The Phantom: The Card Game - A Solo Review

Image: Games By Lyck

INTRODUCTION

When I was growing up, there was one superhero who in my youthful eyes stood out among his fellow knights of justice. Neither Superman nor Thor were the inheritors of my admiration, my childhood hero was in fact The Phantom. Credited as the first hero to don the hallmark closefitting attire, The Phantom has no superpowers. Instead, he relies on his cunning, courage, and the myth that surrounds his legacy making him immortal in the eyes of villain and scum alike. Originally published in 1950, the adventures of the masked avenger and his trusty allies is still in active print making The Phantom the longest consecutive running comic book in Sweden, which is quite an achievement especially when one considers the longevity or rather lack thereof of most modern intellectual properties. But my affection for the man who the forces of evil with trembling voice describe as “The Ghost who walks” is nothing compared to that of fellow Swede Mikael Lyck; long-time member of the official Phantom Fan Club, founder of the publishing imprint Games By Lyck and the author of The Phantom: The Card Game. So how does this passion translate into a cooperative deck-building game? Let us find out.

Full disclosure: a review copy of The Phantom: The Card Game was kindly provided by publisher Games By Lyck.

COMPONENTS

The components featured in The Phantom: The Card Game are something of a mixed bag, at least in my eyes. The cards, of which there are many, are not linen-finished which if I am completely honest is not a deal-breaker for me. What I am less fond of though are cards that feature a black border enclosing the outer rim of the card, as this graphical design choice tends to become worn quickly with repeated plays. The Phantom: The Card Game suffers this exact problem, as signs of wear and tear started to rear its ugly head after only a couple of plays. Now, for us devoted acolytes of the Church of Sleeves this is less of an issue than for those poor souls who indulge themselves in… unprotected plays of board and card games, a thought that makes me shiver to the bone.

Although the quality of the cards themselves is somewhat disappointing, the illustrations that adorn them are anything but. Plucked from the comic book pages, you can tell that Mikael Lyck’s passion for the source material runs deep as every single card depicts events and characters that perfectly match the narrative beat that unfolds over the course of the game. One does not need prior knowledge of the daring exploits of The Phantom to appreciate the iconic illustrations but for those who are familiar then The Phantom: The Card Game will definitely be a visual, nostalgic treat.

GAME PLAY

“Saddling Thunder, the 20th Phantom’s horse, you ride off, from the Skull Cave into the Deep Woods and the wilderness surrounding it. Some time later, you reach the desert at the foot of the Misty Mountains. Here the trouble starts. A pack of wolves is homing in on you…”

The Phantom: The Card Game is a cooperative deck-builder for one to two players, chronicling three pivotal adventures in the history of “the Ghost who walks” and his trusted confidant Diana. Each of the three stories is comprised of a dedicated deck of cards which in turn is divided into several chapters. In order to progress through, and hopefully complete, an adventure you will need to overcome obstacles and complete missions which is achieved by playing hero cards representing the skills, allies, and tools at The Phantom’s and Diana’s disposal. Right off the bat, the game brilliantly conveys its dedication to the comic book source material by having each of the two hero decks feel vastly different from one another. Like his predecessors, the masked avenger relies on his animal companions, Devil the wolf and his loyal horse Thunder, along with his trusty sidearms to tackle the obstacles the game throws at him. Whereas Diana instead opts for a more cunning approach, utilizing her extensive knowledge in martial arts and intelligence gathering to survive in the field.

Photo: Fredrik Schulz

In terms of actual game play, this thematic diversity translates into each hero being more proficient in specific skills which are needed to complete missions thus progressing through the story. Whether you are playing as The Phantom or Diana, each card of your deck will have two sets of symbols; the black on the left side of the card indicates a cost that must be fulfilled in order to play the card, whereas the green symbol on the right instead grants a reward in the form of a matching token should you decide to discard said card from your hand as one of the main actions available on a player’s turn. This system of having to essentially forfeit cards in favour of playing others creates the sort of tension that I really enjoy in card driven game designs, especially when considering that many of the missions require you to pay with tokens you have laboriously collected and was planning to put to good use by introducing a powerful ally into the fray or acquiring that long-range radio transmitter. And because the composition of the hero deck varies so considerably from one another, the game manages to feel surprisingly rich in terms of content despite “only” featuring two playable characters.

As any deck-builder worthy of its salt, The Phantom: The Card Game is built upon a foundation of adding new and more powerful cards to your existing deck thus providing you with more flexibility in terms of strategy but also the burden of potentially bloating your deck. However, unlike other deck-builders The Phantom: The Card Game opts for a “quality over quantity” approach to this beloved board game mechanism. Acquiring and subsequently adding new cards to your deck is not achieved by simply buying them from an available market. No in this game you have to earn them, making each new addition to your deck feel far more substantial and rewarding compared to other games in this genre. As you progress through the adventure, new cards will be introduced as specified by each chapter description which are known as lore cards. Some are intended to be added to your own deck alternatively entering play right from the outset. Others though are not so beneficial for your chosen hero, as these cards are instead added to the Destiny deck.

Photo: Fredrik Schulz

This deck contains cards that represent obstacles that must be overcome in order to satisfy the win conditions of the active mission. One might require you to spend a certain number of skill tokens, others will instruct you to eliminate a specific enemy character. This is yet another instance where The Phantom: The Card Game managed to surprise me regarding how thematically integrated this game is to its source material. For example, the starting mission of the adventure titled Diana in the Jungle Patron challenges our titular heroine with the task of completing several gruelling evaluations within a limited number of turns or else run the risk of being kicked out of boot camp which is on par with Diana’s origin story. Or how about The Story of Devil, where The Phantom is being hunted by a pack of wolves that only grows in strength if you engage them in combat. That is not to say that one needs prior knowledge of the Phantom universe, the game manages to convey the narrative on its own accord thanks to how the way author Lyck have designed the scenarios with a heavy emphasis on narrative.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So many games proclaim to “tell stories”, few however manages to fully live up to these rather ambitious promises. The Phantom: The Card Game is in my eyes one of the exceptions, a game that manages to tell an engaging and evolving storyline using nothing more than a deck of cards which is no small feat as far as I am concerned. That being said, I suspect that this might not necessarily be the deck-builder for those who want to experience a fast-paced churn of adding and removing cards from their deck in the vein of other popular titles in the genre. For me, this game’s primary focus is telling an engaging and evolving story where the acquisition of new cards is icing on an already delicious cake. If you are someone like me who has little to no prior experience of deck-builders but have been curious to take your first baby-steps then The Phantom: The Card Game is an excellent starting point, regardless of any prior knowledge or fondness for the source material. As for me, playing this game brought back so many fond childhood memories and I for one cannot wait to see what lies in store for “the Ghost who walks”.