Here's a few pointless rambles...
Magic: The Gathering was an incredibly popular card game where players honed their playing skills and produced decks of cards based specific strategies to win. With the success of Magic, came a slew of other card games. The proof of success, after all, is by the advent of its clones. Each had its own rule set, and seemed to attempt to carve its own niche. I found it funny that the normal scene of gaming session would have coin flipping, as well as other convoluted rules. I came to regard these games as the 'Yet Another Card Game' category. There was just too many. There was just no freaking way I would ever consider playing any other card game.
Reminiscing about it made me look for pure software mediums to play Magic, being the only game I could and wanted to play. Unfortunately, never really affording to dive into the specifics of the game meant that I was never really that good with playing nor was I good at constructing a deck. I sought an audience with a long time friend and card game enthusiast, Joem Argao, who you may or may not have heard of. His life seemed to be a living Magic card game playing machine. If there was one person who could help hammer my deck to working condition it was him.
When I did manage to track him down online, things took an unexpected turn. The person who I thought had spent hours of his day meditating on what deck to play, the person who I thought would spend idle moments playing Magic against an imaginary opponent had stopped playing. Instead he was now spending his time and energy on this defunct fancy card game called VS System, which I presume was meant to be some sort of reference to Marvel vs DC.
Good grief. Yet Another Card Game and one that had died before I even heard about it, I remarked. I was not all too crazy about learning a new card game, but I could also feel the enthusiasm with just how quickly he carried the conversation discussing details about it. Since he was nice enough to point out a DS version of the game I could try, I figured it was worth a shot just to see what he dubbed as 'the game Magic should have been' was all about.
I took the game for a spin and was greeted promptly with a game tutorial that just simply overwhelmed me. The rules seem convoluted and I had been so tuned to Magic that any semblance to the aforementioned game, I would attach the same game mechanics. This card game clone was not easy to learn. To add to that, the DS was also by no means an easy introductory tool. Two screens and tapping micro cards to zoom the cards up close was not as simple as taking a card and browsing it. I also realized part of the problem was that the interface was extremely cumbersome and the tutorial had very poor presentation (Not to mention horrible art too!).
Deciding it was simply better to just play the game, I played the first game and subsequently lost. Half the time I had no idea what was happening and the other half, was me knowing that my endurance points just kept dwindling. Okay, that was fun. I tried and lost again and I was no better than the first time I played it. I must have lost more than five games when I decided that it was just not working out. Mayday, mayday! The ship is sinking! And so was my interest.
I managed to get a hold of Joem again and wanted a piece of his brilliant knowledge. This time he managed to clear up the basic rules with me. And he gave me a shopping list of cards to obtain and build my deck. This is what he gave me.
4 Human Torch, Johnny Storm
4 Boris, Doom's Caretaker
4 Medusa, Inhuman
2 Darkoth
4 Titania, Mary MacPherran
2 Volcana, Raging Inferno
4 Ghost Rider, New Fantastic Four
4 Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom
2 Thing, The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing
4 Signal Flare
4 Finishing Move
4 Flying Kick
4 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Shrink
4 Common Enemy
4 Mystical Paralysis
2 Marvel Team-Up
One of the things about learning this game is that they can keep talking about how this deck is going to be good, but I had no idea how it was going to happen when half the time, I had no idea what the cards did. And I had trouble also because I could not find Shrink and upon hearing Joem's advise that it was not as critical, I replaced it with The Time Keepers which I think was like an even weaker version.
I gave the deck a test drive and I wanted to play against an easy opponent. I'll rattle off on what I remember. The first opponent I played kept playing Doom Guards and Dr. Hauptmann. For those wondering how this newly minted deck worked, it flowed very brilliantly. Boris came to play at turn two as expected and inspite of the opponents constant harrassment and team attacks, Boris survived thanks to the Acrobatic Dodge. Joem had told me that playing 1-Drop characters was not always an effective strategy and having many of them was not necessarily tantamount to winning the game. When I attacked, I realized that as long as the player controlled those 1/1 and 2/1 midgets, they were little windows of opportunities. Even if the opponent had the tougher characters in play, these weak characters would continue to let my assaults through and hurt him very badly. Hammering and hammering opponents seem to be the basic strategy of this game, and this deck certainly exhibited that same ability. The game was very easy and it was certainly a nice change from the usual 'L' column.
After the victory, I decided to put the deck on a tougher challenge, the game I kept losing. I drew Ghostrider and Dr. Doom at the first turn and had no characters for turns two and three. I decided not to play a mulligan and keep the hand half hoping that my next two card draw would yield Human Torch or Boris. As luck would have it, I had none of them. All I had was Mystical Paralysis, Flying Kick, and Acrobatic Dodge and no characters to play. The opponent kept bashing me with his cards and there was little I could do about it.
In the succeeding turns I managed to play Medusa, and Ghostrider which gave me some meager defense. I was down on endurance and I thought the game was certainly over. When the opponent played Puppet Master, I thought I had ran out of luck but I was surprised to see that my two characters were quickly levelling the game. I was mildly surprised that the game was starting to turn to my favour. On the next turn, I looked at my hand and I had another Dr. Doom and Mystical Paralysis. I thought about using Mystical Paralysis and exhaust Dr. Doom and recruit the Doom in my hand to effectively unexhaust him, which delightfully worked. Now, I do not even think the tactic was smart in any actual game, but I was happy to know that I had understood some part of this game rules. I exhausted Puppet Master to keep him from limiting my options and with Doom and Ghostrider, I managed to beat the opponent.
I came away with interesting thoughts on the VS System from those two games. First, unlike Magic, the battle tactics are more emphasized and that there is simply no easy way to beat the opponent consumately in such a short time. You had to establish your advantage incrementally until you totally take victory. Second is that the starting endurance points gives ample time for the you or the opponent to make a comeback or to at least give you a fighting chance.
Now, I do not claim to be a good player at all and I am still learning the game, but as far as I can see, VS System may not be the most original, but it certainly earns its own merits. I enjoyed the game but without Joem's help, I probably never would have. Hats off to you.
Magic: The Gathering was an incredibly popular card game where players honed their playing skills and produced decks of cards based specific strategies to win. With the success of Magic, came a slew of other card games. The proof of success, after all, is by the advent of its clones. Each had its own rule set, and seemed to attempt to carve its own niche. I found it funny that the normal scene of gaming session would have coin flipping, as well as other convoluted rules. I came to regard these games as the 'Yet Another Card Game' category. There was just too many. There was just no freaking way I would ever consider playing any other card game.
Reminiscing about it made me look for pure software mediums to play Magic, being the only game I could and wanted to play. Unfortunately, never really affording to dive into the specifics of the game meant that I was never really that good with playing nor was I good at constructing a deck. I sought an audience with a long time friend and card game enthusiast, Joem Argao, who you may or may not have heard of. His life seemed to be a living Magic card game playing machine. If there was one person who could help hammer my deck to working condition it was him.
When I did manage to track him down online, things took an unexpected turn. The person who I thought had spent hours of his day meditating on what deck to play, the person who I thought would spend idle moments playing Magic against an imaginary opponent had stopped playing. Instead he was now spending his time and energy on this defunct fancy card game called VS System, which I presume was meant to be some sort of reference to Marvel vs DC.
Good grief. Yet Another Card Game and one that had died before I even heard about it, I remarked. I was not all too crazy about learning a new card game, but I could also feel the enthusiasm with just how quickly he carried the conversation discussing details about it. Since he was nice enough to point out a DS version of the game I could try, I figured it was worth a shot just to see what he dubbed as 'the game Magic should have been' was all about.
I took the game for a spin and was greeted promptly with a game tutorial that just simply overwhelmed me. The rules seem convoluted and I had been so tuned to Magic that any semblance to the aforementioned game, I would attach the same game mechanics. This card game clone was not easy to learn. To add to that, the DS was also by no means an easy introductory tool. Two screens and tapping micro cards to zoom the cards up close was not as simple as taking a card and browsing it. I also realized part of the problem was that the interface was extremely cumbersome and the tutorial had very poor presentation (Not to mention horrible art too!).
Deciding it was simply better to just play the game, I played the first game and subsequently lost. Half the time I had no idea what was happening and the other half, was me knowing that my endurance points just kept dwindling. Okay, that was fun. I tried and lost again and I was no better than the first time I played it. I must have lost more than five games when I decided that it was just not working out. Mayday, mayday! The ship is sinking! And so was my interest.
I managed to get a hold of Joem again and wanted a piece of his brilliant knowledge. This time he managed to clear up the basic rules with me. And he gave me a shopping list of cards to obtain and build my deck. This is what he gave me.
4 Human Torch, Johnny Storm
4 Boris, Doom's Caretaker
4 Medusa, Inhuman
2 Darkoth
4 Titania, Mary MacPherran
2 Volcana, Raging Inferno
4 Ghost Rider, New Fantastic Four
4 Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom
2 Thing, The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing
4 Signal Flare
4 Finishing Move
4 Flying Kick
4 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Shrink
4 Common Enemy
4 Mystical Paralysis
2 Marvel Team-Up
One of the things about learning this game is that they can keep talking about how this deck is going to be good, but I had no idea how it was going to happen when half the time, I had no idea what the cards did. And I had trouble also because I could not find Shrink and upon hearing Joem's advise that it was not as critical, I replaced it with The Time Keepers which I think was like an even weaker version.
I gave the deck a test drive and I wanted to play against an easy opponent. I'll rattle off on what I remember. The first opponent I played kept playing Doom Guards and Dr. Hauptmann. For those wondering how this newly minted deck worked, it flowed very brilliantly. Boris came to play at turn two as expected and inspite of the opponents constant harrassment and team attacks, Boris survived thanks to the Acrobatic Dodge. Joem had told me that playing 1-Drop characters was not always an effective strategy and having many of them was not necessarily tantamount to winning the game. When I attacked, I realized that as long as the player controlled those 1/1 and 2/1 midgets, they were little windows of opportunities. Even if the opponent had the tougher characters in play, these weak characters would continue to let my assaults through and hurt him very badly. Hammering and hammering opponents seem to be the basic strategy of this game, and this deck certainly exhibited that same ability. The game was very easy and it was certainly a nice change from the usual 'L' column.
After the victory, I decided to put the deck on a tougher challenge, the game I kept losing. I drew Ghostrider and Dr. Doom at the first turn and had no characters for turns two and three. I decided not to play a mulligan and keep the hand half hoping that my next two card draw would yield Human Torch or Boris. As luck would have it, I had none of them. All I had was Mystical Paralysis, Flying Kick, and Acrobatic Dodge and no characters to play. The opponent kept bashing me with his cards and there was little I could do about it.
In the succeeding turns I managed to play Medusa, and Ghostrider which gave me some meager defense. I was down on endurance and I thought the game was certainly over. When the opponent played Puppet Master, I thought I had ran out of luck but I was surprised to see that my two characters were quickly levelling the game. I was mildly surprised that the game was starting to turn to my favour. On the next turn, I looked at my hand and I had another Dr. Doom and Mystical Paralysis. I thought about using Mystical Paralysis and exhaust Dr. Doom and recruit the Doom in my hand to effectively unexhaust him, which delightfully worked. Now, I do not even think the tactic was smart in any actual game, but I was happy to know that I had understood some part of this game rules. I exhausted Puppet Master to keep him from limiting my options and with Doom and Ghostrider, I managed to beat the opponent.
I came away with interesting thoughts on the VS System from those two games. First, unlike Magic, the battle tactics are more emphasized and that there is simply no easy way to beat the opponent consumately in such a short time. You had to establish your advantage incrementally until you totally take victory. Second is that the starting endurance points gives ample time for the you or the opponent to make a comeback or to at least give you a fighting chance.
Now, I do not claim to be a good player at all and I am still learning the game, but as far as I can see, VS System may not be the most original, but it certainly earns its own merits. I enjoyed the game but without Joem's help, I probably never would have. Hats off to you.
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