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I've about run out of buying the cheap dead collectible games that have gotten great ratings. There are a bunch of other games that I've seen very little information about on this site. There might be one rating, but many of the below games have few, if any, reviews or posts. By cheap, I'm talking about games where boxes of boosters/starters are less than $25.
Some of the below games have gotten one good review here, but they've been anime games and I'm not a great fan of the bug-eyed anime look. That's why I haven't wanted to try them with only a single review to work from.
American Idol
Inuyasha
Universal Fighting System (UFS)
Megaman
Bleach
Marvel Ultimate Battles
Dragonball GT
Dragonball Z
.Hack
Blue Dragon
Epic Battles
Chaotic
Huntik
Yu Yu Hakusho
Naruto
The good cheap games I've found include:
Call of Cthulhu CCG (compatible with LCG, but different card back)
Game of Thrones CCG (fully compatible with LCG, same card back)
Heroclix
Horrorclix
Mechwarrior
Mage Knight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Hecatomb
Harry Potter
Highlander
Legend of the 5 Rings
Lord of the Rings
World of Warcraft
WARS
Pirates
Spycraft
Star Wars
Star Trek
VS (Marvel & DC)
I would have recommended a few other games, but they're no longer readily available inexpensively (Dreamblade, 7th Sea). Some of the ones I listed are on the verge of getting harder to find or more expensive to buy into (Decipher Star Wars, Mage Knight, Harry Potter).
Are there any other cheap games worth getting?
[Edit: added CCG versions of FFG LCGs that are cheaply available.]
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Jeff Jensen
United States
Kearns
Utah
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The CCG my wife and I like the most is .Hack. I find the game pretty well balanced compared to many I have played in the past. My wife even took time to build decks. Other CCGs I would deck build and she would just play. We bought a few booster boxes and found it fun to play now and then. I recommend trying out a couple starters. They can be found pretty cheap.
The other she liked was WARS but you already have that on the list you liked.
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Tim Mirkes
United States
La Crosse
Wisconsin
Papa was a rollin' stone...
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Might I recommend X-Files? It's a deduction-based mystery game wherein your means of asking questions can be killed.
It follows the first four or so seasons of the TV show, and is a very solid game. It used to be available for about $20 a booster box, $15 a starter box. I've not bought any in a while, but they were cheap when I bought my collection.
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Hey Nonny Mouse
United States
Longmont
Colorado
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I found Inuyasha to be an interesting concept, but not very balanced. If you got a large enough collection, it might work.
You can always try Infinite Armies: new cards are as cheap as your printer can print them. I've been finding it hard to get proper software to run it lately, though.
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J.L. Robert
United States
Sherman Oaks
California
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WCW Nitro Trading Card Game plays very similarly to Harry Potter. Instead of playing any combination of color, wrestlers are limited to 3 color types of wrestling maneuvers (of 5 or 6 different colors). Instead of lessons, there is generic energy ("Nitro") which powers up the maneuver cards. Wrestlers have 3 actions per turn instead of 2.
If you'd like to get some, Geekmail me. I have tons of spare cards, and can set you up with enough cards to play with good theme decks.
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I might have to give .Hack a try.
I'm not into wrestling and think that would be a hard sell in the gaming group. I'll still look at prices because something that's cheap enough is still worth getting--especially when padding an order for free shipping.
I don't think printing cards is any cheaper than buying them because printer ink doesn't come cheap.
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Hey Nonny Mouse
United States
Longmont
Colorado
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rgagnon wrote: I don't think printing cards is any cheaper than buying them because printer ink doesn't come cheap.
You know, I had never thought of that. OOP cards probably are cheaper... 
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I havent seen Firestorm mentioned yet. It looks good and people seem to like it, though I don't have any first hand experiences. It can be had for around $5.00 a box on ebay.
I don't think L5R is cheap.
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rgagnon wrote: I might have to give .Hack a try.
I'm not into wrestling and think that would be a hard sell in the gaming group. I'll still look at prices because something that's cheap enough is still worth getting--especially when padding an order for free shipping.
I don't think printing cards is any cheaper than buying them because printer ink doesn't come cheap.
Get a laser printer. 
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Aidan McDermott wrote: I havent seen Firestorm mentioned yet. It looks good and people seem to like it, though I don't have any first hand experiences. It can be had for around $5.00 a box on ebay.
I don't think L5R is cheap.
I haven't seen Firestorm in any of the stores I usually shop at. I just looked on eBay and the only thing I found was a UK auction selling them at about $2 a booster. There might have been a time when the cards were readily available, but that time seems to have passed. It's one of the reasons why I want to pick up the dead ones now before they disappear.
Current L5R isn't cheap, but I've gotten a few boxes of starters and boosters for $20 and under at a variety of stores.
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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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On the Edge
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cosine wrote:
That was a fun quirky game. I even bought the RPG rulebook after playing it. Sadly everything is probably in a box somewhere in America (if my nephew hasn't "borrowed" them already).
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On the Edge looks familiar to me even though I haven't played it. It might be one of the early CCGs I picked up after getting into Magic. I'll have to dig around the house to see whether I've only got a single deck or a box.
It's still available at Steve Jackson's Warehouse 23 store for around $20/box.
It doesn't appear that many people have played any of the games from the first list I made--other than one recommendation for .Hack.
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rgagnon wrote: Aidan McDermott wrote: I havent seen Firestorm mentioned yet. It looks good and people seem to like it, though I don't have any first hand experiences. It can be had for around $5.00 a box on ebay.
I don't think L5R is cheap. I haven't seen Firestorm in any of the stores I usually shop at. I just looked on eBay and the only thing I found was a UK auction selling them at about $2 a booster. There might have been a time when the cards were readily available, but that time seems to have passed. It's one of the reasons why I want to pick up the dead ones now before they disappear.
Here are booster boxes for $7.00, there are curently 10 available - http://cgi.ebay.com/FIRESTORM-PRIME-CCG-Sealed-Booster-Pack-...
and here are boxes of starters for $6.00, there are curently 5 available - http://cgi.ebay.com/FIRESTORM-PRIME-CCG-Sealed-Starter-Deck-...
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I found my problem. I clicked "trading cards" to screen the results and didn't notice that there was another link for TCGs.
I'm awaiting a response from Warehouse 23, for On the Edge, since their shopping cart wouldn't connect to FedEx, so wasn't providing a free shipping option
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Spence
United States
Greensboro
North Carolina
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I played both Naruto and Dragonball Z some time ago.
I didn't care for the Naruto game at all, it just didn't play well to me.
The DBZ card game, on the other hand, hit a sweet spot about halfway through and I felt like it was a fun game. Lots of different deck types available, and a good variety of play.
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Brian Franzman
United States
Tacoma
Washington
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I'll second X-Files for being cheap, and not terrible, anyway. I do like that you get to play both as the agency and the conspiracy, though I never seemed to get the hang of using adversaries & combat cards. Also, the game can end quickly with a lucky guess... But I do like the game (though it helps that I'm a huge fan of the show).
You might also look into Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and/or Rage, if you don't mind the whole vampire/werewolf thing. Rage cards in particular have been spotted for very inexpensive booster boxes. VTES had a 15-year run which only ended recently, so there are loads of cards available for it, though you still probably can't find them as cheaply as you might like.
I'd like to recommend Mythos, the precursor to the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game CCG/LCG, and much more faithful to the original literature. It has a stronger storytelling aspect, and doesn't have the theme just pasted on like CoC does IMHO. Definitely worth a look, and booster boxes for most sets can be had for very, very little nowadays. Note that you will need a set of Investigator cards to play the game.
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John Peterson
United States
Normal
Illinois
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Bokrug wrote: I'll second X-Files for being cheap, and not terrible, anyway. I do like that you get to play both as the agency and the conspiracy, though I never seemed to get the hang of using adversaries & combat cards. Also, the game can end quickly with a lucky guess... But I do like the game (though it helps that I'm a huge fan of the show). You might also look into Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and/or Rage, if you don't mind the whole vampire/werewolf thing. Rage cards in particular have been spotted for very inexpensive booster boxes. VTES had a 15-year run which only ended recently, so there are loads of cards available for it, though you still probably can't find them as cheaply as you might like. I'd like to recommend Mythos, the precursor to the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game CCG/LCG, and much more faithful to the original literature. It has a stronger storytelling aspect, and doesn't have the theme just pasted on like CoC does IMHO. Definitely worth a look, and booster boxes for most sets can be had for very, very little nowadays. Note that you will need a set of Investigator cards to play the game.
I agree with the Mythos recommendation. I like the story aspect of play.
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scubadawg1 wrote: Bokrug wrote: I'll second X-Files for being cheap, and not terrible, anyway. I do like that you get to play both as the agency and the conspiracy, though I never seemed to get the hang of using adversaries & combat cards. Also, the game can end quickly with a lucky guess... But I do like the game (though it helps that I'm a huge fan of the show). You might also look into Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and/or Rage, if you don't mind the whole vampire/werewolf thing. Rage cards in particular have been spotted for very inexpensive booster boxes. VTES had a 15-year run which only ended recently, so there are loads of cards available for it, though you still probably can't find them as cheaply as you might like. I'd like to recommend Mythos, the precursor to the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game CCG/LCG, and much more faithful to the original literature. It has a stronger storytelling aspect, and doesn't have the theme just pasted on like CoC does IMHO. Definitely worth a look, and booster boxes for most sets can be had for very, very little nowadays. Note that you will need a set of Investigator cards to play the game. I agree with the Mythos recommendation. I like the story aspect of play.
I've been picking up booster for Mythos whenever I can (even bought a box of French ones for €5). It's a very different game with a very different feel from Magic. Sometimes, we get lets in the story of the deck and forget to release that we could have won the game. The deck building aspect, IMHO, is much more difficult than other games I have played, which keeps me from playing right now.
If you can find the Standard Set, you'll get two playable decks to try the game out.
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Brian Franzman
United States
Tacoma
Washington
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The standard card set for Mythos are a good way to go. Even though it's a fixed pair of decks, it has been very worthwhile to pick up several standard sets, to get multiples of these very good cards.
Deckbuilding is a little restricted, because in most cases you will want to include multiples of the cards necessary to complete adventures. When you don't have a very broad range of cards to choose from, you'll find some adventures are impossible to complete. You don't have this issue with the standard set, though, so getting one to try the game out is a very good idea. Also, there is no limit to deck size, so if you don't mind diluting your deck a bit, you can work in lots of really fun cards!
Also, you can often find the Dreamlands cards for much cheaper than cards from most other expansions. They play just fine, but they do represent another dimension that adds further complexity than simply using cards from the "Waking World". That said, it's not really that much more difficult than traveling to the Middle East or South Pacific...
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I would suggest mine EIC League, since it is FREE for the basic edition. My boys and I designed it for two reasons- we wanted it to be completely customizable and fun. Everything is different each game, starting with the amount of money you have to build a team. This is the equalizer between opponents, size of your budget. After that, you can build a lot of light units, a few strong ones, or a mix of each.
There are special weapons, armor, shielding, special movements, special attacks, the list is almost endless. And it never costs a dime, unless you want the advanced version. But the basic version is complete and a real blast.
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Davido
United States
Mather
California
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@ Firestorm
caveats:
Starter boxes are fixed (e.g. 50 cards all the same)
some Fixed distribution (starter only) and some Commons/Uncommons (fixed as in always found in those starters, but also randomly placed in boosters).
A starter box of 2x of each of 4 race starters is good to get you going.
Boosters: Third World had a MAJOR issue with hand-picking/collating cards for boosters and many are NON-Random, e.g. certain cards are usually associated together, so it is hard to get an even mix of cards.
Booster boxes contain 24 boosters of 11 cards: 1 rare/3 Uncommon/ 7 commons so a box will contain 24/ 72/ 168 cards.
In the set (only 1 set, no official expansion) you have:
50 rares, 50 uncommons, 100 commons.
So a booster box Should get you most of the commons/uncommons and 3 booster boxes (72 rares) will most likely NOT get you a complete set. That said, a starter box plus 3 booster boxes of Firestorm should be plenty to play with. It's a cool system and deserved a much better fat than one n done and OOP.
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davido wrote: @ Firestorm caveats:
Starter boxes are fixed (e.g. 50 cards all the same)
some Fixed distribution (starter only) and some Commons/Uncommons (fixed as in always found in those starters, but also randomly placed in boosters).
That's good to know. CCGs tend to vary from game to game what the starters are like. It's not the easiest thing to know whether starters are random, fixed, or a mix.
Mythos sounds good, but it's not cheap. I'm not finding much better than $50 for a box.
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Flying Arrow
United States
Pennsylvania
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Spycraft CCG is really cheap with the exception of the last release (Murder Lottery). Starter decks for the first expansion are practically free. If you find someone who already bought a box of starters, you probably could get them for the cost of shipping, since each box comes with 2 copies of each faction,. The 2nd copies for each faction don't really help that much since there are only a handful of randomized cards per deck - it's almost all fixed.
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I forgot about Spycraft even though I'd bought some starter and booster boxes. That's another game that's getting a bit harder to find. One of the stores that I ordered from no longer has the game.
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Posted Fri Apr 8, 2011 9:23 pm
