Away From Keyboard - Altered TCG
Feature
Changing it up
Many trading card games focus on defeating opponents, using the stats on cards to attack the cards of opposing players. It is definitely a tried and true method for such games, and one that has worked for years. But is this gameplay getting stale? If you think so, Altered may just be the game for you.
Rather than competing in combat like many other TCGs, the goal of Altered is to have your hero and your companion meet in the middle of the playing board. Using your cards, players send their heroes and their companions on expeditions in order to do so. Although the mechanics are reasonably simple to learn there are certainly a few tricks involved if you want to lead your faction to victory.
Altered features six factions, although we only had the opportunity to test two of these - Axiom and Yzmir. The starter decks we received had everything we needed to play, with a complete deck, one hero, folded paper playmat, tokens, and rules sheet.
The characters of the Axiom faction are primarily engineers and creators of technological marvels with a keen focus on innovation and progress using machines to generate advantage over time. On the other hand, the Yzmir faction are dark and secretive, using the knowledge of sorcery and forbidden magic to gain the advantage by disrupting opponents.
As far as the other factions go, the Bravos are adventurers and athletes who come out strong and fast and the Lyra faction who are artists, gamblers and free spirits who roll dice and twist rules to their advantage.The Muna are Druidic defenders of nature with a focus of keeping characters in play whilst the Ordis are the lawkeepers and bureaucrats of Altered, aiming to build armies quickly and to disrupt opponents.
Gameplay mechanics
To begin with, the board setup is a little different from your standard TCG. Play starts with three tumult cards situated between the two players with a hero from each player on one side of the tumult cards and a companion at the opposite end. The tumult cards - when turned over - will reveal different region types which the players must have their hero and companion travel across.
Once the tumult zone has been set up, play begins. Players will draw six cards, of which they place three in the Mana Zone on their first turn. Similarly to TCGs such as Lorcana and Star Wars Unlimited, mana can be selected from any card within your deck, rather than specific mana cards such as those used in Magic: The Gathering.
Play is then broken up into several phases, with each round being called a day.
During the Morning phase (which is skipped on the first day), all players will ready their cards, draw two cards and are given the option of placing another card in the mana zone.
Not much happens in the Noon phase. However, certain cards (mainly Landmarks) will have effects that will only trigger during the Noon phase.
The Afternoon phase is when most of the action takes place. Players take turns revealing cards (using their available mana) until they both have exhausted their mana. Players will spend mana to place characters into either the Hero Expedition or Companion Expedition (this is where much of the strategy is required).
Altered has two zones from which you can play cards from - your hand, or your reserve. The reserve area contains cards that have already been in play previously. Each card has a cost for each method of play.
The Dusk phase will have players determining whether their heroes or companions will be able to move across the board. This will be calculated based on the statistics of the cards placed in the expedition zones. Each of the character cards have three statistics based on the three different regions - land, water and mountains, and it is these statistics that players will compete to determine if their hero or companion will move towards their goal. Upon winning one of the expeditions, players will move one of their hero or companion token across the tumult region.
The Night phase is basically the reset mode, with characters in play moving to the reserve area, although cards with a special term ‘Fleeting’ will be discarded from the board. And then if any players have more than their allowed number of landmark or reserve cards, players will need to choose which ones to discard.
Play then continues to the next Morning.
The Cards
Although they are based on different periods of time, the cards have somewhat of a Final Fantasy visual vibe, particularly amongst the characters. The cards are bright and colourful, with each of the factions featuring a specific colour. Cards have a mixture of bordered and borderless art.
Card Types
Heroes
Each player chooses one hero at the start of the game. The starter decks for our playtest included one hero for each faction, but each faction has several heroes which can be collected. The hero cards each have a special passive ability that can be used throughout the game.
Characters
Characters are the grunts of the game and with their stats, will determine whether your hero or companion will be able to move through the expedition during the Dusk phase of the game.
Landmarks
Landmarks are a special permanent that have a bonus effect - most of which take place during the Noon phase of the game, or if they are exhausted (or tapped, for MtG players). These cards do not enter the expeditions.
Spells
Like Instants or Sorcery cards in MtG, Spells have a once-off use. Spells can range from sending a card from the Expedition to the Reserve area, discarding an opponent’s card, putting a character to sleep, or even creating token characters. When used at the optimal time, these spells can be quite powerful.
Verdict
Although it took several rounds (or days) to get the hang of the mechanics, once we learned how each phase of the day worked, Altered flowed quite smoothly. The cards are well laid out, the artwork is gorgeous, and the keywords/actions are well explained. We did enjoy the fact that players took turns during the Afternoon phase to place cards into the expedition, which certainly requires a strategy as to which order cards are played. Determining which cards are going to be used as Mana Orbs in the Morning phase, and then which cards to discard when the Reserve or Landmark areas are full during the Night phase can definitely require players to put in some added thought. If you're looking for a TCG with a different goal - one of peaceful expedition, rather than one of war - then Altered is certainly worth a look.
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