One thing in Yu-Gi-Oh is that, from the outset, only one card type is restricted as a single action per turn. Spells and Traps weren't, so they were always very broken to begin with. Except ps1 Yu-Gi-Oh that one is a masterpiece 😂
Great video! I'm thinking of what levers can be added to the single action point system to prevent power creep - maybe play requirements? Like, you can only play this card if you meet a threshold of certain types of cards in play already. Though this would be hard to do in systems where combat can easily & reliably remove opposing cards.
Power creep is a subject that'll eventually get its own video. But it's not something I think someone should try to avoid completely, but rather to smooth out over a game's lifetime. Having more levers means you have more points of balance naturally in your system. But if you want still fewer levers, while still trying to reduce power creep, you are going to want to pay close attention to your combat system or systems that the cards engage in. Maybe even adding in extra rules around combat. Something like Blocker or Taunt could go a long way depending on the combat system. Some other things you might be able to consider: Summon Sickness, Combat Before Main Phase, Hard cap on Attack Power when you have an Effect, Can't attack if you use your effect, etc. While just tacking on rules might end up with some bloat if you do it continually, sometimes it might be required for game health. Otherwise, considering the downsides of the system and baking that into the card design is likely the way to go.
I wish more games used main action and side action from Ashes. That game also has finite resources in a round, so it wouldn't fix YGO style games instantly or anything... But it creates an interesting opportunity cost economy between main action cards, side action cards, and the generic actions available from either. The game focusing on tempo over escalating costs or constant negation was sooo refreshing.
To add: it might be interesting to cover "draw up to maximum hand size" in games. Maybe that's too broad a camp, but I see it more and more (Keyforge, YGO Rush Duel)
1- i like the idea of levers as safeguards and design space. 2-with thay said, and focusing on yugioh here, i cant agree with much of what you said. having levers did not help the game to avoid fast power creep 3- games are a balance between enforcing rules and breaking them. yugioh main security system, balancing tool and pace control, the normal summon, quickly revealed itself insuficient. 4- in theory yugioh had a good set of base rules but the way the game evolved shows otherwise. 5- card and game design ultimately define a game over the base rules.
