LogFAQs > #907006899

Zeus posted...

A simple google search shows that back in 1979 people had suggested a similar system and, I would assume, that the ante idea in MtG probably comes from an older source.

The entire concept of ante wasn't really unique or innovative - it was mostly just a means of mimicking pot mechanics and wagers in normal card games (like poker or blackjack) without having to use actual money (especially because there was at least some intent to market CCGs to children).

In the same way loot box mechanics exist in video games to follow that model, because developers figured out that they can exploit gambling mechanics and make a ton of money while simultaneously avoiding restrictions and regulations that go hand-in-hand with gambling.

Magic didn't invent ante mechanics. But it certainly popularized it in ways that a lot of its early imitators absolutely followed. Magic didn't invent the idea of card packs and cards with different levels of rarity, but it definitely applied it to the idea of card games in ways that created a phenomenal and unrealized revenue model that other companies hungered to exploit for themselves.

And when dozens upon dozens of similar games flooded the market, they tended to establish the idea of what CCGs ARE, which in turn influenced how people modeled those games in a video game.


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