Building comparison
head to head
Pokémon Trading Card GamevsTharsis
Tharsis asks more than Pokémon Trading Card Game, and the gap is variance.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
Game Boy adaptation of the Pokémon TCG with deckbuilding and club challenges.
Tharsis
Variance · Systems & Chaos
Tests probability management as dice rolls repeatedly threaten a doomed Mars mission.
Pokémon Trading Card Game leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Tharsis leans Variance (Systems & Chaos).
Pokémon Trading Card GameTharsis
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Card selection has no dexterity element
Tharsis
Assigning dice needs no dexterity
Reads1 vs 0
Pokémon Trading Card Game leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
AI duelists play fixed strategies
Tharsis
Disasters are random events, not an adapting mind
Variance6 vs 8
Tharsis leans clearly harder on variance.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Draws, coin flips, and prize cards
Tharsis
Dice rolls and event draws brutally dominate each turn
Optimization7 vs 7
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Deckbuilding around energy curves is the real game
Tharsis
Crew allocation and risk math are the counterplay
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.