"Berserk. Heroes"- card strategy game.
This is a battle between two heroes who lead their armies. As you play, you'll recruit creatures into your warbands, use spells and weapons, and play event cards to ensure your dominance on the battlefield. The winner is the player who reduces the enemy hero's life total to zero or lower.

TYPES OF CARDS

In "Berserk" Heroes" 5 main types of cards: heroes, creatures, spells, equipment and events.

Hero- This is the personification of the player. The hero always lies open in his owner's play area while the game continues. A player loses when his hero suffers a total number of wounds equal to (or greater than) his life total.

Creatures stand up for their hero and participate in battles. When playing a creature, a player places it on the table in his playing area. The creature stays there until it goes to the graveyard, back into the deck, or into a player's hand.

Equipment divided into several types: weapons, armor, amulet. When playing equipment, the player places the card on the table next to the hero card. The equipment remains there until it is sent to the cemetery. When new equipment enters the game, all other equipment of the same type are sent to the graveyard under the control of the player who played this equipment.

Spells help the player strengthen his own squad or weaken the enemy. Unlike creatures, spells have a one-time effect. When casting a spell, the player sends that card to the graveyard and immediately uses the spell's features.

Events often affect both players' units. When resolving an event, a player places a card on the table next to the hero card. The event remains there until it is sent to the graveyard. When a new event comes into play, all other events under the control of the player who played the event are sent to the graveyard.

ELEMENTS

In the game “Berserk. Heroes" five opposing elements: steppes, mountains, forest, swamps, darkness. Most cards belong to one of these elements; cards that do not belong to any element are considered neutral. The elemental identity of a card is determined by its overall color scheme, as well as the color of the circle in the upper right corner.

For full-size (with an enlarged picture) and multi-elemental (with several elements) cards, the designation of elements is made in the form of separate icons in the upper right corner:

RARITY

The color in the bottom right corner of a card indicates how common that card is in booster packs.

RULES FOR DECK COMPILATION

Before the game starts, you have to create your battle deck. It includes one hero card and 40 or more other types of cards. The hero determines the element of the deck: the player's deck can only contain cards of the same element, as his hero, as well as neutral cards. In the case of multi-element cards, at least one of the card's elements must match the Hero's element.
Important: There can be no more than three copies of cards with the same name in the deck (exception: cards with the “Horde” feature).
Note: If desired, opponents can choose the same element and even the same hero.

PREPARATION FOR THE GAME

Players place their heroes face up on the table. Randomly determine the first player (for example, by rolling a die). This player chooses who will go first. Each player thoroughly shuffles his deck, places it face down in front of him and takes the top 4 cards. If a player is not satisfied with the cards in the hand, he can discard some of the cards (or all) once. The discarded cards are placed at the bottom of the deck, and the player takes as many cards as he discarded.

COIN MARKERS

At the beginning of each of his turns, the player receives a new coin marker and places it on the table along with the markers he already has. A player cannot have more than 10 coin markers. To play cards from your hand, the player pays for each card with coin markers according to its value. When using a coin marker, the player closes it - rotates it 90 degrees to the right. A player will not be able to use a closed coin marker to pay for playing cards until it is revealed again - usually at the beginning of the player's turn.

PRAYER TOKENS

In addition to coins, the player can have another resource - prayers. They can be obtained for various features of the hero and other cards. Having received a prayer token, the player places it on his hero card or places it on a “totem pole”. Prayers are used to pay for certain hero traits or other cards. In this case, remove the required number of prayer tokens from the hero card or remove them from the “totem pole”. At the start of the game, players have no prayer tokens.

PROGRESS OF THE GAME

Each player's turn consists of three stages:
1. Start of the turn
2. Main stage
3. End of turn

Start of turn stage
Recovery phase

◆ If there are face-down cards (including a hero) and/or face-up coin markers in the player's play area, they are all revealed.
◆ All "X times per turn" features can be used again X times.

Accumulation phase

◆ The player receives a new coin marker. Important: if a player already has 10 markers, he does not receive a new marker.
◆ The player draws a card from his deck (except for the first player's first turn). If there are no cards left in the deck, then the player simply does not take a card. Important: if a player was unable to take a card from the deck for the third time during the game for this reason, he loses.
◆ The player simultaneously reveals all of his hidden cards that he wants to reveal.
◆ Features are performed “at the beginning of the turn”.

Main stage

The player chooses any of the actions listed below and performs them in any order until the end of the turn is announced. Possible actions at the main stage:

◆ Play a card from your hand, paying its cost with coin markers (by paying the cost of playing cards, the player covers his markers).
◆ Attack an enemy card by hitting your card. One creature can only attack once per turn, unless otherwise noted.
◆ Use the feature of your card (including the hero), if possible. Each feature is used once per turn unless otherwise noted.

Important: a creature card played from your hand cannot attack during the current turn, and you cannot use its requiring features (exception: cards with the “Dash” feature). The spell card's ability is used instantly after it is played. The features of Event, Hero, and Equipment cards are used at any time during a turn, including the same turn that those cards are played. On many maps, you can see the symbol in the text of features. This symbol means that after using the feature the card is closed - rotated 90 degrees to the right.

On his turn, a player can attack with any of his cards and/or use their various features. When a card acts (i.e. attacks or uses features with a cover symbol), it is covered and can no longer attack or use features with a cover symbol that turn.

End of turn stage

◆ “At the end of the turn” features are performed.
◆ The features of cards with the text “until the end of the turn” expire.
◆ Having finished the turn, the player passes the turn to his opponent.

IMPORTANT RULES

Punch attack

Any creature has a strike and can attack a hero or enemy creature with it.

◆ If you attack open enemy creature and no one came to the defense, then both creatures (yours and the enemy) inflict damage on each other equal to the values ​​of their attacks.
◆ If you attack closed enemy creature and no one comes to the defense, your creature deals damage to the attacked creature equal to the value of its blow.
◆ If you attack an enemy hero and no one comes to defend, your creature deals damage to the hero equal to the value of his hit.

Important: After a card has attacked with a punch and survived, it closes.

Appointment of a defender

If your card (creature or hero) is attacked by an enemy creature and you have your own open creature in the play area, you can designate this creature as a defender. In this case, instead of the original target, the enemy creature will fight the defender and they will deal damage to each other equal to the values ​​of their hits. After the battle, if your defender survives, he closes in the same way as the attacker. Each creature can act as a defender only once per turn.

Wounds

By attacking with a strike or using card features, you often deal damage to enemy creatures, and they receive wounds based on the amount of damage dealt. These wounds accumulate. Players can count runs in any way they choose (for example, using coins or chips). If the number of wounds on a card equals or exceeds the number of life, that card dies and is put into its owner's graveyard.

Golden rule

If a card's text conflicts with the rules, the card's text takes precedence.

Simultaneous execution of features

If several features are triggered at the same moment (for example, “at the beginning of the turn”), then these features of the inactive player (not whose turn it is) are executed first in the order chosen by him. Then the features of the active player (whose turn is in progress) are performed in the order chosen by him.

WINNING CONDITIONS

The winner is the player who reduces the enemy hero's life total to zero or lower. A player also wins if their opponent fails to draw a card from their deck for the third time during the game (see Accumulation Phase).

Full rules

Full game rules (recommended for experienced players) can be downloaded from

As part of our review competition, Comrade. AtsukawaToshiro prepared a comparative review of games Berserk And Berserk. Heroes. The author goes through various aspects of these board games in detail and notes that they are very different, but both are good.

I started playing “Berserk” (hereinafter referred to as bers) in the kitchen from set 6 “Wrath of the Gods”. We more or less mastered its rather complex rules only after a few games, because... for the first time we dealt with a CCG, and with a normal board game in general... In fact, they began to play bersa voraciously - an abundance of tactics, a bunch of different cards and properties, gorgeous art, and the famous dice for determining the result of the battle. All this simply fascinated us. In our town (Kasli), little was known about tabletops at all, so bers became a breath of fresh air for us (by the way, we were able to get it only in Chelyabinsk).

The middle of the batch of the Legends of Rus' training set. The Knights finally brought out the filthy Idol, but at a very high price. And they were unlucky - many times they got ragged in return.

And now, after so many years, I came across the announcement of a new bers with the bizarre name “Berserk.Heroes” (hereinafter referred to as heroes). At that time, I was already deep into board games, and my card experience was marked by MTG, Pokemon, War, as well as various electronic CCGs, including Hearthstone. To be honest, I was very surprised... After all, they decided to cover up the old bers, and in return they put in a completely different game, but with the same art and universe. I still don’t understand the reasons for such a radical policy, because... The bers was mechanically original and unique (the MX even managed to take it over the hill - and there it was very well received). Of course, over the 12 years of its existence, the ideas have dried up, there have been a lot of reprints (reprints of old cards), the art has become worse, but just take it and cover it up? They even cleaned up the entire site. It's a shame.

Okay, enough whining - now we'll look at the bers and the heroes together.

Mechanics. Both games have completely different engines. Bers is a card wargame on the field with completely open information about the cards (the deck is used only at the stage of recruiting a squad, during the battle it lies stupidly in 98% of cases). In heroes, the deck plays a key role, because... Each turn the player takes a card from it. The engine itself is more similar to computer games like “Demiurges” and “Hearthstone” (or MTG, but with lands outside the deck).

Fourth move. None of the heroes have received any wounds yet. Piranha swims to attack.

Deck building. In berse there is a deck of 30 cards, and to recruit a squad we take 15 cards (=50%). The heroes have a deck of 40 cards, but usually about 15 cards come out per game (=37%). Consequently, the role of chance in heroes increases significantly. Of course, this can all be done by adding the necessary cards to search in the deck, but this will require additional investments of both money and brains. To be honest, I’ve already played a couple of dozen games of heroes, but my opponents very often didn’t get the cards they needed (and we swapped decks).

The restrictions on duplicates in both games are a maximum of 3 copies of the card (or 5 if there is a "horde" property). But in the elemental sense, the bers had no prohibitions - you can combine any elements (although you lose 1 crystal for each additional element when recruited into a squad). Heroes are only allowed to use one element + neutrals - this means that if you are used to playing mountains, then you can give the rest of the cards to someone (you still won’t be able to use them).

Of course, there is an exception hero, “Higarth,” who allows you to put in any number of elements (although all spells become 1 coin more expensive), but this guy can only be obtained by winning the tournament. In general, because of this, deck building in heroes is sharply limited (although it may be corrected in the future), but its role is significant.

You can play Bersa without a deck at all - you draft cards and assemble a squad (in fact, that’s how we play).

Cubes. In bers, dice are rolled to determine the results of the battle - there are three options (according to the new rules):

a) the warrior successfully attacked with a weak/medium/strong blow (the strength of the blow is determined randomly);

b) the warrior missed (the attack was unsuccessful, he may have slipped);

c) missed, but gets punched in the face by the enemy (those who screamed got punched in the face).

In the old rules (when the dice were without pictograms) there was another option, when sometimes the player was faced with a choice - to strike and be hit back, or to strike a weaker blow but remain unharmed. This choice made the tactical options deeper, but the rules more complex. I personally recommend playing the old fashioned way (once you get comfortable with the game).

And the cube is the real highlight of the bers, because... options are implemented up to the opposite, when the attacker, on the contrary, rake (we had a case when the entire first row of the attacker missed and rake back). Many people criticize this cube (they say it breaks the whole game), but from my own experience I can say that it’s all bullshit. The blow is NOT unambiguous only if you hit on an open map (on a closed one it is automatically successful) - calculate the outcome of the battle and distract the defenders - it is much easier than it seems. In addition, you have archers and magicians who will definitely shoot.

In heroes, dice are not used at all - all randomness is determined by the deck. This is also good, because... the speed of the game becomes higher (after all, the heroes themselves were initially designed to be faster).

Cards. As for the art, I already talked about it at the beginning. But I’ll still add that for many hero cards the art was chosen by G. And this despite the fact that they have more than 1000 illustrations.

for example, bang, poof and bang squad - casual stuff that doesn’t fit into the style

But I like the design of the cards in berse better - it’s very visual (whether it’s the old design or the new one). In the heroes, it would be better to replace the gold symbol with a more familiar crystal (even according to legend, warriors were recruited for magic crystals, and not for money), and the circle from the heart was thrown away (it looks disgusting). It’s also a shame that they stopped using icons for directed strike, protection from magic, and other things - they are less cumbersome than text.

Compared to traditional bers design

Compared to the updated bers design

The rarity of cards in Bersa was initially common/rare/ultra + promo (later they added numerous, super-rare, legendary). In heroes, it is still common/unusual/rare/ultra (greetings from MTG). The only thing that bothers me here is that rarity in heroes is now designated by color (without duplicating the letter). Moreover, all the colors are quite dark - it is more difficult to distinguish.

No comments... You have to see this live

The thickness of the cards themselves is the same, but the bers cardboard is denser (and previously it was even varnished).

This is what I call epic :)

Starter kits. In bers, the starter supplied absolutely everything that was needed for the game: rules, wound chips, dice, deck (which could be played even by two people, since 15 cards were of one element, and 15 of another) + booster in the latest releases add (and then 2). In the heroes for some reason they completely forgot about the wound chips, although in other respects everything is good (there is even an additional training deck, so one starter is enough for a small battle for two).

This is the wealth of the starter set (the booster has already been opened, the rules are in the box). Why weren't the wound tokens placed? Well, at least from the old bers

Separately, it is worth noting the breakthrough of the heroes in terms of the box - it is cool, durable and compact. Thick cardboard + plenty of room to store a second stack of cards. So you don't need to buy a special box for the deck. In Bers, only dueling sets and elemental storms had travel cardboard boxes, but they were large and square (lots of air) - it’s not convenient to go anywhere with one like that. For starters, the box is nothing at all = disposable, and the cardboard is thin.

Yes, it's a nice box. The cards fit well even in the protectors. All that remains is to make a separator in the middle

Rules. It is much more difficult to master the rules in bers than in heroes. This is understandable, because the impact table alone is worth a lot (but with the introduction of special dice, this problem partially disappeared). However, in order to simplify training, special sets were even released: “Legends of Rus'”, “Berserk junior” and a beginner set without a name (4 decks). In such sets, cards contain a minimum of properties (and without sudden actions), which allows you to get used to the mechanics of battle. However, heroes for beginners are still more friendly.

And here is the last educational mini-set “Legends of Rus'”. I'm very glad I bought it

Duration of the game. For Bers, the game takes about 40-60 minutes, because... you need to recruit a squad, deploy it, and then it’s time for battle. In heroes, the game takes a maximum of half an hour (with a calm game). In general, it’s quite easy to find free time for both games.

By the way, in berserk we sometimes cut the cost of units by 2 times (and the field is no longer 5x6, but 3x6) - it turns out to be a mini-berserker. This changes the gameplay a lot, but it’s fun to play, and the game time is reduced to 15-20 minutes.

Gameplay. In bers there is a feeling that you are in control of a combat detachment - tusks, defenders and rear support (magicians, shooters). During the battle, you really see how the system breaks down and what it all leads to. The outcome of the battle really depends on your skillful use of the fighters’ properties. Even maneuvers play a huge role. Yes, the atmosphere of battle here is at its best. And it's because of her that I like to play again and again.

In heroes, combat is no longer so exciting. I played a creature and cast a spell into battle. There are no maneuvers here anymore. And without defenders, your shooters are taken out at once. And the distinction between tusks and rear support is implemented very poorly here. The battle is more like two heroes throwing stones at each other. In general, the scale is sharply narrowed, and the release of new creatures fits poorly here. Another drawback is that the hero can NOT even stand up to defend key creatures.

As for the goals of the game, in bers - to completely destroy the enemy squad, and in heroes - to overwhelm the enemy hero.

"Berserk. Heroes" is a Russian collectible card game of a new generation. It is a strategic duel between two players leading their armies. You can create your own decks, recruit creatures in battle, use spells and weapons, play out various events on the field - everything to gain an advantage over the enemy, everything to win!

The gameplay is built around unique heroes. The game takes place in the fantasy world of Laar.

The entire gameplay is based on cards. In your deck you must have one hero card, which is your alter ego in the game, has a certain life reserve, ability and element. There are five elements in total: steppes, mountains, forest, swamps, darkness. Cards without an element are neutral. In addition to the hero card, in your deck you can have from 40 cards of the element to which your hero belongs, but no more than three copies of the same card.

Cards have different values ​​and powers. The cost is expressed in the amount of gold that will have to be given away from your reserve. Each turn, players expand their gold pool by 1 to a maximum of 10 coins, and restore it to the maximum at the start of each of their turns.

There are also five types of cards: heroes, creatures, spells, equipment and events. The creatures play pranks and come to the defense of their master. Three types of equipment cards can be played to strengthen your hero. Spells have a one-time effect and have different effects. Events most often affect both players and spread their effect until the event is replaced or reset.

In addition, cards, as is customary in CCGs, have a rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare and Ultra Rare.

Having received four cards in their hands, players decide whether they will discard any cards and draw new ones or whether they are satisfied with everything. After this mulligan, the game begins, consisting of three phases:

• start of the turn - hole cards are restored, the player receives a new gold marker and one card in his hand;
• the main stage - cards are played and paid for, attacks are made with creatures and cards, and various features of the cards are used;
• end of turn - various effects end and the turn is transferred to another player.

Played creature cards, as a rule, cannot attack immediately and appear on the battlefield rotated 90 degrees. On your turn, you can choose a target for the creature - another creature or an enemy hero, and the second player, accordingly, if there is an open creature, can put it on defense. An attack against a closed creature or hero causes damage only to the enemy, and when attacking an open creature, both sides will suffer losses expressed in wounds. When the number of wounds is greater than or equal to the creature's health, it is considered dead.

The game goes on like this until a winner is determined.

The winner is the player who is the first to reduce the enemy's health to zero or below. A player also loses if the player's deck runs out and they are unable to draw a card for the third time at the start of their turn.

About Trading Card Games

CCG is the most popular format of card games all over the world; for example, it includes games that do not need introduction, such as “” and “”. By building your decks and expanding your collection of cards, you get new gaming opportunities and combinations within the game. Having taken possession of a rare card, you will experience incomparable pleasure!

Representatives of this category are dynamic, interesting and rich games, but at the same time they have enormous space for the manifestation of imagination and their strategic skill. The CCG format allows you to constantly update the metagame, make decks more diverse and respond to fan demands through new sets and boosters - special expansions with a random set of cards. By purchasing them, you expand your personal collection and gain access to new combinations, strategies and tricks.

All cards have their own rarity; the rarer the card, the more valuable it is for collectors and players, and, as a rule, the stronger or more original the effect of the card itself.

« Where is my axe, where is my meat? Oh no, it's poisoned...»

I went through a period on the blog where I wrote a series of reviews of collectible card games. There was also a popular MtG, and my favorite LegendoftheFiveRings, and smaller representatives of card games. I was also planning another review of a Russian card game, but the stars didn’t align in the sky, I got tired of writing about CCGs and switched to regular board games. But after looking through the telescope this evening, I realized that the stars had finally aligned, and I simply had to write a review of the game Berserk.

One article is definitely not enough to cover the entire game with its rich history, so I will limit myself to the latest special issue entitled “ Elemental Storm».

What is Berserk?

Once upon a time, around the time when dinosaurs were still running around the Earth, Ivan Popov and Maxim Istomin got acquainted with the game Magic:theGathering(I can't keep silent about this game). And they liked the “hoe” so much that they decided to make their own game. With beautiful cards, a field and its own unique world. That's pretty much how the game came about Berserk.

It is a strategy trading card game where creatures fight each other on the battlefield. The one who manages to defeat the opposing army wins.

As in any typical CCG in Berserker Each player has his own deck of cards. Cards range in rarity from common to legendary. In this regard B(Berserker) doesn't have any special differences. But the gameplay is unique, especially if we talk about this within the Russian gaming industry.

Gameplay

All cards in Berserker– these are creatures, areas, artifacts and equipment. A starting deck is made up of at least 30 cards and no more than 50. Cards are taken from special sets - starters and boosters. There are 6 elements in the game (once there were 5), into which the cards are divided - steppes, forests, mountains, swamps, darkness and fire.

Out of 30 cards, each player deals himself 15. Yes, this is the main catch - you will not be able to play all the cards, no matter how much you want to. After which the formation of detachments occurs. Each card has a value in the upper left corner, displayed in gold or silver crystals. Depending on the number of elements to which the cards in your deck belong, and the turn order (you go first or second), you recruit a squad for a certain number of crystals. For example, for a two-element squad, the player who goes first is given 23 gold crystals and 22 silver crystals. And if the second player has one element, then he has 25 gold and 23 silver. Accordingly, the fewer elements, the more crystals you will have.

After recruiting a squad, each player begins to place cards on the field.

The point is that Berserk A bit atypical CCG. It's more of a wargame. Players fight on a 5x6 field. The formation takes place in their own half of the field according to special rules, which I will not dwell on. And as soon as you lay out the cards on the field, the game turns into chess. Each card has a health level, movement points, a unique property, and attack indicators.

And yet the English text is here for a reason...

At the beginning of the game, you lay out cards in the available three lines. Tanks are logically placed in front, then followed by magicians, archers and other ranged warriors. The deployment of troops should be taken seriously, as this is one of the keys to victory.

On their turn, players can move and take actions. Moreover, this can be done with all cards at once, and not one card at a time, passing the move to the opponent.

Revealed creatures (i.e. untapped) can move a certain number of squares on the field. On a free cell on the right, left, above or below, but not diagonally (unless the card has such a unique property).

A revealed creature can take one of three types of action:

- attack with a simple blow;

- act as a defender from a simple blow;

- use card abilities per turn.

After using an action, the card must rotate 90°, which means it can no longer move or act. This system is well known to experienced kish players.

Now I’ll briefly go over the types of actions.

Simple Strike Attack. Each card has magic numbers like 1-2-2 or 3-4-5, etc. - it's a simple blow. The first number is a weak blow, the second is medium, the third is strong. A simple blow can only attack a nearby card. If the attacked creature is exposed, it fights the attacking creature. Each player rolls the dice. First, it becomes clear who threw away more. Then the difference in throws is calculated. For example, the attacker rolled 4, the defender – 1. The difference is 3. We look at the special table to see what happened in the end. Striker throws more + difference 3 = striker hits an average hit that deflects a miss.

From this table you can also find out that it is possible for the attacker to receive damage from the defender if he throws more and with a big difference. So in this game you can easily step on a rake.

Only if the defender is turned, he will not be able to strike back. The attacker deals a weak hit on a die roll of 1-3, a medium hit on a 4-5, and a strong hit on a 6+.

Appointment of a defender. You can assign any face-up creature card that is adjacent to both the defending and attacking creatures at the same time as a defender. In this case, the defender says - I'm sorry, you're not attacking this creature, but me. This is good in cases where you need to save an important card. Defenders are very important in Berserker.

Using the turn feature. Some cards have such properties - they are indicated by a special rotation icon. As a rule, this is some kind of special blow. Only in this case the creature cannot receive a retaliatory blow.

If a creature has wounds equal to or more hit points, it is destroyed. The game ends when one side is completely eliminated.

Elemental Storm

This is a special set in which you will find everything you need to thoroughly get acquainted with the game. Namely:

- rules;

— 6 decks of different elements;

— a deck of neutral cards;

— 2 playing fields (for each player);

- cubes;

- all the necessary chips.

The rules are bright and colorful. Everything you need for the entry level is described there. But I still recommend that after studying this book of rules, download the extended rules from the official website. There are a lot of pages in small print, but all the nuances are described in detail. But you will still have questions sooner or later.

As I already mentioned, in Berserker there are 6 elements. IN Storm of Elements all these elements are represented by full-fledged decks consisting of 30 cards. You can build your own decks from any number of elements, you can add neutral cards, or you can play with mono-decks, which I recommend doing if you are unfamiliar with the game.

Double sided comic

Let's talk about each of the elements, because they differ not only in emblems and card colors.

Akkenians (steppe element). Good warriors who have both strong healthy tanks and small weak warriors who have the skill of throwing and shooting. They often have the “avant-garde” property, which allows them to carry out one unanswered attack with a simple blow to the nearest opponent before the start of the battle. They often know how to “give” enemy creatures the “vulnerability” property, which allows Akkenians to inflict more wounds when attacking.

Archaalites (swamp element). These comrades are masters of poisoning. They have little health, their attacks are very weak, but they have the ability to poison and deal additional damage to poisoned creatures. In addition, when a poisoned creature turns around, it loses health equal to the level of poisoning. Thus, the archaalites simply try not to die before their opponent dies from poisoning. They can also throw and use the Arhaal shield ( are you poisoned? Then I have protection from your non-magical attacks!), and some creatures can also heal if a poisoned creature dies. One of my favorite elements.

Linungi (mountain element). Very interesting guys who master magic. The main mechanics of this element are meditation (allows you to use chips from other cards), spells, discharges and accumulate chips. For discarding counters, the creature can do something super-duper cool. For example, deal 4 damage to all cards in the selected vertical row. It's powerful, believe me. They have protection from ranged attacks and armor. Dedicated to magic lovers.

Guardians of the forest (forest element). Secretive warriors of the forest who, in addition to excellent shooting skills, can gain extra lives. And if you don’t pay attention to some especially well-regenerating creatures, then out of the 4 initial lives they can easily have 15 additional ones.

Slua (element of darkness). The main feature of the darkness cards in this set is vampirism. Extremely dangerous creatures, because when they strike, they are healed for the same number of lives. In addition, the Atalle card can also fly. Difficult opponents.

Draconids (fire element). A completely new element for me. It turned out to be an interesting element. They can throw, shoot, can be strong dragons, burn both strangers and their own, have the skills of jumping over cells, and also have the property of scales - they receive damage only from simple blows while they have 5 or more wounds.

I don’t want to focus too much on neutrals. Except that the Priest of Cthulhu card smiled (once again they remembered Lovecraft).

I was very pleased with the presence of fields. Nice, cardboard ones, with lovely art. Of course, you can’t really bring them to the club with you, but if you take the game for home gatherings, then they are very much in the theme.

There are only 2 cubes, and you don’t need more. Each player gets a dice.

Tokens are offered in bulk on all topics - wounds, poisoning, vulnerabilities, negative effects, extra lives - everything is there.

In general about the game

In this part of the review I will express my thoughts about the game. Berserk. You never know when someone hears about it for the first time and wonders whether it’s worth buying it at all.

Many people compare any collectible card game to Magic for similarities. So here it is Berserk doesn't look like magic. There is no concept of mana, cards move across the field, all selected cards are available at once, there is no random set of cards every turn. This is practically a wargame, but instead of figures there are cards. We immediately have a powerful full-fledged army, which will become weaker with each move. The idea of ​​the game is more reminiscent of chess than Magic: the Gathering.

My opinion about Berserker It's always been like this: a good game for beginner CCG players. This is when you don’t really feel sorry for the money spent, because you’ll learn how to assemble decks, the boosters in the game are inexpensive, and the tournament support is excellent, and if you suddenly get bored, you always have the opportunity to jump to Magic. To be honest, I never wanted to get newbies hooked on expensive games right away.

I have always seen a lot of children in clubs who actively play Bers. Moreover, they only have decks of any kind, at best rarki and promki from free Friday beginner tournaments. And they have fun, they play with pleasure. Older players are looking for ultras in boosters, even buying entire displays for this. But the fact remains that Berserker a deck without super rare cards can beat an expensive deck.

Players often complain about this, because sometimes the cube starts to become very harmful and ruins the whole game. And the seemingly weak enemy army continually delivers strong blows.

Another weak side of the game is that out of your entire deck, only 15 cards will play at most. And who knows what cards they will be. Maybe the ones you're counting on, or maybe the cheap junk you used to plug holes in your deck. On the other hand, other CCGs also have the concept of a starting hand and subsequent drawing of cards every turn. There, too, the cards you may receive are completely different from what you were hoping for. Those. V Berserker your own version of random. Some people like it, some don't.

Another ambiguous option is that all cards are open. There is no surprise from the hand. When you play with a hidden hand, your opponent has no idea whether you are sitting with strong cards or nonsense.

Berserk offers no surprises in this regard. Just like in chess, which I constantly think about today. Everyone clearly knows how the rook moves, the only question is which way it will go. I know for sure that that card over there makes a shot at 2, the only question is who the shot will go to.

Now there are many similar games - SummonerWars, MageWars, For example. There are also fields and its own army, which is laid out on the field, moves along it and inflicts damage on the opponent.

It is very important to try to study the properties of the cards in the deck in advance. Otherwise, the first games have the potential to be boring and tedious.

“I shoot this creature at yours.

- No, brother, he has protection from shots.

- Then that one.

- And he also has protection.

- Who can I use?

- This one, but his defensive reaction will work, and he will respond with a return shot.

- Hm…»

Although there is nothing wrong with this, since all card games require studying the cards. IN Berserker a sea of ​​special terms, so at first the rule book will be very popular with you. What is a blessing? Armor? Vampirism? Shot? Anger? Ranged attack without range indication? Soul catcher? And so on. Be prepared.

35 pages

And the glossary starts from the 15th

For me, this is a relaxing game, a chance to think about who to hit, and enjoy leaving the dice.

About the new release

Either last year or the year before the publishing house Hobby World wanted to launch B abroad, but in the form of LCD, not CCI. And then they added that this version of the game will be intended only for foreigners, and we will remain with the good old collectible format. And I felt sad.

Managed to pick up extra lives

Well, I don’t like CCG, I’m tired of it. A race with legalities, searching for the right cards, opening dozens, or even hundreds of booster packs... no, I definitely don’t want to. I would love to play a free format game where everything is legal and new standard sets are released periodically.

What about that English version? B So still nothing is known. But at the end of last year, a special gift set was released, which I am talking about today.

Previously, all sorts of dueling sets for two players have already been released. There you could find tokens, rules and 2 decks of different elements. In the gift set we receive 6 elements at once, which is good news.

Honestly, I'll say that the set Elemental Storm made me happy. Everything a beginner player needs is in this box. Even if you doubt which elements to play, then Elemental Storm corrects this misunderstanding and allows you to replay with all the elements.

This set can be played quietly at home with family or friends. But with deck building, it probably won’t quite work out. Because it takes time. I can’t imagine a situation where friends who are unfamiliar with the game come to me, I give them a box of cards and say - you choose something for the deck... Most likely I’ll have to put something together for them myself or just play with decks with one element.

It’s even easier when each player has such a set - then you won’t have to argue about who will take the good card. Yes, and it will be possible to play mirror - like a swamp on a swamp.

I enjoyed looking at the draconians, playing with vampires, which I had never played with before (I’m closer to demons and soul catchers with reapers). Once again I was convinced that I love playing in the swamp =)

In general, I felt a wave of nostalgia. For some, this set will be the first step in understanding the world of Laar, followed by tournaments, purchases of boosters, etc. And this set is enough for me to sometimes play with my friends.

I still hope that such sets will still be released, and maybe the CCG format will turn into something else, more interesting to me. Although I recently spoke with a friend of mine, the head of a board games club, and he said the following: “ If they (Hobby World) change the format, they will bury the game, definitely" So who cares what.

I like this set. For those who wanted to get acquainted with the game, this is the best option. The cost of the game is 1140 Russian rubles, which is inexpensive.