Portentum

Portentum is an online deck-building auto battler where you assemble a warband of legendary cryptids and send it into battles that play out automatically. Every battle is fought against a snapshot of another player’s warband, so an internet connection is required. Your decisions come before the first die is rolled: you draft creatures, build your deck and prepare your warband.

Cryptids and folklore

The cards bring together monsters from cultures around the world, including Mothman, Bigfoot, Nessie, the Chupacabra, the Yeti and the Kasai Rex. Each cryptid has hand-painted art and its own way of attacking the opposing side. Jimothy, a raccoon that walked down a Seattle street while seven million people watched, is also among the cryptids.

Build your deck

Before a run, you make a deck of 30 cryptids and mushrooms. Cryptid abilities can deal damage, heal, summon minions or affect dice, among other effects. They can trigger when dice are rolled, when an ally takes damage or when an enemy heals an ally, allowing for a range of combinations and strategies.

Shop and battle

At the shop, you receive a hand drawn from the deck selected for your run. You spend coins to play cards from your hand and build a warband, then send it into battle. Dice are rolled and abilities resolve automatically; battles continue until one warband remains. Win 10 rounds to complete a run, or lose five rounds and be eliminated.

Player-built opponents

When you send a warband into battle, the game saves a snapshot and adds it to the matchmaking pool. Each opponent comes from a warband another player built in the same round, with the same opportunities. Battles are against these player-created warbands, not bots.

Cards and progression

Playing earns card packs, which can provide cards for new decks. Every warband you build is saved and sent to fight other players, so your choices also shape the opponents that enter the pool. All cards can be earned through play. Card packs can be purchased with Gold earned by playing, and Arena Tickets can also be bought with Gold.

Music

The soundtrack accompanies the game with music described as eerie and unusual, in keeping with its cryptids.