Synergy of Serra moves into an open alpha phase, allowing anyone to download and play the alpha for their unique take on the TCG genre. Officially, this version is a ‘proto-alpha’, so it’s still pretty rough around the edges. But the game is playable, and it has a very interesting take on the deck building aspect of trading card games!
The trading card genre of games is not new. And even web3 enabled TCG games are no longer new either. But as the scene becomes increasingly crowded, developers try to find ways to make their game different from the others. And Synergy of Serra does that with some rather unique features!
Synergy of Serra has been in alpha testing for a while. But now they open the game up to anyone and everyone — no keys required! You can download the game from the Synergy of Serra website and start playing right now!
There are no rewards for playing in the proto-alpha. Though this open alpha does offer a chance to try out a new game, and also to give your personal feedback and suggestions to the team!
How to Play Synergy of Serra
In Synergy of Serra, both players start off with a small, basic, starter deck of ten cards. In addition, each player brings a ‘suitcase’ to the game. Each suitcase contains 100 cards chosen by the player beforehand. When the game starts, the contents of both suitcases are dumped into a shared card pool. Throughout the game, players take cards from the pool to add to their discard pile. This not only evens the playing field, but it also creates room for strategic deckbuilding and tweaking decisions while playing a match!
The basic card types are Units, Attachments, and Power cards. Attachments go onto units, and Power cards are the ‘spells’ for the game. Synergy of Serra actually has a pretty decent in-game explanation of the game mechanics and keywords. Some interesting features included in the game are cards that get stronger the more they are played, and the fact that when your deck runs out of cards then you just reshuffle your graveyard and start again!
Another twist in this game is that players have no mana / energy / whatever. Instead, players are free to play any and all cards from their hand. Every turn! Any cards not played are discarded, and the player draws a new hand of five cards to begin their turn.
This makes for some quick, action-packed gameplay. Players also gain Faction Points as the game progresses. Faction Points are used to power-up associated unit cards.
As I mentioned earlier, the game is still pretty rough in regards to user interface. For instance, there are no sounds or animations in the game yet. And without these it makes it a little hard to keep up with what’s happening on your opponent’s turn (I never realized how important sounds can be to a TCG!) But the team has been releasing regular updates and fixes to the game, so I imagine this sort of polish will arrive soon as well.
To learn more about Synergy of Serra, visit their website, follow them on Twitter, and join their Discord.
