My Take on Axie Infinity Battles V.2

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𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿:

This was prepared or accomplished by GREATGEAR in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the Developers, Moderators, or anyone involved in Axie Infinity the block-chain game.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Battles V.2 (Version 2) for those who don’t know is going to be an upgrade to the current battle system that we currently have in the game. Since the game is still in its very early stage, in fact, it’s still in Alpha stage despite being launched last March 2018 (3 years+), the current battle system isn’t as perfect as we all expected. The game had gone through multiple phases of changes to balance out certain skills (cards) which seemed to outperform or outshine other cards that exist. The end results however, don’t seem to align with what the Developers have imagined or foresee. As the top PVP players discover new sets of card combinations and compositions, the META always somehow shifts and revolves towards what they have created. With the Battles V.2, I think the Developers are trying to flesh out the core mechanics of how Axie Infinity is being played.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁?

The Battles V.1 whilst being highly enjoyable for some people, it is also equally infuriating to others, especially with certain mechanics of the game that is totally out of the player’s control. With this Version 2 of Battle system, the players will have be able to control the level of risk and reward or as we like to say in the business, it has a lot of “𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆”. Whilst you can somehow do that in Batltes V.1 by choosing an Axie with higher Morale to control the Critical rate of your moves, it is still highly dependent on luck. A prime example of what we could expect for Battles V.2 that would completely revamp how “𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹” system work is the “𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗲” mechanic. As of this writing, I have no complete information as to how Rage mechanic would work, but we can assume that it is a type of mechanic that would be triggered or can be activated once an Axie receives certain amount of damage hitting a threshold. With this revamp, players will now have the full control or expect when that certain mechanic would proc. With Battles V.2, we would be expecting a much more TCG (Trading Card Game) battle style than what we currently have right now. There’s a ton of reasons why you should be excited about Battles V.2, for this time, it would involve a lot more strategy, planning, deck construction analysis, and studying. Definitely my cup of tea since I have been an avid fan and a former Yugioh / MTG / Vanguard player and deck builder myself.

𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

With Battles V.2’s initial teaser images, I’m getting a strong vibe of Slay the Spire, bits of Heartstone, and some of Yugioh’s gameplay elements. Battles V.2 will offer so much more than what we currently have in the game. Obvious changes now shows what type of cards you have, for example, Direct Damaging cars are now labeled as:

“𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸” cards, which I assume are the type of cards which can deal damage the moment you use it and provides effect(s) based on the card’s description. We can also attack all enemies with a single card.

“𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹” cards on the other hand, provides utility to your team. A noticeable change here is that Targeting option will be added into the game.

“𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁” cards can be queued and used on allies (there could also be secret cards that could target foes) where the effects would activate when certain conditions are met.

“𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿” cards are also a type of utility cards OR it could be some sort of “𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱” type of card that persists throughout the game once played (unless it is destroyed by another type of card) could buff your team or specific Axie you have.

𝙀𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙 #1:

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Buzz Buzz

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁: Back

𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁: 1 Energy

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Attack

𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲: 25

𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Deal 25 DMG to ALL Enemies. Shuffle 1 Dazed into your opponent’s discard pile.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

The damage of this card is almost negligible at 25 Damage, but notice that it now deals damage to ALL enemies instead of the one in front of you (default on Battles V.1). Also, take note of a new effect “𝗦𝗵𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗲 𝟭 𝗗𝗮𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗲”. This screams that a deck manipulation mechanic will be added into Battles V.2 (I’m extremely pumped and excited about this one). As someone who has a long time rival who uses Dark World Deck (though this one utilizes graveyard discards) and other deck with similar or related mechanic in Yugioh would totally understand how annoying having a “Joker” card added into your discard pile. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗱. I would imagine how this would be highly annoying to some players who would face such “Archetype”. Imagine drawing 3 “Dazed” cards in a single turn. That would mean a stalemate for the receiving player.

𝙀𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙 #2:

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Sakura

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁: Ear

𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁: 2 Energy

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Power

𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲: -N/A

𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Whenever you play a card this battle, heal this Axie 8 HP.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

Ears and Eyes will now have corresponding cards and we are lucky to have a teaser that shows one card from Ears body type, and that is “Sakura”. As you can see, it is a Power type card which I am guessing, a type of card that once played, effects of it would persist throughout the whole match or until destroyed/replaced. Normally in Battles V.1, a deck is composed of 24 cards, but with V.2, I am expecting all 6 body parts of an Axie would have a corresponding card, so the number of total cards in a deck might change. Now, imagine playing Sakura card at turn 1, then you play 10 cards within 2–3 turns. That would mean, your Axie who uses Sakura card would 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝟴𝟬 𝗛𝗣. For reference, an example of an extremely high damaging card that I saw was called “𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗼” (Plant) 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝟭𝟰𝟱 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟮 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 (𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁), that would mean, you would be 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟱𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 with just playing your cards like you would normally.

𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹:

As mentioned by the Developers over and over again, Axies will be used as “𝗦𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲” in order to further enhance Axies of your choice. It could be your main team for PVP that you would like to upgrade, but it is implied with the images that I have that the “𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀” or cards of those Axies could be 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱, so I assume those sacrifices would directly be converted into some sort of “Skill Points” which you can then allocate to any skill of your choice. This is purely speculations based on the source material that we have.

𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻:

Staying true to TCG genre, Energy Coin will now be a new thing to Axie Infinity. Normally, it is given to the player who goes Second in terms of turn order. In other games, this grants bonus Energy once used. Let’s see how this will be described in the game for Battles V.2.

𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺?:

Another feature that I’ve noticed is that each Axie will have a rune slot which we are deprived of any info yet. More onto that once we get news or updates.

𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:

Excess Energy could be used to make certain commands outside to those skills or cards of your Axies. Things like:

Spend 1 Energy to Draw 1 Card (can be used once per turn)

Spend 2 Energy to Discard 1 card and pick one of the top 3 cards from your deck then reshuffle your deck (once per turn)

Spend x amount of Energy to do this or that, you get the idea.

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘅:

It is expected that the cessation of Battles V.1 would bring tears to avid fans of the current gameplay, and would bring birth to a new era of Trading Card Game on Blockchain with some of the most exciting features for true hardcore TCG fans and new players alike who are willing to spend the time to learn how these mechanics would work. Ultimately, this is a game, it is meant to be enjoyed, just like any other games, it’s just a bonus that this one exists on the blockchain and is now the reigning NFT game which we could claim to be the centerpiece of the NFT-gaming world.

I hope you guys and gals had a good read. This has been “GREATGEAR”, and see you guys in-game. :)

~JAMS