u/pyromonkeygg

Every TCG needs a way to win/lose, but HOW you win completely changes what the game feels like. I analyzed Magic, Pokemon, Vanguard, Digimon, Riftbound, and Marvel Snap to see which health systems work best.

Quick findings if you dont want to watch the video:

• Magic (Life Totals): Simple, proven, "life as resource" is nice... but boring. It's serviceable but not exciting.
• Pokemon (Prize Cards): Creative since they were among the first to do 'card as life points' but flawed. You lose 6 random cards at start, AND the winner gets rewarded (snowball effect). Not a fan.
• Vanguard (Damage Zone): Damage = mana system. Taking damage becomes strategic resource generation. Actually pretty clever.
• Digimon (Security Stack): Attacking tension (revealed digimon can fight back), but other cards just get discarded. Feels wasteful and a bit too swingy.
• Riftbound (Points): Race to 8 points through battlefield control. Works great for free-for-all. Can't be used as resource though (at least no yet).
• Marvel Snap (Location Control): Try to have the biggest power in 2 locations after 6 turns. Simple, but the entire game was built around this.

My take: Best systems make LOSING feel like you get something back, and you can make the choice to allow damage through for value. Worst systems double punish you for losing.

Full breakdown with examples: https://youtu.be/zOqnA132rHs

What's your favorite health/win system? Did I miss any interesting ones? I'd love to hear which type you are using in your games.

... And honestly? i had a blast. I wasn't sure I would be into the game but it was really fun. Prepped by binge-watching tutorial videos beforehand. Thankfully my MTG background helped me pick up the basics pretty quick, but I still made plenty of rookie mistakes across all 3 rounds.

The community was awesome. Super welcoming, and the judge was patient with my constant questions.

Speaking of rookie mistakes... did you know you aren't locked into your Legend's colors like a Magic commander. You can splash whatever you want up to 3 rune colors and as long as they dont have a power requirement, you can play any card. 🤦‍♂️

I ran Vi as my legend from the preconstructed pack which seemed like it had a sick ability... that I triggered maybe twice the entire night. Still, when it did go off, it felt dope. I leaned hard into Assault synergies. Attacking, resetting units, attacking again, ganking.

I made a YT video on the experience,

Round 3 I got paired against the only undefeated player. Who happened to be a judge. Playing a busted Master Yi XP deck.

Got absolutely destroyed. It was like getting a preview of what constructed Riftbound looks like and let me tell you, I was NOT prepared for that.

Made a video breaking down the event and what happened in Round 3 because that Master Yi deck taught me something about Riftbound I wasn't expecting.

Any other noobs go to pre-rift? How'd it go?

... And I had a great time! I watched a few how to play videos and other content to get ready. I played magic for a long time so it was easy to pick up in a general sense but I definitely still learned a lot over 3 rounds.

Everyone was really nice, we had a judge that answered a lot of questions I had.

I made a bunch of mistakes, including during deck building. I had no idea you could play cards outside of your legends colors 😂

I played Vi, and while the champion I got was great I didn't get to trigger the legend much. I think twice all night. Seems really powerful though when you can trigger it. I leaned heavily into assault and trying to reset my units to attack repeatedly with ganking/going back to base and it felt pretty good.

I played against a Leblanc round 1 which I won, then against Ivern round 2 (we went to time and got a draw).

Going into round 3 I was 1-0-1 and feeling pretty good for a first timer.

But then the fire nation attacked ..

I got paired into the only undefeated guy, who was also a judge. He was playing a Master Yi XP deck and I got crushed. I haven't played constructed yet but it felt like I got a taste of it here lol.

How did your prerelease go? Did you see many new players?

If you are interested, I talk all things TCGs on my youtube channel. reviews, business, design, etc.

I've been thinking about why so many well-designed games die within their first year, and I think it comes down to not solving these four massive problems at once.

1. Create compelling core mechanics

2. Create compelling IP/world/characters

3. Build an audience

4. Create sustainable monetization

When you're an indie studio or solo designer, you probably have the bandwidth to solve 1-3 of these really well. Trying to solve all 4 simultaneously means you solve none of them well.

I made a video breaking this down from a card game studio perspective, but really just want to hear how other people are thinking about approaching making new studios these days and to kind of get all of my own thoughts and experiences in order and out into the world.

Case study: Why Legends of Runeterra failed

LoR had brilliant game design at least in my opinion. The stack/spell resolution, the region restrictions, the champion level-ups, some mana floating over. It was deep but accessible.

It also had Riot's massive League of Legends IP behind it (problem #2 solved).

It STILL failed.

I think they botched #4 (monetization). Made the game too generous. Players could complete collections without spending. Revenue couldn't justify development costs.

If I were designing a card game from scratch (I co-founded BlankMediaGames, we hit 20M+ online players and 10s of thousands of printed card games), here's how I'd prioritize.

License something if you can with a built in base. Not a big IP, but something small-mid tier. Like... maybe take another popular indie IP and bring it into a new genre? With that you get:

- Instant emotional investment (players already care about these characters which helps with #2)

- Built-in marketing (the IP holder has distribution channels which helps with #3)

- Design focus (you're not splitting attention between mechanics AND worldbuilding so you can solve #1 better)

Even Magic is doing this (I hate it but still).

Build Community Early

Don't wait until launch, heck dont even wait until you have a game really. Build your audience 6-12 months before the game exists and build the game you see a need for.

- Share your design process, figure out if your idea has legs before starting in-depth design or 1 line of code

Plan Monetization CAREFULLY

What does this mean in practical terms? It's different genre to genre. Some genres expect free with DLCs/Micros. For those you need to kind of work background from an LTV that you are happy with and see what you need to offer to reach that. Other genres theres an average box price. Don't try to undercut that average too much!

Do you think licensed IP is "cheating" from a design perspective?

I co-founded BlankMediaGames (made Town of Salem + others), making both digital and physical games. After selling BMG in 2024, I was the design director for RimWorld: Odyssey.

I am making a personal YouTube channel reviewing game design (mostly card games), creating and growing games companies, and doing reviews about emerging games.

My question to my fellow designers is this: would you find this useful? What topics would you like me to deep dive into?

Happy to chat about design or game development here too.