Cards in the collection will be used as your library to play on BGA against other people, which is an idea I really like! Also, there will be only 3 sets per year which is less agressive than most TCG.
If you are looking for deep compelling theme (I am not), check out the lore written for Altered- it is as extensive as any I have seen. The game play is well above average. What reeled me in is the digital ownership of cards, which makes the marketplace easy and fun. And being able to play with decks made from your collection on BGA (coming soon) is fantastic for someone who lives far from any game store.
"Robin Hood and Tinkerbell don't draw people in like Disney and Star Wars." On a surface level, very true. But people like myself that find lore and narrative compelling will dig into what Altered is doing with these mythical/historical figures as they exist alongside people in the "real world" of the game. The Maindeck channel did a nice lore series and pointed out some interesting interactions. The Lady of The Lake was a nice addition in particular.
The lore, obviously, and the archetypes. While each hero is differenteach faction has (for now at least) a basic direction in which the cards go : - Axiom wants to play with robots and factories (permanents) and make use of the reserve. - Bravos is aggro. Be it body advantage (budda) or counters, you want to be swift and take early victories to ease your endgame. - Lyra is chaos. You take advantage (in cards, body or stats) in return to playing with randomness (dices or the top of your deck). - Muna is permanence. Your cards want to stay on the board during night so that you use them for more turns, while they grow stronger. - Ordis is a flood. You want to overwhelm your opponent with cheer numbers : 1/1/1 tokens or sleepy bureaucrats will help you take the game right where you want it. - Yzmir is control. You play spells to counteract your opponent plays, and decide how the game goes. Please note that all cards (or heroes) are not representative of those descriptions, but you can still get a first look at each of those factions.
I still love Star Wars Unlimited, but this will find a home alongside it. This game has been crazy fun and will have digital support really early on Boardgame Arena.
@@Schlagathor78 I gave up on SWU because just like lorcana, they didn't produce enough cards in set 1 and I'm not going to try and play catch up with collectible games
If you're doing TCG reviews now, I really think you should take a look at Grand Archive. The next set is due out in a month, with any luck you could get your hands on the new starter decks and have a go at it. Its a good game that deserves more attention.
I think this is one of the better collectible card games out there. It's a unique win condition on top of some unique mechanics, like the reserve rules etc. I think it's really good
@@RvLeshrac I mean I agree. I'd prefer LCG format but as we see with MTG, Star wars unlimited, flesh and blood and a few other niche CCGs, people love the collectable nature of them and just opening blind but packs. I quit buying a single FFG LCG after I got into netrunner, Warhammer 40k conquest, Star wars LCG and AgoT 2nd edition and they were all cancelled so I have totally given up supporting their crap
Conquest and Android: Netrunner were cancelled due to IP disputes, but publishers can't indefinitely support a game, they need a sustainable profit margin. That's not crap, that's life.
Gee, I hope Asmodee never gets hit by a ransomware attack such that they can no longer support this game digitally............ ..........Like THAT would ever happen.
That one-color restriction and making rares so clearly better than commons just sounds apalling, and such a money grab. The incentive is to get people to buy so many dang packs, but in reality it just sounds like I would never buy anything but singles.
Zee - there is a hell of a lot of lore and background to the game. Its a shame that the starter rules don't really give you all that as the one sentence you describe isn't even correct.
I thought the comment about Altered feeling like a TCG designed by a designer who doesn't work in the TCG space was interesting. Because the game that Altered most reminded me of was Blue Moon (Legends) by Knizia. It has a similar tug of war vibe, competing back and forth across the different elements (2 in BM, 3 in Altered).
This review honestly feels a bit in bad faith at some points. Saying the IP and lore are weak and shallow because you only read a one sentence synopsis is a bit unfair. Saying the game doesn’t bring anything that sets it apart outside of uniques completely ignores the turn structure, how cards are played, and how the game is won being completely different from any other TCG out there. For finding the cards you need and looking at cost, I’ve seen a lot of people get from this review that it will be expensive, but it is actually one of the most consumer friendly games on the market. There are only 3 rarities, common, rare and unique. You can only have 15 rares and 3 uniques in your deck which by itself limits the cost of a deck. Rares are also not wildly better than commons, and are sometimes just different to fit different niches. As for Uniques, they are not as much of a balancing nightmare as you might assume. They have internal balancing for the uniques and you are limited to 3 per deck, so you may not even see a particular one in a game. And since they are only around for 1-2 turns, a broken unique cannot win you a game. Mythics, legendaries and secret rares in other games are far more costly and game breaking. As for the IP, it’s fine to say it doesn’t immediately catch your interest, but to judge it on the whole so harshly and call it misguided after 1 sentence and no further research into the actual lore just feels unfair
In my opinion the gameplay is deeper than it is given credit for here. Here is a list of mechanics I appreciate the most: - Starting with 3 mana keeps first turns from feeling samey and offers some decision space right from the get go - Back and forth gameplay combined with the objective of lane pushing makes 1 and 2 cost cards really interesting because they allow you to put them out and then pass back (if you pass without playing anything, you pass for the whole round) to your opponent without committing too much resources to a single lane. Then you can wait and see where and what your opponent commits and react accordingly. - Drawing two cards every turn (then optionally putting any card from hand into mana) gives you enough options - you almost never end up with an unplayable hand - The reserve is a wonderful addition to the game, basically extending your options of playable cards while being visible to your opponent and vulnerable to the "sabotage" keyword, letting your opponent get rid of your most attractive reserved cards (normally you want to go second in a round to see where your opponent commits his cards but if you want to "sabotage" a reserve-play, being the first player offers this advantage) - Multiplayer (2vs2) has potential because passing after every card-play keeps downtime lower compared to other TCGs.
What do you think makes it better than SWU? I was big on Altered and played a lot of it but then started playing SWU and feel like SWU is just better in every aspect. Has much more interesting decision making, more interaction, better meta, more affordable for collecting, etc. I'm planning on just selling off all Altered content.
@@icydeadpeeps one of the tough decisions i made playing swu was what card to play as a resource. This game has that and more. It also plays to two diff areas but this game you need to be concerned on what to play in an area because of the terrain types and you aren’t pigeon holed by unit type. Also the reserve mechanic is amazing. It’s like having a second hand and almost every card is really two cards in one. I don’t think prices for this game are crazy at all compared to swu. I’ve seen booster box preorders for 93 dollars shipped on eBay and that’s 36 packs. Swu booster boxes are only 24 packs and cost more. Also this game you can have the company print extras of the cards you own which is way cheaper as you really only need one copy of any given rare and then you can print the rest.
@@icydeadpeeps now is the best time to sell while the hype is there, you can always buy in after like a month as with all TCGs, the prices will go down. I think it is slightly better than SWU, but both are similar so at the end it is up to your tastes. It is also just the first set, and even there it has a lot going for it. I like the reserve mechanic and the rarity limits per deck. It will probably be a budget game to play, especially casually as you don't need to own the cards digitally there
You haven't talked at all about the combo potential in this game. How do the cards interact with each other? As you do not build up a board in traditional sense, cause all played cards go to reserve, I don't think that you combo much - which would make the game boring to me.
Great game! Please research more before commenting on certain aspects, lore for one, there is a TON of lore on the website. No way it could fit into the paper rulebook they give you in the starters. This was the best KS I have ever backed.
They reviewed the game based on the introductory products they have experienced. If the game wanted to put more lore forward they could easily have included a mini lore pamphlet in the starter decks.
Really? Disney Lorcan is available at every Walmart in my area. It's not hard to find at all. Outside of a few high priced single cards, most of the cards can be bought individually on the secondary market for a dollar or two.
I have a beef with Asmodee. They shelved Fallout Shelter instead of taking advantage of the TV series' popularity and make an expansion with the show's characters.
So if this is coming to BGA, will I as a BGA member be able to play it without owning any of the physical cards? I’m always down to try new card games, especially if there is a way to do it without really jumping in first.
The starter decks have actually been free to play on BGA for the last several months, so you can go try it out now. It's great and well worth giving a go to see how you like it.
This just seems like a pretty average run of the mill modern card game where the main point of differentiation is it's unique approach to the business model. Which I am certainly not even close to sold on. Unique cards sound like a balance nightmare for competitive play, and the whole feature of ordering more cards direct from the company and sending in foilers sounds like it won't be remotely feasible for most areas of the world. If it picks up and continues long term it would likely become more complex and interesting, like all card games inevitably do, but I don't such much reason to get into this over any other current game, especially those that already have established communities of players (the REAL live or die for a tcg)
Riftforce and its expansion can be picked up for a very low price, it includes 18 unique factions you can draft, and it all fits in the expansion box. You can get all of Riftforce for the price of two starter decks of Altered. I think Riftforce is absolutely a much better deal for your money. If you're looking for interesting card-based lane battler games I highly recommend Radiant Offline Battle Arena or ROBA, specifically the Championship Edition. It includes 18 heroes, with players drafting 3 each including a MOBA-style pick and ban phase, after which you combine all 10 cards in each hero's deck to create a unique deck. You also secretly pick equipment, location, and God cards to further customize your playstyle and strategy. ROBA is an excellent hidden gem; it's a little more expensive than Riftforce IIRC but you're getting a complete game that's well balanced internally and doesn't require buying any more packs of cards to stay ahead of power creep.
Haven't even finished the video, but I already feel like this could have just been an LCG. There's no reason for this to be a TCG outside of being physical micro transactions and to take advantage of whales who will gamble their money away.
This. The art is gorgeous, and I would've loved to play a "euro-y tcg" of sorts, but it feels like it's a TCG for the sole obvious reasons you already pointed out, so I'm out. And I believe this will flop hard, exactly because of this. You see, the people that would like the type of gameplay this offers, are people that are more towards the board game side of things, and will not engage with it because they don't want to deal with typical TCG bullshit. And the people who usually put up with TCG bullshit, will not be particularly interested in the type of gameplay that it has. It's like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, and it will blow in their faces.
@@ThorAxiun I'm sure we will see lots of single cards going for several hundred dollars and then a few months to a year later they won't even be worth the paper they are printed on. Other TCGs have done exactly what this has done with the real world NFT aspect putting collectability first and foremost; hardly any of those games last. Look at MetaZoo which kicked this whole thing off or Wonders of the First which continue to keep this scam going.
It's a veeery expensive model, for the consumer. I support only one TCG at the moment and it's only one set per year... Still pricey of course. Though Altered does do things a bit differently from what I hear.
you can't expect anyone to read a few hours of the lore before playing a game, that is just for lore junkies there. At most, most people will read the lore on cards
i dont like this review at all. I honestly believe that throwing words as misguided is just a no no for me. Specially when it is blatantly not true. Specially when it is a world that starts on page one of a book you might say. The first page of a book is also weak maybe but you cant judge a book by it's first page. All the characters have backstories which you can look up just like Magic and even Magic started like this. And then Tom said something about the shroom cards and it pushing the limits. Exhibit A: Magic the gathering. they have been there as well and nobody bats an eye. Why is it a negative here? I actually applaud them for doing an unique IP. People complain about Star Wars being plastered on everything and now a new IP is out and it feels like companies can do no good. For me this is a breath of fresh air. specially as wizards of the coast is causing bloat to their franchise. Also the colour issue that was brought up as you deckbuild, i can tell you that later on there wil be rules to add cards of different colour to decks. That was stated by the company so that should not be an issue in this review. actually this company is doing everything right. From the kickstarter to the roadshow where you could play with decks before the kickstarter came out and get a promo. You could print starterdecks before they were finalised as a way for people to get to know the game....and so many more stuff. Also no mention about the differences in the starterdecks in the review And yes i am biased but i still stand by my critiques of the review. This is an 9 for me and i can see it going up in time. Even replacing magic for me.
I like your point about IP. MtG was bland at first, for years and even some today, pulling in historical and known fictional characters (Ali Baba, quotes from the Bible, Socrates in the Assassins Creed Set). But it was a game that evolved due to love of the game. It wasn’t (always) a cash grab to milk whales (although nowadays it feels like it more and more). At its heart, it was a game that was given time and love. If Asmodee looks at the sales after a few quarters and decides it is not worth the effort, it will flounder immediately. Dropped like a bad habit. This is what makes me wary of TCGs. I’ll support an LCG any day over a TCG, unless it really pulls me in. I tried F&B at GenCon, and the guy demoing the game did not sell it well. I was very disappointed.
Yep. This was a really bad review. They needed to do a lot more research. His comments about the lore, needing to buy tons of packs. No mention of the coming marketplace, the already existing trading functionality, playing on BGA with YOUR cards. Really uninformed review.
They say you can only have one color, but there is some context missing. there are rares in the game that will allow you to play out of faction cards in your deck. In one deck I built, I am playing almost all of my rares (15 allowed per deck) as the out of faction rares.
@@Schlagathor78 I see your point, but having to track these rare "faction shifted" cards down isn't 't quite the same as just taking two (precon) decks apart and making a new one. I really like what Star Wars unlimited did: out of faction cards cost more. I'm just gonna get the 6 starters and play them against each other.
Star wars is definitely the better game. The issue is can't find product. Can't play or grow if you can't get your hands on cards. Same issue with Lorcana set 1. Game had a ton of hype at launch and then everyone quit because you couldn't find cards. I feel like this one will be easier to find cards because the theme is generic and it's not a game that will attract the hard core competitive players like other games do because it's too simplistic for that crowd.
@@rodneyhenry9835 We got Altered over here in Belgium. I hope you'll get some prooduct soon. Lorcana set 1 was wild! I've heard it compared to how it was with Magic, back when Alpha-Unlimited came out.
Taken from the latest comprehensive rules book. "[I]n constructed play, all cards in a deck must belong to the same faction; in limited play, all cards in a deck must belong to a maximum of three different factions." So yes in draft or other alt formats this is possible, otherwise no you are limited to one faction.
@@Schlagathor78 If you're playing with the physical cards just do whatever you want. That's always been the main advantage of tabletop gaming for me, the only true rules are whatever the people at the table decide on. Does seem like a bad move if there's any sort of competitive environment, but for casual play there's nothing wrong with going "oh that rule sounds dumb, let's just ignore it."
This is the worst combination. The new good mics are not here, making Tom more reverberant than Zee. It's bad to have anyone hard to understand at 2x, but worse when it's uneven. And yet, we still have the horrible time-wasting cold open snippets. Please reverse both of these.
@@theincantrix1144so let me tell you something stranger. You don’t have to be good at something to be allowed to criticize it. Example: I can dislike a movie greatly without knowing how to hold a camera. I can also not enjoy a dish despite not being much of a cook.
@@elqord.1118 So, your answer is that you like to roam the internet to complain. I suppose at least you are an honest gripe factory. If you'd like to continue amusing me, explain why my "complaint" about your post is different from your complaint about the video?
