Many people have taken the plunge into digital TCGs, but for those of you that still only know the physical world of card games (or only Magic Arena for online), I'm here to lay things out so that you can more easily understand Gods Unchained.

Magic is incredibly well known, and generally the first love of nearly every card game player. There are aspects of the game that some people love, and aspects of the game that some people hate. Whichever side you're on when it comes to these things, it's undeniable that MtG is a loved game. However, we are entering a world of digital card gaming well beyond anything we've seen in the last decade: enter Gods Unchained.

Many of us know currently existing digital card games, but GU is different from all of these games in a huge way. If you've ever found yourself playing a digital card game, putting some money into it, then realizing you're not a big fan of it, you're generally SOL in terms of any return on that money you spent. With GU, you will OWN all of your cards, as the cards are tokenized, and forever a part of the blockchain via the ethereum network. If you ever find yourself no longer wanting to be as invested in the game, that's your right as a holder of cards to off what you don't want for money, and keep what you want to continue playing when you feel like it. This is one thing that makes GU more similar to physical MtG than any other currently existing digital card game (yes, I know you can buy and sell in Artifact, but that doesn't give you the capability of liquidating into $USD).

Another incredible aspect of GU is that you will always be able to see the exact scarcity of a card. You will always be able to know how many copies of any given card exist on the official Gods Unchained website, which will help with keeping a lot of the secondary market in check. There will never be false price inflation, but that isn't to say the market still won't be manipulated by speculation like every other card game is. It's generally a nice thing to know how many cards are out there, and with this game, you're capable of seeing the exact number of any given card at any given time.

Now that we've gotten past that, let's talk about the actual game. I'll start with some general comparisons between MtG and GU, and we'll move along from there.

One important thing to know is that in GU, you will not have the capability of reactive play like you get in MtG, i.e. Counterspell due to the fact that the game has been streamlined to have fast and furious game play. Adding additional reaction times would really hinder the pace of what the game is shooting for.

Card Mechanics (Keywords)

I'm going to make some straight across comparisons where I can, so that it is more easily understandable what each keyword effectively does. The keywords that don't have an equivalent will be explained in a way that's easy to understand.

Afterlife - When this card leaves the battlefield, do "X". This effect takes place after the destruction of a card.

Blitz/God Blitz - Haste. Blitz allows your creature to attack other creatures the turn it's played, but God Blitz is the only way to attack your opponent directly.

Burn X - At the end of each turn, this creature takes "X" damage. In this game, a creatures defense is actually more like life rather than defense, so it doesn't recover at the end of each turn. This makes something like Burn a rather effective means of removal.

Confused - When this creature attacks, it has a 50% chance of attacking a different enemy than the intended target.

Control X - If you control "X" (generally a creature tribe), do "Y". These abilities are good for synergistic plays, and it's like any magic card that requires a specific creature type to gain an additional effect.

Deadly - Deathtouch. This one is simple and sweet.

Delve - Delve will show you a set of three cards, and you will choose which of these three cards is added to your hand. If it mentions Delving from your deck, the card will be taken from the deck, effectively thinning it a little bit, but if it does not mention that, the card is just created and added to your hand.

Flank - As there is only blocking and no Frontline in MtG, this is something new. Flank allows a creature to bypass enemy creatures with Frontline and attack the opposing God (or other creatures) directly. (see Frontline below)

Foresee X - Scry. This ability lets you look at the top X cards of your deck. You choose which of these cards get to stay on the top of your deck, and which cards go to the bottom.

Frontline - Since GU doesn't have the same blocking mechanics on defense that MtG does, Frontline is an ability that forces the opposing player to attack a creature that has this keyword prior to being able to attack any other creature or the opposing God directly.

Hidden - Hexproof, but limited. While a creature is hidden, it can't be attacked or targeted by the opposing player. However, as soon as a creature with Hidden attacks, it loses this trait.

Leech - Lifelink. This is a simple straight across equivalent. You gain life equal to the damage dealt.

Neutralize - This would be similar to the card "Humble" in MtG, except that the creature goes to base stats rather than getting set to a stat line laid out by the card.

Protected - Really, really good First Strike. This is the best MtG keyword I can associate Protected with, but in reality it is strictly better. With Protected, your creature will not take any damage the first time damage would be dealt to it. This means damage by a spell, or damage by combat. That's why I can't really say first strike, but I'm still saying it.

Refresh X - Add X mana to your mana pool. However, in GU you can't go infinite. You are only able to refresh to the extent of what your currently unlocked mana gems allow for. (I will talk more about the mana gems below).

Regen X - This comes in as another mechanic that isn't in MtG, as it will regenerate X health to the creature that has the ability. So if your creature has taken damage, it will regenerate X amount back to its health at the end of your turn.

Roar - When this card enters the battlefield, do "X". This effect takes place when you play the card.

Sleep - Target creature can't attack this turn. This is what it effectively translates to, but it truly means that a creature misses its next attack opportunity.

Soulless - When this creature dies, send it to Exile. In GU, it is worded more like when this creature dies, it obliterates itself rather than going to the Void.

Spell Boost +X - Each spell you cast that does damage does +X extra damage.

Twin-Strike - This looks like it would act similarly to Double Strike, but it doesn't. Twin-Strike means a creature may attack twice in a turn, but one of the attacks must be on a creature (if you choose to take the route of two attacks).

Ward - Protection from X. Ward blocks whatever the next God Power or Spell that would affect the creature with Ward from being affected. However, it's a one time use, so it isn't quite as strong as Protection.

The Void - Graveyard. When a creature dies, it moves to the Void. In GU, this also includes token creatures. That's one of the biggest differentiating factors between the Void and the Grave. The only creatures that won't go to the Void are those that have been Obliterated (Exiled).

That's what we have so far for Keywords, but the game does have some additional aspects that don't exist within MtG. Due to the fact it's in the digital world, there are some added abilities that can exist within the game. (Within the keywords, Delve happens to be one of those things as well).

Unique Card Types

In GU, we also have multiple small subsets of cards that are created by other cards within the game. These card types are called Anims, Enchanted Weapons, and Runes. You can never start a game with any of these cards in your deck, but there are cards within the game that will create them and add them to your hand.

Anim - Certain cards will summon an "Anim," however at the moment we only have one Anim in the game. It is a 3/3 with a mana cost of 2.

Enchanted Weapon - Like Anims, these cards must be created by another card. We currently have three Enchanted weapons in the game, and they are all 2 cost Relics. Below, the first number is their strength (how much damage they deal), and the second number is their durability (how many times they can be used).

  • Curative Cudgel - Blitz. Afterlife: Heal 3 to your God - (2/2)
  • Glassblade Gladius - Blitz. Whenever you attack, give a random friendly creature +1/+0 - (1/3)
  • Sterling Spear - Blitz. Flank - (2/3)

Rune - There are currently some cards in the game that create "Runes" and add them to your hand. Right now, we have four different runes, and they all cost 2 mana.

  • Rune of Fire - Deal 3 Damage
  • Rune of Life - Heal 6 to target creature and your God
  • Rune of Sight - Foresee 2, and draw a card
  • Rune of Strength - Give +2/+2 and Frontline to a friendly creature

The Mana System

This is one more unique facet of GU. We all know that in magic, mana is generated by tapping our lands in order to produce said mana. In GU, however, your mana doesn't come from lands that you play from your hand. There is a very unique mana gem unlock system that this game has implemented, which will greatly affect the pace of the game in a positive fashion.

Rather than gaining one new mana gem (or land if your draws hit properly) each turn, you have a set of locks on your gems that will unlock as each turn passes. At the beginning of each turn, all of your mana gems refresh, and you unlock the next lock in line. Turns 1-5 are rather normal, as they only require one unlock each. So, your 1-5 drops are all going to come into play as you would expect. What makes GU so interesting is how the late game is forced to come at a specific pace. Your 6th and 7th mana gems require two unlocks, your 8th requires three unlocks, and your 9th mana gem requires four. If you'd like to see the more in depth article about the mana system, you can find it right here.

God Powers

These are another differentiation from MtG. Those of you that know Hearthstone will know about these, but they're still different in GU. At the beginning of each game, you are shown the selection of God Powers available to you based on which God your deck is using. You may choose one of four God Powers that are unlimited in uses, as long as you have the mana to play them, and one Ultimate God Power that you will only be able to use once per game if that is the Power you choose. This is great for shaking up game play, as you will never know which God Power your opponent has chosen prior to choosing your own.

That's all for this article, my dudes. I hope this has been informative and beneficial to anybody that has interest in learning more about Gods Unchained, or anybody that wants to see more of a side by side comparison between GU and MtG.

As always, feel free to reach out with any comments!

~ Voltriph ~