The X-Men Trading Card Game is a competitive and lightweight TCG from Wizards of the Coast, released in 2000 to accompany Fox’s corresponding movie adaptation.
In the X-Men TCG, players control a trio of classic mutant heroes and compete to defeat villains before their opponent. Players also control the villains to attack their opponents. The game features dice-based combat, just a few card types and aspects, and a Danger Room Level for card cost.
Although the X-Men TCG released over two decades ago, its cards are still readily available. Perhaps that’s due to its deeply negative reception.
But if the mere idea of an X-Men TCG sparks your curiosity, as it did for me, you can probably find the cards online with ease. It’s also fun to have any whole game for such a low price, let alone the nostalgia.
I grew up with trading card games, and have a special affinity for them. I’m also a lifelong X-Men fan, both of the 90’s animated show and Fox’s oft-maligned film series.
So, just discovering this game was a delight, and I went in with a very open mind. Unfortunately, this game largely disappointed, and I take no joy in being negative.
I invested in the starter pack and several booster packs. The starter box included an X-Men film poster, which gave me a real thrill.
But I was dismayed the dice didn’t have any personality, when WOTC is often so thematic. The counters have some color, but they aren’t distinguishable enough.
I wasn’t pleased with the art design, either. It features the most unappealing version of Wolverine I’ve personally encountered. I wish the artwork at least capitalized on Fox’s film more, and not just with promo cards. I hate to be brutal, but I find some of the art pretty tacky.
Don’t measure the game by its starter pack. It doesn’t include all of the card types, nor the characters and mechanics that it needs to play like a traditional TCG.
Although I enjoyed the Danger Room mechanics, the X-Men TCG’s gameplay feels like it underestimated its target audience’s ability to pick up and exercise rules.
On its best day, the gameplay is unbalanced and fairly uninteresting. Involving dice in a TCG is a strange move, and it removes a lot of the basic strategy that makes the format so breezy.
Players are largely encouraged to spam obligatory villains, heroes, and cards—with little variety due to the game’s short run.
Thing is? I still had some fun with this game. The sheer novelty of it, the fact and nostalgia of its existence, are part of its appeal. But the unusual and frustrating aspects of its gameplay can also be truly funny. I have many genuine laughs in visualizing and acting out the dice outcomes, RPG style.
If you take this game seriously and try to win strategically, it’s nonsense. But there’s no obligation to take games so seriously. Running with the tone and enjoying these characters, I imagine this’ll hit my table now and then when I revisit Fox’s X-Men films.
It has a bizarre place in tabletop history, when TCG adaptations were a prerequisite for most pop culture, and I’m simply glad something like this happened. I just wish it panned out.
Final Thoughts
The X-Men TCG fumbles the fundamentals expected from its genre, with stale gameplay and poor art. Also, it doesn’t tie enough into the movie that sparked it, and the art isn’t up to par. But its mere existence, format, and characters can make it a nostalgic guilty pleasure, if you’re willing to indulge its arbitrary gameplay and goofiness.
Score: 4/10
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