Friday, April 11, 2025

Themed Collections (and Secret Ones) in TCGP

As a wrap-up for the current run of discussions related to the TCGP game, I want to bring up something that's not exactly new in the game - it's been there since the get-go - but some aspects of it may be new to some, including me, making it worthwhile to be discussed. Part of the TCG experience, whether it's an electronic implementation like this or the physical one, is the effort of collecting the cards. To amp up the fun in doing so, the TCGP implementation includes a feature called Themed Collections, which has obvious and not-so-obvious aspects that contribute to that fun effort.

Themed Collections are accessed through the Missions section in a separate area... because that's what they are. The missions involve collecting certain cards from the expansions through all the usual ways, and some may even involve collecting multiple copies of specific cards. As each mission is cleared, rewards are also given; these are mostly tokens to be exchanged for emblems, but some are also Hourglasses for opening packs and making Wonder Picks, as well as profile picture icons. Pursuing the collection of certain cards for these missions may be a useful and pleasant diversion from other usual tasks in the game.

Fun also comes from an added twist in the form of Secret missions. These are hidden missions that are only revealed when the objectives (cards to collect) for them have been completed, thereby also when the missions are completed. As a result, one will need to discover them by oneself, or else by information (discreet and blatant) from those who have completed them. For example, I can give the hint that one of the Secret missions for the latest expansion requires one to collect many cards that feature a certain coin collector. Its reward is only prestigious, but it may be a nice diversion as noted.

With that, the "new" aspect would be the Secret missions, as it's likely that most players will only encounter them by happenstance, whether by unexpectedly completing them on their own or finding out about them from other players and/or friends - confer the hint above. Yet as the feature has been present since the very first expansion and continued to be present with the latest expansion, it can be expected that new expansions in the future will have their own set of missions for Themed Collections, which will preserve the feature while bringing newness and continuity with those new expansions.

It seems apparent that some new things might be in the eyes of the beholder, and the feature of Themed Collections in TCGP could be construed to demonstrate that. That would be especially the case as new expansions populate it with more card collection missions, including Secret ones that players might encounter and consider as "new" achievements. At the least, the missions that accompany the search and collection of new cards in expansions keep lending the processes a sense of newness, affirming them as a key part of the TCG experience even in this "new" form.

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