Other CCGs

[Morim_Brightsmoke]

Hey Everyone,
My girlfriend wants to learn some game to be part of the "group" when nerdy stuff happens. The problem is she thinks everyone know magic to much already and that she would be way behind. She said if I were learning a game too then she would feel more comfortable. So can anyone think of a game that is fun, somewhat close to Magic (for a future switch), and that is pretty easy to learn?
Thanks

[Ebinsugewa]

The problem is no other CCG has such a wide playerbase (except maybe Yu-Gi-Oh!); your game is pretty much chosen by what region you live in.

[Pinder]

The Spoils is pretty fun. It was co-designed by Jon Finkel, if I recall, so it's pretty similar to Magic while being something totally new for your girlfriend.

[Peter_Rotten]

I had some fun playing VS. (the super hero CCG by tops). You could try that.

I wonder if the Warcraft CCG is any good.

[frogboy]

I hear good things about Spoils and the WoW TCG.

edit: although women + mtg is a horrible combination so I can't imagine women + other ccg is any better

[Nihil Credo]

Does she have other nerdy interests? A tie-in could make it more fun to start playing a card game, assuming the game isn't completely terrible.

Stuff like WoW, Vampire, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Star Wars all have their own CCG (and so do lots of other franchises which I didn't know about but other Sourcers will surely remind me of).

[porcupinetreeman]

Killer Bunnies is a really fun card game. It's not really a ccg, but it is a lot of fun if you've never played it. There are a bunch of expansions for it also.

[Mijorre]

Legend of Five Rings. Hands down. It's a lot more fucked up than magic, strategy wise, has a dedicated player base and it comes with stories on the side.
And it is kind of balanced at the moment.
Balanced is good, right? Riiiight? ;_;

[DeathwingZERO]

The WoW CCG is........interesting. In some ways it's like Magic, Warlord, Pokemon.......it's got a lot going on.

As far as her feeling "behind", just tell her that none of you are on the PT circuit (you aren't, right?) and that means you're all on the same page, practically. (A little white lie won't hurt)

[Morim_Brightsmoke]

Basically i think she is also against Magic because she thinks it is too hard to learn (hasn't tried just seems complicated). She doesn't have to many other nerdy interests just star trek and firefly. I was looking at miniature games too, i thought there were more of those. I don't know if she is interested enough in comics to do Vs or Heroclix, but I think she would be potentially interested in pretty much any other non-stigma-ed game, i.e. not Pokemon.

This is the first girl I have ever dated who has even pretended to want to learn a "nerdy" game with me so I want to find something interesting for her.

[Skeggi]

In my community, WoW is the second most popular CCG. I think it beat Pokemon. And most of WoW's players are over 1.20 meters, so that's a good thing too :wink: The prices of individual WoW cards come nowhere near MtG or Pokemon cards, so it's cheaper too.

[Versus]

I too had the same problem with my wife, except that she was okay with playing Magic. It was me who decided it would be fun to get a new game so that we could be on even ground. I'm not a great MTG player by any means, but I am experienced enough to give a new player some frustrating times I suppose. Also, she would spend all day making a deck from the cards at the house and two hours after getting home, I would be ripping the whole thing apart. "That's crap. Crap. WTF?!" LOL

Anyway, we tried Naruto for a while as we both enjoyed the manga/anime. Everything was cool, until I made the big fucking mistake of looking online at card lists. I had decided we should NEVER look online and get any outside influence. Right! Curiousity took it's hold on me and before you know it half my deck were proxies of $80 Super rare cards while hers were just the crappy 1 ofs of stuff we accumulated with just a single booster box and some starters.

Eventually we packed it up and just went back to Magic. She came on here a couple times and saw Rgb Goblins (which was pretty much what she was playing on her own anyway) and now we both have good decks that are a pretty decent matchup. She get's most of the rules now and other than a few stack questions, everything is cool. It took some time, but it worked out in the end.

I have to say it's pretty awesome having a partner who enjoys the things that you do. Nothing puts a smile on your face more than dropping a Counterbalance and hearing your wife mutter under her breath, "I fucking that card!"

[Ebinsugewa]

"I fucking that card!"

Is your wife an Asian nympho?

[Mayk0l]

Your girlfriend wants to get acquainted with the fantasygeekworld? Why not introduce her to some classic bedroom, or uhh.. "tabletop" roleplaying? ;)

[Morim_Brightsmoke]

we have talked about RPGs too. I know a bunch of those, not as true about ccgs. Though I obviously don't know all of them so if you know games girls like. And you can still enjoy tell me.

[Tog]

Killer Bunnies is a really fun card game. It's not really a ccg, but it is a lot of fun if you've never played it. There are a bunch of expansions for it also.

Seconded! Killer Bunnies is sooo much fun. You don't have to build a deck either since you both draw from the same pile. It's definitely cheap and has a lot of strategy you figure out as you play. Just make sure you learn together with other people as well (tops 5 -6 people). It's a pain to teach someone but when you're learning together, it's not so bad. I highly recommend the game!

[DeathwingZERO]

Oh, since we're branching from Collectible aspects of the CCG, I have to also give props to Munchkin. The various expansions (especially Cthulu and the like) are hilarious, and group games go insane.

[Elficidium]

I have to say it's pretty awesome having a partner who enjoys the things that you do.

Seconded.The way that i keep it "fair game" in Magic, which is necessary since I play Legacy/am a Judge, is to draw a very clear line between the good (competitive) decks and the casual/multiplayer ones and always use every opportunity to help her become a better player. This way you just have to refrain from playing lame stuff (combo or legacy worthy decks) and she won't get disappointed. If you're lucky she'll even get interested in the more serious stuff (In my case she's now practicing with Raffinity to play competitively and she's altering).

Anyway, in terms of other CCG's, WoW is VERY similar to magic and quite a bit of fun.

[montanhas18]

Basically i think she is also against Magic because she thinks it is too hard to learn (hasn't tried just seems complicated). She doesn't have to many other nerdy interests just star trek and firefly. I was looking at miniature games too, i thought there were more of those. I don't know if she is interested enough in comics to do Vs or Heroclix, but I think she would be potentially interested in pretty much any other non-stigma-ed game, i.e. not Pokemon.

This is the first girl I have ever dated who has even pretended to want to learn a "nerdy" game with me so I want to find something interesting for her.

If she thinks Magic is too complicated to learn... I'm not sure you'll find a simpler CCG to learn, really. I love Vs but it's harder to learn and play at the start. Too much info to remember and the cards... are NOT helpful.

She could probably related to Magic more if you build some simpler decks. Just throw in some simpler cards (no card text, or at least with as few keywords as possible), make it combat oriented and thematic if possible.

[Versus]

Is your wife an Asian nympho?

She did mention something about my Jitte being a pain in the ass...


Elficidium: Yeah, we kept it casual at first too. Lots of monocolored and some goofy stuff like Phasing decks. I basically taught her using Tempest/Urza block Sligh. Then she moved onto WW, monogreen aggro, and finally started building Goblin decks. I even let her put in Recruiters at one point to level the field!

She's pretty good now. I usually play a specific deck agaisnt her until she starts winning a fair amount of games, then switch it up so she can see how other decks perform. It's really good practice for me too as I don't have the internet at home (no MWS) and I live in Jersey where Legacy tounaments dare to tread.

[crazyroundman]

Your girlfriend wants to get acquainted with the fantasygeekworld? Why not introduce her to some classic bedroom, or uhh.. "tabletop" roleplaying? ;)

I hope so much that you are talking about having sex in the kitchen.

Also, I tried to get one girlfriend involved in the Harry Potter card game, 'cause it was relatively cheap at the time (and Harry Potter is like porn to geekier girls). Turns out it's still like $30 a box. (http://wholesalegaming.com/harrypotter/)

Anyway, I started to look up decklists and then played a combo deck against her and that was the end of that.

[Morim_Brightsmoke]

For those that are interested, I have decided on 3 different games to try in order to see if she is interested in this stuff. If she like them all I am going to switch to Magic and DnD.

I decided initially to go with Munchkin cause it is simple, has the right feel, and if she doesn't like the other stuff this could still be fun.

I think after that we are going to try mage knight (which i know is discontinued, it is also cheap). THe idea here is to try something where you get to make some decisions about construction and some serious consideration to strategy. Plus if she doesn't like this I can use the figures in other games.

Finally, I am gonna try a roleplaying game, because if she likes that she is a nerd, and we can basically play anything. Final Advice or warnings would be welcome and thanks to everybody who has already said stuff.

[herbig]

Also, I tried to get one girlfriend involved in the Harry Potter card game, 'cause it was relatively cheap at the time (and Harry Potter is like porn to geekier girls).

Nightmare and I did the same. I found a bunch of boosters at $1 each. The game is silly but it's super simple to learn.

It's also easily broken if you like combo...