The Empire Setup System

Watch the video overview!

In most deck-building games, you randomly select which cards you play with. This works great, sometimes. Other times, there is only 1 good strategy on the board, and whoever best executes it (and has the best luck) wins the game. There's usually no good way to respond to your opponents' moves, either. When this happens, you aren't really playing against your opponents: Everyone is just more-or-less playing their own game. (Put another way: Most deck-building games feel like a solo race to the finish, instead of a full-contact sport.)

Titans Of Eden is different: Because of the Empire Setup System, each game presents you with many balanced strategies to choose from, and many ways to counter your opponent's moves. So, to do well, you have to respond to your opponent's move and engage them on every level. Here's how it works:

Each game, you randomly choose 4 Storm cards to play with (from the 16 Storm cards included in the base set). You must choose 1 Storm Warrior, 1 Storm Beast, 1 Storm Dragon, and 1 Storm Titan. (Choosing these cards is fast -- watch the Empire Video (above) for more details.) The remaining 12 Storm cards you did not choose are put back in the box. (No two games are ever the same, because every game uses a unique set of cards.)

Then, you repeat this for Fire, Ice, and Rock cards. This gives you 16 Ritual Piles that you and your opponent can access during the game. (You can use your Monks' Energy abilities to awaken cards from these piles, adding them to your deck. Each pile includes several copies of the same card.)

With this setup system, every game you play includes standard and strong cards from each element (some that are easy to awaken, others that are difficult to add to your deck). Because each element has its own abilities, and because each element's strategy counteracts one other element, Titans of Eden is fundamentally different from other deck-building games. Winning is not as simple as spotting the best strategy and executing it flawlessly: The way you win is by responding to your opponent's moves and creating the most diverse and resilient deck.

This game is a true contest between players, with many layers of strategy lurking beneath the surface.