Hermitcraft TCG Go

Hermitcraft TCG Go
A match of TCG Go, between Welsknight and ZombieCleo, from TCG Go Tournament
Creator(s):	VintageBeef
Opening Date	May 2024
Season	Season 10
Status	Active

The Hermitcraft TCG Go or just TCG Go is a special way of playing Hermitcraft Trading Card Game, introduced by VintageBeef in Season 10, after the return of Hermitcraft TCG from Season 9. TCG Go was intended to be a quicker and simpler version of TCG matches, possible to play in every place at any time, without the arena. All the items necessary to play can fit in one shulker box: TCG deck (10 cards), 5 item frames and dropper with button (for card randomizer).

One TCG Go Tournament has been hosted so far.

History

Background

During Season 9, VintageBeef created a game called Hermitcraft Trading Card Game. The main part of it were TCG cards that he built as map arts. Creation of all 201 cards took him a few months, before the game was launched and got popular on the server for the rest of the season.

TCG Go Announcement

VintageBeef's demonstration of TCG Go.

All the cards were transferred to the Season 10 world, which was the return of the Hermitcraft Trading Card Game. VintageBeef revealed it in May 2024, three months into the season. A week later he made another episode, in which he announced a new way of playing: TCG Go. It was a new idea for fast TCG matches, with only 10 cards (per player), so all the stuff could be carried in a shulker box and used any place and any time. VintageBeef explained the rules of TCG Go in the episode.

Testing

Board designed during TCG Go tests.

Later the same day Cubfan135, JoeHills and ZombieCleo met to test TCG Go concepts in practice and give a feedback to VintageBeef, so he could adapt to it. They made a board on the wall on top of Hello, My Name is Lasertag shop. The board was equipped with fireworks in a dispenser for a "tossing the coin". They added to it a glass pane, a few blocks above the dispenser, so the color of firework is visible lower. They played some matches of TCG Go to test it.

Some time after, JoeHills met with VintageBeef to share the test conclusions. He presented the glass pane solution and expressed some thoughts. They discussed if matches should be lost when a player decked out, because of the small size of decks. VintageBeef got the idea to keep this rule, but allow players to not draw any cards in the turn. JoeHills also proposed a version of the game inspired by King Of The Hill, in which a defeated player would just be replaced by a new one.

TCG Go Tournament

Main article: TCG Go Tournament

Location of TCG Go Tournament.

Some time later VintageBeef organized a TCG Go Tournament. He prepared temporary arenas on Murder Mystery Street and decks for players. Four Hermits participated in the event: BdoubleO100, JoeHills, Welsknight and ZombieCleo. They faced each other in eight matches. Ultimately, BdoubleO100 won the tournament. All participants were allowed to keep their decks and cards they got during the event. After the Tournament they all went to Hermit Holmdel, to remove The Big Flood.

Minigame Details

TCG Go Match

Hermitcraft TCG Go is played in matches, in which two players faces each other. The game follows mostly the same rules on regular Hermitcraft Trading Card Game match, but it's simplified for quicker games.

Match Preparation

Because of the general idea of Hermitcraft TCG Go, every match was required to create a board for the game (unless there was already a board left from a previous match). To play participants need to have prepared decks of 10 TCG cards (following the rules of TCG Go Decks).

Players could keep their inventory during the match, they just need to left space for cards as the inventory would be used as a hand. The only thing players shouldn't have on them are other TCG cards, because they cannot be used in the match.

To start the match players need to place their only Hermit Cards on the board and put rest of their decks (9 TCG cards) in droppers. The coin toss (or other method determined by the players) determines who starts the game.

Turns

TCG Go Matches are played in turns. Every turn starts with player getting random card from the dropper. The card could be used during that turn or left in hand. During the turn player can take certain actions, using cards from the hand:

• Attach one Item Card to own Hermit Card to unlock attacks,
• Attach one attachable Effect Card to own Hermit Card,
• Use one single use Effect Card (excluding use of Effect Cards with damage effects during first turn, in which player cannot cause any damage),
• Attack to cause damage to opponent's Hermit Card (if possible, excluding first turn, in which player cannot cause any damage).

The goal of these moves is to bring the player closer to defeating the opponent, by depriving them of all their health points. Turn ends after attack, when player cannot make any more moves or when player decide to end it. End of one turn begins another one of the opponent. The cycle repeats until the end of the game.

End Of Match

The match ends when one player loses all the health points of his only Hermit Card, which means his opponent wins.

TCG Go Equipment

Example of TCG Go equipment.

TCG Go is meant to be a game possible to play at any place and any time on the server, because of that all the equipment needed for the match could fit in one shulker box (referred to as a TCG Go Shulker Box by VintageBeef). The idea was to carry this box everywhere or have easily accessible in other ways, ready to use in a match.

VintageBeef suggested the basic equipment, that included:

• TCG Go Deck with 10 cards,
• Dispenser or dropper and button for a randomizer,
• 5 item frames.

There were also a few other things that could be useful, but were not included in the basic content of a TCG Go Shulker Box:

• Dispenser, second button and some fireworks (half with green and half with red effects) for a toss a coin.
• Sixth item frame for single use Effect Cards.
• Sign for tracking the health points.

TCG Go Deck

Decks for TCG Go stand out significantly from regular TCG decks due to the specifics of this version of the game. The main difference is the size, because TCG Go decks could have only 10 cards:

• 1 Hermit Card (or Alter Ego Card), attached to the board from the beginning of the match.
• 9 cards (Effect Cards and Item Cards) in the dropper (each card in separate slot).

There are also limits related to the rarity of the cards.

• 1 Ultra Rare Card
• 2 Rare Cards
• 7 Common Cards

It has not been clarified whether it would be possible to add more common cards instead of rare ones.

Cards could not be repeated in the deck. Item Cards are the exception to this rule.

Incompatible Cards

Because TCG cards were designed for regular TCG matches, some of them are incompatible with TCG Go. Some effects of Effect Cards and special moves of Hermit Cards (Rare Hermit Cards, Ultra Rare Hermit Cards and Rare Alter Ego Cards) required actions, which are impossible in TCG Go.

Impossible To Use

Card(s)	Incompatibility
Bow , Target Block	Cards causes damage to opponent's AFK Hermit Cards, which are absent in TCG Go.
Chorus Fruit , Egg , Knockback	Use of these cards requires changing the active Hermit Card. It cannot be done in TCG Go, because there is only one Hermit Card per player.
Ender Pearl , Ladder	Cards allows movement of Hermit Cards on the board, which is impossible in TCG Go, because each player had only one slot for Hermit Card.
Turtle Shell	Card could be only attached to AFK Hermit Cards, which are absent in TCG Go.
Armour Stand	Card could be only placed in slot for Hermit Cards. In TCG Go there are no free slots for this card then.
Lead , Piston	Cards allows changing the location of Item Cards, to attach them to different Hermit Card. It cannot be done in TCG Go, because there is only one Hermit Card per player.
Curse of Binding	Card prevents opponent from changing active Hermit Card, which is impossible in TCG Go anyway.
Lightning Rod	With the card opponent's damage can be redirected to chosen Hermit Card. It has no effect in TCG Go, because there is only one Hermit Card per player.
Looting , Loyalty	Cards can be used only after Hermit Card is knocked out, which means end of TCG Go match.

Less Useful/Unclear

Card(s)	Incompatibility
Anvil , Crossbow	Card can cause damage to multiple opponent's Hermit Card, both active and AFK. In TCG Go it could still work on opponent's only Hermit Card.
Splash Potion of Healing , Splash Potion of Healing II	Cards can heal both active and AFK Hermit Cards. In TCG Go they could still work on only Hermit Card, but without the advantage of healing many cards at the same time.

League

VintageBeef wanted to keep track of the players' results in form of a league, if "TCG Go is a go". This plan was never completed, probably because of lack of interest for TCG Go.