3 Issues with the Pokémon TCG, Magic The Gathering, and Yugioh; and how my Indie TCG Solves them.
I didn’t set out to reinvent card games. I just wanted to change a few things that have bothered me for years about traditional trading card games. Like artificial scarcity, do ya'll actually like that?
Well it's really frustrated me! lol! So that and frustrations like it shaped every major design choice in Your Class Rep, from how the cards are sold to how long a match lasts. And I going to talk to you about the three big pain points I have with traditional TCGs, and how I fix them!
Hi! They call me Pi and if this is your first time seeing hearing about my game Your Class Rep, here’s the short version: it’s a fast, pocket-sized card game about middle school elections, bluffing your opponent, and winning influence round by round.
Alright with the introductions out of the way lets get into it!
The Three Problems I Wanted to Solve
1. Random packs and artificial scarcity
I love trading card games, but the random pack model has always rubbed me the wrong way. Chasing rare pulls turns a fun hobby into an expensive loop that rewards luck or having a large expendable income.
Some of the most expensive individual cards in active play today can fetch hundreds to over a thousand dollars, even from modern sets, and sealed modern booster boxes for games like Pokémon and Magic regularly trade for $200–$350+ on the secondary market. And sure you can blame scalpers, but its the structure of the games themselves that create this environment in the first place.
From the start, I decided Your Class Rep would be honest about what you’re buying. One box. No randomness, secret rares or any other gambling-adjacent mechanics. If you buy one card pack, (We call them classrooms by the way) you own the full experience.
Each pack of Your Class Rep includes:
14 predetermined cards
Which are two identical 7-card hands (Those are called a "class"), each featuring boy and girl pixel-art versions of the same middle school archetypes
A compact manual styled like a classic video game booklet, including story context, character bios, and extra art
There are no blind packs, randomness, or missing pieces. You will always know exactly what you’re getting.
Because each deck is a complete mini set, trading becomes optional and social experience instead of a stressful and expensive requirement to play. If you and a friend own different decks, you can swap cards and experiment, expanding your options to 14 unique cards while still playing with just seven at a time.
2. Rules that get in the way of thinking
I wanted a rule set that could be learned in under a minute, especially by new comers to TCGs, without stripping away meaningful decisions.
Pokémon TCG looks simple on the surface, but complexity builds quickly. Status conditions, once‑per‑turn rules, trainer card timing, and knockout effects all behave differently and interact in ways that can confuse new players. Overlapping effects often send players reaching for the rulebook, even though the game initially seems approachable.
Magic: The Gathering is incredibly deep, but that depth comes it infamous rule complexity. Spells do not resolve right away, so effects can interrupt each other in layers, and timing matters down to the exact wording on a card. Some effects happen automatically without player input, which can make cards appear to change or disappear with no clear cause. Its not just me either, even experienced players often rely on judges to resolve edge cases.
Would your grandma sit down and play these with you? I don't know ya'll might have those cool hip grandmas, but mine wouldn't, ha!
Your Class Rep uses a simple structure: you and your opponent each have a 7-card hand. You both choose a card, reveal simultaneously, resolve abilities, compare influence to determine the winner of that round. Do that once for each card in hand, and you tally up the score. That’s it!
The rules are lightweight and easy to follow. There are no tricky timing windows, no confusing exceptions, and nothing hidden that players have to remember.
Even new players can start playing immediately, and the game works smoothly from the first turn. At the same time, each decision still matters—choosing which card to play and when is meaningful, but the rules never get in the way of actually enjoying the game.
3. Games that take too long to feel fun
A lot of great card games ask for a big time commitment before they get interesting. That’s fine sometimes, but it makes them hard to pull out casually or play with people that may... or may not have short attention spans.
For example:
Magic: The Gathering matches often run 30–60 minutes, especially for newer players still reading cards. Even short turns involve checking the stack, resolving triggered abilities, and applying continuous effects across multiple layers. Add in shuffling, deck searches, and decision-making under pressure, and the game can feel slow or intimidating until players gain experience.
Pokémon TCG is considered one of the faster, more approachable trading card games, yet a typical match still lasts 20 to 40 minutes, even with simple decks. Much of that time comes from setup, shuffling, deck searching, and layered turn actions. For younger or new players, that length can turn a loss into fatigue rather than motivation to play again.
What I've found is that for games like these for the uninitiated can feel like a chore or a bore, especially if a loss feels inevitable.
Your Class Rep was designed to play fast. Really fast.
Each match takes about a minute or two if you are really dragging it out. Each round feels important, decisions resolve immediately, and the game ends before it can overstay its welcome. It’s meant to be the kind of game where you say, “One more round,” without thinking about it.
That speed isn’t accidental. It’s what allows the game to be replayed back-to-back and still feel tense instead of repetitive.
Why It’s Built This Way
At its core, Your Class Rep keeps the best parts of competitive card games: bluffing, prediction, tension, and that moment where you realize you’ve outplayed someone by a single decision.
What it removes is the grind.
No long setup. No bloated rulebooks. No spending loop disguised as progression. Just a fast, self-contained card battle that fits in your pocket and respects your time.
You can check out a prototype build of the game here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ohYvAQYqJuOGaEwDDxdTtUC6Dgo9k81X/view
And if you’d like to follow more LessThanPi art, game design, and creative work, you can find us here:
Website: https://www.lessthanpiart.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/lessthanpi
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lessthanpi_art
Discord: https://discord.gg/mZXwqtUXw4
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