Why Chaotic (and other games) Are Important

"Games are important. Games matter. When you play a game - any game - you’re using your imagination to bring a world to life, and that’s truly special, because while all destruction is essentially the same, when you create something, it’s different every single time. When you create something together, you’re building bonds with your fellow gamers that could last for your entire lives." -Wil Wheaton (click here for a link to his blog post)

I started this blog post off by stealing a quote from Wil Wheaton, a famous actor who starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although he was talking about role-playing games, it still holds a lot of weight when you use it to talk about trading card games like Chaotic. When people not familiar with trading card games looks at Maxxor card, to them, it looks no different from a Chaor or even Bodal. But to us, we not only see the words printed in the card, but we also see how cards interact with one another in the giant exchange of ideas that we call the metagame.

Most people don't bother to understand trading card games, and often lump them together with a standard 52 card deck which already has that connection to gambling. And for that reason, most school ban cards from class without understanding what they really are.

Chaotic Inspires Creativity

When you build your own deck, or come up with your own combos, you are being creative. Einstein was a firm believer that creativity is more important than knowledge. It doesn't matter if you know every card, if you have no imagination, you will never be able to make your own deck, or even put your own twist on existing decks. Imagination is the ability to think or something that no one else has thought of before. Education focuses so much on learning that they forget that creativity and imagination are just as important for whatever you choose to do with your life after you finish school. Chaotic not only encourages this, but teaches it to you as well.

Chaotic Teaches Problem Solving

The game of Chaotic is a huge game of tactics. In the beginning of the game, you are given a very fixed amount of resources (Creatures, battlegear, mugic and a 20 build point attack deck). The winner of the game is the person who can best utilize their own resources while, at the same time, remove the resources of their opponent. In order to master the game, players need to looks at every situation and determine whether or not casting a mugic now will benefit them more than if they save it for later. Do you want to cast Song of Resurgence to save your Tangath Toborn, or do you want to save it so you can heal your Maxxor for a bigger fight in hopes that the mugic will give you the win.

Chaotic Helps You Become More Adaptive

One very important and trademark quality of trading card games is the adaption of random chance in game play. Things change. Often. If you have this great and amazing strategy that you think is unbeatable, but your opponent plays a move that you weren't expecting at all, if you want to still salvage a win out of the game, you need to be ready to make quick and tough decisions on the fly. If I've learned anything from playing chaotic, it's that players will often think of things that you aren't ready for. Even if you are surprised, it isn't the end of the game. You can think of a way to win. There is always a way to win if you look hard enough.

Chaotic Encourages Players to Interact with One Another

Do you know how many people became friends because of this game? How people, separated by hundreds of miles and sometimes sharing nothing other than this game have come together and become friends. Do you know how many facebook friends invites I have received? (Sorry, but I'm not accepting anyone else right now) The chaotic forums has so many posts each and every day of people talking in open discussion about this game. That is interaction. People are sharing ideas and improving on one another strategies. I suppose I could have also labeled this section 'Chaotic Encourages Teamwork'.

Final Thoughts

I have thought about writing a small piece like this (rough and unedited as it my be) about a game that does mean a good deal to me. People see games and disregards them without much though. In reality, they should see games and understand their value. There is a lot to say about the importance of games as a whole, and Chaotic is a very big part of that.

New Benchmark

We are approaching a new benchmark on my blog. We are only about 9000 hits away from reaching 300,000 views of my blog! Like with all of the other big numbers, I'll be giving away a free ultra rare card to whomever gives me a screen shot of the 300,000th hit counter to me in my PM box back at chaoticgame.com FIRST. Since there is a little delay with people viewing my blog and the counter going up, there is a chance that more than one of you will see the 300,000 marker, but I'll probably do a raffle for another card for anyone else who sees it.

Until then, stay Chaotic!

Card of the Week: Uksum!

Uksum!

Uksum is one of my favorite creatures that came out of Forged Unity, and that's saying a lot compared to some of the amazing cards that were in the set.

Even though he has a low scanned energy, he can easily have a higher energy than any of the creatures in your army. If you put him in an Army of nothing but high energy creatures, you can easily get his energy up to 90 or 100, but the fun doesn't end there. One VERY important thing to remember about Uksum is that his scanned energy tops out at 25, which means you can cast Melody of the Meek and make him last 9 attacks guaranteed. And I have more, give him a Kha'rall Husk Armor and you're looking at a 140 energy creature who can't take more than 10 points of damage from any source, mugic or attack. A combo like this can shut down decks that rely on high damage dealing attacks, invisibility strike decks, but sadly not burn decks. Unless you can stop your opponent from dealing even small amounts of damage to him before he sees combat, he isn't going to last that long.

You can use these same combos with his brainwashed side. He's a 65 energy Kha'rall who can't be burned as easily, and you can still give him the 50 energy boost from the Husk Armor and combo Melody of the Meek. You can even give him a shard to give him another element and defender to help our the rest of your team. Even though you can't get his energy as high as you could with hie first ability, you are more more adaptable with his battlegear choices of lower energy creatures.

Rate out of five!

Twitter

So I'm relaunching my twitter account so you guys can follow me from day to day on my progress on gauntlets and other various whatnot.

twitter.com/occasus

From the gauntlet

So I'm actually ahead in production of my from the gauntlets, I'm just waiting on blargers for the last piece of the puzzle...

An Update

Hey guys, I know that From the Gauntlet is behind schedule, but I am getting headway on the project. Currently, i am waiting on one thing before I launch the project. Dont worry, you guys will enjoy what we are waiting on ;).

Garv

Show me a player who undervalues garv, and I'll show you one misinformed chaotic player! Ever since he came out all the way back in the Dawn of Perim block, he's been a force to be reckoned with. This card is a bit of nostalgia since one of the very first blog posts was talking about a nifty card combo of Garv and Orb of Foresight.

Flipping battlegear is a HUGE ability. This one creature can nullify a heptadd's crown, get rid of a Weightless Energy Vessel, let you reuse a destructazooka, or let you use any battlegear of a creature who hasn't seen combat yet. I know that I've made several decks with this creature, including the deck I played at worlds.

What do you guys think of garv?

Talisman of the Mandiblor

This is one of the best battlegears to have ever been printed in the game. You can use it to do things much more magnificent that just bringing back a fighter. Here are some of the awesome added bonuses you can get other than just some regular old mandiblor:

1. Brainwashed Tabaal, more infections.

One of the Danian's key abilities is infection. There are a million and one ways to use it. Infect ridiculous amounts of creatures and you can use Strain of Infection to get more mugic counters, get a ridiculously powered Nimmei, or you can go the Filandar route. Equip this to your Tabal, sacrifice a madiblor and then bring it back with Talisman just to sacrifice it again!

2. Compost decks, you best friend

What could be worse than two fully powered up Neekwins after you got all of those compost creatures in the discard pile? How about four?

3. The Queen!

Let's not forget every time a mandiblor is sent to the discard pile, Illexia will get a mugic counter. If you want to go the less flashy route, Talisman will also work with Wamma, Hive Ordnance.

Of course, these are only three of many ways to use this card. So, what do you guys think of it? Rate out of five like always!

What would happen?

Here's the scenario: You have your opponent down to nothing but his Maxxor, Protector of Perim, but you aren't much better off. You are down to nothing but an Chaor the Fierce and a Kopond, High Muge of the Hearth, and neither of them have any mugic counters. The active location is Prexxor Chasm, the Blight, not exactly the location you were hoping in this last battle to win the game. In a quick battle, your opponent's Maxxor defeats Chaor, but only barely since he is at 5 energy.

In a last ditch attempt to win, you place Prexxor Chasm in Maxxor's square at the end of the turn.

Who won the game?

Card Talk with Occasus

'Ello! Welcome to Card Talk. Some of my older followers will remember my old card of the week. While most of you probably know that I can't really keep up with that any more, I will hopefully get a few of these done before I go back to college.

This time I'll be talking about is Phelphor of the deep!

He is one of the more neglected M'arrillian out there, which makes me sad because his ability is one of the better abilities on a fluidmorpher.

Just think about it. Once he gets some counters, you control the entire battleboard. You choose who fights who, all you need to do move your opponent's creatures around and you can prevent your opponent from attack you, or you can attack your opponent's back row. Najarin isn't nearly as menacing now that you can fight him early on in the game.

There isn't much more to say about him. Using him, you can attack almost any of your opponent's creatures, and you can even keep your opponent's creatures a safe distance from your weak mugic casters.

If any of you remember, I also ask you guys to rate the card out of five for it's playablity. So, what would you rate it?