Trading Card Games – Slovak scene of playable and tradable cards

The collecting mania has probably hit almost everyone at some point. However, unlike ordinary mortals, people from the trading card game community have turned the fun into a passion and often even gaming mastery not only on a domestic but also an international level. Trading card games give them more than just filled collector albums. They train their brains, hone their strategic thinking, and spend time with people with the same blood type, and most importantly – it's great fun!

The mother of all trading card games

Collectible Card Games (CCG) or Trading Card Games (TCG) originated in the form we know them today in 1993. At that time, mathematics professor and inventor and now legendary game designer Richard Garfield first introduced the game he had invented in the 1980s to get university students to learn probability and combinatorics in a fun way. A duel of mages fighting to the death with hordes of monsters and powerful spells – Magic: The Gathering .

This game caused a stir at the Origins gaming expo. It brought something completely new – a way of playing that no one had seen before. Instead of a complete game in a box, players bought smaller sets of random cards, from which they then assembled a game deck for a given match before each game. The entire first edition sold out in a single weekend, and it was clear that collectible card games were going to be the new craze.

The basis of this craze is mainly the complexity and difficulty of this brilliant game, along with the emphasis on strategic thinking, thanks to which it can compete with chess. The abundance of cards allows for the creation of countless strategies and paths to victory. The construction of the playing deck, its composition and strategy are as important as luck in drawing cards and skill in playing the game itself.

Today, this first modern and now legendary collectible card game has over 20 million players worldwide, and the well-known collectible card game publisher Wizards of the Coast has sold over 20 billion of its playing cards. Its game system later became the standard for many other collectible card games.

Magic: The Gathering already exists today, like other collectible card games, of course, not only in physical but also in digital form. The nice thing about these games, however, is that their digital version will always lag behind the physical form of playing cards and their collectible dimension. Playing them also requires players to actually meet and socialize, which is good news in this day and age of many hours spent in front of screens of various sizes. Not only for parents who are looking for ways to reduce their children's screen time, but also for adults who are struggling with a similar problem.

The hunt for the coveted card

Rare, rare, special or historical cards often have a high collector value. Furthermore, the decks are sold in various thematic sets or special and limited edition boxes, which are also the subject of collector passion.

Community is everything

In Bratislava, the heart of the community of all collectible card games is the Cloudpost gaming room, which has been operating in various variations for more than 10 years. It was started by a group of enthusiasts who met and organized games in their clubhouse. Players used tournament entry fees to fund common areas, and a strong community of players formed around Cloudpost, for whom the club became a small refuge.

Cloudpost is a kind of "third place" for many. If they are not at home or at work or school, they come here. It is a place where they always find people on a similar wavelength. Patrik Šurab , internationally licensed Magic: The Gathering referee

The hardest core consists of 200-300 hardcore players, but the wider community has around 1000 players in Bratislava alone. Tournaments take place every day, as well as free play, during which you can learn the basics of several card collecting games. In addition to "Magic", another global trading card game, Pokémon, is also played here with similar intensity.

During major events, such as the arrival of a new series of cards (release or pre-release), the tournament will gather up to 80 players - both newcomers and seasoned fighters. However, if you expected to find only young ears sitting at the gaming tables, you would be wrong. Many players belong to the 30+ category. This is also, as with video games, the strongest target group in terms of purchasing power and marketability.

We go on vacations together, organize cottages, and help each other in everyday life. You wouldn't believe the friendships that can be formed over magic cards.

In addition to organized Magic: The Gathering games under the official auspices of the game publisher in the game room, there are also groups of players elsewhere in Slovakia who meet just like that. Over a beer or a glass of kofola, depending on age, in their favorite establishment to have fun together after a long day. One of them meets, for example, every Wednesday at the Marlon Pub, also in Ružinov, Bratislava, where they play a variant of Magic: The Gathering in a form called Commander .

Cards better than bitcoin

The first series of collectible card games were published in very small editions. Just like the first stamps or old paintings, original cards are gaining value in the eyes of collectors, often reaching five-figure sums in euros. Among the most famous collectibles is the so-called Power Nine . This is a set of 9 game cards that were sold only from the beginning of the history of Magic: The Gathering. They are the cards Black Lotus, Ancestrall Recall, Time Walk, Timetwister and 5 gems – Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby and Mox Emerald. Prices for a single card from the original series – so-called Alpha – are currently in the thousands of euros. However, the original edition of the Black Lotus card is legendary. A single card was auctioned at an auction in July 2018 for an incredible almost 80 thousand euros.

If you happen to come across a Charizard card with an error in the holographic printing (so-called Error Card ) from the Pokémon trading card game, you could end up with the equivalent for more than 10,000 euros. However, the most expensive Pokémon card by far is the Pikachu Illustrator card, which was given out to the winners of only one tournament in 1998. There are somewhere between 20 and 40 of them in the world, of which only 10 are in perfect condition. The price of such a card is slowly approaching 100,000 euros today.

Even less valuable cards are a hot commodity. Prices rise and fall based on player popularity, and new strategies can really shake up prices. Cards worth a few cents can go up by several dollars in a matter of days, bringing their owner a handsome profit of thousands of percent. Professional traders in trading cards have a profession similar to art dealers, which they present on online forums or YouTube channels.

For many investors, rare cards have become another alternative investment vehicle, similar to art, after the cryptocurrency crash. Some cards have been literally bought up by investors. Patrik Šurab , internationally licensed Magic: The Gathering referee

Many investors who like to put their money in alternative investments have reached for collectible cards after the fall of bitcoin - whether hockey players, football players, but also Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Many cards have seen their prices increase several times. For example, the relatively expensive card The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale , which you could buy for around 1,500 euros not long ago, is now selling for twice that. Finding out the value of individual cards is no longer a problem. There are many websites and forums where you can find out the current approximate value of any card. This is especially important for beginners, so that they do not end up exchanging a card worth an entire deck for a few ordinary cards.

Despite the fact that collectible card games also have an investment dimension and you can spend a lot of money on cards, if you want to have fun, all you need is a basic starter pack and a desire to play and trade. If you come to Bratislava's Cloudpost in iHRYsku on Trenčianská Street, many more experienced players will gladly give you a few basic cards to get you started, in addition to valuable advice. Age is irrelevant here. The game is still primarily a game. However, the trading cards are also a great exercise for the brain and a way to get acquainted with a great community of similar "crazy people".