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Genre: Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Card & Board Game

Artifact

The ArtiFAQ [Updated]


Q. What do I get when I buy Artifact?


Your purchase includes 10 card packs, 5 event tickets, and two complete starter decks. The two starter decks are Red/Green Brawler and and Blue/Black Control.

Q. What game modes are available at launch?


We've organized game modes into three categories: Social, Casual, and Expert.

Social Play includes user-organized tournaments, private lobbies, and the ability for open play. Open play enables you to create a freestanding invitation for players within a Steam community or your friends list to challenge you. Players will be notified that you're available for a game. Open play enables players to easily find matches within their own communities.

Casual Play includes bot-matches, global matchmaking, and the casual constructed Gauntlet. Bots own all cards, so you can make a deck for the bot using any card released for Artifact, not just the cards you own, making them great for practice and learning. Global matchmaking lets you quickly find a constructed match against another player. The casual constructed gauntlet gives you a way to play a deck against a series of increasingly challenging opponents. There will be other casual Gauntlets in the future.

Expert Play are a series of Gauntlets that offer prizes and greater risk vs reward.

We are also running a Call to Arms launch event where you will attempt to build the longest win streak you can with one of six powerful preconstructed decks.

Q. What is Constructed?


In constructed you play a deck built with cards you personally own. Constructed formats can have various conditions like "commons only." The typical constructed format allows for no duplicate heroes, a maximum of 3 copies of a card, a minimum of 9 item cards, and a minimum of 40 other cards. In a private lobby you can borrow a deck from your opponent that is made up of cards you do not own.

Sometimes a mode will be preconstructed meaning that you must pick from a set of decks specifically designed for that event.

Q. What is Draft?


In draft play you build a deck by picking your cards from a series of packs. You pick 60 cards and then build a deck from that limited pool. Draft tests your ability to properly evaluate card strength in a rapidly changing environment.

Q. What's in a card pack?


You receive 10 packs of cards with your initial purchase of the game. Each pack contains twelve random cards from the Call to Arms set, including one hero, two items, and at least one card of the highest rarity. Additional packs can be purchased for $1.99.

Q. What other ways can I get cards besides buying packs?


Players can buy and sell individual cards via the Community Market. Groups of cards can be bought and sold on the Marketplace in a single transaction using the in-game Collection interface. See this link for more information on the Market.

You can also earn packs by winning games in Expert Gauntlets.

Q. Will there be other ways to transfer ownership of cards besides the Community Market?


Not at launch.

Q. What is a Gauntlet?


Gauntlets challenge players to win a number of online matches before being knocked out due to losses. For example: "Win 5 games before you lose 2." Some Gauntlets reward tickets and packs as prizes based on how many wins you achieve. These prize-granting Gauntlets require event tickets to enter. There are also free Gauntlets that do not require entry fees.

We've designed the Gauntlet system to be highly modular. Each Gauntlet has an expiration date where it cycles, possibly changing formats, structure, or rules.

Q. What are Event Tickets?


Event Tickets are used to enter events that can reward prizes. Event Tickets are sold in bundles of five for $4.95. Artifact comes with 5 event tickets which you can use on any Gauntlets you choose, without restriction.

Q. What types of Gauntlets are available?


At launch the following Gauntlets will be available:

Casual Gauntlets (No Entry Fee)

  • Call to Arms Preconstructed - A special launch mode inspired by the event we ran at PAX. You will pick one of six powerful decks to play in a handcrafted metagame. In this mode you try to build the longest win streak you can before losing. You don't need to own any cards to play the decks in this mode.
  • Casual Constructed - A great step up from bot matches, test your favorite deck against increasingly powerful opponents.

Expert Gauntlets (Prizes + Entry Fee)

  • Expert Constructed - When you've mastered casual constructed you can play for prizes.
  • Phantom Draft - Build a deck by selecting cards from a series of packs. In Phantom Draft you do not keep the cards you pick.
  • Keeper Draft - A Draft Gauntlet where you keep the cards you pick.

At launch, all Gauntlets are win 5 before you lose 2, except for Call to Arms preconstructed which tasks you with winning as many games as you can before losing 1.

Gauntlets can also track achievements and progression. At launch, Gauntlets track the number of perfect runs you've had and we expect to add more achievements and progression mechanics to Gauntlets in the future. Call to Arms preconstructed tracks your longest win streak, instead.

Q. What are these prizes and entry fees you speak of?


At launch there will be the following prize structures:

1 Ticket Entry (Expert Constructed & Phantom Draft):

  • 3 Wins: 1 Event Ticket
  • 4 Wins: 1 Event Ticket, 1 Pack
  • 5 Wins: 1 Event Ticket, 2 Packs

2 Tickets + 5 Packs Entry (Keeper Draft):

  • 3 Wins: 2 Event Tickets, 1 Pack
  • 4 Wins: 2 Event Tickets, 2 Packs
  • 5 Wins: 2 Event Tickets, 3 Packs

The prizes listed aren't cumulative. So, for example, if you have a complete run of 5 wins in Phantom Draft, you'll pick up 1 Event Ticket and 2 Packs.

These structures aren't written in stone and might change in future Gauntlets.

Q. Why does Keeper Draft require 5 packs?


You keep the cards you draft in this mode, so you provide packs for the draft.

Q. How does matchmaking work in Gauntlets?


Your opponents are matched based on two criteria. You are matched against opponents with the same number of wins and then within that group you are loosely matched by your Match Making Rating (MMR). (Loosely means matched in very wide bands that will expose you to a variety of types of opponents.)

Q. Whoa, that's a lot of talk about entry fees... Remind me again what I can do for free?


Sure! We've written a lot about paid modes because they are complicated, not because they are the only or even the main way to play Artifact.

Bot matches are a way to playtest, improve your skills, or learn the basics without having to deal with a live opponent. The global matchmaking pool is a great way to test out new deck ideas or get familiar with new cards against real opponents. The free constructed gauntlet is a competitive mode where the opposition gets stronger the more you win. There's also the preconstructed Call to Arms event where you can play with powerful cards you don't own. We also expect to host a variety of other free, competitive gauntlets in the near future.

You can also invite anyone in your community to challenge you through open play and private lobbies.

One of the most interesting ways to play for free are user-created tournaments...

Q. What is a tournament?


A tournament is a type of event created by players, groups, or organizations. Tournaments are modular, with formats, duration, and structure all determined by the tournament host. Tournaments are a key feature in Artifact, and post launch we intend to make them even more configurable and flexible based on the needs of the community.

Q. Who can host a tournament? Who can join?


Anyone can host a tournament! When you create a tournament, you can choose to invite individual friends or share an open public invitation. At launch, user-created tournaments don't support prizes or entry fees.

Q. What types of custom tournaments can I make?


At launch, Swiss and single-elimination formats are supported in a huge variety of configurations. You can also choose what types of cards are allowed. For example, you can create a commons-only constructed tournament, or a tournament where all participants use the Call to Arms preconstructed theme decks. Tournaments can be short 4 player events completed in an evening or extended league-like marathons played over weeks.

Artifact Card Set and Deck Code APIs


We’re 19 short days from Artifact’s release, but already the community has been busy creating a variety of tools to support the game. Every time we see one of these community creations pop up, whether it’s a draft simulator or a deck builder or even a personality quiz, the Artifact team is blown away by your ingenuity, and the excitement is contagious.

We want to help.

In order to support the community’s efforts, today we’re opening some public APIs for those building tools. There are two components to this:

  • The CardSet WebAPI supports direct retrieval of all images and text for all cards as they are released.

  • The deck code API and source, viewable on GitHub, will make it easier for players and community sites to share deck codes. Any valid deck code can be pasted directly into the client or viewed online in our online deck viewer.

We hope the release of these APIs will not only empower tools creators, but will also make it easier for all players to share exciting new decks and theorycraft new ideas. The team is constantly inspired by the work done by the community, and we look forward to seeing what creations you unleash on the world, both on the 28th and in the years to come.

Richard Garfield on Upkeep Kills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCW_-t6KYJs
Upkeep kills are the most delicious of kills.

Not all hero kills are equal. Losing a hero in combat is generally the least painful way to lose a hero. Your hero delivered their combat damage, blocked damage, and was there the whole round – so contributed their presence to your ability to play cards and use their activated abilities. The death will result in your hero losing one turn of presence (the following turn) for the sometimes sizeable advantage of relocating. Of course a hero with quick redeploy doesn’t even suffer that – really losing such a hero is only about the 5 gold you lose to your opponent.

Losing a hero during the action phase of the turn starts to change the equation some. In any case this will cost your hero at the delivery of combat damage and the possibility of blocking damage. How relevant that cost is will depend a lot on the hero and the situation, but your hero is definitely losing more than just a single turn – they are losing 2 combat rounds. If this happens early in the round you will also may begin feeling the loss of opportunity that comes with the heroes presence during cardplay – you might not get the opportunity to play all the cards you want to or use all the abilities that hero comes with, or is granted by their equipment. This can start to feel a lot like losing a hero for an entire extra turn.

When you take this to the extreme you get a situation that players will often strive for – destroying the opposing hero before they get a chance to do anything. This involves making sure priority is possessed at the key moment – so the hero being destroyed doesn’t have the chance to enable one spell or special ability. This is very much like losing a hero for an entire additional turn.




The ultimate expression of this is the upkeep kill – a kill that stems from an effect that happens at the start of the round before any heroes have had a chance to act. Any card that gives the potential for an upkeep kill should be weighed as providing more value than it first may appear, at least to the untrained eye. An example of such a card is the March of the Machines, which is the include card for Tinker, a black hero. March of the Machines is an improvement that does 2 damage to the enemy tower and each enemy before the action phase, as long as it has charges (it begins with 3). With this improvement in the lane, if you can get enemy heroes low enough you can score an upkeep kill. You set this up during the action phase for that lane – or using cross lane damage from other lanes. Once your kill is in place you don’t even have to worry about getting priority to make the first move in the lane – you will effectively be scoring a double kill.

- Richard Garfield

The Artifact Preview Tournament
The Artifact Beta is coming soon and while we get everything polished, we're at the point where we're excited to share some previously unseen features.

On November 10-11, the Artifact Preview Tournament will feature 128 players competing over a prize pool of USD $10,000. Hosted by Beyond The Summit and broadcast on SteamTV, the all-draft event will feature a 7 round Swiss bracket on Saturday. A top 8 single elimination bracket will decide the winner on Sunday. Both days begin at 9AM PST.

The tournament will be run entirely through an in-client tournament system which will be available for everyone to use on launch day, November 28th.

Richard Garfield on Losing a Hero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvCr3w6CJGc Losing a hero might not be as bad as you think.

Many players immediately gravitate to red because the heroes are often huge and robust, and the feeling of losing a hero on the flop is so bad. Red is solid – but it doesn’t dominate – and that in itself indicates the penalty of hero death is probably overrated. The loss of a hero can hurt a lot; the temporary loss of the attack and block the hero provides, and the reduced flexibility in card play make it generally something to avoid. And then on top of that your opponent scores some gold for the kill.

To really understand the cost of a hero dying you have to understand how good it is to be able to redeploy your heroes. When your hero is destroyed they sit out a turn, and then they can be put into any lane. It is hard to overstate how important and powerful this ability is. In general you only have to win 2 lanes, and so focusing your power correctly is vital to success in Artifact – it could involve sending backup to a key lane, or dropping into a lane in which you want to slow your opponent. If you are playing a multicolor deck you generally can’t play all your cards in every lane – this will allow you to play cards of the appropriate color into the perfect lane. If your hero works well with allies you can guarantee they have some – either choosing a lane that you have population in, or deploying it with some creeps that are heading into a lane.

An example of the power of redeployment – the hero Necrophos with his Heartstopper Aura. This makes the hero deal 2 piercing damage to its enemy neighbors at the start of a turn in a lane. If you have this aura is active within a lane, dealing with it is sometimes not too bad, I just make sure my neighboring heroes have over 2 health so they don’t die on the outset of the next turn. When I destroy a hero with this aura, and it is ready to redeploy – I might find myself panicked because I have to make sure every one of my heroes and important creeps have over 2 health – you are threatening them all!



This example actually points to another reason players often overestimate how bad hero death is – because of most other card games at some level they equate death with reset. In Magic an enchanted creature loses its enchantments. In Hearthstone unless it specifically indicates otherwise a creature leaving play to the hand or the deck becomes reset – to a generic copy of itself. This is profoundly untrue in Artifact. In Artifact equipment and permanent modifications – of which there are many – survive death. Is Necrophos about to die? In Magic or Hearthstone upgrading him with Heartstopper Aura would typically be a waste. In Artifact it is priming a bomb.

While it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the upside of a hero dying early in the game – it often becomes clear late in the game. A good player will find themselves intentionally not killing an enemy hero so he or she can’t redeploy to a more useful location. With great force of will I can restrain myself from killing an enemy hero in these circumstances. A good player may even find themselves pulling the trigger on their own heroes so they don’t have to rely on the shop providing a town portal. I confess, I can’t bring myself to do that.

- Richard Garfield
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