Legions of orcs have come forth from Mordor to sweep away the remnants of the Free Peoples. The strongest dwarves, elves, and men must band together to confront the forces of evil in a final effort to save Middle Earth. Meanwhile, a secret hope moves closer to the cracks of Mount Doom, unseen by the eye of Sauron. The story of The Lord of the Rings is as legendary as it is epic. It’s also perfectly captured in its premier strategy board game adaption, War of the Ring. In this guide, we’re reviewing all of the exciting editions, expansions, and spin-offs for this tabletop classic to aid you in yo?ur journeys through Middle Earth.

Where to Start: War of the Ring 2nd Edition

Fans who are new to the War of the Ring tabletop games should begin their adventures with the second edition of the original War of the Ring board game. In the box, you’ll find an expansive map of Middle Earth, neatly crafted dice, and a ton of miniatures. The game’s complex strategy mechanics are completely different depending on which side you’re playing. If you’re the Sauron player, your goal is to move your forces from region to region, conquering your enemy?’s strongholds and claiming ten victory points. If you’re playing as the Free Peoples, you’ll instead need to outlast the war until Frodo and any remaining members of the fellowship reach Mordor.

War of the Ring Board Game Expansions

War of the Ring’s expansion content adds new characters to the board and more decisions for the players to make each round, transforming what was once a war into an epic fantasy campaign. These boxes bring bigger battles, longer game times, and more immersive mechanics to the table. Below, you’ll find all the expansions listed in o?ur suggested purchasing order.

Lords of Middle Earth Expansion

The Lords of Middle Earth expansion puts some of the most powerful characters from The Lord of the Rings in play, inclu??ding Elrond, Galadriel, and Durin’s Bane. Gandalf and the Witch King come in a new form, and there are a cou?ple of added dice to roll on each side of the table. This expansion doesn’t add too much game time but simply optimizes the tabletop experience.

Kings of Middle Earth Expansion

The corruption of Sauron and the evil doings of his envoys are the focus of the Kings of Middle Earth expansion. The King Under the Mountain and the King of the Woodland Realm join the fight to the north, while Denethor and Theoden work to keep the darkness at bay in Gondor and Rohan. To oppose them, the player siding with t??he shadow will gain access to the Dark Chieftains, a new figure type that includes characters like Ugluk and the Black S??erpent.

Warriors of Middle Earth Expansion

The Warriors of Middle Earth expansion adds exciting new miniature armies for both the Free Peoples and Sauron. Ents, eagles, and the ghostly traitors of Dunharrow take to the field, while Dunlendings, corsairs, and the spiders of Mirkwood rise to meet the?m. This box also includes more faction cards and action dice that help make the conflict less predictable.

The Fate of Erebor Expansion

The Fate of Erebor scenario kit focuses on an alternate version of the War of the Ring in which the Free Peoples have lost the Battle of the Five Armies at the end of The Hobbit. The Lonely Mountain becomes a stronghold of evil, and only a few holdouts remain in its vicinity. This expansion is small?er than the other boxes and contains only a few overlay tiles and alternate editions of characters. However, it’s perfect if you’re look??ing to add more gameplay variety without spending too much.

Play This Next: War of the Ring: The Card Game

War of the Ring: The Card Game is also a viable starting point if you’re new to this tabletop series. Though it focuses on the same conflict as the board game, it’s a completely different experience with its own line of expansions. This time, you’ll have to capture battleground cards with characters and events to shape the fate of Middle Earth. Though i??t might not have the same strategic depth as the original War of the Ring, the card game is easier to learn, has a more accessible game length, and supports up to four players. It’s a blast for any Lord of the Rings fan and worth getting alongside the board game.

Fire and Swords Expansion

The new Fire and Swords expansion for the card game adds more battlegrounds, characters, and factions to both sides of the conflict and brings the war to the northern and western reaches of Middle Earth. There’s also a new set of scenario rules and support for up to six players, which ensures that the War of the Ring is a more exciting battle than ever before.

Against the Shadow Expansion

If you enjoy cooperative or single-player board games, then the Against the Shadow expansion for the War of the Ring card game will be the perfect fit for you. A new set ??of automation cards dictates what the forces of Sauron will do during their turn, and you’ll have to think carefully about what your next move is in opposing them. There are two difficulty levels for every scenario, which adds further replay value.

More Collectables for War of the Ring Fans

If you love the War of the Ring and you’ve already purchased a?ll the main expansions for the board and card game, there are still a handful of awesome ways you can continue upgrading your collection and journeying through Middle Earth. 

The Battle of the Five Armies Board Game

From the makers of the War of the Ring board game comes The Battle of the Five Armies, an epic two-player duel that captures the conflict at the end of The Hobbit. This spin-off title features many of the same mechanics as its predecessor, including the huge collection of miniatures on the ??board and the action dice. If you love Middle Earth and enjoy tactical board games, this one’s absolutely worth adding to your shelf.

War of the Ring Deluxe Game Mat

If you have all the War of the Ring expansions, you might have noticed that the game board can get a bit cramped when all the miniatures are in play. The deluxe game mat fixes this is?sue with a significant increase in map size, so you can more easily s?ee where you’re moving your troops.

War of the Ring Card Boxes and Sleeves

If you want to keep your War of the Ring cards in perfect shape for years to come, you might want to consider picking up a few of the game’s dedicated card box and sleeve sets. There ar??e several variants to ch??oose from, with different character artwork and designs for each of them.

The post War of the Ring: Th??e Complete Board and C??ard Game Buying Guide appeared first on Destructoid.

Pokemon TCG Pocket offers you different ways to get cards, and Mew is one of those rare items that can be unlo?cked for free without having to open any packs.

Usually, getting a full art card is very difficult inside the game, as you're relying on your pack luck. That's where the Mew item feels different - it's ?one of those rare full art cards that have no essence of luck at all. However, the game doesn't exactly tell you on your face about how? to get this specific card. That said, it's relatively easy, and you can get your hand on the item pretty quickly.

How to get Mew in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Mew's full art card is a reward for completing your Kanto dex. In simpler words, you can find the card by obtaining all 150 Kanto cards that are currently available in Pokemon TCG Pocket. The best way to do this is by opening all three types of Genetic Apex packs available inside the store - Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Charizard.

For more clarification, you'll only want the basic cards of the 150 Pokemon, which are far easier to pull. These cards also have higher odds of being pulled from the packs, which will certainly help the cau?se.

How to get Mew for free in Pokemon TCG Pocket

As the main objective is to complete your dex, you'll want to open as many packs as possible. That means using all the pack hourglasses as well, ??which can accumulate by completing differ?ent activities. You'll also want to open all three packs, as completing the dex otherwise won't be possible.

Make sure to be on the lookout for Wonder Picks as well, as they can help you to complete your collection faster. Sure, you'll still be relying on your luck, but try to use them on p?acks that consist of more items not present in your collection.

Having the Premium Pass also helps, but I won't consi??der that as free since you'll need to spend $10 every month to avail yourself of its benefits. But ?what you can use for free are your Pack Points, and use these items as your trump card. Don't spend them on the cards immediately - wait for how your collection looks like once you've completed 130-140 Pokemon cards. That way, you won't have to depend on your luck to complete the remainder of your collection.

That's pretty much it when it comes to obtaining Mew in Pokemon TCG Pocket. While the card looks gorgeous, it can hardly be ??considered as the current meta.

The post How to get the Secret Mission Mew in Pokemon TCG Pocket for? free appeared first on Destructoid.

Pokemon TCG Pocket is not one of those card games where getting a duplicate card holds much merit, but you can certainly add some flair to them to help them stand out (quite literally). Hence you may be wondering how to get flair on your cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Getting multiple copies of a card in digital card games is often considered an essential part, but the new release from The Pokemon Company has a friendl?ier economy. That said, you'll end up with duplicates of cards that you already have. Doing so will help you make your cards look unique and add a dash of coolness to them.

How to obtain flair in Pokemon TCG Pocket

For star??ters, go to the My Cards section, which has a list of all your available cards.

• Select the "Obtain Flair" button.
• The next step will prompt you to the requirements of duplicate items and Shinedust (you get this resource by pulling duplicate copies of a card you already found in a previous pack).
• For lower Diamond rarity items, you'll need to apply the first cosmetic flair option before you can opt for the battle options.
• Higher star rarity cards will have the battle flair unlocked by default once you have adequate resources in terms of Shinedust and duplicates.

The requirements also change based on the rarity of a card. Those having lower rarity will need more duplicates and less Shinedust. Rarer cards like Pikachu EX will need more Shinedust, but you'll need only one duplicate. All ca??rds at rarity 3 diamonds or above will need one extra copy to unlock their flair (along with Shinedust).

Once unlocked, you can equip the flair for the card from your deck section. Cards with flair will have a small icon on their screen - just pr??ess on it to apply the available flair option.

While adding flair to your cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket is really cool, it's purely a cosmetic effect. There are no in-gam?e advantages for cards with flair, so don't stress too much about it. By opening packs regularly, you'll eventually end up?? with enough duplicates and Shinedust to unlock flair for several of your favorite cards.

The post How to get flair in Pokemon TCG Pocket appeared first on Destructoid.

?There is no doubt that EX cards have a special place in the hearts of Pokemon TCG Pocket players, and some of them have unraveled a new way to gain some of these powerful items from their packs.

Based on the available odds, finding an EX card is pretty tricky, and you'll really need to be lucky to find one inside your pack. ?However, some players seem to have unearthed a way to increase their chances of finding an EX card reportedly.

Pokemon TCG Pocket players are relying on folded crimped packs to get EX cards

Packs in Pokemon TCG Pocket have the same appearance inside the game as they do in real life. You can?? turn the pack to see its sides, and there appears to? be a technique for you to reportedly improve your chances of getting some of those shiny cards from your packs.

Several gamers are turning the packs to the side to look out for packs with crimped tops. Usually, each lot of pack has one (at least in my own experience), and their top parts have a bend. If you look carefully, they're pretty easy to spot. There are numerous instances where players have found an EX card from them. In?? certain cases, players have ended up with rarer items like Full Art cards, along with Trainer Items.

Here's one such instance where so??meone ends up with Mewtwo EX from their pack, which is one of the best items currently available in the game. Of course, the results are random, and the method doesn't guarantee an EX.

In fact, I have tried the method eight times so far, ??but my luck has been pretty poor as far as getting EX cards is concerned. However, I have ended up finding 4 Full Arts from them, so that's definitely better than my usual pack luck??.

Of course, there's no way to tell if there's a glitch in Pokemon TCG Pocket as of writing. For the time being, however, I see no harm in trying to look out for the packs with a folded crimp. If it doe??sn't work, you don't lose anything. If it works like it has for many players, you'??ll be adding an incredible pack to your collection.

If you've tried this method and found Pikachu EX, make sure to check out this fantastic deck that will give you plenty of wins.

The post Pokem??on TCG Pocket players discover easy way to find EX cards appeared first on Destructoid.

The Premium Pass in Pokemon TCG Pocket is a handy choice ??for those who, like Ash,?? want to "Catch 'em all."

But unlike the anime, you'll have to shell out extra money if you want to quicken your in-game progression. To be more precise, you'll have to spend $10 every month if you're looking at getting the Premium Pass. Since Pokemon TCG Pocket is a free-to-play title, there's always a questio?n of whet?her spending any real-life money is actually worth it.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Premium Pass content

So, it??'s cle??ar that we have to pay $9.99 per month to get the benefits of the pass. But what do we get in return?

• One extra daily pack, totaling 30 if you manage to log in once every day.
• Monthly premium missions.
• Access to the Premium shop, which lets you get special cards and accessories in exchange for Premium Tickets.

If you manage to complete all the premi??um missions (which is pretty easy to do), you'll get a total of 11 pack Hourglasses, eight Wonder Hourglasses, and 29 Premium Tickets. For comparison, if you were to spend the same money on the "Release Celebration" sale, you'd get 72 Poke Gold. One Poke Gold will help to reduce the waiting time for a pack by two hours. Hence, you'll need six Poke Gold to grant a pack and a total of 12 packs.

Hence, spending the same amount on the Premium Pass is a far better way to spend if you want to do so. The only benefit of getting the Poke Gold is immediate access to the extra packs. Unless you're in desperate need of new cards, the Premium Pass is perhaps the best way to spend money on Pokemon TCG Pocket.

That said, you can simply play for free, as Pokemon TCG Pocket isn't your typical digital TCG. While there is PvP, the game doesn't have a ranked mode. ??The lack of a progression system means that you can enjoy the game casually, and for that,?? having a meta deck isn't necessary.

As long as you remember to log in daily to the game and complete the missions, the Premium Pass is well worth buying inside the game. Opening 30 extra packs over a month can help build up your collection nicely and let you build more decks.

The post Should you get the Premium Pass in Pokemo??n TCG Pocket appeared first on Destructoid.

Pikachu is certainly one of the best EX Pokemon to pack in the early days of Pokemon TCG Pocket, and you can ?build a pretty awesome deck with it.

Unlike the traditional formats of paper Pokemon TCG, Pocket is far more streamlined. While this makes deckbuilding easier, you'll still need to? strategize based on the cards in your collection. To win consistently, you'll have to prepare a deck that has synergy among each other. The following Pikachu EX deck not only has that, but it also offers you plenty of scope to outthink your opponent.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Pikachu EX deck guide

Packing Pikachu can be a matter of luck as it's an EX card. The odds of finding one aren't very high, but you do get plenty of them if you're opening all your packs regularly. In fact, several cards on this deck can be obtained by clearing the tuto??rial challenges and missio??ns.

L??et's first take a look at the cards I have used ?in my Pikachu deck.

• 2x Blitzle
• 2x Helioptile
• 1x Voltorb
• 2x Heliolisk
• 2x Zebstrtika
• 1x Electrode
• 1x Meowth
• 1x Pikachu EX
• 1x Zapdos
• 1x Potion
• 1x X Speed
• 2x Poke Ball
• 2x Professor's Research
• 1x Sabrina

Note: You can use?????????????????????????? a card like Chansey in place of Zapdos, but it's not an esse??ntial part of the deck.

The card you'll want to open with is Meowth. It's the only non-electric card on t??his deck, and his ability to consistently draw cards is fantastic. You'll also chip away your opponent's health, but the main objective is to draw as many cards as possible. You can either sacrifice it or retreat it quickly with the help of X Speed.

If you don't get Meowth in your opening hand, don't even put it on the bench. Pikachu EX does 30 damage for every Electric Pokemon on the bench. The idea is to do 90 damage every turn, and Meowth on the bench doesn't help to? achieve that.

Blitzle is a great opening-hand option if you can evolve it. Zebstrika's single energy attack might do just 30 damage, but you c??an apply that on any opposition Pokemon. While your opponent might be building up their EX Pokemon's 3 or 4 energy attack, you can take away ??a couple of creatures on their bench and get a victory.

If you're the type of person who relies on luck, Heliolisk is pretty fun. It's 2 energy attack does 80 damage if you manage to pull a Head. With 90 HP, H??eliolisk can usually withstand two attacks (unless?? it's coming from a top nuker/EX).

As for the items, Professor's Research is an excellent complimentary piece if you don't manage to get Meowth in your opening hand. Sabrina is the ultimate trump, which you should preserve at all costs. It's most useful when yo?u already have two victory points, and your opponent is one step away from building their EX/last card. It becomes near impossible for them to navigate the involuntary switch, and they will mostly only have options on the bench that can be taken down with a single attack.

As for Poke Ball, its role is to fill the bench with your Electric Pokemon to help Pikachu scale up its attack. While I played with this deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket, drawing Pikachu wasn't necessary to win. In fact, you could still win quite consistently without even drawing Ash??'s first Pokemon.

Once new?? cards are released?? in the upcoming weeks, I expect this deck to improve even more. For now, you'll really enjoy this deck, but note that it has its counters, and you're not going to win every game.

The post Best Pikachu EX deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket appeared first on Destructoid.

The Duskmourn: House of Horror bundle is available for purchase in MTG Arena until September 24, ?2024. You can pick up a 50-pack bundle that will set you back by $49.99.

The special bundle also includes some extra items, including Gold Packs, which are always pretty valu??able to craft decks you want. But the pack isn't cheap either, and it's always essential to evaluate what you get for your buck.

MTG Arena Duskmourn: House of Horror bundle contents

Here's what ???you obtain from pre-ordering the special bundle:

• 50 Dusmourn: House of Horror packs
• 5 Golden Packs
• 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares card
• 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares card style
• 1 Kaito Bane of Nightmares card sleeve

The sleeve will be unlocked immediately for your collection once you pre-order the bundle. The listed price is?? set at $49.99, but the final amount could vary based on the platform and yo?ur region.

Is it worth buying the Duskmourn: House of Horror bundle?

It depends on what type of MTG Arena player you are. If you're strictly free-to-pl?ay, there's no exclusive reason as to why you should spend on this bundle. If you want to really dip into your wallet, November's Foundations could be worth looking into. It's a unique set, and the cards will be available in Standard for at least five years after their launch.

If you're someone who regularly invests money into the game, this bundle is worth its price. For one, I absolutely love the horror-themed designs of the cards. Based on the cards revealed until now?, the meta in Standard will shift. Having 50 packs from the new expans?ion on day one will definitely help.

Even if your pack luck is poor, you're expected to get a handy amount of rare and uncommon wildcards, and a few mythic at?? least. When I opened 45 packs from Bloomburrow, I received about five Mythics and three Mythic wild cards. I am expecting similar numbers from my pre-order bundle, especially since there will be five more packs.

You also get the Golden Packs, which can contain multiple Mythics in them (Golden Packs contain only Rare and Mythic cards). Kaito is an additional Mythic that you're g??uaranteed from the bundle, along with his alternate card style. Whether Kaito can dominate the meta remains to be seen. If it does, you're one step closer to building a meta deck while saving one more wil??d card.

This is wha??t you'll get for the same ?amount if you don't pre-order.

• 9,200 gems for $49.99.
• Assuming they charge 200 gems for every pack, 9,200 gems will fetch you 46 packs.
• 46 packs will get you four additional Gold Packs (with a chance of maxing it out to 5).

If you were to purchase the packs separately, you'd end up with 46 packs for the exact ??cost. You'll also get one less Golden Pack and there won't be Kaito's Myt?hic as well (you can craft it with a wild card).

If you choose to pre-order, make sure to check out when Duskmourn will release, and what are some of the cards ????that have been showcased.

The post Should you? pre-order the Duskmourn: House of Horror bundle in MTG Arena appeared first on Destructoid.

If you're into Magic The Gathering, You likely already have a good idea of what the most overpowered MtG?? cards of all time are - at least until the next big power creep peak comes. But what about cards so bad that having them in your deck would actively make it worse?

This is the kind of ancient knowledge that’ll make you look like a wise sage to people who haven’t been playing the game for long, or at least a source of great laugh?s.

Wood Elemental

Everything about Wood Elemental is just bizarre. It has a 4 mana cost and it requires players to sacrifice at least one untapped forest if its owner doesn't want it to die upon summoning. This means that if you want it to be an ability-less 4/4, for e?xample, you'll need to waste 8 mana in one single turn, burning 4 forests in the process. It?'s an actively terrible card that even seems to go against its own concept. Why would a green elemental require you to destroy green lands? Aren't these elementals meant to live to protect their element? Did they mean, like, chopped wood elemental?

Wood Elemental's ar?twork is what gave me the idea to come up with this list in the first place. That's because, as a card, Wood Elemental is about as good as its artwork. Brian S?noddy's work usually owns, so maybe he knew beforehand what card he was making the artwork for.

Apocalypse Chime

This is likely MTG's first foray into the world of Meta gameplay. This serious but very self aware card will ask ??players for four total mana if they want to de??stroy all cards from its own set. Problem is, Homelands, the set in question, was never known for its very powerful cards - even less so today.

The Apocalypse Chime was never any good, but it gets even worse by the day. ??Right now I'd say it's like a nuke that only kills creatures that have long gone extinct.

Juju Bubble

Imagine coming up with such beautiful art only to see it in suc?h a terrible card.

Juju Bubble is a great card, but only for high schoolers looking to scam third graders who're trying to get into the game. It looks great an?d offers a source of healing, which newcomers will likely think is just an amazing thing. It's not, especially when said healing comes at the cost of not just slowing down your play flow, but completely stopping it at some point. That amount of healing isn't worth the cost, let alone when you basically have to stop playing the game to keep it. This card would've been terrible even if it weren't for its cumulative upkeep, which means you have to pay 1 more mana each turn to keep this already awful charade going.

Bargain

Let me remind you once again not to fall into the "gain life" trap. Having life points is all well and good, but gaining health alone is only?? going to delay the inevitable. In this case it's even worse, as Bargain costs its owner 3 mana to gain life and have their opponent draw a card �the much better end of the deal. Had this card had the opposite effect, it would be pretty good. This way, however, it is just the worst possible bargain for the player who casts it.

Aladdin's Ring

Dealing 4 points of damage to any target is pret?ty neat, but not when it costs goddamn 8 mana to pull off. Even worse, this thing costs another 8 mana to put into play, making it one of the least cost-effective damage options in the history of the game.

I remember Aladdin not having an e??xpensive ring that he could use to burn his enemies in the classic tale, but maybe he just never got the chance to put this cumbersome piece to good use.

Mudhole

For 3 ??mana, Mudhole will remove all land cards a player has in their graveyard, meaning that it's very good at destroying lands which are already destroyed. Sure, b??ringing lands back from the graveyard is a possibility, but hardly ever the biggest threat at your opponent's disposal. Worst of all, this is a rare card. The thrill of spending $5 on a Odyssey set booster in the hopes of not getting this was the real deal.

What's ?the point of thi??s? Making sure the forests buried in you opponent's graveyard won't turn into extremely valuable oil a million years later?

Sorrow's Path

This is arguably the most legendarily baffling land in the history of this game. A land that produces no mana and serves only to swap blocking creatures. That would've been pretty unremarkable by itself, but there's also the part where this land will deal you and each of your creatures 2 damage each. Please note that this card belongs to the Dark set, thus was meant for a ??time when creatures wouldn't automatically heal at the end of the turn.

Zephyr Spirit

Zephyr Spirit is yet another contender for the worst creature in the game, and he doesn't even have the excuse of being an "old" card. At 6 mana, Zephyr Spirit has an enormously huge cost that's comparable only to its i??ncredibly awful ability. While you'd think that coming back to the player's hand is cool to prevent it from dying, having a creature that costs so much to do so little �and only once before you have to pay for its cost again �feels like just one big joke. The only thing preventing this from being a contender for the worst creature in the game is the fact that it is a common, so your $5 wouldn't be entirely wasted if you happened to find one inside a booster back in '05.

Alabaster Leech

And here we have it, a crappy creature that,? for the measly price of one mana, will make the game much harder for its owner �and its owner alone. Alabaster Leech would only ever more or less make sense in a deck where it's the only White spell, but it just isn't worth it simply for the extra 2 points in defense that it has over the regular 1 mana cost creature. For maximum effect, try to have four in play at the same t??ime. The fourth one will be costing you 4 mana and bring no upsides whatsoever!

Alabaster Leech has a sick design, though it really doesn't look like a creature that should belong in White. It really does fee?l like a tapeworm that some evil psychic Necromancer tricked the good guys into believing was a creature worth enlisting in their army.

Break Open

This is yet another one of those cards meant to work only within their own block. "face-up" and "face-down" creatures refers to creatures with the "Morph" ability, which allowed a select few creatures? to go face down and become 2/2 creatures with no abilities.

Notice how the card's artwork shows a Barbarian breaking a shield only to reveal a cute and seemingly defenseless Octopus inside? Well, thing is, the very very large majority of morph creatures are actually way stronger when facing up. Even worse, many of these creatures have abilities that get activated once they get turned upside. Imagine not knowing the Onslaught set and keeping on using Break Open on creatures facin?g down in the doomed hopes that one day they won't be just wasting mana to greatly help the enemy.

The post 10 MTG cards that are totally useless appeared first on Destructoid.

Haunted mansions, scary monsters, and deadly threats are all hallmarks of the horror genre that contribute to a tense, rewarding tabletop gaming ?experience, especially when you’re playing one of the ten fantastic titles on this list. Whether you’re looking for solo gaming tension, a close competition for survival, or a coopera??tive adventure, we’ve got you covered. 

10. Alien: Fate of the Nostromo

Fate of the Nostromo is a love letter to fans of the original Alien film. Each player takes on the role of one of the movie’s key characters, and must cooperatively escape both the robot Ash and the xenomorph while completin?g the game’s various mission cards. It’s a great game from a thematic perspective, and the alien itself feels suitably terrifying, but the mechanic of a crew morale rather than individual characters having their own health pools ho??ld it back from taking a higher spot in this ranking.

9. Elder Sign

A malevolent beast intent on destroying the world lurks within the dark hallways of the Miskatonic Museum in Arkham, and it’s your job in Elder Sign to seal away the demon in another dimension before his influence grows too great. It’s a classic dice rolling game, w??here you explore one of the six scenario cards in ?play for clues, spells, and other mystical items. However, you may not like what you find, and there’s only so much time before your investigator loses it. Difficulty can be a bit erratic, which holds this title back somewhat, but it’s a minor complaint.

8. Horrified

In Horrified, players face off against some of the best-known monsters and villains from the genre, including Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon??, and the Mummy. Changing the baddie you’re up against alters the objectives of the game, and adding more monsters increases the difficulty, which means you get both a beginner-friendly and wickedly challenging experience in the same box.

7. Dead by Daylight: The Board Game

Dead by Daylight’s tabletop adaption condenses the original experience into a tight 30 to 60-minute competition with plenty of tension and mayhem to engage players who aren’t familiar with the source ??material. One player takes on the role of the killer, and the others are survivors. If the killer takes everyone down, they win. The only notable con?cern with the board game is its scalability. It works great with five people, but if the count drops to four, one of the players will have to play as two survivors at once, making for mismatched turn length.

6. Halloween

Halloween has a similar one against many setup like the Dead by Daylight board game, but this time one player takes on the role of Michael Myers and the rest seek to evade him and stay alive. The game benefits greatly from having t?wo ways to win � either deal enough damage to the classi??c horror film villain or find both of the kids and the car keys to escape. 

5. Mansions of Madness: 2nd Edition

Cryptic puzzles, horrifying monsters, and ancient evils await your team of investigators in Mansions of Madness. In terms of atmosphere, the game is second to none, with mechanics like darkness and fire transforming the room tiles and interacting with both the player investigators and the monsters. Mansions of Madness also comes with a companion a?pp that manages puzzles and gameplay phases, all while playing ?suitably creepy music.

4. Betrayal at the House on the Hill: 3rd Edition

In Betrayal at the House on the Hill, the players work together to explore the secrets of an old haunted house in which danger lurks behind every door. ??You’ll take turns opening new rooms, with the house’s dusty, maze-like interiors changing in layout every time you play. Mid-way through the game, the haunting truly begins, an??d one of the players will be unmasked as a traitor. While some of the game’s scenarios can feel familiar, you never quite know what’s going to happen, which makes it great pick for game night.

3. Final Girl

For fans of the horror genre seeking a solo tabletop gaming experience, Final Girl hits all the right notes. The game’s theme plays off classic B-movie tropes, where the player’s character is the last woman standing and must defeat a monstrous, stalking killer to survive. The setting and the killer vary depending on the ‘feature filmâ€?you’re playing, and whether you’re at a summer camp or? a haunted manor, the story elements of the game make it a winner. 

2. Nemesis

Nemesis is sci-fi survival horror at its absolute best. In a similar fashion to Alien, you are trapped on a rusty old freighter in deep space with an unknown predator organism and a set of unique objectives unknown to the other people aboard. Though it starts as a cooperative experience, the other players might be all too willing to put you in the path of the alien to save their own skin and achieve their own ends. Let's hope you make it back ?to Earth alive.

1. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is an expansive, highly customizable delve into a Lovecraftian version of the 1920s. You’ll choose an investigator, build a deck using the cards in your collection, and work cooperatively with the other players to uncover clues and defeat monsters. The game’s revised core set has everything you need to get started, while further player cards and campaigns are available as expansions. Unlike some of Fantasy Flight’s other ‘Living Card Gamesâ€? Arkham Horror scenarios do not have absolute success and failure conditions for its scenario, which gives every story the game offers incredible replay value and ??depth.     

The post The 10 Best Horror Board Games to Play in 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

Board games are great for spending time with friends and family, especially in large groups. Whether you're looking for a game you can play every week or something to bring to your next get-together with friends, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of options for you. Today, we??'ve gathered a list of ten of the best board games that support five players.

Below is a list of some of the best five-player board games I've played over the years. You'll find a mix of family-friendly games that players of any age can enjoy and more complex strategy-based games that'll have you th??inking on your feet and planning several moves ahead. This list also includes larger board games and smaller card games you can carry on the go.

7 Wonders

• Price: $59.99
• Players: 3-7

Right away, we're starting with one of my personal favorites, 7 Wonders. 7 Wonders is a strategy board game reminiscent of video games like Sid Meier's Civilization and Age of Empires, with city-building and strategic elements at the forefront as you play. Each wonder you control has its own set of build requirements and bonuses. However, rather than directin?g armies or building cities on a standard play board, you'll use cards to collect resources, create natural wonders, and amass an army to gain victory points.

Generally speaking, while you'll primarily focus on building up your economy and obtaining enough resources to scale your civilization, you'll also have to watch other players as they do the same, especially if you're playing against people who enjoy a more aggressive approach to their games. You can also use the 7 Wonders Cities expansion to gain additional city options, card types, and ??a team version if you prefer cooperation over competition.

As a bonus, 7 Wonders is one of many games with Amazon Prime Day deals available, allowing you to save money if you're interested in ??checking it o??ut.

Small World

• Price: $59.99
• Players: 2-5

Small World is a fantasy strategy game that has you controlling powerful factions as they compete to take over, well, a small world. You and up to four other players have limited land to control, with each area playing into your race and power combination that changes each game. Your overall goal is to make as? much money as possible using your race and power bonuses while keeping other players at bay as they try to take over the world.

Alternatively, you can try out Small World of Warcraft if you and your friends or family are WoW fans.

Much of Small World's fun comes from the combination of races and powers you play with. In one game, you might start with sorcere??rs who are dragon masters, only to play another game where they can fly around the map themselves. Even after playing dozens of times,?? you'll often encounter new combinations to try out, allowing you to develop new strategies and find some funny pairs.

Between Two Cities

• Price: $50.00
• Players: 3-7

Between Two Cities is the first partially cooperative game on this list. During the game, you and up to six other players will build two cities. However, the catch is that you aren't building it alone; instead, you'll cooperate with the players next to you to make each city, with the final winner being whoever makes the best one that scores the most points. As you draw tiles and build up your city, you'll want to work with your two partners to give you the resources you need to grow while finding a balance between developing both cities without sacrificing? one or the other.

A unique aspect of Between Two Cities is its cooperative yet competitive nature. This becomes especially apparent if you're playing with five or more players, as you'll compet?e with those you're not working with to make the best city. There's also the chance that the people on your left or right will make a better city with their second partners, reminding you that there's some level of competition even amongst the teamwork.

Bohnanza

• Price: $19.99
• Players: 3-7

If you want an adorable and goofy game about growing beans, Bohnanza is the game for you. Throughout Bohnanza, you and the rest of the table will grow, harvest, and trade beans to make money. As you collect beans in the form of cards in your hand, you'll plant them each turn, followed by drawing more and exchanging them ??with others at the table.

Admittedly, Bohnanza is a game I just picked up and played fo??r the first time recently, and I had a blast the entire time. The art cracks me up, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it play??ed with five people at the table. While it can be challenging to pick up for younger players at first, especially as you dive into money-making strategies, it's certainly a game you can learn quickly, especially after you spend some time getting to know each bean.

Here to Slay

• Price: $19.99
• Players: 2-6

Another card and dice-rolling game for this list is Here to Slay, a role-playing card game where you build a party of heroic adventurers and battle powerful enemies. During your playthrough, you'll co??llect various hero, magic, and item cards that'll aid ?you in your journey to defeat the game's strongest enemies and utilize modifier and challenge cards to interrupt the other players at the table as they do the same. The game offers multiple win conditions, giving you several routes to success, depending on your playstyle.

Here to Slay is a particularly interesting choice for anyone who enjoys traditional RPG games, minus the board traversal. If you want?? a quick and easy-to-understand game you can carry around in a bag or your pockets, this one and its?? expansions are great options to check out.

Ticket to Ride

• Price: $54.99
• Players: 2-5

Ticket to Ride is a strategic board game focused on traveling around the world and building train railways. Throughout the game, you and up to four other players will collect colored train cars, which you'll use to build railway routes between cities on your board. Your ultimate goal is to collect the most points by completing routes, building long railways, and finishing bonus objectives that vary depending on which version of Ticket to Ride you own.

While the base game features North America, you can also find expansions for other regions, such as Ticket to Ride: Europe, or even explore the world using boats in Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails. There are numerous options you can explore and plenty ??of opportunities for younger players to learn ??some geography.

King of Tokyo / King of Monster Island

• Price: $44.9 / $69.99
• Players: 2-6 / 2-5

King of Tokyo is a competitive two-to-five-player game where you play as a monster, take over the city of Tokyo, and fight to be the last person standing. As you circle the table, you'll roll between six to eight dice, determining exactly what you?'ll do during your turn before buying cards to power up your monster. This game is all about strategically buying and sweeping cards that appear while balancing survivability and battling against eve??ryone else.

Alternatively, if you prefer cooperative gameplay, King of Monster Island allows you?????????????????????????? and up to four other players to fight against monsters. You'll also work together as a team to strategically defeat enemies and the main boss around the board while powering up your own monsters. This time, you don't want to hinder the other players; your goal is to stay alive as a team and defeat the boss.

Outside of this, gameplay for King of Monster Island is very similar to King of Tokyo, making both great options for competitive and cooperative gameplay, depending on your and your friends or family's preferences. As someone who's played both, I like both equally, albeit having slightly more familiarity with King of Tokyo.

Sushi Go! / Sushi Go Party!

• Price: $11.99 / $28.43
• Players: 2-5 / 2-8

Another adorable and quick-to-understand game on this list is Sushi Go!, a card-passing game that has you collecting a bunch of sushi to gain points. You begin the game by arranging a deck of starter cards before passing them around, placing one on the table, a??nd passing your hand around until everyone runs out. Every card has point bonuses,?? which you'll use to gain as many points as possible.

If this sounds like a quick and easy explanation, that's because it is. Sushi Go is a relatively simple yet enjoyable game. I play it at least t?wo to three times a month,? and I still enjoy it as much as the first time.

Alternatively, if you anticipate you'll have more than give players joining you or want access to more card deck options, Sushi Go Party! is another option for you. It plays the exact sa??me as the or??iginal Sushi Go but features more cards to support up to eight players.

Mysterium

• Price: $54.99
• Players: 2-7

If you're looking for another cooperative game, Mysterium is another great option to consider. Mysterium is a cooperative 'whodunit' game where you and the rest of the table will work alongside a mysterious, silent ghost to discover the culprit behind a murder case. As the ghost gives you?? clues in the form of dream-like illustration cards, it's up to you and your fellow detectives to determine the answer based on these cards.

The catch? The silent ghost is one of the players a??t the table who, throughout the game, won't verbally communicate at all. Inst?ead, they choose the hint cards you receive, with you and the rest of your group unraveling the secret of the game's murder case. This is another one I've revisited numerous times, and I always enjoy seeing how my interpretations of cards differ from those I play with.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

• Price: $74.99
• Players: 1-6

Last but certainly not least is Heat: Pedal to the Medal, one of my favorite board games that I regularly play at least a few times a month. Heat is a racing board that has you and up to five other players at the table driving around one of four race tracks. As you? travel around the race track, you'll carefully determine how fast you want to go without overheating your engine and spinning out.

Heat also comes with two advanced editions to try out, adding car modifications and a championship system for changing road conditions and weather to become more familiar with the game. Whether you're looking for a complex racing game full of fine-detail customization or a simplistic form for all ages, Heat is a fantastic option that I wholeheart??edly recommend, especially if you want somethin?g you can play occasionally.

The post Best 5-Player board games to play in 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

Have you ever wante??d to spend some time with a small group of friends or family but don't want to store massive board games?

Maybe you're looking to go on a trip or visit someone's house and only want to bring a card game or two for the day. Regardless of the reason, there are ??tons of card games out there, with the list below highlighting 12 of the best games you can play with three players.

Best three-player card games to play this year

Below is a list of some of the best three-player card games I've ?tried out over the years. I've played all of these firsthand and can wholly confirm that they're enjoyable, even if you have more players joining in later. I've also included sever??al genres, from simple point-collecting games to complex trick-taking games and even horror ones, to give some variety.

While this list primarily focuses on card games tha??t are fun to play with three players, several entries can support up to six or even eight if you want to have fun party nights with a large group. With that said, let's get right into the list, shall we?

12. Point Salad

• Price: $17.97
• Players: 2-6

Starting this list is Point Salad, a card-drafting game that has you collecting vegetable cards to score point?s. The premise is simple: collect vege??table and point cards and be the player with the most points by the end of the round. Just be careful not to take too many cards that make you lose points.

While a surprising amount of strategy is involved in maximizing your points with certain vegetable types, Point Salad is still a relatively simple game that players of any age, young or old, can enjoy. In my experience, having more players makes this game slightly more chaotic, but it is also very enjoyable with three. It's also a solid option as a two-player card game, but I recommend ha??ving at least three to get the most out of it.

11. Love Letter

• Price: $14.99
• Players: 2-6

Love Letter is a deduction game where your main goal is to win the princess' heart by holding the highest value card possible. However, every card has it?s own abilities that can cause you to swap cards, eliminate someone, or look at the cards others are holding to determine your current standing.

Love Letter is all about deduction and even some deception as you guess whether those around you have stronger cards than you. While this is generally catered toward older players, it's still a great option if you want a quick game with rounds that last around 15-20 ?minutes.

10. Uno

• Price: $4.97
• Players: 2-10

There's a reason why Uno is one of the most famous card games out there, and admittedly, it's genuinely a great time. Uno is a card game that has you playing cards that are either the same color or number as the one on the table, with the main goal being to play every card in your hand. The catch? Alongside numbers, you'll also run into cards such as player skips, reversals, and draw-fo?urs that can hinder a potential quick win.

However, the real fun comes from house rules and custom Wild cards, which come with most versions of Uno. You can pick just about any custom rule, from stealing cards from other players to discarding certain card types and more. If you have the creativity to come up with interesting Wild cards, you can turn a regular old Uno match into?? one that's chaotic and fun very quickl??y.

9. Exploding Kittens

• Price: $20.00
• Players: 2-5

Exploding Kittens is a hilarious and great game option if you wantone that's on the wilder and weirder side. Exploding Kittens is a Russian Roulette-styled game that has you drawing from a center draw pile?? until you pick up an exploding kitten card. By picking up this card, you'll either explode and be eliminated from the game or disarm it and leave it for another player to pick up later. Along the way, you'll utilize cards such as skips, future-sight, and deck shuffles to lower the odds of you exploding.

This is another game that can ruin friendships very quickly, especially if you single-handedly screw someone over by?? indirectly handing them an exploding kitten card. O?f every card game I've played over the years, Exploding Kittens is one of few that consistently has me laughing the entire time.

8. Skull King

• Price: $16.99
• Players: 2-8

Next is the first trick-taking game on this list, Skull King. If you're familiar with trick-taking games, you'll be quite familiar with this, as it doesn't differ much from others like Wizard, Inside Job, or even Cat in the Box. The main differ??ence is the card dynamics and how they counter each othe?r.

Like typical trick-taking games, Skull King has your standard colored cards, with the addition of the titular Skull King, mermaid, escape, and other cards that each impact the round in their own way. While one card may easily trump all numbered cards, another may specifically target that one card and no other, giving you a quick win. These add an extra layer of strategy to ??the game, offering an interesting twist to an otherwise straightforward genre.

7. Sushi Go! and Sushi Go Party!

• Price: $11.99 / $28.43
• Players: 2-5 / 2-8

Let's check out another cute game next, shall we? Sushi Go is a card-passing game where you'll build a starting sushi deck, place point cards, and pass your hand along until you run out. The ultimate sushi-making winner is whoever has the most points after three rounds. Your goal is to use each card's bonus effects to their advantage while ensuring you don't lose points from having ?too many or few of certain card types.

Since this list focuses on three-player games, I recommend Sushi Go as a quick and inexpensive option. However, if you want more card options or plan to invite extra people to play, you have Sushi Go Party as an alternative.

Sushi Go Party is the same as Sushi Go regarding gameplay mechanics and length. The only difference is the number of card options, maximum player count, and the increased price. Despite this, Sushi Go Party is another solid option if you like having more deck-building freedom or want a fun party game for larger get-togethers with family or friends.

6. The Cr??ew: Mission Deep Sea and The Quest for Planet Nine

• Price: $14.95
• Players: 3-5

Next on the list is another pair of games, with these entries involving more trick-taking. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea and The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine are cooperative trick-taking games where, instead of competing against one another and having one winner, you work together to reach the end of a storyline. With each passing mission comes new objectives and obstacles, and it's up to you and the rest of the table to?? collaborate and complete the story.

Of these two, I personally prefer Mission Deep Sea, as its mission combinations get much more complicated than those in Planet Nine. However, it has fewer missions, and sometimes, I like the simplicity of just getting specific cards and moving on with a round. Both are great options, and I thor??oughly enjoyed play?ing both with my family.

5. Kodama

• Price: $19.99
• Players: 2-5

Here's an option that strays away from traditional card game mechanics. Kodama is a unique card game that involves you caring for tree spirits by growing a tree. The objective is to place tree branch cards along your chosen tree trunk to collect points, with objective cards in your hand increasing your points further. Whoever has the most poin??ts by the end is the winner.

Of all the card games I've played, I've yet to find one similar to Kodama. While some of its mechanics are tricky to lear??n initially, making it more suitable for teens and adults, it's still a great option for a half-hour to hour-long game on a quiet and relaxing board game da??y.

4. Coup

• Price: $14.49
• Players: 2-6

Another deception and deduction game on this list is Coup, a card game where you and everyone els??e at the table manipulate and bluff your way to victory. Using the two cards in your hand, you'll use each character's powers to your a??dvantage and eliminate those who stand in your way. It's a classic last-man-standing game with a significant emphasis on deception.

Coup can be another friendship-breaking game, depending?? on how deceptive and manipulative you and those around you are. Your strategies can range from always telling the truth and using what's available to you to your advantage to? lying every round about the cards in your hand and risking being outed by someone at the table. It makes for a whole lot of fun, regardless of whether you're playing with two, three, or the maximum of six players.

3. 50 Clues: Dead or Alive

• Price: $16.86
• Players: 1-5

The first game of this trilogy, 50 Clues: Dead or Alive, completely changes the way you play card games by introducing an escape room element into the mix. Much like a traditional escape room or mystery game, your goal is to solve the puzzles laid out on each card and solve each mystery. While I could go into further detail on what to expect, much of the enjoyment of 50 Clues comes from not knowing the puzzles, solutions, or my reactions t??o them. Let's just say this is an interesting adventure for horror and escape room fans.

Unlike others on this list, you'll also need a phone, paper, and a pen for this game, as you'll have to visit the official 50 Clues site to access your first set of puzzles. The series also features more parts, including 50 Clues: The Secret of The Mark and 50 Clues: Keepers of Evil, if you want to explore the entire story.

It's important to note that this game is not suitable for young children, unlike most entries in this list. If you're a group of older folks who want to try something entirely different from usual, that's when 50 Clues becomes a worthwhile consideration. Ot??herwise, others on this list may be more suitable for you if you're looking for family-friendly games for all ages.

2. Sea Salt and Paper

• Price: $14.95
• Players: 2-4

Returning to relaxing strategy games is Sea Salt and Paper, an origami-styled card ??game full of marine life. The objective of the game is simple: you collect and play card sets during your turns to gain points, with every card having its own effects, point values, and bonuses, depending on their type.

At its core, Sea Salt and Paper is a simplistic but enjoyable game with a beautiful visual style. It's also easy to pick up for?? all ages, making it another great family-friendly game that you can play with two, three, or even four players.

1. Dominion

• Price: $49.99
• Players: 2-4

Last but certainly not least is Dominion, a deck-building game that has you collecting riches and buildings to create a flourishing kingdom. Throughout Dominion, you'll purchase currency cards to build up your money supply while simultaneously colle??cting action cards to help you progress. In doing so, you'll obtain point cards that reward you with victory points. Whoever has the most victory points by the end is the winner.

Overall, your goal is?? to compete with everyone at the table for resources, using your action cards to either buff your own effects or deter others from gaining more cards. The exact strategies you'll use depend entirely on your starting set of card piles, which you can fully customize depending on your preferences.

This is definitely one of my favorite card games. I play on a near-weekly basis with family and friends and regularly return to it alongside other board games. Dominion also has multiple expansions if you enjoy the game and want to invest more time into getting more card opti??ons.

The post 12 best 3 Player card games for 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

The illustrations and aesthetics of board games establish engaging worlds, introduce iconic character?s, and bring player actions to life. Most importantly, they tell a story, and give the game a real presence on the table. In this list, you'll find a few of our f??avorite board and card games that feature outstanding artwork and visual design.

1. Parks

Parks is a board game that celebrates the beauty of the United Statesâ€?national parks, from the deserts of Joshua Tree to the Everglades of Florida. You’ll play as two hikers, co??llecting memory resources from the places you visit over th??e course of several seasons. The card art perfectly captures the scenic vistas and iconic sites of each park, so that by the time you finish the game you’ll want to start planning a trip to see all of these places in person. 

2. Scythe

Scythe board game art blends elements of classical landscape paintings with sci-fi mechs and diesel war machines, establishing?? a 1920s alternate history like no other. Each of the game’s five core factions are represented with distinct characters and color tones, and to top it a?ll off, the board itself is simply gorgeous.

3. Canvas

In Canvas, the objective is to create a beautiful painting by stacking a series of art cards. Each of these cards features a bright color palette or an abstract detail on a transparent backing, and it ?seems that no matter which cards you’re combining, you can always create a stunning piece.

4. Brass: Birmingham

Brass: Birmingham is one of the top-rated board games on Board Game Geek, and in no small part thanks to its incredible artwork, which goes a long way in establishing its dark and gritty 19th century setting. If you like the aesthetics of Victorian-era industrialism (or simply enjoy outstanding strategy games), Brass: Birmingham is for you.

5. Wingspan

Wingspan has won over many fans with its bright environment?al play mats and 170 unique bird cards, each of which features a stunning hand-painted illustration. In this game, it’s your objective to attract as many o?f these birds cards as possible to your water, grass, and forest areas, so that by the end of the game you will have assembled a beautiful collection of wildlife.

6. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

The artwork on every card in Lord of the Rings: The Card Game brings the fantasy world of Middle Earth to life in great detail. The caverns of Moria, peaks of the Misty Mountains, and rolling hills of the Shire are all richly illustrated, as are the faces of the series�most icon??ic heroes. The artwork adheres closely to books to ensure an immersive experience.

7. Azul

Unlike the other entries on this list, the beauty of Azul’s aesthetics lies not in its illustrations but in the patterns of its tiles.?? It’s your role in the game to assemble these tiles to create an aesthetically pleasing wall for the king of Portugal,?? who has commissioned you to decorate his palace.

8. Sleeping Gods

In Sleeping Gods, you’ll play cooperatively as a steamship captain and her crew, exploring a vast, dream-like series of oceans and islands on the search for the totems that help you find your way back home. If you like board?? games with c?ampaigns and incredible artwork, it’s a great pick. 

9. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror card game features dark, gripping artwork that perfectly captures the works of H.P. Lovecraft, whose books have inspired a host of other video and board games. However, the Lovecraftian world of the roaring 20s has arguably never been so well realized as it is in this living card game.

10. Mysterium

Mysterium’s strange, abstract visuals are clues from a ghost who’s residing in an old manor and wants you to solve the mysteri?ous circumstances of their death. It’s a cooperative whodunnit game like no other where the artwork will help you identify the details of the murder.

The post 10 Board Games ?With Incredible Artw??ork That You Can Play Right Now appeared first on Destructoid.

Love board games but tired of setting up all the pieces and organizing times when everyone can get together? Digital board games make it easy to sit down and enjoy a session of strategic combat, cooperative exploration, or competitive engine-building with friends online. In this list you’ll find a lineup of some of the best ??digital board games that you can dive into right now. 

1. Dune: Imperium

In Dune: Imperium, your goal is to take control of the planet Arrakis and its spice. Increasing your standing on the game’s four influence tracks, which represent the Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and Empire, is just as essential as winning conflicts with other players. You’ll play as a great house leader, utilizing their unique passive and signet ring ability. The game is part deck-building and part worker placement, and one of its key expansions, Rise of Ix, is making its way to the digital port soon.

2. Terraforming Mars

As a rich Earth-based corporation, it’s your goal to make Mars habitable and take ??over as much of the planet as possible. The game gives you an incredible variety of ways in which you can do this, from building cities and greeneries to crashing one of the planet’s moons against its surface. By increasing oxygen levels and temperature, as well as placing ocean tiles, you’ll accumulate terraform ratings and move towards the plane??????????????????????????t’s completion.

3. Scythe

It’s the 1920s, but the Great War is entering its next round of conflicts, in which giant mechs roam throughout Europe and destroy everything in their path. In this alternate history, engine-building and re?source management are the name of the game. As the Nordic, Saxony, Polonia, Rusviet, or Crimea faction, you’ll conquer territories, engage in conflicts with other players, and work towards control of The Factory at the center of the board. The game also earns bonus points in my book for its fantastic artwork.

4. Wingspan

Whether you’re a bird enthusiast or not, Wingspan is an awesome strategy game. Here your goal is to play birds in each of the three biomes in your play ??area: wetland, grassland, and forest. As you continue building each of these spaces, you can launch a series of satisfying e?ffects based on the bird cards in each row and collect the points necessary for victory.

5. Everdell

Everdell is a fantastic worker placement game in which it’s your goal to build a thriving city inhabited entirely b?y adorable animals before the next winter. Playing cards from the meadow and managing your resources are at the core of the gameplay, but you can also host fun events, send your workers on journeys, or visit one of the game’s randomized forest areas. The music and atmosphere that the digital port brings to the game are fantastic.

6. Elder Signs: Omens

Elder Signs: Omens leans into classic Lovecraftian horror, with players trapped inside the Miskatonic University Museum with an ancient? demon that must be sealed away before time expires. It’s a cooperative or single-player dice-rolling experience in which your investigators will need to best a series of scenarios to collect the coveted Elder Signs, which close the portal to the beyond.

7. A Game of Thrones: The Board Game

One of the biggest problems with the physical edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game was that you needed six players in one place for four to six hours. Thankfully, the digital edition fixes this. As one of the great houses of Westeros, players conquer as many of the map’s castles as possible, allying with neighboring players or perhaps engaging in conflicts with them instead. Bidding power tokens for control of the Iron Throne, the Valyr??ian steel sword, and the messenger raven are also essential to ac?hieving victory.

8. Mysterium

Mysterium is a cooperative game in which a team of psychics investigates a murder at an old manor, where a ghost attempts to communicate the details of its death to the living. Players are given strange, artistic clues that must be correctly interpreted before the clock runs out. Along the lines of Clue, you’ll need to succ??essfully identif?y the correct person, place, and weapon to solve the case.

9. Carcassonne- Tiles & Tactics

In Carcassonne, it's ??your objective to build a kingdom using a series of tiles containing fields, roads, cities, and monasteries. Cities with completed walls, roads that successfully link two cities, and monasteries all work for increasing your score, as long as you’ve got ‘meeples�tokens in the correct space. It’s a classic game that starts out simple, but you can also add any of the game’s six DLC expansions to make it even more fun.

10. Root

Root might look like a cute game based on its art, but it’s an intense war game. Players control one of four factions: Marq?uise de Cat, the Eyrie Dynasty, the Woodland Alliance, and the Vagabo??nd. The strength of the game lies in the differences in play style of these four factions, all of whom seek control over the woodland and its resources.

11. Dominion

If deck-building games are your favorite, Dominion is a must-play. The objective is to have the most victory points. However, these points are mostly tied to the worst cards during the game because they slow down your deck’s engine. Instead, you’ll want to buy gold and add a few of the game’s ten kingdom cards to your deck. These kingdom cards rotate each game, and there are hundreds to choose from if add on the game’s numerous expansions.

12. Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is a dungeon crawler RPG in which you’ll play through an epic campaign as one of seventeen mercenaries, collecting loot, upgrading skills, and making critical decisions that affect the game’s story. Scenarios in the campaign play out following addictive turned-based exploration and combat. The world of Gloomhaven is or??iginal and deeply engaging, and the game?’s complexity makes it suitably challenging, even for experienced board gamers.

The post 12 Great Digit???al Board Games You Can Play Right Now appeared first on Destructoid.

Board and card games are often associated with mechanics more ?than stories, but these five games are story-rich, inspiring, and appeal to anyone who loves a good tale.

7. The Plot Thickens (Bright Eye Games)

The gameplay elements of The Plot Thickens might be paper-thin, but these games (in Detective, Sci-Fi and Romance variations) are excellent light storytelling games for a group that might be hesitant to start up a story without guidance or to cool down after a more mechanically-intensive game. You could easily mix and match the sets, making a sci-fi romance or detective story, and there are mechanical incentives to connecting your story elements to those played by others, giving a very light puzzle element to the game. Find it at the Bright Eye Games site.

6. Muse (Quick Simple Fun)

Muse is a team party game that combines charmingly weird pictures with problem-solving. One team selects a picture and an action (such as making a non-verbal noise or naming a fictional character) that the other team's Muse must perform to evoke the image on the card. The Muse's team must identify that card from amongst the cards the initial team had, which of course, the Muse has not seen. Muse has variants for simultaneous team play and two- and three-player variants. It accommodates a much higher number of players and the lighter scoring system makes it an enjoyably light game for social occasions. Find it at the Quick Simple Fun site.

5. Once Upon a Time (Atlas Games)

This classic card game is easy to play, quick to pick up, and popular enough to be in its third edition. In Once Upon a Time, players construct a story from a hand of cards with fairy tale characters, events, things, places and aspects. The aim is to get rid of all your cards by incorporating them into the narrative over time, but other players can scupper your attempts by interrupting your story if you get stuck, ramble or describe a story trope they have in their hand already. Once Upon a Time has more mechanical complexity than The Plot Thickens, but it is still a fast and easy game where the rules enable storytelling rather than getting in the way. Find it at the Atlas Games site.

4. Gloom (Atlas Games)

Gloom is a card game with a delightfully dark sense of humour as you play through the fortunes of an ill-fated family and make their lives as horrible as possible. Gloom's striking art style already tells a story, but it also actively encourages players to describe the gruesome details of the family's elaborate deaths. With overtones of Edward Gorey, A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Addams Family, Gloom is sure to make you chuckle and wince at the terrible events you inflict on your chosen family. Find it at the Atlas Games site.

3. Dixit (Libellud/Asmodee)

Originally published in 2008, Dixit is a perennial favorite as a gentle board game with beautiful art and appealing aesthetics that manages to remain fun and relevant without ever becoming too complicated for new players. Players take turns choosing a card from their hand of fanciful picture cards, describe it with a word or very short phrase, and then every other player also chooses a card from their hand that they feel matches that phrase. The chosen cards are shuffled together and players have to decide which they think was the original card. It sounds easy, but the trick is that the scoring rewards just enough ambiguity that almost all of the other players guess the right card. It's an endlessly charming guessing game that requires skill, careful consideration and a poetic mindset. Find it at the Asmodee site.

2. Dead of Winter (Plaid Hat Games/Fanta??sy Flight Games)

By far the most mechanically-intensive game on this list, Dead of Winter looks on the surface like a survival game, but the excellent writing, evocative characters and innovative crossroads system make this game a delight for anyone who likes to have a little more emotional investment in their zombie apocalypse. Players choose characters from the townsfolk, who range from a librarian to a Mall Santa to someone who has decided he is a ninja. These characters have their own abilities and benefits, making character choices tactical as well as flavorful. The real master-stroke here is the deck of crossroads cards, which cause some kind of development in the overall story of the survivors' colony. Some require you to have specific characters in play, and it's always rewarding when the card of a character you control comes up, even if it forces you to make some kind of terrible choice about the future of the colony! Find it at the FFG site.

1. Call to Adventure (Brotherwise Games)

Call to Adventure is a beautifully realized board game of story-building that any storyteller will find intriguing. The players choose backgrounds, traits and paths for their characters as they proceed through daring deeds, complex dilemmas and eventual triumph…or ruin. The initial character cards are already great prompts for anyone lacking inspiration, and the choice between coherent character and mechanical optimization can lead to some unexpectedly deep moments of characterization. The characters proceed through three acts of events, from bandit attacks to magical discoveries, eventually facing climactic plotlines that would fit into any epic fantasy novel. Each event has two options using different stats and giving different benefits, meaning that you might be tempted to have your noble knight turn to a life of crime as their stats help them achieve those goals more directly. Every time I have played this with any group of people, the emergent story has been compelling, dramatic and full of surprises. Find it at the Brotherwise Games site.

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When it comes to card games, it’s easy to get bogged down thinking ?that it only applies to a standard 52 card deck involving royalty and numbers, but there’s a w??hole world of card-based games out there that can prove hilariously enjoyable with only two players. 

While most of the entries on this list can be playe??d with more than two players, they’re also very fun to play with just one other person - I know, because I’ve tried. I’ve got a soft spot for card-based games, especially ones that make me laugh, so here are some recommendations.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

As far as two-player card games go, there’s none more iconic than Pokémon. The rules are simple and easy to grasp, your decks are ever growing and evolving, and you aren’t ever committed to a single set of cards. The replayability of Pokémon makes it a game that you can go back to time and time again and with new cards coming out regularly, there’s no end to the combinations. Whether you spend all of your time building the perfect deck or simply love collecting the cards, the Pokémon card game is one of the best available. 

Poetry for Neanderthals

Imagine being a neandert??hal who only knows words of one syllable, trying to ?explain things like “Pink Panther�to a friend while being unable to use any of the words on the card, or use bodily actions to emphasize a point. On top of all this, imagine your opponent being armed with an inflatable “no�club which they can use to bonk you over the head if you break the rules.

Poetry for Neanderthals is that, and it can also become a hilarious drinking game. Used a word with more than one syllable? Drink. Tried to use your hand??s ??to emphasize what you’re saying? Drink. The more you drink, the more Neanderthal-ish you become and the harder it gets to figure out what on earth your opponent is trying to describe. Cue blank staring and hilarity.

How do you describe Pink Panther in this way, you ask? Well, “red and?? white mix?? big cat go roar start with P�was my attempt.

Dumb Ways to Die

The hit mobile game created by Metro Melbourne to encourage people to be safe around trains has taken on a life of its own, and now Dumb Ways to Die can be played in card format. The aim of the game is to dr??aw cards, with the hopes of avoiding a gruesome death. With cards like ‘Psycho Attack�and ‘You Died� you’re never more than a couple of cards away from being out of the game. 

May Contain Butts

Like snap, but with butts involved. You deal cards for each player and then have to match the adorable butt to the face of an equally adorable cartoon animal. Each player gets a draw p??ile, taking turns to place them around the ‘poop patchâ€? If the butt and the face of the same animal appear face-up at the same time, the first player to slam their hands down over both butt and face wins those cards, which then get added to their draw pile. 

Just be?? careful not to get too slappy, or han?d injuries and bruised egos may occur. 

New Phone Who Dis

Technically New Phone Who Dis is better played with more people, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to enjoy it with only two people. It just means you have to get creative - like adding two cards each to a pile, shuffling them and voting for a winner. If one card is voted? for by both people, that player gets 2 points, if the vote is split, each player gets one point. 

Okay, so playing with two people means bending the official rules a little, but New Phone Who Dis still results in some hilarious text conversations that definitely don’t ever n??eed to happen in re?al life. 

Trash Pandas

A card game in which you are a Raccoon and you must stash away the most trash-based items, such as leftover pizza and fish in order to have the most points at the end of the game. When all the cards are gone from? the deck, the?? game is over and players compare their points. The player with the most stashed trash wins. 

It gets a little complicated when you consider the?? tokens and dice rolls, but there are six tokens which correspond with the sides of the dice. Each token has an action associated and, ultimately, they help you to gather as much trash as possible. Each card also has its own associated ability. 

Danger Danger

Danger Danger is a fast-paced card game with each round lasting only sixty seconds. The aim of the game is to end up with more cases than your opponent (or opposing team). There are two colored decks of cards, one yellow and one pink. In order to win Danger Danger, you have?? sixty seconds to draw as many cards from your pile as you can and add them to any stack (yours or your opponents), as long as the number on the existing top card of the stack is one higher or one lower than the one on the card you’re trying to place down. 

The issues arise when both teams are trying to place cards on the same stack pile, meaning that things get a little messy and a whole lot of infuriating. On top of that, you have to guess-timate how long sixty seconds actually is, because while you can use your phone to time a round, you’re n?ot allowed to look at the timer and if you’re still flipping cards when the timer goes off, you instantly lose no matter how many cases you have on display. 

No pressure, then.

Swear Snap

If you ever played Snap as a child, then you’ll know the rules of this game without any trouble. Swear Snap is, basically, just Snap, except the entire deck is a collection of curse words and rather th?an yelling “SNAPâ€?when you get a matching pair, you yell out the curse word that you’ve just matched. 

I honestly can’t recommend playing this one around children or particularly prudish relatives, but it’s definitely a good option if you have a lot of pent-up frustration and need to vent it using expletives. You might also get some funny looks if you decide to play this in public, and you’ll need to answer ?some concerned questions ?from those who overhear you.

Man Bites Dog

Let’s be honest here, tabloid headlines can be a little absurd at the best of times, but Man Bites Dog takes it to a whole new level. 

Each player begins the game with five cards and the aim is to compile the most ridiculous headline possible from the cards you’ve been dealt. Each card contains one word and has a fixed number of points associated, so you need to balance making a ??headline that makes sense while trying to score the most points. The first player to reach 500 points is the winner.

Power Hungry Pets

In Power Hungry Pets, you only ever have two cards to play and you must decide which card you’re going to use ?to backstab your opponent(s). Each card carries a number between 1 and 10, with each card also having an ability to use when you play the card. You have to play one card each turn and the player holding the card with the highest number at the end of the round wins. So yes, while it may be tempting to play your 10 cards in order to reap the benefits of the vicious ability, you need to quell that desire for chaos while remembering to hold on to a high number card for the end of the round. 

A game of Power Hungry Pets is over when the draw pile has been d?iminis?hed and the player who won the most rounds wins the game.

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Sometimes there's a chang????e so bizarre that it leaves you too stupefied to be mad. Maybe that's part of the intent.

Blizzard's Hearthstone team decided that weekly quests needed to be three times as gri?ndy. The reward, however, does not match the effort. And I don't understand why.

The knee-jerk reactio??n here would be to assume to milk more money out of people. But, you can't buy tiers on the Tavern Pass. Nothing you can spend money on is going to help you finish quests faster. So why would they increase weekly quests? I'm sure some math somewhere shows that players spending more physical time in the game equals more money spent on packs somewhere. That just doesn't sound like a human's behavior to me. That sounds like some? kind of misinterpretation of statistics, if it's even true.

What I know IS true is that a lot of people aren't planning on taking this change. Go over to the Hearthstone subreddit right now and you'll find tons of posts from people thanking Blizzard for giving them the push they needed to break away from the game. Plenty of screenshots of people uninstalling the game must have spooked someone, because Blizzard IMMEDIATELY put up a news post to say they were going to change the requirements. And they did. The hotfix is live as of right now. But it's not enough.

Let's look at the math to see why. Originally, there was always a weekly quest to win 5 ranked games that rewarded 2500 experience on the Tavern Pass. Then, Blizzard de??cided to make it 15 wins worth 3000 experience points. So 300% effort for 20% more reward. I'm not a math magician, but those numbers look kinda funky to me. (Note: You'll see in the image above that the number is 3450 experience, that'?s due to an experience buff from purchasing the tavern pass.)

Blizzard's ??solution to fix this? To reduce the number of wins from 15 to 10, without changing the experience rewards. So now it's only 200% more effort on the part of the player, for 20% more reward. The most cynical people would say this was always the plan, but even non-cynical people have to be left utterly confused by this whole plan.

I haven't finished a tavern pass in about a year now because I'm a busy person who plays a LOT of different games. And that's on me. But what conceivable viewpoint could anyone have that makes this change seem beneficial? It's clearly no??????????????????????????t for players, so who benefiting? Even in a roundabout way, I don't see it making money. It's a huge letdown for t??he card game's 10th anniversary. What a way to celebrate.

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Don't lose your shirt

Get your card shuffler ready. Sunshine Shuffle, the narrative poker game from the creators of An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, is on its way for a May 24, 2023 release date.

Sunshine Shuffle is a fusion of storytelling and poker. You climb aboard the S.S. Sunshine and?? play poker with a?? capybara and other less interesting critters. The twist is that these cute creatures took part in a bank heist. As long as you pony up and put your chips on the line, they’re willing to let you in on the details.

//youtu.be/ts-bYpfXiCc

As a warning, the soundtrack apparently consists of ska. I don’t have an issue with the genre, but some people talk about it like it’s an auditory disease. I’d probably start breaking things if a game played modern, pop-country at me, so I feel a warning is fair.

I like the idea of a narrative poker game more so than I would a game that is just poker. Years of rotting my brain with video games means I can’t sit still for ten seconds without ample visual feedback. Poker Night at the Inventory toyed around with the idea by having various video game and video game adjacent characters banter at the table.?? Additionally, I’d really like to know how such a regal, perfect creature like the capybara could be driven to crime.

You can find out all the sordid details in Sunshine Shuffle on May 24, 2023 on PC or Switch. Or both. I’m not your ga?me mom.

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Death Dealer

Good news for any Xbox owners who are feeling a little too comfortable and secure in their lives, as Devolver Digital has released a port of Daniel Mullins Games' delightfully disturbing card strategy title Inscryption �no?w available to purchase for Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

Released for PC in the fall of 2021, before truly finding fame via its latter-day PlayStation and Nintendo Switch ports, Inscryption is a unique and thoroughly creepy deck-building strategy game, framed in a novel "found footage" narrative device. Its twisted tale is that of an expert games player who finds themselves delving deeper and deeper into the stra??nge lore behind a mysterious and seemingly long-abandoned card game, the roots of which delve far deeper than one could ever imagine.

//twitter.com/devolverdigital/?stat??us/1645468836605329433?s=20

Upon release, Inscryption was highly praised for its creepy visual style, unnerving atmosphere, and smart blending of narrative, strategic gameplay, and metaphysical nature. Inscryption would go on to sell over a million copies and bag numerous awards, including the prestigious Game of the Year award from the Game Devel??opers Conference. This new Xbox port will only serve to further invite more victims/players into its weird, soul-staining world, and is definitely worth a look for anyone who enjoys deck-building titles with a strong slant on the mysterious and macabre.

Inscryption is available now on PlayStation, PC, ??Xbox, and Nin?tendo Switch platforms.

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It was... inevitable

The extremely compelling mobile card game Marvel Snap has had a stupendous launch, having raked in just over $50 million USD in revenue ?since its launch on iOS and Android platforms in October 2022.

The digital tabletop title �the first game from Californian studio Second Dinner �sees players build a deck of heroes and villains from the famous comic book brand, before going to battle in strategic, turn-based gameplay. Players can earn or purchase various new cards in order to build up their deck, and take part in limited-time events, seasons, and tournaments. Currently, the title is enjoying an Ant-Man-themed event, in collaboration with the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe release Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNuq6E3enZQ&ab_channel=?Mar??velEntertainment

Due to the exciting nature of the game's roster as well as a short playtime of only a few minutes �Marvel Snap won over a huge community of players at Quicksilver speed. Roughly 12 million players downloaded the title in its launch month with around $30 million in revenue pulled in by January of this year. Of course, many mobile titles enjoy this burst of incredible success in their opening six months, and time will tell whether Marvel Snap will continue to grow over the remainder of 2023. But given the popularity of the Marvel brand, and the overall quality of the game itself. I would expect thos??e microtransaction bucks to keep rolling in for the foreseeable future.

Marvel Snap is available now on iOS and Android platforms. A console version is ??also in ??the works.

M??arvel Snap hits $50?m revenue, 18m downloads since launch [mobilegamer.biz]

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The rules are simple, yet frightening...

Having treated us to a couple of bonafide back-to-back classics in January, retro-loving publisher Hamster is kicking off the new month with something especially obscure for the Arcade Archives, with the arrival of Seta/Allumer's digital card game Magical Speed, now available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Hitting the Japanese coin-op scene in 1994, Magical Speed is an anime-infused version of the classical "Speed" card game, which sees two players go head-to-head in a race to shed their respective hands as quickly as possible. Players simultaneously attempt to match cards in their deck with the top card in a central pool �constantly pulling from a side deck in a bid to be the first to deplete all cards in hand. It's simpler than yer boy is making it sound, but perhaps not so much wh??en presented in Japanese by shouting anime characters

Deal yourself a hand in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber edzvision.

//www.youtube.com/wa??tch?v=A_dVkoBuOrM&ab_channel??=edzvision

Magical Speed, which was generally presented in cocktail cabinet form, follows the rules of the tabletop classic but adds cutesy characters and a thin "adventure" storyline, as a hero makes their way through a fantasy kingdom, taking on a variety of opponents. As this Arcade Archives releas??e represents the Japanese ROM, there is no English localization, although an English manual is included. While perhaps the nichest Arcade Archives release in some time, this obscure oddity is worth a look for traditional card game fans. Who kn??ows, you might end up searching for cocktail cabinets on eBay.

Magical Speed is available to download now on PS4 a?nd Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.

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'Gwenfinity' to see players take control of meta

CD Projekt RED has announced that it plans to start sunsetting Gwent �the spin-off card game from mega-popular RPG franchise The Witcher �in 2023. As of 2024, no further cards will be pro?duced for the digital tabletop title, with a ??total of three expansions planned before the deck closes for good.

"We are not planning to release new cards starting from 2024, so the cards which will release in 2023 basically will be the last brand-new ones that we will be adding to the game," revealed Gwent director Vladimir Tortsov in a developer video. "It's a ??pretty significant change, there's no ??way around it.

"With the cards that we are planning to add to the game next year, we are basically planning to close the card pool with every idea that we wanted to add, every mechanic that we wanted to see, pretty much everything that we would like to see in Gwent, we will try to fit it within the year."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EsTFtuDT2k

This does not, however, mean that Gwent will become a dead, non-playable entity. In a motion known to the studio as "Gwenfinity", a skeleton crew will be assigned to routinely keep one eye on the g?ame's infrastructure, while the players themselves will be offered the opportunity to decide upon rule changes and balance tweaks as the Gwent meta continues, post-support.

With this new system, CDPR hopes that the Gwent community will be able to continue enjoying, and even evolving, the fantasy tabletop title. And so, while support will offi??cially end in 2024, there will hopefully still be many, many years of coin-tossing over tavern tables still to come.

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Audacity

Wizards of the Coast has provided us with another exclusive Magic Arena card (that's also coming to paper Magic of course): Audacity. It's set to debut in the The Brothers' War set, which is out on November 11 via pre-release, November 15 in Arena, and November 18 in paper Magic.

As a reminder, here's a quick rundown of the lore for the release, to ?set the mood:

"Through nefarious means, the evil Phyrexians establish a foothold on Dominaria. They ?secretly transform ordinary citizens into deadly sleeper agents who go about their lives, ignorant of their new purpose. As word of the Phyrexian incursion spreads, the people of Dominaria attempt to band togethe??r as the sleeper agents threaten to tear them apart."

The Brothers' War is going to have all sorts of lore implications, and follows the Dominaria United set that arrived back in September. From here, we'll be delving even further into the story of the Phyrexians, with Phyrexia: All Will Be One, slated for January 2023. It's a pretty busy block for Magic, as the Dominaria storyline/setting once again is hitting it pretty big with the communit??y.

Destructoid's exclusive Magic Arena card: Audacity

As for the card itself, it's an enchantment aura called Audacity that costs G, enchants a creature, and provides a +2/+??0 and trample bonus. When A??udacity is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you draw a card.

This is the sort of thing you wouldn't mind drawing in most Magic formats, limited included. A low cost always ensures that it's generally playable (or very playable), and although it's not a flash/instant-speed enchantment. Plus, the art from Rudy Siswanto is killer and wonder?fully showcases the direct conflict from the lore.

As us??ual, I can't wait to ??pick one up and put it in a toploader!

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Heading for Tony Stark levels of wealth?

Free-to-play mobile card game Marvel Snap has already gotten off to a smashing start, having raked in a staggering $2 million USD in revenue since its l?aunch just one?? week ago. Available on PC and mobile platforms, the card combat title has already been downloaded by some 5.3 million players.

Marvel Snap is a strategic card battler that focuses on the heroes and villains of the legendary comic-book universe. Players engage in battles, single-player challenges, and objective-based modes with their chosen hand? of heroes, set against the backdrop of famous locales from the Marvel universe. Part of the title's attraction is in slick visual style and library of quality Marvel artwork, as well as its speedy gameplay �The average battle tak??????????????????????????es around three-to-four minutes.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNuq6E3enZQ

The data, which was compiled by AppMagic and reported by mobilegamer.biz, shows that the United States has, unsurprisingly, been the most popular territory for downloads, counting for some 1.3 million players and $1.2 million in revenue. Marvel Snap's secon??d territory of popularity is Brazil, with 433,000 players, and then Italy, with 342,000. The iOS version of the title has the lion's share of the player base.

This is rad and all, but shout?? me when Jessica Drew shows up.

Marvel Snap is available now on PC, iOS, and Android platforms. You can check out CJ Andriessen's thoughts on the title right here. Additionally, to help you get started, check out our own Eric van Allen's beginner tips right here. I haven't personally played either of them yet, (I fe?el bad when I beat people), but I'm sure t?hat they know what they're talking about.

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The one good thing in England right now

Merchandising mayhem?? will reign in just a few short days from now, as The Pokémon Company opens the doors of the wildly popular retail outlet The Pokemon Center London. In hopes of avoiding the utter chaos of 2019's event, the outlet has now opened its timeslot reservation service for interested parties.

If you are looking to visit The Pokémon Center London next week, then head on over to the reservation website right now and book your attendance slot. You'll need to know what day and time you will arrive, as well as how many people will be in your group. This somewhat strict system is a necessity, given that the previous pop-up store appearance drew daily queues of over five hours, with over 30,000 customers walking the floor in a mere five days.

//twitter.com/PokemonNewsUK?/status/1557643837538975?744?s=20&t=zoUr61e24OIWVaKlC9YLSQ

The new Pokémon Center London is being established in conjunction with the Pokémon World Championships, which are being held at London's ExCel Centre between August 17-21. The store will feature a bonanza of Pokémon toys, accessories, and associated junk, along with photo opportunities and special themed areas. For this year's event, the center exclusives are cute plushies of Pikachu and Roserade in Beefeater outfits, (the officia??l uniforms of the guards at the Tower of London). These toys will, unsurprisingly, sell in double-quick time, so move fast.

If you want to just turn up on the day, that?'s fine too, as you will be assigned a slot in a virtual queuing system. But, given the popularity of the store, the merch on offer, and the fact that all of the hardcore Pokeheads will be in town for the tournament, it is best advised that you pre??-book your reservation today.

The Pokémon World Championships kick off at London ExCe??l August 17.

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It's called Tableturf Battle

Thanks to a new Nintendo Direct, we have confirmation of a new Splatoon 3 card game called "Tableturf Battle."

It's a 1v1 competitive card battling game that you'll be playing inside of Splatoon 3, similar to Triple Triad in Final Fantasy, or Gwent in Witcher 3. Battling is done by "laying out cards," which create different shapes on the bat?tlefield: then you'll "unleash" a special attack in some fashion after crafting a calculated shape board state. Tableturf Battle will boast "150 cards" at launch to "collect" in-game.

//twitter??.com/NintendoUK/status/1557355548974137346

To kick it off you'll talk to Sheldon in the Splatoon 3 hub (the Tableturf Battle Dojo in Splatsv??ille to be precise), where you'll presumably be gifted the "starter deck" that everyone gets by default. How players will earn future decks/cards is currently unknown, but it could be tied to the Tableturf Battle mode, or linked to other in-game activities like the campaign or versus.

Maybe this could become a standalone game one day? While nothing is guaranteed with Nintendo, that seems to be the case for a lot of other card-based spinoffs. If you want to see more, the Tableturf Battle sequence starts at roughly 16:00 in the Direct.

Tableturf battle (the Splatoon 3 card game) screenshots:

[gallery ids="338948,338949,338950,338951"]

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Bring Money

The Pokémon Company has announced that its "pop-??up" retail outlet The Pokémon Center will be returning to London next month, offerin??g UK visitors the opportunity to once again roll out the dough for a gaggle of exclusive, limited-time merchandise themed around the popular gaming brand.

Pokémon Center London made its debut back in the fall of 2019, where it notoriously drew ridiculous queues of up to five hours as eager fans stood in line to buy Pikachu dressed as a little city gent. The furor led to all sorts o??f stock shortages and daily rule ch??anges for the retailer, as it struggled to cope with the unending pressure from both Londoners and visitors traveling to the capital spec??ifically for th??e cause. In total, some 30,000 customers shopped at the store within its four-week opening period.

The store was set to return in 2020 but was postponed due to ?the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

//twitter.com/PokemonNewsUK/status/1552228398017265664?s=20&t=z80LaQjSZ?tEBGK9gmBYntg

The new Pokémon Center London is being established in conjunction with the Pokémon World Championships, which are being held at London's ExCel Centre between August 17-21. According to a new tweet, the outlet will feature merchandise, photo opportunities, and themed areas. Predicting a rush, the store will operate adv??anced visitor bookings, as well as a virtual queueing system. Given that the outlet is open for a mere weekend, it is incredibly likely that it will be an unprecedented success.

If you're looking to visit the store yourself, then be sure to follow the Pokémon UK Twitter account. Details regarding queue ??registration will be released in the very near future.

The Pokémon?? World Championships kick off at London ExCel August 17.

The Pokémon Center Pop-Up? Store Returns To London This August [Nintendo Life]

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CD Projekt's new take on Gwent is out very soon

Gwent is back on the table, as CD Projekt Red reveals a new style of The Witcher card game is coming very soon. Gwent: Rogue Mage takes a deckbuilding, roguelike approach to Gwent, and i?t's out for PC, Android, and iOS on July 7.

IGN revealed the game this morning, as a standalone expansion of Gwent. It will have the same ??core mechanics, but operate a bit differently; first and foremost, it's a roguelike.

Players start with a set of cards in their deck, f??ocusing on certain playstyles. Then more cards can be added as more nodes on the map are explored. Experie??nce gained over the course of each run goes towards increasing the pool and strength of cards available in each run.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqkwt6BZPjM

Speaking to IGN, game director Vladimir Tortsov said it would take more than 30 hours to do everything in Gwent: Rogue Mage, with loops that can take up to a??n hour. Runs are paced by either getting to the last boss o?r perishing along the way.

The cards tell a story

Gwent: Rogue Mage has some story elements, too. Its set "hundreds of years" before Geralt of Rivia, the protagonist of The Witcher games and Gwent aficionado, was born. Players step into the shoes of a mage named Alzur as he tries to create the first witcher?. Alongside bouts of Gwent, there are also tough choices to make, Places of Power, and other ways to strengthen your deck each run.

While Tortsov says it's not as extensive as The Witcher games or other media, it's also not the focus. It's seemingly all about Gwent, and offering an offline, single-player option for those craving some rows and bluffin?g.

Considering Thronebreaker, a single-player Gwent campaign, seemed pretty well-received, it's cool to see more single-player exploration of the Gwent board. And since the next Witcher game is likely still a ways away, this might at least sate that Gwent craving for now.

The standard version of Gwent: Rogue Mage is out tomorrow, July 7, for $9.99 on Android, iOS, and PC. A premium? edition, which includes in-game skins, cosmetics, and card packs, will run $19.99.

The post Gwent: Rogue Mage is a deckbu??ilding roguelike twist on The Witcher card game appeared first on Destructoid.

Those are two things I'll endlessly give the time of day

Mahokenshi may not have come out in "Q1 of 2022" as originally envisioned, but it's coming, and wi?ll bring cards and hexes along with it.

The PC Gaming Show gave us some new gameplay, and also confirmed a "2023" date, showcasing the Steam version of the game, with a wishlist option. You can find that here on Steam.

Her??e's what our own Zoey? Handley had to say about the early access build:

"I know I just said that I’m not one for Early Access, but I did check out the demo for Mahokenshi, and it was sublime. Taking surreal visuals derived from Japanese folklore and combining them with card-based hex-strategy proves to be a winning flavor. You build up your deck, dish pain to your opponents, and complete objectives. I already love what I see from Mahokenshi and am looking forward to the release o?f the full serving. I’m not necessarily a fan of deck-building games, but this one puts its car?ds to good use."

Mahokenshi PC Gaming Show 2022 trailer:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVtkO--fgts

The post Mahokenshi marries car??d battling and hex-based strategy appeared first on Destructoid.

It's Roll the Dice time again, folks...

Blizzard Entertainment and beleaguered "loot box" mechanics are back in the legal crosshairs once again after an Arizona resident filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the studio over its popular digital card-battler Hearthstone, currently play?ed by millions on PC and mobile platforms.

As reported by Polygon, Nathan Harris filed the suit with Orange County's California State Superior Court on behalf of his daughter, a fan of the fantasy trading card game. Harris proposed suit concerns the randomized nature of Hearthstone's purchasable card packs, which they believe "deceiv??e" children and younger players with promise??s of rare cards without fully disclosing the odds.

Between 2019 and 2020, It is alleged that Harris' daughter has spent in the region of $300 USD on Heartstone card packs via her father's linked bank cards. According to Harris and his lawyers, the daughter "almost never received any valuable cards" and "did not understand" that she could not receive a refund post-purchase. Harris is suggesting that the class-action suit be opened to the parents of any younger players who have purchased Hearthstone card packs in the pa??st, which obviously equates to ?thousands upon thousands of players.

Blizzard Entertainment has asked the court to move the case within the boundaries of its own jurisdiction: the United States District Court in the Central District of California. For this to happen, the studio is required to prove that any supposed damages payout, (if the lawsuit was a success), would surpass $5 million USD. Given Hearthstone's p??opul??arity since its 2014 launch, this seems incredibly likely.

It should be noted that Blizzard has recently won a similar lawsuit over loot box purchases within arena shooter Overwatch. As reported by Bloomberg, the case was pushed to arbitration after Blizzard?? argued that players agree to a full understanding of in-game purchase terms & conditions when they sign-up??.

Ultimately, this is yet another crapshoot in the wild west of mode??rn gaming, where a barely regulated mechanic �?one that has already lasted over a decade without true, global legislation �leads to a class-action suit that can fall anywhere along the spectrum of success or failure for either party.

While the digital revolution has brought fantastic progression in technology, online retail, community building, and other gaming-related endeavors, it remains oddly lacking in ink �an industry awash with complaints about monopolies, store policies, refunds, work environments, and in-game purchases ??that seem to have no global lawful definitions with which to fall upon.

The post Blizzard faces parent’s proposed lawsuit over Hearthstone cards appeared first on Destructoid.

If all goes well, we'll check out an Indonesian folklore horror game too

Hey guys! I'm here early! I won't be home for a few days, so I'm popping in today instead of the usual Friday night Twitch stream time slot. In the Magic: Arena realm, climbing the standard ranked ladder has been going relatively smoothly. I plan to play mostly limited when Capenna drops (at least until a standard meta becomes clear), so it's been good to beco?me familiar with the game again in the mode I know best.

My goal for today's stream is to grab diamond or get very close to it; if we do, I'll probably play around with a cool Indonesian folklore horror game I saw called Pamali. See you there!

Drop by Destructoid’s Twitch channel every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern to hang out.

The post We’re streaming some Magic the Gathering: Arena tonight appeared first on Destructoid.