Duelyst is not a CCG

[ZyX]

Yep duelyst is a game where you collect cards and build decks. But it is not a card game at all, it is a tactical, turn based, board game and that’s why I play it. This is a surprisingly difficult thing to find, there is an abundance of card games but basicly no online multiplayer tactical board games. Over the last couple years of really wanting this I either couldent find them at all or they were dead or really unhealthy. I guess recently there might be some competors but I am to invested at this point. So mostly I am just curious about others thoughts on it.

Yep duelyst is a game where you collect cards and build decks. But it is not a tactics game at all, it is a turn based game with cards that has a fair amount of variance unlike tactical games and that’s why I play it. This is a surprisingly difficult thing to find, there is an abundance of turn based games but basically no online multiplayer card + board games. Over the last couple years of really wanting this I either couldn’t find them at all or they were dead or really unhealthy. I guess recently there might be some competors but I am to invested at this point. So mostly I am just curious about others thoughts on it. (see how that reads?)

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It’s far too easy to have a myopic one-sided view, but it’s insulting your reader to completely ignore useful points against your ‘classification’. Now let’s see, you’re saying that Duelyst has no business being lumped in with CCGs, well, I’m pretty sure players of games like X-COM, Fire Emblem, Atlas Reactor etc would be pretty offended at your lumping Duelyst in with their tactics games.

The developers of the game (blessed be thy name) themselves call Duelyst a CCG with a board, where the units are collectible. Unfortunately, as much as one might like it to be true, you’re flawed in both your assertion that longer games are preferred AND in this idea about tactics being of foremost importance.

[deathsadvocate]

I adore Fire Emblem and Xcom, and always found Duelyst to be closer to Emblem then a card game, but you make a very fair point. It is as equally unfair to lump it in with strait tactics as it is with CCGs.

Is there a term for the hybrid of the two yet?

I suppose it is also rather hard to argue with the Devs labeling and marketing it as such. I had just so far dismissed that as just marketing and trying to appeal to the large CCG market rather then an apt description of the game.

[alplod]

Well, action/RPG has a history already, why not call Duelyst a tactical CCG? And everyone’s happy)

[soundwavevr]

Some other tactical card games are Faeria, Smite Tactics, Krosmaga and Shardbound.

Faeria is already launched, it looks really sweet, but I don’t like that your “general” is static and your minions can only move 1 unit at a time.

Shardbound is quite the opposite of Faeria, your minions move 4 or more units at a time, but I haven’t played much of it to give you more details. The game is in beta.

Smite Tactics is using characters from the third person MOBA Smite, it’s in closed beta for know, but it will possibly become popular in the future, like other Hi-Rez Games.

Krosmaga is interesting, but you don’t control your minions. You play them in a lane and they move towards your opponent by themselves, so it involves more planning.

For now, Duelyst rules over other board card games.

[rebound]

This is truly the topic on semantics. Duelyst is many things. I think in easiest terms it is a CCG with a board element. Specifically, it is played on a grid.

There are many comparators. Duelyst took a lot of the great innovations from Hearthstone, like dusting, arena, single player challenges, limited-time contests and so on.

The game it is the closest neighbour to is very likely Summoner wars, and Mage wars arena as a close second.
Link to summoner wars: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/58281/summoner-wars
Link to Mage wars (arena): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/101721/mage-wars-arena

As you can tell, both of these are boardgames. Duelyst is essentially a fast-paced version of both of these games, with less focus on the board. It is a customizable card game with a grid movement and variable player powers. Just like all of these. The details do differ of course.

I can understand where the comment is coming from that Duelyst is closer to a CCG than both of these. It is collectible unlike either of these, and there is less focus on the board. After Shim’zar, I think they went even further and further away from putting emphasis on the grid. This makes it easier to draw the comparison of this to a regular CCG than say faeria.

Note that many CCGs have a board element. Magic has very limited landscape geometry going on. Star wars decipher divided the board in different locations, be they taverns, space station docking bays or star systems. Middle-earth actually has an entire map where your cards move on as a fellowship. Netrunner has a board of essentially the IT infrastructure of a corporation. All of these games are called CCGs. It’s a very recognizable and broad term, especially because all games in this post are very different to each other. Except duelyst and summoner wars.