Hello Scorum community! I'm pretty new here, but want to make my first post a big one! My buddy @swolesome recently made a post that showed ZB vs Steem Monsters, but it came to our attention that most of the community here actually hasn't heard of ZB yet, so I'm here to formally introduce to the game for all of you ;) I'm a VolMod on the official ZB discord, and would love to hear what all of your impressions are from what you read here!

Zombie Battleground is a turn based card game created by the Loom Network. At a face level, it obviously has a lot of similarities to Hearthstone, but once you dig into it a little bit, it's pretty greatly different.

Like Hearthstone, in ZB, there are "classes," but they are called Elements. However, the deck construction in this game is set up a bit differently. There is no pool of "neutral" cards for minions like what HS has. The only cards that are considered neutral in this game are the items. Other than the items, deck construction is nearly unlimited! The only deck restriction this game has is based on a weakness chart. Each Zombie Overlord has a weakness, and that is the only card element not allowed in your deck.

Air, Life, Water, Toxic, Fire, and Earth are the six elements. Items are the only cards that exist outside of the six elements.

As I said, each element has another element it's weak to, but the five other elements are all fair game for deck construction. This helps lead to a lot of potential innovation, and a lot of really awesome deck combinations are possible! Below you will see the weakness/strength chart, and this is how you can tell which elements aren't allowed in specific decks.

To easily explain, Earth may not run Life cards, Air may not run Earth cards, etc.

This kind of strength wheel is incredibly interesting, and a huge separator for this game in regards to something like HS. Many card abilities are similar, but there are enough differences that this game will be known as uniquely its own entity once more people come to realize this.

Another new and interesting mechanic in ZB in relation to HS is the "Hero Power" system. Rather than a static 2 "mana" cost ability, the Leader's abilities are derived from a cool down system instead. During deck construction, you choose between two different abilities, and the chosen ability will be the one that has a faster cool down. You still get access to both of them, but your chosen ability will become usable earlier in the game! This is just the current state of Overlord Skills in the alpha though. You can see below, that there are also three locked abilities. It's exciting to see where the game will go with these Leader abilities, and how they will impact the game.

"Feral" is effectively "Charge" from HS

Each Overlord has a unique set of skills, and something like "Rabies" will be incredibly strong when it comes to really needing one of your zombies to attack the turn it hits the field. His other ability pings for 1 damage, which will also prove to be a valuable skill when you really need that small extra push.

One other interesting aspect of this game is the Goo Overflow system. "Goo" is what this game calls what other games call "Mana," and I think it's pretty fun and whimsical, personally!

The video above is an official video from Loom, that explains "The Goo Overflow System." It allows you to play zombies that cost more than the Goo you have allotted during the turn you play them, but it comes at a cost! When you overflow your Goo, the following turn, you have x less Goo, where x is however much you happened to overflow the turn prior. It's a great mechanic that reminds me a little bit of "Overload" from the Shaman class in HS at a base level, but it is usable by every class and has a lot more versatility.

Lastly, let's talk about the rank system in this game. Rank correlates to rarity in other card games. This game goes by the standard 4 rarity system many games currently have in place, but it's a fun set up rather than just saying Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary. In ZB, the ranking system is as such: Minion, Officer, Commander, General. Sometimes, it's the little things, ya know?

Minion, Officer, Commander, General

Also, you may have 4 copies of any given minion, 2 copies of any officer or commander, and 1 copy of any general. The numerical choices you're able to make in this game also differentiate from currently existing games, and it will allow for some great deck building opportunities!

The rank system differences don't end there though. This game also includes a rank buffing system.

"Different zombies not only have different ranks on the battleground, but higher-ranking zombies also have effects on their subordinates, which adds a layer of strategic depth to the gameplay."

This is a quote directly from a Loom update, and it's going to be really great to see how the higher ranked zombies will benefit lower ranked zombies of the same element.

I hope this is an eye opening first introduction to the game for those of you that don't know much/anything about it yet! I look forward to becoming more involved with the Scorum community as time goes on :)

  • Please let me know what you think of this post, I love feedback!
  • If you guys like it, I'll do my best to make more posts for this game, and other games as well!
  • I plan on streaming in the near future, so feel free to keep your eyes out for Voltriph on Twitch as well ;)

~ Voltriph ~