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Magic: The Gathering is a fantastic game. I've spent the last 30 years pouring my heart and soul into it, and I really love it. But now the game has changed; it's different, and I know I'm not the only one that feels that way. I found games that might actually be better—not just different, but better. For each game, we'll examine several key aspects to help you understand how it might be right for you.
First, I'm going to take a look at the core gameplay differences. These games handle resources, timing, and player interaction much differently than Magic, and I'll tell you why those changes matter and why they're better. Then we'll discuss the practical aspects of getting into the game: the financial investment, the learning curve, and most importantly, how to try them without committing significantly. Finally, we'll explore what I call the "ecosystem factors." These are lifestyle games; we know that it's not just about the gameplay, it's about the community, it's about the company that makes the game, the designers, because they're crucial to a game's long-term enjoyment. Stick around, and I will show you a free and easy way to try out these games and see if you like them.
First up, we have a game that fixes Magic's biggest problems while feeling instantly familiar, and it's got one of the biggest IPs of all time behind it: Star Wars: Unlimited. Star Wars: Unlimited is the newest trading card game from Fantasy Flight Games, and it was released just last May. Of all the games we'll discuss today, this one feels the most familiar in terms of core gameplay, but it introduces some fascinating improvements to Magic's formula. Fantasy Flight Games has taken the best parts of Magic's design and refined them while solving some of its long-standing issues. The gameplay centers around a back-and-forth action system. Instead of the sometimes cumbersome process of passing priority, players simply alternate taking actions. That's really cool! You always know whose turn it is, which I love. There's no, "Okay, are you finished? Is that the end of your turn? Wait, let me cast this." There's none of that like there is in Magic. This creates the same strategic depth as Magic's instant-speed interaction but in a more streamlined way that keeps the game moving. You're going to be able to choose a leader for your deck, and of course, they're going to have: DJango Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker—anybody you want to be. You're also going to have your base. Between your leader and your base, that determines what creatures you can put in your deck. Any card can be played face down as a resource—no more mana screw, no more complex mana bases to worry about. Characters can attack other characters, or they can attack the base. And as you'll notice here, Obi-Wan is a ground unit; there are two different battlefields, and units on each side of the battlefield can only interact with one another. So space units can only interact with space; attack and defend the same with ground units. Getting started with this game is pretty straightforward. They have these starter decks that you can buy; a group of—I bought recently—I guess it was maybe like $30 for two different starter decks. I played sealed at SCG CON recently, and it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the gameplay, and I know a lot of people are raving about the draft and sealed in this game. Fantasy Flight has definitely had a mixed past with putting card games out; they are notorious for killing games off, but from what I can tell, they really are leaning in hard to this one. They've got a separate team that's working on it. I think the fact that it's not a Living Card Game and that it is a TCG is good for them because that means more money for them, more money for stores, and organized play. All in all, even though they have a bad history with making card games, it seems like they're doing everything right with this one.
The next game on this list is also by Fantasy Flight Games, but it's a Living Card Game, and it's been around since 2016. This game has risen up the ranks in the Board Game Geek ratings to number 16 overall and is number one in their customizable game category: Arkham Horror: The Card Game. This might seem like an unusual alternative to Magic at first because it fundamentally reimagines what a card game can be. Instead of competitive play, it's a cooperative or solo experience that combines the strategic depth of deck-building with rich storytelling. For Magic players who love problem-solving and deck construction but are tired of the competitive grind, this is a perfect game for you. It really makes it feel like the marriage of a TCG and a tabletop RPG. So if you're into Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop RPGs, it gives you the cool story campaign mechanics of that but with the gameplay and the tactical things that are going on every turn of Magic: The Gathering. Each scenario is going to present a unique objective; you're not always just battling monsters—sometimes you're running away from them, sometimes you're investigating something evil and looking into it. The game uses an open action system where you have meaningful choices every turn: draw cards, play cards, or attempt various scenario-specific actions. Each person's going to have their own character, and they have their stats here, so you're going to do like checks like you would in Dungeons & Dragons, but the cards can make you better at those things. These are all the different actions you can do on your turn: you can draw a card or gain a resource (so resource is kind of like mana that you spend, and it's gone), you can play an event card, you can move to a space (so there's like a spatial mechanic in this game where you move from different places investigating). There are different investigator types—think of them like commanders or colors in Magic—that each play differently and require unique strategies. As you progress through campaigns, you'll acquire new cards and upgrade your deck. The stories can branch in different ways depending on if you win or lose the scenario. So that's what's cool about it, too, is there's not really a straight loss state; there's a—if you lose, you get less things and less resources, but new different things happen in the story. The best way to get started with this game is just to buy the core set. The core set's about $50; a couple of different scenarios in there, a few different decks and characters you can play with, enough cards to customize them as you go through, and then they sell fixed expansions. So there's no booster packs; you just can go into a store and buy the expansion that's most interesting to you. If you want to try before you buy, there are ways to test it on Tabletop Simulator, or you can watch gameplay videos to see if the mechanics appeal to you. The storytelling and world-building are exceptional. If you're not typically a horror fan, the campaigns are so well-written and engaging it'll pull you in. The community has even created unofficial voice-acting apps that enhance the atmosphere. Imagine having your friends over, dimming the lights, and experiencing those stories together: "You barely managed to escape your house with your lives. The woman from your parlor follows you out the front door, slamming it behind her. 'You fools! See what you've done!' She pushes a chair in front of the door, lodging it beneath the doorknob. 'We must get out of here! Come with me, and I will tell you what I know. We are the only ones who can stop the threat that lurks beneath from being unleashed throughout the city. You're in no state to argue!'" The community is incredibly creative and supportive, focusing on sharing experiences and creating content rather than competition. The gameplay and the stories in this game are fantastic, and it is a lot of fun. The check system in this—that feels like rolling dice in order to see if your action succeeds or not—may not be for you. So if you want something a little on the strategy side or just a different flavor, I would recommend trying out the Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, which is a very similar system to this that's also done by Fantasy Flight. In both of these games, there are tons of fan scenarios and content that people have put out on the internet. And there's one more game if you like something a little more… po-corny, that’s less of a session-to-session thing and just more of a fun, “get it out, play it, have a good time,” and that’s Marvel Champions. So obviously, if you like that IP, if you want to play something a little shorter, a little more fast-paced, Marvel Champions might be for you instead.
Next up is Disney Lorcana. I love how in Lorcana, it's more streamlined, and it's more about how the cards interact with each other. There's really not that much text, and it reminds me more of Magic in the 90s, when it was more about "one card plus another card is interesting," versus all the complexity is on one card, which is something I really don't like about Magic lately. After dozens of games with my kid and with some friends, I can tell you this is really a fun game with really accessible gameplay. The core gameplay introduces several elegant improvements to traditional card game mechanics. The most notable is their approach to resources. Some cards in the game are Inkable, meaning that they can be played face down as a resource. Sir His is a two that is Inkable, and Pinocchio is a five that is not Inkable. That means that Sir His can turn into a resource or a mana, and Pinocchio cannot. This isn't just a Band-Aid fix for mana screw like we've seen in some other games; instead, Ravensburger has turned it into a clever balancing mechanism. They can make powerful non-Inkable cards as a drawback or use Inkability to make situational cards more flexible. Every creature can either Quest (which is attacking the face essentially) or Challenge other creatures, giving you constant tactical decisions. Overall, as far as mana screw goes, you'll see that these games fix it. Look, it's 30 years later; we've had time to learn from it. But don't sit here and tell me that the mana system in Magic is the best thing for the game or that it makes it better than other games; it doesn't. I really hate the times where you get mana screw and mana flood. Sure, those are bad; everybody has seen those; it's not fun; it makes non-games. The thing that I really dislike about the mana system in Magic is when you have an awesome interactive game back and forth with your opponent, and then it gets to top-deck mode, and your opponent draws like three more cards and actually has gas, and you don't. Like, doesn't feel fair; it doesn't feel fun, and it negates the entire cool interactive game you had back and forth. So don't quote some Mark Rosewater article to me that he's gaslighting you, telling you that the mana system is great and that it's exactly what the game needs; it's not. I guarantee you, if they redesigned Magic today, they would absolutely fix that problem. Arena has a hand smoother that makes it where you're not going to get mana screwed, and then every set they put either cycling or blood tokens—all kinds of things that let you use your mana in the late game. They do their best possible to not have it be a problem, but overall, it is a problem. Getting started with Lorcana is remarkably straightforward. My favorite format for new players is what is called Pack Rush: you just open a pack, and you use your token card as Ink; you open a second pack, and you use that token card as Ink, and then you just shuffle them together, and that's your deck. I highly recommend, if you want to just try this game out, go buy four packs and do a Pack Rush with somebody. Lorcana Illuminator Troves, I think they're called, are fantastic; buy you get them, and they have like eight boosters in them, I believe. You get some dice to track uh damage on cards; you get this awesome lore counter that's like your life counter in this game—really, really cool little kit. This Illuminator Trove, for constructed players, deck-building is refreshingly straightforward: you pick two colors, and that's it—no three-color mana bases to worry about, no complex color requirements to juggle. The financial aspect of Lorcana mirrors Magic in some ways; competitive decks will have chase cards in the $20 to $50 range, and you might need two to four of them. However, Ravensburger has taken a notably different approach to premium products; their Enchanted Rarity cards are purely cosmetic; you never need them to compete. Looking at the broader ecosystem around Lorcana, there are several reasons to be optimistic about its future. Ravensburger is an incredible gaming company; they've been around for over 100 years; they make puzzles, they make games; it's a privately held company, so you don't have to worry about them trying to appease stockholders; they're really just trying to make the best product possible. They've been around for a very long time, and they know how to make great games. So overall, that makes me feel really confident that this game will be around and it will last, and they will make great player-focused decisions. They're taking a measured approach, releasing just four sets per year and focusing on quality over quantity. I think anyone who's into Disney but doesn't want to get into a super detailed card game, they would probably like this game quite a bit. So you can get your friends and non-gamers to play this game because the gameplay is simple enough to learn the base mechanics, but it can go deeper when you get into the strategy, and I think that that's a really great balance. And there is a PvP scenario box that they built with Ursula that's really interesting and fun, and I hope that they'll do some more products like that. Overall, I've had a lot of fun with Lorcana, and if the IP appeals to you and you're looking to play with more general gamers or with kids, this is an incredible game to get into.
The next game on this list is a little different than the other games on this list; it's actually a digital game, and it's a game that I've been playing quite a lot of now. The Bizar is not a paper tabletop game, so my whole desk thing here is not going to work out for that. So let me tell you about The Bizar. Developed by former Hearthstone streamer Rayad and his team over the last eight years, The Bizar represents one of the most innovative approaches to card game design I've seen. It's currently in beta, and while that means it's still finding its feet in some ways, it's already showing incredible promise. The core gameplay is unlike anything else you've seen in traditional card games. Instead of drawing cards each turn, you'll build a tableau of items that are always in play. Think of it like a cross between auto-battlers and deck-building games, but with a fascinating real-time element. Your items have cooldowns; they'll trigger every few seconds, creating this dynamic, rhythmic gameplay that feels more like an RPG battle system than a traditional card game. They might have a cooldown of, say, 5 seconds or 3 seconds, and every time they do that, they auto-attack. Over the game, you're building up your tableau; you'll go into different shops and buy new items, and then the items will trigger off one another. What's particularly interesting is how The Bizar handles player interaction. While you're building your setup through a run, you'll eventually face other players in an asynchronous battle. It's brilliant because you get the excitement of player-versus-player competition without the toxicity of direct interaction. You're still ranked and competing against other players' builds, but in a way that feels more focused on creativity than confrontation. Getting into The Bizar right now requires buying into the closed beta, which is around $30 US, which includes an invite for a friend. While that might seem steep for a beta, I've already gotten more than my money's worth. The learning curve is steep precisely because there's nothing else quite like it; you can't really apply lessons from other card games here. This can be both exciting and challenging as you're truly learning something new from the ground up. Looking at the broader picture, The Bizar represents both exciting possibilities and a few concerns. The development team's willingness to take big swings with game mechanics is admirable; they're not just iterating on existing designs but trying to create something genuinely new. In the beta, they've been making wild balance changes; there have been some things that will emerge as meta and completely destroy other people, so it has been unbalanced some in the beta. When your items are always in play and constantly triggering, certain combinations can become overwhelming quickly. I've seen some incredibly powerful builds emerge, and they get reigned in only to have new ones take their place. The future of The Bizar likely depends on how well they can solve these balancing changes while maintaining what makes the game unique. The polish of the game is incredible, too; the artwork looks really nice; the sound design and the characters all are really beautiful; it's got this really cool aesthetic to it, which I think leads to some of the community blowback on it. A lot of people during the beta are getting really worried about balance changes and complaining. If anything, that'd be the one negative is I see a lot of the community people talking on Reddit are super negative about this game and just not willing to wait for the balance changes. If you want to wait a couple of months for that open beta, that might be a good option for you. But right now, I guarantee you, I have definitely got my $30 worth of this game; it's something new, it's something special, and I love that they're being brave and trying something different. What excites me most about The Bizar is how it could expand our understanding of what card games can be. It's not trying to be a Magic killer or even a direct competitor; it's carving out its own unique space for Magic players looking to try something completely different while still engaging with deep strategic gameplay. The Bizar offers an intriguing new frontier.
Finally on this list, last but not least, the game that I think is most compelling—much better than Magic: The Gathering—it reminds me of when I started playing Magic all those years ago: how much I'm into this game, Flesh and Blood. Oh boy, what do I say about this game? I'm kind of obsessed with this game lately. This is why I haven't really been making as many videos, 'cause I got into a little bit of a Flesh and Blood hole. That's the problem when you start researching these things. The gameplay of Flesh and Blood turns traditional card game wisdom on its head. James White, the designer of this game, has said that he wanted to do a game almost the opposite of Magic as far as complexity—that you start at full strength and that you wear down. And it makes sense for the way the game is like—think about a big battle between two heroes; they're going to start with all their stuff and at full strength and healthy, and then over the game get weaker, and that's exactly what happens in this game. The tempo of this game is unlike anything else in card games. You draw up to four cards every turn, but crucially, you need to think carefully about how many cards you'll commit to defense on your opponent's turn. Do you block with everything and stay safe but have no resources to attack back? Do you take some damage to set up a powerful turn? Sometimes you might take a bunch of damage so you can attack back with a full hand. At the end of your turn, you get to put one card in what is called the Arsenal, which is face down. So if you are trying to assemble a combo, can sort of save a card for later on. These decisions create constant engagement and meaningful choices that remind me of the best games of Magic. Since you draw four cards a turn, you're going to get to see most of your deck—might see it in a different order, but but you're going to see most of the cards in your deck and get to use them. The design paradigm—it's not like a better Magic as far as the gameplay goes; it's very much a different thing. So here's how the cards in this game work: they can be used for a variety of different things. On each card, they can be used as an attack—think of this as more of like a one-time damage that you output instead of a creature that stays on the battlefield. So you can put out four damage with this; you can defend three damage with it; it cost one when you use it as an attack, and you can also pitch it for one resource. So that's how you pay for cards in this game is through other cards; so you have to discard one card in order to pay for another card. So you have all these hard decisions on: "What should I do with this card? Should I use it for resources? Should I use it for defense? Should I use it for attack?" You get one attack action on your turn, but if a card has Go Again, then you can attack again. The cards are color-coded; red cards have the strongest effect but provide the least resources, while blue cards provide the most resources but have weaker effects. There are also attack and defense reactions, which are essentially combat tricks; combat tricks are sort of built into this game. What I really like about this game is you get edges over multiple turns—not just like in Magic where usually it's like one card breaks out and the game is over, or there's a big two-for-one or three-for-one, and then the game is kind of over. This is more of like you have your turn back and forth with your opponent, and maybe I won a couple of turns and they won a couple of turns, but ultimately, the person that's going to win is the person who did best on a variety of turns. For the Commander players, you're going to love this; you get to choose your hero, and your hero is going to have a full kit of gear; they might have a one-handed dagger or a two-handed sword; they also have an entire kit of equipment, so they have their helmet and their boots. That is one of the perplexing things about the game; you're going to see this game, and you start with all the stuff out on the board, and you're going to look at it and be like, "Nah, I don't want to learn this." Trust me, you're going to want to learn it. Getting started with this game is great; they've made a lot of great onboarding options. The thing I recommend most to people—and I'll put a link in the bottom of this video—is a Learn to Play deck; it's called the "Ira Welcome Deck." I would recommend you get two of those—either go to your local game store and get a couple or print them out. They're the most basic gameplay. Once you do that, you can get these $10 what they call Blitz decks, which is—it's a 30-card format, which is less than the classic constructed, which is 60, I believe. It's also the size of what the draft and sealed decks are. They have a really cool intro product that gets you three or four of these decks and and a really nice box uh in a mat for around 60 or 70 US. I got one of those the other day; it's a really awesome product. The artwork is incredible; it's a lot more of like a dark fantasy style artwork than what Magic is, where Magic is more like high fantasy. They are knocking it out of the park with the way this game is designed; it does everything better than Magic. If there's something you don't like about Magic, I guarantee you this game is doing it better. It's a private company, so they're not going to be trying to make all the stockholders happy; they are just going to make the player base happy. I've enjoyed the sealed gameplay of this, but to be honest, this gameplay is a brain burner—like, it—there is a lot going on in it. So people tend to like have their one deck that they play and get really into and understand all the intricacies of it, and then you have like an understanding of what other people's decks do. The other thing I'll recommend for a lot of these games is felt.com; it's a great resource for learning new card games, and I highly recommend it. It's free to use and learn a lot of these games. I've actually been paying for their Patreon because I want to support people that create awesome things like this. It's not going to replace any of these games, so don't get your lawyers out, Disney, and freak out. You can play Star Wars: Unlimited there; you can play Lorcana there; you can try Flesh and Blood, but you're not playing against opponents; you're playing against an AI. You don't have to completely leave Magic behind to enjoy these games. Many of us will continue to play Magic in some way while exploring these alternatives. The exciting thing is that we're in a golden age of card game design where developers are learning from Magic's 30 years of history while feeling free to experiment with bold new ideas. I'd love to hear which of these games interest you the most, or if there are other alternatives that you think I should check out. Let me know in the comments below, and if you'd like to see more detailed coverage of any of these games, especially how to get started with them on Felt Table, let me know that too. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.