Nova Blitz

Nova Blitz is a simultaneous combat CCG where you still buy Pay To Win packs to supplement your deck. There are 5 races/colours in this game; Divine, Chaos, Tech, Nature and Arcane. It is very similar to Magic the Gathering's Red, Black, White, Blue and Green. The objective is to lower your opponent's hitpoints to 0 before they do it to you. Divine (White) is all about healing, Chaos (Red) is all about sacrifice for more power, Tech (Blue) is about card draws, Nature (Green) is about big creatures and Arcane is all about death (Black). The gameplay is fairly similar to Hearthstone. Both players start with 40 hit points and a hand of 4 cards. You may full mulligan all 4 cards to draw another 4 cards. There is no pick and choose. The game is then divided into the initiative phase and combat phase. During the initiative phase, both players simultaneously increase their energy pool size by 1 and refill energy to their energy pool size. You use the energy to pay for the costs of using the cards in your hand. You cast spells and summon creatures during this phase. There is a fairly major issue as the timing of your summon is important. If you were to cast something 0.1 seconds before/after your opponent does, it can have a major effect on your game. E.g. There is a card called Vengeance where you sacrifice your weakest unit to kill your opponent's strongest unit. I'm sure you can figure out that when you sacrifice matters a lot. During the combat phase, you cannot cast any more spells and you use the units you summoned earlier to attack your opponent directly, block any attacking creatures or do nothing. You cannot attack an opponent's creature directly. The interesting thing is that the combat phase is done simultaneously so there is a strategic depth to this portion of the game. However, the timing is faily short so it's a rush and think scenario. The business model is 125 Credits for Basic Pack, 15 Gems for a Smart Pack and 60 Gems for a Mega Pack. You can only grind Credits. Gems are for cash players, so pay to win. There are about 30 different cards per deck type to collect. Conclusion, the feeling is that Nova Blitz is still in alpha mode. There are many problems with Nova Blitz at the moment, not to mention the pay to win scenario. It's $100 for 1350 gems. 17/11/17: They are using Etherium, the crypto-currency. However, that is the standard technology that can be used for game, like World of Warcraft gold. [h1][b]PROS[/b][/h1] 1. No Summoning Sickness Everything works the moment they are summoned. It makes it easier to remember compared with traditional CCG's like Magic the Gathering. 2. Strategic Analysis During Combat Which card to attack with? Which card to block with? It's simple and great if you play with a human who can counter your moves. Do you cast Vengeance now or later? 3. Report Bug Link I assure you that something as simple as a report bug/feedback link is extremely useful for any game. Some games just take it out due to overwhelming reports or abuse. 4. Reminder Ping Lovely. I like how you can get reminders to look at the game. [h1][b]CONS[/b][/h1] 1. Pay To Win I think it's fairly obvious that it's P2W. 2. Short Time to Think It's not exactly fun to have to 10 seconds to figure out your most optimal move. 3. Can't Cast Spells in Combat That removes one of the most basic things in negative CCGs. Buffing your creatures in combat to win. This is a Magic staple. 4. Cliche Game Design Raging Goblins? Minotaurs? Again? Seriously? The creatures are similar to every other CCG. While no one owns goblins or minotaurs, it is too cliche. 5. Low Player Count You can't find anyone in the global chat. 6. No Messaging Service You can't chat with your opponent. It's most likely a ploy to get players to play with AI all the time. 7. Copied Artwork The card AI Hack is an obvious copy of System Hack. [h1][b]NEUTRAL[/b][/h1] 1. Initiative It's not exactly well-explained other than whoever has it attacks first. 2. Single Resource - Energy Easy to handle though it may suffer from lack of diversity. So neutral.