I think one of the reasons card games have endured so long is that they’re a complex experience. While many modern games tend to be very 2-dimensional in their approach, being done when you beat the game, there’s so many steps to playing a card game that you’re bound to find different people who are fans of different steps.
In today’s age, buying a game is a matter of installing the game, then playing it. Some more social games may have an additional step of talking with friends about the game, or coordinating gameplay, but those tend to be the more extreme end. Card games have multiple steps to them- there’s the buying, the collecting and ultimately the playing.
With that in mind, I’ve lately been hooked on two very different attempts to bring card games into the digital sphere. Imagine, I can now pour hours of my life into two different card games without having to run out of closet space. A miracle! Sent down by the god of tabletops himself. Rather than compete directly with each other, it’s impressive how different Pokemon TCG Pocket and YuGiOh Master Duel can be. They’ve instead aimed down sights at two different parts of the experience- creating two very unique games.
In This Corner: Pokemon TCG Pocket
Now, it’s hard to see Pokemon TCG Pocket as anything short of the excellent Pokemon-ification of yet another obtuse genre. The Pokemon Company has always done an excellent job of putting a Pokemon spin on things, making sure their forays into different fields are in such a way that Pokemon fans would want to check it out, rather than just appealing to the 5 fans who might care about it. They’ve done it with fighting games, they’ve done it with MOBAs, and with Pokemon TCG Pocket, it feels like they’ve done it with bringing their card game to mobile.
Pokemon TCG Pocket is not a facsimile of the globally powerful Pokemon TCG. It features dramatic rule changes, born largely of its simpler systems. Energy cards are generated once a turn, no longer at the mercy of your ability to draw cards right at the start of the game. Prize cards are also gone, meaning you never have to worry about your ace being isolated for the game.
As a result, even compared to its tabletop counterpart, Pokemon TCG Pocket feels, well, simple. It’s still in its infancy, and so its interactivity feels to the low end. You are entirely safe during your own turn- your opponent doesn’t get to do anything in response, and outside of cards like Rocky Helmet you never have to worry about suddenly losing a Pokemon on your own turn.
That’s not to say there’s no sauce to it- Darkrai EX is diabolical in its abilities, letting you hypothetically snipe out two Pokemon in one turn. Cards like Celebi EX or even Misty mean those blessed with good coin tosses can cause some big havoc- though don’t expect to see yourself getting more than one victory point a turn.
And that’s kind of the core philosophy of Pokemon TCG Pocket- it’s a card game with the guard rails up. A lot of the skill ceiling seems to have been pushed down, giving opponents a chance to win off their opponents bad luck as cards like Pokeball or attacks like Call For Family lose their specific searching powers for random milling instead.
So why play the game? Why is the game a success almost on par with Pokemon Go before it, inducting developer DeNa into Pokemon Dev Valhalla? Because it’s not a competitive Pokemon simulator.
Sure, that’s a great feature to have, but the real magic of Pokemon TCG Pocket is the joy of collecting the cards. Every 12 hours you get another pack to open, which you can choose from a pile of packs just like you were at the store. Back when the game first came out we had playground-esque rumors about slightly-bent packs and stars indicating the presence of “God packs”- ones with valuable cards inside.
Pokemon TCG Pocket is a way for players to enjoy the thrill of collecting the cards, and treasure their favorites. It’s about that specific experience of dudes just hanging out at their local card shop, flexing their binders like they were hot rods. Sure, people are complaining that trading isn’t exactly great, but tell me no one who’s played the game hasn’t shown off their pulls somewhere. I dare you.
In This Corner: YuGiOh Master Duel
To the detriment of its mobile game status, YuGiOh Master Duel seems almost resentful of the platform that birthed it. Released three years ago, the game is rule-for-rule a perfect adaptation of its table game counterpart, and represents the specific appeal of this card game royalty.
What is the appeal of YuGiOh you ask? While more casual players might say it’s recreating their favorite moments from the anime, respectfully, they’re wrong. YuGiOh is a game about chemical reactions.
It’s about overwhelming force, as your monstrosity of a deck snarls and bellows at your opponent’s fourth-rate pile of cardboard inferiority. A good YuGiOh duel looks like you’re playing two different card games against each other- and somehow it’s all working out.
Where Pokemon is two gentlemen politely taking turns boxing each other, YuGiOh feels more… underground. It’s instead two men trying to sucker punch the other, only knowing your opponent had a knife in their pocket because that’s where you keep your knife, too.
Cards are played regardless of whose turn it is. Want to draw cards? This little cat girl says you can’t. Trying to summon a monster? Let me put down a levy that grants me additional cards every time you do. This game’s been out three years and still people act like Maxx ‘C’ shot their dog.
These interactions are the lifeblood of YuGiOh, and Master Duel gets that. It’s why some of its most important staples are purchasable from the shop- you should be losing duels because you didn’t get your knife out, not because you didn’t bring it. I
In YuGiOh Master Duel, the duels are where the magic happens. Each deck has so much personality, that a big part of high-level play is recognizing the characteristics of the deck as a whole and figure out which piece can break the chain with interruptions. In Pokemon TCG Pocket, you’re in the clear once you overcome Darkrai EX. In YuGiOh Master Duel, you need to know how to target the 5 cards that enable it.
This kind of no-holds-barred approach has its side effects: YuGiOh as a whole can be overwhelming to outsiders. While I consider watching someone play through 5 negates to be exciting, the idea of a deck that exists only to stop other people from playing can seem cheap in comparison. Discouraging, even, if you’re the one playing through it.
There’s also the problem that outside of virtual pit fighting there’s not much else to do in the game. While there exists a solid solo mode and collectibles like Deck Mates, you really start to see the holes when you compare Master Duel to Pokemon TCG Pocket.
There, it’s the act of collecting cards itself that’s valued, from the elaborate pack opening visuals to a display board for showing off your favorite cards. It’s a game about collecting your favorite cards- while Master Duel itself is more about building your favorite decks.
To that end, Master Duel is extremely generous when it comes to assembling those decks- any card you’re missing can simply be generated, no banner restrictions getting in the way. Sure, it’s on a steep 3:1 conversion (you’re trashing 3 cards of the same rarity to generate the one you need), and its generous battle pass means as long as you’re committed to dueling regularly you’re going to have a bunch of currency at your disposal.
Judges Score
Given the curse of scalping looming over physical TCGs, it’s nice to see so many flavors of virtual ones on display. There’s a reason games like Pokemon, YuGiOh and even Magic: The Gathering have lasted multiple decades- it’s because they know what it feels like to play them, and it can translate to other formats.
Master Duel’s loyalty to original YuGiOh has given me a way to play the game even without lugging around a deck box- the game is an integral part of my pre-flight ritual whenever I travel. Meanwhile, Pokemon Pocket TCG is baked into my circadian rhythm, with one pack ready the same time I wake up while the other one comes just as I’m closing off my day.
I don’t think games like this will ever replace the thrill of playing a physical card game, though- having automated rulings is fun and all, but I think the best experience is still hanging around and seeing the face of the person negating your game-winning play.
That’s a rant for another time, though. The point is, games like YuGiOh Master Duel and Pokemon TCG Pocket are great for what they are: gateways into the wonderful world of collecting printed cardboard.