First Thoughts on SteemMonsters, Through the Lens of the Magic: the Gathering TCG

So, I just bought the starter set and three booster packs over at SteemMonsters.com.

First impressions:

• The interface at SteemMonsters.com looks great. Simple, easy to use, buying cards is quick and easy, the cards look great, the filter system in the "My Collection" tab is bomb, and the written directions and information on the website are clear as day. Very well put together, good work to @aggroed and @yabapmatt!
• While the art is cartoon-y and kinda cheesy, I dig it. I'm excited to see how it evolves over time. Regardless, it looks clean and polished.
• It's interesting that the "element" system is similar to the color system in Magic: the Gathering, with the addition of the "gold" class. I'm interested to see how the designers/artists will incorporate the idea of "gold" as a whole facet of a combat game-based TCG.
• There are only Monsters and Summoners. Will other card types (mana, global effects, etc.) be implemented?

I've never been a card collector. I play games. @imcrius (my pops) and his friends collected MtG cards in Alpha, and therefore I inherited a hefty collection. I loved learning about and playing Magic in high school, I met a lot of friends this way and introduced many existing friends to the game.

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Keep in mind: Magic: the Gathering is a ridiculously well-designed game. I'd like to outline some key points for you:

There are six (or seven, depending on what version of the game you play) different types of cards: Lands, Creatures, Instants, Sorceries, Enchantments, Artifacts, and (maybe, kind of doubt it though) Interrupts. Lands keep the tempo of the game - they are mana/energy, you can only play one per turn. Once they are "tapped" for mana to use for casting spells in game, they stay that way and are unusable for the rest of the turn. You use this land to cast everything: spells, creatures, and effects. 

Different spells cast at different speeds. In terms of casting speed: 

Interrupts < Instants < Sorceries

Each turn consists of many different steps (or moments in time). There is even a step, technically still during your turn, where you announce that your turn is over, called the end step. Each of these moments in your turn - announcing combat, dealing damage, casting a spell or creature, even playing your land for the turn is a moment in time where any opposing player could cast an instant or interrupt spell in return to retaliate (not a sorcery, they are too slow and can only be played at certain times). The game continues on a fluid timeline, requires a lot of thought and strategy, and is beautifully and intricately designed to yield an insane amount of different possibilities of gameplay, even if you play many games with 1 other person with the same 2 decks.

Magic: the Gathering is the number one TCG ever, by most accounts. Just google "most popular/profitable trading card game" and you'll see a trend. Wizards of the Coast (the company that makes MtG) is worth many hundreds of millions of dollars, and has been going strong for over 20 years now. Lots of things play into their success: the incredible card art, the awesome flavor and lore of the cards, and the incredible game they built. 

This brings me back to an idea about SteemMonsters.

I see so much potential in this online TCG, and the creators have already made a great success out of just the trading portion of it, and have built an awesome community overnight. I'll argue that if this game is Hearthstone-esque (which is an online game similar to Magic but simplified), with interesting turn-based mechanics, as opposed to quick-match style computer-run team fights, people from outside of this platform will be infinitely more interested. This is undeniably a great deal of work, and I don't know exactly what exactly the designers have in mind for the game construct, I just wanted to offer my 2 cents as to how I believe this could be made into a really attractive online TCG, and take over the fucking world. IMO, this has a huge opportunity to onboard a ton of people to Steem and crypto in general, but for that to happen, the cards must be intriguing, the lore should pull me in, and the game should kick ass. 

A quick question on scaling, if @aggroed or @yabapmatt are reading (lol): People are going to need to invest some money (potentially quite a lot) in this game to ever win or make profit, and if they do, how will they stack up against the people who have been here on Steemit building their collections already? The matches will have to be working magic algorithms to ever make a fair game. This also depends on the game mechanics, which we don't know yet, so I'm just speculating. But as those in power on Steemit continue the cycle of the same people making the big bucks constantly, such will happen in SteemMonsters if not solved by calculated scaling or game mechanics.

In conclusion, I'm in the game now :) Stoked to have a single legendary card!

Also stoked to battle all of your armies of goons :D Happy Steeming, all! Go join in on the fun over at SteemMonsters.com!