With Marvel Snap establishing its authority in the superhero-themed card game genre, Marvel’s biggest foe has appeared and is gradually making its presence felt. Known as DC Dual Force, this new card game features some of the most renowned DC heroes and villains such as Superman, Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, The Joker, and many more.
Here’s everything we know so far about DC Dual Force.
How to play DC Dual Force
Basics and Objective
Each player needs to have a deck with 40 cards. These are divided into 20 cards for each of the two Leader cards that are present on the board at the start of the game. These Leader cards are typically the heroes or villains from DC universe, and each of them belongs to one Faction.
Each of the Leader cards has health points. A player wins a game in DC Dual Force by defeating and destroying both the Leader cards of his or her opponent. This is possible if the player lowers the opponent’s Leader cards’ health points to zero.
Card Types
There are three card types in DC Dual Force. These are:
- Leader – The Leader cards are the basis of a deck’s playstyle and gameplay mechanic most of the time. They serve as the avatars of a player which can be classified from the same or different factions. Leader cards possess certain abilities which can be unlocked if there are enough charges already, including attacking the opponent’s units, giving additional power to your recruits, and more. A charge is gained every turn a Leader’s power isn’t used.
- Recruits – Recruit cards serve as the pawns of the battlefield, meaning that their purpose is to engage in combat to beat and destroy the opponent’s recruits, as well as Leader cards. They are also used to defend the Leaders and another Recruit. Recruit cards have their corresponding power and health points. And just as same as the Leader cards, a Recruit card is destroyed when their health points become zero. Some Recruit cards also have effects that can be used upon playing them on the board, or a certain condition is met.
- Action – Action cards have a one-time effect that can be used once you play them on the board. They don’t stay on the board for the rest of the game and are removed once their effects are dissolved. Also, they do not have power and health points, unlike Leader and Recruit cards.
Resources
In order to play cards, you need enough resources depending on the required resource type of your cards. All Recruit and Action cards have a corresponding resource cost, and you’ll gain access to those resources every turn. The resource classification in DC Dual Force are:
- Bronze – The lowest tier resource. Most cards that require a bronze resource are the early game and weaker cards.
- Silver – The mid-tier resource. This is where cards begin to produce more useful and reliable effects.
- Gold – The highest tier resource. Gold-tier tends to be the strongest cards in the game and are ideally played in the late game.
The turn-by-turn resource acquisition in DC Dual Force is:
- Turn one – One bronze resource
- Turn two – Two bronze resource
- Turn three – One silver and one bronze resource
- Turn four – Two silver resource
- Turn five onwards – One gold and one silver resource
Turn Sequence
Like most card games, DC Dual Force has turn-based sequential combat gameplay. Players take turns in executing their play all throughout the match until one of them loses.
- Each player draws four cards as their opening hand. They can reshuffle cards to their deck and draw based on the number of cards they returned to their deck. The first player to play then draws a card to formally start their turn.
- Each turn, players gain resources based on what turn it is (refer to the turn-by-turn resource acquisition above). They can play Recruit or Action cards based on the resources that they have every turn.
- Some of the actions players can do upon playing cards include activating their Recruit or Action cards’ abilities, attacking the opponent’s Recruits or Leaders, and activating their Leaders’ power.
- After doing all their desired actions, players may end the turn by simply clicking ‘End Turn.’
DC Dual Force Factions
Cards are classified into Factions. These Factions are regarded as the specialization of cards, typically to showcase each of the available strategies currently available in the game. So far, the five factions in DC Dual Force are:
- Might – These cards focus on strengthening their own cards by giving additional power and health, protecting Recruits with Shields, and more. Some of the DC heroes belonging in the Might faction include Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. This faction also introduces keywords such as Shield, Aura, Guard, and more.
- Energy – Cards belonging to the Energy faction focus on a variety of effects such as generating additional resources, using explosive damage-dealing effects through Action cards, and more. Though, one setback for Energy cards is their typically low power and health points which are mostly compensated by their powerful effects. Some of the keywords introduced in this faction include Aura, Speed, and Flurry. The Flash, Green Lantern, and Shazam all belong to the Energy faction.
- Tactics – Just like Batman who is one of this faction’s heroes, the Tactics faction provides smarter gameplay for users. Cards belonging to this faction often allow players to execute their game plan by using toolbox abilities, meaning it is more of adjusting depending on the strategy of the opponent. Also, Tactics cards tend to have high health points and introduced keywords like Ambush, Hunter, Evade, and Deploy. Batgirl, Cyborg, and Green Arrow all belong to this faction.
- Anarchy – The Anarchy faction revolves around the mechanic of discarding and destroying cards from the hand to activate a bunch of explosive effects. Keywords like Adrenaline and Lethal are associated with the faction, as well as some of the DC villains like The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Doomsday.
- Tyranny – The Tyranny faction also offers a handful of toolbox effects. Though, their strategy revolves more around sacrificing Recruits to gain certain advantages, such as drawing more cards, gaining additional power, deploying Recruits, and more. Some of the rampant keywords in this faction are Lethal and Parting Shot, with villains like Lex Luthor and Poison Ivy, as well as Black Adam belonging to the Tyranny faction.
DC Dual Force Game Modes
Currently, there are two game modes available in DC Dual Force. The first one is the traditional ladder matchmaking where players grind and face other players to reach the highest ranks. The second one, on the other hand, is the Comics game mode where players fight in-game enemies based on the real stories of the DC Comics.
