Sep 24, 2019 | Admin IG

Why You Should Try: Minion Masters

It feels like strategy games are a dime a dozen these days, so when I came across Minion Masters it really caught my attention. Rewarding deep game play, reasonable free-to-play progression, and most importantly it wasn’t pay-to-win -- all of the sudden I had found my new obsession. In the coming weeks, and after many extended game play sessions, I was hooked and equally impressed by the effort Beta Dwarf had put forth -- an ambitious project that was capable of keeping me coming back.

The Game Play is Great

The elephant in the room when it comes to Minion Masters is its similarities to a popular cell phone game by the name "Clash Royale." For those of us who were hooked on Clash, Minion Masters feels immediately familiar, without feeling like some of the clones that popped up since Clash hit the app store. Minion Masters has its own style, feel, aesthetic but most importantly it blazes its own trail by not deluding the competition through expensive card upgrades. In Minion Masters, players create 10 card decks that allow you to play cards in battle with mana on a symmetrical battle field as they march toward an enemy tower to attack; once when players tower is destroyed the game is over. The cards will all perform different interactions on the battle field and with the strategy revolving around the interaction of the over 150 cards in the game. Matches are fluid and polished, with a number of different game modes to both mix up the game play or help yourself earn in game rewards. There are ladder systems for both solo and team play, adding another layer to tailor your game experience.

It’s Free-to-Play, NOT Pay-to-Win

Minion Masters doesn’t rely on micro transaction for you to power up your cards. Instead, it relies on systems more similar to MTG: Arena or Hearthstone when it comes to gaining new cards. This does wonders for competitive balance as the meta is deep and constantly evolving. You get the feeling that every card has its place, because every card has had the opportunity to be worked out by the player once they picked it up. Most importantly it isn’t creating a competitive gap with a pay wall. Once you have the cards, it’s up to your skill to take you the rest of the way.

There are Frequent Updates and Balance Changes

Since I started playing Minion Masters several months ago, the game has gone through 3 major content patches. New Masters, units, and cosmetics have all been added as well as balance changes to go along with them. You get the feeling Beta Dwarf really wants to get the game just right, while still expanding the universe and keeping the game play fresh and interesting. There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight either, their next update as of this article (Update 1.5) has recently been announced and is starting to see previews already, so there doesn’t appear to be any stagnation in the Arena of Masters.

There are great perks for streamers and online community members

Minion Masters doesn’t hide the fact it’s an eSports event. Campy announcers with flamboyant play by play calls are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the presentation style. As an extension of this, excellent perks for both streamers and watchers alike are available to help progress your account. Beta Dwarf’s has an active streamer rewards system in place to help promote streams and engage the viewers with rewards. The online community has been very active in putting together tournaments with prize pools. Contests are frequently held on the Minion Masters Discord, adding yet another dimension to the way Beta Dwarf works with their player base and helps engage the games community.

It’s Fun!

One of the tag lines the developers gave the game was that they 'created the game they wanted to play' and it shows. At the end of the day, Minion Masters hits the mark in the most important place for a game: it’s fun. It’s not uncommon to get stuck into a pattern of, “Ok one more game” for several hours once you get going. With such a large base of cards and modes to play, there are many ways to keep the game play fresh, as well as progress your account. If you have been looking for a strategy game that is trying to get your time and not your money, give Minion Masters a try, it just might be the game you and your wallet were looking for.