Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering exploded onto the scene in 1993, creating such a lucrative market that endless other toy companies scrambled to match its success. Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokémon still represent the height of TCG success, and there have been countless competing TCGs that just couldn’t cut it in America. Whether you have been tracking every release overseas before getting your hands on them yourself, or were just happy to enjoy a brand new card game entering the market, it’s always a shame to become invested in a TCG just to see it fade away.

So let’s take a look at some of the card games that appeared briefly on your favourite toy store shelves.

Duel Masters

Duel Masters originated from the manga of the same name in 2002 in Japan and 2004 in America. Published by Wizards of the Coast and Takara Tomy, it shared many similarities with Magic, but floundered in a flooded market this side of the ocean, eventually being cancelled in 2006. The franchise was rebooted in 2012 as Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, featuring an entirely new aesthetic and play style. Its efforts to simultaneously distance itself from the failures of the first launch as well as attract existing Duel Masters fans didn’t succeed, and it was cancelled again in 2014. It remains a juggernaut to this day in Japan, but fans hoping for a third English relaunch will have to keep waiting.

Transformers

After achieving plenty of success using other people’s franchises, Wizards of the Coast parent company Hasbro decided to enter the TCG market using their own hallmark franchise: Transformers. After a few special pack releases at conventions, Hasbro and Wizards’ Transformers TCG launched in September 2018 to the delight of fans, which quickly dissolved into frustration when they tried to actually purchase them.

Distribution was unable to meet fan demand and retailers were constantly sold out of them, forcing anyone who wanted to actively pursue collecting to shell out for big dollars on the aftermarket. Compound this with the additional issues plaguing  production pipelines throughout 2020, and Hasbro officially put the kibosh on the game with the final release of the Titan Masters Attack set in May 2020. Transformers fans looking to get their card game fix can thankfully enjoy the brand new Transformers Deck-Building game recently launched in 2021.

Future Card Buddyfight

Trading card and multimedia company Bushiroad dropped its popular Cardfight!! Vanguard game in 2011, and then soon after announced two new TCG projects: Weiß Schwarz and Future Card Buddyfight. The intention had been to market each of the three card games towards different demographics. However, their English releases instead all competed together in the same niche market. Cardfight Vanguard and Weiß Schwarz managed to sustain themselves.

However, despite everything, Future Card Buddyfight struggled as just another alternative to very similar card games. Bushiroad announced its wind down in mid-2020 much to the surprise of the small dedicated fan bases, with the remaining card sets launching together in September 2020 and support for tournaments stretching all the way out until June 2021. Sadly, an ongoing lawsuit between Bushiroad and series creator Yoshimasa Ikeda probably limits any likelihood of the series making a comeback in the near future.

Chaotic

Initially starting in Denmark in the early 2000s as a collector series called Dracco Heads, the card game we would come to know as Chaotic would begin in 2007. The creator of Dracco Heads partnered with trading card executive Bryan Gannon to form Chaotic USA, who then partnered with much beloved and derided anime dubber 4Kids Entertainment to help craft the card game and animated show.

The series had an innovative design where stats on monster cards were randomized, making each trading card distinct. Each card feature a code printed on it that could be entered into the web version of the game, allowing you to play with their exact deck both in person and online.

The demise of the series wasn’t due to lack of fans or sale, far from it. 4Kids, only being a partner to the franchise, sued Chaotic USA for ownership of Chaotic. Throughout the protracted legal battle, no Chaotic products were allowed to be produced, forcing the physical cards, the television series, and the web game to go dark.

Despite 4Kids losing their own lawsuit and even needing to file for bankruptcy, Chaotic had just been dormant for too long and unceremoniously vanished. Chaotic still holds a very passionate fan base who maintain a fan-server of the web game, and Bryan Gannon has made efforts to revive the franchise. The future remains to be seen on if these efforts will bring back the beloved game for a new generation.

Yo-Kai Watch

Being one of the only franchises to come close to rivaling Pokémon’s success, the first Yo-Kai Watch game from Level-5 launched on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in 2013 and immediately exploded into a multimedia juggernaut. Video games, manga, anime, toys, movies, mascots, and events, it had all the hallmarks of becoming the newest “it” franchise.

While not technically a trading card game, Yo-Kai Watch featured a popular series of collectable “medals” – plastic medallion-like that worked in conjunction with toy replicas of the titular Watch. There’s no battle mechanic involved, but the medals enjoyed a consistent release in bling bags or released as promos distributed at events, tournaments, movie launches, or packaged with toys.

The first game would come stateside in 2015, two years after its initial launch in Japan, with Hasbro localizing all the merch, and especially the medallions. The series was never able to achieve the same fervor over here as it did in Japan, possibly due to the consistent lag between Japanese and English releases. Hasbro finally phasing out all their merchandise in 2017. The game and anime still get localized releases, though with very little fanfare, and with major delays between games even in Japan, it’s unclear if Yo-Kai Watch will ever have its massive return.

There are countless other TCGs that for one reason or another just couldn’t achieve success in this market. Were there any games on this list you were highly anticipating, only to see them disappear? Any card games you’ve been longing for overseas, just waiting for its chance to shine here? Let us know, and don’t forget to support your favourite card games to make sure they stick around for a long time!

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