If you want to succeed in God Unchained, you'll have to learn a fair few things. Recognizing the cards, learning the game mechanics, and building a custom deck suited to your style. Without a doubt, deck building is the most impactful part of Gods Unchained and pretty much any TCG (trading card game). You can channel your creativity and playstyle through your deck and conquer your way up the ranks.
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This guide covers everything deck related. We will show you how to earn your first free-to-play card packs and create a custom deck. Later on, we will discuss the three main deck types used in the current meta and give you several custom decks created by the GU community.
Before we get started, check out our “Five Steps Before You Play” article if you need a quick tutorial on how to download, install and set up a wallet on GU. It’ll walk you through every step, and you can return to the deck guide after the setup is complete. Anyway, without further adieu, let’s get to it.
Earning your first free card packs
Now, the tutorials are optional, but we do strongly recommend you do them nevertheless. Completing the tutorials will award card packs, giving you a bit more freedom when we get to deck building.
To get started with the tutorial, select Arena from the top left corner, and pick the Tutorial option from the game mode menu.
After clicking Select Mission, you will get to pick which mission you would like to complete. As of this moment, there are two available missions, each rewarding a free card pack.
You can replay these missions whenever you want, though you will only receive a card pack once. More missions will be unlocked in the future, so stay tuned to claim the rewards when available.
The Cards
Let’s take a moment to talk about cards. Cards in GU have a lot going on. Tribe, Rarity, Quality, Domain, and more are all displayed on the card, each playing a certain role in the game. Explaining every characteristic would take way too long, so in this article, we will stick to the ones that matter the most during deck building: Domain and Rarity.
You can brush up on the full anatomy of the cards in our Cards and Sets guide.
Domain
Each card in Gods Unchained will belong to one of the 6 domains. These are:
- War
- Light
- Nature
- Deception
- Magic
- Death
You can recognize the domain of the card by the color of the mana cost crystal and the shape of the border in the top left corner. If the gem is colorless, then it is a neutral card and does not belong to any domain.
When building a deck, you have to dedicate it to one of the domains and are only able to select cards belonging to the selected domain and neutral cards.
Rarity
Rarity is the second attribute you need to consider when building a deck. Rarity can be determined by looking at the gems on the side of the cards. All the cards in GU belong to one of the five rarities:
- Common
- Rare
- Epic
- Legendary
- Mythic
Besides the maximum number of 30 cards per deck, there is a limit to the number of copies you can bring. Two copies of Common, Rare, and Epic cards are allowed per deck, but only One Legendary And Mythic.
This is the bare minimum you should know before you start tinkering with decks, but again, we recommend taking a look at our “Cards and Sets” piece to fully understand every attribute of cards in GU.
Creating A Deck
To create a deck, navigate to the Workshop menu from the top row.
You will see the 6 starter decks dedicated to each of the domains we have prepared for you to try out. Feel free to give these a test drive against the AI in a Solo challenge in the Arena. These decks are here to give a feel for each domain, as every god in GU is better suited to certain playstyles.
Afterward, click on Create a Deck and decide to who you want to dedicate it to. These are the domains we spoke about earlier.
Choose a god, and you will be presented with every neutral card and corresponding card from the same domain.
Honestly, it would be downright amazing if you get an idea for a deck when starting out in GU. Creating a strong deck takes a lot of game knowledge and a decent chunk of experience. To help accelerate this process, let’s talk about general strategies and playstyles the experienced players stick to.
The Four Principles
GU is one of the oldest successful Web3 projects and has undergone a lot of change during its existence. Buffs and nerfs, whole mechanic reworks, GU has seen it all. The committed community in Gods Unchained has always adapted and created new strategies fitting the meta. Four distinct playstyles have become dominant over the years, and we will discuss them shortly. Keep in mind that these are not ironclad rules. You can combine these styles and create something unique.
Aggro
Aggro decks focus on striking fast and striking quick. Low-cost aggressive cards with vigorous effects like Blitz are the driving force behind these decks. With aggro decks, you overwhelm your opponent before they can set up. As they say, the best defense is a good offense. Naturally, aggro decks are the “end all be all” choice in GU. Every decision you make is very important, and there isn't much room for error at all. If you're trying to end the match as soon as possible, you better be ready to play it perfectly.
Midrange
The idea behind midrange decks is to have several powerful creatures/cards in your decks and adapt your playstyle as the match goes on. These decks aren't the most beginner friendly, as they require you to have some pretty powerful cards in your deck, but the sense of complete domination of the battlefield is a given reward when sticking to the midrange playstyle.
Control
As the name implies, control decks focus on controlling the flow of the battle. Outthink your opponent, counter their spells, and destroy their creatures, and when they have nothing left to throw at you, go on the offensive. Control decks take a while to get going, and surviving the early game is the main challenge. Players need to plan out their moves and bait out the powerful cards held by the opponent to claim victory.
Combo
Combo decks are some of the most unique and weird builds in GU. Think of a plan before going into battle, and make that plan come true no matter the cost. Throw cheap spells at your opponent and confuse them with a strategy only you know about. Combo decks take a bit of everything and pull off some of the flashiest plays in the game.
Need some inspiration?
Generally speaking, trading card games require a lot of practice and experience to get good at. Building effective decks will call for extensive game knowledge. Our developers and the player community both recognize this fact. In the Workshop menu, you have to option to Import decks just by copying and pasting a deck code found on excellent community-driven websites like GUdecks. To further save you some trouble, we will provide some starter deck combinations hand-picked by
Aggro Nature
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Control Nature
GU_1_5_HADHADHAEHAEHAFHAFHAzHAzHABHABHACHACHAHHAHHAxHAxHAJHAJHAlHAlHAOHAOHBAHAaHAaHAvHAvHAYHAYHAw
Midrange Nature
GU_1_5_HAEHAEHAFHAFHAyHAyHAzHAzHABHABHAHHAHHAxHAxHAJHAJHAQHAQHAOHAOHBAHBAHAvHAvHBBHBBHAUHAUHAwHAw
Aggro War
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Control War
GU_1_6_HADHADHAEHAEHAFHAFHAbHAbHAgHAgHACHACHAHHAHHAjHAjHAJHAJHAKHAKHAcHAcHAOHAOHAiHAiHATHATHAVHAZ
Midrange Death
GU_1_1_HADHADHAEHAEHAFHAFHAGHAGHABHABHAHHAHHBKHBKHAJHAJHAKHAKHAQHAQHANHANHAOHAOHASHASHBEHBEHAVHAV
Control Death
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Do not limit yourself to these decks. Explore all the community resources available to you, and discover a deck best suited to your needs.
Well, that's all the basic stuff about deckbuilding in GU. Truth be told, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and there is still a lot of ground to cover before mastering the game. We wish you luck on your journey, Mortal, and remember, don't hesitate to ask the community for help.
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