In this article, you’ll find definitions about some common terms in TCGs (Trading Card Games) and more specifically Altered. Those definitions aren’t flawless but give a preview of the concepts.
Strategies
This section is about the main strategies in Altered. Note that a deck is never fully described by a single archetype. These are the main categories of decks:
Aggro : an aggressive deck whose goal is to win as early as possible.
Midrange : a deck whose goal is to win in the mid-game. This is an intermediate between Aggro and Control : you won’t get out of breath early nor wait for a long term set up.
Control : a very slow deck requiring some set up. The goal is to control your opponent and adapt your plays to their actions.
Combo : The deck is based on cards that synergies well together. The goal is to gather the combo pieces to win the game.
Disruption : The deck is based on depleting the opponent’s ressources and break down their combos.
Ramp : The main focus of this kind of deck is to gather as many ressources (here mana) as possible to play huge cards earlier.
Token : The focus of this deck is to play multiple token characters and flood the board with them.
In-Game
Manaing : put a card in mana.
Removal : A card or effect which removes a card controlled by your opponent (character or permanent).
Card Advantage (create) : action generating more cards for you than your opponent. (for instance: you use one card to counter two cards of your opponent, or draw two cards from a single card effect)
Card Disadvantage (create) : action generating more card for your opponent than you. (for instance: you use two cards to counter one card of your opponent)
Value (create) : action that give you an advantage over your opponent. (regarding card, mana etc.)
Bounce : Send back to hand a card on the Board.
Board : The area of the game visible to everyone (here the expeditions, the reserves and the landmarks).
Topdeck : To draw or resupply the perfect card in your current situation.
Commit : To take a decision narrowing the possibility of play to one.
Highroll : To have luck in a random action.
Line of Play : A possible succession of action for the afternoon.
Rollback : Return to a previous state of the game due to a mistake. (Generally, a rule error)
Out of Play
Metagame : The overall knowledge of the game and it’s practices.
Mana Curve : The proportion of card by mana cost in your deck. If displays with a bar-graph, you should see a curve)
Deckbuilding : The creation and reflection leading to the construction of a deck.
Archetype : A category to describe a deck like “aggro”, “combo”, “disruptive” etc. They are meant to describe a deck goal easily.
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