CCG Importance Dissonance: Difference between revisions

You've just run into CCG Importance Dissonance. This can crop up in other types of games, but basically it consists of an adaptation applying [[Power Creep, Power Seep]] to the protagonists and extras to make the [[Competitive Balance|game balanced,]] as well as giving just about everyone and everything on screen a card (or more than one) because they need a sizable amount of cards for a set. This can also manifest as [[De-Power|De Powering]] (or at times [[Nerf|Nerfing]]) main characters/ships/items into "okay" cards, while elevating several minor character in terms of power.

If the main characters ''are'' more powerful than the [[Ascended Extra|extras]] who managed to rate cards, expect them to be [[Power Equals Rarity|rare cards]], leading to a gaming community in which everyone has a dozen [[Innocent Bystander|Bystander]] [[Something Person|Lad]] cards but most people have never even seen a [[The Good Captain|Captain]] Protagonist card. If on the other hand the protagonists are rare but useless, they're probably [[Junk Rare|Junk Rares]].

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has countless examples of this trope. The famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a 3000 ATK monster that requires two Tributes (monsters removed from the field) and has no effect; in the manga, it was powerful enough that [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|Seto Kaiba]] resorted to extortion and theft to collect every last one of them, but in the TCG that ensued, it's merely an expensive target. Likewise Yugi's signature card, the Dark Magician, which requires two Tributes but has only 2500 ATK; arguably, it's received more support cards in later years than even the Blue-Eyes White Dragon could ever hope for, but it too is a white (black?) elephant, even if you're dedicated enough to theme an entire deck around him. Not that ''all'' famous cards get this treatment, however; the very first duel featured in the manga included Summoned Skull, a powerful and incredibly playable card for many years (2500 ATK, like the Dark Magician, but it only needs ''one'' Tribute), and Monster Reborn, a powerful card that spent some time on the [[Too Awesome to Use|Forbidden List]]: it allows the player who uses it to bring back a monster from the Graveyard. ''Either player's'' Graveyard. Many of the most powerful cards, in fact, have either never appeared on the show or appeared only briefly. Nowadays it's not uncommon for each new expansion set to feature cards for an entire new deck archetype, which typically dominates the field for about 3-6 months before a new expansion renders it utterly moot: these archetypes are often based off of the decks of one-shot characters, or minor recurring ones, rather than the main protagonists.

** Karona, who emerges in Onslaught block as a [[Physical God|physical manifestation of Dominaria's mana]] formed from the [[Fusion Dance|fusion]] of the powerful and iconic legends Phage the Untouchable and Akroma, Angel of Wrath, is far less useful than she has any right to be as well--so much so that head designer Mark Rosewater [http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr232 publicly apologized] for how lame she was:

* Top Trump decks often demonstrate this trope, either for balance reasons or because of different interpretations of characters. For example, in one [[DC Comics]] deck, the Penguin and Harley Quinn have the highest Intelligence score in the game, and while they're certainly not stupid they shouldn't be beating [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Ra's al Ghul or [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]] Scarecrow and Dr Sivana. Mystic hero Dr Fate has the highest Fighting Skills score, tying with [[Batman]] and putting him ahead of Batgirl. In turn, entirely-human characters like Batman, Batgirl, Green Arrow and even Robin can have higher Strength scores than [[Super Strength|superstrong]] characters like Fatality, Aquagirl or Starfire.

* The [[Lord of the Rings|Middle Earth]] CCG was infamous for its "[[Word of Dante|Kuduk Lore]]" -- characters essentially created out of thin air by Iron Crown Enterprises to cover the apparent insufficiency of named characters. Many of these came from the Middle Earth [[Role Playing Game]]. Very few were anything to be proud of -- the names they created for the Nazgul were especially demoralizing. (Who wants to admit to playing a card named "Dwar of Waw"?)

** The actual ''[[Doctor Who]]'' CCG kind of inverted this; virtually all common cards were absolute unplayable rubbish and uncommons weren't much better. Most recognizable characters were rares, and the Fourth Doctor -- at the time the most recognizable and iconic version -- was an ''ultra-rare.''

** The latest incarnation -- ''Doctor Who: Monster Invasion'' -- has a number of oddities. It helps if you reflect that the "Loyalty" statistic doesn't specify who they're loyal ''to'', so while it's surprising that Rory's is higher than Amy's, maybe it reflects his loyalty to ''her''. The fact Amy has a "Bravery" stat of 300, more in line with the average panicky extra than Martha's 600 or Sarah Jane's 750, is harder to explain. And there are a ''lot'' of cards devoted to panicky extras.

* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' CCG by Decipher actually cycled into and out of this trope. At first players only used named characters since the no-name Starfleet [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]] had usually only one skill and mediocre stats. To balance this out, they made cards called "Lower Decks" and "Assign Mission Specialist" so that these cards would see use. Also, since the game was premised on all the Star Trek races competing, every on-screen Romulan, Klingon and several other characters eventually got cards with skills and high ability scores never demonstrated on screen so that their faction had a viable chance at solving missions. Oh, and Riker's card sucked.<ref>His [[Cloning Blues|clone's, moreso.]]</ref>