There’s a lot going on in Artifact. I’d already read enough to know that, but apparently I needed to see a game play out before the extent of the complexity sank in. Now I can’t wait to start laying cards down on three separate lanes, working towards two different victory conditions, parsing each card’s stats and tooling up heroes with equippable items.
Artifact is Valve’s upcoming card game adaptation of Dota 2, made with Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield. The public got play it for the first time over the weekend at PAX West, where the victor of a mini-tournament earned the chance to play a veteran in a casted match on a fancy stage. Here’s the first match from that, where the commentators do their very best to explain what on earth is going on.