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Spellweaver TCG is a new online TCG in the style of Hearthstone and Magic: the Gathering Online made by an eastern European company called Dreamreactor. The closed beta has been running for about 5 months now, and the open beta begins today, 6/15/15. https://spellweaver-tcg.com/ This game is pretty much tits. It takes the more complex gameplay and decision making of Magic and combines it with the faster pacing and tolerable UI of Hearthstone, and the result is something fairly unique, if heavily derivative. You begin the game by selecting a starter deck in one of the game's six Aspects, basically the colors of magic. The choices are Order(white), Corruption(black), Rage(red), Nature(green), Wisdom(blue), and Dominion(purple). Much like in Hearthstone, each aspect has a Hero:  Each Hero (so far) begins the game with 20 life, denoted in the bottom left corner. Each Hero also begins the game with a unique Hero Ability, in this case Rally the Peasants, but in an interesting twist there are mechanics for gaining abilities and through the course of a game a Hero may acquire up to three. In addition to your Hero, your starter deck will contain 59 other cards with which you will try to, as you may have guessed, reduce your opponent's life total to zero. Decks contain a minimum of 60 cards but may contain more, and up to 4 copies of each card may be used in a deck. The card types are as follows: Shrines  Shrines are what make up the mana system in Spellweaver, and are also one of the unique twists on the game that set it apart from other TCGs. Each Shrine may be used once per turn for one of two purposes; gaining mana or gaining Aspect level, and both are necessary for casting cards in the game. If the player chooses to use the Shrine to gain a level in the respective Aspect, the Shrine simply goes to the graveyard. However, if the player chooses to use the Shrine to gain a mana crystal, the player discards the shrine and then draws a card. This helps to alleviate mana flood and mana screw, two of the most frustrating forms of variance in M:tG, without reverting to the guaranteed additional mana per turn of Hearthstone, which vastly changes play style and deck building. Creatures  The bread and butter of any card game, creatures are what do the damage that wins the game. So lets break it down. Each creature has a mana cost, denoted by the crystal in the top left. In addition, each creature requires the Hero casting it to be a certain Aspect level, noted vertically under the mana cost. In this case, the caster must have one Order level, the yellow emblem with the sun, and one level in any aspect, the white diamond under it. You begin the game with one mana crystal, so you can look at this creature as though it were a three-drop: it requires the caster to have used two shrines for leveling up, at least one of which must have been an Order Shrine, and one shrine for an additional mana(and a card draw! It's hard to overstate just how much I like this system of mana advancement). The way creatures engage in combat is basically a mash-up of M:tG and Hearthstone. Creatures may attack the opponent directly, or they may attack other creatures on the board. However, the defending player's creatures may block your attackers in either case. Each creature has three stats: Attack(the number in the sword), Health(the number in the heart) and Speed(the four tick marks at the top of the sword). Attack and health work exactly as you would expect; attack damage is dealt to the enemy Hero or Creature, and if a creature survives combat its health is restored to full at the end of the turn. Speed is the twist. A creature may have a Speed value of 1-4, in the above image the creature has 2 Speed which is average. A creature may only attack or block another creature with equal or lesser speed. For instance, if my Elite Vanguard attacks my opponent, whose only creature is a Zombie with a Speed of 1, my opponent may not block it. Conversely, if my opponent attacks me with, say, this guy:  even though my Vanguard could beat the hell out this chumpy Spirit, I can't block it because it's faster than me with a Speed of 3. Spells  Spells come in four varieties: Action, Instant Action, Blessing and Curse. Actions and Instant Actions are your typical "do what the card says" one-shot effects. Actions may be cast on your turn, Instant actions may be cast during your turn, during combat on your opponent's turn, or just before your opponent passes their turn to you. Instants were one of the things I sorely missed as a Hearthstone player, so it's nice to see them incorporated here. Blessings and Curses are spells that remain on the board and have a persistent or reoccurring effect, similar to Enchantments for you Magic players. As you can see, there are a number of ways players may interact with spells, as well as.. Artifacts  Artifacts are, again much like Magic, functionally identical to Blessings and Curses in that they remain on the board and have persistent effects, or in the case of Thaumic Reflector here may have activated effects. Activated effects like the one pictured above may be used whenever an Instant Action could be played by paying the associated cost. The "zzz" up there is Exhausting, or this games equivalent of tapping. So that's the basic breakdown of the gameplay, although I'm sure watching it happen is more helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_lquB50jBg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7sweWYGNJw All in all this game is really sweet and I'd like to see some goons check it out. The Free To Play model is a little more forgiving towards people who want to keep it truly free than is Hearthstone, with quest rewards being a little more generous and packs providing 10 cards instead of 5. Packs cost slightly more in real dollar terms than their Hearthstone, but will get you much further. The gameplay is well thought out, the UI is good if a little unexciting, and the design and balance seem pretty solid for just starting off. It will be releasing on Steam later this year, which is cool. My biggest complaint so far is that this game could stand to appeal to my lizard brain a little more with some flashy colors and lights and explosions and poo poo like Hearthstone does, but that's pretty minor. I'm sure my gameplay breakdown was both dull and poorly written so don't take my word for it, jump on into the game and start Weaving some Spells! See for yourself the thing that I hope kills MTGO forever. sit on my Facebook fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Jun 15, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 17:35
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My first non-tutorial experience was playing the purple vampire deck against the AI purple vampire deck and both of us having so much lifegain that I lose at 1 minute left on my timer because my deck ran out. I like that there is an interrupt phase for spells, but I don't know about it being timed. I hope they add an option to make you have to click to confirm every time, or that it is somewhere I'm not seeing.
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Jun 15, 2015 19:06
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Clicking on any card or on the timer itself will stop the time. I like this a lot better than the MTGO alternative of having you confirm every single time you want to pass priority, in fact that's one of the main reasons I can't stand MTGO's UI. Also, going to time is very, very rare. That usually won't happen.
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Jun 15, 2015 19:18
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The purple deck has an under-dressed lady and is called 'Vampiric Implants'. Tasteful. I'm giving green a try. Something else that has come up is that there are flying and support creature that go to the support row as well. Still figuring out the details of it, but I'll add more mechanics as I come across them. EDITS: Not drawing lands has a bit of a fix. You can discard one card to look at your top four, pick a shrine (if any; no shrines = wasted discard), and then reshuffle the other three into your deck. Green seems to have two themes: Elves, who support each other and are cheap and fast, and fairies who like to mess up your opponents strategy. Order has angels who are a mix of bosses and buffers. Blue are golem-spamming jerks. Also, they use an energy resource? AfroSquirrel fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Jun 15, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 20:25
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Yeah blue likes to use charge counters, there are a couple cards in other colors where the mechanic crosses. The once-per-turn Shrine search ability is another massive improvement to the feel-bads of some mana systems, although those times when you pitch a card to find a shrine and there's not one in the top four are the literal worst.
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Jun 16, 2015 01:03
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As a guy who's spent entirely too much on Magic cards, this game gets my boner extremely hard. Still in the first tutorial and I'm in love. Game owns. Let's fight: in as Cymrik. vandalism fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 01:21
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vandalism posted:As a guy who's spent entirely too much on Magic cards, this game gets my boner extremely hard. Still in the first tutorial and I'm in love. Game owns. This game does what Magic Online should have been doing for years, and adds a splash of Hearthstone for more in depth creature battles. Currently Spellweaver has more potential then both at the moment. I've been mainly playing elves. They play like a tempo blue deck with a bunch of synergy dudes who are unblockable. The current best deck I've seen going around is the Blue, Green, Purple deck with the good Desphia(sp). It's able to sit back, and wait to start dropping bombs that win the game.
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Jun 16, 2015 16:19
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I'm a sucker for TCGS so I'm going to give this a go when I get home later 
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Jun 16, 2015 16:36
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"Magic Online, if Magic Online wasn't terrible." I thought that was Hex's tagline.
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Jun 16, 2015 16:43
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:"Magic Online, if Magic Online wasn't terrible." Well it isn't an impossible goal to reach. I'm pretty sure being an online card game alone makes it better than MTO.
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Jun 16, 2015 17:18
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I think the discard a card to cycle a land ability is very important to strategy and to differentiating this over other card games. Using it on cards that aren't necessary in the near future means you are getting card advantage and more chances at getting the cards you want. I didn't even see the button until it was mentioned here, it just looked like UI background flair, but it increases the pace of the game significantly.
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Jun 16, 2015 17:29
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MrBims posted:I think the discard a card to cycle a land ability is very important to strategy and to differentiating this over other card games. Using it on cards that aren't necessary in the near future means you are getting card advantage and more chances at getting the cards you want. I didn't even see the button until it was mentioned here, it just looked like UI background flair, but it increases the pace of the game significantly. I had the same thing happen to me. They need to address it better in the tutorial.
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Jun 16, 2015 17:44
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I just started this, never really played Magic, have played Hearthstone, and picked the purple vampire deck because purple. This game seems hard before I realise they recommend that deck to Advanced players. :O Is there an in-play guide for all the buffs/effects? I was trying to figure out what Weakness and Might tokens do in the game. However, I love the 1 Mana, 1 Card thing going on. I've seen some Magic play here and there and a handfull of lands is just bleh.
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Jun 18, 2015 06:09
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Another important facet of the game that might not be immediately obvious is the support line. You can move any non-exhausted guy to or from the support line at any time. Creatures on the support line may not engage in combat, and creatures that are moved from the support line to the front line may not engage in combat the turn they are moved. It adds a LOT of depth of strategy in ways that I'm still not really sure how best to utilize, but it's a really interesting feature.
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Jun 18, 2015 07:06
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Having a ton of fun so far. Dominion seems really strong (for a starter deck) what with the two mana cards that collect implants for free every turn. So much value! Need another copy of vampirism though.
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Jun 18, 2015 14:46
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Just a heads up, if you see a Green playing a bunch of varied creatures to the support row start killing those ASAP. Just drew an Epic called 'Grand Reunion' that wins the game if the player has a Faerie, Elf, Plant, and Spirit.
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Jun 18, 2015 15:08
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The corruption starter has some decent looking cards but man the attachments seem to reallllly bog it down.
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Jun 19, 2015 01:09
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PrinnySquadron posted:The corruption starter has some decent looking cards but man the attachments seem to reallllly bog it down. Shuffle them back every turn with your shrine ability. The +4/+4 is usually the only one worth playing for mana. E. The others being more situational
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Jun 19, 2015 02:31
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This game is very derivative. This game is also pretty good. The clunky UI and sporadic AI bugs are my biggest complaint, but it's scratching the MTG itch that hearthstone can't. I didn't buy the 2015 Duels of the Planeswalkers and this is really doing it for me. Corruption starter is fun and really strong but god drat the vanilla Order starter is sad. Soldier tribal seems good but it only comes with like 7 soldiers. I had to win 4 in a row as Order for a quest and it was a struggle even playing against AI. What do I splash with to make it not garbage until I have some better quality order minions? the auschwitz diet fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jun 21, 2015 |
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Jun 21, 2015 23:53
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I just came across a very nasty Purple/Blue control deck that forced me to discard from hand, sac low-cost creatures, and stole my high cost creatures. Fortunately, the other player had a slow start so I was able to build up enough mana to use my green bounce cards to free my heavy hitters from enemy control (also used Path to Transcendence as a ghetto Flash).
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Jun 24, 2015 16:54
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Can you earn packs for free for just playing. Like slowly.
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Jun 24, 2015 20:53
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Can you earn packs for free for just playing. Like slowly. Yes, you get a bout 1-2 packs a day once you unlock all of the quests. Maybe more. I only have 4/6 factions unlocked.
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Jun 24, 2015 20:57
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Can you earn packs for free for just playing. Like slowly. Yes. The best way seems to be to use your gold to buy more starter decks so that you can unlock more quests, as you can only have one quest per 'region' at a time but they can overlap in goals.
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Jun 24, 2015 20:58
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MrBims posted:Yes. The best way seems to be to use your gold to buy more starter decks so that you can unlock more quests, as you can only have one quest per 'region' at a time but they can overlap in goals. Installing it now could you elaborate on this please.
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Jun 24, 2015 21:00
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MrBims posted:Yes. The best way seems to be to use your gold to buy more starter decks so that you can unlock more quests, as you can only have one quest per 'region' at a time but they can overlap in goals. While I agree, I want to clarify how I gather quests work. Every 8 hours one region that is not full is selected to receive randomly 1-4 quests, you may select one quest from each region to pursue concurrently but you forgo all other quests from a given region upon completion. So having more regions does not increase the amount of quests you get but does allow you to go longer without completing quests, whether through inactivity or a rare quest with a big requirement sitting around for a few days (I got complete 3 trials for 2 packs and I haven't gone back to trials after getting trounced by double helm of dominions followed by Karthas twice in a row).
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Jun 24, 2015 21:12
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Installing it now could you elaborate on this please. There are 6 colors and you must unlock each one via a free starter pack every 5 levels or by purchasing them, daily quests populate only in an unlocked region's quest locations which you will have to unlock by playing after acquiring each starter. The tutorial is really lacking but you'll figure it out, bottom line is you should probably buy 2-3 starter packs? with your mage bux. Corruption is the best starter.
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Jun 24, 2015 21:25
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Found another alt win condition: Order has a shrine that gives them the skill to win the game if they control three Angels. EDIT: Trials are cool, and matches with two Dreylas are a fun Cold War until someone topdecks:   AfroSquirrel fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Jun 27, 2015 |
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Jun 27, 2015 01:42
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You can also win by getting 40+ life. You get another free deck at level 10. I've got all except for Black and Red now. Current favorite is Dominion/Order combo.
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Jun 29, 2015 02:27
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This game is a pretty fun shameless rip-off. I only wish there were an alternative to "drag to attack" because it gets old fast. Purple is a really cool color.
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Jun 29, 2015 02:36
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precision posted:This game is a pretty fun shameless rip-off. I only wish there were an alternative to "drag to attack" because it gets old fast. The green button on the right makes all your creatures attack face.
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Jun 29, 2015 02:37
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I played a little after the plug in the magic origins thread and liked it. Hopefully they can sort out the whole people not playing problem. I started with the blue deck and it's almost time for me to pick another starter. I'm thinking about either white or red to help with my early game.
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Jul 13, 2015 14:32
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This game is good. Zombies are good. That is all.
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Jul 13, 2015 18:42
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DrManiac posted:I played a little after the plug in the magic origins thread and liked it. Hopefully they can sort out the whole people not playing problem. White is all about the lategame and dropping angels/tribal synergy, they're not what you're after. Purple and Green probably won't help much either. Red could help since they're the same as ever. Black can also get you some more early fodder and mess up your opponent.
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Jul 14, 2015 03:14
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Hey OP. Is this on Steam?
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Jul 14, 2015 03:28
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THE PENETRATOR posted:Hey OP. Is this on Steam? It was greenlit but hasn't made it to the store yet.
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Jul 14, 2015 03:44
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AfroSquirrel posted:White is all about the lategame and dropping angels/tribal synergy, they're not what you're after. Purple and Green probably won't help much either. I wish I would have read this before picking order since it dosen't mix with wisdom as much as I thought it would. I assumed it would be like white in magic- a bunch of cheap rear end buffs. That plus me getting my rear end kicked by humans made me make a new account. Corruption is dope so far, I haven't played with it enough to decide what I'll choose for my 2nd starter though.
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Jul 15, 2015 02:37
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This game looks fun, can anyone tell me if it region split or is everyone on the same matchmaking server?
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Jul 16, 2015 11:53
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I'm coming up to my third free starter so far I have corruption and rage. I was thinking getting either dominion or wisdom.
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Jul 19, 2015 02:17
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Initial impressions on this actually are pretty good! The UI needs some work to make turn state a bit more obvious, but at the outset this is pretty fun.
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Jul 19, 2015 07:48
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Can anyone comment on this vs. Hex as they seem to be doing a similar thing (minus single player in hex). Is there drafting in this?
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Jul 19, 2015 08:05
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