Fantasy Masters Explained

Fantasy Masters
Released:2002 April -South Korea, 2007 November -International
Genre:Fantasy, NTCG(Network Trading Card Game)
Modes:Single-player, multiplayer

Fantasy Masters is South Korea's first online trading card game, developed by Zeonix. It was released in April 2002, and is currently available in South Korea and China.

The English version of the game, Fantasy Masters International, was released on November 27, 2007. The international version can be played in any country worldwide, excluding Korea and China.

History

Early Open Beta test of Fantasy Masters began in April, 2002. As the first online trading card games in Korea, popularity has quickly taken its toll by enthusiasts. It was officially released on January, 2003 as semi-free NTCG game.

Game play

Games are played either one vs one or two vs two. When both players are ready, the game starts. The game screen is divided in three sections: battle area in which the battle takes place, info area where a player can check the opponent's status and yours, and the chat area.

Players take their turns (or phases) to summon their cards in order to prepare for Battle Phase. In order to summon any cards, players must have enough souls to summon, which can be acquired mainly by Land cards on player's backfield. Most Land cards do not require souls to play them. All Spells and Units on the front field engage in combat in the Battle Phase, and remaining cards come back to the preparation phase, and repeat until one of them wins the game.

The first player to deplete the opponent's Life or Deck by 0 wins the game. If both players' Life or Deck have reached 0 at the same time, offending player takes the win.

Playing the game is entirely free.

Coins

One unique aspects of the game is the coin system. For every battle between units, each player flips up to 5 coins. Depending on how many heads are flipped, a unit's stats (AP/DP/HP) change accordingly, creating drastic changes in battle outcomes.

Constructing Deck

A deck is made up of 50 cards, with at least one Land card included. It is the core part of the game, and at least one complete deck is required to play the game. A free starter deck is given to all players when their account is first made. Decks can be edited within the server.

There are four types of card in Fantasy Masters: Land, Unit, Item, and Spell. Generally, Lands generate souls, Units attack other player's Units or Life/Deck, Items reinforce Units' power, and Spells do various effect to win the battle.

Collecting cards

Collecting cards is one of main elements of Fantasy Masters. There are 8 regular ways to collect cards in the Korean version, and many limitations are imposed on players in order to maintain economies of the game. Occasionally players can get free cards from the event held by Zeonix. Ordinarily, cards can be collected from Card Market, Booster Market, Trade, Album, Upgrade, Card Mix, Deck Market, and Auction.

Rarity of cards are set by 12 grades. From least to the most, they are: Free, Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legend, while rarity of Basic, Trade, Upgrade, Unique, Special, Prize, and Event grades varies with individual cards.

Currently the Korean version has published over 6,700 cards, while English version quickly catching up with over 1,300 published cards.

Elements

Fantasy Masters consists of seven different elements: Dark, Fire, Water, Green, Metal, Earth, and Light. Event and Legend cards are considered as Light.

Community Support

Fantasy Masters' community has been very active, due to the website being the source of card market. Korean FM currently supports Guild, League, and Ranking services. The website also supports Wizard board and FM Cartoon. Many cards are based on players' ideas from Wizard board, where selected user name is embedded in the card.

League

After numerous demonstration leagues which began in December 2003, the regular monthly leagues and the semiannual tournament championship matches consisting of monthly league winners began in May 2004, in Korean FM. League winners are awarded with the prize grade card that can be sold to market at huge sum of GP. Championship winners are awarded with physical prizes. Electronic Sports League for International version has officially begun in September 2008.

External links