Best Blockchain Trading Card Games 2020
UPDATED MAY 2020
- Decentralized collectible card games are built on blockchain technology with play to earn mechanics, which means, players are now rewarded for their play time.
- Blockchain technology introduced the concepts of true digital scarcity and complete transparency, players can now own their digital assets.
- 100% Card ownership let players sell or trade their cards for cryptocurrencies.
Gods Unchained
Gods Unchained is a blockchain trading card game that takes some of the best features from Hearthston. It allows you to earn cards and trinkets, which you can then sell on the marketplace.
- Beautiful art and design.
- fun and engaging, Hearthstone style gameplay.
- Pupular. Easy to find a match
- Play for free, earn collectible cards, and sell your cards for Ethereum.
Read Review
Splinterlands
Splinterlands previously known as steem monsters is an original crypto collectible card game with a focus on deck building. Match is automated
- Fast pace, original gameplay.
- Cross platform compatibility with ETH,TRX, and STEEM.
- Popular. Quick to find a match
- Earn Cryptocurrency rewards from Tournaments, Ranked play, and Quests.
Read Review
Crypto Spells
Crypto Spells is a fast pace blockchain trading card game. Game mechanics is somewhat similar to Hearthstone. Blockchain features include earning of Ethereum based in-game tokens (SPL) and tickets which will let you mine cards.
- Mobile platform support.
- Very popular in Japan, available in English.
- Asset integration with My Crypto Heroes.
- Play for free, earn cards and sell them for ETH on the marketplace.
Contract Servant
Contract Server is a blockchain turn based strategy RPG trading card game. Cards are placed on a grid and conduct a turn based battle. Attack ranges are determined by the card’s statistics and class.
- Original gameplay, tactical RPG based gameplay
- Anime art design.
- Popular in Japan.
- Play for free, earn cards, and sell them for ETH
Relentless TCG
Relentless is a zombie themed strategy trading card game on the LOOM blockchain.
- Zombies theme art design.
- Mobile support.
- Fun, Hearthstone style gameplay.
- Earn free cards in PVP gameplay, then trade or sell cards on the marketplace.
Mythereum
Mythereum was the first playable trading card crypto game on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Original and challenging gameplay
- Play for Free with survivor edition cards
Read Review
Upcoming And Early Access
Skyweaver
Dark Country
Kingdom Karnage
Spirit Clash
Ether Legends
Gods Unchained
Probably the most mature and refined TCG in the blockchain gaming space. Gods unchained gameplay can easily compare to popular games like Hearthstone and magic the gathering in graphics and gaming experience.
The game mechanics are very similar to Hearthstone, but the game introduces a unique mana lock system where mana unlock criteria increases as the game progress. This different approach creates new deck-building opportunities and creates a better game flow. Check out our Gods unchained Review for more details on the gameplay.
With the latest play to earn fusing system, players can earn free cards (non NFT) just by playing, fuse them to create blockchain NFT assets, and later sell them on the marketplace for Ethereum.
The game is entirely free, but to achieve higher ranks faster, players can purchase base and limited edition cards from other players.
The cards are Ethereum based non-fungible tokens (NFT) stored in your Ethereum wallet. If you believe that Gods Unchained will become popular like Hearthstone or Magic the Gathering in the future, then demand for limited edition cards will increase.
Gods Unchained is an example of a real game where the benefits of blockchain and item ownership translates to an existing genre. The game is undergoing steady development and is our top collectible card game pick. There is currently no mobile version for Gods unchained.
Splinterlands
Splinterlands, previously known as Steem monsters, is a fast-paced TCG with a focus on deck building. It is very popular and has a large userbase. The game is available both on Mobile and PC.
The main focus of the game is to choose the best set of cards according to the battle parameters and strategically place them on the battlefield. Cards have stats and abilities that come into effect in the battle.
Unlike Gods unchained, the battles in Splinterlands are fully automated. Once your cards are placed on the battlefield and submitted, both players can watch the battle’s outcome. The winner will gain crypto rewards and raise in rank.
You can sell your cards and in-game currency (DEC) for TRX and STEEM. To start playing the game has a one time cost of $10.
Splinterlands is addictive and fun to play. The developers are active and are steadily adding new features to it.
Crypto Spells
Crypto spells is a trading card game that is available for mobile devices and PC. The game integrates with the popular Japanese game, My Crypto Heroes, which means some cards and heroes can be used in both games, a feature unique to blockchain gaming. The game is fully translated into English and is playable in both English and Japanese.
The gameplay is very similar to Hearthstone, it shares the same mana system, but the pace is faster.
Winning battles will let you earn mining lottery tickets that can be used to mine cards. Most of the time, you will mine bronze cards that are not on the blockchain. If you are lucky, you will mine silver cards, which are valuable Ethereum NFTs.
You can sell your bronze cards in the market for in-game currency (SPL), just head to the market and choose SPL and then sell the bronze menu. With enough SPL, you can then purchase the valuable NFT cards.
Crypto spells is a fun game with well-designed cards. The game is not as polished as Gods Unchained and uses a web browser instead of a software client. This can also be an advantage as you will not need updates and patches.
The gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. It comes with advanced community features such as joining guilds and earning as a community. It is also well maintained with new features and cards coming out on regular basis.
Crypto spells promotion code for free bronze cards: FUx5
Contract Servant
Contract Servant is a turn-based tactical RPG trading card game. The gameplay is very different from Gods Unchained and Crypto spells. Game mechanics are not based on Hearthstone and MTG. Its battle system is somewhat unique.
Cards are positioned on a 3×5 grid, and each card has a specific role and attack range. You can choose to place attackers, healers, magicians, and defenders from your deck of cards to the grid. Once the battle starts, each card (servant) will act according to its stats.
The battle itself is fully automated. Your main challenge is to choose your cards and place them wisely on the battlefield.
There is a single-player tower mode that will act as a tutorial and ease you through the game and a PVP battle mode where players choose their best decks to battle each other.
For every battle, you will earn rewards that will allow you to contract and upgrade new servants. The free common servants are not NFTs. They are good for playing but do not hold NFT value.
After checking with the community, I found that you can sometimes earn blockchain NFTs through free play once you reach higher ranks.
You can buy NFT servants in the market, which will open up ways to earn cryptocurrencies by trading and dividends.
Overall, Contract servant is a refreshing change from the usual TCGs. It provides challenging gameplay and beautiful anime graphics.
Relentless TCG
Relentless is a strategy blockchain TCG on the loom network, with very similar to Hearthstone with a zombie apocalypse theme instead of warcraft.
Relentless is playable on mobile devices and on the PC. Unlike other games on the list, relentless is available on the Steam platform. It features unique cards and abilities and six factions to choose from.
The game is free to play and you can earn cards by winning PVP matches.
Mythereum
Mythereum was the first playable trading card crypto game on the Ethereum blockchain. It has original gameplay that is different from the above games.
Each player is dealt five cards. The card on the battlefield is your leader. You can choose to replace the leader with any of the cards in your hand. At the end of your turn, your leader card attacks the other player’s leader card. A leader that wins the battle removes the losing card from the game and deals any excess damage to the player
Each card has an attack, defense, and special abilities stats that affect the outcome of the battle.
Besides battling, the game has other activities and functions that add value to the gameplay and let you earn crypto.
You can build mines that produce a daily in-game currency (Mythex). To upgrade the mines, you will need resources that can be gained by participating in PVP and single-player matches.
Overall an interesting game, but unfortunatly as of 2020 userbase is very low, and the game is rarely updated.
Upcoming games
These are games that are currently in early access stage and are playable only by request. They offer edition cards which you can now buy and hope for price appreciation when the game launches.
Skyweaver
SkyWeaver is a cross-platform browser-based game TCG crypto game built on the Ethereum network where you can compete in PVP battles, win cards and rank up
Kingdom Karnage
Kingdom Karnage is an animated turn-based Trading Card Game powered by the Enjin Blockchain.
Spirit clash
Spirit Clash is a digital card collectible blockchain game powered by Enjin.
Dark country
Dark country will support multiple blockchains with an American gothic theme
Ether legends
Ether Legends is a TCG on the Ethereum blockchain. It will ofer both Crypto collectibles and physical cards that are registered on the blockchain.
What are Digital Collectible Card Games?
A digital or collectible trading card game (DCCG) is an online computer or video game that imitates physical trading card games (CCG). In many cases, the cards do not use the traditional card images at all but use symbols or avatars instead. Originally, DCCGs were the source of replication of their physical CCG counterparts, but many of them gave up a physical version and stated to distribute exclusively as video games like Hearthstone.
These games fulfill all the rules of a CCG. For example, tracking the health of the avatar, removing damaged creatures from the game board, and possibly brewing decks. Servers manage the game functions and maintain the player’s library. Allowing players to buy additional boosters add-ons, and cards packs through either gameplay or real money.
From CCG to DCCG
The first DCCG games appeared in the late 1990s. The first examples of DCCG games include Magic: The Gathering (1997), Chron X (1997), The Pokemon Trading Card Game (1998), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (1998) and Sanctum (1998). Magic: The Collective and Pokémon Trading Card Games are digital versions of their physical counterparts from the CCG. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is a digital version of the CCG fiction from the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (1996). Sanctum was an original DCCG game with no physical counterpart to the CCGs.
CCGs were later designed exclusively for computer games and are not based on physical products. The first online CCGs were Sanctum and Chron X. They were both developed in 1997. Sanctum was taken offline in 2010, but since then has returned thanks to public intervention. Chron X still exists and produces new enhancements more than ten years later. Furthermore, Chron X itself was developed by Genetic Anomalies, Inc. Which then went forward to develop other DCCG games based on licensed content.
Modern DCCG
In 2014, Blizzard Entertainment launched Hearthstone. Inspired by the CGC World of Warcraft, Hearthstone offers a personal match between players with custom decks created from a player’s digital collection. The game is designed to speed up the game and allow it to be used on different devices. In 2015, Hearthstone had estimated sales of $ 20 million per month, and in April 2016, it counted more than 50 million single players. The success of Hearthstone has led to a series of digital CCGs in the following years. Wizards of the Coast announced in early 2017 the intention to build a new studio to turn the game Magic: The Gathering, into a digital format similar to Hearthstone. It was released under the title Magic: The Gathering Arena entered in early 2018 as a closed beta test.
What is the difference between CCG and TCG?
“CCG” is a “collectible card game” Where “TCG” stands for “trading card game” The main difference between them is the added value of trading in TCGs.
Games that employ the TCG model allow players to trade cards, which enables them to take part in an economy and exchange their collectible cards for money or other cards. In the past, the TCG model only worked well with physical cards. Magic The Gathering card value appreciated as the cards became more scarce.
With the introduction of blockchain technology similar model can now be applied to Digital cards.
Moving forward to blockchain trading card games
With blockchain getting more popular implementation over the last 5 years, it was only natural that the TCG genre will get a crypto game adaptation. Most games are using the ERC-20 tokens that can be used to purchase cards in-game items and enter tournaments. In addition, blockchain TCGs offer characteristics of the offline CCG’s as they simulate elements such as cards uniqueness and transparency. Features that only the CCG’s use to offer. These Crypto games make trading of cards seamless, allowing players to earn major currencies such as Bitcoin, Etherium, EOS, and more.In most cases, you can start by playing these free blockchain games using only your browser as the game engine.
Currently, Gods Unchained is the most mature and popular blockchain TCG. The game generated more than $ 4,000,000 in sales, with 10% of all sales going to tournament prize pools. With more and more game studios noticing the potential of crypto games for the TCG type, it seems that this game genre is going to be at the forefront of the blockchain games industry in the coming years.