Manacaster

Manacaster is a card battler in which you build decks of monsters and magic spells, then use them to defeat opponents. You can explore a city map in Adventure mode, practice against AI, or play against another person in PVP. Its modes support solo, casual and competitive play.

Cards and deckbuilding

Decks contain 50 unique cards with no duplicates, chosen from a pool of 800 cards. You can build a deck yourself, choose a pre-made deck designed to teach the game and demonstrate card synergies, or use Draft Mode. In Draft Mode, you choose from 14 bundles of 9 cards to build a deck against AI; in multiplayer drafts, you also deny your opponent cards they need, using a modified snake-draft sequence. You can burn cards to spite your opponent and receive a random reward.

In Constructed Mode, you select 50 Units and/or Actions and 13 Mana cards. Both Constructed and Draft support ladder play. Ranked ladder mode is available for players using their own decks.

Battle rules

Card power and mana costs are calibrated using a mathematical algorithm. When the game balance changes, adjustments apply to the underlying abilities rather than to the cards themselves. Rules and keywords include Rally, Focus, Twinstrike and Heavy.

Life points function as a resource: you can spend them to unlock special abilities or reduce the mana cost of Action cards. Each turn, you choose a mana card from a separate mana deck. Single-color mana cards are available immediately; dual-color cards enter tapped unless you pay 1 life, and triple-color cards enter tapped unless you pay 2 life.

At the start of a game, you receive 14 cards from your 50-card deck and choose 7 for your opening hand. You can keep 8 cards instead, and you always begin with at least 7 cards.

Game modes

Adventure mode takes you through a city map. Choose one of six Elemental nodes to start, facing an opponent drawn from a pool of decks matching that node’s Element. After defeating your first Elemental node, you can advance to more difficult Hybrid nodes, each representing a fusion of two Elements. The inner ring is harder than the pure Elemental nodes, while the significantly harder outer ring offers a chance to unlock the best Equipment. To unlock a Hybrid Level 2 node, you must first clear its associated Level 1 node. After defeating your first Hybrid Level 2 node, you can enter other Hybrid Level 2 nodes directly, bypassing their Level 1 nodes.

You can practice against AI with a pre-made deck or build your own. The AI is designed to play a range of opponent types and is challenging but not unbeatable.

In PVP, you challenge another player. All tournament-legal cards are unlocked in this mode, with no need to grind for them.

Choose a deck format

In most modes, you can choose between Constructed and Draft deckbuilding. Your opponent uses the same method, and rewards for some activities, including Elemental nodes, may vary according to your choice.