Video

"What do we do with it?" Is such a great critique of this age. We should have more time than anyother point in history. Thanks for the thought provoking stream!

Why Team Covenant matters? You bring the good old fashioned human element to tabletop games. Keeping us all slightly more sane in an ever increasingly 'busy' world. I truly, truly hope and wish you and TC 3.0 endeavour all the success I imagine it will have, given time. Love you guys and would be an honour to visit the store someday, of I ever make my way back to America. Been a while since I left in 95.

Congrats on becoming fathers guys, my kid is 19 and in college. My one peice of advice, cherish the time, it goes by so very quick. Im 40, so of an age with yah both, your thoughts and veiws run so peralell to mine theres no doubt had we been brought up in the same area we all would have been fast friends. Keep doing what you all do and enjoy these early moments in parenthood!

Great chat guys! Parasocial fist bump

Such a great, and deep, stream. Love these deep discussions and their links to games!

Man I loved this game. Hope they print it again at some point.

Loved the stream. As a 2 year old dad, I've also found the difference between "fun and happy" adventures in pre kid life with my wife, vs the deep satisfaction of watching our daughter learn to walk and talk is hard to put into words.

Please do more Sorcery and also Netrunner !

Following along 3 years later, the memories are amazing. I was in middle/junior/high school when this game was out, and I spent every spare dime on it but never found anyone local to play with. Recently dug out my old collection and time to see if I can find any old players :-) I still love the "no tokens, no score counters, everything's in the cards" style.

All the different mechanics are what makes it interesting. If it were streamlined to only one resource, one type of card, etc., it all becomes less engaging. It has lots of moving parts that need to be managed but each describes a different concept. If you eliminate the mechanic then you eliminate the concept. It's complex, but it all works just fine and becomes easy to remember when you have a couple games under your belt. You two just started the game and by the 2nd game you could analyze decks just by looking at the cards. This game is a very tasteful merge between a card game and a TT roleplaying game. There are social elements, combat, etc. It's great.

Such a great game. My favorite CCG/LCG. Great comment at 59 minutes by Kaiwa - The game is so thematic you don't even care who is winning. Amen. So fun.

Does anyone know anyone in Dallas texas looking to buy original AEG warlord cards? Clan boxes, battle box, and other loose cards in good shape,

Really wanna try Patrice Hathaway as sometime. She seems like a challenge.

All I expect from a game store is maybe air conditioning because I live in the deep South. I never played tournaments that weren't local, never received a promo for playing weekly, and was never charged a table fee. The only thing that might motivate me to invest in a new game and travel to play is a compelling narrative and the opportunity to influence story if I win. That's more valuable to me than cash prizes. That's probably why I haven't invested in a new TCG since 2010. Now I just play MECCG with friends who play and TC got my wife and I into Arkham Horror LCG.

YOU ARE BOTH AWESOME! ❤️ ❤❤

Dragon balls effects are immediate, not used when you want unless otherwise specified. When the card says “physical/energy attack does +X if successful. Raise/lower anger.” And the card is blocked you still raise/lower the anger. Y’all didn’t. Otherwise this was fun to watch

I love the Sorcery streams. It's like a throwback Thursday without being an actual throwback. Or Thursday. But I wish you guys had the time to bring back the real throwbacks (Thursday or otherwise)!

My side tangent on this specific example (SW:U) is how much "could" have been due to the shortage of cards? like... if you can't buy product (all sold out)... then "random pack" if you show up for game night is the one thing you can do to add to your collection.... So is this example still valid across other games (FAB, pokemon, etc, etc)... or was it the lack of product in SW:U scenario that made it quite so dramatic? My other thought is personally I'm just too dang busy to really get out to the LGS as often as I should... whether for a new TCG or a launch event or a casual event or an organized tournament... so I literally have to cherry pick the "best" event for me to support in a given month just due to scheduleing with work, family, friends, etc... I think if we go back to your pub example... how many people can just "leave work" and go to the pub for a drink with co-workers or a "game" with friends at the LGS? vs how many people who'd love to get a pint or a pack or play in a casual event just can't get out on a random Tuesday or can't go straight from work to the shop or the pub for a game with "like-minded-folks"... So I feel like it is our culture of "go-go-go" and being too busy that prevents us from "just" going to the LGS (or the pub) to hang out with people who could be friends that we just haven't met yet.

Re: a commenter's "​​Speculators have any function which is to send out proper market signals" Huh? Natural market signals don't exist without people buying something who don't even want to consume it? Do you hear yourself?

Whoa, right at about 1:00:00, is that basically (MIT) Forrester's classic "Beer distribution game"? People ordering demanding more than they need so that they can get the lesser amount that they really want?

Sorry for the string of comments; I'm firing them off as I watch. Packs were much more valuable when I was younger and my disposable income was a lot less. Now that I buy ccgs by the box and sometimes case, it has next to no value. There are old school and vintage mtg tournaments that players will pay hundreds of dollars to enter (NYSE VIII in June had a $500 entry fee, and they got a turnout of 109 players). The top prize was a Black Lotus, but the caliber of players and the pedigree of the tournament draws people even outside the country to play.

In the wargaming hobby, a third space due paying club is common in the EU, especially the UK. As stated around 1:18:00, this is particularly driven by the fact that homes in the EU/UK are smaller than in North America, so they needed to find somewhere to play. Retail real estate is also a lot more expensive, so only really high end stores have dedicated play space.

Covenant, have you all seen the Godzilla decks for Universus? Attack on Titan is coming. Maybe a subscription for Universus challenger decks?

"Achievements" is exactly the right word for it. I first got introduced to that in World of Warcraft and I found it to be so strange. Even more on Playstation etc. You played through a game --> Achievement. It turns even non competitive things into competitive spaces. Now TCGs are mostly played to win and thats fair but the fun of playing shouldn't be competitive. "Look I have so many promos I enjoy this game way more than you who only sits at home and looks at the cards." Magic the Gathering has ultimately monetized this via the "Secret Lair" a horrible, attrocious, cynical and greedy monstrosity of a product for something that once was a game. At the moment I think Sorcery has a fair level of promo cards. It's not too much and some like Curio cards are super rare and SUPER expensive. But at the same time the focus still is on the regular cards I think.

I’ve always thought the golf course/club was a good way to rethink the value a FLGS provides. I hear Steven’s point regarding most people don’t have “space” to do this at home. It’s certainly true, however I think there are a lot of people that don’t have the space to play these games in their home. Granted, you can maybe find other public spaces that could provide the space, but I think is a board game store created a great in-store play experience people will see value. I’m also coming from more of a board game experience where the space is the biggest value add for me. Your point of paying for players is certainly critical in the CCG/LCG and competitive organized play space. To the earlier point golf is golf for the most part and bowling is bowling, however a board game store is asked to support a wider and more diverse table top community rather than one game with a specific rule set. You are certainly correct in saying the barrier to entry is lower, but board game stores have to find a way to monetize the value they provide to those board gamers. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I would absolutely pay a monthly membership fee for a game store that meets my “space” needs. Always love this conversation and there is so many other places to go. I’ve always wondered what other value add products or services a game store could provide. Can you charge a small fee for high level demos followed by a discount for the game? Could your CCG/LCG subscriptions work for board games for certain publishers or designers? Creating an engaging enough space that people would want to host events, such as birthdays or other celebrations. After school or summer programs/camps for kids? Idk what works and what doesn’t but I appreciate TC speaking on this topic so frequently. It will certainly be a defining problem for the table top industry over the next 5-10 years!

Sorry it took me 3 years to watch, but the series made me check you guys out!

At this stage in my hobbies, even a promo card isn't worth it to me. If I want it, I would rather pay for the card on the secondary market than show up and get it for free. The average gathering of randoms in public spaces (mainly game stores) is usually a net negative for me, even if I go with a group of friends. The only gatherings I will attend are high level competitive tournaments where I am looking for good competition. I don't care about the prizes. I'm there for the challenge. I am willing to suffer going to the store in order to get that competition. A few people in my various playgroups, including myself, have nice places in our homes that we can play. We have no problem with our friends bringing new people along with the assumption that they will be a good fit. Regarding game stores, there are a bunch of issues. Many stores are dark poorly laid out clubhouses. Many players that have no concept of hygiene. Some players that have no sense of social decorum, saying sexist, homophobic, or generally disparaging comments to fellow players. I'm fine with a little ribbing between players, but I don't need to play against Dice Clay. Some players are salty try-hards that can't handle being beat. It's also infuriating when store owners and/or employees refuse to deal with the above players, simply standing behind the counter acting like nothing is happening. There is a store a town over that has a private game room you can rent with a good game table, and we've paid and used it a couple of times when nobody's house was available. The biggest problem with game stores are the random bad players and the stores not willing to cut them off for fear of losing a customer, which is short sighted because it often ends up costing them more customers in the long run.

Did you guys ever dabble in the idea of Gloomhaven back in the day?

I've been having this conversation with people for a few years now, around the time Tolarian Community College started saying "support your LGS". I've been in tcg's for nearly 30 years and in that time I've played in dozens and dozens of card shops. My argument to the "support your LGS" community is, what have they done to earn it? If a restaurant made the best food in the area but you're draped in b.o. the whole time then you likely won't bother going there. Honestly, I've played in every kind of store at this point and a good portion of them were total dumps. Just the smelliest, darkest, most cramped places you can imagine. Playing with some big sweaty dudes literally back to back for hours on end and we all did it for fun but I'm not about to continue on that way. I'm not suggesting that I need prize support, I don't even play competitively anymore but being comfortable shouldn't be a bonus. I've played in YMCA basements, mom and pop shops, regional chains and not one thing is consistent from place to place. I don't know what the answer to this issue is but I know that the current system doesn't work or at least it won't work for the next 30 years. I think Sorcery might have something with their crazy model. I love Erik's vision and if it just amounts to this one set then I'll play it forever but it's insane if they're in the business to make money. The same as any other physical hobby, you just provide the equipment and let the consumer figure it out, I mean that's how Magic started.