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Entriech

SolForge - Another free to play CCG

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I know that most of the news you hear these days is about that other free to play CCG, but just because it's the most popular, doesn't make it the best one out there.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to a little game called SolForge.

 

What is SolForge?

You create a deck of 30 cards from your own collection, with no more than 3 copies of the same card, and play against either the AI or other people online.  Both players start at 100 health, with the objective being to reduce your opponent to 0 or lower.  Players take alternating turns, receiving a hand of 5 cards from their deck and choosing 2 to play.  Playing cards either summons creatures into one of the five lanes between the two players, or causes other direct damage or effects on players or creatures.

 

Each card that is played is leveled and discarded, and the cards you didn't play that turn are discarded at their current level.  Every four turns you gain a rank of power, your discard is shuffled back into your deck, and play proceeds.  All cards can reach level 3, and some rare ones can reach level 4.  When cards level up, they summon stronger creatures, or have different effects depending on the card.

 

There's a good primer on how exactly play proceeds on the site (http://solforgegame.com/game/how-to-play/).  But as you can imagine, the way that cards level can have a drastic impact on how you build your deck, and which cards you choose to play on a turn.  To give some examples of how the leveling mechanic can impact play:

  • Some creatures are weaker at level 1, but scale well, becoming more and more powerful.
  • Some creatures are strong at level 1, but scale poorly
  • Some cards forfeit playing a creature, or play a weak creature to level up more than 2 cards per turn
  • Some cards are powerful at the level they are played, but are removed when you gain a rank

Free to play?

SolForge is available through both an iOS app and through Steam on the PC.  It utilizes two currencies, an earned currency (Silver), and a purchased currency (Gold).  Purchased currency is only required for cosmetic features such as alternate card art, or packs of cards with a higher rarity card in them.  Cards are broken down into four rarities, but while Legendary cards are powerful, they also tend to be situational, and the common and rare cards that make up the majority of the card set are amply able to deal with them.

 

Creating an account nets you two starter decks and the cards used to make them.  There are daily rewards for each account as follows:

 

Logging in each day - 2000ish Silver and a card, booster pack, or event ticket

First win of the day - 2000ish Silver and a card, booster pack, or event ticket

First win against a player of the day - an event ticket

Third win of the day - 2000ish Silver and a card, booster pack, or event ticket

 

Any card in the game can be purchased for Silver (ranging from 150 to 150k depending on rarity), and copies of cards in excess of 3 can be sold for Silver.  Regarding event tickets, SolForge offers to kinds of competitive tournament.  Entering a Constructed Tournament costs 4 event tickets, and nets you 4 games using one of your own built decks.  Number of wins determines your rewards, which are never less than a booster pack (for 0 wins), and generally include some # of event tickets and packs as you win more during your 4 game run.  Winning 3 out of 4 games always nets you enough tickets to immediately enter again.

 

SolForge also offers a draft tournament for 7 tickets.  Every draft starts with a pack of six cards of the 2nd highest rarity, and it continues to open packs and you choose cards til you reach a deck of 30.  You then play 4 games as in Constructed.  As a nice bonus, you get to keep the cards that you draft, so running a draft tournament once a week is a great way to build your collection.

 

Who made it?

Stone Blade Entertainment, the people behind the deck building game Ascension and also Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering.

 

Impressions

Having now put almost 70 hours into SolForge, it's fair to say that I'm a fan.  The game's got a good tutorial, and really doesn't require you to invest any money in the game to have fun.  The starter decks you're granted are competitive, and the matchmaking algorithm they use seems to work well.  The games I play feel routinely challenging, and I rarely feel like my opponent has "bought" their victory by stacking better cards than I have.

 

The varied nature of the cards is part of what I enjoy the most about the game.  There's lots of opportunities to create interesting combinations, and it's very satisfying to see your deck playing out the way you intended.  Complexity really ranges all over the place, so you can still make simple, powerful decks if you find some of the more complicated cards overwhelming.

 

If anyone else out there plays, or is interested in playing, feel free to find me on Steam as Entriech.  Cheers!

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Nah, I hear a lot more about the situation in Ukraine.

 

I know that most of the news you hear these days is about that other free to play CCG, but just because it's the most popular, doesn't make it the best one out there.

 

Sorry.

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I've been playing a lot of "that other" f2p CCG, and I also played a bunch of Card Hunter a couple months ago, so I'm gonna check this out after work.

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For what it's worth, I play both of them.  I think Hearthstone and SolForge offer different, compatible fun.

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The only thing I know about the game is that Brian Kibler was involved with it and hypes it a lot, but I don't know if that means anything given he still only plays Magic.

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I play it for nearly a year now (I think). I somehow got addicted to grinding the daily rewards against normal computers (when I'm on the toilet). My own metagame is to find decks that kill the AI the fastest way possible. but I actually hardly ever play against other players. 

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You had me at "Richard Garfield". I'm only sad I read this at work and have to wait.

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I played a couple games against the AI, and it seems like there is some potentially interesting things going on in this game. The problem I'm having is that I feel like I can't easily determine the relative power of cards. Even the "vanilla" creatures are actually 3 creatures, but even ignoring that, the numbers are big enough that it's harder to directly compare them than it is in MTG or similar (it's easier to compare a 3/3 and a 2/5 than it is to compare a 8/8 and a 13/6). The upshot of this is I'm hesitant to play vs randos online because I don't want to be stomped by anyone who actually knows how the game works, and the AI doesn't seem very good.

 

If anybody is in a similar position, maybe add me on steam (my steam name is also cleinhun) and we can help eachother figure it out?

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I know that the important number for level 1 cards is 6, and for level 2 cards I think it's 11.  Which is to say, the majority of cards you'll come across don't sport more than that amount of health at that level.  I've used that knowledge when drafting to preferentially pick cards that will have a better chance of trading, which some success.  I'm not sure what the number is for level 3.  16 maybe.

 

I'd encourage you to try playing against some folks online, even using one of the starter decks.  Their matchmaking is pretty good so the fights should end up fair in a short period of time, and seeing the sorts of combinations that people use can help provide some of that information.

 

By way of illustration, the deck I'm using right now is a Black/Green mix, with a focus on overwhelming with numbers of creatures.  To explain some of how it works, I'll refer to some individual cards.

 

Tarsus Deathweaver is a 5/6 | 9/10 | 15/16 critter, whose additional ability is granting a +attack / +health bonus to any creature played that didn't come from your hand.  So he's fairly beefy, he avoids certain types of removal by having an attack lower than his health, and he's got a good buff.

 

You can pair him up with a number of cards that provide creatures not from your hand.  For example:

 

Phytobomb - Places a 1/1 | 3/3 | 5/5 in each empty spot for both players.  Except yours get buffed, while your opponent's don't.

Echowisp, Etherhounds, Hunting Pack - All cards that place extra copies of themselves into lanes.

Branchweaver Druid/Sower - More cards that introduce additional creatures when played, or when spells are played.

 

Then, because you're playing more than the usual number of creatures, you can combo that up with Spring Dryad, which receives +attack / +health for each creature played.

 

Then maybe because you have a surfeit of creatures maybe you add in some of the cards that require you to sacrifice a creature to use.  Or you add in some supporting cards like Botanimate to help you remove troublesome stuff the opponent plays.

 

Anyways, that's just one sort of card combination that I've found works well, there are countless others, but the best way is to go see one of them run against you.  Plus, winning a game against a player nets you an event ticket every day, and drafting is an excellent way to build your collection.

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