Altered: You HAVE To try it! | Game Retail Ramblings Ep. 22

[@delula5389]

You can try the game for free on Board Game Arena, and see if it could interest you. But be aware that you could end up ordering a starter deck and some boosters fairly quickly after.

[@SciFiPorkChop28]

oh dang.. wow... thanks!

[@Big_Dai]

Really? After trying it out, I'm inclined to completely ignore it. It seems to be that the speculation helped the Kickstarter a lot. And people will probably wait until the "print on demand" system is in play to access cards for cheap.

[@isaiahbenitez8978]

This game sounds interesting, but is giving Keyforge launch vibes. Such high promises, hopefully they can deliver better than keyforge did. I love innovative ideas, but they have such an uphill battle. I hope it does well!

[@BlindedGuardian]

it will, simply because the game is well born and is nothing but great! ( ex magic champions and renowned developpers from card and boardgaming industries). You may only stick to the starter decks and find a rich 1 on 1 game that would easily match games like 7 wonder duel or games like this, nothing is won because people will stick to veterans like Magic (i'm guilty). But there is a space for great games like this!

[@nesterpilgrim]

Thanks for taking my content request for next week, Travis! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on GenCon. I've got an English AlteredTCG podcast called... NAP:ITT /in the Tumult/ It's an in-universe lore podcast about an Exalt with a diamond rebirthmark looking into Asgartha from inside the Tumult. Best of luck to you in the Faction Tournament on Saturday at 3PM! I won't be at that one, but if I see you, I'll say hi.

[@FabricioKarim]

After plyaing MtG for 30 years I drop it. I never like the lands mechanics and other things add up until the moment I had enouth. In 2022 I try Flesh and blood. I have 4 deck but play less then I thought I play. Last I find my game: Grand Archive. I have 8 decks. And yesterday a bought 2 deck of Altered TCG online. I like the art and mechanics of this game and Grand Archive and is the why I have both games.

[@SciFiPorkChop28]

Really like the 2 different "launch" event options... starter + boosters or just 7 boosters is pretty cool idea and means going to different launch events could be fun different options for people

[@joshshin6819]

No idea what game he is talking about. Dude was just talking. Sooooo back to MTG

[@BlindedGuardian]

this game is here to stay i can't wait for my pledge! best modern TCG to date that will makes me turn Lorcana into a normal CCG, and give up on star wars (unfortunatly! it's pretty good, but i find it pretty ugly!)

[@BlindedGuardian]

one more comment for the referencing (is that a word, i'm from france) : i know magic is still there, but i just play commander and commander multi for now, and flesh and blood is a bit too much.. complex (?) for me, i don't know, i didn't fall in love, i think it's reserved to an "elite". Altered is really making your brain work during parties, but still is very accessible.

[@icedchief]

Star Wars is far better sorry

[@BlindedGuardian]

​@@icedchiefmatter of taste ! I love it, i think it's great, but feels a lot more limited to me. And the arts are just flavorless (to say the least) even for a comicbook fan, this is not what i look for. Lorcana, flesh and blood, one piece,...every others looks better in my opinion.

[@NickTurchen]

We held two roadshows for the game but most the people that came were from too far away to actually form a stable community. Maybe Gencon will jumpstart it but I don’t think we will have much success with it unfortunately. Feels a lot like BSS.

[@JaimeWeinstein-ij1zz]

Will you be opening KS displays Live ?

[@brentonbr13]

Pass on altered. Just not for me.

[@DigWitch]

yeah, too boardgamish, and not fun calculations with limited turn by turn options, IMO

[@CarbonBallas]

I'd thought the same .. until I played it. It's brilliant.

[@Vitrunis]

@@DigWitch You tried it? For my part I found the game to be very dynamic and interactive: even if it's turn-based, it's one card at a time so you can answer to what your opponent does, during each "afternoon"/"day". The fact there are two expeditions, "reserve", permanents and spells also adds up to this dimension (you might try to trap your opponent into a play, sometimes you want to play first, sometimes you want to wait to know what your opponent is up to and to counter the play...), and even more with cards beyond the starter decks

[@horridparlor]

They don't even show the cards.

[@itsastreas]

You can view every card in the first set on the Altered site. 😊

[@tzera_rhuon]

This game has some very interesting quirks & innovations, yet uses the absolute worst resource system in t/ccgs imo, which is enough for me to pass on it.

[@Vitrunis]

You mean using cards to form your resources/mana? You prefer land as in Magic?

[@tzera_rhuon]

@Vitrunis Land can be designed to do other things besides tap for mana, so yes, I'd prefer land over face-down cards. If the only purpose of a card on the board is to track resources, this can be accomplished through other means (dice, counters, side-deck of resource cards etc). Does this resource system nullify mana-flood/screw? Yes. It's also entirely unnecessary. All it accomplishes is invalidating (let's say) 6-10 cards in your deck, and I suspect most players would prefer to play cards with their designed intent. I should also say, I don't much like MtGs resource system either. Force of Will solved this by having a separate 'mana' deck, allowing everything in the main deck to be used, whilst avoiding mana issues present in MtG

[@Vitrunis]

@@tzera_rhuon Well, I think I don't really share the same viewpoint from what I experienced First, on the pratical side, you can use a dice to count your current mana if you prefer to, it has no impact on the gameplay Second, on the gameplay side of things, it's a core element of the gameplay and I find it interesting on several levels: 1) It gives you options throughout the game; in a way, it's a kind of control over what you draw - as would a mulligan do, except here it's at the beginning of the game but also at the beginning of each "Day"/turn Choosing what you want to put in mana or not (also, you are not forced to do it: from the second Day, you can keep all your cards and put nothing in Mana if you want to) tend to be one of the crucial strategic decision you have to make 2) In your deck, you can have up to three copies of each card. So putting one copy in mana does not mean you won't be able to play it at all. Sometimes you still might be tempted to keep in your hand a card you are not able to play right away, and it's a risk-benefit analysis you have to do, given cards and effects which might give you card-advantage and allow you to keep such "extra" cards 3) There also are mechanics where you will for instance discard one controlled card of your opponent to mana, meaning you destroy something they won't be able to play, but giving them mana in the same time. You also can demean your own mana to do things, or in the contrary add up more mana against cards (that is, ramping) In the end, I find the system quite interesting to play with (and some more could come with extensions to come), to me it really adds strategic depth to the gameplay I've not tried Force of Will (or maybe also other TCG with such two-decks systems) but I came to like the resources management system in Altered, I find it well balanced (and yes, in my opinion it counters the frustration that can happen with the MtG system)

[@Vitrunis]

I may also add that since cards don't stay in the board after each "Day" (some caveats here but I won't dive into details except if you want me to), you won't necessarily want to just play and keep "big", powerfull cards In Altered, it's about what to play when, and you have to weight that balance everytimes. A "big" card usually won't be useful at the beginning of the game, so you will be happy to put it in Mana to just keep lighter cards you're able to play to win your first "Expeditions"

[@Big_Dai]

How can you expect honesty from someone so involved and "invited" to participate in a product? Also, anyone that thinks the poor and generic gameplay is more important than the gimmick and digital position of the product.. should NOT be take seriously.

[@Vitrunis]

To me gameplay is the main argument in favor of Altered The rest looks pretty cool and will probably add up to the value of the experience, but the gameplay is why I like in the game: I find it at the same time clear, dynamic and profound As stated above by someone else, it can be tried on Board Game Arena