Game Mechanics
Game Flow
Each match is a series of rounds. Each round follows this sequence:
- Deal — Both players draw a hand of 3 creatures. Surviving creatures from the previous round carry over (healed 50% of missing HP). Dead slots get fresh draws from your deck.
- Betting Round 1 — Standard poker-style betting with check, bet, raise, call, fold, and all-in actions. Blinds are posted based on the current blind level.
- Reveal — Both players' hands are revealed simultaneously. Each player has a free reveal token to scout one opponent slot before the reveal.
- Betting Round 2 — A second betting round with full information about both hands.
- Battle — Creatures fight slot by slot. The side with more surviving creatures wins the pot. If both sides have equal survivors, the side with higher total remaining HP% wins.
- Result — Chips are awarded to the winner. The match continues until one player runs out of chips.
Betting Rules
Betting follows standard poker conventions:
- Blinds — The small blind and big blind are posted automatically each round. The dealer position alternates between players.
- Actions — Check (pass when no bet), bet (open with a wager), raise (increase an existing bet), call (match the current bet), fold (forfeit the round), all-in (wager all remaining chips).
- Position — The non-dealer acts first in each betting round. The dealer has positional advantage (acts last).
Blind Schedule
Blinds escalate every 3 rounds to prevent infinite games:
| Rounds | Small Blind | Big Blind | Starting Pot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| 4–6 | 8 | 16 | 24 |
| 7–9 | 12 | 24 | 36 |
| 10+ | 20 | 40 | 60 |
Combat Resolution
Creatures battle slot by slot. In each slot:
- The faster creature (higher speed) attacks first.
- Damage = attacker's ATK, modified by type advantage (1.75x if advantaged).
- Abilities trigger based on their conditions (first strike, thorns, etc.).
- Combat continues in the slot until one creature is defeated or a draw occurs.
The side with more surviving creatures wins the round.
Type Matchups
There are 6 creature types arranged in a wheel. Each type has advantage over the next two types and is weak against the two types before it:
Beast → Bird → Plant → Undead → Arcane → Dragon → (back to Beast)
Each type beats the next 2 in the chain. Advantage deals 1.75x damage.
Combos
Your hand is checked for patterns before battle. The best combo found applies stat bonuses to all your creatures. Higher-tier combos take priority when multiple are possible.
| Combo | Condition | Bonus | Min Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evolution | Same type with consecutive levels (e.g., Lv1, Lv2, Lv3) | +25% damage on all attacks | 3 |
| Trio | All 3 creatures share the same type | +15% HP to all creatures | 3 |
| Spectrum | All creatures are different types | +5 ATK to all creatures | 3 |
| High Hand | All creatures are Level 3 or higher | +6 ATK to all creatures | 2 |
| Underdogs | All creatures are Level 1 | +20% HP to all creatures | 2 |
| Pair | At least 2 creatures share the same type | +2 ATK to all creatures | 2 |
In team modes (2v2), only combos requiring 2+ cards can activate. In 1v1 and 3v3, all combos are available.
Team Modes
Creature Poker supports three battle formats:
| Mode | Cards Per Side | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| 1v1 | 3 | Classic mode. You draw 3 creatures from your deck. |
| 2v2 | 2 | You contribute 1 creature, your AI teammate contributes 1. Two slot battles. |
| 3v3 | 3 | You contribute 1 creature, two AI teammates each contribute 1. Three slot battles. |
In team modes, you can only mulligan your own card (slot 1), but you can swap card positions across all team slots. Betting is shared — the whole team pools chips.
Creature Persistence
Creatures that survive a battle carry over to the next round. They heal 50% of their missing HP between rounds. Dead creatures are replaced with fresh draws from your deck. This creates an incentive to keep your creatures alive rather than just winning battles.
Ranked Mode
Ranked mode provides fair, power-capped matches with a progression system. Your rank is determined by Rank Points (RP) earned from wins and losses.
Rank Tiers
| Tier | RP Required | Max Avg Level | Stakes | AI Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 0 | 1.5 | Low | Easy |
| Silver | 500 | 2.0 | Medium | Medium |
| Gold | 1,000 | 2.5 | High | Hard |
| Diamond | 2,000 | Unlimited | High | Hard |
Deck Power
Deck power is the average creature level across your entire deck. Each tier has a maximum average level cap. If your deck exceeds the cap for your current tier, you cannot start a ranked match until you adjust your deck. This ensures fair matches regardless of collection progress.
RP Progression
- Win: +30 RP
- Loss: −15 RP (positive expected value encourages climbing)
- Floor protection: Once you reach a new tier, you cannot drop below its RP threshold. No demotion anxiety!
Stakes and AI difficulty are locked to your current tier. The AI also respects the same power cap, so both sides draw from an equivalent creature pool.
Deck Building
Your deck contains 6–12 creatures. You can buy new creatures from the shop using gold earned from matches. The shop offers random creatures with rarity-weighted appearance rates. You can also sell creatures for 50% of their shop price.
Stakes
Matches are played at three stake levels, each with different buy-ins and rewards:
| Tier | Buy-in | Win Reward | Starting Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 50 gold | 120 gold | 100 |
| Medium | 100 gold | 225 gold | 300 |
| High | 200 gold | 450 gold | 600 |
Card Packs & Cosmetics
Card Packs are the cosmetic reward system. Open packs to collect card backs, card frames, foil effects, emotes, and avatars. All cosmetics are purely visual — no gameplay power is sold.
Currencies
| Currency | Source | Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Match rewards | Standard Packs, creature shop |
| Gems | Premium currency (coming soon) | Premium & Legendary Packs |
| Dust | Duplicate cosmetics | Crafting specific cosmetics |
Pack Types
Each pack contains 4 items with a guaranteed rare or better in every pack.
| Pack | Price | Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 100 Gold | 55% | 30% | 12% | 3% |
| Premium | 200 Gems | 40% | 32% | 20% | 8% |
| Legendary | 500 Gems | 20% | 30% | 30% | 20% |
Pity Timer
If you open 20 packs without receiving a Legendary item, your next pack is guaranteed to contain one. The counter resets whenever you pull a Legendary.
Dust & Crafting
Duplicate items are automatically converted to Dust. Use Dust to craft any specific cosmetic you want.
| Rarity | Dust from Duplicate | Craft Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 5 | 25 |
| Rare | 20 | 100 |
| Epic | 50 | 400 |
| Legendary | 200 | 1,600 |
Cosmetic Categories
| Category | Items | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Card Backs | 5 | Custom design on the back of face-down cards (Obsidian, Tentacles, Sigil, Dragon Scale, Void Nexus) |
| Card Frames | 5 | Decorative border around creature cards (Obsidian, Blood, Crystal, Celestial, Infernal) |
| Foil Effects | 4 | Animated shimmer overlay on face-up cards (Holo, Rainbow, Void, Golden) |
| Emotes | 5 | Quick reactions during matches (Nice!, GG, Skull, Slow Clap, Mind Blown) |
| Avatars | 5 | Player portrait display (Beast, Dragon, Undead, Arcane, Void Lord) |
Equip cosmetics from the Collection screen, accessible via the PACKS menu in the lobby.