For fans of trading card games that love superheroes, Upper Deck Entertainment's VS System was a boon. In 2004, the game launched with a set featuring iconic Marvel teams like the X-Men and Brotherhood and was followed quickly by one for DC with groups like Teen Titans and the League of Assassins joining the fray. The artwork was iconic, characters utilized mechanics that flavorfully translated their powers to the game, and fans could finally team up Spider-Man with Batman just because they wanted to. All was good... until the game was canceled in early 2009.
There are several key reasons that the game did not survive. It was tough to compete with the three TCG juggernauts -- Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, and Pokemon Trading Card Game -- that all had years of sets, passionate player-bases, and tournaments that pay out big cash prizes; for reasons unknown a couple years in, the license to publish DC cards was lost; and while the game mechanics were designed to improve on the Big Three (it was impossible to get "mana screwed," for example), there were many rules and lots of number-crunching that made a high barrier for new players to enter.
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There are several key reasons that the game did not survive. It was tough to compete with the three TCG juggernauts -- Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, and Pokemon Trading Card Game -- that all had years of sets, passionate player-bases, and tournaments that pay out big cash prizes; for reasons unknown a couple years in, the license to publish DC cards was lost; and while the game mechanics were designed to improve on the Big Three (it was impossible to get "mana screwed," for example), there were many rules and lots of number-crunching that made a high barrier for new players to enter.Continue reading…
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