Once a player lands on a square occupied by an opposing journeyman's guardian creature, you have to pay a toll. If you don't, it's on. And by it, we mean a one-round card battle that's a snap to understand, yet still surprisingly deep. You pick a monster from your deck to fight against the square's defender, and then both of you pick another card that can act as a support. Each card gets one swipe, and if one monster is left with zero hit points, it loses. If nobody dies, the defender wins.
In practice, it works like so: say your enemy lands on a green (earth) square occupied by your forest dryad. He chooses a yellow ogre to attack, then gives it a sword to boost its attack, while you give the dryad a suit of bronze armor to bump up its hit points. The ogre swings first, but your dryad is saved by the armor and the fact that you've raised the level of that square, giving her better protection. Having survived the attack, she swipes back at the ogre, but doesn't kill it. The battle ends in a draw, which means the invader still has to pay up. This process continues until someone gets a certain amount of money/mana in the bank.
That's really about it, though the four elements and the prevalence of magical spells can add complexity - as can the fact that there are more than 500 cards to unlock and mix at will into your fully customizable 50-card playing deck. Add in online support for up to four players and some really beautiful artwork on the cards, and you have our early pick for stealth masterpiece of the year. Get into Culdcept SAGA early so you look smart when all your friends discover it later and get hooked.
