Adventure Time Card Wars
Overview
Adventure Time Card Wars is a 2-player duel to the death in the land of Ooo – recreating the Card Wars game that Jake played with Finn in the fourth season, episode 14 of Adventure Time titled… wait for it… “Card Wars!”
Here’s a clip from the episode >
Bring creatures into play onto specific Landscape tiles. Fight every turn with your opponent’s creatures. Make it through their magical ranks of creatures and score 25 hits against your opponent to win. The loser is a dweeb, and the winner is a cool guy!
What about those awesome cards?
Adventure Time Card Wars has three card types: Creatures, Buildings and Spells. Each has an Action Cost in the upper left and a Landscape type in the upper right. There is cool art of course, the card’s game text, and an Attack value (the little sword) and a Defense (the little shield). The cost to play a card is its Action Cost and you must have a number of Landscape tiles equal to the card’s Action Cost face up. Creatures are played to your landscape tiles or lanes. Spells are played and discarded. Buildings are played below the Landscape tiles. That’s it. Let’s Play! FOR THE GLORY!
Finn vs Jake decks
BMO vs Lady Rainicorn decks
Gameplay
Players choose a deck (There are currently 4: Finn’s Blue Plains deck, Jake’s Corn deck , BMO’s Useless Swamp deck and Lady Rainicorn’s SandyLands deck.) and lay out the four tiles into four slots that recreate that deck’s Landscape. The opponent does the same. This forms four “lanes.” Players then shuffle their decks and draw 5 cards.
During your turn you take several steps in order until your turn is over. Then your opponent gets a shot. Do this on your turn…
- Ready your cards (turn them back upright).
- Draw a card.
- You get two Actions. Spend those Actions to play cards! Cards cost a number of Actions. Some cost nothing (woo hoo!), others cost as much as two (yipe!). You can even spend one Action to draw a card.
- Do you want to Floop? You can turn some cards sideways and use their ability. That’s called Flooping. But Flooped cards can’t fight. You can actually Floop at any time during you turn. Just not right in the middle of a fight.
- Fight! Your characters fight your opponent’s characters in the same lane. Each does its Attack Value in damage to the other simultaneously. If any character’s damage equals its defense that creature is discarded. If in fact, there is no character in the same lane, then you damage your opponent – crushing them party-dance style!
- You’re done.
That’s it! You must balance your available Actions – hoping to not get any lame cards and try your best to be a “Card Wars super Amadeus!” Hopefully the seas will align and the five winds will waft the smell of victory to your palace doors!
Who would enjoy this game?
Avid Gamers: Not so much.
Final Thoughts
Adventure Time Card Wars has a the look and feel of a juvenile style CCG. And although the game doesn’t reinvent “CCG style” games, three mechanics are unique and fit perfectly with the style of game.
First: each player has four Landscape tiles and two actions. This pretty much sums up your resources for the game. You can’t play a card unless you have a number of actions and a Landscape tile face up that match that card. The basic decks pretty much allow for every card to be played. However, if the decks are mixed – more effective decks can be built, but you are increasing your chances of not having the right Landscape when you need it. Also, Landscape tiles can be turned face down, (to hurt your opponent or benefit you) This then affects the resources but could grant you amaziiiiing powerrrrr.
Next: Lanes. Having your creatures and buildings be played to a lane (or specific Landscape tile) creates the idea of area – which the cards can defend and move around in. Moving from one Landscape tile to another can leave you vulnerable in that lane, but could take advantage of a Building card’s ability in another. It gives the game an added depth that few other CCG style games have. You can play creatures to empty Landscape tiles of course, but also to occupied Landscape tiles. This allows you to discard the Creature already there. And if that Creature has taken hits, well… a new Creature can come in all healthy and ready to go. The lane mechanic also hyper focuses the conflict. Tight!
Finally: Fighting. I had to put a post-it note on my opponent’s head to remember that…every turn during the Fight phase, ALL your Creatures must fight, but the fight isn’t one sided… both Creatures will damage each other. I learned the hard way when one of my dudes died and it was suddenly my opponent’s turn and I had no one there to defend me.. (ow?) So this makes the game crazy fast and makes each card play that much more important.
Now one final note: The game’s shining achievement (A credit to Matt Hyra & Cory Jones and the entire design team) is the fact that the Card Wars game from the Adventure Time series is captured perfectly in the game. If you have never watched Adventure Time, that’s cool. (You may want to before playing just to give your sense of humor a bit of a reboot.) But you don’t need to KNOW Adventure Time to play. Many games are licenses plastered on a design. Clearly the team worked hard on putting every nuance in this game from the series, and did so without sacrificing the gameplay. Is this the next Magic or Pokemon? Eh…No. But it’s no mamby pamby licensed poser game either. You will either love this game or you won’t get it. And that’s just fine.
User Reviews (3)
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Let it never be said that all games based on popular media are awful (I’m looking at you, Hunger Games: Training Days)! Crypotozoic, makers of the World of Warcraft TCG, have made an excellent little two-player card game. Let’s break it down:
How does it look?: Adventure Time Card Wars has some really solid components. The Landscape pieces have some heft to them. They are sturdy and very easy to pick up, which is important due to some cards flipping the Landscapes. The thickness of the Landscapes has the added bonus of making it easy to pick up cards from on top of them. No digging in with nails or having to sweep a card off the table to pick it up!
The art on the cards is charming in an Adventure Time kind of way. It’s simple and silly, with faux handwriting and a hand-drawn appearance. Given the game-within-a-TV-show aspect, it really hits the nail on the head. Very, very solid integration of theme and components.
How does it play?: The game is straightforward overall. The BoardGaming.com review above goes over the meat of the rules, so I’d like to just focus on a few things that caught my attention: Balance and focus.
I’ve only played with the Finn vs. Jake decks, so I can’t speak for BMO vs. Lady Rainicorn, but I found that the game was balanced in a great way. Jake’s Corn deck plays heavy up front. It hits hard, but you also need to play smart, because… Finn’s Blue Plains deck is super tricksy! Where the Corn deck hits the ground running, the Blue Plains deck builds up some intense combos as the game goes on. Both decks are fun and interesting, and feel like care was put into making them play well together.
Thanks to the Lanes/Landscapes, the game stays very focused. There will be four creatures per player at maximum, so the game doesn’t spill out of control across the table. Generally, the playing field at large feels strategic, with lanes needing to be filled to keep opponents from getting at you. Focusing in on particular lanes, the decisions become more tactical as you try to turn the tide of an individual battle to your favor. It’s not super complicated, but it’s enough to keep you thinking.
Overall Impression: Adventure Time Card Wars is a thoughtfully made card game. It’s true to the source material, well-balanced and easy to teach. My one concern is longevity. As it stands, I don’t know that I would enjoy playing it frequently given the limited pool of cards. On the other hand, if Cryptozoic continues to release material, the great balance they’ve struck so far may be lost. Only time will tell!
hearing what other people have said about this game and my own experience with the app for android, this game is a good way to intro younger people to deck building and other concepts in Magic and other card games. Not everyone likes the psychedelic art of Adventure Time, so that might be a hindrance to the game. Also, Fin and Jack are not on the cards or anywhere in the game (except the box). Someone might think they can play as Fin or Jack, but instead it is the game in the episode on Adventure Time that they experience.
I would strongly recommend the app. There are more cards and different players you can play; each with their own abilities.
I was confused by this Explodable this time because it looked like the same game. I know Adventureland is on many games at the store because I guess it makes people buy it. I did play Adventureland for a Muchkin but when I read what they were talking about this was not that. I know there are more packages for this than is on the list so people will buy it who like Adventureland. I can understand because if Drizzt was on a Love Letter I would put it in my pocket.
Reading this game it is something I played. It is like Magic Cards but something easier. Everyone has the decks for the Adventureland people on the list. The story above tells you how to play which is fine. Magoc Cards os very hard and this is easier but it is not too easy to play and you will lose if you play against someone who is a better player. This is why I only played it once and did not try cards for another person on the list.
At the store they have a game with the Adventureland vampire girl who I like for this. But I will not play it against someone who is better even if I like the girl.