Playtesting Update 1
We tried our best to keep track of as much as possible to share with you all, so some information about the play-test sessions may be in the form of notable plays, summaries of the games, or just potential changes to rules or cards that we discussed as we were playing.
Below are the edited notes from our play-test sessions from September 18th 2025 to October 16th 2025. Please note that there may be discussion of cards that players haven't seen yet, or played with via Print ‘n Play.
9/18/25 Nicholas Derosby v Violet Meadows
Lantern Control vs Court of Frogs
Not a super long game, but it was fun and I am hopeful for decks like Lantern control.
Notable Plays:
Nicholas equipped The First Sword to Goliath & broke through Violet's floodgate Fog of Darkwood.
Violet Casted A Feather, then Called The Crow and used The Crow’s effect to search for Majik Lantern, and ended her combo by Casting the Majik Lantern.
Golems vs Court of Frogs
Although Golems stood their ground, without the decks “Ace card”, Talos - The Mechanical Golem, it struggled to keep its momentum. The game itself was more interactive, a solid back-and-forth, more so than the previous game.
Notable Plays:
Violet started the game strong by Casting City of Steam and using its effect to Conjure Talos - The Mechanical Golem and prepared a few spells.
Nicholas’s response to Violet's play was even more bold. They Cast Emperors Poison, targeting Violets Talos - The Mechanical Golem and immediately went on the offensive.
The First Merfolk vs Court of Frogs
The game was very long, but thoroughly enjoyable, and very interactive; as well as a very close game.
Notable Plays:
Nicholas Cast Emperors Poison to force a poor play for Violet by using it on Violet's Illusionist of the First Merfolk, blocking her from pulling off a powerful combo.
Violet Called Illusionist of the First Merfolk and used her Battlefield Tropical Seas to switch the battle stance of her Illusionist of the First Merfolk, triggering its effect, allowing her to Conjure a Merfolk from her deck. She chose the decks boss creature, Queen of the First Merfolk.
9/25/25 Bunni Meadows v Violet Meadows
Overall Thoughts
Interesting to see Stargazers go up against other casual & competitive builds. The errata to Stargazers has helped the deck carry itself further as seen with the games today.
Cult of Ghul vs Stargazers
We knew Ghuls may not be a coherent strategy, or keep up with other competitive decks. In the end, Ghuls ran out of steam quickly and wasn’t able to recover.
Angels vs Stargazers
Angels seem to be among the most dangerous matchup for Stargazers due to the “FLIGHT” mechanic. Quick licks and speedy recovery saved Angels from the brunt of Stargazers damage. Like Bunni stated, “1 more turn, you would have lost, I had lethal damage in my hand.”
Guild of the Lake vs Stargazers
Guild of the Lake is an absolute powerhouse and the decks strength ended up being its greatest weakness in its matchup with Stargazers. Reflecting Dragon of the Lakes damage back and Erasing future options stopped the deck right in its tracks, unable to recover, giving Stargazers the opportunity to burn for lethal.
9/28/25 Nicholas Derosby v Violet Meadows
Court of Frogs vs Reforge
Overall Thoughts
Reforge seems to be a good mechanic, but to play it in a deck with little creatures to utilize the mechanic kinda defeats the purpose a little. Nicholas agreed that creatures could be the key to helping the deck progress further, however, the frog deck’s strength is its borderline impenetrable defense, and may not matter in this matchup regardless. It may also be good to splash into other decks that utilize equipment, we’ll have to see in future playtesting.
9/28/25 Bunni Meadows v Violet Meadows
Rules Clarification
Players of recent times were unaware of the potential to restore mana, or activate Mana Source effects , nor how either worked. So we went over how both mechanics worked, and what they can be used for.
When restoring mana, a player moves mana source cards from the used mana pile to the mana source deck. Burnt Out mana cannot be restored.
When using the effect of a Mana Source card, there will be a condition to meet: “if your MP would not exceed 12”. What this means is that the number of cards in your Mana source deck and the MP gained from the Effect you’re trying to activate combined must not exceed 12 MP. eg. “If your MP would not exceed 12 — This provides 2 MP instead. If you have 10 cards in your Mana source deck, and you would get 2MP, that equals 12, and does not exceed it. If it was 3 instead of 2, then you wouldn’t be able to get the additional MP.
10/5/25 Bunni Meadows v Violet Meadows
Overall Thoughts
A bunch of cards needed to be reworded or effects updated completely. The Butterflies vs Stargazers matchup was so intense that we played multiple games to determine a true winner, and no outcome was really achieved. Bunni states that “Beatstick Aggro” v “Burn Aggro” is not necessarily fun and the matchup was a challenge.
The updated damage rulings worked correctly and successfully multiple times.
Erasure hurts multiple strategies especially those that heavily rely on the Crypt.
10/16/25 Nicholas Derosby v Violet Meadows
Court of Frogs vs Knights of Darkwood
With great surprise by everyone, the frogs defeat the knights! Big Wave was such an amazing card, despite the drawbacks, it was one of the only ways to win against the knights. Patience was also a crucial part of the win, by baiting attacks and effects, Frogs were able to overpower the Knights! It was an amazing end to “Run 6”*!
Rules Clarification
A few cards say something like “Target creature becomes a Whale creature with 7PWR.” “To Become” is an action that cannot be responded to by the card becoming something. When something becomes something else, it loses all its previous abilities and effects and PWR, if it had any of those things.
*Each time major changes are made, we print all the changes and update any documents in one big clump, in what we call a Run. The original printed Playtest cards were run 2, and that was 2019, we’re currently at run 6 in 2025 and into 2026.