A Time to Build: Constructing a deck

5:30 PM on 11.30.2008   |  

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[Editor's note: Scary Womanzing Pig Mask talks about virtual deck building for his A Time to Build Monthly Musing. -- CTZ]

I have a confession to make: I like children’s card games. Not like Gin Rummy or Crazy Eights, although those are amazing, but the addictive devil known as trading card games. They're incredibly fun, in both playing them, constructing and personalizing a deck. The process of starting out with a simple deck and slowly augmenting it by steadily gaining new cards from booster packs, with the eventual result of a customized, unique deck that perhaps even reflects you a bit, is one I greatly enjoy.

Despite this though, I hardly had any actual cards, now or in the past, because despite being made of win, card games are flawed. They exist to sell themselves, which leads to some unfortunate aspects, like loads of useless cards that only serve to clog up packs forcing you to buy more to obtain more desirable ones and overly complex and archaic rules as the series progress. New material is always required.

That’s why I love trading card videogames. They capture a specific instance in time when the card game was at its peak. The arduous and expensive process of trolling though booster packs to find certain cards is alleviated by their price-free abundance, and one cad fully enjoy the best part of card games: constructing a deck.

Children's card games warrant lab coats

Most TCG videogames start the same way: the player is given a choice between a couple of basic decks and is thrust into a fictional universe where every ones lives revolve around card games. This is where the deck construction starts; in the beginning almost every card you get will be added into you’re deck, as almost everything is better then what you have.

This can lead to a hodgepodge deck of mixed types and strategies, or not if you stick to the starter decks chosen theme. But once a few more duels are won, and you’re portfolio of options has increased, you begin to start making choices of which cards go in and which leave. It may be based on strategy preferences, like replace a Baby Dragon with a Cannon Soldier because you prefer indirect damage to direct. Or personal preferences, like you just really like Pikachu. Either way, you’re beginning the slow process of taking something established and making it your own, sort of like my namesakes in Mother 3, except a whole lot less sinister.

Your powerful starting cards

And as you get more and more cards, this unique individuality and personality shines through even more. If you gave me and another TCG fan a complete copy of Pokemon TCG for the Gameboy Color, we’d come back to you with vastly different decks because we're two different people with different preferences in terms of tactics and aesthetics.

In virtual Yu-Gi-Oh decks, I almost always put in Relinquished because I get a derisive pleasure out of stealing other player's cards. Others that are not so cruelly inclined have different staple cards that they can’t resist using. And when it comes down to it, even if you’re making the same type of deck, there’s so many cards to choose from that it really ends up being personal preference whether Chansey or Snorlax make it into to a deck.

That is why I love building decks. It reflects you in it and I know it sounds dopey, but that’s why I love playing card games with friends; to see the decks they come up with and why. It’s fun to see what choices they make, and I get excited every time we play.

Not as excited as this guy though

It’s not just in TCG videogames either. Games like Custom Robo and Advance Wars, where you’re given a basic structure: You, and you’re opponents creativity runs wild with what parts you add on, or what type of units you build. There are any number of factors used to customize and build your own decks, robots or armies, so that you can call it your own.