C*23

The Story C-23's story is based on Jim Lee's comic book series which takes place in the future when there are two races warring for control of Earth: the humans who are protected by cyberneticly enhanced warriors called HyperShocks, and the Angelans which are humanoid insects. So far, the insects have taken control of the surface of the planet, and the humans are fighting to take back their planet. The players can take the side of the Humans and the HyperShocks or the Angelans. Either way, they must use skill, wits, luck, (and money) to stop their opponents. Getting Started picture of a starter deckOne of the things I like about C-23 is that when you buy the starter deck (approximately $7.00 for 40 cards) you get everything you need to start playing. Unlike other games in which the starter deck is completely random, the starter deck in C-23 is mostly set, but has some random cards too. This makes getting started a lot cheaper than some other games. Once you buy your starter deck, you should read the rules to get a full understanding of how to play, but I will give you a shortened version in this review. After that, find a friend with a deck, sit down, and start playing. You could also buy some booster packs (approximately $3.00 for 12 cards) and customize your deck some before you start, but that isn't necessary. In fact, I won nine out of my first ten games with a straight-out-of-the-box deck. A Summary Of The Rules The rules are simpler than most CCG's, but that doesn't detract from gameplay. For those of you that have played Magic The Gathering, this game will be extremely easy to learn because it parallels magic in many ways. C-23 is a turn based game. To decide who goes first, you may flip a coin, roll a dice, or play rock-scissors-paper. Either way, it is random. The player who has the first turn goes, and then play proceeds to the other player, then back, and so on. The object is to make your opponent run out of cards before you do. Now I will go over the other card types in detail. The first type of card is a character card. This represents a person, animal, creature, etc. diagram of the card layout The Card type is shown by looking behind the resources needed number. The different symbols mean different things. Flags mean characters, arrows mean actions, and fists mean combat cards. Resources needed is how many unused resources you must have on the table that turn to use the card. Resources are represented by cards and are similar to money. You must use the specified number of resources to play the card. Below that is the card name. The power is how strong and how tough the character is, and this characteristic is used during combat. The flavor text is also related to the story and is sometimes funny. The special abilities are things that make this card special, and not all cards have them. This particular card is unique which means there can only be one of that particular card on the table at any given time. It has vitality which means that when the character is killed, it returns to your hand instead of going to your discard pile. The card color is represented by the border around the illustration and also the symbol behind the resources needed number. The illustration is just for show. Other card types are actions and combat cards. Actions have a symbol that resemble arrows pointing in two different ways. These are one-time things, and are used only during your turn, and only before and after combat. Combat cards are like action cards, but they are a surprise to the other player and are played during combat on either person's turn. Combat and action cards don't have power, and instead of special abilities they just say what to do when you play the card. action cardcombat card The last card type is a resource card. These cards are like money in that you must have a specified number of resources to play a card. If you have enough resources, you must tap or turn sideways the card to show that it was used that turn. Resources also have a color. The color is because to play a card of any specific color, you must use one resource of the same color and the other resources you use can be of any color. During the turn there are phases that each player must go through. They are as follows: 1. Untap 2. Draw 3. Play Resources 4. Play Actions or Characters 5. Attack I will now describe each of these in detail. During the untap phase, players ready all of their cards by untapping them. This means that if a card was used (by turning it sideways), you turn it back straight to ready it for this turn. Next is the draw phase. In this phase you draw one card off the top of your deck, and in the first turn each player draws seven cards and then draws one card. Next you play resources. This means that you can put down one resource card if you have one in your hand. The next phase is the play actions or characters. You can play as many of these as you have the resources for. If you play any actions, work them out right after you play them, and then discard them. If you play any characters, leave them out on the table. The next phase is the attack phase. In this phase, you attack with your characters and play combat cards. If you play a combat card, work out the effects right after you play it. If you want to attack, you tap (turn sideways) any character that is attacking. If the defending player wishes to block he must have at least one untapped character. That character may block one other character, or two defending characters can block one attacking character. If a character is blocked, then he does no damage to the player. Instead, he damages the defending character, and the defending character damages him. To work out the damage, compare the power of both the attacking character and all defending characters blocking him. The side with the most power wins, and the loser(s) are discarded. If the result is a tie, then all characters involved are discarded, and finally, if the attacking character beats or ties two or more defending characters, the player who controls him may chose how the damage is distributed. Any unblocked attacking creatures force the defending player to discard a number of cards off the top of his deck equal to the total power of unblocked attacking creatures. Whew! If all that seems a little complex, don't worry, there is a better description of the rules that comes in the starter deck. Special Abilities The characters in C-23 have special abilities which make them different from other characters. This concept will be easier to grasp for people who have played Magic The Gathering (M:TG). There are six main special abilities which include mobility, vitality, blocker, unique, and gung-ho, and many other ones that are as stated on the card. Mobility means that the character can only be blocked by other characters with mobility. This is very similar to flying in M:TG. Next is vitality. This means that if the character is discarded, he returns to your hand instead of going to your discard pile. After that there is blocker. If this is on the card, it means that the character may only be used as a blocker, and can not attack. This is similar to having a wall in M:TG. If a card is unique, then each player may only control one of that character at a time. Finally, gung-ho means that the character must attack every turn if able. What's Yet to Come Another great thing about C-23 is that it is just getting started. This means that we will be seeing new editions, and rising card value. If M:TG's success is any guide, in about four years, some of the cards could be worth as much as $400.00 or more! Also, there is a new set of cards already in production, so there will be plenty of new cards to further customize your deck. Conclusion Summing up, this is the best customizable card game I have ever seen. It is new, fast, and easy. It also has a lot of growth potential. It has some cool new ideas, but doesn't stray too far from the Wizards of the Coast template for CCGs, so experienced gamers will have no trouble learning to play. This is a fine game with the only drawback being excessive cost. As a result, I give C-23 four out of five Go Inside Review Lights.