A long time ago I got burned out on the whole deckbuilding genre. I absolutely loved Magic the gathering and dabbled a bit in other similar games but eventually grew tired of them and never looked back. Until Faeria crossed my path.
Deckbuilding
Faeria uses the same concept that’s proven to work in most successful deckbuilding card games. They add a few twists here and there but all in all, it feels very familiar. You start out with a few tutorials explaining the mechanics and after completing them, you get a forest-themed starter deck. From then on you can freely start missions, AI battles, and online battles to get more experience. Gathering enough experience lets you level up and earns you new cards and even new “deck formula’s” to make a balanced themed deck.
Herein lies the best part of Faeria. Every card in Faeria can be earned by playing the game. Yep, that’s right… this is not a pay to win type of deckbuilding game to further empty your wallet. Play the game and get rewarded with new cards to experiment with all while getting better. Full disclosure… there are expansions available that add more available cards to the game but they come at a reasonable price and are not mandatory to play the game. Trust me, with the base game alone you’ll have plenty to play with.
Hex
In Faeria you and your opponent are faced against each other on a board filled with hexagons. At the start of each turn, you get “Faeria” which is used to summon the cards out of your hand. The creatures out of your hand need a place on the board before they can be summoned. You and your opponent both place lands on the board to pave a way across. Your creatures can only be summoned on land you control so the strategy part of the game comes in play. At the beginning of each round, you can place 2 hexagons of “prairie land” on the field or choose one special land tile: forest, water, mountain, desert. Some creatures require these special lands to be summoned on.
Strategy intensifies
With the whole “build your board” thing you really get way more strategic elements added to the mix than in most deckbuilding games. With four “Faeria wells” who can be controlled to gather more Faeria, you’ll be inclined to make some bold choices. Blocking the path of your opponent might become very valuable but leaving the wells untouched might not be beneficial for you in the long run. Placing the special lands on certain places on the board might grant you the chance to summon tougher creatures in crucial parts of the field. All these extra decisions you’ll have to make after each turn will make for a lively experience. You might think you have a free path towards victory but a few well-placed tiles could drastically change the outcome of the battle.
Missions, Pandora, Tournaments
Faeria does a great job of introducing you to the game in small steps. With the number of cards available, the game can be daunting to anyone not familiar with these types of games. Deciding which cards to switch out for some newly earned fancy-looking card is hard. Luckily the game doesn’t just throw you in the deep end after the tutorial. With missions, you can get a feel of the cards you’re working with and experience different types of enemy decks along the way. After earning enough experience you’ll unlock pandora and puzzles. In Pandora, you can really test your deckbuilding skills by drafting a new deck that can then be tested. This drafted deck can only be used until you fail but performing well earns you permanent additions to your deck inventory.
Puzzles take the “missions” a bit further and add require more strategic decisions to further enhance your game. Practicing against the AI and further completing the challenges will take you a long way in getting ready for some real-life challenges. Battling casually or ranked is possible – even with a starter deck. I was surprised by how fast I got connected to another online opponent. I couldn’t find a conclusive answer but I read the matchmaking is done crossplay style. Faeria already has a lively community on PC since 2017 so that might be why I had no problem finding an online opponent what-so-ever. With tournaments and even esports available, you can really prove your worth.
Conclusion
Faeria might look like any other deckbuilding game and therefore might not appeal to you like many of the other big(ger) names. Well if that’s the case, you are missing out big time. Faeria feels fresh and plays great. The community is lively and the games are fierce. I would fully recommend anyone to try Faeria. I’m sure you won’t feel disappointed. One small detail though… you have to be online even for single-player games because the AI calculations are done on their own servers.
