Author: Nathan Doverspike
Okay, so that’s a pretty strong title and possible even a little click-baity. What can I say? I have very strong feelings towards Final Fantasy TCG (I’ll just refer to it as FFTCG from now on). A few months ago, I wrote an article on why it was my new favorite hobby. Now, I’m confident that this is the best TCG out there, and here’s why.
Reasonable Barrier to Entry
As with all TCG, there is a barrier to entry, meaning there is a slight hump to overcome before becoming invested in the game. However, unlike many other TCG out there like Magic The Gathering, the cost to start playing FFTCG is noticeably lower. For my first competitive tournament, I entered after buying two booster packs and a starter set (consisting of 50 cards, rule book, and play mat) for $25 total after tax. Considering it took hundreds of dollars before I competed in my first Magic tournament, I would say that’s a pretty fair price to begin playing. Plus, I came in third against people who have played the game for much longer than I had, meaning I felt like I was on a much more level playing field than I ever did playing MTG.
Another barrier to entry is the difficulty of the game itself. FFTCG can be difficult at times, especially with all the options available to you with how you build your deck. But, it only took me about 10-15 minutes to get a good grasp on the basics of a turn, how cards work, and how to properly play certain abilities with maximum efficiency. I would definitely describe this game as easy to learn, hard to master. I don’t think there is another TCG out there that better exemplifies this. For new players, that should be something to take into consideration when starting a new card game.
Better Value In Packs
This part is subjective, and I will be the first to admit that. However, as someone who played MTG for a very long time, I can attest to the massive number of cards I accumulated that were essentially useless. To me, this isn’t good design in a card game. I understand that not every card will be fantastic, but to open up a pack and see that the “rare” card you get from it is worth less than the easily found “common” cards in the pack, in addition to its abilities/stats are worthless, that results in the feeling like you just wasted money. When I play card games, I don’t ever want to feel like I am wasting my money, since each pack alone is normally $4 before tax or shipping if you are ordering online. Sure, I’ve opened FFTCG packs and put the rarer card in a sleeve and into my binder, but I am sure I could find a use for it in a new deck.
Also, you are guaranteed one foil card in every pack. These foil cards can be of any rarity, and pulling a legend foil is such a great feeling, especially when it’s a foil Wol! Having a foil in every pack drastically increased the chance to have a fantastic return on your investment in that pack. No joke, I recently pulled a pack that had $60 of value in the cards, and yes, it did include that foil Wol from Opus V.
No Banned Sets
This is a big one to me. In Magic, they cycle through sets as time passes, meaning that in order to compete in certain tournaments, you also must buy all the new cards. This also means that any investment you made in the previous sets is now wasted if you wish to still compete in that format. As FFTCG grows, it is likely that certain sets may be pushed out of the standard format. However, as of this article, that is not the case. That is a huge plus when comparing it to other TCG out there.
The Community
This one is also subjective, but after meeting many other FFTCG players, I can confidently say that the majority of them are decent human beings who just love the game. They aren’t there to win the tournament to turn around and sell all those cards and are rude to everyone they interactive with (speaking from personal experience on that one).
Overall, I am very thankful that one of my coworkers introduced me to this game. Without him, I would have never known how awesome the game is, or met the fantastic people who also play this game. How about you? Have you played any TCG lately? Is there one that you also this is really good and would suggest checking out? Let me know in the comments! [Click here for a complete version of the rules from the creators.]
Golden Age Gamers 