Harry Potter: A Review

[Killer Joe]

Harry Potter: Trading Card Game
Two-Player Starter Set
Wizards of the Coast
$10

I like games. I especially like TCG's. And I really, really like games that are packaged as "Two-Player Starter Set".
Harry Potter The Trading Card Game is based on the Novels of the same name. It also comes in booster packs (I can't remember how many cards come in them though).
On Thursday night I decided to buy it (there was no tourney and I was ticked, ticked enough to buy Harry Potter!). So, me and "Sleeping Bill" (see my latest IBC tourney report for reference) aka Wonka on these boards, opened up the starter set and played.
The initial feeling I had was that I bought Pokemon in disguise. But here's what I got:
2x 41 card decks, each with a premium Wizard or Witch card.
1x Playmat (I just HATE playmats)
1x Rulebook
12x damage counters

Here are the basic things that happen during a turn (I'll liken them to MTG):
Steps of your turn:
Step 1: Draw a Card (Draw Step)
Step 2: Damage your opponent with your creatures that are already on the table (This is how they get around summoning sickness)
Step 3: You have 2 Actions (It could say, "You can only do two things during this step"). You can use an Action to:
< Play a Lesson Card (Land)
~or~
<Play a Creature card, if you have enough Lesson Cards (mana).
~or~
<Play a spell card
~or~
<Draw an extra card
You can do the same Action twice instead of doing two different actions.

The basic objective is to damage your opponent until s/he runs out of cards. For each damage done to the opponent, they millstone a card from their deck. (Hmmm, I've seen this somewhere before.........)

Okay, you start the game out by drawing seven cards, but you can't mulligan. It suggests that if you draw a crappy hand that you use the 'Draw an extra card' Action twice to get the cards you need. Fair enough, but your killing yourself because in this game, you don't WANT to draw cards from your deck.
You figure out who goes first then away you go.
Oops, I forgot. Each player starts out with a character card. This card has a special ability. The two I got were:

Hermione Granger - Witch
Ability: If you have already have two or more lessons in play, then when you use an Action to play a lesson card, you may two lesson cards instead of one. (Exploration!)

and the other was:

Draco Malfoy - Wizard
Ability: During your turn, you may use an Action and discard a card from your hand to look at your opponent's hand. You may then choose 1 card in his or her hand and discard it.

The playmat (which I hate) is pretty helpful at first, but it'll only take you a game and a half to figure everything out and you can toss the playmat away.

Tha game has a look and feel of a dumbed down version of Magic, you play a land, you play a creature, you say "Go." Some of the spells are cool though, for instance, there are land destruction cards:
Avifors
2 Transfiguration (mana cost, you have to have at least two lesson cards in-play and only one of them has to be a Transfiguration, this is the RED color of the game, it's more like Fusia)
Choose one of your opponent's (Bear claw mana symbol, it's called "Care of Magical Creatures" and it's color is Brown) lesson cards in play and discard it.

It's a sideboard card at best, but in this two-player set, it rocks!

Here's the mana symbol info:
Ther are four mana types or lessons as they are called.
"Care of Magical Creatures" Brown Bear Claw symbol
"Charms" Blue Heart symbol
"Potions" Green Cauldron symbol
"Transfiguration" Red Butterfly symbol

The rule book actually indicates that there might be more lessons/colors to come.

The shop already has singles layed out in the display case and the Harry Potter character card is listed for $15

There are a 116 cards in the set in five rarities:
Star in black circle with astrisk = holo-portrait premium
Star in black circle = foil premium
Black star = rare
Black diamond = uncommon
Black circle = common

Rating Scale
A=Superior
B=Excellent
C=Good
D=Fair
E=Poor

Bottomline: B+
I like it and I know my three nephews will dig it the next time they come to the house. I don't think it'll really catch on like the Poke craze but it's a nice little game to have aroud the house.
It's easy to play, it's highly likable by the readers of this stuff and it claims to be true to the storyline. So, if you got an extra ten bucks and you like easy to play games, then I highly recommend this one.

Hey Wonka, what did you think of the game?

 

[EricBess]

There are a couple of things that Yellowjacket didn't mention. Some good, some not so good.

First, the bad. The starter doen't come with any Potion Lessons. Those are the green ones. You can only get them in boosters. Each booster contains 1 rare or premium card, 2 uncommon, 2 lessons, and 6 commons. Premiums are inserted into 1 in every 3 packs.

As far as I can tell, it is not "about 1 in 3" it is exactly 1 in 3. They are random throughout the box, but each box of 36 boosters will have exactly 12. This may not be the case, but it has been for everyone I know so far.

Each box has at least 1 of every card with the exception of the premium cards. The premium cards are random. I got 2 Harry Potters in my box. However, since Harry is a wizard, you really only need one inless you plan on putting him is a different deck (which you can do - it takes 2 actions to put another character into play and you get their ability). The Unicorn is the card to look for. It gives you an extra action each turn. If the game catches on and not just the collecting, the $15 for Harry will sink to $10 and the Unicorn will take its place.

The starter has 2 decent decks, but no rares!!! Okay, if you count Hermione and Draco as rares, it has those, but they are not the holographic version that you get in the boosters, so I don't. They are the only 2 non-holographic wizards availible and you only get them in the starter. All of the starters are the same and each 40 card deck has exactly 2 uncommons (2 of the same in each deck).

In short, the starter is nice to learn the game, but you're better off finding someone who already has the starter and learning that way if you plan to buy boosters.

B+? Yeah, that's a fair grade. Definitely better than a B, but it's not Magic. Then again, nothing else is, is it? It's a fun game with a decent amount of deck building strategy. Some play strategy as well, but most of the strategy is in the deck building since there are no "instants", etc.

 

[Wonka]

Well, I thought it was a good game. I don't think it was better than Magic though. It is fairly easy to play. Almost anybody can play it.

I would give it a B.

 

[Mr.Gnome]

Have any of you seen any of the good potion cards?
they are totaly broken. there is one that deals 12 damage! and the healing cards give you the ability to shuffal a certain number of non healing cards (I think the highest is 16) into your deck. This gives you more life as well as replinishes your "burn". In my opinion this is broken.

 

[Neo_Keo]

Talk about killing yourself the harry potter card gives you the option of drawing 2 cards instead of one if you use an action to draw a card. Talk about suiciding for the gusto.

I wonder if they limit a deck size somwhere in teh rule books. If they didn't can you all see whjer eeI"m going with this?

 

[Lotus Mox]

Drawing 2 instead of 1 card, mhh, that's like Phyrexian Arena, not that bad IMO.

There should be a deck limit, or else someone will bring a million+ card deck to a tourney

 

[Killer Joe]

I think the advance rules mention that there is a 60 card maximum and cards are restricted to four except for Lessons (lands).
I took my Two Player starter to school and the time we have before the morning bell rings was just enough time to squeeze in a few games.

 

[Zadok001]

Interesting... What's the play tactical situation like? Are we looking at a Pokemon-esque minimal strategic game, or something closer to Magic? Are we attacking and choosing blockers, or do my critters just do their damage and be done with it? You mentioned a lack of instants, is there a comparable effect that adds strategic value? (Needless to say, I like tactics and strategy as much as deckbuilding. That's why Pokemon never had a chance with me.)

 

[EricBess]

No, creatures do not interact with each other. That is perhaps a weakness. But you are forced to interact with each other's decks. There are cards called Adventures. Basically, Adventures are like Enchantments, but with really powerful effects. For example, there is one Adventure that says that your opponent cannot play spells.

Each Adventure has 3 parts. The first is the effect. The second is "To Solve" and the third is the reward. For example, "4 Privit Drive", as long as it is in play, your opponent cannot play any spells. To solve it, your opponent must discard 6 cards from their hand and when they do, their reward is that they get to draw a card. Obviously, there are varying power levels of Adventures, but they all pretty much balance out with the solve condition and the reward. Again, most of the strategy is in putting the right Adventures into your deck, but how you play around your opponent's Adventures is important too.

An Adventure takes 2 actions to put into play.