Artifact: The Dota Card Game

Artifact: The Dota Card Game is a card board game set in the fantasy universe of Dota 2. The game features three lanes, characters, minions, and even neutral creatures. To win, you must either destroy two of the three towers on the lane or destroy the Nexus, which becomes accessible after destroying one of the towers. Completely new mechanics and an artificial intelligence system have also been implemented to help beginners quickly grasp the gameplay.

A multiplayer collectible card game with strategy elements and an isometric view, Artifact: The Dota Card Game was released on November 28, 2018. The first new game from Valve in many years immediately gained a bad reputation due to its harsh monetization system — in addition to purchasing a licensed copy, you had to buy card packs and access to ranked battles. As a result, Artifact rapidly lost popularity.

Familiar genre mechanics are used, such as laying cards in front of each other and ranking them by strength, as well as new mechanics, like simultaneous play on three tables and the ability to immediately apply a card from the deck to a card on the table with all effects.

A beginner in card games will find it difficult to understand Artifact's gameplay, and we have prepared a series of guides explaining the nuances of the gameplay. For example, the game has three simultaneously working decks of cards: main, items, and heroes.

Cards and heroes are divided into four types by color: red, green, blue, and black. Red cards provide direct attacks with high damage; green cards protect and control the field; blue cards are powerful spells; and black cards have abilities that manipulate death.

A red character cannot attack a green hero. You need to place cards in the right spots; if there is no suitable enemy hero on the board, you won't be able to play your card. Hero abilities are diverse, and their power can change, but there are no clear underdogs. Some set enemies on fire, freeze them, or disarm them.

Heroes, items, abilities, and characters in Artifact: The Dota Card Game are taken from the Dota 2 universe, and many new characters were created specifically for the card game, which players encountered for the first time. Other Valve franchises (Left4Dead, Half-Life, Portal) are not involved.

Artifact features a kind of storyline that tells about the Dota 2 universe. The first season told about the factions of the Bronze Legion, Red Mist, and Wolves, the war between them, and key characters. In the next season, characters may change, age, or even die.

A writer who previously worked on Dota 2 stories was hired for Artifact to better develop the universe of the popular tower-defense game. With the help of graphic novels, Valve plans to completely rewrite the original universe, changing it forever.

At the time of release, Artifact had 280 cards and 44 heroes, with each deck containing 40 cards. To help players master each card, the game includes a training artificial intelligence.

Similar to Dota 2, matches in Artifact take place on three tables (lanes), but not simultaneously, rather sequentially — from left to right. Actions in the current line affect the state of the cards in the next playing area. Going through three tables is considered a round.

Before the start of the round, the player is randomly given five cards on three lines and the main deck is determined, the first five cards of which can be used immediately. After the round, cards are replenished in all three decks, and you can also add cards to any of the three tables.

The number of cards increases from round to round, in total you can lay out up to 15 cards and keep 10 more in reserve. Each round more heroes are added, but if the character dies, the next round will not be available.

There are also creeps on the tables - mobs with interesting abilities that automatically appear on players' tables. They are similar to their counterparts from Dota 2, but more useful - they can attack towers and have active and passive effects.

After laying out the cards, the match enters the active stage, when first one player selects and moves cards, deals damage, then the right is transferred to another player. After a collision of cards, the destroyed ones are removed from the table, and the action is transferred to the next line.

The combat stage is automatic, the attack of a hero or creep on an enemy can occur not only directly, but diagonally or even randomly.

Between rounds there is a shopping phase, when new cards, amplifiers, first aid kits, and things for characters are bought. Next, the player distributes what he purchased (improved armor, weapons or equipment) among the heroes and themselves among the lines.

Everything is repeated until victory. Each line has a tower that needs to be destroyed, victory is awarded if two towers or a tower and an Ancient are destroyed. This powerful character appears as the last defender and is often easier to destroy the other tower. Each game takes between 30 and 40 minutes.

Purchasing Artifact only gives access to basic game features. The player is given two full decks, 12 sets of cards and a dozen passes to ranked modes. Now attention - there are no free ways to get new heroes, creatures, spells and passes, absolutely all content is paid.

The same principle applies as in MTG Online - you need to exchange cards or buy them, and this is where Artifact differs from classic card games. The free market has created understandable conditions - strong and expensive cards are more expensive than most, sometimes 10-100 times. And although players have found excellent options for budget decks, they still have to spend real money.

Fights always take place one-on-one. Artifact's main mode is Regular Phantom Draft, which is free to enter but is little more than practice as there are no special rewards. The cards are mostly basic and common; you can’t get a good deck from uncommons and rares here.

To collect a collection of full-fledged cards, you need to win the “Complete Draft” mode. Each entry will require two passes and five sets of cards. Before the start of the match, you need to select 60 more or less suitable cards from all the cards, and then assemble a full deck. To get more passes, you need to buy them.

The most difficult and rated mode is the “Phantom Draft”. Entrance to this arena costs one pass, and all cards received are not saved in the player’s collection. Из-за рандома каждый матч становится непохож на предыдущий, но и ощущения самые острые. За три победы из пяти Artifact возвращает пропуск, за четыре и пять побед из пяти игр дарит один и два комплекта карт соответственно.