First Review

This was my first review I wrote up for the game all the way back in Nov 07. I think it was a good synopsis so I am going to re-post it here. I also added the information from the 3rd set to it.

Background:

A Stargate card game has been in the works for the last handful of years. The license was originally acquired by Genio ( The company who imported Myths and Legends ). Nobody is sure how far along in the design process Genio got, but the company went under before a product was released. Shortly after Genio going under, Comic Images acquired the license. Comic Images brought Worlds Apart (acquired by Sony Online Entertainment) in on the design process. Comic Images first publicly demoed the game at Gen-con 2006. The game was close to release at that time but instead of releasing the product in the current form it went through more rounds of change. The first set released both in online form and cardboard form in April-May 2007.

First set: ( SG-1) (9.0/10)

The first set titled SG-1 consisted of 292 cards. It’s main focus was on Stargate Command. All of your favorite characters are included in this set. Not only that, you get multiple versions of most. On top of including SGC team members, other team members consisted of Jaffa, Tokra, Asgard, Russian and NID. There were 4 starter decks for this set which each include 12 different missions. There are 48 missions total for this set. The other card types in this set are Adversary, Obstacle, Event, Gear, Support Characters. There are also 6 “Ultra-Rare” cards in the set. They are all guaranteed when you purchase a box.

Second set: (System Lords) (8.5/10)

The second set titled System Lords also consisted of a huge 292 cards. It’s main focus was to correct any broken strategies from the first set and to make adversary victory more viable. Even though this set focus’s a lot on the villain side, there are a good number of new hero cards, including Support, Team , Event and Gear cards. There are also new versions of your favorite SG-1 characters. The set again has 4 starter decks and adds another 48 missions to the game. This set released online and in cardboard form in August 2007.



*Important note. If you buy a booster box of System Lords the box will say you get a full 6 UR set in each box. This is not true of System Lords like it is of the other 2 sets. You will get about 3-4 UR cards.

Third Set: (Rise of the Ori) (8/10)

The third set title Rise of the Ori has a smaller card count of 240 cards. It still contains its full count of 48 mission cards. It continues to flesh out strategies for both the hero side and villain side. The set again comes with multiple versions of your favorite main characters in addition to including 3 versions of Jonas Quinn! The sets adds the Ship card to the game. This adds new layers of strategy to both hero and villain sides. While the set is named after the Ori and they do get plenty of new cards there are also cards for the Replicators, Gould, Russians, Tokra, Jaffa, Asgard and NID.

  *Important note. If you buy any Rise of the Ori starter decks they do not come with a rulebook!


Future:

This game never recieved a follow up to Rise of the Ori but honestly between 3 sets you get 824 cards. That is a huge number of variety.

Review:

Each player picks 4 team members to make up their team. Each player picks 12 different missions from the 144 in game ( If I choose 12 missions, they all must be different from each other, but my opponent could have the same 12 missions that I picked out ). Decks must consist of a minimum of 20 hero cards and 20 villain cards. Hero cards consist of Events, Gear,Ships and Support Characters. Villain cards consist of Adversary, Obstacle and Ship cards.

Winning Conditions:

There are three different ways of winning the game.

The first consists of solving enough missions ( each mission is worth a certain number of experience points ) to equal your victory total (the total number of cost, located at the top left of Team characters). This is the most common form of victory.

The second consists of solving 7 missions. If you solve 7 missions out of your 12 you win the game.

The third is villain victory. This is achieved by stopping your opponent from solving missions and at the same time scoring your Adversary cards ( you gain villain points from their cost, also located at the top left of Adversary cards ). If you equal your victory total you win. This is the least common way to win the game. After the second set released it became a much more viable option.

Concluding Thoughts:

The game is great because it offers you multiple ways of playing. It is possible to play online games against opponents. The only down side to this is the cost involved online. The more traditional way of playing the game works just as well. The game plays in about 30 minutes and offers a lot of different strategy types. With 3 distinct ways of winning and hundreds of combinations of Team Characters and Missions the variety should keep you busy for months and months to come.