TCG/OCG Rambling

[Sleepy]

Ever since I've seen the news that Konami would stop with their OCG exclusives, I've seen comments from people thinking maybe they plan to eventually re-merge both sides. Then I end up with the question: Is it even plausible anymore?

I mean, yes, if Konami hypothetically decided they'll definitely do everything in their power to make it happen, we'd have no choice there but to get used to changes, but leave Konami's authority out of the equation for the sake of this thread.

 

Ever since the split, I've seen people leaning to both the different mindsets, sometimes independently from where they play at (OCG or TCG). Just in this very site we see Eternal Winter giving out his thoughts and insight about the OCG every once in a while, and I can see it is different but legit. 

 

Before continuing, one of the issues I think is unavoidable: Several people will start leaning towards one side or the other when it comes to ideas of what a hypothetical unified list would be like, and if possible I'd like to avoid seeing arguments about "we are better than your side"....

Since that'd be bound to happen, can the game change the way of divided lists at all? Some just enjoy the sensation that they don't have to cope with one way of playing since those two different mindset lists exist to lean towards... 

 

Though it isn't all that pro-choice since the side of the world you live at decides for you even if you'd enjoy more one side or the other, and then there's the obvious issue that with such different faces of the same coin, there can't really be a real world competition because people these recent years have had both lists fused together into an otherwise imaginary format nobody plays outside world's, at zero play-testing of a sizable enough quality.

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

IMO, I'd love to see Konami aim to make world-wide releases instead of one side getting exclusives that the other never had in exchange for 3+ months late releases, then after the different card-pool issues be cleared, they focus on keeping both formats but making them go head to head without being localized... AKA: Since each list is a different mindset, it doesn't feel right to kill one off if they ever got to try to unify the game again. Of course that'd come with the issue that part of what makes formats different is that some people enjoy NOT having certain cards around on their side ."Gee I was so glad we didn't have Infinity claiming our side of the metagame" is something I've actually heard, interestingly enough. I don't think that should limit the potential execution of the idea though....

 

 

Feel free to address any of the ideas of this mostly unfocused rambling where I fail to establish a single unifying point concretely.

Do you like having 2 lists? Would you rather have more/less of them (I mean, even the weird "Worlds" list could be a thing too)?

What mindset of the game (format) do you personally find more your thing? (avoid talking about master race absolute correctness for this shaky yet unavoidable question).

Would you rather keep everything as is and not look into it any more than that?
Do you think both sides wouldn't be able to co-exist if they weren't inherently separated by localization? Do you think that'd be a mess for card prices or other factors in the game?

and some other questions I probably forgot to state here because my train of thought is a mess in here.... =D

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Out of fairness, I'm mainly TCG (because of geographical location), but I'm not adverse to mixing TCG/OCG cards together if that'll help.

Also serves as a bit of warm-up for when we eventually get OCG stuff.

 

Do you like having 2 lists? Would you rather have more/less of them (I mean, even the weird "Worlds" list could be a thing too)?

 

What mindset of the game (format) do you personally find more your thing? (avoid talking about master race absolute correctness for this shaky yet unavoidable question).

Would you rather keep everything as is and not look into it any more than that?

Do you think both sides wouldn't be able to co-exist if they weren't inherently separated by localization? Do you think that'd be a mess for card prices or other factors in the game?

and some other questions I probably forgot to state here because my train of thought is a mess in here.... =D

1. I admit that it does get a bit confusing at times having two lists, but looked at objectively, the OCG list deals with the problems prevalent on their end (with certain cards) and doesn't punish the TCG for their impact before we get a chance to play them at home.

 

In all, I don't really mind the split lists, though indeed TCG/OCG have different playstyles depending on what got hit on the respective ends.

(i.e. OCG can play HEROs with Stratos; TCG has to suffer without him for a while until Konami makes a tamer substitute or something else)

 

2. Because I don't play competitively (for reasons), I probably shouldn't be saying things on this subject.

As much as I would like to win matches (which would be something in the OCG mentality of play), I also would like to enjoy playing stuff I like.

 

I don't know; probably don't have a favorite thing about the gamestate as a whole.

 

So yeah, I'll leave things as they are.

Haven't really minded things since the split (and even before then).

 

3. I don't really know; without the exclusives and stuff on our end, TCG/OCG would be closer in terms of card pool.

Yeah, Japan still has a bunch of random cards that only they still have [not that it's an issue at this time], but it would more/less keep playstyles close.

 

Only problem is the rarity bumps/drops in certain cases.

 

Konami has a habit of bumping certain cards up a good amount of rarities when they come over to TCG (and vice versa).

A card that could very well be Common in the OCG gets shot up to Ultra/Secret Rare here.

 

Pre-Tactical Evolution (well, from Soul of the Duelist to Force of the Breakers), set composition was the same both ways.

 

Though, given the composition of OCG packs (from memory), it might jam up prices but I cannot be certain.

 

(TBH, I don't mind buying OCG version cards if they're going to be cheaper [or even more readily available] than their TCG counterparts. I don't play tournaments IRL, so whether it's TCG/OCG matters not to me.)

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Well one thing nice about OCG is that decks are pretty cheap. You used to be able to build Nekroz for about 60$ which is dope

 

I was thinking about this too, with seemingly no Superstars 2 I would not be surprised to see some manner of reunification.

 

Truth be told, a merging of TCG and OCG is not a will question, but a when.

 

OCG will have to hit BA, TCG will have to hit m&m's and Magicians.

 

It will really boil down to can TCG handle cards like Shock, which the answer to is yes given a decent trap line up, that being said will Tewart give in? After Bestiari? Doubtful.

 

If more people tried OCG, I think most of the false stigma would vanish, but Geographical location like Sakura said is a problem

 

That being said, if TCG gets the 10 card import every set, we'll easily get all the V-Jump and other promos out there. And the Metagames will pretty much be unified. 

[Mysty]

Personally, if I were Konami, I could:
• Set all future sets to have the same release date worldwide, and get rid of the ?CG-Exclusive card slots.

• Make a set containing EVERY card exclusive to a region. (Yes, EVERY SINGLE CARD that not every region has, even all of Japan's normal and fusion monsters. Make those the commons).

• Set up a system so any promos can be released everywhere at once. (Apparently Europe doesn't get all of North America's promos. Fix that.)

• Make a universal banlist to apply everywhere. The "easiest" way to go about it (and most "neutral" way for Konami) would be to combine the current two banlists, going with the more restrictive of the two listings for an individual card, and then adjust from there.
• Amend the rules or rulings differences between TCG and OCG, as well as any other differences I may have missed.
• Allow any language card to be used anywhere so long as an accurate translation can be provided and opaque sleeves are used (if the card backs are different). Since the card pool will be the same, there won't be any issues.
• Whatever else my associates find that I missed and that helps toward the unification of the game.

If you didn't guess, I'm very for unification of the game. I'm actually surprised that the game has lasted this long regionalized, but if Worlds says anything, the game shouldn't be "separate" in the first place.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

It will really boil down to can TCG handle cards like Shock, which the answer to is yes given a decent trap line up, that being said will Tewart give in? After Bestiari? Doubtful.

 

Based purely on a financial aspect, it makes vastly more sense for the fused Banlist to take after the TCG list, due to it being the predominant format worldwide.

[~British Soul~]

This is something that some of the guys were discussing on facebook last night.

And I agree with them, I'd be fine if he had a unified banlist again tbh.

 

Based purely on a financial aspect, it makes vastly more sense for the fused Banlist to take after the TCG list, due to it being the predominant format worldwide.

I very much agree with this.

[Diabolus ex Machina]

This all seems speculation to be honest. OCG would have to fall back by 3 months. How that would happen we don't know

[Sleepy]

This all seems speculation to be honest. OCG would have to fall back by 3 months. How that would happen we don't know

 

OR the TCG would fast forward 3 months, and we've had catch-up packs in the packs. Just to name a few, there's a good number of DM times sets that each are actually 2+ of the OCG sets combined like Labyrinth of Nightmare in TCG, which is a fusion of OCG Labyrinth of Nightmare and Spell of Mask. There's also many alternatives like World Super Stars, Legendary  Collection reprints, Gold Series, etc, which can always be made to fill in for that.

 

Of course, that's if the decision of fusing the formats again was to happen, it could be one way to go about it.

[Diabolus ex Machina]

OR the TCG would fast forward 3 months, and we've had catch-up packs in the packs. Just to name a few, there's a good number of DM times sets that each are actually 2+ of the OCG sets combined like Labyrinth of Nightmare in TCG, which is a fusion of OCG Labyrinth of Nightmare and Spell of Mask. There's also many alternatives like World Super Stars, Legendary  Collection reprints, Gold Series, etc, which can always be made to fill in for that.

 

Of course, that's if the decision of fusing the formats again was to happen, it could be one way to go about it.

Wouldn't really work. See OCG has BoSH already. We are only getting that in January, so we need to share the release date for Valient. Which means TCG will have to move up production of Valient by 2 months or OCG will have to delay production for two months

 

Then comes unifying the banlist and how polarized the changes are now days. I don't see it

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Based purely on a financial aspect, it makes vastly more sense for the fused Banlist to take after the TCG list, due to it being the predominant format worldwide.

Not really, most of the card banned are easy enough to get. It'd be a financial boon, since you could reprint those and get some money out of it.

 

+ KoJ and Shushy are the ones in control anyway, you'd be surprised how prevalent the Asian market is

 

Now is it more comfortable for TCG players? Yeah, but we're gonna jabroni about something or the other, that's what makes us, us

 

Do more countries play TCG, sure, doesn't necessarily mean more people play it

[Sleepy]

Wouldn't really work. See OCG has BoSH already. We are only getting that in January, so we need to share the release date for Valient. Which means TCG will have to move up production of Valient by 2 months or OCG will have to delay production for two months

 

Then comes unifying the banlist and how polarized the changes are now days. I don't see it

 

Definitely, an immediate change would not work. I don't think they'd aim at it for "let's do it by next set" standards, but slight accelerations between set releases by a small margin at a time would work to eventually put things up to pair, it'd demand both sides working together a little bit more in real time for the OCG to share things with TCG in time to make it possible in the long run, but I'm sure the idea is not impossible.

 

As for the part of unifying the lists, I would more so like to have both be legal world-wide formats to play rather than shoving one side's ideology on to the other by unifying it completely, which personally I'd find interesting to see since it'd keep both ideologies while giving both markets the chance to lean towards one or the other in IRL play for the individual player, or plain try out both without having to fly to the other side of the world for official play. It'd still work if both formats keep getting supported by official events promoting them, and keeping their popularity from tilting much would be like the game competing within itself to get better, in a way.

 

Of course, if some people would rather have unifying lists or keep both lists limited to a side of the world and decide the changes would rather happen elsewhere in the game, I also like hearing the thoughts out about it.

[Diabolus ex Machina]

Definitely, an immediate change would not work. I don't think they'd aim at it for "let's do it by next set" standards, but slight accelerations between set releases by a small margin at a time would work to eventually put things up to pair, it'd demand both sides working together a little bit more in real time for the OCG to share things with TCG in time to make it possible in the long run, but I'm sure the idea is not impossible.

 

As for the part of unifying the lists, I would more so like to have both be legal world-wide formats to play rather than shoving one side's ideology on to the other by unifying it completely, which personally I'd find interesting to see since it'd keep both ideologies while giving both markets the chance to lean towards one or the other in IRL play for the individual player, or plain try out both without having to fly to the other side of the world for official play. It'd still work if both formats keep getting supported by official events promoting them, and keeping their popularity from tilting much would be like the game competing within itself to get better, in a way.

 

Of course, if some people would rather have unifying lists or keep both lists limited to a side of the world and decide the changes would rather happen elsewhere in the game, I also like hearing the thoughts out about it.

Multiple formats sounds really neat TBH.

 

But this is Konami we're talking about

[Spinny]

Honestly I only play DNCG so having them both apart is a massive hindrance because I would love to play TCG but I like the ocg exclusives so much x.x

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Based purely on a financial aspect, it makes vastly more sense for the fused Banlist to take after the TCG list, due to it being the predominant format worldwide.

 

 

 

You know what, I'd be game for that. What I cannot stand is being given an alternative to TCG and then being treated as a second class citizen because I prefer said alternative. Either make both formats playable or just make TCG or OCG or w/e.

 

Nothing more irritating than almost give someone something then not give it to them

 

That being said, with OCG happily reprinting cards like Reborn and KoJ/Shushy typically calling the shots, I think we can expect that OCG would not take kindly to TCG cleaning out their format.

 

More likely than not, Konami will do what it does best, Ignore all problems and do nothing