Two Elementalists roam around in this sphere of existence since eons: one of them wants to bring order to the world, even if it requires oppression, while the other wants to bring freedom, even if it leads to chaos. They fight an etertnal struggle with the help of the creatures of the four elements, gathering them and sending them againts each other time to time, to steal the Elixir of Eternal Existence from their enemy.

Duelements is a 2-player only confrontative set collection card game, in which the players play along the conflict of these two Elementalists in 20-30 minutes. The game is divided into rounds, consisting of two main phases: first, the players draft teams of 3 creatures from a deck of 12 cards; then they reveal their teams and score points for several aspects. You may gain points for creatures with elements matching the randomly chosen battlefield, multiple creatures in your team with the same type (melee, ranged or flying), or for the basic power of your creatures. Also, both players must choose a leader from their 3 cards: the leader creature will utilize its special ability during the combat, thus changing scoring.

After the combat, the Elementalist with a fewer score loses the difference of the two scores from their pool of Elixir. If a player runs out of their 12 lifepoints, the other player wins. Thanks to the large variety of scoring points – as well as the synergy of the abilities with other creatures -, there isn’t any single golden tactic, the players always have to adapt to the options.

More experienced players may add one or both the add-ons to the core game: the Alternate Creature Deck provides 12 new creature cards to try but the original and the add-on deck can also be combined many ways; the Forgotten Worlds add-on introduces 9 new battlefield cards, which do not only determine the current trump element, but activate a special rule for that particular round.

Strengths

• short, can even be played during a lunchbreak
• the 12 creature cards are easy to see through and calculate
• compact, can be played on a train
• the alternate creatures make it possible to build a unique deck each game
• a large variety of tactical options, as every combination has its counter

Designer’s note

As a game designer, I have always looked up to games that provide a replayable, complex experience with only a handful of components: I consider, for instance, Love Letter, Fox in the Forest/Fox in the Forest Duet, Brutal Kingdom, or even Fantasy Realms as examples for this. These games are easily portable, cost effective, and we do not need much space or special circumstances for them. These can be perfectly played on the beach, on transport, in a pub with a drink or on the school desk in a break. I myself try to create mostly such games and I think Duelements stands the closest to these principles.