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Over the holidays, I ran a private sealed event with five other players, each of whom had somewhere between zero and five prior games of Altered under their belt. All of them have experience with light/medium eurogames, but Altered is their first trading card game. As refreshingly simple as Altered’s core mechanics are, I knew deckbuilding would be a step up in complexity, so I did my best to prepare so that the event would run as smoothly as possible....

Score Summary Description 1 Very weak Severely understatted with abilities that will rarely be realized. 2 Weak Slightly understatted with abilities that usually won’t compensate. No stronger than an average common. 3 Solid On-rate stats, or understatted but its ability often compensates. Also includes cards with high ceilings but excessive requirements. Distinctly stronger than an average common, but no stronger than an average rare. 4 Strong Above-rate stats, or having abilities that push it well above-rate when its conditions are met....

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....