We learned a lot about what makes an appealing card in a CCG during the first few months of Collective. Because all new cards are player-generated and voted on in our Subreddit, card creators get immediate feedback (in comments and votes). Strategies for making great cards develop very quickly.

I chose examples here that should be easy to parse even if you don’t play Collective. The ideas here can be applicable to designing great cards for any CCG.

Note to creators: Don’t feel left out if you weren’t included! The people chosen here were mostly chosen because they have a consistent and long history demonstrating the strategy I’m highlighting. The purpose of this article is to inform card designers about some strategies on how to be appealing, not to be a “top 10” list of creators in Collective, so a lot of awesome people will get overlooked here.

Contribute to an archetype: The Collective Robot Group