Publisher: Unstable Games
Age: 10+
Players: 2 or 4 players
MSRP: $20.00
Release: Available everywhere
Do not be fooled by Command of Nature’s cutesy character art, nor designer Unstable Games‘ record of simplified card games. Command of Nature is a compelling strategic duel between asymmetrical factions. It’s the perfect stepping stone for new and younger card gamers, but also a worthy (yet small!) addition to any tabletop collection.
Read on for our review of Command of Nature!
Call of the Wild
Command of Nature is a battle card game for two players (or four players battling in 2v2 teams). Each player selects one of four elemental factions, led by a sage: droplet, leaf, pebble, or twig. Each faction has a starting deck and a player board, where players can track actions, level up, and unlock powerful faction-specific champions.
Unlike popular card battling games such as Magic: The Gathering, Command of Nature features a tactical formation for each player’s armies, with three rows in a pyramid shape (one in front, , two in the middle, and three in back).
Gamers who are familiar with card battler Summoner Wars (Plaid Hat Games) will instantly grasp the back-and-forth combat and asymmetrical factions. But Command of Nature introduces full deckbuilding, and omits a big tactical board in favor of dueling formations.
Players take turns playing command cards to attack and defend, swapping units around their formation, drawing cards, and activating special faction abilities.
Defeating an opposing elemental nets the victor a level up, and players unlock their unique champions and abilities upon reaching certain levels. Defeated elementals are removed from the game, forcing players to divide their deckbuilding purchases at the end of their turn between two different markets: commands, and elementals.
Deciding which new cards to purchase is a crucial component to every turn. Command cards help carry the day by defeating opposing units and providing important buffs, but you’ll need backups to replenish your own forces, and add new combos and strategic layers.
The game continues until one side’s sage is defeated.
Adorable Elementals
As a veteran of many a card battler, I appreciated the intuitive rules, such as a simple attack and defense numbers for each character, and limiting every card to one special feature that’s easy to track.
And then there’s the artwork, easily one of the game’s best-selling features.
The elemental warriors featured on every card are impossibly cute animals, rocks, or fungi, wielding water-swords or wearing tree-armor. Graphic artist-turned game developer Ramy Badie (TeeTurtle) is absolutely spoiling us with gorgeous, print-worthy art on every card — without relying on silly jokes or gross-out humor that Unstable Unicorns is known for.
I enjoyed earning gold and purchasing new cards every turn to fine-tune my deck— not to mention adding a huge amount of replayability. On the other hand, factions are a bit less distinct than Summoner Wars, since at least half your deck will consist of purchased cards by the end of the game.
To prevent games from running too long, Command of Nature features a sharp ramp up in power from leveling up and accessing powerful champions, as well as unleashing big direct-damage abilities from the faction boards upon reaching the highest level.
Despite its tactical depth, I never played a game that lasted too long — though I wasn’t able to try the beefier four player team mode.
The Rating
Command of Nature has an age rating of 10+, making it slightly more advanced than other Unstable Games. Due to its depth and action econmy, we’d only recommend it to kids that young if they’re already tabletop and card gaming veterans.
As a competitive battle game, players must also be mature enough to permanently lose favored units.
The Takeaway
While I hadn’t quite written off the designer and publisher as a just-for-kids/parties niche, I was incredibly surprised and impressed with Command of Nature. With a few more expansions it can easily stand shoulder to adorable shoulder with Summoner Wars, while providing an important gateway for strategy card games.
Command of Nature is available now at major retailers such as Amazon and Target.
