When I’m introducing someone to Altered, I try to get as quickly as possible to the heart of what made Altered so compelling to me in the first place. I’ve settled on three main aspects of the game that I can cover in just a sentence or two each (though I have more to say in case someone is interested).

This post is an attempt to flesh out my “Altered sales pitch”, so to speak. It’s intended as a script, not the pitch itself, but it might also be worth reading for someone who’s considering getting into Altered themselves.

Why I’m excited about the game

Gameplay focuses on exploration, not combat

Unlike Magic: The Gathering and many TCGs that have been influenced by it, Altered doesn’t involve characters fighting each other.

The game takes place in an optimistic fantasy world where imagination has collided with reality.

It’s one of the few card games that’s accessible to first-time TCG players, yet it has an impressive amount of strategic depth.

You can open one-in-the-world unique cards

In each pack, you have a 1⁄8 chance to open a unique card. This is a truly one-of-a-kind card with a combination of stats and effects that no other card will ever have. Only you will be able to play it.

I’m looking forward to Altered because it reminds me of playing trading card games at lunch recess, when my collection was whatever packs I could afford with my allowance. I would include a card in my deck not because it was the best card, but because it was my best card. In an age when you can look up every card in a set before it’s released and buy all the singles you need for a net-deck, Altered promises that opening an ultra-rare card is exciting again: it’s a card that’s truly yours.

Digital ownership done right

If you look at a card, you’ll notice that there’s a QR code in the bottom right corner. When you open a pack, make sure you scan your cards, because that’s how you claim them and add them to your account.

With the Altered app you can:

  • Print-on-demand any cards you own for $1 or less per card and have them shipped directly to you.
  • Trade or sell cards digitally over the marketplace.
  • Build and register a decklist for an event at your local game store.

For specific audiences

Fans of draft

Altered was designed with draft in mind. In a live AMA, Marcus Kearsey, a game designer for Altered, has stated that draft is his personal favorite way to play the game.

Whereas you’re only allowed to play cards from a single faction in constructed, draft allows you combine cards from three different factions, opening up new cross-faction synergies.

Competitive players

Altered implements two ideas that stood out to me as a longtime TCG player:

  • The reserve system
    • Each card goes to your “reserve” after being played, where it can be played once more, sometimes with a different cost and/or effect. This opens up a lot of possibilities for resource management and player interaction.
  • Rarity-based deck constraints
    • A 39-card deck can include at most 3 uniques and 15 rares. This results in interesting deck-building tradeoffs, commons being relevant, and low costs for competitive decks.

Justin Parnell, head of organized play for North America, has a long track record as a competitive TCG player and a retailer/event organizer with Star City Games. An interview from early 2024 convinced me that he has a deep understanding of what competitive (and casual) players want to see from organized play, how it benefits stores, and how it helps the community grow.

LGS owners

Equinox is approaching Altered with the core principle that local game stores are crucial for a TCG to thrive.

The organized play system and rewards are exclusively for in-store play. Speaking as a player, the high unique rate in promo boosters and the exclusive rewards from the free adventure pass make me want to play in as many events as I can.

Altered is priced favorably compared to the average TCG, and players can only buy product from game stores right now, not from major online retailers or the company itself.

The game was the most funded TCG ever on Kickstarter (raising over $6 million), but Equinox will never do another crowdfunding campaign.

Other topics

Online play

Starting in September 2024, you’ll be able to play Altered for free on Board Game Arena with your entire digital collection, including uniques. BGA is fully functional, though it as smooth as a native app.

Equinox is focused on making in-store play a priority, so there are no plans to have online organized play online or to develop a dedicated client like MTG Arena, at least in the near future.

There is also an unofficial fanmade client called ExAltered that’s quite polished and has the support of Equinox.

The NFT comparison

Equinox does not and will not use NFTs for Altered. I understand why some people associate them, though, since discussion of NFTs often focuses on “digital ownership” and “uniqueness”, both of which Altered does offer.

I believe NFTs were a disaster because:

  • Blockchain technology is bad for the environment. In most realistic cases, decentralization has no advantages over a trusted third party.
  • NFTs hold no value other than for speculation.

Altered doesn’t have either of these negative qualities:

  • All of the data associated with Altered is hosted on Equinox’s private servers.
  • Owning a digital copy of a card is not just an empty proof of purchase. It allows you to play the card in official organized play events as well as print-on-demand the card any number of times. I’d argue this offers at least as much as owning a chase rare in Magic (at some level, just a piece of cardboard that’s legal for tournament play) or a digital game on Steam (permission to download and play a copy of the game).

In fairness, I’d agree that:

  • The unique nature of cards has potential for speculation.
    • It’s too early to be able to claim that speculation on uniques will never be a problem, but I would bet that it’s not how the vast majority of players will experience the game. I think it helps that uniques are limited to three per deck, so people will be able to acquire a playset of strong uniques over the natural course of opening packs and trading with players at their LGS.
    • This is similar to serialized cards or exclusive promo cards in other games, though it does make a difference that uniques offer a gameplay advantage.

Why isn’t Altered an LCG?

I really like the LCG model: Android: Netrunner is my favorite tabletop game. In this day and age, a card game needs a strong justification for being TCG instead of LCG. Altered offers two:

  • Support for draft and sealed
    • Limited format support is the main advantage that TCGs have over LCGs, by nature of being collectible. Friday Night Magic thrives because players can play the game while building their collection. Netrunner offered officially curated draft packs, but there was very little incentive to pay a fee to draft when you’re only getting cards you already own, so the format never gained any traction in stores. I was lucky enough to participate in several Netrunner cubes, but this was only really an option for invested players who were involved in their local communities, not something you could casually drop in for.
  • Unique cards
    • The main selling point of the LCG model is that everyone has easy access to the same card pool. Uniques a big part of what makes Altered exciting, and they’re fundamentally incompatible with the LCG philosophy.

I completely understand anyone who doesn’t want to try Altered for financial reasons. TCGs are notoriously expensive, especially if you want access to all of the cards.

I do have some sympathy for publishers opting for the TCG model, though. There’s a reason why there are very few surviving non-cooperative LCGs: they just don’t make enough money. I’m okay spending more on a game that will still be supported years down the road.