Game Design Article: Godzilla, Introduction to our Challengers

Welcome Godzilla fans! My name is Jeremy Ray and I was the Lead Designer on the Godzilla Challenger Series. I’m here to talk a little bit about the characters inside the decks and how we translated the King of Monsters into Universus. Let’s start with the monsters in the Godzilla Challenger deck!

GODZILLA CHALLENGER SERIES: GODZILLA & MOTHRA

For the Godzilla deck we wanted to lean into the massive power of the kaiju, creating a theme of high difficulty, high impact attacks. We hinted at this engine with the Godzilla, Minus One promo, with the decks we have a chance to bring you the whole thing. When creating an engine like this, you have to give it the parts it needs to feel good to play, and a worthwhile investment in deckbuilding. The cards we used to really lock in the gameplay flow were City Rampage and History’s Greatest Monster. These gave the high difficulty curve a degree of playability that made the loss of low difficulty attacks not sting too much. Cards like Monster Aggression and Heat Ray helped solidify the payoffs for the investment into the strategy and now it was about how our Monsters used these tools!

Godzilla, King of the Monsters, is the bringer of raw strength. We wanted to capture the hard hitting no nonsense combat style. Godzilla is not one to back down from a fight, turning momentum into fuel to keep on battling. We also wanted to capture Godzilla’s destructive tendencies. The board wipe was an ability we were very excited about early on in development, but also very cautious with in testing. We loved the flavor and thematics, but abilities like this walk a thin line, and you have to be careful about how much advantage can come from it. The restrictions in place mean that it's not general game-ending, just game-changing, and that's the space we wanted to be.

Mothra, Giant Moth Monster is an iconic monster with an array of powers. Mothra has silk to slow and capture enemies, flight at incredible speed, telepathy, electricity projection, antenna beams, and even healing powers. We wanted to make a flexible character to represent as many of those powers as we could. The big hand size gives more options at the start of a turn than any other character in the game, adapting to any situation. A two way speed manipulation that can make attacks nearly unblockable or very easily blockable depending on the situation. All backed up by the ability to dig deep and pick themselves up from being committed for another salvo. We wanted a flexible character who rewards good decision making and good deckbuilding to represent the Mothra and they have become a staff favorite to play for those exact reasons.

Our heroic Mechagodzilla, Kiryu, is next up! Kiryu is a robotic reflection of Godzilla that has its own twist on Godzilla’s might. Kiryu has a few powerful weapons built in, and can use those weapons to have a huge impact. To reflect that we leaned Kiryu into the Powerful and EX keywords so it can dedicate its energy to creating massive modified attacks. Kiryu has the benefit of a human pilot (usually), so it makes the most out of every tool it has, finding tactical uses and advantages for its attacks represented by its card draw!

GODZILLA CHALLENGER SERIES: KING GHIDORAH & RODAN

Up next we have the malicious Emperor of the Cosmos, King Ghidorah! The theme we wanted to really lean into for this deck was the monster's appetite for destruction, friend or foe; everything is to be wiped out in pursuit of their goals. These decks reward you for removing cards from play with cards like Multiple Bites and Combined Firepower. Sometimes those rewards are even more direct like the big damage from Death From Above or the return of the Galactic Monster from your removed from game pile. All while taking away your opponent's resources with cards like Golden Death, Tri-Gravity Beams and Monster Zero.

The golden King Ghidorah is first up. The thematics of our three headed monster’s “Ghidorah counters” need little explanation. In order to finish Ghidorah off, every head must be accounted for, they will not stop battling ‘til every head is lost. Ghidorah comes from space with mysterious origins and a variety of powers at their disposal. Ghidorah is ready for any fight, using powerful Gravity Beams and 3 independent thinking and functioning heads to find a way to destroy any obstacle, reflected in the ability to grab any card desired to solve any problem. The ultimate toolbox.

Rodan the master of speed. Sometimes a friend of Godzilla and sometimes a foe, but always a destructive force. Rodan uses incredible speed and flight to scout for opponents weaknesses and swoop in at just the right time. This is reflected mechanically with the ability to rearrange the top of your deck, dodging bad checks and grabbing needed cards. The more destruction caused in battle, the more clear the picture becomes. The supersonic speed of Rodan is the signature power. Using it to avoid opponents' attacks, make their own attacks nearly unguardable, and to even create supersonic sound based attacks. Rodan is a master of the skies and a force to be reckoned with in any fight.

Our second Mechagodizilla is here, the evil Bionic Menace. Created by aliens and sent to invade earth, the Bionic Menace has one purpose: to destroy all opposition. The Bionic Menace’s super hard body and various defensive techniques make it tough to attack, especially without inflicting some damage on yourself. When it is on the offensive, it unleashes an all out barrage of weaponry, burning through its own arsenal (and deck!) of weapons in a flurry of devastating missiles, flames and energy attacks that very few things can withstand.

I hope you enjoyed this glance into the Monsters in our Godzilla Challenger Series decks! I am personally a huge fan of Godzilla myself and loved the time I spent working with the team to build these exciting decks. I hope you find a kaiju that is the perfect match for your playstyle!