Game Modes

Deckstorm currently offers three main game modes for you to play: Campaign, Special Campaigns and Arena. The Campaigns offer solo play experiences while the Arena allows you to connect with other players. Our goal is to provide a variety of content for our players to engage with, based on their interests, intended time commitment, and level of competitiveness.

## Campaign (PvE)

Battle Ravia’s toughest Guardians across 10 Regions. Each Region contains multiple stages of varying amounts of enemy waves. The types of enemy Classes and Affinities you’ll encounter are those indigenous to each Region. Build your decks accordingly.

It is recommended to play the normal Campaign stages to familiarize yourself with *Deckstorm’s*gameplay before engaging in the other modes. In general, these stages provide safer environments to learn the game’s mechanics while capturing new Cards and growing the power of your team. Additionally, Campaign stages award Gold, Starstones, Runes, and valuable Soulgems as one-time rewards for completing its Regions.

**HARD MODE**

If the player can earn a 3-star ranking on every stage of a Campaign Region, they will unlock its alternate difficulty, Hard Mode. The enemies in each wave will appear the same but their levels will be higher, making for a more difficult challenge. Playing on Hard Mode will see increased Gold and XP rewards as well as better Rune drops.

## Special Campaigns (PvE)

The Special Campaign offers distinct variations to the normal Campaign mode, providing specific locations to earn desireable items. Requiring a more honed strategy and optimized decks, the Special Campaign is recommended for players who have already grasped the core concepts of *Deckstorm*.

**DAILY REGIONS**

Changing every 24 hours, the Daily Regions offer stages heavily favoring enemies of a single affinity. Because of this Regional anomaly, you can expect to find Essences of specific Affinities as well. Other than evolving Cards, this is the best location to get Essences in the game.

The availability cycle repeats every week so you can anticipate the dominant affinity of the day:

* Monday: Volcanic Atoll Region (FIRE)
* Tuesday: Flooded Temple Region (WATER)
* Wednesday: Fertile Plain Region (EARTH)
* Thursday: Volcanic Atoll Region (FIRE)
* Friday: Flooded Temple Region (WATER)
* Saturday: Fertile Plain Region (EARTH)
* Sunday: All 3 Daily Regions (FIRE, WATER, EARTH)

**RUNE REALMS**

As the name suggests, the Rune Realms contain technically demanding stages with the best drop chances for Runes. Starstones can be earned as well. Here, you can generally expect more enemies and more waves, all working together to defeat you.

There are 3 Rune Realms in total, each themed around the types of Runes they offer:

* Rune Realm of Aggression: Drops ATK and SPD Runes
* Rune Realm of Magic: Drops MagATK and MagDEF Runes
* Rune Realm of Fortification: Drops HP and DEF Runes

Each stage within a Rune Realm gets increasingly more difficult, hence their naming:

* Hard
* Very Hard
* Extreme
* Insane
* Provenant

**TIP:** Assess a stage’s “Enemy Power” value to judge your chances of victory. If you’ve recently squeaked by completing a stage with an Enemy Power of 10, then you likely won’t be ready to tackle a stage with an Enemy Power of 20. Also note the relative difficulty naming scale of stages. Rune Realm stages start at “Hard,” meaning they are immediately more difficult than most “Normal” Campaign Stages.

**TRIAL OF THE PROVENANTS**

A true test of all your abilities, the Trial of the Provenants is a marathon of stages, increasing in difficulty, one after the next. Only the most powerful Provenants will ever see, let alone complete, the 100th stage.

Each stage offers a single wave of enemies, but don’t let their numbers lure you into a false sense of victory. These enemy waves utilize synergistic relationships to pummel your decks into submission. But the pain will all be worth it once you’ve collected the Trial’s Cards, Essences, Runes, and Gold.

## Arena (PvP)

The Arena is the location for dueling your best decks against other players in competitive and practice settings. Unlike Campaign Stages, the Arena consists of a best two out of three 5v5 Card battles. Players still choose 15-Card decks but during the battle, when a Card days you don’t draw a new one. Instead, you need to win with a fixed 5-Card hand. Arena stages also enforce a turn timer, for both the Discard and Selection phases. Players have 10 seconds to make a choice otherwise a random card will be selected for battle. If a resolution isn’t reached after a certain number or rounds, Sudden Death is enforced and all damage is increased.

Consider the following Arena formats before engaging:

**RANKED**

Compete against other players in a tiered format that spans 2 week seasons. The Ranked Arena costs 1 Bravery to engage. Win battles to climb the tiers but be careful because losing battles will also drop you down. The star ranking you receive for winning an Arena battle is the same amount of stars you’ll earn towards your next rank. Don’t just win but win quickly and decisively to rank up in the most efficient manner.

Each season lasts 2 weeks and you’re awarded prizes based on your current rank when it ends. Reach the highest tiers to claim the highest quantity of Moonstones. Earn Sunstones along the way for winning Arena battles. Note that you must play at least 10 battles each season before you can qualify for season end prizes.

From best to worst, these are the Arena Tiers:

* Provenant (Ranks 1-5)
* Champion (Ranks 1-5)
* Platinum (Ranks 1-5)
* Gold (Ranks 1-5)
* Silver (Ranks 1-5)
* Bronze (Ranks 1-5)
* Beginner (Ranks 1-5)

**RANKED**

Test out your latest decks against the intelligence of real players in a safe setting. Unranked Arena battles don’t cost any Bravery so you can continue to hone your strategies without restriction. You won’t lose any ranking here but you won’t gain any either. Think of Unranked battles as a “Practice Mode.”

**DIRECT (Coming Soon)**

Search for your friends and battle against them in unranked matches. Claim bragging rights with UPPER HAND moments and crushing dominance or just show off your favorite decks. We’re taking the necessary time to build this feature properly so please bear with us a little longer.