Play Nova Island

Nova Island
by Thirteen Games, LLC
Released: Aug 5
FREE

Nova Island is a multiplayer card battler that is all about good energy. In it, you hone decks of colorful “friends” and abilities to compete in contests about generating more power than your opponent. Take turns vying for control of a grid that gives you a chance at harvesting Novas each turn, where the first player to gather 20 wins.

Why you should play it

Nova Island has all of the best components of a digital card game with virtually no downsides. It has a manageable card library, a good variety of game modes, and—most importantly—a match progression and ruleset that isn’t just a re-hash of Magic: The Gathering. It’s also completely free-to-play, with no blind packs, ads, or any other monetization scheme to speak of. Everything about it is chill, fresh, and fun.

Why you might not play it

Despite having no in-app purchases, Nova Island does have a currency system for unlocking cards and modes. This means it can take a while before you really feel like you can make the deck of your dreams or compete seriously in ranked mode (if that’s a thing you want to do). For me, I found the slow ramp a good way to learn the game’s fundamentals, and I now find myself playing the game’s draft mode most often, which doesn’t restrict your card choices based on what you’ve unlocked.

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