Rampant Speculation: Dang GAME??

Even before the highly anticipated release of Dang Packs’ 3rd series, users have been speculating on details about what the potential Dang Trading Card Game (DTCG) may hold. With only minimal slips and redacted quotes from Dan and the team, there was only so much that could be gathered and surmised.

Local enthusiasts Prussiaz and average_atlas have taken some time to gather these details into a digestible article for all Dang TCG fans to speculate on together. We hope you enjoy the following read, and perhaps you can help add further to our growing red yarn and corkboard wall!

What little icon?

A common question during the release of series 3 that was either met with no answer or a cheeky “what little icon?” Located at the bottom of only series 3 cards (excluding promos, logos and full arts) are 3 new icons:

Alongside this specific change to an entire series of cards, there was a pretty large and helpful update detailing a card with its own page. Within the details were a few notable items highlighted below:

Notice that Stat detail? That is also only available in series 3 for cards with icons. Even Dan’s favorite card Cerso Yeet doesn’t have a stat assigned to it. The assumption drawn was that each stat is more than likely represented by the icons, with the green wing representing DEX, the red sword representing STR and the blue vial representing INT.

♫ Catherine O’Haaaaara’s Daaaangly Things ♫ (The Trifectas/Triplets)

Speculation for cards belonging in a three-card-combo began during one stream when Dan let a small spoiler slip: “House McCallister. I would trade that…whoever got the gold Kathrine O’Haira. Spoiler.” (Dan Gheesling on 2/24/2023 35:37 into stream). Previously, Dan had already confirmed that rarity will matter in the upcoming game. However, this particular detail about Kathrine O’Haira and House McCallister spurred further discussion.

The initial thought was that alongside rarity, perhaps the cards had another element that allowed for combination(s). It was no secret that cards like Melvin Yeet Alternate and Bon of Dex, Minkus Yeet Alternate and Bon of Int, and even Captain Stall and The Stall all thematically went together. The final piece, however, was when user Prussiaz noticed that there were some sets that came in 3s: Character, Land, and Relic. The first of which was listed in earlier discussions: Melvin Yeet Alternate + Bon of Dex + Dual Goldies. The second that was listed was: Kathrine O’Haira + House McCallister + Dangly Things. Both of which all shared a similar stat icon: DEX for Melvin and INT for Kathrine.

The question was, do all cards go into trifectas/triplets like this?

The answer: yes (the trifectas in card form will be displayed at the end of the article).

What do you MEAAAN Paper Prototyping?

So now that all of series 3 can be combined into these groups of 3, what does it mean if anything at all? Is it even important to gather cards into these combinations?

Unfortunately, we can only present a few pieces of speculation and hearsay evidence:

Exhibit A: catsensei’s participation in gathering a triplet

If a dev is willing to go out of their way to collect a trifecta it must mean something. And also worth noting, though rarity has been explicitly revealed to be important by Dan, it is also revealed that rarity isn’t the only factor for success in the up-and-coming game. This is further solidified by catsensei’s grab for an all-green trifecta.

The above MUST be labeled as speculative, however, due to the following:

Exhibit B: Dan’s playtests and shared images

Below was a camera shot provided by Dan as a teaser of the game (with moaiHeadOlgo)

Alongside potential layout importance, one of the main things you may notice is that some cards are mislabeled. See the bottom left of the image, the card labeled Melvin, but the art is clearly Dual Goldies? Other examples of this include Octo with Swamp of Resin’s art as well as Copium labeled Dan Skin. With access to all art, why would these cards be printed this way? We think it has something to do with card mechanics, like how you can apply an enchantment card to creatures which persist on the board in the TCG Magic: The Gathering, perhaps relics attach to characters in the same fashion.

The below image also shows another card name example (with Financial Calculator’s art being labeled as The Average Doubter). There have been little details on how dice play into the game, but the dice in the image may represent counters (like Magic: The Gathering’s +1/+1 counters) or were perhaps rolled for some sort of damage. It should be noted, 4D4 1D6 are shown to be used.

Be on the lookout!

This concludes the gathered evidence and game details. We hope, at the very least, that you’ve enjoyed speculating about the future Dang game with us. Be on the lookout for more spoiler slips and feel free to share your thoughts on anything that may have been missed!

Full Trifecta/Triplet List Below

NOTE: We believe trifectas don’t have to be all of the same tier for a combo, they just look nice when grouping them together is all!