Elonian Nomad - 3rd Strike

I already mentioned the expandable card game “Blue Moon” in a previous post. Now that I’ve read the game rules, I can comment a bit more about the game.

FYI, the rules and complete card list can be found at the official homepage (downloadable rules can be found in the US distributor game page). Given that this is an expandable card game, the complete card, including expansions, is just around 300++ cards, around the same size of a typical Magic: The Gathering 1st block expansion release.

The art on the cards are quite beautiful, and very consistent. Each set/precon is illustrated by one artist, so the cards of a people/set have a consistent feel. World of Warcraft: The Card Game still has better art, though.

To simplify the rules, the game revolves around getting 3 (or more) dragons to your side. This is done through a series of “fights”, each fight being played by trying to trump the opposing player per turn. I think it’s similar to the playstyle of The President’s Game or Big Two Poker (to Filipinos, it’s similar to Pusoy Dos or “super trump”, if you remember that one). Each player takes turns playing cards trying to beat (or trump) the value of the opponent’s last turn. When a player can’t or doesn’t want to out trump the opponent, the fight is lost, and you get to take a dragon or two to your side.

Turns are basically played with Character Cards, with Support Cards and/or Booster cards for enhancement (sort of like Magic’s Sorceries). Booster cards modifiers for the current turn, while Support Cards are modifiers that last for the duration of the fight. The modifiers, and some of the Character Cards themselves, put versatility in the otherwise simple trumping system. There are also Leadership cards, but they seem fewer and generally has similar modification effects.

The rules do appear to be made specifically for a 1 vs 1 game. The text on the cards uses “I” for the current player, and “you” for the opponent. You quite literally read what the card says as if the current player is the one speaking. I’m not so sure that simply applying this to a multi-player game (which technically isn’t supported) will allow a balanced game.

Each precon has a certain flavor or style of play. For “advanced” rules, customized decks (mixing cards from other precons) are allowed. At first, I thought that the 10 moon (a sort of indicator of a card’s relative overall value) limitation would be restrictive, but the leader cards (which determine a deck construction’s limitations), also have similar limitations, so perhaps it’s OK.

Overall, it’s a sort of simplified (non) CCG. Not as overly complex as Magic and World of Warcraft can get, but perhaps that’s a strength. Or, you can consider it a complex playing card (poker) game. Since I haven’t actually played it yet, I could be missing out on something here and there. Some people may dig this, others may not. Perhaps it would work better for more casual players.

Regardless, check the materials out, and if you think you’ll like it, give it a try.

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Given my current interest in card games, I’ve been trying to find a good card game that isn’t a CCG (collectible card game) like Magic: The Gathering or World of Warcraft TCG. What interests me most about both games, aside from the game mechanics, is the deck-building part of the game. Deckbuilding is a sort of meta-game, and I seem to enjoy that phase a lot.

Unfortunately, both MtG and WoW TCG are somewhat prohibitive to me since keeping up with the meta-game evolutions and having good cards/decks (where the really interesting stuff are) costs quite a bit of money. Perhaps there is a card game out there where the deck-building meta-game is in use but it is not a CCG (hence, it has a relatively reasonable price for access to all strategic options).

I ran into “Blue Moon” as a result. Quite a few card games were mentioned, but Blue Moon was a consistent candidate. The game is 1 vs 1, and given that it’s been around for some years now, additional cards are available in several precon (pre-constructed) decks/sets. It is considered as an “expandable card game” since the new precon decks released after the first two effectively are releases of new card sets. There precons, however, are already complete sets in themselves. Ergo, when a new precon is available, if you buy the new precon, you get all the cards for the new set (the precon IS the complete set). No rares, no incomplete cards.

As for the deck-building, there are rules for mixing cards from other sets to create a custom deck. My scanning of the rules seem to indicate that you can’t just mix and match all cards, you’ll have to have a base set and then exchange some cards in the base set as limited by the rules. Perhaps this is a game balance technique. Since I don’t understand the rules yet, I cannot comment on how flexible or restrictive this is to deck-building.

Unfortunately, there are some caveats for me. Currently, the game only supports 1 vs 1. Also, I have a problem with players. The game is not easily available (unlike MtG and WoW TCG), and although I did find a store that sells the base set (which contains the Hoax and Vulca set/precon), I’m not sure there are any players around. Even if I don’t have to collect rare cards, complete sets of the game won’t matter if I can’t play them. And for now, I don’t have access to interested players.

Aside from the 1 vs 1 issue, the players issue is a locale problem. Places nearer to hobby shops that have the game might have a bit of a following for the game, so opponents might actually be feasible for you. Also, if you have friends who are willing to play, then good for you.

Given this issue, I decided to postpone purchase of the game until I can get access to players. In the meantime, I will be reading the rules and inspecting the cards. If I find the game so intriguing, I might just go ahead and get it already, and probably try to force someone to play against me in the process.

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