Weird question I know, but I’ve been curious about it and for some reason, I can’t get a straight answer from google. Paper TCGs specifically, I know some online card games have a low size.
What TCG has the smallest deck size?
Community-driven video game blog & discussion
Android Netrunner constructed can go as low as 40, draft as low as 30.
I’d never heard about this one! I knew YGO also already had a 40 card deck.
That’s really low! Does that game still exist?
Android Netrunner was popular 2012-2018, if you're (relatively) new to card game hobby you might have missed it.
Also Keyforge deck is 37 cards, but that's not really TCG.
Definitely did unfortunately.
I keep hearing conflicting things about Keyforge, what is it?
>what is it?
It's a TCG, don't listen to that guy. The only difference is the decks are sold pre-constructed with semi random cards and cannot be modified.
Solforge Fusion has 31 cards per deck. There's probably TCGs with less cards that nobody has heard about.
Huh sounds interesting. Sadly I’m guessing it’s not widely supported. 31 is really fun sounding.
So I’m guessing YGO is still the most “popular” tcg with the lowest deck count? Although I guess if you count the extra deck, it’s 55 cards.
I'd say so, the only popular TCGs are Yu-Gi-Oh, MtG, Pokemon and maybe Flesh and Blood and Digimon depending on where you are and they all have similarly sized decks.
Even the Speed Duel format which has been mentioned earlier isn't particularly popular, I'd definitely recommend it, it's very fun, but it's within the category of game for which you have to get into a dedicated discord and ask for a match to play.
Alternatively you can play non-TCG card games with your friends. The Arkham horror game LCG or the other stuff by fantasy flight can often be played alone even.
> The Arkham horror game LCG or the other stuff by fantasy flight can often be played alone even.
I looked into that and everything besides the theme seemed perfect yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I bet it’s good, but I’m more a fantasy guy, not noir and crime.
Sadly feels like I missed the bus on all these LCGs since it seems like other than Arkham and Marvel, they’ve all died out.
>Sadly feels like I missed the bus on all these LCGs since it seems like other than Arkham and Marvel, they’ve all died out.
yeah FFG seems to have given up on the idea (the new star wars one is a tcg) but at least plaid hat is still carrying the banner. ashes in particular is a gem and I'm glad it's still in print. and you can still at least find a group to play netrunner most places, even if it's oop.
Ashes looks great! Gotta check it out
yeah, I really like that game. kind of like magic at the high level (wizards, summons, spells) but really tactical.
very small compared to most ccgs, like 300 or 400 cards total in the pool. they only release a little bit at a time. but there's not really any chaff, so it feels like more.
>It's a TCG, don't listen to that guy. The only difference is the decks are sold pre-constructed with semi random cards and cannot be modified.
That LITERALLY isn't a TCG. Do you even fucking know what the "T" in TCG stands for?
I've heard it referred to as a "trading deck game" since it's collectible but you can't break the decks up. whatever you call it, it and solforge are kind of their own thing. I'm not sure if two games constitute a genre.
a lot of the LCGs went toward smaller decks too though. Destiny and Ashes come to mind. summoner wars, few others. netrunner had the variable deck size where some IDs could go down to like 40 and others were forced to be bigger.
I think it's basically down to the creators want the game to feel. big deck sizes create more variance and bigger luck element. makes it more casual and approachable. small deck sizes are higher consistency, which tends to make them more skill intensive and brutal feeling.
Zatch Bell uses a 32 card deck.
Win, Lose, or Banana
Yu-Gi-Oh's Speed Duel format has 20 card decks.
Does that format use special cards or could you use regular cards for it?
Does anyone still play that actually?
sort of, it uses "speed duel" cards, which are literally the same as the normal cards but with a "speed duel" watermark. it's so that the card pool is curated and small, which lends itself to a much different experience than the big game. also speed duel cards can be used in the main game anyway, have better card stock, and feel great.
the fan base is small but dedicated, and they've released all sorts of products regularly, and there's still more on the roadmap so I guess enough people do
Ninjago. 5.
was gonna say anachronism also
that said those are almost not "decks" in the traditional sense.
a lot of ccgs have gone to the 30-40 range though. games that still have big 50 or 60 card are kind of the oldschool and becoming the exception rather than the norm.
Anachronism has 5 card "decks".