Making my own TCG
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Posted on March 18, 2025, 2:13 p.m. by StarRushford
https://tinyurl.com/AscendantsTCG
I'm looking for feedback on this. I don't want this to be a magic clone. I want to make sure the rules are clear and it's not a MTG clone.
Basic Overview:
Cards are 30 cards, with 3 heroes, and 5 copies of each card max.
There are 5 types of card - Minions (Creatures), Spells (Fast = Instant, Slow = Sorcery), Item (Equipments), Buildings (attackable Artifacts or smth), and Heroes (Legendaries)
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Each player starts with their 3 Heroes in play (which once they die, you lose), 5 cards, and 5 Gold.
Round Cycle:
Start Phase: Each player draws a card, gets Gold (for playing Units), and gets Mana (for abilities/casting Spells.)
Spell Phase: Each player takes turns playing cards, in turn order. Once there is a cycle of no casting, phase ends.
Combat Phase: Each player attacks in order from slowest to fastest, then declared blockers in same order. Combat damage is dealt (striking) simultaneously.
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Winning: All other players have lost. An effect makes you win.
Losing: You concede. Your resources go negative. All your heroes are killed. An effect makes you lose. A player has won.
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Items, Minions, Heroes, and Buildings stay on the board after play.
Spells go on the bottom of the deck after play.
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Thanks!
StarRushford says... #4
Basic Overview:
Cards are 30 cards, with 3 heroes, and 5 copies of each card max.
There are 5 types of card - Minions (Creatures), Spells (Fast = Instant, Slow = Sorcery), Item (Equipments), Buildings (attackable Artifacts or smth), and Heroes (Legendaries)
_
Each player starts with their 3 Heroes in play, 5 cards, and 5 Gold.
Round Cycle:
Start Phase: Each player draws a card, gets Gold, and gets Mana.
Spell Phase: Each player takes turns playing cards, in turn order. Once there is a cycle of no casting, phase ends.
Combat Phase: Each player attacks in order from slowest to fastest, then declared blockers in same order. Combat damage is dealt (striking) simultaneously.
_
Winning: All other players have lost. An effect makes you win.
Losing: You concede. Your resources go negative. All your heroes are killed. An effect makes you lose. A player has won.
_
Items, Minions, Heroes, and Buildings stay on the board after play.
Spells go on the bottom of the deck after play.
March 19, 2025 6:30 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
Initial thoughts:
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both having 30 card decks and allowing a max of 5 copies of a card are going to lead to matchups playing out almost identically a lot of the time, and quickly lead to the game feeling stale/solved/boring. The best games, imo, are ones that maximise player agency/skill while also maximising variance in gameplay.
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you’re saying you want this to be a game distinctly different from Mtg, but a lot of what you’re describing feels very similar to how mtg plays, just with a slightly different turn structure.
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you haven’t listed how combat happens… having this very different from mtg combat would be the easiest way to make it feel distinct imo.
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you haven’t detailed what gold and mana are for, and why we’re tracking these two different resources.
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it’s probably worth detailing building more, as so far these appear to be the only feature unique from mtg you’ve mentioned.
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what is the purpose of heroes? Can they be attacked? Can they attack? What’s their purpose?
March 19, 2025 6:56 p.m. Edited.
Goldberserkerdragon says... #6
Every card game will be a copy of MTG. They all are simply by existing as a TCG.
Good ideas though! Expand on them, (or shrink them) and keep working. Maybe "creatures" can be objects... "Oh wow look at this awesome 1st Place Trophy I pulled!" or "Oh what a rare card--the Time Machine." Etc. I have designed my own card game(s) before, all to no avail (lack of further pursuing) as MTG does it all. I tried using the amount of cards in hand as the amount of resource or "Crystal energy" you can use to "draw energy" from the main card type, artifacts (an artifact as in what you find in the ground). I think I used a rule of 50 cards and 3 copies of a card or something...
But, nevertheless, don't let it stop you! Go wild and think outside the box. Who knows, we may all end up playing this game you create.
March 19, 2025 7:46 p.m.
Sliverguy420 says... #7
Goldberserkerdragon as someone who has at least tried several card games, i can assure you they are different enough to not be "copies".
March 19, 2025 8:21 p.m.
wallisface says... #8
I would also second that there are a BUNCH of card games out there that play nothing like mtg. Generally if a tcg resembles mtg at all it’s a slight if laziness on the developer. I’ve created a few card games myself, and none of them have any semblance to existing tcgs.
The only commonality tcg games tend to have is players having decks, and there being a “draw a card” phase at some point during each players turn.
March 19, 2025 8:52 p.m.
wallisface says... #9
My suggestion would be to start by focusing on what elements of your game you want to be the main-drawcards to your game - i.e. what aspects/interactions of the game will be entirely unique (for mtg, its the stack & their combat phase).
Once you have your unique aspects defined, you want to make sure those parts of the game play as-fun as possible - they’re going to be the things that draw people to your game over somebody else's. You also probably want to ensure the other aspects of the game that fall outside of this umbrella do things that tie-in or directly-interact with your unique aspects in a way that feels natural and fun.
A good approach is to think of an “elevator pitch” - that is, if you had only 2 sentences to describe your game, what description are you giving that differentiates over the other 100s of card games out there? Once you know your elevator-pitch, it becomes a lot easier to build/design your game around something coherent, fun, and unique.
legendofa says... #2
Could you please give a quick summary of the rules, and maybe how they differ from M:tG?
March 19, 2025 5:35 p.m.