Battles version 2 is a huge wild card in the future of Axie Infinity. Everything we know and love (and hate) about the current Axie gameplay model will be completely replaced with a brand new version, basically a new game.
I'm fascinated with what is going to happen to the Axie economy and culture upon the launch of battles v2.
Seems like all Axie value will be completely reshuffled -- floor axies can become A+ axies, and current meta axies could become useless with the new cards. With many large scholarship groups holding hundreds or even thousands of Axies it will be wild to see a radical reshuffling of value there.
The only thing so far to do has been to wait for some kind of actual info on battles v2... v2 when??
LEEKS
During a developer livestream on Twitch today, there was an unexpected reveal. We got our first look at actual battles v2 cards.
BEHOLD!
The first thing I notice is that these cards look much better than the v1 cards. These look much more polished, colorful, and with more of a sense of depth and heftiness to the artwork. This style reminds me of modern pokemon TCG cards.
The next thing to be noticed is that this Axie has SIX MOVES. This means that the "passive attributes" of Axies, which currently don't have any cards associated with them, will be gaining cards in v2. Axies will go from four cards to six cards.
More cards means more combinations, more unique axies and more room for breeders to discover new tech for PvP.
New Keywords, Different Vibe
These cards give me more of a true "trading card game" vibe. Something about the description of each move feels like it will offer more counterplay and more options. Maybe matches will be longer.
What are dazed and bubble? New status effects?
If the numbers on top of some cards are damage, that means we're looking at lower damage numbers compared to the current game. This Axie's highest damage move appears to do 65 damage, much lower than a typical v1 bird with Risky Feather at 150 damage.
The bug card Buzz Buzz has an effect to shuffle a "dazed" into your opponent's discard pile. This is the first time any Axie move has ever put cards into your opponent's deck.
Perhaps dazed will be like curse cards in Slay The Spire? You would draw the card, but it would be useless or require 1 energy just to get rid of it.
It sounds really interesting and already makes me want to play.
No Idea When Battles v2 is Coming
We still have no idea when to expect battles v2. Now that we're in October, the clock is ticking... any major releases that aren't out by early December are probably going to wait until 2022 after the holiday season.
Maybe January/February will make for a good battles v2 release date? This way the ramifications of a new game system can be explored without any interruptions from the holidays.
And then what about Land Play???
There's so much new stuff coming. I've been back-and-forth on Axie over the last 3 months, sometimes loving it, sometimes feeling skeptical. At this point my hype level is pretty high for the new stuff. I'm not confident in my ability to predict Axie's future, but I feel generally optimistic and I'm really looking forward to the new systems.
What do you think of this battles v2 leek?