Kergy’s Korner #20: A Resourceful Game (or Card Resurrection)


At Origins, I asked Mike Hummel and Danny Mandel about the resource row - I mentioned an idea that I had thrown around to Dave ‘En-Kur’ Spears and a few of his crew regarding characters as resources. Granted, there are a couple of cards that can get them back (combo-ing Jean Grey and Avalon Space Station, eg) - but they're essentially dead cards.

My idea was to be able to flip them as power-ups. Most people agreed that this would be a really cool mechanic; imagine the surprise on your opponents’ face when you flip that character to give you a +1/+1 pump! And with DC, there are plenty of opportunities to make this kind of mechanic even more useful…

Danny and Mike, however, mentioned that something like this was considered, but shot down. The design team felt that it would be too confusing – especially for new players – to have characters in the resource row. (They did reveal, however, that the Spidey set will have a character who INTERACTS with the resource row. Think about that for a moment, then think of the millions of zany possibilities that a character like that has…)

I agreed with their point, which led me to start thinking about the game’s mechanics, particularly regarding the resource row and ‘dead’ cards.

(continued...)

The Resource Row
One of the reasons that CCG players find the VS system so attractive, and are slowly converting (read: defecting) to it, is that VS eliminates the pesky resource system that has plagued most CCGs. Granted, there are games like Vampire that use a pool point allocation system (ie: you have a pool of points you can use to play cards) , and games like Wildstorms that use a base point allocation system (you have 10 points per turn to use to recruit) – but there are too many games out there where you have to rely on some sort of inherent mechanic (a resource, for the sake of argument) within the game that allows you to recruit your cards. And when you need some sort of resource to be able to recruit cards onto the playing field, you’re bound to run into problems when you a) don’t draw any resources, or b) draw only the wrong kind of resources. It also limits your deck building strategies, because you have to decide which kinds of cards you will be able to play - CCG resources almost always have restrictions on the cards they can recruit.

The VS system uses a brilliant system for resources – to be able to use ANY card as a resource, and to have no resource restrictions, means that no matter WHAT you draw, you will ALWAYS hit your resource curve. Drawing 2 cards per turn also guarantees that you won’t be stuck without a hand – unless you’re the victim of an effect that rids you of it.

But you already know all of this. What I really want to examine is the idea of ‘dead cards’ in your resource row, in your hand, and in your deck.

‘Dead’ Cards
First off, you should never have any dead cards in your deck. If you want your deck to be successful, you need to test, test, test. As you keep testing, you will notice certain patterns:

1) If you constantly have to use characters as resources, you’re running too many characters. Same thing goes for equipment. Granted, certain decks will have strategies regarding character swarms and others will use cards like Underground Sentinel Base and will WANT characters as resources. But more often than not, using characters and equipment as resources is a weakness. Every one of those resources could be a location or plot twist that can help to augment your deck’s performance. You simply should not be wasting resource space on characters. So while you test, think of what you really could have used during those games - an attack boost, a defensive salve, a counter, a way to get rid of that pesky location or ongoing plot twist that did you in, or one of your own with that one ability that could have saved you. Now you know what to add to your deck to replace those excess character and equipment cards you never seem to be able to recruit except as resources.

2) If you repeatedly have a handful of non-character cards, or never hit the curve, the same situation applies. Either you have to re-balance your curve to adjust for the drops you keep missing, or sacrifice some of those excess plot twist, location and/or equipment cards. Decks should be balanced, with approximately 50% of your cards on the character side. I would not recommend more than 35 characters in a constructed deck – I don’t usually have more than 32. Limited can afford a few excess characters, as you never know what you’re going to get – and sometimes the good non-character cards just aren’t coming. I would not recommend more than 21 in a Limited deck, however – and I rarely use more than 18. There are always rare exceptions, but think of this as a general rule.

3) The same testing principle for resources also goes for dead cards in hand – what do you keep holding onto and never use? What cards do you have in your hand that you can never seem to put onto the table? Dump it for something you CAN use instead. Aside for an occasional 8-drop, I can’t see the point in hoarding a card that never hits the playing field. Sometimes, people’s reading of the metagame or intense paranoia against one kind of deck calls for a massive dose of protection. I don’t think that this is the right way to go. Sure, if you think you’ll run into a lot of Sentinel decks, it isn’t an absolute waste of time to pop one Flame Trap into your deck – maybe even two. Same goes for Have A Blast!, if Big Brotherhood or The New Brotherhood are the dominant styles where you play. But popping in 4 of every counter card will not help you win unless your entire deck is built as a counter deck. Right now there are not enough counter cards and characters to be able to BUILD a working counter deck, so to stockpile dozens of cards you may never use is not a worthwhile endeavour. It is easier to build a deck with an overall theme (swarm, control, beatdown, etc.) than to try and prepare yourself for everything. Remember that the best defense Is a good offense – if you don’t have enough power, balance and synergy in your deck to somehow win the game, all of the counters in the world won’t save you.

There is one alternative view: pitch cards. If you have a deck built around characters, locations and/or plot twists that require pitch cards, then your ‘dead’ cards still have a function. You can get away with having those excess cards if you are constantly discarding to draw, discarding to play your Have A Blast! or Fast Getaway, pitching for Osborne Industries or Avalon Space Station, pitching for characters like Spider-Man or Dazzler, etc. A card is only ‘dead’ if you can’t use it, after all. But remember that even in this kind of deck, it is better to dump one useful card to serve another, than to be forced to dump a useless card.

The bottom line is that you don’t want to have a deck filled with useless, dead cards. I will concur that it is almost impossible to build a deck where every card can always be used in any situation. It is possible but highly unlikely – especially with such a small card base. However, all of my decks make quick use of the occasional dead card, and never give me a hand that I can’t at least pitch or replace - and rarely dish up characters for the resource row. Simply keep your cards in mind as you test and play. If you lose because you’re stuck with cards you can’t use – among resources or in-hand – then it’s time to find a way to use them, or to replace them with cards that will help you. Dead cards = dead game.

NEXT WEEK: To Drop Or Not To Drop and other assorted ramblings

First of all I would like to say great article, but I have to disagree with you on that VS has improved on the resource curve. Many a time I find myself sacrificing a dead card that would have came of use later in the game. I just don't think it's strictly better.

Well, if this is the case, then you should re-examine your deck and see why all of these cards are sacrificed every game.

Are the characters, equipment, locations or plot twists? Are you using too many high-cost cards? Just because the game is balanced, doesn't mean that everyone's decks are =)

Which doesn't mean you're wrong - but before blaming the game for your troubles, perhaps focus the energy on seeing whether or not there's a problem within the decks first =)

Well.. this IS a card game. Sometimes you just get a bad hand =).

I dont normally post here, but this was a great article. Thanks for all the info!

I really like the article, and I may playtest the powering up from the resource row with a few friends. I do agree though about the resource system being better than those of games past *cough*Magic*cough* where you can be stuck with the wrong resource at the wrong time or not having one at all.

hmm a charachter that can interact with the resource row? sounds interesting, maybe it is a sentinel card, kinda like a self- sustaining USB, maybe the secret mark III?

oh yeah good article, sorry i just love any type of info and teasers. but i totally agree with this having one of the best resource mechanics of any CCG, although i really like how raw deal handled it too.

Thanks for the article - one of the first things I thought of when learning this game was, "there should be some way to utilize characters in the resource row." I do see the point, that it would be confusing.

On the other hand, I disagree with a lot of what Kerg said. It seems popular to dump on Magic, and I don't play it as much as I used to, but I still have yet to see a game system that betters it, including VS.

I find the VS resource system overly simplistic, and it leads to predictable games. On turn 5, everyone always has the same five resources (in terms of recruiting power) available. I find that a bit boring.

In many games, including Magic, avoiding dead cards is part of deck construction and game play. Yes, you can get stuck with dead cards. But imagine if every land could be used to cast any spell...there would be no drawbacks to five-color decks, no way to focus card costs with multiples of a color in a casting cost (3RR, for example), and constructed decks would likely have reached an almost uniform level of homogenity by now. How bland!

In VS, optimizing your resources has been taken out of the players' hands by the game system. Some of the excitement has been stripped away - the tension of hoping for the resource that puts your deck over the edge, sets up your combo, or allows you to drop your big baddie. Instead, we seem to think there's some utopian ideal system in which every single card is insanely useful at any given time. Let's follow that to its absurd conclusion - 60 copies of a card which says, "Lay this card on the table: You win the game." Let's roll to see who goes first...

Now, I like VS a lot, and I realize some of the things I just complained about are addressed by teams and cards that require team combinations to work, but for now we're just focused on resource systems. I just wanted to voice my opinion that VS' handling of resources isn't necessarily the be-all end-all.

Ed

no i agree it is not the be all end all, but i find it much more suitable than magic, i think that kergy's use of comparing Vs to magic was becuase magic is the biggest game out there and is the most suited for a comparison. but just becuase magic did it first i do not feel it did it best, yes it works, but i like the fact that both players are on a level field most of the time, it then comes down to who can use their deck the best.

of course, as you said, i am not taking into account missing drops or whatnot, i am focusing on the resource mechanic. which i think is an impovement.

I haven't seen an article like this (go great and helpful) since one comprehensive hand Management guide a long time ago. To the pro players of past card games, this is a refresher, but a good one. It's one of these things you need to look back on, after long experience with a deck, this can help fine tune it.

Back in YGO, one of the reasons i hated it was the low deck card count and the repeated deck archtypes. One thing that was important was hand management, and this is a great example in versus for one.

Well structured games need well structured strategies, and comprehensive tactics that come almost second nature.

When it comes to testing decks, as mentioned in the article, test test test ith different ideas, and different deck tricks.

Thanks for everyone's kind words.

I'm not comparing this system to Magic's system - though Magic was the first, I can think of a dozen other, similar resource systems that have popped up over the years; from Battletech to my personal fav, On The Edge (which had a very interesting built-in resource system which allowed you to use characters - in addition to 'lands' - to recruit...) Magic was the first - and perhaps the most obvious - but certainly not the only 'resource' system out there.

I'm also not 'dumping' on Magic - I've been a Magic player since Beta, and it took Vs to finally knock the Magic player out of me. I have a very high level of respect for Richard Garfield and the WotC teams over the years - they put forth a game design that was revolutionary and will never be repeated - they were the FIRST and there will always be only one 'FIRST'.

But that doesn't mean that I have to adore the Magic archetypal resource system. I think that while Vs. does create a certain level of homogenity, this is more a result of balance and a small card pool than due to a mechanical flaw.

In six months, with a few more sets and keywords, you'll see the homogenity disappear. And the mana-screw and colour-screw that are inherent in that style of resource system will remain out of the limelight.

-Ben =)

Good article! I do see how having characters could be confusing in the resource row, especially to new players......however, for team-themed decks such as mine (I play a Doom/Fantastic Four/X-men deck), I have mulitples of many characters for powering up and for better odds, and sometimes I have to play one on my resource row, if not for the fact I have too many characters......I think powering up from the resource row is a great idea! This way, the game has another side of unpredictability, and it'll keep players wanting more......like me ;D

The game follows a predictable curve (1 drop 2 drop etc.) and more then likely we haven't come upon a turn when it's better to drop 2 - 2 drops then a 4 drop as the 4 drop usually has and advantage over 2 - 2 drops.. weenie decks have yet to really take hold on the game.. it's pretty much a "what is the best drop for my team on each turn" type of game we are dealing with.. once we get more choices for the drops and are able to build several play styles out of our favorites teams will the decks get more diverse.. until more sets come out you will feel the vanilla taste but that taste is already leaving vs players tastebuds= dc is out.. and to even add more flavor we'll be seeing spiderman and so on.. of course ude could make a mistake and make an extremely abusive deck-type.. but to say the least.. they have taken from and learned from the best out there.. they are able to tip-toe around mistakes that were made with past games and build on new ideas. so far the game is fun and all deck ideas are being explored and beat to a pulp and reworked, you can never not have fun playing your favorite super-hero and smashing face.. Who out there didn't run around in their batman, superman or spiderman under-roo's wishing they could fight crime and beat up some bad guys.. this game tickles the kids in us and has decent game play.. I am in no way saying it's better then any game out there i was a magic fiend for quite awhile but i am quite safisfied with the nice breath of fresh air that is the VS system.. The nice part about it is it's a new game and we can all start off learning and building the decks that could be played by kids for the next 5 years or who knows the decks we play now could be laughed at.. sorta like a dark ritual plague rat deck lol (oh i loved it when i didn't have to run only 4 of each card) "you actually used savage beatdown and paid how much for it?" i can almost hear them laughing now.. and who knows savage beatdown could be the black lotus of Vs that's the fun and excitement that comes with COLLECTING a collectible card game.. it's like stocks for kids or big kids like me lol.. to end this rant i would just like to say if you haven't played this game grab a starter and a friend try it out.. you'll be amazed.. and if you are playing this game.. more power to you.. but you should take it upon your self to pick up an extra starter and teach a friend how to play to keep the Vs community growing.. like one big happy CULT family lol i'm just kidding of course.. well kiddies until Batman gets a wedgie from unus or until Thing starts wearing more then just his batman under-roo's i'll be playing card games and having fun doing it

Has anyone noticed... that Kergy kid is pretty darn good.

:speechless:

And, this spy report from an outstanding small tournament yesterday in Pembroke Pines... the defection is nearly complete. The schedule says "Magic" on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the reality is... VS. Taking the world by Storm.

(No, I didn't play Xmen. I played the Primary/Vomit deck in my journal and won the whole thing, drawing all 60 cards twice.)