Getting Started

At the beginning of the game, a lot of the options that are grayed out especially when checking your initial Deck. In our case, this didn't help much in introducing the game much more to that of newbie palyers that have yet to play a card collecting game. Well, since this game is still in its Beta version, something like a pop-up info should be really helpful. Nonetheless, we'll guide you through your very first attempt to play the game with this simple "Getting Started" guide.

As soon as you play the game for the first time (If you happen to purchase the early founder's pack), you'll be given a gift box entitling you with 300 Silver (main currency of the game used to purchase additional packs). This will continually be rewarded to you daily for the next seven days (handing out a total of 2100 Silver coins -- enough to purchase 2 more booster packs).

You'll also have 3 main options to play through from here on. You'll have the PVP (player versus player), the co-op challenge, and the training mode. You might be surprised to see that the online events are already in their 5th and 9th season respectively this is probably due to the fact that the game released an Alpha and Closed beta version for the initial funders of the game from Kickstarter - and since there was no re-boot or anything with any of the game progress, they've pushed through with the original season count in the game.

If by any chance you wish to try the game with your initial Deck (without opening your free packs of card), and explore the mechanics of the game, you might want to do it with in the training mode. Sometimes, there are occasion where special events are present. This will provide you with another play mode - which often times include a special accompanying motif and lore to play through. Winning on these special events usually grants you reward items that are helpful when you get started with Crafting your own cards.

First things first. The Training Mode.

Upon Choosing the Training mode, you'll end up with a choice of a difficulty mode (of the AI opponent). As you push through with any difficulty mode, you'll then have to pick a Deck represented by different Heroes in the game. Basically, the heroes will influence what type of cards you'll be getting along with your neutral cards on hand. Each hero also has a specific play style that is relatively effective on different types of players and situations.

You may check each of the Deck prior to continuing the training game to see more info regarding each of the Heroes and their accompanying cards. Otherwise, you may also check for the different heroes and their specific play-styles and advantages on "Heroes" part of this guide (check the table of contents on the right side of the page).

Game Start:

As you start the game, both participants (You and the AI) will have 30 Health points and automatically be drawn their first 6 on-hand cards. The automatically picks who gets to play first (turn). The player to play second on the other hand will have a trophy card (a randomly generated card from the second player's Deck which can be summoned for free). You don't have to confuse yourself with this stuff initially as the game automatically plays your through the battle.

You'll also be given a quest objective to pull-through while in battle. For example, in our initial game (as shown in the image below), the quest objective we picked is to Play 3 units with more strength than health. You can view the on-going quest anytime by clicking on the flag icon beside the treasure chest in the game screen.

While viewing your active quest, you'll also be presented the available cards at hand to put into play (not necessarily the suggested ones, but the ones that the game recognizes as a plausible move). Be mindful of the time as well for you are only given a maximum of 30 seconds to make your move. Failing to make a move during this allowed period will automatically forfeit your turn. During the rest of the game, the 90 second timer is indicated by the "End turn" icon on the right part of the screen. The red marker on the gauge represents the time that has passed since your turn have started, when it fills up and you have not pressed the end turn icon, your turn will automatically end.

Everything that isn't a plausible move in your turn becomes grayed out. Mainly, the reason for having things grayed out is that you do not have enough resources to push through with a move. Usually, summoning cards in the game costs you Gold; the same goes for using your hero's abilities. and putting units in guard position.

The main difficulty in playing the game is probably the lack of an interactive tutorial to get you started playing the game. While other games may require Mana to summon units in the battlefield, in this game, you'll be required to have Gold to do pretty much everything. Each turn, you'll be receiving a fixed amount from which you get to spend, which in return enables the players to summon units on the field. The basic principle is that the stronger the unit (card soldier/warrior), the more expensive it is to summon.

Attacking:

To have your laid out units (units on the battlefield) attack the opponent, you'll have to select the pertaining unit you wish to do the attack. You may click the enemy you want for it (your card) to attack. The game is smart enough to distinguish any applicable rules and won't enable you to target an enemy unit (if you point your cursor on it) if it can't pursue an attack (as seen on the image below). However, if the move is plausible, it will show a red target marker encircling the enemy unit. Clicking on the enemy unit on this occasion will push through with the attack.

Be mindful of the values of units' strength and health, and figure out which attack scenario will benefit you most in terms of which will leave you more active units on the field, which will obliterate the enemy units and give you an opening to your opponent's life pool, or simply which will be strategical and beneficial on the concluding turns. Learning how to play your cards to their full potential is key to winning the battles in this game. This is where familiarizing your Deck comes into play as well as properly selecting which cards that makes up your deck.

You are also allowed to attack first prior to summoning a unit from your hand to the field.

Undertanding the Treasure Chest:

Gold in the game has a number of uses apart from being the main mana pool to summon your units into battle. It is also used to put your units into guard position, to use your hero's special ability, or in some cases to activate some unit card's special ability. It is best to exhaust all your gold resources in every turn as whatever is left do not compound (add-up) on the concluding turn. Every gold left in your treasure chest in a turn gets forfeited and will fully replenish on the following turn. The game always starts with 3 gold, and each turn, the amount of gold you start with increases by one (until you reach 10, which then only fully replenishes every turn).

Using your Hero's Ability:

Each hero in the game has their own unique abilities that are beneficial to the players especially when played correctly and upon successfully performing quest which then boosts these abilities. For instance, the Shapeshifter has a passive ability that enables her to steadily summon regular units (feeble units having 1/1 for their health and attack values) on the battlefield to defend her. Her special ability is Rending; an attack that inflicts direct damage to her enemies' life pool. It usually costs 2 Gold to use any of the hero's abilities in the game, and can be used only once per turn.

Hitting the End Turn:

Whenever you are left without moves to take (plausibly from not having unit cards on your hand or from not having enough Gold to make any move), you are left with the option to press the end turn icon on the right part of the screen (floating circle icon with the text description "end turn" - which is very hard to miss). Your turn automatically ends after a 90 second countdown (which you can see on the gauge on the end turn icon) - inclusive of everything you have to do like choosing a quest, or an alignment, etc. If you fail to finish what you have to do in 90 seconds, your turn will automatically end.

Winning / Losing the Game:

To win the game, you must inflict a total of 30 points (or more) on your opponent's life pool (indicated by the figure inside the heart below the hero's icon). When a player gets knocked off by the other, the game ends. As long as you finished a game (except the training mode), you'll earn rewards such as Silver and experience points regardless of winning or losing a game. For instance, winning a PVP game will reward you as much as 50 silver, while losing it will reward you with 7 silver. In contrast to this, you need 1000 silver coins to purchase a booster pack containing 5 cards.