Rising Stars: Emerging TCGs on the TCGplayer Marketplace in 2023
Jan Rivera-Pagan
It’s been a big year for trading card games, with many flourishing and growing a significant following within the online TCG community. Among the standout successes, Disney Lorcana experienced exponential growth throughout 2023, attributed to the established Disney fanbase and fun, accessible gameplay. To showcase the success of these new trading card games, we’ve compiled data that shares how inventory has been selling month to month. The first graph are the TCGs that emerged this year and had a high volume of sales on the TCGplayer Marketplace, excluding Disney Lorcana. The second graph includes Disney Lorcana, showing its staggering success, surpassing even the substantial growth witnessed by other TCGs.
Let’s dive into each of these emerging TCGs to explore their unique gameplay and learn more about upcoming releases.
Disney Lorcana
Disney Lorcana officially released in August 2023 as the first ever Disney-themed trading card game. Earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company announced that they were teaming up with the publisher Ravensburger to create a “family-friendly” card game, with a set of promos showcased for the game in D23. Although gameplay at that time was still a mystery, TCG enthusiasts and Disney fans alike marveled at the distinct storybook art style adopted by the game designers, as well as the many references to classic Disney animation.
During gameplay, players take the role of Illumineers, beings summoned by the power of the Great Illuminary to keep track of all the stories ever told. Illumineers have the power to use magic ink to bring Disney characters to life from the pages of their storybooks. To win the game, an Illumineer must gather 20 pieces of lore prior to their opponents by sending them on quests.
Since the initial launch of the game in early Fall, Disney Lorcana has found massive success on the Marketplace, and currently sits among the top 5 highest-grossing games on TCGplayer. The latest booster product, Rise of the Floodborn, released on November 17, 2023, and is currently available on the TCGplayer Marketplace.
For more information on Disney Lorcana, visit the Disney Lorcana official website.
Shadowverse: Evolve
Initially a popular digital card game from the developer CyGames, Shadowverse: Evolve launched as a tabletop card game in April 2022 in Japan before making its way to the international market in June 2023. Published by Bushiroad Inc.,the same publisher for the popular Japanese card games Cardfight!! Vanguard and Weiss Schwarz, Shadowverse Evolve streamlines the mechanics of the original mobile game to create a dynamic tabletop experience, while also expanding the game with new mechanics and strategies for competitive play.
Throughout the course of a game of Shadowverse: Evolve, players must reduce their opponent’s health down to 0 by summoning Follower cards to attack their opponent. What makes Shadowverse: Evolve stand out, however, is its unique mechanic that allows players to strengthen the units on their field by playing a more powerful, Evolved version after paying the cost.
The next main booster set for Shadowverse: Evolve, Umamusume: Pretty Derby, released on December 8 and is now available to list on the TCGplayer Marketplace. This unique crossover set will feature cards themed around the popular racehorse anime franchise created by the publisher CyGames.
For more information on Shadowverse: Evolve, visit the Shadowverse: Evolve official website.
Grand Archive TCG
Grand Archive TCG first launched on the TCGplayer Marketplace in May of this year, prior to its official release date in August 2023. Initially starting off as a community-backed project with a small team of designers, Grand Archive was deeply influenced by Japanese card games for inspiration in its anime art style, worldbuilding, and unique card design.
Players of Grand Archive TCG are invited to battle their opponents and achieve victory through their Champions, a unique card type that determines the strength and abilities of their deck. According to the central lore of the game, Champions are selected by a sentient Archive to help protect multiple worlds against incoming events of ruin. Each Champion has a unique play style to guarantee a wide variety of gameplay strategies, from summoning allied creatures to casting a wide variety of spells.
While not scheduled to release until early 2024, the next main booster set for Grand Archive TCG, Alchemical Revolution, is expected to raise a lot of attention in its player base for introducing the new Guardian, Cleric, and Ranger Champion classes, as well as taking place in the fully Steampunk-inspired realm of Azoth. The sealed products and preview cards for this release are now available to list for presale on the TCGplayer Marketplace.
For more information on Grand Archive TCG, visit the Grand Archive TCG official website.
Battle Spirits Saga
Launching internationally in April 2023, Battle Spirits Saga is not only the most recent card game published by BANDAI, but also their most recent attempt to revitalize an older card game. The first Battle Spirits card game released in 2008, and while only five sets were ever released for this original iteration, it fostered a supportive player community that continued to engage in competitive play leading up to the release of Battle Spirits Saga earlier this year.
While the new Battle Spirits Saga game mechanics primarily remain the same compared to the original card game, BANDAI has breathed new life into this intellectual property by designing completely new and unique card products, which now incorporate new gameplay rules such as the use of Soul Core cards to generate specific effects after using it to pay Magic costs. Additionally, some of the abilities which were originally only available in the Japanese exclusive sets for Battle Spirits are now available to play in other languages through Battle Spirits Saga, such as Burst, Mirage, Accel, and Contract.
The newest booster installment for Battle Spirits Saga, Aquatic Invaders, is now currently available on the TCGplayer Marketplace as of October 27, 2023.
For more information on Battle Spirits Saga, visit the Battle Spirits Saga official website.
Gate Ruler
Gate Ruler started out as a long-time passion project for its creator Ikeda Yoshimasa,the same creator of the Bushiroad game Future Card Buddyfight. After partnering with Daiyu, Gate Ruler made its debut as a trading card game in March 2022.
The core of Gate Ruler’s gameplay is its Rulers—each deck is built around a Ruler card, each with a unique set of mechanics that dictate how that deck plays out. According to Ikeda Yoshimasa, this Ruler mechanic gives Gate Ruler a level of strategic flexibility, where players can play the same game with completely different rules and outcomes. The player that runs out of cards first or has cards in their Damage Zone equal to their Ruler’s life, loses the game.
While the next main booster release has yet to be announced for North American audiences, Gate Ruler has an active competitive community, with new events held every month. All promotional cards for the end of 2023 are currently available to list on the TCGplayer Marketplace.
For more information on Gate Ruler, visit the Gate Ruler official website.
Akora TCG
Akora TCG originated as a small community-backed project in 2021 before officially launching on the TCGplayer Marketplace in May 2023. Akora boasts a lively following that is supported by their development team’s active engagement with their fanbase, regularly scheduling play events and publishing a manga that expands on the game’s lore and showcases the game’s stunning anime-style artwork.
Akora’s gameplay centers around the concept of Alchemy and encourages fast-paced gameplay by sacrificing the Alchemy sources known as Relic cards to summon powerful creatures or cast high-damage spells back and forth between opposing players. Furthermore, players are able to progressively level up their main Akora, or deck leader, up to two times during the game by using Relics, and sacrificing them to power up their Akora’s most powerful abilities.
The most recent release for Akora TCG, Eternal Echoes, launched on the Marketplace December 15. This set unravels the conflict and history of two great mages, Magna-Kane and Magna-Tekina, and will also include revitalized mechanics for fan favorite Akora characters.
For more information on Akora TCG, visit the Akora TCG official website.
Kryptik TCG
The most recent arrival on the TCGplayer Marketplace, Kryptik TCG launched in late July 2023. A community-backed project that began gaining traction in 2022, the development team behind Kryptik TCG set out to revolutionize standard TCG gameplay through a uniquely mechanics-focused design.
Rather than a standard health and damage-based system, players aim to defeat their opponents by destroying a set of 6 cards that each represent 11 years in the world of Kryptik. Within the lore of the game, players must spend 66 years proving their worth to the enigmatic Overseers, and lost year cards represent wasted potential to grow in power within the world. With the focus on gaining power and influence within the world of the game, every card type can be used as a resource for additional power. Plus, all cards in the field are available for players to interact with prior to the Final Judgment at the end of the game.
The first two booster releases for Kryptik TCG, Genesis and Wicked Prophecy, are now available to list on the TCGplayer Marketplace along with all associated cards and products.
For more information on Kryptik TCG, visit the Kryptik TCG official website.