It IS one of the most popular, according to sales numbers.

That makes me sad, because I could probably name 5 better collectible games off the top of my head.

And a dozen better games that aren't collectible.

collectible (random ones) games are dead - theres magic and the also rans

Which ones are better? I'll try and play them all, because I'd love to compare.

Why do you say that? Non-Magic ones that get talked about the most seem popular and, if not thriving then at least steady. At least that's how it feels to me. Could be totally wrong.

Off the top of my head, as stated previously:
Collectible:
Magic: the Gathering (WotC)
Star Wars Customizable card game (Decipher)
Monsterpocalypse (Privateer Press)
Legend of the Five Rings (AEG) [just got acquired by Fantasy Flight, who will be re-releasing it in their "living card game" format in 2017.]
HeroClix

non-collectible:
Mage Wars (Arcane Wonders)
X-Wing (FFG)
Star Wars Armada (FFG)
Battlestar Galactica (FFG)
Eldritch Horror (FFG)
Chaos in the Old World (FFG)
Cthulhu Wars (Petersen Games)
Nightfall (AEG)
Vs. System (Upper Deck)
Small World (Days of Wonder)
War of the Ring (Ares Games)
Spartacus (Gale Force 9)
A Game of Thrones boardgame (FFG)


-I'm defining "collectible" as something with random packs. Games like Mage Wars and X-Wing are what I would call "expandable" in that their design model is based on having a large number of expansions, but you just buy the product you want without having to chase down specific figures/cards like you do in random distribution models.

-"better" is highly subjective, of course. In this case, "better" can be read as "games that Tyler would rather play."

-I did include a number of games that are no longer being actively released, but no one stated that "currently active" was a necessary criteria.

Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Dicemasters all still have massive market shares.
L5R getting discontinued as a ccg to be reborn as a non-collectible version is probably the biggest recent news in favor of jwb's statement (and is part of an overall decline in the ccg market relative to other games), but his argument overlooks the sales numbers of a couple other juggernauts in the industry as I mentioned above.

I don't know anything about these three games, but they all sound interesting, the Star Wars one mostly so. Is it played with nothing but cards, like Magic, or are there other elements to it? And how expanded of a universe does it support? If I want to be Revan, can I be Revan? Or are we just talking Original Trilogy stuff?

This clears up some confusion I was having beforehand, and makes great sense. I personally like the collectability aspect of games that we play, but it does stand to reason that there are a lot of people who are only interested in expandable games, and vice-versa. Something being expandable as opposed to collectible could be seen as less of a cash grab. But I love opening boosters. When you wake up at a time when you're normally getting to bed, in order to attend a Black Friday sale, pulling Doctor Spectrum is worth it.

I didn't realize that DM is as big as you've said it is, but it's crazy going into a store and seeing those packs of Pokemon cards that come with enough stuff to make a deck and have the popular holographic card showing and you're like "Who the #### is that!? When did Pyroar become a thing and why is his name so ####ing cool!?

But here is my uncharacteristically not-so-long-winded appeal for Dice Masters: it's Magic with an added element of dicerolling and the same source material as HeroClix.

That one's an older game that's been out of print for a while. I know the stuff I had for it was all original trilogy, but I think they had stuff from the prequel movies, too. I think the only EU material that was included was from Shadows of the Empire. It was all cards. You would play location cards in the middle of the table that would serve as a sot of "board" that characters could move between, but they also generated force points, which was the resource of the game. There were lightside and darkside versions of most locations, giving different advantages. The object was to deplete your opponent's deck through battles, force drains, and other effects.

And that's what I don't like about it--it's the parts of Magic I don't like combined with dice and a tacked-on superhero theme that doesn't really fit the mechanics.

I liked Quarriors, which was the game dicemasters was primarily based on, but that one wasn't collectible and had better rules in a few ways, especially the simpler resource system. It also didn't have the balance issues that dicemaster has, partially because of the shared pool of dice that everyone drafts from.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering where I'm getting my information on sales, it's primarily from icv2, which makes a strong case against collectible games being dead.

http://icv2.com/articles/markets/vie...bs-880-million

Hey hey hey.....take it to the board game thread!!!

We don't need substance in here.

I honestly can't believe that Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh aare still big!

My bad!

I was actually thinking of the VS games coming back as a LCG.

So Imperial Assault is faster and more intense?

Thank you, Pizza10. We will all run out and buy Dice Arcana.

I loved Monpoc. is it officially dead?

I heard PP got the rights tied up in some kind of deal for a movie that was never made.