How to play guide for Gods Unchained

## Navigating the Gods Unchained Game Interface

After you have downloaded and installed the beta, open the game to access the main game interface.

There are several main tabs at the top of the main game interface when you first open Gods Unchained:

#Arena
#Temple
#Inventory
#Workshop
#Store
### Arena

The Arena is where you decide what game type you want to play and begin a gameplay session. Select your game type (and a deck as needed) and click **Start** to begin the session.

**Note:** Before you start a gameplay session from the arena, it is recommended that you first build a deck using the Workshop.

There are five main game types:

* Solo (play against an AI)

This is useful if you're first learning the game or you want to understand how to play against certain types of decks. Before starting this game type, you must select your deck (the top deck in the UI) and your AI opponent's deck (the bottom deck in the UI).
* Rank Constructed

This is the main competitive (ranked) game. You must select your deck before starting this game.
* Constructed

This is an unranked match type. You must select your deck before starting this game type.
* Quick Sealed

Receive 50 random cards, from which you build a deck of 30 based off of the cards you are given, then play.
* Quick Draft

Draft cards for building your deck, then play.

### Temple

The Temple allows you to open packs and reveal new cards. Select a tome and put the tome in the center and it will unlock your cards. Click on each card to see what you have unlocked.

### Inventory

The Inventory enables you to look at your card collection, and contains a number of options for filtering your cards for decision making.

### Workshop

The Workshop enables you to build your deck from your card collection. You can group your card set by an individual God or view sets for multiple/all Gods. Click Create a Deck to create a new deck, and select which God you want to create a deck for. There are 6 main gods in Gods unchained which generally fall into three playstyles, Aggro, Control, and Combo. Aggro playstyles like to deal damage early and often. Control playstyles try to control the tempo early to make a late game push when an opponent runs out of options. Combo playstyles like to rely on combinations of cards to be most effective.

Here are the Gods (with primary playstyles):

* Death (Malissus) - this is a necromancer type of God with the power to resurrect creatures from the Void (Aggro)
* Deception (Ludia) - ability to lay traps and steal cards from decks (Combo)
* Light (Thaeriel) - this is a paladin-style God that primarily buffs and heals units. (Control)
* Magic (Elyrian) - spell-wielder (Combo)
* Nature (Aeona) - summons creatures and can heal them (Control)
* War (Auros) - aggressive god that buffs abilities to damage (Aggro)

**Note:** This does not mean that a god which is typically played aggro cannot play a more control-oriented game, and vice-versa.

After you select which God you want to create a deck for, click the Group by God icon to see which cards are specific to the God you want to use. (De-select 'Show Unknown' so you can see which cards you own.) When building your deck, note that you can only select up to 2 of the same card in a given deck, with the exception that you are only allowed 1 of the same legendary card per deck. In general you will want your deck to include lower mana cards to allow for early game, along with higher mana cards for a late game strategy.

The meta for a given God will vary over time.

For a guide to building your first deck, see: Introduction to Deck Building.

For additional information about current popular meta for Gods Unchained, see https://gudecks.com/meta.

### Store

The game comes with Core cards that allow you to play without making a purchase. However, the Store tab enables you to buy additional cards for use in the game, called Genesis cards. As of this writing, you can currently only buy Genesis cards. The store accepts Ethereum by default, however if you want to purchase decks with a credit card, you can go to a third party site (https://niftygateway.com/#/godsunchained) and purchase packs with credit cards. If you are planning to purchase Genesis cards, in general, it is considered an optimal strategy to buy Rare packs to start. It is never recommended to buy Epic packs, and Legendary packs are only optimal if you want to add Legendary cards to your deck (AFTER you have bought Rare packs). For more information about the strategy for purchasing packs, see: https://medium.com/@gu.packs.contact/a-guide-to-card-packs-in-gods-unchained-6eead65af8c2. For more information about obtaining Genesis cards, see #Obtaining Genesis Cards.

You can also use the Store tab to vote on improvements you would like to see in the game.

### Forge

You can use the Forge to "fuse" cards. Fusing cards raises their quality. For example, you could fuse five gold cards to make a diamond card.

Fusing of cards is cosmetic only. It is generally not recommended to fuse your cards as of the writing of this page. While Core cards can be fused, currently Genesis cards cannot be fused, however the developers might plan to make this possible in the future.

For more information about fusing, see https://blog.godsunchained.com/2019/09/23/the-fusing-beta-has-arrived/.

## Basic Gameplay

After your deck is ready and you are ready to start the game, do the following:

1. Pick a God Power from the list to use during the game and click **Confirm**.
2. Pick cards to replace for your starting hand (mulligan). Because you do not have much mana in the early game, it is recommended that you mulligan any cards that require a lot of mana (generally 4 or more mana) and then click **Confirm**.

You are then taken to the main game board. Each player's God starts with 30 health and 1 mana, and cards that they can play for their turn. You will start with cards from your deck along with a Small Bag of Tricks which you can use to add 1 mana for a given turn.

In the bottom right-hand corner of your game screen is your mana. You start the game with 1 mana, therefore in general it is recommended that you begin the game with lower mana cards. Each successive turn unlocks 1 mana for use on the board until your 5th turn, at which point the next two turns unlocks a 6th mana, the next two turns unlock a 7th mana, 3 more turns unlock an 8th mana, and finally four turns unlocks the 9th mana.

You can do the following on your turn:

* use mana to play cards (creature, spell, or relic)
* use your selected god power (once per turn)
* use your god's ultimate power (once per game)

When you are done with your turn, click the arrow on the right side of the board to flip the turn to your opponent's move.

### Playing cards

After the game starts, you can see the cards you drew. Cards have different types of properties. Cards can be creatures, spells, or relics (weapons). There are three main properties to a card besides any special abilities the cards have:

* Mana - All cards require mana. The amount of mana needed to play a card is displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the card. The gem color of the mana property is dependent on the god as follows:

Neutral (any god) = grey
Death = cyan
Deception = purple
Light = yellow
Nature = green
Magic = blue
War = red
* Attack - this property is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the card (yellow gem).
* Health/Durability - this is displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the card (green gem for health, a shield for durability).

After a creature card is on the board and playable, you can use the card to target other creatures on the board. You might find that some targets cannot be selected, if for example, an enemy creature with frontline is on the board. You can also play a special card, such as a spell or relic card.

The maximum number of cards you can have in hand is 9. If you run out of cards to draw, you will begin lose mana per turn equal to 10 minus the number of cards left in your hand. If you run out of mana, you lose the game.

#### Creature Cards

When you first play a creature card, most creatures cannot attack immediately. For exceptions, see #Special Card Abilities. Creatures that are destroyed (health to 0) typically go into the Void, the card graveyard. Soulless creatures do not go into the Void but are completely destroyed (obliterated) upon death. Some God abilities or cards allow you to bring cards back from the Void. For example, the Goddess of Death has the ability to resurrect cards, thereby pulling them out of the Void (provided the card was not obliterated).

The maximum number of creatures you can have in your drawn set of cards at any time is 6.

#### Spell or Relic Cards

Cards which do not have attack or health shown are spells or relics. When a spell is played, its effect activates immediately. Relics are specials, such as weapons equipped by your God when the card is played. A weapon relic would allow your god to attack dealing the Attack damage shown on the card (until the relic's Durability is reduced to zero and it breaks).

#### Special Card Abilities

Some cards have special abilities. The following are some of the special capabilities that cards can have:

* Frontline: a creature with Frontline serves as a shield, in which the Frontline creature must be hit first
* Flank: a creature with this capability can ignore frontline creatures and attack (with exceptions)
* Burn: a creature who is under the burn spell loses a certain amount of damage at the end of a player's turn
* Twin Strike: a creature with twin strike can attack a second time on a second creature
* Blitz: creatures with this ability can strike immediately without waiting a turn
* Roar: when this card is played, the special affects of the roar take place immediately upon placement
* Afterlife: when the creature dies, the special affects on the card take place upon death
* Soulless: soulless creatures do not enter the void (card graveyard) but are completely obliterated upon death
* Sleep: a sleeped creature cannot attack for that turn
* Protected: a protected creature can take a hit without taking any damage
* Copy: an exact copy of the creature on board, including its stats/buffs at time of copy, is made
* Deadly: a creature with Deadly will automatically kill another creature if it does any damage to the creature

### More Information on Gameplay

For more information about the basic gameplay, see https://godsunchained.com/info/tutorial/basics.
For more information about more advanced gameplay, see https://godsunchained.com/info/tutorial/advanced.

## Obtaining Genesis Cards

If you want to buy packs of Genesis cards, you can do so from either of the following web sites:

* https://godsunchained.com/buy-cards (if you have Ethereum with Metamask for payment)
* https://niftygateway.com/#/godsunchained (if you want to purchase cards from a third party web site using a credit card)

The cards on Gods Unchained are sellable tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This means that (once this feature is activated) you will be able to buy and sell cards in the game, and the transactions are conducted on the blockchain. Each individual card created is a unique token. Currently the plan is to activate only Genesis cards (on October 29, 2019), but in the future your Core cards will likewise be made available for transactions.

If you buy packs of cards with Ethereum, cards are sent to the Ethereum address of the Metamask account you use to purchase them. You can then link your Gods Unchained account to the Ethereum wallet you used. If you choose to buy packs of cards with a credit card, in order to receive your cards and link them to your account, you will need an Ethereum address (wallet) to receive the cards. Metamask, a Chrome and Brave browser extension, makes this process very easy. To get Metamask, you can go to the Chrome web store (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en) and search for and install Metamask (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/metamask/nkbihfbeogaeaoehlefnkodbefgpgknn?hl=en).

After you have installed Metamask, you must create a new account. Each account is associated with a public Ethereum address. It is this address that you will want to have the cards sent to.

**Tip**: Each Ethereum address also has a private key, which is for your own personal use and should not be given to anyone. If anyone obtains your private key, they own your wallet and can use the key to empty your account including all your cards. Do NOT give your private key out.

## See also

* Release date
* System requirements