Skyweaver is a browser-based cross-platform card game where you can own, trade, and gift your cards. Deeply strategic gameplay combined with a player-owned marketplace lets you win tradable NFT cards on your journey to becoming a legendary Skyweaver!
In this Skyweaver Game Guide, you will learn everything you need to know to get started in Skyweaver!
Main Content
Skyweaver Review
Skyweaver is a polished, win-to-earn TCG game on the Polygon network, a popular layer 2 for Ethereum.
Although deeply inspired by the huge success of Hearthstone, Skyweaver doesn’t fail to impress with innovative mechanics, new abilities for heroes and cards, and an internal economy worthy of praise.
The most important NFTs in Skyweaver are cards. Each card can be:
- Base: these cards cannot be exchanged, traded or sold. They have no intrinsic value, but can be played in all game modes;
- Silver: they can be traded, sold or gifted to friends. They’re slightly more valuable than Base cards, and can be used to enter special combat modes in the game instead of paying the entrance fee;
- Gold: the “trophy” cards of the game. Gold cards are shiny and very apparent on the battlefield. They can only be won through combat in “Conquest mode”, and are only minted once.
Similarly to most card games out there, each card serves a different purpose in the deck. Cards can be heroes or spells, and each can be enchanted, have effects, or hold a particular trait.
Enchants and Effects can totally change the value and effect of a card in the game, and they’re unique to Skyweaver. They can be activated by spending mana, the in-game energy, or after triggering a game phase (eg. “the start of the round”).
The game can be played in Ranked mode or Conquest mode. All modes require a deck of 25 cards.
The deck will be associated with a Hero and a Prism. There are 5 Prisms in the game: strength, agility, wisdom, heart, intellect. Some decks can combine two prisms to create unique sinergies. Heroes possess specific enchantements that might help a prism shine.
Ranked mode is free to play and features a draft gameplay (“Discovery”) and a constructed alternative (“Constructed”). Both modes allow the player to rank higher in the specific leaderboard.
Conquest mode requires you to burn one silver card or pay an entrance fee of $1.5 USDC. Silver cards burned to enter the mode will never be traded again, and Skyweaver will remove them from existence.
About Skyweaver
Skyweaver is one of the first triple-A quality games to enter the play to earn space.
The developer behind Skyweaver is Horizon Blockchain Games, which raised over $3.75 million in funding, led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Horizon has been taking its time with this game, starting its development in 2019. Skyweaver released slowly, starting with a private beta in 2021.
At the end of 2021, Skyweaver released their Open Beta, allowing everyone the chance to play the game by connecting through a Sequence or MetaMask wallet.
Since then, the game has exploded in popularity, and attracted players and guilds worldwide. Many tournaments are hosted weekly on communitygaming.io, and the team is trying to get some traction on their Twitch Profile.
Skyweaver is still in its infancy, but their outstanding community and large followerbase on social media predicts a great future for the title.
In their roadmap, the team included the release of many TCG players’ favorites, such as backs for the cards, new heroes’ skins, and two major expansion packs.
In May 2022, the developers released “Starter Decks” to help new players get onboarded and play in Constructed. The choice eased up the involvement even more.
After the crypto crash of June 2022, Skyweaver Gold cards’ value took a big hit, and rapidly decreased in value, following an overall downards trend for crypto-related projects.
Skyweaver Play-to-Earn Mechanics
Skyweaver is not your typical “Play to Earn” game. In fact, you won’t earn a dime by simply “playing” the game.
The TCG likes to define itself as a “Win to Earn”, a nomenclature that’s becoming more and more popular in common games with rewards on the blockchain.
In order to profit from Skyweaver, a player can either:
- Rank in the top 250 for Ranked -> Discovery mode (with a drafted deck of 25 randomized cards);
- Rank in the top 250 for Ranked -> Constructed mode (with a user-built deck or one of the starter decks);
- Win in the Conquest mode, sometimes referred as the “Arena”
Note: a player can rank in the top 250 for both Ranked Discovery & Constructed. Different rewards are available based on the players’ mastery rank, from Apprentice to Grandweaver.
Initial Investment
Skyweaver is completely free to play, and there are no incentives to buy cards other than building a constructed deck quickly.
Silver and Gold cards do not affect the gameplay, and will not give you any kind of “superpowers”.
Ranked mode “Discovery” and “Conquest mode” both allow for draft counterparts, meaning all players start from a random deck of their chosen prism.
Skyweaver Rewards System
Skyweaver doesn’t have a “daily mission” or a set reward system for its players. At its core, it’s a free to play game anyone can play with little to no set up.
Your rewards depend on your commitment to the game and your skill level. Based on that, you will gather more gold cards, and more gold cards equal more money when sold.
As mentioned above, players can earn through ranking on the leaderboard and playing Conquest mode.
Ranking on the leaderboard will reward the player with a set number of silver and gold cards. Silver cards are dramatically less valuable than their Gold counterparts, and are mostly used to enter the Conquest mode to earn gold cards.
Conquest mode is a set of games, similar to the “arena” in hearthstone, with a randomized deck of 25 cards with your prism of choice.
Winning one round will reward you with 1 silver card, which means you can give it another go for free by burning it.
Winning two rounds will reward you with 2 silver cards, which puts you in a great spot to start again and receive a small return on your investment.
Winning three rounds will reward you with 2 silver cards and 1 gold card, which is minted on the spot. Each week, 8 Gold cards are minted through Conquest mode, and all of them will never be minted again.
The only way to acquire a previously minted Gold card is through the marketplace, which keeps the value of cards stable overtime.
In addition to the cards, Skyweaver and its community host several tournaments on communitygaming.io, with prizes topping thousands of dollars per week.
Twitch Streamers and Content Creators also post different articles and videos on the game, receiving great engagement and monetizing their knowledge of the game. Several “Skyweaver coaches” started selling their programs and live training for profits up to $100 per hour.
An average player, considering a 60% win rate, will get around 1 Gold card each hour. At the time of writing, the most expensive gold card costs $22 USDC and the average value appears to be around $6 USDC.
Although not a life-changing amount, playing a fun, engaging and polished game to earn $6 per hour doesn’t sound bad to us!
Skyweaver Video Review
Skyweaver Tokens
Skyweaver doesn’t have any tokens! A choice that would otherwise look crazy seems very wise now, during a complete market crash.
The company opted to host their marketplace on Polygon, a Layer 2 of Ethereum, but kept all transactions in $USDC, the second most popular stablecoin (and the only one that didn’t lose its peg during the crash).
Cards can be bought in the marketplace through $USDC with no gas fees thanks to Polygon, and the transactions take place on the “Sequence” wallet. You can opt to connect your MetaMask wallet if you prefer.
How to Get Started
Skyweaver made it incredibly easy to start, and all you need is to click the “Play Now” button on their homepage.
The game will help you set up your Sequence wallet, or to link up your MetaMask wallet. Sequence is easier for new players as it’s automatically connected to Skyweaver. You can download the client on any device, or play through your browser.
Once inside the game, you will follow four tutorials, explaining all the basics of the game. If you ever get lost, there’s an online version featuring all main elements here. Each tutorial will provide you with some experience points and cards to compete in Constructed.
The game introduced starter decks in June 2022. Each starter deck will unlock at a different level, giving you time to explore the game in Discovery and Tutorial mode before moving to Constructed.
At Level 1 and every three levels after—Level 3, 6, 9, and 12—you will unlock another Mono-Prism Hero and a 25 Base card starter deck for their Prism. The change allowed new players to familiarize themselves with one prism without messing with multiple at once.
If you ever get stuck, their discord is very active and only a click away. You will find moderators, community members, and coaches ready to help you make the best out of Skyweaver.
You might also find some guilds and communities gearing up to compete in tournaments, and joining could help you become a better player in the long run!
Tips for a good start in Skyweaver
The tutorials and starter’s guides developed by the team are phenomenal, but will never provide up-to-date information on how to structure your deck and outperform your opponents in the leaderboards.
To do that, you’ll need to do a little digging, as the suggested combos and decks change each season, which lasts 28 days. Your goal during the season is to level up and get in the higher rankings of the leaderboard.
At first, we suggest you focus on Discovery mode and/or Constructed mode with one of the starter decks. Do not adventure in Conquest until you know what you’re doing, and can maintain a win rate above 50%.
Once you get your win rate above 50% and feel confident about your skills, focus on increasing your mastery and rank higher up on the leaderboard. It will let the game match you up with stronger opponents.
This is crucial since those are the opponents that await you in the arena! Pro players typically spend most of their time there, so you don’t want to get caught off-guard.
When you feel ready, you can burn one silver card (if you earned one through the leaderboard) or spend $1.5 USDC to try out your first Conquest mode – it depends on your risk tolerance and how much you want to invest in the game.
If you don’t want to spend anything, wait until you get a silver card. You will likely waste your first fee, and even some more later. However, remember you only need one win in Conquest to make it pay for itself.
Conquest is a drafting mode, so make sure you familiarize yourself with all the main mechanics of the game, especially the enhancements available. Many things will happen on the board once you start, and trying to figure out everything at once can be overwhelming.
By having stable grounds, and knowing how a spell can enhance or downgrade a hero, you will be one step forward and follow the game properly.
When playing in Ranked mode, start from Discovery and use an easy hero, for example, “Ada”. Ada focuses on strength, and your main objective will be to summon bigger heroes each turn and buff them with powerful enhancements.
The strength prism is the easiest to start with, but wisdom can be very interesting later on if you’re interested in a “control”-style gameplay.
Skyweaverstats will give you great insights into which meta is competitive right now, with accurate win rates for each combo. On the website, you can check statistics for the most competitive heroes, decks, and cards.
Once you become more advanced, Skyweaverleagues provide additional information over the current meta, with in-depth reviews and articles.
Skyweaver Closing Thoughts
Skyweaver is one of the best games available to play right now. Anyone with any device and an internet connection can get involved, and the community is growing steadily.
The game looks great, it runs flawlessly most of the time, and the open beta is bringing great improvements to the table. The team already released three mini-updates and several bug fixes since the start in November 2021.
There’s no confirmation on when the open beta will end, and it certainly won’t be during a bearish market, but we’ll stand by and update this guide if more information comes along.
We suggest Skyweaver to anyone who doesn’t have the budget to take part in other play-to-earn titles and, especially, to the fans of TCGs and Hearthstone. This game has deep mechanics and an extensive collection of balanced cards.
You will surely have fun trying it out, and there’s no harm in doing so since there’s no cost or barrier to entry. Have fun in Skyweaver!
