DC Reshuffled - What We Know About the DC Card Game

Article by Adam Ray

For anyone clued up on the online card game scene, like I am, knows just how well Marvel Snap has been doing. The game has continued to draw in all kinds of players and has been going from strength to strength. It's a game I play most days, and deeply enjoy, but I always wonder "where's DC's digital card game?"

Once again, Leo Dicaprio has reached into my sleeping brain and pulled out my fully formed idea for a DC card game and sold it to Warner Bros Games and CCG Labs Inc.

DC Dual Force

DC have put their best characters first in a card game with a polished look, familiar and new mechanics in the genre, and the stunning art work of Jim Lee and some of DCs biggest talents.

We've seen iconic heroes and villains as the possible Leaders of our decks, been given a glimpse of the deck building rules and the fundamentals of gameplay, and the unique rewards for an implied progression system.

So, what do we know so far?

Card Justice

Before you even dare fire up a game of Dual Force, you need your deck. Building decks is half the joy of card games. When you build your deck in this game, you choose which two Leader cards are going to represent you. Stick to the world's finest with Batman and Superman, or get evil with the Joker and Lex Luthor. Put an odd couple together like Aquaman and Harley Quinn or Batgirl and Doomsday, the choices are endless.

Each Leader is part of one of the five factions: Might, Energy, Tactics, Anarchy, Sinister. The Leaders you're using decide which faction's can be in your deck. Playing Batman and Superman gives you the best of Tactics and Might but their biggest villains are all Sinister Anarchy. I'd imagine that you get the strengths of both factions and mitigate their downsides by mixing rather than being on a consistent, one faction deck.

In your deck, there are two other kinds of cards: Recruits and Actions. Recruits are your fighting force, usually allies you'd expect to fight alongside the Leaders you've chosen. They have a power and health stat, and they're who you use to attack down your opposition's Recruits and Leaders to get that win. The other big card type are actions, and they usually provide a one time effect that's usually good for you or messes with your opponent.

Now knowing all these card types is great, but how do we play them? Cards aren't just gonna go flying out of our hands, costs must be paid. This isn't Yu-Gi-Oh.

Cards are either Free, Bronze, Silver, or Gold. You and your opponent start the game with a Bronze resource. You can use that Bronze cost cards. The next turn, you get a second Bronze. On turn three one of them becomes Silver to pay for Silver or Bronze cards. Then it becomes two silver, then finally one silver and one card. The power of your cards only goes up then, but remember to have a good spread of cards at all costs when building your deck.

Plays of the Game

When launching a new digital card game, the modes that you can play are what can really make or break the game. As most games start, they usually add more modes like Historic on Magic Arena or Conquest in Marvel Snap. Sometimes modes come and go like my sorely missed Expedition in Legends of Runeterra.

DC Dual Force has made a very strong effort to implement a fun and flavourful Player vs Engine mode. The game looks to be recreating iconic comics through gameplay and it'll make for an exciting way to play.

The player vs player mode looks to be the most competitive and compelling way to gain more cards and grow a possible ranking.

You can find me playing DC Dual Force and many other online card games on Twitch and my upcoming YouTube channel.