Yet another entry into the TCG series.
Or is it?
‘Yet another?’
What most people consider ‘just another stupid card game’ is a card game that is different from the standard Wizards of the Coast games (or Hearthstone, its younger but more popular cousin).
I mean you can pick up the following caption and paste it on any TCG these days:
“Fight intense battles as one of eight prominent factions to rule the world, each with different origins, and different play styles in duels.”
So what makes Infinity Wars Reborn stand out in the crowd.
Infinty Wars Reborn
Detailed Review
(+) The Rules
The game takes place between two players like any standard TCG. Standard mechanics are shared with most other TCGs, like the deck area, graveyard, play zones, and hand.
The hand is where cards drawn from the deck are kept. At the beginning of the game, each player starts with five cards. In the game, both players control “fortresses’, which must be razed by the other player to win. The top left part of the screen shows a player’s life points, and morale points.
Morale points are a special resource that shows an army’s will to fight in the duel – with the death of more creatures, the morale of the army reduces. Another possible victory condition is reducing the opponent’s morale points to zero, which is a softer victory condition than the aggressive one of razing the opponent’s fortress to ashes (or reducing his life points to zero).
Another counter besides the morale and life point counters shows the ‘mana’ or ‘resource’ generated each turn. This ‘resource’ is used to play cards. Each card has a ‘resource’ cost written on its top right, which is the amount of ‘resource’ needed to play it. The top right portion of the screen shows the opponent’s life points and morale points.
There are three play zones – the ‘Support Zone’, the ‘Defense Zone’, the ‘Attack Zone’ and the ‘Deployment Zone’. Most creatures, once played, enter the ‘Deployment Zone’, where it must wait for one turn before being ‘deployed’ elsewhere. ‘Attack Zone’ is the zone where players place creatures to attack their opponent’s fortress. ‘Defense Zone’ is the place where players place creatures to defend against their opponent’s attacks.
The ‘Support Zone’ is the place where specialist creatures, or the elite commanders of the army, are placed. These commanders are superior versions of the creatures under them, having abilities that lead an army to victory. Some creatures have abilities that can be activated (for a small cost, like sacrificing a creature or paying ‘resources’).
There are Artifact cards that give temporary benefits on being played, or spell cards, which have a one-time effect, and then are discarded. All discarded cards, as well as destroyed creatures are sent to the graveyard. All creatures have a ‘power’ written on the lower left of the card, which is a measure of the damage it can inflict in battle, and a ‘toughness’ written on the lower right of the card, which is a measure of the damage it can take before dying.
(+) The Revolution
The game revolves around the concept of ‘simultaneous turns’ which is a handy new mechanic.
This mechanic allows both players to play their turns at the same time. Each turn is divided into three phases, the planning phase, when creatures can be summoned and spell and artifacts cards played, and creatures can be deployed for defense or offense (which take place at the same time for each player), the standby phase, which marks the end of the planning phase, and the resolution phase, where all effects are ‘resolved’ one by one till the turn is over.
The combat system is unique, as it does not allow the player to choose an attacker for their creatures. Instead, the creature must attack the creature in front of it on the game board. Once a creature takes damage, the power of the attacking creature is subtracted from its toughness – if the toughness becomes negative or zero by battle, the creature is sent to the graveyard.
This adds an additional layer of strategy, as your opponent can always be ready to surprise you at any time. The rich graphics, especially the fact that all cards are animated, gives the game some praiseworthy visuals, which is quite unlike other TCG’s.
(+) F2P or P2W?
The perennial question in every TCG these days.
Farming in Infinity Wars is very easy as compared to most other TCG’s. Just logging in to one’s account daily awards stuff like cards and boosts in the form on in-game currencies, which are primarily gained from winning duels.
Three daily objectives award a person a lot of in-game currency, which can be spent on booster packs or individual cards to expand collection. The cost of booster packs and cards are pretty balanced, so its very easy to get into the game without spending a lot of money.
Ranked modes exist, for veteran players to challenge themselves for a worldwide ranking, or casual modes and modes where one uses pre-made decks, which helps a newbie pick up pace with the game, and understand card synergies before they jump in and make their own deck.