Summary of information we know about the card game Artifact from Valve

Since its announcement in August 2017, Valve’s new Dota 2-based card game, Artifact, has garnered a lot of negative reactions and support from fans. And now, as Artifact approaches the official release date, let’s find out all the information available about this controversial game.

Artifact is a card game (also known as TCG) made by Valve with the help of Richard Garfield, the “father” of the game Magic: The Gathering. Artifact has a lot in common with Dota 2, but Valve CEO Gabe Newell has made it clear that this won’t be a Dota-based card game: it’s a random card game that exists. In the fantasy universe of Dota 2. There are three factions that will fight in Artifact: Vhouls, Bronze Legion and Red Mist. Through expansions, Valve intends to expand the storyline.

Artifact will be officially launched on November 28 this year. There will be a beta version starting in October, but there is no specific information yet. Those attending The International 8 and PAX West will have a chance to gain access, and Valve has announced that there will be more options to participate.

Unless you’ve received the beta access code, which means owning the official version of the game, Artifact will be available on Steam for $20 when it’s released. You will get 2 decks consisting of 54 cards each, and 10 card packs. It may come as a bit of a surprise to fans of TCG titles that every card in Artifact will only be obtainable by purchasing packs and cards directly with other players through the Steam Marketplace. Valve will not provide other ways for players to buy these card packs, with the price of $ 2 each package includes 12 cards. To somewhat keep the game from becoming too expensive, Valve will constantly check the prices offered on the Marketplace. In addition, these card packs will ensure to contain at least one card with the highest rarity: rare.

Not only stopping at one or two boards, Artifact will have for you 3 simultaneous board games that you will play on called lanes. Both players will have three towers with 40 health, and all three towers will be evenly distributed across 3 different lanes. The level ends when one of the two players destroys two of the opponent’s three towers. However, there is one thing players will want to keep in mind: When a tower with 40 health is destroyed, an Ancient with 80 health will take its place. So while you can apply pressure on all 3 lanes, you will also probably want to focus on 1 lane and kill the opponent’s Ancient once they’ve taken down their tower.

Artifact will have five card types: Hero, creep, spell, enhancement, and item. With the exception of items, each card will have a distinct color: black, blue, green, and red. The rule here is quite simple: you can only use one card in a lane if your card has the same color as the hero in that lane.

Hero is the face of your deck, as well as playing an important role in your strategy. Each hero will have different stats, abilities and perhaps most special are separate premier cards. There will be specific hero cards that will automatically be added to your deck when choosing that hero. When you start building your deck, you will choose the 5 heroes you want. From gameplay videos at PAX West and leaked images of the deckbuilder, you’ll be able to choose which turn the hero appears in.

Creep is the soldier of the deck. While they both don’t possess the same impressive stats and effects as heroes, they do provide support in lanes.

PSpells are quite simple, you can use them according to the effect each card brings.

Improvement cards will be able to improve your lane with a permanent effect.

Items are the only cards whose color will not affect when used in lane. You can buy them for gold (earned by killing enemy creeps or heroes) and you are free to use them on any hero you like. There are 3 types of item cards that you will be able to add to your deck: attack, armor, and health. The stronger the buff effect, the higher the cost to use the items.

General rules about building decks will not be too complicated. You must have exactly 5 heroes and can have up to 3 copies of other cards in the deck. The minimum deck size will be 40 cards, but there will be no limit to the number of cards you can add.

Before the level begins, all two players’ hero cards will be displayed. The 3 heroes you choose to play first will be sent to each lane. Joining them will be 3 melee creeps, randomly appearing on 3 different lanes. The level will start in the left corner of the board game, stretch from action to combat, then switch to the right lane and repeat the process. You will start with 5 cards, and are entitled to draw 2 more cards in each new cycle. There’s no limit to the number of cards you can hold in your hand, and you can look through your cards by hovering over and scrolling through them.

The action phase will be the focus of the game. You use a card, your opponent uses a card, the process will be repeated until one of the players skips a turn. After the action phase ends, the combat phase will begin and all minions will attack the enemy opposite them. If the position in front of these minions is left empty, the enemy tower will take any damage they take. For each creep that is defeated, you will earn 1 gold and 5 coins for each hero.

After all lanes have completed the combat phase, the shopping phase will take place. You will be presented with 3 random items: on the left will be the Secret Shop item, in the middle will be one of the items you add to the deck, and the last item will be consumable items. After you have purchased an item, another item will take its place. Note that you can’t completely “buy out” the store.

After the shopping phase has been done, the level will move to the pre-action phase. Each tower’s mana will increase by 1 and two creep units will randomly spawn between lanes. During the first two turns after you open your card, you will be able to decide where you want to deploy your 4th and 5th heroes. If one of your heroes is killed in a teamfight, that hero will have time. cooldown is one turn before can be used next time.

• Attack: Amount of damage dealt by a unit
• Armor: Amount of physical damage blocked during combat
• Cleave: Deals damage to units adjacent to the target
• Condemn: Directly destroys the target
• Disarm: Prevents minions from attacking in the next teamfight
• Health: The amount of health the unit has
• Modify: A permanent improvement
• Piercing Damage: Ignore armor and subtract directly from enemy health
• Play Effect: Activates when you use a card
• Regeneration: Continuously heals one unit
• Retaliate: Take additional damage when attacking this unit
• Siege: Deals direct damage to enemy towers if the minion is blocked by an enemy single
• Silence: Prevents abilities from being activated and temporarily “removes” the target’s color
• Stun: Prevents a unit from attacking and stops your opponent from using cards on this unit
• Taunt: Force the enemy unit to attack the unit being taunt

According to CyberSport