Immutable’s popular Web3 game, Gods Unchained, has introduced an innovative tournament mode known as “Sealed Mode,” allowing players to craft decks from a selection of semi-random cards at the outset of a competition. This novel format aims to level the playing field, enabling highly skilled gamers to thrive, regardless of the size or cost of their card collections. The announcement of this fresh gameplay format was made through a blog post on September 13.
“Sealed deck” tournaments are a staple in traditional collectible trading card games like Magic: The Gathering but remain relatively uncommon in the digital trading card game sphere. In Sealed Mode, players can join the action by paying an entry fee of 15 Gods Unchained (GODS) tokens, equivalent to approximately $2.65 at the time of publication. Upon payment, participants receive a random assortment of three gods, which they can use as a foundation for constructing their decks. Additionally, they acquire 60 random cards drawn from various Gods Unchained card sets, including Etherbots, Mortal Judgement, Winter Wanderlands, and others. While the card pool is partially randomized, it includes a minimum number of cards of specific types to ensure the creation of viable decks. For instance, each pool includes a minimum of 12 cards with a mana cost of 3 or less. Players must build a minimum 30-card deck from their pool of 60 cards, and they are prohibited from using cards from their personal collections.
Once their decks are constructed, players engage in competition, striving to either secure seven victories or avoid three losses. Participants with superior records at the tournament’s conclusion receive more substantial rewards compared to those with less impressive performances. Sealed Mode also offers exclusive cosmetic rewards, accessible only to players who secure four or more victories.
“Sealed Mode” in Gods Unchained takes inspiration from the “sealed deck” or “draft” tournaments commonly found in physical card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, and Magic: The Gathering. In these games, sealed formats are often utilized for card collection purposes. However, the digital card game realm rarely featured sealed tournaments due to the absence of true ownership of in-game cards. In Gods Unchained, each card is represented as a non-fungible token (NFT) stored on the Immutable X network, which operates as a layer-2 solution for Ethereum.
Gods Unchained, one of Immutable’s pioneering Web3 video games, has been at the forefront of innovation. In May, Immutable announced the development of “Passport,” a wallet application aimed at simplifying the login process for gamers, eliminating the need to remember seed words. On August 15, Immutable launched its zkEVM testnet, a significant milestone in scaling Ethereum to meet the demands of video game enthusiasts.