Who is behind the Primal Trading Card Game?
My name is Claudio Atilano, I have played other TCGs but they don’t compare to how fun and fair Primal is. Let me tell you the story of how I was able to get this far.
I am originally a software engineer, that is partly how all of this started. I wanted to learn how to program iPhone and Android apps and I decided to make an app for the trading card game I was into, the Naruto Collectible Card Game. I made the Card Collector app for the Naruto CCG and it got several downloads and 2 years later it has over 16,000 users.
The app really helped me learn how to figure out what people really wanted. It turns out us TCG players really love to build decks. Not only that, but I also learned the power of a centralized force ruling the gameplay rules. Like which cards were playable and weren’t playable and the reasons why some cards just shouldn’t be played with at all.
In 2019, I met a friend online in a Naruto CCG Discord group. named Edwin. Edwin really helped me become a better player and helped me get down to the nitty gritty of the Naruto CCG to become a competitive player. I saw a group called Humming Group was making a tournament in Nebraska near the end of 2019. I decided to fly out there all the way from Miami, FL and play competitively. It was such a thrill to see how other players wanted to keep this gameplay alive even though the game was out of print for about 7 years. I got first place in that tournament and wanted to help with what I can to make another tournament with the Humming Group.
Once 2020 came around, the Humming Group was able to form another tournament in February at a Naruto CCG hot spot, Portage, Indiana. This tournament was much bigger and strongly supported by the Naruto CCG Community. I decided to fly out from Miami again but this time I was taking some players with me. My good friend, Edwin. The guy that introduced me into trading cards and basically a brother, Matt. Also, my lovely girlfriend that I taught her how to play the game, Oriana. Going with a group of friends was fun. It was probably the funnest part of 2020 since the pandemic started after the tournament. Anyways, on the tournament I placed 8th and Edwin placed 9th.
Once the pandemic started I realized that there won’t be any more big Naruto tournaments for a while. If this happened then we would lose the momentum we had going. So I decided to start my own trading card game, Primal. In May 2020 I started writing down the card effects, since I already knew the gameplay. I purchased Photoshop and got some card templates from Travis, one of the members from the Humming Group. I edited the cards so many times until I was finally able to produce some prototype to playtest. I playtested Primal with Edwin a lot. He showed me why some cards were just garbage and he placed his soul in the Draginked Sea Plasma Discard deck.
I made a beta version of the Primal Trading Card Game app and invited several players that were interested to see the cards and to get their input on the cards and feedback on the game all together. I’ve gotten great feedback from the playtesters and printed out several gold foil promos since I wanted the foiling done a certain way it was a challenge to find the right printing company.
In 2021, I have gathered more than half of the necessary art work and expect to have invested up to $20,000 alone for all the artwork once it is complete. Unfortunately, the pandemic grew worse and the person I would playtest the most with, Edwin, passed away due to COVID-19. I made a promise to get this first set, Awakened Primordials, completed in his name and bring this great trading card game out to the world.
I expect to launch a Kickstarter for the Primal Trading Card Game sometime from the Summer 2022 or possibly near November 2022. Be sure to follow us on TikTok and Youtube since we will be focusing on much video content!
For more information on our upcoming set and for voluntary playtesters checkout out website: http://primaltcg.com
