How to be Competitive With Games That Cost a Lot of Money

Everyone knows that CCG's can cost you a lot of money. Why? Because there will always be that one card you really want for your deck, and always just that one is hard to get, and thus very expensive. And to top that, every 3 months or so, a whole new set will come out that will cringe your wallet even more.

In the old days, powerful cards in CCG's usually were rare or ultra rare ones, thus giving the upper hand to players who had a lot of money to spend. Luckily, nowadays CCG's have the tendency to shift this power pattern to include uncommon and common cards as well, giving players with a small bank account (like the most of us) a good run for their money, and not forgetting to mention, it focuses the game more to skill than bank account balance.

But there is more. Much more. Read on if you are interested in getting the most Bang for your buck, euro, yen or gold pressed Latinum.

Introduction

I am a married man, working hard to get a family going, and therefore do not have a lot of money to spend on the things I like to do most (playing ccg's). Sure, I could get a second mortgage, or sell my car and go barefoot to work, but I don’t think that will be a solution. I am sure many of you are in the same situation, be it married with kids, a student, or just addicted to ccg's in general, and thus have to spread your love around.

I had the same problem for Stargate. I like the game, but since I already play Starchamber and some other games, I did not have a lot of money to spend for it. And since Sony is also charging us European players 17% VAT taxes on each item (even Event passes!), my initial thoughts were to drop the whole game together. Then I decided to just try to build one deck, and set a fixed amount of money to spend on the game.

Go On a Budget

Here is a short summary of how I did it. It might be of some advice and a guideline for other players as well. It shows you how to build a decent deck to play with, and keep the invested amount of money as low as possible.

I wanted to be competitive, but not sell my kidneys to be able to play this game. I set an initial budget of 50 euros (around $70), and $15 (4 packs) for each month. So the overall costs would be similiar to playing an online MMORPG.

When you go 'on budget', you will have to compromise a lot of things.

First the easy one - No full playset

A play set is where you have all cards to the maximum allowed in your deck, in Stargate's case 3 x each card. That will already save you a lot of extra money. Sure, some cards you might want to have in multiple to increase the chances of drawing them, but that will just have to wait. Just get them one by one.

Second - no Foils

Even though them shiny thingies really get everyone going, they are also costly, even more if you keep closing in on a complete set of foilies. Set this plan on ice, preferably far away as well, and seal that gate.

Third - Go for just One deck only in the first few weeks

Plan your deck. Write down the cards you need. Read the spoiler lists and the forums. Play some games and find out which cards are good and make one deck with them. Then try to fill in each gap in that deck card by card. Cards for making other decks will have to wait if you are on a budget, but will usually come automatically when time goes by, and when you get more and more cards by trading.

Fourth - Roam the trade boards and /ptrade often.

Sometimes a very good deal might pop by that you just can’t miss. Even if you don’t have anything really for trade right now, just browse, so you know what cards are wanted, and what cards are easy to get.

Fifth - trade/sell away all your unwanted cards.

In this case: all Foils you happen to stumble upon and all rares/uncommons you won’t play with. Trade them for Rares you want or for EP's. It could require some trading skills here and there, but don’t overdo it (like trying to trade 2 commons for 100 EP's). If you are unsure how much a sertain card is worth, check out this sites pricelist.

Sixth - Try to get some Promo cards early on.

If you step into a game early on, Promo cards are usually easier to get, and cheap. Don’t try to get all the promo cards, just keep the ones you need for playing, and sell/trade the rest later on. Remember, you are on a budget. It is impossible to get all the cards with only a small budget.

If you follow these guidelines, I am sure you can get a long way in this game with a minimum of money invested.

How I Did It

Here are the details of the choices that I made to stick within my budget.

I registered 2 Beta accounts, just to get 2 free Starter decks at the end of beta. I had to buy a registration package for the two of them (to be able to trade) that costs me: 2 x 14.99 = 29.98, x VAT = $35.

For that I got all 4 starters, 2 Teal'c (Enemy of the Goa'uld) Promos (Virtual) and 2 Teal'c (Enemy of the Goa'uld) Promo's (Physical) and 4 booster packs.

After that, I bought 9 booster packs which costs: 9 x 3.49 = 31.41 x VAT = $36.75.

So for just over $70 I got:

• All 4 starters
• 13 boosterpacks
• 2 x Teal'c Promo
• 2 x Teal'c Promo (Physical)

I could have played in the release tournaments as well, for the Promo fifth, but that would surely bring me over the budget I had set for this game, so I skipped it.

I really wanted to get UR Jack o Neil, to build the same deck I was playing in beta. But I didn’t have him initially. I did get lucky on other fronts. The 13 packs came out like this:

• 2 x Common Foil
• 2 x Uncommon Foil
• 1 x Daniel Jackson (Linguistics Expert)
• 1 x Cameron Mitchell (Keen Strategist)
• 1 x D Anubis (Galactic Menace) (whoohoo!)
• Some 4-5 useful rares.

Working /ptrade

First I did the easy things: I put up on /ptrade all the cards I did not wanted for EP's. (I find it easier to trade Rares for EP's, than trade a card for another card).

I put up the Common foils for 2 EP each, the Uncommon ones for 3 EP, and some 4-6 Rares I wasn’t planning on using for 2-4 EP each.

I also put up one of the Teal'c virtual promo's for 10 EP, and kept the other (it might be worth more later on), and of course redeemed the ones who will be mailed to me (those will go on ebay when I get them).

The extra Starter deck foils (team characters) I won’t use went up on /ptrade for 1 EP each. There might always be someone who likes to get a full playset of them.

Just after one week, I had more than 25 EP to spend. Those quickly got me an UR Jack o Neil for 5 EP, and 3 more packs with some EP's left in my account. The 3 rares I got in those packs were bad (quickly put on /ptrade), but I did get another Foil common, which was easily snatched away for 2 EP on /ptrade.

I did some more trading here and there and now have more than enough to get me going for a long time. I even snatched another D card Goa'uld Bomb off the /ptrade boards, which I will save to trade for cards I really need later on.

It surely helps to know which cards will become hard to get/ worth some money, or in player terms: power rares. Cards like Antoniek Armband, Oma Desala (Guide to Ascension), Walter Harriman (Technician) and Hathor (Mother of All Pharaohs) are sure to hit the $8 very soon. So I did not hesitated a single moment when I saw Armband up for 5 EP, and Oma for 6 EP.

I now have 2 'competitive' decks, 0 EP left, but still some goodies in my collection to trade away if needed (Promo Teal'c, D Anubis, and D Goa'uld Bomb).

So, I plan to use this tactic for a few months. Buy 4 packs, trade away all that I don’t need or want for EP's, and try to get the cards I do want.

With this, I am able to continue play for a long time, while only investing a very small amount of money. Agreed, it takes some 'lurking' and some compromises, but it will benefit me in the long run.

I am sure that there will be players just like me who will benefit from this 'plan', and I encourage everyone to add your own advice in the comments below.

Step through!

Chokehold.