121-489: The Star Trek Customizable Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Star Trek universe. The name is commonly abbreviated as STCCG or ST:CCG . It was first introduced in 1994 by Decipher, Inc. , under the name Star Trek: The Next Generation Customizable Card Game . The game now has two distinct editions, though both forms of the game have many common elements. The standard central goal for
242-479: A baseball diamond according to cards representing baseball plays drawn from a randomized deck. Like modern CCGs, Topps' Baseball Card Game was sold in randomized packs and were collectible; however, it lacked the necessary strategic play that defines a CCG. Interaction between the two players was limited to who scored the most points and was otherwise a solitaire -like function since players could not play simultaneously. Other notable entries that resemble and predate
363-778: A CCG was not enough to keep it alive. They also had to support organized players through tournaments. Combined with a new dichotomy between collectors and players especially among Magic players, more emphasis was placed on the game rather than the collectibility of the cards. Plenty more CCGs were introduced in 1996, chief among them were BattleTech , The X-Files , Mythos , and Wizards' very own Netrunner . Many established CCGs were in full swing releasing expansions every few months, but even by this time, many CCGs released only two years earlier had already been terminated. TSR had ceased production of Spellfire and attempted another collectible game called Dragon Dice which failed shortly after being released. On 3 June 1997, Wizards of
484-593: A CCGs run or which have been banned from play can become of high value to collectors, such as Magic: The Gathering ' s Power Nine . There are similar games, usually inspired by CCGs, that should not be mistaken for CCGs: Many CCGs have also been remade into digital collectible card games (DCCGs), taking advantage of the ubiquity of the Internet for online play as well as for the potential of computerized opponents. DCCGs can exist as online counterparts of existing CCGs, such as Magic: The Gathering Online for Magic:
605-462: A Starter Deck II, the USS Jupiter premium card, and a comprehensive card list. The name of the set comes from the last episode of The Next Generation and had been the proposed name for the fifth and final expansion before the license was expanded. Enterprise Collection (release: July 7, 2006) With the inclusion of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2E, it was felt that 1E players should be able to have
726-629: A blue box) contained a set of three new black-bordered premium Federation cards and Edition #2 (in a red box) contained a set of three new black-bordered premium Klingon cards. First Anthology (release: June, 1997) The First Anthology (a concept that would return twice more) included six premium cards that would all later be featured in upcoming sets and was the first to feature cards that were not exclusive to The Next Generation . The box also contained two white bordered Premiere 60-card starter sets, two 15-card packs of white-bordered Premiere, two 15-card packs each of Alternate Universe and Q Continuum, and
847-571: A deck's content is limited and pre-determined, players select which cards will compose their deck from any available cards printed for the game. This allows a player to strategically customize their deck to take advantage of favorable card interactions, combinations, and statistics. While a player's deck can theoretically be of any size, a deck of forty-five or sixty cards is considered the optimal size, for reasons of playability, and has been adopted by most collectible card games as an arbitrary 'standard' deck size. Deck construction may also be controlled by
968-605: A few months. Magic continued a steady pace releasing successful expansion blocks with Odyssey and Onslaught . Decipher released The Motion Pictures expansion for the Star Trek CCG, and also announced that it would be the last expansion for the game. Decipher then released the Second Edition for the Star Trek CCG which refined the rules, rebooted the game, and introduced new card frames. Collectible miniature games continued their effort to take market share away from
1089-536: A layoff of over 30 jobs. The excess product and lag in sales also coincided with an eight-month-long gap between Magic: The Gathering' s expansions, the longest in its history. In Hungary, Power Cards Card Game , or HKK, was released in 1995 and was inspired by Magic: The Gathering. HKK was later released in the Czech Republic. HKK is still being made. Garfield applied for a patent for "a novel method of gameplay and game components that in one embodiment are in
1210-483: A maximum hand size. Many games have rules enabling opposing players to react to the current player's turn; for example, a player may cast a counter-spell to cancel an opponent's spell. Games with such reaction systems typically define rules to determine the priority of reactions to avoid potential conflicts between card interpretations. Other games do not have such direct reaction systems but allow players to cast face-down cards or "traps" that automatically trigger based on
1331-537: A moot point as the CCG Market had hit its first obstacle: too much product. The overprinted expansion of Magic's Fallen Empires threatened to upset the relationship that Wizards had with its distributors as many complained of getting too much product, despite their original over-ordering practices. In early 1995, the GAMA Trade Show previewed upcoming games for the year. One out of every three games announced at
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#17328593812741452-450: A player obtains more cards, they may create new decks from scratch using the cards in their collection. Players choose what cards to add to their decks based on a particular strategy while also staying within the limits of the rule set. Games are commonly played between two players, though multiplayer formats are also common. Gameplay in CCG is typically turn-based, with each player starting with
1573-461: A player of STCCG is to obtain 100 points, primarily by completing missions or objectives . This is done by bringing personnel , ships and equipment into play, then moving an attempting team to a mission. Once a mission attempt starts, the personnel will create away teams to encounter dilemmas which will challenge them in some way. Often if the personnel have the required skills or attributes they can overcome certain dilemmas' effects. Once
1694-570: A player's deck are considered a resource, and the frequency of cards moving from the deck to the play area or the player's hand is tightly controlled. Relative card strength is often balanced by the number or type of resources needed in order to play the card, and pacing after that may be determined by the flow of cards moving in and out of play. Resources may be specific cards themselves or represented by other means (for example, tokens in various resource pools, symbols on cards, etc.). Unlike traditional card games such as poker or crazy eights in which
1815-402: A prototype for a game called Mana Clash , and by 1993 he established Garfield Games to attract publishers and to get a larger share of the company should it become successful. When designing Magic: The Gathering , Garfield borrowed elements from the board game Cosmic Encounter which also used cards for gameplay, and from Strat-o-Matic baseball, in which players build a team of players before
1936-665: A rebooted Star Wars TCG, by Decipher and Wizards of the Coast. They followed the demise of the original Star Wars CCG by Decipher in December 2001, but they would see very little interest and eventually the two games were canceled. Other niche CCGs were also made, including Warlord: Saga of the Storm and Warhammer 40,000 . Upper Deck had its first hit with Yu-Gi-Oh! The game was known to be popular in Japan but until 2002 had not been released in
2057-501: A second print run called Beta (7.3 million card print run) and then a second core set called Unlimited (35 million card print run) in an attempt to satisfy orders as well as to fix small errors in the game. December also saw the release of the first expansion called Arabian Nights . With Magic: The Gathering still the only CCG on the market, it released another expansion called Antiquities which experienced collation problems. Another core set iteration named Revised
2178-562: A set of 20 starter-only cards) and 11-card expansion packs. This set also introduced the Voyager -only environment for sanctioned gameplay. Starting with this expansion, dual-affiliation cards were printed with both color borders (with equal rarity). The Borg (release: September 19, 2001) The Borg continued the introduction of the Delta Quadrant with 131 cards that introduced the Borg again and added
2299-481: A shuffled deck, then drawing and playing cards in turn to achieve a win condition before their opponent, often by scoring points or reducing their opponent's hit points . Dice , counters , card sleeves , or play mats may be used to complement gameplay. Players compete for prizes at tournaments . Expansion sets are used to extend CCGs, introducing new gameplay strategies and narrative lore through new cards in starter decks and booster packs, that may also lead to
2420-573: A special foil card. 105 of the best rare cards available were reproduced as foil versions; 100 were presented in the packs. Reflections also introduced "topper" cards. Four of these premium foil cards appeared randomly, one per display, on top of the packs inside the 30-pack display box. In addition, a case of display boxes was topped with a final Seven of Nine foil. Enhanced Premiere (release: November, 2000) Six different Enhanced Premiere packages were available. Each contained four packs of white bordered Premiere and five new premium cards. There were
2541-563: A stick of gum associated with another. The cards were available from a Decipher subsidiary, the Eccentric Order, and were promised not to be reprinted in order to retain their value. The collection introduced the concept of a "set icon" printed on every card in that set that would continue until the end of 1E. Because of the low print runs, Decipher was able to include some special features on the cards, including metallic ink, UV -light sensitive ink, better color saturation, artwork bleeding onto
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#17328593812742662-420: A subset of the available cards, much like trading cards. The most common distribution methods are: Because of the rarity distribution of cards, many popular CCGs have a secondary marketplace , with players buying and selling cards based on perceived value. Many purchases are made to acquire rarer cards to help build competitive decks, while others are just for collection purposes. In some cases, early cards in
2783-513: A total of twenty-one new premium cards: twelve were fixed and nine were randomized. Nine were the second versions of missions that had originally appeared in the Premiere set. The cards were upgraded with new gameplay and either images of space stations found in Activision 's video game Star Trek: Armada (as another cross-promotional tie) or wormholes (to help make the "Wormhole" card easier to use in
2904-481: A tribute to DeForest Kelley, who had died the previous year. Cards also began to list collector's information (card number and rarity) in the lower right corner. The expansion was sold in two preconstructed 60-card starter decks (one Federation, one Klingon) and 11-card expansion packs. Tribbles (release: October, 2000) is non-collectible customizable card game . It is a subgame of the Trouble with Tribbles expansion and
3025-583: Is considered a failure, along with its follow-up Portal Second Age released in 1998. By February 1998, one out of every two CCGs sold was Magic: the Gathering . Only 7 new CCGs were introduced that year, all but two being Wizards of the Coast product. C-23 , Doomtown , Hercules: The Legendary Journeys , Legend of the Burning Sands and Xena: Warrior Princess were those five, and only Doomtown met with better than average reviews before its run
3146-606: Is further refined as being a card game in which the player uses their own deck with cards primarily sold in random assortments. If every card in the game can be obtained by making a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, then it is not a CCG. CCGs can further be designated as living or dead games. Dead games are those CCGs that are no longer supported by their manufacturers and have ceased releasing expansions. Living games are those CCGs that continue to be published by their manufacturers. Usually, this means that new expansions are being created for
3267-533: Is generally defined as a game where players acquire cards into a personal collection from which they create customized decks of cards and challenge other players in matches. Players usually start by purchasing a starter deck that is ready to play, but additional cards are obtained from randomized booster packs or by trading with other players. The goal of most CCGs is to beat one's opponent by crafting customized decks that play to synergies of card combinations. Refined decks will try to account for randomness created by
3388-418: Is not good. Players then take turns. While the turn format is different depending on the game, typically it is broken into distinct phases, and all of their resources are reset so they may be used that turn. Players draw a card, play any number of cards by drawing from available resources, and make one or more attacks on their opponent. If necessary, there may be a cleanup step, including discarding cards to reach
3509-547: Is not known if the game was intended to be a standalone product or something altogether different like Top Trumps . The game consisted of a limited 112 cards and never saw manufacture past the marketing stage. The first pre-CCG to make it to market was the Baseball Card Game , released by Topps in 1951 as an apparent followup to a game from 1947 called Batter Up Baseball by Ed-u-Cards Corp. Players created teams of hitters , represented by cards, and moved them around
3630-615: The Borg affiliation, among other new concepts. This was soon followed by several sets based on situations in Deep Space Nine ; these introduced affiliations for the Bajorans , Cardassians , Dominion , and Ferengi , along with enhanced systems for battling and capturing. The era of these expansions is considered by many players to be the 'golden age' of First Edition. Two more sets featuring Original Series cards came next (when that property
3751-570: The Digimon Collectible Card Game . An interesting CCG released by Upper Deck was called the Vs. System . It incorporated the Marvel and DC Comics universes and pitted the heroes and villains from those universes against one another. Similarly, the game UFS: The Universal Fighting System used characters from Street Fighter , Soul Calibur , Tekken , Mega Man , Darkstalkers , etc. This CCG
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3872-617: The Pokémon TCG to the mass market (the original Japanese version of the game having been released by Media Factory in 1996). The game benefited from the Pokémon fad also of that year. At first, there was not enough product to meet demand. Some retailers perceived the shortage to be, in part, related to Wizards' recent purchase of the Game Keeper stores where it was assumed they received Pokémon shipments more often than non-affiliated stores. By
3993-505: The Original Series and the " tribbles " side deck. The Original Series became a property of Decipher when SkyBox International lost its license and was premiered in this set. Special features include preconstructed starter decks with premium cards in each and the return of ultra-rare cards inserted into packs (there would be an ultra-rare in each expansion from that point forward). This expansion featured Dr. McCoy as its ultra-rare as
4114-453: The CCG are Strat-O-Matic , Nuclear War , BattleCards , and Illuminati . Allen Varney of Dragon Magazine claimed the designer of Cosmic Encounter , published in 1979, Peter Olotka , spoke of the idea of designing a collectible card game as early as 1979. Prior to the advent of the CCG, the market for alternative games was dominated by role-playing games (RPG), in particular Dungeons & Dragons by TSR . Wizards of
4235-559: The CCG market being less likely to take risks on new and original intellectual properties, but instead, it would invest in CCGs that were based on existing franchises. Cartoons, movies, television, and books influenced the creation of such CCGs as Harry Potter , The Lord of the Rings , A Game of Thrones , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Yu-Gi-Oh! and two Star Wars CCGs: Jedi Knights and
4356-520: The CCG market with the releases of HeroClix and MechWarrior in 2002 but saw limited success. The next few years saw an increase in the number of companies willing to start a new CCG, partly owing to the success of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! . New CCGs entered the market, many of which tried to continue the trend of franchise tie-ins. Notable entries include The Simpsons , SpongeBob SquarePants , Neopets , G.I. Joe , Hecatomb , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others. Duel Masters
4477-635: The Coast (Wizards), a new company formed in Peter Adkison 's basement in 1990, was looking to enter the RPG market with its series called The Primal Order which converted characters to other RPG series. After a lawsuit from Palladium Books which could have financially ruined the company, Wizards acquired another RPG called Talislanta . This was after Lisa Stevens joined the company in 1991 as vice president after having left White Wolf . Through their mutual friend Mike Davis, Adkison met Richard Garfield who at
4598-489: The Coast announced that it had acquired TSR and its Dungeons & Dragons property which also gave them control of Gen Con. Wizards now had its long-sought role-playing game, and it quickly discontinued all plans to continue producing Dragon Dice or resuming production of the Spellfire CCG. Decipher was now sanctioning tournaments for their Star Trek and Star Wars games, with the latter also enjoying strong success from
4719-569: The First Edition Conversion Rules. Many cards central to the new form of the game can only conform to the new rules and setup. Second Edition, commonly abbreviated "2E", was launched in 2002, and came to a close with its final expansion in December, 2007. Collectible card game A collectible card game ( CCG ), also called a trading card game ( TCG ) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards . It
4840-655: The Five Rings , Star Wars , Lord of the Rings , Vampire: The Eternal Struggle , and World of Warcraft . Many other CCGs were produced but had little or no commercial success. Recently, digital collectible card games (DCCGs) have gained popularity, spurred by the success of online versions of CCGs like Magic: The Gathering Online , and wholly digital CCGs like Hearthstone . CCGs have further influenced other card game genres, including deck-building games like Dominion , and " Living card games " developed by Fantasy Flight Games . A collectible card game (CCG)
4961-468: The Five Rings , and SimCity . Jyhad saw a makeover and was renamed as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle to distance itself from the Islamic term jihad as well as to get closer to the source material. The Star Trek CCG from Decipher was almost terminated after disputes with Paramount announced that the series would end in 1997. But by the end of the year, the situation was resolved and Decipher regained
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5082-399: The Gathering , as wholly original card games that take advantage of the digital space, such as Hearthstone , or in many other forms. Regular card games have been around since at least the 1300s. The Base Ball Card Game , a prototype from 1904, is a notable precursor to CCGs because it had a few similar qualities but it never saw production to qualify it as a collectible card game. It
5203-456: The Hirogen affiliation. The expansion's ultra-rare was a Voyager -era Reginald Barclay . The expansion was sold in 11-card expansion packs. Holodeck Adventures (release: December 21, 2001) Holodeck Adventures was a 131-card set that expanded on the holographic characters that had been available since the Premiere set. The expansion's ultra-rare was Jean-Luc Picard as Dixon Hill . The expansion
5324-575: The Origins Convention. By September, Wizards was awarded a patent for its "Trading Card Game". Later in October, Wizards announced that it would seek royalty payments from other CCG companies. Allegedly, only Harper Prism announced its intention to pay these royalties for its game Imajica . Other CCGs acknowledged the patent on their packaging. 1997 saw a slow down in the release of new CCG games. Only 7 new games came out, among them: Dune: Eye of
5445-446: The Storm , Babylon 5 , Shadowrun , Imajica and Aliens/Predator . Babylon 5 saw moderate success for a few years before its publisher Precedence succumbed to a nonrenewal of its license later on in 2001. Also in 1997, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle ceased production. However, Wizards of the Coast attempted to enter a more mainstream market with the release of a simplified version of Magic , called Portal . Its creation
5566-656: The Undiscovered Country . The expansion's ultra-rare was a 24th-century James T. Kirk . The expansion was sold in 11-card expansion packs. This was also the last set released before the announcement of the end of the game and the move to 2E. All Good Things (release: July 9, 2003) All Good Things featured 41 new cards that provided new gameplay and mended the so-called "broken links" in the first edition – cards that were referenced directly or indirectly on other cards but had not yet been released. The "anthology-style" collector's box included ten Reflections expansion packs,
5687-519: The United States. The game was mostly distributed to national retailers, with hobby stores added to their distribution afterward. By the end of 2002, the game was the top CCG even though it was nowhere near the phenomenon that Pokémon was. The card publisher Precedence produced a new CCG in 2001 based on the Rifts RPG by Palladium . Rifts had top-of-the-line artwork but the size of the starter deck
5808-456: The Warp Pack. The Fajo Collection (release: December, 1997) This special collection contained 18 super-rare cards and had a print run of 40,000. Each set contains a presentation binder, a signed certificate of authenticity , a Fajo Collection rules document, a collectible art poster showcasing the entire Star Trek CCG universe at that time, a business card featured on one of the cards, and
5929-574: The actions of the opposing player. Specific game cards are most often produced in various degrees of scarcity, generally denoted as fixed (F), common (C), uncommon (U), and rare (R). Some games use alternate or additional designations for the relative rarity levels, such as super- , ultra- , mythic- or exclusive rares . Special cards may also only be available through promotions, events, purchase of related material, or redemption programs. The idea of rarity borrows somewhat from other types of collectible cards, such as baseball cards , but in CCGs,
6050-409: The baseball game itself is played. In 1993 a "new kind of card game" appeared. It was different because the player could not buy all the cards at once. Players would first buy starter decks and then later be encouraged to buy booster packs to expand their selection of cards. What emerged was a card game that players collected and treasured but also played with. The first collectible card game created
6171-584: The box by including a 60-card Premiere starter deck along with eight new cards designed to allow the cards in the starter to work together. A collaboration with Activision included a giveaway of a Starter Deck II with the pre-order of Star Trek: Hidden Evil . Enhanced First Contact (release: January, 1999) The Enhanced First Contact boxes consisted of four packs of the First Contact expansion packaged with three new cards and one transparent Borg assimilation overlay. There were four different assortments of
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#17328593812746292-402: The box, with 2 rares, 13 uncommons, and 45 commons) and 15-card expansion packs (1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 11 commons). The initial 'limited edition' print run had a black border and the following 'unlimited edition' runs (December 1994 and 1995) had a white border, making the black-bordered cards rarer, even though that color would become the staple of all later sets. In fact, all printings after
6413-456: The card along with instructions for the game and flavor text . CCGs are typically themed around fantasy or science fiction genres, and have also included horror themes, cartoons , and sports , and may include licensed intellectual properties . Generally, a player will begin playing a CCG with a pre-made starter deck , then later customize their deck with cards they acquire from semi-random booster packs or trade with other players. As
6534-459: The card border, and even a card (Qapla'!) printed entirely in Klingon (the design for which is markedly different from every other card in the game). First Contact (release: December, 1997) This set of 130 cards focused entirely on the movie Star Trek: First Contact , greatly changed gameplay and added the first new affiliation in the Borg. It was available in 9-card booster packs, greatly reducing
6655-510: The characters, aliens, and more from Deep Space Nine as well as two new affiliations: the Bajorans and the Cardassians. The USS Defiant was a special "twice as rare" white-bordered preview card. The set was available in 60-card starter decks and 9-card expansion packs. Starter Deck II (release: December, 1998) This set attempted to solve again the problems of playing the game straight from
6776-450: The creature can only be blocked by other creatures with flying. Each card also generally represents some specific element derived from the game's genre, setting, or source material. The cards are illustrated and named for these source elements, and the card's game function may relate to the subject. For example, Magic: The Gathering is based on the fantasy genre, so many of the cards represent creatures and magical spells from that setting. In
6897-420: The development of theme decks. Successful CCGs typically have thousands of unique cards through multiple expansions. Magic: The Gathering initially launched with 300 unique cards and currently has more than 22,000 as of March 2020 . The first CCG, Magic: The Gathering , was developed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast in 1993 and its initial runs rapidly sold out that year. By
7018-555: The elements of a good SF adventure." He did question the internal logic of some of the scenarios; for example, "some of the Missions must be undertaken by specific affiliations – why can't the Federation assist with the fever outbreak on Nahmi IV and why can't the Romulans hunt for artifacts on Barradas III?" Swan also questioned the rule that opposing sides can use the same Personnel, leading to
7139-568: The end of 1994, Magic: The Gathering had sold over 1 billion cards, and during its most popular period, between 2008 and 2016, it sold over 20 billion cards. Magic: The Gathering ' s early success led other game publishers to follow suit with their own CCGs in the following years. Other successful CCGs include Yu-Gi-Oh! which is estimated to have sold about 35 billion cards as of January 2021 , and Pokémon which has sold over 64 billion cards as of March 2024 . Other notable CCGs have come and gone, including Legend of
7260-504: The expansion of Fallen Empires released in November 1994. Combined with the releases of 9 other CCGs, among them Galactic Empires , Decipher 's Star Trek , On the Edge , and Super Deck! . Steve Jackson Games , which was heavily involved in the alternative game market, looked to tap into the new CCG market and figured the best way was to adapt their existing Illuminati game. The result
7381-408: The first new expansion in three years called Sabbat War . Wizards of the Coast introduced a new sports CCG called MLB Showdown as well. Decipher released its final chronological expansion of the original Star Wars trilogy called Death Star II and would continue to see a loss in sales as interest waned in succeeding expansions, and their Star Wars license was not being renewed. Mage Knight
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#17328593812747502-535: The first three sets. It was originally available as a mail-in redemption included in the Official Player's Guide published by Brady Games . The card was later included in the Introductory 2-Player Game. Warp Pack (release: August, 1995) The Warp Pack was a selection of 12 white-bordered common cards to help make decks playable out of the box. Two of the cards that had not been seen before would be released in
7623-460: The first were planned to be white-bordered, but no more printings were made. The Limited Edition print run of 45.9 million cards consisted of 19,339 of each rare card, 78,843 of each uncommon card, and 281,157 of each common card. The white-bordered edition print run was 162 million cards. Both were printed by Carta Mundi in Belgium. Data Laughing (release: 1995) A promotional card that had ties to
7744-483: The form of trading cards" that includes claims covering games whose rules include many of Magic ' s elements in combination, including concepts such as changing the orientation of a game component to indicate use (referred to in the Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rules as " tapping ") and constructing a deck by selecting cards from a larger pool. Garfield was granted the patent in 1997, which he then transferred
7865-400: The full course of available material. In 1997, Decipher announced that a wider scope had now been licensed for the game: Deep Space Nine , Voyager and The Next Generation movies would soon be depicted in new cards, thus the game's name was shortened to the existing title. The First Contact set arrived late that year, based on the film Star Trek: First Contact ; that set introduced
7986-528: The game "ingenious, gorgeous and addictive." A year later, in the June 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue 230), Swan revisited the game to review the Alternate Universe expansion, and found the game "remains a delight." He gave the expansion set a rating of 4 out of 6, saying, " Alternate Universe doesn't do much to expand the rules, but it serves as a good excuse to revisit a terrific product." The reviewer from
8107-541: The game and official game tournaments are occurring in some fashion. Each game has a fundamental set of rules that describes the players' objectives, the categories of cards used in the game, and the basic rules by which the cards interact. Each card will have additional text explaining that specific card's effect on the game. Many games utilize a set of keywords to simplify the card text, with keywords referring to common gameplay rules. For example, Magic: The Gathering has about 25 common keywords such as "flying", meaning
8228-493: The game over time. As well, the game had embraced many different and not fully compatible ideas over time; this made for long, corrective rules documents and a steep learning curve for beginners. In addition, the number of cards types went from nine to over seventeen in just a couple of years, which made the game much more difficult to learn. At first, the game designers sought to introduce an entire new game based on Star Trek ; it would be simpler and be targeted to beginners, while
8349-492: The game's future. Full expansions are listed in regular type, boutique/special cards in italics 1E Premiere (release: November, 1994) The first edition premiere set contained 363 cards (121 each of rare, uncommon, and common) and introduced the affiliations of the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans, along with Non-Aligned cards. It was available in randomized 60-card starter boxes (generally not playable right out of
8470-401: The game's rules. Some games, such as Magic: the Gathering , limit how many copies of a particular card can be included in a deck; such limits force players to think creatively when choosing cards and deciding on a playing strategy. Cards come in several broad categories. Common categories, in addition to the aforementioned resource cards, include creatures that are summoned into battle who attack
8591-407: The game, a dragon is illustrated as a reptilian beast, has higher stats than smaller creatures, and has the aforementioned "flying" keyword. Flavor text on cards is frequently used to provide a narrative for story-driven games or sometimes as humorous asides. The bulk of games are designed around a resource system by which the pace of each game is controlled. Frequently, the cards which constitute
8712-772: The game. Rules of Acquisition (release: December, 1999) This 130-card set introduced the Ferengi and their rules. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs. U.S.S. Jupiter (release: 2000) This card was inserted into the PC game Star Trek: Armada by Activision as a promotional tie-in. Second Anthology (release: March, 2000) The Second Anthology included six premium cards that would not be featured in upcoming sets. The box also contained two Starter Deck IIs, two First Contact expansion packs, two Deep Space Nine expansion packs, and two Dominion expansion packs. The Trouble with Tribbles (release: July, 2000) This 141-card set introduces
8833-580: The genre. Pokémon ' s mainstream success in the CCG world also highlighted an increasing trend of CCGs being marketed with existing intellectual properties, especially those with an existing television show, such as a cartoon . New CCGs introduced in 2000 included notable entries in Sailor Moon , The Terminator , Digi-Battle , Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game , Magi-Nation and X-Men . Vampires: The Eternal Struggle resumed production in 2000 after White Wolf regained full rights and released
8954-438: The goal of a match is to play cards that reduce the opponent's life total to zero before the opponent can do the same. Some games provide for a match to end if a player has no more cards to draw in their deck. After determining which player goes first by coin flip or other means, players start by shuffling their decks and drawing an initial hand. Many games allow for a player to take a mulligan if they believe their starting hand
9075-420: The industry that originated from the "success of Magic". In early 1996, the CCG market was still reeling from its recent failures and glut of products, including the release of Wizards' expansion Homelands which was rated as the worst Magic expansion to date. The next two years would mark a "cool off" period for the over-saturated CCG market. Additionally, manufacturers slowly came to understand that having
9196-454: The initial shuffling of the deck, as well as the opponent's actions, by using complementary and preferably efficient cards. The exact definition of what makes a CCG is varied, as many games are marketed under the "collectible card game" moniker. The basic definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass-produced for trading and/or collectibility, and have rules for strategic gameplay. The definition of CCGs
9317-479: The level of rarity also denotes the significance of a card's effect in the game, i.e., the more powerful a card is in terms of the game, the greater its rarity. A powerful card whose effects were underestimated by the game's designers may increase in rarity in later reprints. Such a card might even be removed entirely from the next edition, to further limit its availability and its effect on gameplay. Most collectible card games are distributed as sealed packs containing
9438-516: The license to the Star Trek franchise along with Deep Space Nine , Voyager and the movie First Contact . The enthusiasm from manufacturers was very high, but by the summer of 1995 at Gen Con , retailers had noticed CCG sales were lagging. The Magic expansion Chronicles was released in November and was essentially a compilation of older sets. It was maligned by collectors and they claimed it devalued their collections. Besides this aspect,
9559-401: The market was still reeling from too much product as Fallen Empires still sat on shelves alongside newer Magic expansions like Ice Age . The one new CCG that retailers were hoping to save their sales, Star Wars , was not released until very late in December. By then, Wizards of the Coast, the lead seller in the CCG market had announced a downsizing in their company and it was followed by
9680-404: The most attractive themes of the game is affiliations . These are groupings of ships and personnel based on the major interstellar powers of the Star Trek universe, and decks will be based around one, or perhaps more, of these groups. What is now known as First Edition (commonly abbreviated "1E" among players) is the original conception of the game, through various designers and iterations. It
9801-490: The new cards, and each group of three would always occur together in the same package, along with the same transparent Borg overlay. A cutout on the back of the box allowed buyers to know which new cards they were buying. The Dominion (release: January, 1999) This set of 130 cards introduced the Dominion affiliation. It also included four special white-bordered preview cards that would all be reprinted in subsequent expansions. It
9922-531: The next set, Alternate Universe. The packs were available for free from the Decipher website. Alternate Universe (release: December, 1995) Alternate Universe was a collection of 122 cards that focused on cards from the past, future, and alternate timelines. It also contained the first ultra-rare card, the Future Enterprise . It sold in 15-card expansion packs. The expansion marked the point where tournament play
10043-653: The number of repeat common cards. Away Team Pack (release: May, 1998) This pack contains two cards featuring The Traveler (from the episode " Where No One Has Gone Before " and The Emissary ( Benjamin Sisko 's role in the Bajoran religion). The cards were designed to honor Decipher's Star Trek CCG product managers Marcus Certa (The Emissary) and Kyle Heuer (The Traveler), who functioned as traveling game evangelists using those pseudonyms. The packs were made available as an insert in an issue of Scrye magazine and were also handed out by
10164-486: The online second volume of Pyramid stated that "I hoped Decipher would continue to find new and innovative ways to release and market cards for their games. The Fajo Collection for the Star Trek Game gave me my wish." Some of Decipher's concerns included the complexity and bloat that the game had built over seven years; there was no balanced 'cost' system for cards, causing stopgap and complex systems to be added to
10285-424: The opposing player and block their creatures' attacks; enchantments that buff or debuff these creatures' attributes and abilities; events, such as magic spells, that may have an immediate or ongoing resolution to one or more cards in play; and locations or story cards that present specific conditions impacting all actions. Each match is generally one-on-one, but many games have variants for more players. Typically,
10406-477: The original cards, known as backward-compatible cards , or First Edition Compatible (abbreviated as 1EC ) and attempting to satisfy longstanding fans of the original game. These cards are able to be used in First Edition gameplay, though some key words need to be changed to fit the First Edition's old rules and setup. Further information on how to use Second Edition cards in First Edition gameplay are listed in
10527-427: The original game still produced expansions, but on a slower schedule. This concept was abandoned when the sales figures showed that the original game could not continue on its own merits. The solution was to reinvent the original game along the basic lines, still allowing a depth of gameplay but avoiding complex rules and concepts. The standard card types and gameplay would remain, allowing some new cards to be used with
10648-556: The patent to Wizards of the Coast . The patent has aroused criticism from some observers, who believe it may have stifled growth of other CCGs, and looked to have some of its claims to be invalid. Peter Adkison, CEO of Wizards at the time, remarked that his company was interested in striking a balance between the "free flow of ideas and the continued growth of the game business" with "the ability to be compensated by others who incorporate our patented method of play into their games". Adkison continued to say they "had no intention of stifling"
10769-405: The potential situation where "Lt. Worf might have to battle himself." Swan also criticized combat, which was little more than "a comparison of weapons ratings and shield ratings, but not particularly dramatic." He also questioned why a ship is removed if it loses two battles in the same turn. But in the end, Swan felt these were minor quibbles, giving the game a top rating of 6 out of 6, while calling
10890-621: The re-released Star Wars Special Edition films. The Star Wars CCG would remain the second best-selling CCG until the introduction of Pokémon to the United States in 1999. Wizards continued acquiring properties and bought Five Rings Publishing Group , Inc., creators of the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, Star Trek: The Next Generation collectible dice game, and the soon to be released Dune CCG, on 26 June. Wizards also acquired Andon Unlimited which by association gave them control over
11011-506: The required dilemmas are passed, the personnel still active in the attempt must have the skills and/or attribute totals required by the mission to solve it. If the mission is solved, the player earns the printed points. Other aspects of the game increase player interactions: ships and personnel can battle, or otherwise affect each other; cards like events and interrupts can alter the environment for one or more players; and points can be scored using methods other than mission solving. One of
11132-486: The rest of the CCG market, Magic had recovered and Wizards learned from its lessons of 1995 and early 1996. Players still enjoyed the game and were acquiring its latest expansions of Tempest , Stronghold , Exodus and by year's end, Urza's Saga which added new enthusiasm to Magic's fanbase in light of some of the cards being "too powerful". In early 1999, Wizards released the English-language version of
11253-530: The sealed environment). This set also introduced the Warp Speed format for quicker games and drafting capabilities. As with Enhanced First Contact, the product boxes had a cutout on the back so buyers knew which set of fixed cards they had selected. Mirror, Mirror (release: December, 2000) This 131-card set introduced the Mirror Universe. This expansion's ultra-rare was Mirror Universe First Officer Spock . It
11374-467: The show was a CCG. Publishers other than game makers were now entering the CCG market such as Donruss , Upper Deck , Fleer , Topps , Comic Images , and others. The CCG bubble appeared to be on everyone's mind. Too many CCGs were being released and not enough players existed to meet the demand. In 1995 alone, 38 CCGs entered the market, the most notable among them being Doomtrooper , Middle-earth , OverPower , Rage , Shadowfist , Legend of
11495-741: The summer of 1999, the Pokémon TCG became the first CCG to outsell Magic: The Gathering . The success of Pokémon brought renewed interest to the CCG market and many new companies began pursuing this established customer base. Large retail stores such as Walmart and Target began carrying CCGs and by the end of September, Hasbro was convinced on its profitability and bought Wizards of the Coast for $ 325 million (equivalent to $ 594.4 million in 2023). A small selection of new CCGs also arrived in 1999, among them Young Jedi , Tomb Raider , Austin Powers , 7th Sea and The Wheel of Time . By 2000,
11616-419: The time was a doctoral student. Garfield and Davis had an idea for a game called RoboRally and pitched the idea to Wizards of the Coast in 1991, but Wizards did not have the resources to manufacture it and instead challenged Garfield to make a game that would pay for the creation of RoboRally. This game would require minimal resources to make and only about 15–20 minutes to play. In December 1991, Garfield had
11737-491: The tools necessary to play as the Enterprise -era "Starfleet" affiliation as well. This set of 18 foiled cards (and a supply of First Edition compatible cards from 2E) was intended to make that possible. The cards were sold exclusively from Decipher's website. Genesis (release: November 13, 2006) Genesis was a 27-card expansion that has the distinction of being the only completely First Edition compatible set in 2E. Each card
11858-715: The torch from their Star Wars CCG to WARS . WARS kept most of the gameplay mechanics from their Star Wars game, but transferred them to a new and original setting. The game did not do particularly well, and after two expansions, the game was canceled in 2005. The other new CCG was .hack //Enemy which won an Origins award. The game was also canceled in 2005. Plenty of other CCGs were attempted by various publishers, many that were based on Japanese manga such as Beyblade , Gundam War , One Piece , Inuyasha , Zatch Bell! , Case Closed , and YuYu Hakusho . Existing CCGs were reformatted or rebooted including Dragon Ball Z as Dragon Ball GT and Digimon D-Tector as
11979-599: The traveling evangelists themselves. Official Tournament Sealed Deck (OTSD) (release: May, 1998) The Official Tournament Sealed Decks contain the same fixed deck of twenty new cards, designed to allow any other cards to be able to work together in a sealed format. Also included in each set were four white-bordered Premiere expansion packs and one Alternate Universe expansion pack. There were six different box designs (each representing an affiliation: Bajoran, Borg, Cardassian, Federation, Klingon, and Romulan). Deep Space Nine (release: July, 1998) This set of 276 cards introduced
12100-494: The volatility of the CCG market was familiar to its retailers. They foresaw Pokémon's inevitable fall from grace as the fad reached its peak in April of that year. The panic associated with the overflooding of the CCGs from 1995 and 1996 was absent and the retailers withstood the crash of Pokémon . Yet CCGs benefited from the popularity of Pokémon and they saw an uptick in the number of CCGs released and an overall increased interest in
12221-465: Was Illuminati: New World Order which followed with two expansions in 1995 and 1998. Another entry by Wizards of the Coast was Jyhad . The game sold well, but not nearly as well as Magic ; however, it was considered a great competitive move by Wizard as Jyhad was based on one of the most popular intellectual properties in the alternative game market which kept White Wolf from aggressively competing with Magic . By this time, however, it may have been
12342-400: Was Magic: The Gathering , invented by Richard Garfield , and patented by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game has remained popular, with Wizards of the Coast claiming it to be the most widely played CCG as of 2009. It was based on Garfield's game Five Magics from 1982. Originally, Mana Clash was designed with Wizards in mind, but the suit between Palladium Books and Wizards
12463-498: Was Peter Adkisson's decision to resign and Lisa Stevens whose job ended when The Duelist magazine (published by Wizards of the Coast) was canceled by the parent company. With Adkisson went Wizards' acquisition of Gen Con and the Origins Convention went to GAMA. Hasbro also ceased production of Legends of the Five Rings in 2000, but its production resumed when after it was sold to Alderac in 2001. The years 2001 and 2002 progressed with
12584-399: Was TSR who rushed their own game Spellfire into production, releasing it in June 1994. Through this period of time, Magic was hard to obtain because production never kept pace with demand. Store owners placed large inflated orders in an attempt to circumvent allocations placed by distributors. This practice would eventually catch up to them when printing capacity met demand coinciding with
12705-562: Was a customizable card game . While this game is not playable with most cards from the customizable card game, this pre-constructed game could be expanded by collecting the tribbles cards from The Troubles with Tribbles expansion of the Star Trek CCG. Reflections: The First Five Year Mission (release: November, 2000) This set consisted of 18-card packs that contained 17 random cards (from Premiere, Alternative Universe, Q Continuum, First Contact , The Dominion , and Deep Space Nine ) and
12826-407: Was added to the license), followed by sets drawing heavily on Voyager which introduced the new, but smaller Kazon , Vidiian , and Hirogen affiliations. It was after this that the game began a serious decline in popularity and sales. Sales faltered during the release of the last two sets, based on the films and on holodeck scenarios. This dip in sales resulted in Decipher taking a serious look at
12947-454: Was also released this year and would seek to challenge the CCG market by introducing miniatures into the mix. Though not technically a CCG, it would target the same player base for sales. The real shake-up in the industry, however, came when Hasbro laid off more than 100 workers at Wizards of the Coast and ended its attempts at an online version of the game when it sold off the subsidiary's interactive division. Coinciding with this turn of events
13068-492: Was available for two months. There were also seven additional foils provided as prizes for special tournaments, as incentives for retailer promotions, or given to attendees of DecipherCon in October 2000. The Motion Pictures (release: April 17, 2001) The 131 cards in The Motion Pictures featured all nine of the Star Trek movies available at the time and the Voyager episode " Flashback ", which ties into Star Trek VI:
13189-428: Was designed to work in both versions of the game, with varying degrees of success. The cards were sold exclusively from Decipher's website. In the June 1995 edition of Dragon (Issue 218), Rick Swan admired the high production quality of the cards, and the fact that "a typical starter deck provides a good mix of all categories." Swan not only admired the streamlined game system, but also "its remarkable simulation of
13310-513: Was first licensed only to cover Star Trek: The Next Generation , and the first three card sets were limited to that show's universe. As such, the only affiliations created were the Federation , Klingons , and Romulans , plus a group for other cards that didn't fit into the three main affiliations called Non-Aligned . This narrow scope caused little attraction for players, and it was felt that only five more sets could be released before running
13431-417: Was introduced to the United States after strong popularity in Japan the preceding two years. Wizards of the Coast published it for a couple of years before weak sales resulted in its cancellation. Two Warhammer CCGs were released with Horus Heresy and WarCry . Horus Heresy lasted two years and was succeeded by Dark Millennium in 2005. Also, two entries from Decipher were released, one that passed
13552-441: Was introduced with Magic: The Gathering in 1993. Cards in CCGs are specially designed sets of playing cards . Each card represents an element of the theme and rules of the game, and each can fall in categories such as creatures, enhancements, events, resources, and locations. All cards within the CCG typically share the same common backside art , while the front has a combination of proprietary artwork or images to embellish
13673-466: Was released shortly after that. Demand was still not satiated as the game grew by leaps and bounds. Legends was released in mid-1994 and no end was in sight for the excitement over the new CCG. What followed was the CCG craze. Magic was so popular that game stores could not satisfy the market demand. More and more orders came for the product, and as other game makers looked on they realized that they had to capitalize on this new fad. The first to do so
13794-599: Was similar in size to the RPG books. Precedence's other main CCG Babylon 5 ended its decent run in 2001 after the company lost its license. The game was terminated and the publisher later folded in 2002. The release of The Lord of the Rings TCG marked the release of the 100th new CCG since 1993, and 2002 also marked the release of the 500th CCG expansion for all CCGs. The Lord of the Rings TCG briefly beat out sales of Magic for
13915-497: Was sold in 11-card expansion packs. Voyager (release: May 23, 2001) This 201-card set introduced the Delta Quadrant faction of Voyager and her crew as well as the Kazon and Vidiian affiliations. This expansion's ultra-rare was The Pendari Champion (a character played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a WWF Smackdown! (now WWE Smackdown! ) cross-promotion). The expansion was sold in 40-card starter decks (some of which were drawn from
14036-443: Was sold in 11-card expansion packs. The name of the set was originally going to be given to the fourth full set before the original license was expanded, and the set was designed with that nostalgia in mind, as it had links to Q Continuum. Tournament / Redemption Foils (release: January 2001 – August 2002) A set of 18 foils of popular common and uncommon cards were provided by Decipher as prizes for sanctioned tournaments. Each card
14157-400: Was sold in 9-card expansion packs. Blaze of Glory (release: August, 1999) Blaze of Glory was a 130-card expansion that enhanced the battling mechanic that had remained unchanged since the beginning of the game. It also featured an 18-card foil subset - the first in any Star Trek CCG expansion. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs. Many players point to this expansion as the high point of
14278-450: Was sponsored by Decipher, Inc. Collector's Tin (release: November, 1995) This collector's item had a limited run of 30000 units and contained one of each of the premiere set's 363 cards with a silver border. Q Continuum (release: October, 1996) The next expansion, Q Continuum was another standard set of 121 cards and introduced the Q Continuum and the "Q-Flash" side deck to the game. An important mechanic introduced in this expansion
14399-704: Was still not settled. Investment money was eventually secured from Wizards and the name Mana Clash was changed to Magic: The Gathering . The ads for it first appeared in Cryptych , a magazine that focused on RPGs. On 4 July weekend of 1993, the game premiered at the Origins Game Fair in Fort Worth , Texas . In the following month of August, the game's Limited core set was released (also known as Alpha ) and sold out its initial print run of 2.6 million cards immediately creating more demand. Wizards quickly released
14520-498: Was terminated and the rights returned to Alderac . C-23 , Hercules , and Xena were all a part of a new simplified CCG system Wizards had created for beginners. Called the ARC System, it had four distinct types of cards: Resource, Character, Combat, and Action. The system also utilized the popular "tapping" mechanic of Magic: The Gathering . This system was abandoned shortly afterward. Despite limited success or no success at all in
14641-401: Was the "Q's Tent" sideboard. Introductory 2-Player Game (release: January, 1997) This set contained two separate pre-constructed 60-card decks, one Federation and one Klingon, both of which are white bordered. Each edition included the same three premium cards (a black-bordered Admiral McCoy and Data Laughing and a white-bordered Spock) and 11 new white-bordered mission cards. Edition #1 (in
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