Hybrid digital TCG Altered plans to open marketplace alongside new set

Altered, the hybrid analog and digital trading card game from the French company Equinox, launches its second set at the end of this month. Called Trial by Frost, the 90-card collection adds another layer of complexity to the globetrotting game that blends exploration with historical and folk heroes from around the world. Today, ahead of the pre-release weekend beginning Jan. 24, Polygon can exclusively reveal a new card from the set called Frozen Reprocessor. Plus, we spoke with Eric Dieulangard, global sales and marketing director, about some of the new mechanics headed to the game.

In Trial by Frost, players venture far from the game’s populated areas and into the inhospitable mountain regions around the last city of Asgartha. The traveling is tough, however, and new gear cards are there for heroes to lean on. Dieulangard says they add support in the form of buffs to hero-led expeditions. But while heroes can be pushed off the table, gear cards are left behind for the next character to pick up and use to press forward.

In addition to gear, many cards in Trial by Frost will also make new and enhanced use of the game’s exhaustion mechanic. Dieulangard said that the most common way exhaust will be used is as a kind of soft form of sabotage. According to a blog post on the official website, “exhausting a card will prevent your opponent from using it until the next Day, when they will ready it […] often [causing your opponent’s] Reserve to overflow at Night, reducing their card advantage.”

While Altered has a thriving community of players using their own verified physical card collections to play digitally on Board Game Arena, Asmodee’s online tabletop platform, Altered did not launch with one of its key features — a highly anticipated online marketplace. That marketplace, wholly owned and operated by Equinox, will eventually allow players to sell rights to cards in their collection to other players, and also to print out as many copies of those cards as the rights owner would like. Following a short closed beta, Dieulangard said that the team hopes to have it fully live for all users some time in February.

Dieulangard said that despite the absence of the digital marketplace, the game’s physical cards are selling well. That’s especially true in France, but also in other parts of Europe and in the United States. The biggest surprise, however, is the game’s popularity in Asia. In Japan, for instance, there’s only one brick-and-mortar store actually selling Altered products to consumers. However, the game has more than 1,000 players in that country that frequent its digital implementation on Board Game Arena.

“Because they want to play with the cards they are getting cards anywhere they can to play the game,” Dieulangard said. “[So] hopefully we can do more [for that community] in the future.”

Expect Trial by Frost to be available in stores and on Board Game Arena beginning Jan. 31.