Richard Garfield’s Newest Card Game ‘SolForge Fusion’ is Now in Early Access
Download the demo for SolForge Fusion today and see what Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) and Justin Gary (Ascension) are cooking up.
As much as I love physical games, when a game turns digital, it unlocks a whole slew of new and exciting mechanics that would be impossible in paper. SolForge Fusion is a CCG with the core gameplay elements you know and love but with exciting new mechanics, like individual cards leveling up as you play!
SolForge Fusion Overview
Stone Blade Entertainment was kind enough to send me a beta access key, so I’ve been playing the game for a little while now. So, I speak from personal experience the game is fun! It’s currently in Early Access on Steam, with a demo available as well.
As with any CCG, there is a deckbuilding element. It’s functionally similar to the JumpStart packs from Magic. In SolForge Fusion, you pick from several factions, each with their own flavor of cards, and unique mechanics and heroes. Each deck is made up of two of these factions, but one is the primary faction, which determines which heroes, and therefore hero powers, you will have with the deck.
Alloyin use machines and lean into the game’s replace mechanic. Any creature can replace another, and when the robotic warriors of Alloin do so, they often gain stat bonuses. This boost can be increased further if they replace a Gizmo minion, which adds additional stat bonuses to any creature that replaces them.
Nekrium focuses on reducing the opponent’s creatures’ stats, as well as returning their own zombies from the grave. Some of their creatures automatically return, while some spells destroy their own creatures to bestow boosts to their surviving zombies.
Tempys focus on powerful minions that often grow more powerful with each spell cast. They also have the most direct damage spells, which enhance their Warrior Mages, who gain strength each time a spell is cast each turn.
And the creatures of Uterra often work together to boost each other into powerful, unstoppable goliaths. Uterra can also transform enemy creatures into Wisps. While Wisps aren’t entirely useless, they are certainly less useful than whatever the opponent wishes they were.
Gameplay
I’ve been mostly focusing on the Campaign mode, which features a path-routed map. Nodes offer Deck Enhancements. This can be free plays, boosts to your creatures, or detriments to your opponents. Afterward, you’ll select which enemy to battle, with their own modifiers.
Knowing which decks yours will work well against and which won’t is key to progress. Trust me, I lost a lot before I figured that one out.
On each player’s turn, they get 1 action. There is no mana, energy, lands, etc. You can play any card in your hand. However, players only get 2 turns per round. At the end of each round, creatures battle.
Creatures are played into lanes. There’s only one creature per lane. During battle, the creatures battle the creature in the lane opposite them.
Each time a card is played, an upgraded version is added to the discard pile. So, players are encouraged to play cards they know will become stronger later as they level up. However, hands are discarded at the end of each round. This makes each turn vital in knowing what to play, what to keep, what to level up, and what to discard.
Each hero also has a unique power they can deploy, but not right away. Each game is divided into separate “cycles” and hero powers can only be used in the 2nd cycle and beyond.
The first player to reduce their opponent’s life total to 0 wins!
Final Thoughts
Even just looking at the battle screen, there are obviously a lot of other systems and mechanics we didn’t even touch on. But hopefully, this was enough to pique your interest to go download the demo. I admit there’s a bit of a learning curve, at least for me. But once everything clicked into place, I saw how each decision could ripple down through the rest of the game.
SolForge Fusion is a game like none other. The hero powers, the deckbuilding, and especially the level-up mechanic really make it stand out in the crowd. It’s currently in early access on Steam, with a demo available. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting and highly strategic CCG.
