I’ve been a collectable card game player ever since I can remember. I started collecting Pokémon cards in little binder sleeves when I was seven, eventually graduating to Yugi-oh and then finally settling on the addictive Hearthstone . I’m always on the lookout for something new to catch my attention: something fast-paced, fun and addictive in order to keep my short attention span interested. Deckstorm: Duel Of Guardians by DeNA studios has all of those qualities and a deep deck building system to boot.
Last week, I flew out to San Francisco to take a look at Deckstorm , which is a mobile TCG that plays unlike any other mobile card game out there. Senior Producer, Roger Royce, gave me an in-depth look at his game and why it’s different. Royce has been working at DeNA for six years, and this game is a passion project of his. Like me, he’s a Hearthstone nut who saw that most mobile card games have very little depth and a tendency for “he who has the fanciest cards, wins.”
In Deckstorm , each player is given a 15-card-deck where you draw five at a time, allowing for one mulligan in the first round. Then players (or an AI if you are on the single-player mode) engage in a quick-style battle akin to the old playing card game War. Matches are short, Royce and his team designed the matches to last around five minutes on a 2x3 board.
This is what sets Deckstorm apart from it’s competition; both you and your opponent play cards at the exact same time, there are no individual turns. If your card dies, it’s out of the match but if it lives it goes back into your hand and you can play again. First player to lose all 15 cards loses the match.
Each card has an elemental affinity which gives the card bonus damage: fire beats earth, earth beats water and water beats fire. There are also neutral cards, which don’t participate in this rock-paper-scissors part of the game. Royce said that they don’t plan on adding any other elements to the game to keep the overall meta balanced and away from “power creep.”
If Deckstorm was just this simple, I wouldn’t care about it in the slightest. But the cards in this game have a unique customization mechanic I haven’t seen anywhere else. There are 12 classes (my favorites Beast) with each card having six stats: health, magic, defense, stuff like that. Each of these stat lines can be augmented with Runes and Essences. Finding the right combination of stats is tricky: you can increase a Warriors speed but it will never be faster than a Thief.
This leads me to my one major dilemma with the game: it’s need for grinding. In order to get the highest level cards and best Essences and Runes, you need to spend hours playing the same levels in the single-player Campaign to try and unlock specific cards. I’m not a fan of having to do the same task over and over in games in order to get stronger. If I wanted to work, I’d do the same thing that pays me money.
Royce said that Deckstorm is intended for intermediate to hardcore players: ones that have no problem spending hours upon hours trying to get the best cards. You can use the premium currency to get stronger cards without having to grind if you still want to have a strong deck, but if you have high engagement, then you can become great at this game with little to no monetary investment.
Deckstorm is still a fun game. Deck building isn’t just as simple as looking up the best list online and running with that, it requires deep thought and planning before going into battle. If you're about to take on a Water level in the single-player campaign, you might want to have a deck of all Earths. If you're heading into PVP, you might want a deck that’s more well-rounded to counter the cards your opponent might pick up. The strategic possibilities are endless.
You can download Deckstorm: Duel Of The Guardians on IOS and Android right now.
