People who boost their decks through real cash have the advantage/upper hand against those who don't. Why is that, you ask? Because the match-making system pairs newcomers (with only their starter decks) against these sharkers. If you think it's "fun" or "challenging" to play against someone who has 40+ arsenal of devastating cards while you've only got a starter deck, then by all means play the game and enjoy in this sadomasochistic merry-go-round. The game has potential, so it's kinda sad to see that pay-2-win and an unfair matchmaking system (there are almost always around ~200 players online, so I don't see why shouldn't a newbie be matched with a newbie) makes it a title to stay clear of... at least until (and if) these issues are adressed properly (alongside the ridiculous paywall for the new heroes.)

Conquest of Garbage -

0 Matchmaking

Buggy mechanics

Paid advantage

I'd reccomend waiting until its more polished if you have any intentions of taking a match seriously.

EDIT: I've stopped playing Conquest, so this review may be outdated already (I know 1 or 2 major updates to gameplay have already transpired since this review). It's taking very long in early access, and I would not invest in it unless you're OK with an indefinite release date. there aren't really enough players in game atm to keep a steady flow of live games, and I dont enjoy asynchronous mode with this game.

It's currently in early access as I write this review, so there is somewhat of a low population. Worsened by the fact that this is a tactical ccg genre, it is already a smaller niche audience. The matches take very long (20-40 minutes on average). The grind is pretty slow. It is not very pay-2-win, but it is pay to skip or pay to accelerate. You don't have to grind for 3000 gold for a new deck, when you can plop down $5 for that deck. They are intending to give all 3 starter decks for free (which is what they announced for future plans). Buying more cards/decks doesn't necessarily give you an assured win, but it helps to optimize your deck's strategy (boom, rush, turtle, etc). Everything you can buy with real money, you can buy with in-game currency. The deck you will have in a 1-2 month's time, you can get right away by purchasing with real money. But then after 1-2 months of playing, you'll be re-earning tons of cards you've actually bought with card packs.

Overall, I am a hardcore fan of the tactics genre, so I will recommend this to other hardcore fans. But I hope they make their game more accessible to the general audience. Games are very long, it is hard to find other new players or AI to practice against, and it will take a few weeks of grinding before you get a really competitive deck.

Newbies in particular will have a hard time, since its low population, you will get matched with more experienced players very often. While this may seem very unfair at the start, you will gain a more competitive deck over time and understand the game better by playing better players. I reached top 20 rankings after two weeks of playing, but only after matching top 10 players consistently. It is a shark tank for newbies at the moment, and many do not survive :-) If you don't have the patience or dedication to get through the initial hump, this game probably isn't for you.

I was deciding between Conquest, Scrolls and Faeria for a tactical CCG. But Faeria will be in closed beta until end of 2014 and Scrolls is dead, so you might as well try Conquest out anyway, because 1) what's the harm in trying, 2) it's free to try out. gl hf.

Conquest of Champions is a game that has a lot of shiny things dangling in front of you, but the only way to reach them is by wading through pools of mud. It just makes you go through a lot of hassle to get something you want. That, or you just do it the dirty way by forking over money and gambling for digital cards. And it's for that reason I have a bit of trouble recommending this to people.

If you guys want to see the basic gist of the game, here's a quick look video showing off its gameplay and most of its good side. It's long for a quick look, but strategy games always never go quick. And for those of you who like to keep things brief, I'll leave the summary below.

http://youtu.be/VzypW8CM2-0

I'll start by saying the gameplay is solid. The way to win the game is simple, just kill the enemy hero and the towers on their side, but what makes it fun is the mechanics behind it. There's tons of interesting units and spells that do a variety of things, and the units themselves all have specific abilities on top of filling the board. The heroes you control have powerful special abilities and can transform into even bigger monsters that dominate your foes. The resource mechanic of gems, action points, and cards flow well together. Are you out of actions? Then use gems to squeeze 3 more beatings out on your opponent. Running out of cards? Sacrifice one gem to luckily draw the spell you need to finish off a unit. And if you're short on gems, there are plenty of cards that give you more, and units can easily build mines to increase the flow once again. Combine it all together and you got yourself a mashup of meat and magic pounding against each other in the center of the battlefield. And the one named the victor is usually the one with the best chemistry and tactics.

But now that I got the reason you should play this game out of the way, I have to tell you about the stuff dragging the game through the dirt.

You start the game by selecting a hero out of 3 separate factions (basically the typical fantasy dwarfs, elves, and undead. Nothing new or unique). What you really don't know is that you're choosing the ONLY hero you can play without forking over money or gold. That's right, you pretty much go on a blind date that ends up as a shotgun wedding, so I hope you're happy with what you pick. Sure you can start a new account for free, but why should you have to go through the hassle just to try out another playstyle? And if you do, you won't be able to pool all your cards together from your other accounts, so it highly discourages you from changing right off the bat.

Another peeve of mine is most of the cards you get as rewards you can't even use. Imagine how I felt after I played multiple 30 minute matches, opened up a deck with the gold I acquired, and I could only use a SINGLE card out of the 5 given to me. One of the cards was even a component you can only make use of by combining 3 other ones to MAYBE craft a card you need. And even then, you need to level up your hero/faction in order to even craft the bloody thing in the first place.

And speaking of crafting, let me tell you a little more on how bad it is. Plain and simple, you cannot craft the all the cards you really want and make the deck that suits your playstyle. Instead, you can only make 4 for the faction you have. And even then they smear dirt in your face because you have to get lucky with crafting drops in order to do it. It's just a sad, sad joke.

Now don't get me wrong. I get the reason they do this. It's a FTP game, and they want to make money by charging you for more cards. That's perfectly fine and acceptable. But why should they limit you so greatly to just playing a single hero? Sure I may like him, but I want to see/test if I'd like another one better. I want diversity! What they should be charging for is just cards that tweak each faction, or at least grant us one of each of the factions' heroes so we at least can grasp the basic mechanics behind each one. That way when I get a card for a certain faction, I can actually use the damn thing without it being completely useless to me. I'm even able to overlook the garbage cards you can't use in anything besides crafting if they at least grant you access to other heroes from the very start.

And since we're still on the topic of their business model, nothing pisses me off more than a token system that almost NEVER comes out even. This isn't Chuck E. Cheese. There should be straight cash bundles for everything I want. Most people don't want leftover hot dogs without buns. But that's the kind of crap you're gonna be dealing with as you'll have to overbuy crystals in order to get what you really want. It's just dirty business practice.

*(updated) It looks like they have some straight cash bundles on steam now, which is a good start. Let's hope they stay there*

But still, I think the enjoyment I had in the game outweighed my annoyances. But just marginally. It being a FTP game made that so. I also would've listed that lacking playerbase as a negative since it's so hard to find a match, but with this being released on steam, it will hopefully fix that. That, and they are promising to implement a card auction/trading system, so hopefully that'll also fix the card issues just as long as they don't milk you. It is only early access, and they are probably going to listen to their community so that some of these issues are fixed. If they have good sense, anyway.

So all-in-all, I think you should give this game a shot and see if it's for you, just as long as what I listed doesn't bother you. It's still fun and a decent time-waster that'll put your brain to work. And my brain certainly needs work.

Online only game that is no more. Do not buy any DLC or attempt to download. It will just waste time. Servers closed. Game shut down. Should be no longer a live option on Steam.

Overall, a very fun game. I constantly find myself getting sucked in for "just one more turn". Only downside is, if you aren't going to pay-to-win (which I won't), unlocking card packs takes a rather long time, especially considering you only end up with 7 cards. Despite that, a very awesome game, and I highly recommend it.

Great game, it's extremely polished, especially for an Early Access game. Yes, there are glaring bugs that do get annoying, but don't let that stop you from jumping in and having fun.
I have actually never played a CCG that was LESS pay to win. Let me repeat that, this game is absolutely NOT pay to win and those that have stated it is...I'm honestly not sure what they could be talking about. In the time I've played, already I've crafted all but four of the "Exotic" cards that can be crafted. After 200 matches, I've not gotten every card I've wanted, but I'd say 90% of the current release is sitting in my library.
The interface, is very tablet-centric, and I do not like that, however, due to feedback, it seems the next patch will make the interface less tablet focused and be more appealing to the PC gamer.

7/10 ya gets what ya pays for...
If you can ignore the lo-res mobile device port aspect, it's actually a pretty decent little CCG/TBS game. Certainly worth a crack, so far I haven't hit a paywall.

Game has a great tactics system backed up with deck building. Themed approach to deck building which is a great thought out process by the development team. Simple startup and go with minimal learning curve. The ability to redo turns felt slightly cheaty in the beginning but actually "taught" me more of the indepth decision making moving and casting and positiong can do to help your summoned army win.

Only real con is that player base seems kinda small. Main reason for writing the post is to encourage players that enjoy TCG and Tactics games to give this one a go.

I've been playing CCGs since the first year of Magic and Spellfire(TSR's CCG based on D&D characters) so it takes alot for me to get excited about a CCG since I've seen everything done before. The bad reviews for this game almost made me pass it up and that would truly have been a shame because I would have missed out on such a gem.

This game has everything. Upgradeable cards, asynchronious play, a good mix of ccg and board game elements, and a micro- reward system. Every turn you play you get something. It might be some gold or some clan experience(which lets you craft better clan specific units), crafting material or even a random card.

Yes, there is some pay to win aspects. However, all content can be bought with in game currency so it will just take you a bit longer to get something if you don't want to pay. From what I see it does not cause an imbalance. I have not paid a cent and have played 10 games so far and have won 9 of them. The other downside is that the playerbase is small right now. I went from ranked 580 with 1 win to ranked 205 in two hours of playing, however there are usually between 20-25 players on at any given time.

Overall a great CCG and I highly recommend it.