Here I was, wanting to play a few matches of Minion Masters and all I did was lose.
I don't mind losing, it's part of the game. You win some, you lose some. It gets quite frustrating though when you lose against the same deck over and over again. I'll just wait until this meta deck blows over. That gives me time to talk about the game!
Minion Masters: A tower defense, deckbuilding game which I love to play... most of the time.
The basics
Right now there are 13 different masters in the game. You pick one, they stand on your tower and they have a couple of abilities of their own, aswell as some buffs to add to your minions. Some can shoot ranged, some are more powerful up close. Some have AoE, some have better single-target damage.
Masters will level up and gain extra abilities throughout the game. They do this by gaining XP from various actions during the match, most notable is holding the bridges.
Then there's the minions. You build your deck of cards and with these cards, you can summon minions on the playing field. They will defend your tower, battle enemy minions and move towards your opponent's tower to beat it up. There's also spell cards and building cards for additional defense and offense.
Playing cards costs mana crystals, which replenish with time. A few cards will help you gain mana faster, or save a little.
A deck holds a variation of 10 cards. You can use two wildcards, which basically means you can re-add the same card to your deck multiple times, so you'll have 12 cards in total. With over 200 cards currently available, the deck building possibilities are endless. You'll look at a variation of melee, ranged, single-target, AoE, swarming mobs, flying, etc., etc.. All while keeping in mind the mana cost of your deck and the helpful abilities of your chosen master.
I enjoy climbing up the ranks, but ofcourse, the higher you get, the more often you lose. Which is fine most of the time. With so many different deck possibilities, the challenges you face in opponents will vary greatly and every game will be different. That is, until some meta deck pops up, which it does once in a while. Everyone and their mother will be playing that same deck and if my own, favorite deck isn't a match for it, I usually wait until that silly meta blows over, or I play some of the other game modes.
Game modes
The normal matches in Minion Masters come in two forms: 1vs1 and 2vs2 (Team battle). In team battles, you can jump right into the queue and get matched up with a random other player against two opponents. You can also play premade team battles, where you invite a friend into your team, before queueing up to find an opposing team.
While most Minion Master game modes will pit you against other players, Adventures are single player games. You'll play matches against AI while trying to complete the adventure and gain some rewards along the way.
The Draft game mode will pit you against other players, but their decks will always be a surprise. You put together your draft deck by first picking one of three random masters the game offers you, after which you'll pick one of three random cards the game offers you, until your deck is full. No way anyone can use a meta deck in Draft games! While climbing up the Draft wins ladder, you'll win some extra prizes along the way. Once you lost a game three times, it's game over!
I love to play this game mode from time to time. It's a fun challenge to put together a good deck with limited options and you'll learn to appreciate some cards you never played with your own decks.
The Mayhem game mode isn't always available, sometimes you have to wait a few days for the next mayhem to start, but it's a fun change to normal battles. Every mayhem type will add a different element to the game. Sometimes you'll get bonus minions, sometimes every minion will be in stealth, sometimes one of the bridges will be on fire, but holding it will give you extra xp.
Eventually, you'll have build a favorite deck for each type of mayhem game. It's a nice change from normal battles and while climbing this win ladder, you'll earn some extra prizes, such as cards, coins, and rubies.
Ingame currencies
Minion Masters has a base game which is free to play. It will give you plenty of fun times and if you're patient, you can unlock many (or all) masters and cards with ingame currency, gathered by playing.
By now, there are various expansions to buy. They will give your account a nice bonus. You could unlock all of the masters, or you could buy a certain expansion for extra cards, power tokens, avatars, masters, etc.
So far, whenever a new expansion has gotten released, it is free to claim for the first weekend. This basically means that as an active player, you'll never have to pay for expansions.
Ingame shop
The ingame shop will offer a variety of cards, masters, skins, avatars, or extra deck slots for coins or rubies. The offers change daily.
Coins
Coins are earned simply by playing the game and winning matches. When moving up to a new rank, you'll sometimes earn bonus coins and coins are also rewards for most of the quests.
Shards
Shards are used to build new cards, or increase their Glory. Glory is earned by winning games and goes towards advancements in the season pass. Shards are earned by gaining new cards through Power Tokens, or as rewards. When you obtain a maxed out card, it'll be converted into shards.
Rubies
Rubies are sometimes earned in special game modes by climbing up the ladder. You will earn some rubies through the season pass and sometimes when moving to a new rank or leveling up. Rubies can also be bought with cash. You use them in the shop or to open up extra rewards from the Season pass.
So far, I haven't felt the need to buy rubies. This game can easily be played for free. I did buy the Premium and All Masters upgrades eventually, because I had been playing this game for so long, enjoying it immensely, that I felt I wanted to repay them for creating this game.
Minion Masters is a fun and challenging game to play. I am now on 470 hours played and I'm sure I will play this for many more hours. You can play all day, but you can also play just a couple of matches. One match can last from a few minutes up to about 10 minutes (which I consider a long match). To me this is part of its charm, because I don't have to commit a large amount of time at once. It is, however, immersive enough that you'll go "Ah, just one more game..." over and over again.
What about you?
- Have you played Minion Masters yet? And did you enjoy it?
- Will you try the game after reading this?
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