A casual opinion piece written during the holiday.
#PC Long Article Series
2026 might be the best year to get started playing card games.
by Chan Man Wai
Trends are cyclical. When we were kids, we'd pass by toy stores begging our parents to buy us toys. We worked hard to get high scores on dictation tests and exams, partly so we could get a few packs of cards—hoping to get the yellow mouse that Team Rocket caught every episode of the cartoon that aired at 4:30 PM after school, or the character with the peculiar hairstyle on ATV, or that silly guy who produced that blue-eyed dragon with 3000 attack power. We'd painstakingly save up money to buy a fake Beyblade from the newspaper stand and then go to the park downstairs to shout "Go Shoot!" with kids whose names we didn't even know. We'd walk past Jusco wanting to buy the Superman plush toys… Many childhood toys, though mostly gone, live on in our minds as memories. The times our parents told us to study hard and not play with those worthless little pieces of paper have become a new topic of conversation over the years.
The current card game market audience can be roughly divided into two types:
1) Card players or card enthusiasts who can build good decks and go out to play cards with friends; 2) Card collectors or card enthusiasts who don't participate in playing but only draw, collect, or invest in cards. This article primarily aims to promote card playing. Card collecting is not my area of expertise, and the entry barrier is low enough that anyone with money can join. Therefore, if you're interested in playing cards, don't hesitate to take action.
More game options:
When I was a child, the most accessible TCG was Yu-Gi-Oh!. Almost every card shop had someone playing Yu-Gi-Oh!, and if you weren't interested in Yu-Gi-Oh!, you probably wouldn't have encountered TCGs at all. Since 2020, there have been many more types of modern TCGs, generally based on existing IPs combined with card game rules. Examples include Pokémon, One Piece, Dragon Ball, Digimon, League of Legends, multi-IP card games like UA and WS, and collaborations between companies and other works, such as MTG's collaboration with Hatsune Miku, Spider-Man, and Monster Hunter, and Card Fight! Vanguard incorporating other anime works from Bushiroad (Bang Dream!, Frillien). Some people are drawn in by the game mechanics or the series itself; there's always something that appeals to you.
Lower learning cost:
There are many reels and videos online sharing the joy and excitement of getting amazing cards. This is because they attract a lot of traffic and have a low barrier to entry; all you need to know is how to draw Charizard. However, educational videos and tutorials tend to receive less attention. After the initial excitement, people often feel that card games are actually quite difficult, when in reality they aren't. The rules of new-generation card games are relatively simple. For example, Bandai-like games are based on cost and color. Learning ONE PIECE TCG can serve as a foundation for quickly understanding other games like Dragon Ball FW, UA, Digimon, and Gundam. Even more complex games don't need to be a problem. For example, Yu-Gi-Oh!, often considered the most complex, has many online resources explaining the rules, introducing new decks, and outlining combo strategies, so you don't need to spend hours flipping through rulebooks to understand it yourself. Deck building is much simpler. Before the internet was widespread, players had to develop decks from scratch, either alone or with friends. By 2026, however, many people online will already have basic decks built when new cards are released – "they build 90%, you build 10%." Plus, a large number of high-level decks are easily found online. The simple introductory rules combined with abundant online resources reduce the time cost of learning to play the card game.
Card acquisition is now easier
Compared to today, buying and selling cards was much more difficult when we were kids because there weren't card shops back then. Most stores sold card packs and cases, so complete single cards weren't readily available. Even making a deal at the Uwants card and board game area, listening to the "jingle bells," was a hassle. Now, with the card market maturing, online shopping, overseas purchasing, larger local card shops, and online secondhand trading are all ways to make it easier for people to acquire the cards they need.
Lower trial and error costs
Whether a card game is fun or not is subjective, but the cost of building a deck is very low, meaning the cost of trial and error is extremely low. Take two examples I'm familiar with: In ONE PIECE TCG, Sabo SR was about HK$70 per card in OP-04, while now a deck of Im costs around HK$150, less than four Sabo cards back then; in 2020, a Yu-Gi-Oh! deck cost around HK$1000, while now it costs around HK$300-500. Yu-Gi-Oh! officially lowers card prices by increasing printing volume and accelerating reissues. Now, every box has a hit slot; for example, ONE PIECE has manga cards, and Pokémon TCG has SAR and MUR cards, all at the highest rarity level. Naturally, lower rarity cards are priced like coins—it's a simple supply and demand relationship. Alternatively, they could release basic pre-built decks containing more versatile cards, such as the Starter deck series or the 100 Deck series. This situation has both advantages and disadvantages, but I want to look at the positive impact – it makes buying new cards cheaper for everyone. If you continue to play with cards using the old concept of card appreciation and depreciation, you won't experience the full enjoyment of playing cards and will lose that pure joy of fun. When I was a kid, I bought a Superman plastic figurine without expecting it to appreciate in value or recoup my investment; I just wanted to play with it.
The competition system is more complete.
As card games have matured, the Asian region has begun to evolve in a way that resembles esports. Previously, the Hong Kong ONE PIECE TCG CHAMPIONSHIP involved four rounds of Swiss-system tournaments, divided into four zones, with the top four advancing from each zone before elimination. It's worth mentioning that even the Swiss-system rounds were calculated manually – a dark age indeed. Today, Bandai TCG+ has solved the problems that were previously solved simply by having internet access. The increased number of tournaments, more refined tournament formats, refereeing systems, and public streaming demonstrate that TCGs are steadily progressing.
Higher competitive value
Here, I'm referring to both fame and fortune. In 2011, my friend, a marine creature, won three pre-built decks worth HK$300 for winning a local Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament. Today, a top-ranked deck in the ONE PIECE Championship can fetch thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, and other card games are starting to follow this excellent practice of awarding prize cards. I feel this is a very good thing. It's already difficult to succeed in a card game; it requires understanding the cards, choosing the right ones, building a deck, understanding the environment and the game, practicing, having excellent mental fortitude, on-the-spot performance, and luck—all these elements are indispensable. "Polygon Warriors" deserves both fame and fortune, which is fair enough! TCGs in the Asian region discourage prize money, and Bandai has finally provided a good answer to this long-standing issue in the ONE PIECE TCG.
Higher social value
TCG (Trading Card Games) has different social statuses in different regions. In Europe and America, it's a sport; in Japan, it's a culture; and in Southeast Asia, it's a toy. Since TCG gained wider popularity, posts about it frequently appear on threads, including some normal discussions, as well as comments like "playing cards = being low-class." When I was in secondary school, teachers and classmates laughed at me for playing cards; during that time, playing cards was definitely not something to be proud of. Nowadays, some customers at tutoring centers actually praise card games as one of the few games in this technologically advanced era that still allows for face-to-face interaction, helping students learn and grow. And in bars, many of the people we used to call "MK boys" or "playboys" also play cards. Card shops certainly house all sorts of people.
Collectible value = higher investment value
I'd rather not mention collecting or investing, because I'm not an expert in those areas. But it's undeniable that high-rarity cards have no resale value, and the card game as a whole won't go mainstream. Since gaining experience organizing a card convention last October, I've come to accept that card games aren't just for card collectors; collecting, drawing, and unlocking cards are also forms of "playing cards."
Conclusion:
Regarding posts that claim "playing cards = low-level gaming," most of the rebuttals focus on the high cost of cards, claiming "each card can cost more than xxx." I find this kind of debate, measured in monetary terms and ultimately countered with arguments like "there's a price but no market" or "sell while supplies last," to be superficial. Even I sometimes fall into this trap of judging the value of something in monetary terms. As a long-time TCG player, with years of experience running a card shop and commentating on various major TCG tournaments, I've invested a lot of time and effort in the TCG community. If I were to envision a utopian future for TCGs, it would be this: I hope more people can truly understand card games, recognizing that beyond price and artwork, the effects on the cards are clearly written, and the teams behind them are diligently working to balance and develop the game in all aspects.
In games, there's a winner and a loser simply because the rules state it. But when you spend an afternoon chatting and playing cards face-to-face with friends, you realize that the time spent there is far more important than winning or losing; nothing can replace it. While opening a card pack doesn't necessarily determine a winner, the moment you finish opening the pack, you know which side you're on. TCGs are something that connects the previous generation, the present generation, and the next generation, and I'm really looking forward to what will happen next.
If you see this
Comment: "So unfair"
I know that people actually read my posts about being young and old.