This paper explores the complex game balancing issues inherent to collectible card games. Keywords: Game design, collectible card games, CCG, game balance, Sanctum, Magic: The Gathering The approach called for the most obviously and generally useful cards to be the most common and to equate rarity to specialization rather than raw power. Digital Addiction (a company that produced online, collectible card games in the 1990s) developed a different game design philosophy for balancing collectible card games. The long-term implications of such an approach can have negative consequences on a game’s suitability for casual play. The conventional wisdom is that the more powerful a card is, the more rare it should be. Rarity and Power: Balance in Collectible Object Games by Ethan Ham Abstractįor collectible card games (CCGs), game designers often limit the availability of cards that have a particularly powerful gameplay effect.