Trading Card Games have been around since the introduction of Magic: The Gathering in 1992, and in that time, countless games with different mechanics and representing different franchises have come and gone, leaving only the newest and most popular games standing. But which game is the most popular?
Related
Pokemon TCG: How To Ditto Draft
Ditto Draft is a great way to play the Pokemon TCG.
The answer to the question of which trading card game (TCG) is most popular depends on which metrics you use. The game with the largest active player base may not be the same as the one that sells the most packs. That’s why we’ll take a look at a few different angles!
Which TCG Has The Most Sales?
Pokemon
Every store we spoke with said that the Pokemon Trading Card Game was their best-selling product by a significant margin. While not every company publishes sales figures, this does track with ongoing reports of product shortages and steadily increasing prices on the resale market.
While Pokemon is in the middle of a boom, as investors scalpers buy out all available stock to flip at outrageous prices, it’s always had relatively good sales. Pokemon is one of the biggest and most profitable franchises in the world, and countless collectors buy the cards to own and display.
The issue is that not everyone who buys Pokemon cards plays the game. Go to any local Pokemon event, and you’ll find kids with ziplock bags and shoeboxes full of loose Pokemon cards that they love, but who have never played an actual game of Pokemon.
Which TCG Has The Most Players?
Magic: The Gathering
The oldest trading card game, Magic: The Gathering, has been around for more than thirty years and led to the creation of every other TCG on the market. As a result, many of the other TCGs players have also been Magic players at some point.
Magic was estimated to have over 50 million active players in February 2023, and that was before The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth sparked renewed interest, and the Final Fantasy set became the best-selling set of all time, more than a month before release.
It’s likely that someone you know or admire has been a Magic player in the past, and may still play it with friends. Famous Magic alumni include rapper Post Malone, who remains an active player, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Which TCG Has The Biggest Tournaments?
Yu-Gi-Oh!
The youngest of the “big three,” the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG maintains a passionate following among its fans. While it doesn’t come anywhere close to the sales numbers for Pokemon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh! holds the record for the largest TCG tournament after breaking its long-standing record in 2024.
Unlike Magic, Pokemon, and most other TCGs, Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn’t have a set rotation, which means its players can keep using the cards they collected as far back as 2002. This allows players who are already invested in the game to remain active without purchasing new cards every few years.
Which TCG Is Most Popular?
While each of the “big three” trading card games wins in one category or another, the original TCG, Magic: The Gathering, is the most popular overall. Magic boasts a deeper and broader player base than Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and other trading card games, and the surging sales ofUniverses Beyond and increasing attendance at MagicCon events suggest that it will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
Magic: The Gathering
- Franchise
-
Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
-
August 5, 1993
- Player Count
-
2+
- Age Recommendation
-
13+
- Length per Game
-
Variable
