Screenshot: Mythgard
Did you ever read/watch
American Gods and want to have a game set in that world? Do you like
Magic: The Gathering, but wished it were a little faster paced like
Hearthstone? Well, if you said yes to any (or all) of those questions,
Mythgard might be the collectible card game you’ve been looking for.
Mythgard is a sort of modern steampunk mythological brawl fest. In it, you play as a being wielding magical abilities, pitting your minions against your opponents, etc. Of course, this is all represented by various cards being played across your lanes, and your opponents' lanes.
Screenshot: Mythgard
Mythgard has some pretty heavy
Magic: The Gathering influences. The goal, just like in
Magic, is to defeat your opponent, who will be placing minions in the way to stop you. There are minions that are purely defensive, and others that can ignore variables to attack any target at whim. Minions are usually only able to attack the three lanes adjacent to theirs—making card placement just as important as what cards you put down. Lateral movement between lanes is possible, adding even more strategy to decisions.
Certain cards bestow enhancements onto lanes for any cards that are played onto it. These enhancements buff minions, or even change their behavior. Spells are cards that have effects that are direct, while artifacts usually bestow some sort of enhancement to one or all of your minions. All pretty standard stuff.
Screenshot: Mythgard
Instead of “tapping” cards for mana, you have the option to discard, or “burn” a card each round. That gives you one mana, plus a gem that represents that card’s school of magic. You cannot cast a card without the proper gem, no matter how much mana you have. Therefore playing and discarding cards takes a bit of forethought—though forethought is always good in a game like this.
I’ve spent tens of hours in
Mythgard already, but I’m sure there are strategies that I haven’t even encountered yet. The ability to mix decks can create some deadly combos, wielding some good synergy. Even with the gem limitations, it’s possible to make effective decks using multiple different schools of the six different colored decks. Each colored deck, of course, has its own themes, strengths, weaknesses, and utility.
Screenshot: Mythgard
Mythgard has a bunch of different ways to play. There are the normal ranked and casual competitive modes—either with premade decks, or by each playing drafting their decks in turn. There is also a bunch of different single player modes—play against bots, or try different challenges and puzzles. There is also a single player campaign that will be added to throughout the beta.
Mythgard has a fair amount of community integration already, but it can certainly use more. I appreciate the rotating community decks the most. Each Monday and Friday new user made decks are featured on the front page, and those have helped me immensely in figuring out how I want to build my own decks.
Screenshot: Mythgard
Building decks is easy, and about as fun as it can be (unless you live for that sort of thing.)
Mythgard gives you lots of flexibility in customization of your decks, but of course, you’re limited to what cards you have available to you. You can use a couple of different currencies to buy new cards.
You can buy cards with currencies you earn in game, or you can spend real world money to get cards. I’m not sure how the money generation will be later on, but during my time with the closed beta I was able to make enough coin to buy a good amount of cards. It has yet to be seen if it will change, but I never felt forced to spend any real world money. You can earn in-game currency for playing against real opponents, or bots. There are, of course, different rarities of cards. That means, some cards are more common, with the more powerful cards often being rarer.
Screenshot: Mythgard
Sometimes the art for a collectible card game is one of the biggest draws. The art in
Mythgard ranges from great to okay. None of it is particularly striking, but it’s all enjoyable to look at. Some of the cards are more whimsical in nature, while others tend to be more grim dark—with art that represents both aptly.
Available in open beta today,
Mythguard takes a very
Magic: The Gathering approach to card games, but with each player getting increasingly powerful, it encourages explosive confrontations. This means that matches rarely go on for too long, but allow enough time for strategy. I recommend checking it out.
Mythgard enters open beta today.
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