Web3 game Gods Unchained has introduced a new gameplay format called “Sealed Mode” that allows players to compete using semi-random cards they receive at the start of a tournament. The format aims to reward skilled players, regardless of the size or cost of their card collection. The announcement of the new format was made via a blog post on Sept. 13, 2023.
“Sealed deck” tournaments are common in physical collectible trading card games like Magic: The Gathering, but they are relatively rare in digital trading card games.
⚜️ ⚜️
Will you?
️ Coming Sept 14th 11am AET
Full details: https://t.co/mKSGSCrMW7 pic.twitter.com/LHCdIs7LjK
— Gods Unchained (@GodsUnchained) September 8, 2023
According to the blog post, players can enter sealed mode by paying an entry fee of 15 Gods Unchained ($GODS) tokens, which is approximately worth $2.65 at the time of publication. Upon payment, players receive a random selection of three gods to choose from and build a deck around. They also receive 60 random cards from various sets, such as Etherbots, Mortal Judgement, Winter Wanderlands, and more.
While the pool of cards is semi-random, it includes a minimum number of cards of specific types to ensure that a viable deck can be constructed. For example, each pool contains at least 12 cards that cost 3 mana or less.
Players must build a minimum 30-card deck out of the provided 60 cards. They are not allowed to use cards from their personal collection.
In sealed mode, players compete until they either lose three matches or win seven matches. Players with better records at the end of the tournament receive greater rewards compared to those with worse records. Some cosmetic rewards are exclusively available in sealed mode and can only be obtained by winning four matches or more.
The concept of “sealed mode” in Gods Unchained is similar to “sealed deck” or “draft” tournaments in physical card games like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, and Magic: The Gathering. Players of these games often use sealed formats to acquire cards. However, sealed tournaments have been virtually unknown in the world of digital card games because most digital card games do not allow players to “own” their cards in a meaningful sense. In Gods Unchained, each card is represented by a non-fungible token stored on the Immutable X network, a layer-2 solution for Ethereum.
Gods Unchained was one of the pioneering Web3 video games released by Immutable. In May, Immutable announced the development of a wallet application called “Passport” that enables gamers to log in without the need for seed words. On Aug. 15, Immutable launched its zkEVM testnet, which aims to scale Ethereum for video game players.
