If you do a search for ‘crypto’ on TheGamer, all you’re going to find are articles about fraud, theft, obvious scams, and that guy fromApex Legends with the drone. Like most people who game for the love of the, well, game - I recoil at the very mention of crypto, NFTs, blockchain, and all that other junk these web3 grifters keep trying to convince us games need without ever giving us a good reason why.
What is the blockchain for if not to convince rubes to invest in a get-rich-quick scheme disguised as a game? I’m not really sure. The blockchain well has been thoroughly and irrevocably poisoned by Silicon Valley cons andrich YouTubers rug pulling their own fans. I sincerely want to know what this technology can do to actually improve the games we play when they’re in the hands of people who care about making great games. After spending some time with Wildcard and its studio’s co-founder, Katy Drake Bettner, atLVL UP Expo last month, I’m starting to think we might finally have our first great game made even better by crypto.
Wildcard Is A MOBA Card Game That Really Cares About Cards
Have you ever translated something from English to Japanese, and then back to English? It tends to transform the words into something vaguely similar but completely different. That was my first impression of Wildcard. If you take a MOBA like League Of Legends, translate it into a mobile game like Clash of Clans, then translate it back into a real game - you get something like Wildcard.
Here comes the obligatory genre vomit: Wildcard is a third-person 2v2 MOBA with a strategic deck-building meta game - or as The Wildcard Alliance calls it, a Collectible Card Action Game, or CCAG. It’s not anywhere near as complicated as it sounds. Pick a champion, choose a deck, and square off in a 2v2 arena battle to attempt to destroy the enemy team’s base before they destroy yours.
Wildcard plays like a lot of third-person MOBAs you might have played before, such as Smite, Predecessor, or Gigantic - though it’s focused on brawling and positioning, rather than aiming and shooting. Each champion has their own unique kit of abilities they can use to get the upper hand. Some aid mobility, others provide crowd control. If you’ve played a hero shooter or a MOBA, you’ve seen all of this before.
What makes Wildcard unique is the deckbuilding. Each card you play summons a companion that will fight alongside you, pushing your team’s lane and helping clear a path to the enemy’s base. Like Clash of Clans or Warcraft Rumble, you have an energy resource you’ll spend to play cards, which automatically refills over time. Each companion has its own cost, stats and abilities. A big lumbering tree monster that can push the frontline and tank lots of damage will cost more than an archer who stands in the back and peppers enemies and their companions with lots of damage.
Having played a ton of Warcraft Rumble over the last year, the basic strategy of Wildcard clicked right away. Advancing across the arena is all about timing, careful resource management, and countering the enemies’ companions with your own. High-skill matches quickly turn into giant skirmishes between both teams’ creatures that’s just as fun to watch as it is to be part of.
There are a few more specifics, like the titular wildcard that gives one team a big powerup, and the guardian who serves as the goalie for each team’s base. But what impressed me the most about Wildcard is how easy it was to pick up and play. It’s striking that balance between easy to learn and hard to master that every good multiplayer game needs to survive, and I can tell there’s a lot of depth in deckbuilding that I’m excited to dive into.
Thousands, Wildpass, and Flair
Now you’re probably thinking, “Wow, sounds like a neat game, now tell me how crypto ruins it,” and I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I really don’t think it does. What The Wildcard Alliance is doing with blockchain technology - at least for now - feels completely harmless and entirely optional. In fact, there are no crypto shenanigans in the game at all. You’re not going to need a crypto wallet just to open packs or participate in some kind of weird pyramid scheme to promote the game to other people. Crypto is a big part of the game, but it’s not actuallyinthe game… at least not yet.
Two aspects of Wildcard are built around the blockchain. One of them is pretty impressive, and the other ones I’m only marginally dubious about. The first is Thousands, a Twitch-like platform where fans can watch and interact with Wildcard matches live. Bettner says Wildcard was built from the ground up to offer a superior spectator experience, but existing streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube couldn’t offer Wildcard what she was looking for.
What makes Thousands unique is that it puts the streaming audience into the game. The stream viewers fill the stands of virtual spectators and can cheer, react, do the wave, and engage with matches just as you would at a real-life sporting event, and it’s all microtransaction-driven. Think of it like sending roses to someone on their TikTok live, but with more sophisticated interaction. Bettner says building the platform on the blockchain allows the studio to revenue share with players and streamers. Like a more organic affiliate system, if a viewer converts to a player, the streamer whose content brought that person into the game will be compensated.
The other crypto feature is the dreaded NFT. If you made it this far, I’m sure you can stick with me for the explanation. Wildcard Flair is a marketplace for cosmetic items that enhance your cards, your guardians, and provide access to exclusive features to owners. There’s a membership aspect to it called the Wildpass, which entitles owners to events and early access to upcoming features. You can buy and sell Wildpasses and Flair on the Magic Eden market. The cheapest Wildpass is currently $490, while Flair ranges from $1.88 up to $285.
To be honest, I don’t get it and I don’t really like it, but as long as it has little to no impact on the actual game, I guess I don’t really care about it either. If the actual cards and packs were NFTs that would be a deal breaker for me, but emotes, sparkles, and the nebulous promise of access to future events? As long as you can’t buy an NFT that makes your guardians stronger, then I’m happy to ignore it.
I definitely have my guard up here, but I can safely say that Wildcard is a very cool game that I’m looking forward to playing more of. If you want to get in on an upcoming playtest you can request access onWildcard’s Steam page. TheGamer isn’t on the blockchain, so I guess you’ll just have to tell them I sent you.
