Emergents CCG might be one of the most anticipated blockchain game right now. It's going to be a mobile first digital trading card game utilizing the Tezos blockchain. While we got some information on how the economy is going to work there's almost no information on what the actual gameplay might look like. A few days ago I got a mail from Emergents hinting at the upcoming Alpha release. While the mail didn't go into any more detail regarding gameplay either it at least revealed 5 cards that will be part of Emergents first set. Without knowing any more details it's hard to rate those cards but by examining them we can deduct some more information about what the game might look like.

I'm going to show you each individual card and then discuss what I believe can be learned from that information. Lets talk basics first though. Like every proper CCG, Emergents is using some sort of mana system. We don't know yet if mana is going to increase every round (like most modern CCGs handle it) or if there will be some kind of mana generating cards. We also have the typical creature cards (called characters) with attack and defense being shown at the bottom left and right corner respectively. Three of the revealed cards are characters with the other two being actions. We don't know yet if there are more card types like artifacts or enchantments but it's safe to assume that the gameplay will be a typical back and forth of playing creatures, casting spells and attacking each other.

So lets start with our first card: Pyrotechnique

There's quite some information to be deducted from this card alone. When one or more characters you control attacks implies that instead of having one creature attack at a time (like Hearthstone or Gods Unchained handles it) you can declare several attackers simultaneously hinting at an attack/block system like Magic the Gathering does it.

If Pyrotechnique is ready sounds like there's a tap/exhaust mechanic in play. It's probable that a character becomes unready when he attacks thus Pyrotechniques effect will only trigger if it is not one of the attacking characters. Forge an unready, attacking Wild Plant seems to showcase several keywords. Wild Plant is probably some kind of tribal mechanic. Forge seems to be the keyword for "create a character and put it into play".

Without knowing anything else, Pyrotechnique seems to be an enabler for a swarm aggro deck.

The first thing catching my eye are the two circular symbols below the mana cost of 5. Since Pyrotechnique only had one such symbol this might mean that there either is some sort of colored mana/color attunement (like in MTG oder Hex TCG) or a restriction on how many of those symbols you are allowed to have in play or maybe even in your deck.

Crime Blotter has +1 Attack for every revealed card in your rival's hand or deck. So rival is obviously the keyword for opponent. The revealed part seems to hint at a "look at your enemies hand"-mechanic. Scout your rival's hand is introducing us to the corresponding keyword. Scout probably either means "your opponent reveals his hand" or "your opponent reveals a card at random". Since Crime Blotter counts the number of cards revealed it's safe to assume that scouted cards will stay revealed at least until end of turn, maybe indefinitely.

Depending on the faction Crime Blotter ends in, it might be a midrange or control character.

The gain +3 Attack / gain +3 Health part is self explanatory but until the end of the next heal step hints at a healing mechanic between rounds. Most modern CCGs have settled for a system of permanent damage so this could be a breath of fresh air to the genre. Combined with the attack/block mechanic Pyrotechnique hinted at, this could mean that combat will look pretty much like it does in Magic the Gathering with one player assigning attackers, the other player assigning blockers and characters being healed at the end of every round. Since Emergents has labeled itself as a mobile first CCG this is not what I would have expected as this is quite a bit more complicated than Hearthstone does its combat. Nevertheless it would make the game a lot more dynamic and strategic so this would be a huge plus in my book.

Anyway, Afterimage looks like a nice aggro/anti-control card although 2/2 would be a little too weak at 3 mana in most other CCGs.

[DEL] is the first action we look at and you just have to love the [crtl], [alt], [del] reference. It also introduces some more keywords. Erase target character probably is "destroy target troop", although erase might even be "remove target creature from the game" as erasing sounds somewhat final to me. Gutter seems to be the discard pile and it's cool to already have a card that interacts with it. Finally, deployed seems to be played, so actions are deployed in Emergents.

Since there's no space left to add "quick" in front of ACTION I'm somewhat positive that there's no differentiation between separate casting speeds (like Instant and Sorcery in Magic the Gathering). This would make the game more streamlined although they could still add some "this card can be played anytime you [...]" cards.

[DEL] seems to be a really strong card to me. An unconditional removal at 4 would already be a fine card in most CCGs, having the added synergy with [crtl] and [alt] making it only more interesting. Might be a control staple.

Stun target character could either mean "a character becomes unready" thus being the keyword for taping a creature or it could be a separate keyword like "put a character back into your hand" or "a character can't attack, block or use any of it's abilities until your next turn". Depending on what it turns out to be Seismic Strike might be a really strong removal card. There's nothing else to be seen here so while this card might turn out to be pretty strong, it's the most boring out of the five reveals.

Conlusion

I really like what I've seen so far. When I first read the "mobile first" announcement I wondered if Emergents would become a more watered down version of Hearthstone. From what we've seen though it might turn out to be more complex than Hearthstone and closer to Magic the Gathering. To me this would be really cool although it has to be seen whether a more complex CCG will work on mobile. Personally I'm not too fond of the way they placed the mana, attack and defense values outside of the cards border as I prefer a cleaner layout but I guess that just comes down to personal taste.

All things considered I think Emergents has the potential to become a big player in blockchain gaming and I can't wait to give it a go as soon as they release the playable Alpha.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!