The Wild demigod’s eyes glimmer gold. The ground cracks, and from a deep fissure out rumbles an 18-storey Burrowing Wurm.

Its shriek sounding like a thousand caravans dragged beneath the sands. To this terror, the Sage demigod throws a gold coin into a frozen sea. The ice fractures, as a Frost Giant staggers skywards. It rises, shrugging mammoth-sized sheets of ice as easily as dust. The Frost Giant pays tribute to the Sage by throwing the Burrowing Wurm into an ice cage.

At that instant, an Evil demigod flashes his gold emblem. A portal of death yawns open. The Frost Giant turns its head towards the threat, just in time to see the champion Medusa slithering through – the last thing he sees. The newcomer’s gaze petrifies the Giant, cold as the frost he calls home.

Displeased, the demigod of all that is Good caresses her golden necklace. It glows bright. The heavens shudder, and an Avenging Angel meteors towards the battle field. A flash of wings. The writhing of serpents. Blinded by the light, no champion can ever raise arms as long as Angel’s sword is unsheathed.

Epic, the Card Game, is aptly named. There is simply no other game like it.

Epic was designed by Robert Dougherty and Darwin Kastle. Robert actually published the game years ago, but the world wasn’t ready for it. At that time, people were discovering another phenomenon -Magic the Gathering.

In 2014, Robert self-published a breakthrough – Star Realms. The one-on-one space-themed, deck-building game took the world by storm. The secret was its speed. In deck building games, players usually spend turns acquiring cards, building their engines and planning moves. Star Realms felt like a Millennium Falcon to others’ Imperial Star Destroyers. Robert implemented this pace to Epic, with his team at White Wizard Games, revisiting his old design. The premise was to recreate the best parts of the Trading Card Game experience, then stuffing it into a small box.

In Epic, all players get 1 gold a turn – used to deploy a 14/14 creature that can attack the turn it came into play, or perhaps draw a couple of cards, or even banish all champions in play. The absurdity of stuff one can do may lead to being desensitized with its epicness.

There are a myriad of ways to play Epic. One can play two player drafts, grabbing 60 cards from the 120 that comes in the box. One can play random sealed, taking 45 cards (representing 3 packs) each and building a deck from that. Probably any format that works on most card games out there can be done one way or another in one or more packs of Epic.

I would often describe it as Exploding Kittens the card game done right. My son laughed uncontrollably when he smashed my face with 24 damage leaving me with just six life to spare at turn 2. Be aware that because of its nature, one mistake can decide the game. The game SRPs just over $15. Scratches that card game itch for veteran and newbie gamers alike. We can’t recommend it enough. Until next time, make your games count!

Written by: Ron Villaver
Edited by: Reg Tolentino