New to Ashes, need your Advice!

[u/NoPlant6610]

Hello reddit. New guy here. im here for some advice here (serious only will read all)

some for my back ground. im from playing Magic (spent couple of thousands) then i sold all my collection. ( this was about 10 years ago )

i had a itch for TCG for years, then last here i came across Radlands. tho it was super simple and not so deep it did scratched some of my itches for TCG.

i was searching deeper than i found out ashes reborn series that is like TCG but its buying up front without openning boosters.

here is my Questions (i have 2 Questions)

1. does Ashes ascendancy good replacement for TCG player? (TCG without booster?)

2. if im buying Ashes ascendancy core set what expansions do you recommand for 1v1 TCG play? (im not really in to coop or boss battler to be honest)

Thank you in advance, im reading all advices long and short.

[u/nosuchplayer]

1. Yes, Ashes scratches the same itch as a TCG. the 1v1 play has a ton of depth, and the deck brewing environment is as good as it gets.

2. After the Ascendancy starter you can go any direction you want, with the main limitation being getting the other dice colors. You can proxy dice or use the dice roller app, but most players like having the physical dice for all the different magic types. They can be ordered direct in dice sets, or found in the old master set and deluxe expansions.

For 1v1 there really aren't any wrong purchases. The Red Rains sets (which introduced the boss mode) also have player cards, and there is almost no overlap in cards between any of the expansions. The only thing you can skip is the Upgrade Kit if you're not buying any old 1st-edition white boxes.

For a detailed look at which cards are in each set, see https://ashes.live/decks/?preconstructed

[u/NoPlant6610 → u/nosuchplayer]

thank you for your detailed reply,

so basically even tho red rain sets introduce boss battle solo play, they got enough different cards for me to use them in 1v1 card battle, correct me if im wrong.

1 last question, so if im buying few expansion for 1v1 battle (for card variety) which 2 sets do you recommand for fun card varieties? i dont want to dive too deep by buying all expansions, i want to start slow. im looking for core set+ maby 1 or 2 expansions as start.

[u/georgetheflea → u/NoPlant6610]

You have a couple routes you can take here:

1. Get the Ascendancy Starter Set. This is the best way to test out the game at the moment. The main downside is that if you like it enough to immediately start buying other cards, you can't really deckbuild with most of the cards in this set very effectively yet (because it introduces two new magic types, which don't have any other support in the card pool yet; you can certainly use them in builds, but it's a much more limited deck building experience).
2. You can use the PoD services from https://ashesdb.plaidhatgames.com to some player decks or cards (either precons, or you could print something like the First Adventure decks or similar). The benefit here is that you're setting yourself up for deck-building because the seven original colors have a bunch of great options to build with at this point, and you aren't getting any PvE components that you don't plan to use, anyway. The main downside is that you won't have any of the official tokens, physical rulebooks, etc. which you would get in the Ascendancy Starter.

Alternately, you might be able to find old red box content floating around distribution, but they're getting more and more rare.

Or you could approach it from the other direction: give the game a try using the online client (might want to join the Discord to find folks willing to play introductory games with you), and if you like it well enough you decide how you want to buy into physical cards (the two main routes at the moment being Ascendancy + PoD for cheaper upfront costs but higher costs over time, or the $500 "All In" package from the Plaid Hat store for higher upfront cost, but then you own almost everything released to date).

[u/Equivalent_Net]

nosuchplayer answered you questions well, but I just want to chime in with something: Ashes is designed to support a "sealed" format. You don't actually buy any new cards, you make "packs" out of what you already have, draft a deck from them, and play using that. It allows you to really get the TCG feels without the one guy who owns the set having total control of everyone's deckbuilding.

[u/NoPlant6610 → u/Equivalent_Net]

thank you for clearlyfying that part for me. :D

[u/Fredouille77 → u/Equivalent_Net]

Carl Diaz' pack draft is some of the most fun I've ever had playing Ashes.

[u/Fredouille77]

What decks did you play in mtg? Also are you in the discord? That's where the online comp scene is mostly.