentioned Goblins before as it’s a straightforward archetypes. To go back to my previous analogy, the goblin equivalent of climbing a mountain would be to have a team of sprinters rushing to the top: if some of them fall, it doesn’t matter. As long as one of them makes it on top and plants your flag, you win.

Playing

You’ve built your deck and now’s the time to play it with other players. Magic is mostly played either in Local Game Stores or at home with friends. Easiest way to start is to go to your nearest LGS and ask them which event to start with. It’s probable they’ll be kind enough to play with you and guide you through your first few games (it’s a very cool environment to discover, you’ll see). Once you get a good feeling on how to play, you could start hosting events at home with the friends you made while playing. That is what I do nowadays and I always look forward to these game nights.

Alternatively, you could download Magic Arena to learn the basics of the game on your own. It is honestly a great way to learn the mechanics of the game as it is free and the tutorial is very well built. A word of caution though: Magic Arena can get pay-to-win really fast and I personally dislike the economy in the game. So I would advise to learn the basics there and go to your LGS as soon as you feel confortable.

An iterative process

Collecting, deck building and playing are not fully independent activities. As you can imagine, one leads to the other constantly.

Picture this: you just finished playing an awesome event at your LGS and players are now going through their binders of cards to trade. You make a few trades (sometimes, exchanging money when there’s a value discrepancy between cards) and head back home. Now you’ve got new cards to add to your deck, awesome ! Next week you go back and play with this “upgraded” deck. It does synergizes better indeed, that’s cool. You then buy cards from the new extension that just released and now have new cards to put into your deck so that’s what you do. Et ainsi de suite, I think you see where I’m getting.

Congratulations, you’ve discovered and learnt to play the hardest game in the world.

Welcome to the community 🎉