Shadowverse: Evolve’s new Gloryfinder format is like an anime MTG Commander, arriving this summer
A casual multiplayer mode emerges into the light.
A new multiplayer format is headed to anime-flavoured collectible card game Shadowverse: Evolve, offering a way to play with more than a lick of Magic: The Gathering’s popular Commander format about it.
Gloryfinder allows a leader card to head up a deck of 50 cards - half the size of a standard Commander deck - that must match the leader’s class and are limited to a single copy of each unique card. On top of their main deck, players may have up to 20 cards in their evolve deck - twice the standard size of the side deck in the game used for more powerful characters - which aren’t subject to any class restrictions but mustn’t contain any duplicates.
In addition to the leader, players start the game with a Glory Card outside of their main deck, placed face-up next to their leader card, that they can play at any point - similar to summoning your commander in MTG.
The casual multiplayer format is designed for matches with three or more players, who start with different amounts of evolution points to offset their turn order at the beginning of the game. Each player also begins with more defence points than the standard mode, requiring 30 damage to be eliminated. Their play points - spent to play cards, like mana - meanwhile, will start at two rather than zero.
The Gloryfinder format was initially introduced during the card game’s Bushiroad Championship Series tournament last year, playtesting ahead of the release of four preconstructed decks led by Mono, Belphomet, Nadia and Pharrell on July 19th. The decks will each contain 62 new cards designed specifically for the multiplayer mode, and restricting them from use in standard play due to their increased power, as indicated by a new label at the bottom of each card.
The Shadowverse: Evolve trading card game span out of the Hearthstone-style digital card game Shadowverse released back in 2016, with a sequel planned for this year in Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond. The game’s anime-themed artwork and lore has since inspired multiple actual anime spin-offs, which follow players of the in-universe card game in a series of Yu-Gi-Oh!-like adventures.