So, to little fanfare, a new tcg was released 2(ish) weeks ago. Given that it looked like a mahou shoujo duel masters, it seemed worth a shot. I bought the two starter decks, and played a few games, and figured I'd give my impressions to anyone on the fence about this game. Hopefully at least a few other people have tried it, and can share their opinions as well.
Caster Chronicles
Jonathan Adams
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Hudson Edwards
Anyway. The decks come with 50 cards and a 'coin', which, like in Hearthstone, is a one-shot energy source given to the player that plays second (a free lotus petal, for those that play mtg). Three of the cards are foil, and all there really is to say is that there's some nice texturing on the clothing, and once again, like literally every other modern tcg, they are much nicer than mtg's foils.
Ryan Cook
These are one of the decks 'Casters'. They basically function as lands, in that they tap for the mana you need to cast spells. Similar to duel masters, you can place any card in your hand face-down as a land, but in this case it only produces colourless 'mana' (I've already forgotten the term they use for mana, but, again, same thing). Casters also have an ability, usually a tap ability, which can draw cards, boost stats, etc.
I actually think this is a pretty good implementation of a Duel Masters-ish mana system, in that it keeps specific 'land' cards, but makes it much more difficult to get screwed. I will say that in the games I've played, it feels like the starters give you too many casters, especially given the card flow going on in this game - mulligans are extremely generous, many caster abilities draw cards, and like in Duel Masters, breaking shields (orbs) sends those cards to the owner's hand, and in this game, there are 7 orbs to start with.
Noah Moore
Also, apologies for the glare on some of these pictures.
These are the servants and conjures (creatures and spells). The art is pretty basic, which keeps focus on the casters, which is a nice touch. Still on the boring side, though.
Nolan Evans
Now for the game play itself: I haven't played Duel Masters in a long time, but the overall game here strikes me as being very similar, with a small twist. You can place monsters in recovered or reverse mode (attack or defense). Attack mode can attack other monsters, or directly if the opponent has no cards in defense.
Personally, it feels like this leans into the flaws of mtg's system too much, in that the range of mana costs is heavily, heavily slanted towards low-costed cards. Given the card flow mentioned above, this is exacerbated, as with more expensive cards, you tap out every turn just on mana, and can't really keep up card economy. Meanwhile, the player with the cheaper threats can just run you over with card advantage, and can just snipe your one or two defenders to push through tons of damage. Despite the defense mode mechanic, being on the back foot feels really punishing. For mtg players out there, just try and wrap your head around what games would look like if all your lands had abilities like:
Tap: add B to your mana pool.
Tap: Draw a card if you dealt damage this turn.
Also, for magic players, think about what a stack of lands looks like in a given game, and now imagine each land had abilities you really wanted to keep track of. It's messy, to say the least.
Ultimately, this strikes me as much like FoW (same guys, so perhaps not surprising) in that it doesn't feel like a game created for its own sake so much as a game created to fix percieved problems in other games (mana screw, defense is mostly pointless in yugioh, as seen by links giving up the stat entirely). Even with the mechanical tweaks, it ultimately feels too much like a tap mana - play guys game, which means much like FoW, it will only really appeal to those frustrated with mtg, or who really like the weeb aesthetic (which to be fair the game does a good job capturing). Coupled with the extremely spotty playerbase, I can't really see myself going any farther with this game.
Elijah Fisher
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Ethan Price
Ded thread for a ded game.
Anthony Rivera
>one-shot energy source given to the player that plays second (a free lotus petal, for those that play mtg).
Why do they have to pander to baby players?
Evan Martin
because without pandering theyre gonna die with all the other japanese tcgs
James Diaz
>game created to fix percieved problems in other games (mana screw,
Actually mana screw is a symptom of poor deck construction.
>frustrated with mtg, or who really like the weeb aesthetic
So, you admit is a game for scrubs. Interesting.
Either way, the weeb aesthetic is only for pimping out your deck.