Epic Card GameWhite Wizard Games this week launched a Kickstarter project for the fantasy-themed Epic Card Game and without even waiting for my preview, more than 3,000 people have already backed it, funding the game 300 percent! If you’re someone who hasn’t yet joined the bandwagon, or have but still would like some reassurance, I’ll tell you, it’s a good game. How good you ask? Well that, I believe, depends on what you think of typical collectible card games.

You see, Epic is a card game very much in the style of a CCG, however streamlined for faster play and without the random packaging. Of course, it’s not the first to do either. Yet—I say this as someone who loves discovering card combinations but never had the patience for collecting or constructing decks—Epic feels both familiar and distinct. It is somewhat easier but still challenging.

Epic Cards

Game play involves taking turns summoning champion cards to attack opponents and eliminate their starting 30 health—so far, a familiar process. Event cards, though, can also be played on an opponent’s turn for defensive measure. The interaction of card effects isn’t difficult to resolve (though there are the usual variety of special abilities and keywords). And most importantly, the cost of playing a card is often zero but at most one gold. Since every player gets a free gold at the beginning of their turn, the action in Epic starts immediately and builds quickly.

A single $15 box of Epic comes with 120 unique cards, enough for four players by simply dealing each 30 random cards. By purchasing multiple boxes, however, additional formats of constructed and draft play are possible for up to eight players. (No more than three boxes would be needed, as the rules limit each card to three per deck.)

Among the cards in the base set, a portion are marked with red gems. Similar to rare cards in a typical CCG, these are the more powerful. A form of drafting cube can be assembled by pairing one gem card with several non-gem (common) cards in to packs.

Every card in Epic is also assigned to one of four factions: Good (yellow), Wild (green), Evil (red), and Sage (blue), each of which makes for a balanced preconstructed deck.

Assuming a positive response to the initial box, you can expect more non-random expansion sets for Epic. I understand from White Wizard that these would be both 120 card boxes and 15-20 card packs.