There are so many words and acronyms used to sell card games! What are all of these letters? What is the difference a CCG and a TCG? What is a Living Card Game? What is a Deck-building game and how are they different?
First and foremost, the major factor between them all is how the cards are released for sale by the publishers. Are cards sold in deck-sized packs or are they sold in smaller expansion / booster packs? Or, are they sold in a box that’s a fully playable game? Also, are the cards sold in random assortments or in fixed-sets? Finally, is there rarity levels assigned to different cards? The different types of card games have different answers to these questions.
The next factor is how the game is played with those cards. Do players build their own decks (aka draw pile)? Do they do this before the game starts or during the game? Do they even have their own deck at all?
It's all very confusing. Hopefully, this article helps explain all of these questions and more! I’m going to cover these types of card games:
- Collectable Card Games (a.k.a. CCGs)
- Customizable Card Games (also, a.k.a. CCGs)
- Tradable Card Games (a.k.a. TCGs)
- Living Card Games (a.k.a. LCGs)
- Non-Collectible, Customizable Card Games
- Collectible, Common-Deck Card Games
- Official Card Games (a.k.a. OCGs)
- Deck-building Games
- Digital Collectible Card Games (a.k.a. DCCGs)
- Online Collectible Card Games (a.k.a. OCCGs)
Collectible Card Games, Customizable Card Game, and Trading Card Games are all the same thing. The name difference is a marketing choice only and all of them contain aspects of collecting, trading, and customization. Since "Collectible Card Game" is the most generic name, I will use it going forward to refer to all three. Magic: The Gathering is the grandfather of this genera.
A CCG is a genera of 2-player games where each player creates a fixed-sized deck before the game begins. These decks are often contain 60 cards, but modern CCGs have reduced that number to 50 or even 30 cards to ease the entry into a game by new players. Then, they play each other using their custom decks. Thus, part of the strategy of the game is in the creation of their deck before a game actually starts. This process of building a custom deck for each game is where the term "customizable" comes from.
As mentioned, deck construction is a big part of the strategy. Players must construct their decks with balance in mind. Decks need a good distribution of a few powerful characters and a number of normal characters as well as the weapons, spells, and other supporting cards they need. If the game has types of cards such as locations or vehicles, then a deck will need them, too. The balance is to get a deck where drawing into your hand has a good probability of getting the cards you need and getting them together, while not clogging up your hand with powerful yet useless cards.
A CCG game contains many cards to choose from, often numbering in the thousands. Cards are mostly sold in booster/expansion packs containing 15 (usually) random cards. Some CCGs also sell "starter decks" that contain a pre-conscturcted, fully-playable, deck. The difference being that starter decks will always contain the the same fixed-set of cards. General incompatibility between sets, especially between older and newer sets, is not uncommon. And sometimes early sets contain cards overpowered which often get banned as the game matures.
All CCG cards have a rarity type: Rare, Uncommon, and Common. Examples of a Rare card would be Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker while examples of Common cards would be Stormtroopers or Rebel Troopers. A typical 15-card pack would contain one Rare card, three or four Uncommon cards, and ten or so Commons. Buying booster packs looking for rare cards is where the name "collecting" comes from. Starter decks will often include cards unique to the starter deck itself to encourage players to buy them despite not actually needing a starter deck or anymore cards.
Due to the ratio of Rare cards to other cards in expansion packs, a collector will easily obtain all of the Uncommon and Common cards in a given set before obtaining all of the Rare cards. What makes these games "tradable" is players will often trade their duplicate Rare cards with other players to fill in gaps in their own collections. Rare cards can come quite valuable in the aftermarket while Uncommons and especially Commons are basically worthless.
There is typically a "base" set which is the initial release of the game and consists of several hundred cards. It will be comprised of more generic cards within the game's general theme. Later, additional sets will be released to expand the card base and are sometimes more specifically themed. For example, the Star Wars CCG's initial release contained basic cards like Stormtroopers, Luke and Vader. Later releases included Hoth and Cloud City themed sets that contained more specifically themed cards like Snowtroopers and Lando Calrissian.
Some CCGs are designed such that each side has its own cards that are largely unique to its side. For example, the Star Wars CCG produced over 3,000 cards, half of which were Light Side cards and the other half were Dark Side cards. The vast majority of them were unique to their side, but some cards, like the Location cards, had both a Light Side and Dark Side version.
The CCG format is incredibly popular and has spawned dozens of games across covering about every genera and theme possible. Though interest in CCGs waned in the 2010s, the 30th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering has rekindled interest in the format and new CCGs are being released again.
- Magic: The Gathering (1993)
- Star Trek CCG (1994)
- Star Wars CCG (1995)
- Star Wars: Unlimited (2024)
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- Pokémon (1996)
- Star Wars TCG (2002)
- World of Warcraft (2006)
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This genera of games is much like CCGs with one major exception: every pack sold contains the exact same cards. Thus, there are no collecting or trading aspect - anyone who buys a given pack will get the exact same cards with the same distribution of characters, locations, effects, and weapons. While there are Rare cards in the fixed-sets, there is no randomization nor "what will I get?" excitement when you open a new pack.
Because of the non-collectable nature of these games, they are very popular amongst people who don't have the time or money to chase down dozens of Rare card to complete their CCG sets. And, typically, a single person will own all of the cards used in a given game, but not always. Also, because the cards are easily obtained, even Rare cards don't have much, if any, resale value.
Like CCGs, before the game starts, each player creates a deck to play during the game. Hence, players are still "customizing" their games. Despite the fixed method of card distribution, player decks can contain cards from different packs, so players are still incentivized to buy all of the expansions.
"Living Card Game" is simply a marketing term (and registered trademark) coined by Fantasy Flight Games to refer their Non-Collectible, Customizable card games. Cards are often released in themed "cycles" consisting of 6 packs of pre-determined cards - each pack containing a deck's worth of cards (usually 60 cards). For example, the Hoth cycle of Star Wars - The Card Game contained 6 packs containing a total of 360 Hoth-themed cards.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (2011, 2022)
- Star Wars: The Card Game (2012)
- Android: Netrunner (2012)
"Official Card Game" is a term specific to the game Yu-Gi-Oh! which is based on the Japanese manga series of the same name. Worldwide, Yu-Gi-Oh! is sold as a Trading Card Game. However, in countries like Japan, China, and Korea, it is released as the Official Card Game and is an entirely separate format from the TCG.
The OCG maintains its own list of cards that can be used in OCG games. It also maintains its own list of banned cards. In fact, new cards are released under the OCG format before they are released to the TCG (which could be years). It's almost like the OCG is an entirely different system than the TCG, but using the same cards. Nevertheless, it is still a Trading Card Game for all intents and purposes.
While players of CCGs, OCGs, and LCGs build their personal decks from their collection of cards, they aren't considered "deck-building" games. Instead, the term "deck-building game" applies to games where players build their decks during the game (as opposed to before the game starts). Players start a deck-building game with a small, fixed-card deck containing basic cards and then add to it during the course of the game by buying new, more powerful cards a centralized tableau.
This style of play drastically alters the strategies of the game. Because all players start with small decks, they will see the same cards in their hands over-and-over for the first few rounds of the game. And because the starting decks are relatively weak, the game will start slow then accelerate as the decks get more powerful. Further, players get to see what cards their opponents buy from the display, thus they are aware of the cards they will be playing against and adjust accordingly in real time. Finally, because of the random nature of the centralized display, players may never get access to powerful or ideal cards they know exist in the draw pile.
Like several other games in this list, a single person typically owns all of the cards used in the game because the cards come in prepackaged sets. Likewise, the cards don't have much, if any, resale value. These types of games attract more table-top game oriented players who aren't interested in the rare-card-chase associated with typical CCGs. They also enjoy the aspect of engine building and resource management that are less prominent in standard CCGs.
- Dominion (2008, 2016)
- Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game (2023)
This genera is very much like the Non-Collectible, Customizable Card Games listed above. It is sold in collectable boosters and expansions with each pack containing the exact same cards. Thus, there is no randomization or chasing for Rare cards. What also makes these games "collectable" is there are many promo-items and limited run accessories that are only available for a short amount of time.
The major difference, however, is instead of players building/customizing a personal deck that only they will use during the game, in these games players draw from centralized draw piles into their hands. Hence, the term "common-deck." The focus on this type of game is building your hand with good cards from the common deck rather than constructing your own personal deck. In these games especially, a single person will own all of the cards used in a given game.
Munchkin is the prime example of this type of game. Over the years, Steven Jackson has published dozens expansion packs as well as endless game accessories and promos to collect. While the main expansions are constantly in print and don't have much resale value, rare or out-of-print promos or accessories can be quite valuable in the aftermarket.
- Munchkin (2001)
- Exploding Kittens (2015)
There are many CCGs that are available to play online. There are both CCGs that have online versions and online-only games out there. Whether or not you need to buy digital cards is based on the site's business model. Also, some sites have AI opponents, too.
- Magic: The Gathering (1993)
- Star Wars CCG (1995)
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- Hearthstone (online only, 2014)
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Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion between all of these names. If you have any questions or have clarifications, please contact me with them.
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