Do card games NEED cards that do specific hate?

[yamas11]

As in, cards that pretty much destroy specific decks. Like in magic, how there are certain cards that can devastate specific colors, so if you run these cards against those decks, you should pretty much win.

I notice that all card games do this to a certain degree. I want to know, is it required? The feeling of someone playing specific cards that just easily destroys your deck is such a horrible feeling.

[Turonik]

I believe you don't have to. There will be decks that are stronger against certain decks but I never much cared for the degree that magic has "color hosers"  They are balanced because not everyone plays that color and not everyone uses mono color decks, and most aren't too bad but I never liked these as they often mess up casual games.

I prefer cards that "hinder" more than "hose", by that I mean cards that are stronger when against certain colors or Factions or weaken their tactics but don't cripple them. Games like L5R  tend to use this where they put out cards that players can use against dueling and dishonor decks to help them be competitive against them but don't make cards that say "personalities can not be dishonored" or  "No duels can be issued.".It's your game so design it how you want and balance it out that way. Magic has very easy removal and it's designed for that but other games where it's harder that's because the game balances it out it's own way.

[Malagar]

Im with Turonik here.

Back in the days of magic they first developded color hosers and later "deck type hosers" (against discard etc.)

Personally Im not using Hoser cards very much these days, I think they are best in your sideboard for tournament play.

[Gargoyle]

No.

As to whether they should be used, which is more to the point, I think they shouldn't.
The only time there is ever a reason to add them, is if a particular deck type was over-powered in the first place. Then the creators flip out and neuter the deck with blatant hate instead of just using the next expansion to round out the other deck's to restore balance. I guess this isn't always easy, but in that case you only really have yourself to blame.

[Cyrus]

The idea of hosers in magic is not to be able to auto-win against a certain deck type, its to discourage people from running mono-color decks. In terms of hosers in the cycle format, they may be printed if they know a certain color is good enough in a series of sets to warrant the color showing up in a lot of decks, so they print a hoser to that color to balance it out. Also, you can only have 4 copies of a card in your deck, and how much space in your deck are you going to use for hosers? Many hosers also seem much more harsh than they really are, and can usually be removed within a couple turns.

I'm not really trying to make a case for whether or not your should make them but I think people misunderstand hosers in game design, specifically in mtg. The question of whether to include deck-type hosers is actually a question of how much a player can streamline their deck into just one faction/color/strategy in your game.

My answer... case by case basis

[Typherion]

As with others here, I don't like the idea of specific hate cards and don't think they're necessary in card games.

I think the main issue for game designers is taking care not to create a game where a player has essentially lost by turn X, but must continue playing the rest of the game out despite knowing that there is no card in their deck that can save them.

Players should be able to feel that they have a chance at making a comeback if only they could draw the right card. If you can create a game where this can happen with regular cards, then you shouldn't need specific hate cards.