PLAYISM and Lizardry announced Card Make Arena. This game is a card battler. Players design their own cards in the game. Card Make Arena will be available in Early Access on PC via Steam in 2026. Lizardry previously developed Refind Self, an adventure game about personality tests.
Cards Designed Entirely by Players
Every card in Card Make Arena is created by players. From the card’s name and abilities to its artwork, everything can be customized. The game features three types of cards. Servant cards attack and defend on the board. Spell cards provide one-time effects. Land cards form the battle board.
Players can combine up to 60 different types of effects. Some examples include damage, recovery, summoning, destruction, and enchantment. You can also set the trigger for these effects. For example, an effect can be activated when a card is summoned, when it attacks, or at the beginning or end of a turn.
The system of conditions, tags, and variables adds depth to card design. A card’s power can change depending on the game situation. For example, a card becomes stronger when a player has no cards in hand.
Simple Rules, Deep Strategies
Winning in Card Make Arena is quite simple. Players win by reducing their opponent’s leader’s HP to 0. Each turn consists of four phases. The turn begins, mana replenishes, the player plays a card, and then auto-battle takes place.
A Servant card placed on the board attacks forward. This card deals damage equal to its ATK value. A Servant whose HP is depleted is placed in the discard pile. The placement position determines the attack target—either the opponent’s leader or an opponent’s Servant.
Players have only four slots for Servant cards. There is only one slot for Spell cards, so players can use only one Spell card per turn. Land cards activate their effects when a Servant is placed on them.
Almost Unlimited Combinations, Yet Still Balanced
The number of possible card combinations a player can create reaches approximately 10 sextillion, or 10 to the power of 22. This figure is derived from combinations involving the card’s name, ATK, HP, number of effects, effect type, effect target, effect timing, effect value, conditions, artwork, and more.
Even so, Card Make Arena has a system that prevents cards from becoming too powerful. Each effect has its own Cost. The more powerful the effect, the higher the Cost. The total Cost in a single deck is also capped.
Stacking the same effect on a single card will cause its Cost to skyrocket. This system prevents players from creating cards that can deplete the opponent’s leader’s HP in a single attack. The game also compares the Cost difference between both players’ decks. The player with the lower Cost receives a bonus based on that difference before the match begins.
Players who want to play without Cost restrictions can try ROOM Battles. This mode allows for matches with no Cost limit, as long as both players agree.
Different Ways to Play
Card Make Arena offers several game modes. Players can battle to earn RANK points. At the highest tier, there’s the Rate Ranking. Players can also share their custom cards using the Community Cards feature. This feature ranks cards based on the number of Likes and Copies.
In addition, players can battle using a random deck made up of cards uploaded by the community to Community Cards. This mode is perfect for casual gameplay with an element of luck.
Announcement Trailer (English)
Announcement Trailer (Japanese)
