Gods Unchained Review

Gods Unchained Review

In Gods Unchained, two players face off in an arena to determine who is the most powerful. Whether they choose Nature, Light, Deception, Death, War, or Magic, the goal is always the same, reduce your opponent’s god’s health to zero.
Each player assembles a deck of thirty cards. They may choose any cards that align with their God, as well as any Neutral cards. Each card can be present in a deck no more than twice, while Legendary cards are limited to one copy per deck (though sometimes duplicates can be summoned through card effects).

Playing the Game

Players take turns playing cards from their hands. These cards involve summoning creatures, casting spells, equipping relics. Creatures and relics cannot attack on the turn they are summoned unless they have the Blitz or Godblitz ability. Each card has a mana cost. Players unlock an additional mana lock at the beginning of their turn. Each mana pip up to five only needs one unlock. The ones after that need two or three. Certain cards can unlock extra mana locks, or even close already opened locks.
Creatures can attack other Creatures or the gods themselves, unless an enemy Creature with the Frontline ability is in the way. Cards also feature other abilities such as Armor, Leech Life, Ward, and Hidden. Dead creatures and used cards go into each player’s Void, unless they are Obliterated, in which case the card is completely removed from the game. Some cards can even interact with the Void and bring cards back from the dead!
Players have a time limit for actions on their turn. If the timer runs out, play passes to the other player. Players who don’t end their turn before the timer ends, receive a time penalty on their next turn. If a player runs out of cards to draw, they begin taking damage every time they should draw. Their mana locks also begin closing back up, one per turn. Play continues until one god is taken below one health.
In addition to the standard deck-building mode, Gods Unchained also offers Sealed mode for games. In Sealed mode, players receive access to a semi-random selection of cards. They must build a deck from these cards, and then try to win as many games as they can (up to 7 wins), before suffering three losses. Joining Sealed mode requires an entry fee of GODS tokens, but players can earn they tokens back if they win enough matches, and they can also earn special, limited-edition decorative items!

About Gods Unchained

Gods Unchained began development in the summer of 2018, releasing their first card set, Genesis, soon after, and auctioning off a 1-of-1 Mythic card, Hyperion, for 146 ETH (about $61,000 USD at the time). Closed Beta launched later that year with an open beta in the summer of 2019.
2019 saw Gods Unchained rebrand their parent company into Immutable and begin development on ImmutableX, an NFT focused, layer 2 solution for Ethereum. High gas fees had made card buying and selling a prohibitively expensive affair. And being able to buy, sell, and trade cards is an important aspect for a trading card game. ImmutableX launched it’s marketplace in 2021 and today it serves as a gas-free trading hub for Gods Unchained cards as well as a number of other NFT projects.
The Genesis set sold out in October of 2019. Since then, Gods Unchained followed up with additional set releases since then — Trial of the Gods in 2020, Divine Order in 2021, and Mortal Judgement in 2022. The game also features a Welcome Set, free to all players, and a Core set, earned by playing matches and gaining levels.
Backed by Coinbase and other venture capital funds, Gods Unchained and Immutable have firmly established themselves as players in the blockchain space.

Gods Unchained Play-to-Earn Mechanics

Gods Unchained features a couple of play to earn mechanics. The first comes from simply playing the game. With each Ranked match, players gain experience, which counts towards their account level. At every level up, players receive a Core card pack as a reward. Players also earn Flux while playing. Combine Duplicate Core cards with Flux and $GODs to craft a Meteorite level Core card, which can be sold to other players.
The second play to earn feature occurs on the weekends. Every weekend, Gods Unchained hosts an in-game tournament, beginning on Friday morning. Players earn prizes based on the number of matches they win from their first 25 games played. Rewards include packs from the Core set and the latest expansion set. Also, Mythic level players who finish with one of the top 10 overall rankings, receive additional prize packs at the end of the weekend.
Additionally, for the first 10 matches of every day, players earn $GODS tokens for each win!

Initial Investment

Gods Unchained requires no monetary investment to play. The game is free to play all the way through. It’s even possible to reach the highest ranks as a free to play player! All anyone needs to begin playing is an Ethereum wallet. With three full set releases, plus the Core and Welcome card sets, there are plenty of options to choose from for those who want to get a head start on their card collection. Some common cards can be bought for as little as three cents apiece.
Starting with only the free, Welcome set, players can work their way up and earn everything they need to create and sell card NFTs on the IMX marketplace.

Gods Unchained Rewards System

The base reward system in Gods Unchained comes from playing ranked matches. Players can earn experience points, Flux, and GODs token daily, simply by playing the game!
For every match played, win or lose, players gain experience. After completing an experience level, the player receives a pack of Core cards. These can be standard, epic, and legendary depending on the level.
Players also earn Flux by completing matches in the Gauntlet of the Gods. This is done by playing Ranked matches and winning three matches with all six gods. Players may run the Gauntlet to earn Flux on a daily basis. Players also accumulate Stars while playing Ranked matches. Stars are used at the in-game store to purchase special versions of Core and Welcome cards.
Also, Gods Unchained also features a daily play and earn system. Players can earn GODS tokens for every win in their first 10 matches for each day.
In addition, Gods Unchained hosts an official tournament every weekend where players can win packs from the most recent expansion set. And finally, players can also win rewards by competing in Sealed mode.

Gods Unchained Tokens

Gods Unchained features one token on the Ethereum network, $GODS, and two in-game currencies, Flux and Stars. $GODS is the primary game token. The token has a fixed supply of 500,000,000. Flux and Stars are both in-game currencies only. They do not exist on the blockchain.
Players can earn GODS tokens by playing the game and through a staking system.

How to Start Playing

Gods Unchained is completely free to play. All you need is an Ethereum wallet. Sign up on the Gods Unchained website, connect your wallet to you account, download and install the client, and you’re ready to go! The game provides a free set of cards to use called the Welcome Set. There are also pre-made starter decks for every god. The game features a tutorial which takes you through the most important features.
If you want to buy cards, you will need to transfer ETH into Immutable X, which costs a transfer fee. But, once the funds are in the marketplace, all transactions are free of gas costs. For those who want to grind up in hardcore, free to play style, you can earn Flux, $GODS, and Core cards by playing matches. Then, once you have more than one copy of a Core card, those can be fused into an NFT on the Immutable X marketplace with a fee in $GODS token and Flux. There you can sell it and use those funds as you wish.

Tips for a Getting Started in Gods Unchained

The game provides several Starter decks for new players to use. One for each God. These are a great way to begin. Try out each god in a few matches to get a feel for how each one plays. Knowing the different powers and what sort of cards each god has in their arsenal makes a huge difference when matching up against other players.
When building your own deck, pick a basic strategy. Are you building an aggro deck? Control? Mid-range? Combo? Each play style demands different types of cards. Nature and War are the most popular selections for new players. Their cards and powers are generally pretty straightforward. The meta shifts regularly. Sometimes quicker than other times, often due to patch releases. To see what decks and cards other players are using, GU Decks is a great place to start. They keep data on match results, winrates, card usage, and more.
One important feature unique to Gods Unchained is the Sanctum. The Sanctum consists of three cards on the right side of the screen. Any player can buy these cards during their turn using Favor. The card is then added to their hand. Players accumulate Favor by killing their opponent’s creatures, damaging their opponent’s god, and by playing certain cards that grant Favor. Once a card is purchased from the Sanctum, it is replaced by another. It’s important to keep an eye on the cards in the Sanctum and the amount of Favor each player has. Sometimes the Sanctum isn’t used at all during a match. Other times, it can make a huge difference!

Gameplay Tips

• When you reach 5 mana, it takes two or three mana unlocks to open each mana each level after that
• Ward is a kind of tricky effect. It blocks most spells, god powers, and creature effects — but only once. So if a spell has two effects, Ward only blocks the first one
• If a player casts a spell or triggers an effect that causes both Gods to drop below 1 health, the active player wins the game. This is especially important to note when playing Death, who has a number of spells and effects that cause mutual damage

For the most up to date strategies, deck building guides, and card combos, Gods Unchained has a channel on their official Discord specifically reserved for strategy discussions. There are also numerous streamers and video creators on Twitch and YouTube as well as other social platforms.

Gods Unchained Gameplay Tutorial

Gods Unchained Deck Building Guide

Gods Unchained Overall Thoughts

Overall, Gods Unchained is a solid TCG, and an easy transition for anyone who has played Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering. But unlike those games, Gods Unchained features card ownership, and play to earn features. The game has been in development for quite some time and the team seems to have settled into a regular cadence of balance and bug fix patches while working on new features at the same time.
Gods Unchained is free to play and easy to learn. Some players even manage to reach the top of the leaderboards in a few weeks. It features the potential for play to earn players with game rewards and weekend tournaments. Every weekend, players are rewarded in both Core packs and packs from the latest set based on their rank and the number of wins they have in their first 17 matches. There is even the possibility of winning Legendary packs!
As it is, the game is fun to play in of itself. And when you add play to earn potential and card ownership to the mix, you have a winning combination.