• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:24
CEST 14:24
KST 21:24
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team TLMC #5 - Finalists & Open Tournaments0[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Turbulence6Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon9[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups3WardiTV TL Team Map Contest #5 Tournaments1SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia7Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues29LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments3
StarCraft 2
General
#1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups SpeCial on The Tasteless Podcast Team TLMC #5 - Finalists & Open Tournaments
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV TL Team Map Contest #5 Tournaments Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 491 Night Drive Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Turbulence Diplomacy, Cosmonarchy Edition BW General Discussion ASL20 General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro16 Group D [ASL20] Ro16 Group C [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SC4ALL $1,500 Open Bracket LAN
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Borderlands 3
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Big Programming Thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1076 users

Mana Spirits - Getting Close

Blogs > Chill
Post a Reply
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
August 02 2015 02:42 GMT
#1
Hello!

What is this?
Coagulation and I have been making a card game for almost the past 3 years. You can see the FAQ at http://www.manaspirits.com/faq

Thank Yous
I want to give a big thank you to the people that have gone above and beyond to help test and improve the game:
- PsyonicReaver - Getting live feedback of people playing the game for the first time was incredibly valuable. We made a lot of big and subtle changes based on that live stream.
- Adam H - Adam did a line by line review of the rule book and gave valuable feedback on what was confusing. One of the biggest changes he suggested was renaming "Exhaustion" to "Fog of War", which is more on theme for non-creatures.
- Nezgar - Like Adam, Nezgar did a full read through of the lore book and gave his critique. I took a lot from his feedback, but unfortunately, updating the lore hasn't been a major priority.

Beta Testing
I'm fairly disappointed with the online beta testing turnout Funny enough, when I released the Alpha version of the game, we had a lot of feedback given, even though the game had no artwork and was horribly balanced. But now that the game is in a really good place, it's been hard to get people outside of my circle of friends to play it.

If you'd like to try the public print and play beta, you can find everything you need here: http://www.manaspirits.com/beta/ If I can do anything to help get you started (like quickly getting anyone up to speed on the basic rules), let me know.

In the coming weeks I'll be releasing more Mana Spirits promotional content along with Coagulation, which we will use to hopefully get some boardgamegeek guys to take a look. I've been hesitant to show the game on bgg early, because I've heard they can be quite critical. But the game is in a really good spot now and is ready to be out in the public.

I've played a few games with my friends recently, and was very happy with how they went. a 3-player game is about an hour, which is where we've always wanted it to be. Also I've played quite a few 1v1 games with my wife. There's simply no substitution for beta play testing - you can imagine every situation possible, but once you're actually playing, imbalances and overlooked interactions come into plain view immediately.

[image loading]
The test version of the tracking stands in action.

[image loading]
Early game.

[image loading]
Mid game.

[image loading]
This is probably around turn 5 or 6. I had a slim shot at a comeback, but shortly after this it all started going downhill and she just simply overran me with too many powerful Minions


What's Next?
In the short term, Coagulation has been doing timelapses of the latest artwork he's drawn. The timelapses are really amazing to me. We want to overlay some artwork and gameplay commentary overtop of the video to explain a little deep about Mana Spirits, but haven't finished. It's planned for Monday!

I've started getting prices from manufacturers. The short story is that it's financially viable, but the kickstarter campaign will likely have a pretty high funding goal (like ~$20,000). I'll continue to work the numbers.

I don't expect any more changes to the core of the game. We will simply be tweaking stats and effects as a result of testing. September will be testing month. I'll be play testing pretty hard with familiar friends, and will be reaching out to board game clubs in my city to see if they'd be willing to spend an evening testing the game. Honestly, fresh eyes are always more valuable than testers that are familiar with the game.

Thanks for reading, and look for our kickstarter launch in fall of this year!

****
Moderator
Kleinmuuhg
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Vanuatu4091 Posts
August 02 2015 11:08 GMT
#2
good luck!
This is our town, scrub
Ty2
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States1434 Posts
August 02 2015 11:59 GMT
#3
--- Nuked ---
Writer
Nezgar
Profile Joined December 2012
Germany534 Posts
August 02 2015 16:37 GMT
#4
It's such a pleasure seeing this come together...
There has been one question, though, that's stuck in my head for a while now and I'm not sure whether it has been addressed yet:
How do you plan on handling distribution and localisation? In which countries will this be available?
I know a lot of people who would be excited to test the game or support the Kickstarter if they get confirmation that the game will be available in Germany or other non-english EU countries.
Psyonic_Reaver
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4336 Posts
August 03 2015 00:06 GMT
#5
I just sent you an email checking up on you and then I see this. Haha.

I'm hoping to do another livestream in a month or so. I'm trying to get some guys that are brewers at a local brewery together to play. Should be interesting to say the least. These are guys who are NOT gamers in any shape or form so getting them even slightly interested is a good start though.

Keep at it. It's a great idea for the ever growing "social" drinking crowd. This brewery owns a bar, if these guys like it, they said they might do monthly tournaments or something akin to that. Could be a way to start spreading the word. Good for you. Good for the bar to have a reason for people to come and spend money there, etc. I'll keep you updated.
So wait? I'm bad? =(
Titusmaster6
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States5937 Posts
August 03 2015 09:21 GMT
#6
Yep, please let us know when the KS is happening!
Shorts down shorts up, BOOM, just like that.
TheRealNanMan
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States1471 Posts
August 04 2015 00:30 GMT
#7
Hey Chill first off I absolutely LOVE mana spirits~! After following your blog posts I jumped at the chance to download and print out the beta. I'm an experienced table top and competitive MTG player and this game was perfect to introduce to all my other gaming friends.

I've played a lot of games ranging from 2-6 players with a mix of players who drink and do not. So many of my friends are waiting for me to let them know when the kickstarter goes live so they can back the project!

One suggestion that I sent over with my beta feedback but figured I'd post in here as well is the "snowball" effect of one player getting too much board presence to deal with.
This is probably around turn 5 or 6. I had a slim shot at a comeback, but shortly after this it all started going downhill and she just simply overran me with too many powerful Minions
One thing i'm noticing is a lack of ways to stall someone from getting too much board presence and just killing you. Maybe adding in a couple board wipes or ways to temporarily prevent creatures from attacking to allow stabilization and to reward people for not over committing.

Just some food for thought. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy~!
Sc2 Caster | Host of Sc2 Up & Coming | The Godfather of Team LXG | Sc2 Historian | Youtube.com/NanMan | Twitch.tv/TheRealNanMan | Twitter.com/TheRealNanMan |
Psyonic_Reaver
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4336 Posts
August 04 2015 00:55 GMT
#8
There usually isn't a way for someone across the board to do anything to stop someone getting too big if he has inexperienced players on either side.
So wait? I'm bad? =(
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-08-05 19:08:38
August 04 2015 02:02 GMT
#9
On August 03 2015 01:37 Nezgar wrote:
How do you plan on handling distribution and localisation? In which countries will this be available?
I know a lot of people who would be excited to test the game or support the Kickstarter if they get confirmation that the game will be available in Germany or other non-english EU countries.

I'm looking after distribution and logistics Unless the game is extremely successful, I'll be shipping the finished games from China to my home and then mailing them out.

Unfortunately, I don't have the capability to handle multiple versions It will be available to all countries, but only in English.

On August 03 2015 09:06 Psyonic_Reaver wrote:
I just sent you an email checking up on you and then I see this. Haha.

I'm hoping to do another livestream in a month or so. I'm trying to get some guys that are brewers at a local brewery together to play. Should be interesting to say the least. These are guys who are NOT gamers in any shape or form so getting them even slightly interested is a good start though.

Keep at it. It's a great idea for the ever growing "social" drinking crowd. This brewery owns a bar, if these guys like it, they said they might do monthly tournaments or something akin to that. Could be a way to start spreading the word. Good for you. Good for the bar to have a reason for people to come and spend money there, etc. I'll keep you updated.

That sounds amazing! If there's anything I can do upfront to help out, let me know. I could put together a homemade boxed version for you guys to use. I could also put together a quick start video for you (something I've been meaning to do for awhile) to blast through the rules in <10 minutes.
Moderator
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
August 04 2015 03:04 GMT
#10
On August 04 2015 09:30 TheRealNanMan wrote:
Hey Chill first off I absolutely LOVE mana spirits~! After following your blog posts I jumped at the chance to download and print out the beta. I'm an experienced table top and competitive MTG player and this game was perfect to introduce to all my other gaming friends.

I've played a lot of games ranging from 2-6 players with a mix of players who drink and do not. So many of my friends are waiting for me to let them know when the kickstarter goes live so they can back the project!

One suggestion that I sent over with my beta feedback but figured I'd post in here as well is the "snowball" effect of one player getting too much board presence to deal with.
Show nested quote +
This is probably around turn 5 or 6. I had a slim shot at a comeback, but shortly after this it all started going downhill and she just simply overran me with too many powerful Minions
One thing i'm noticing is a lack of ways to stall someone from getting too much board presence and just killing you. Maybe adding in a couple board wipes or ways to temporarily prevent creatures from attacking to allow stabilization and to reward people for not over committing.

Just some food for thought. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy~!

Hey! Appreciate the kind works and encouragement.

I will say that I agree with your analysis, but that it was actually by design. In the original revisions, we had a lot of ways for people to wipe and stall. Players felt frustrated that everything they worked to build could be wiped out in one turn. Moreso, essentially resetting the game meant it became a marathon - we had 3 player games taking 4 hours.

What I've tried to do is add more Abilities and Spells that can help allies. The idea is that when one player is snowballing, the table realizes it and actively works together to stop him - The players beside whittle down his weaker minions, while players outside of his combat range harass with Spells and Abilities. The reworking on Events also impact snowballs.

I'm not saying it works every time, and there will definitely be games where someone gets an edge, gets to level 3 early and runs away, but I think that should happen. I've seen a lot of games where someone has a very impressive board on turn 4 or 5 and I've thought "there's no way to stop this" only to see the board state completely changed 3 turns later. So I haven't seen snowballs be a huge factor so far, but I'd be interested to talk to you more about it.
Moderator
y0su
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Finland7871 Posts
August 05 2015 16:56 GMT
#11
Great to see another update! GL!
Kittan
Profile Joined April 2012
Poland3999 Posts
August 08 2015 08:19 GMT
#12
Living the dream Good luck!
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=81288 <--- How I fell in love with a man, a team, a game and a website in a single day... | "There are no false gods, there is only the Emperor, and Choi Yun Sung is his prophet." -> Zona 40k
Juliette
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States6003 Posts
August 09 2015 18:36 GMT
#13
I found some friends to beta test with finally! I'm sure we'll all like it and will be excited for the kickstarter release. I'll give you feedback once we play a little bit this week
OKAY FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE I SEE WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
August 11 2015 02:02 GMT
#14
On August 10 2015 03:36 Juliette wrote:
I found some friends to beta test with finally! I'm sure we'll all like it and will be excited for the kickstarter release. I'll give you feedback once we play a little bit this week

Sweet Let me know if you have any questions or need any help. Coag and I are just revising to rev16h. They should be live in the beta Google drive by the end of the week.
Moderator
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-08-12 06:57:29
August 12 2015 06:53 GMT
#15
I'm super excited! I just finished generated all the cards, and just placed my order for a deck of them for a guys' trip down to Phoenix.

Finally, I feel like the game design is 99% complete. I think there will only be stat changes now, no card effect changes. And finally I'm satisfied with all the Heroes. I think some are still slightly better than others, but I also think that's okay. And there aren't any Heroes left that I would feel like "God dammit, I got this idiot?" if I was dealt them. Hooray!! Only took around 4 years!

I also uploaded all the new cards tonight: They are all here. The instructions will get some quality of life updates in the same directory by the end of the week.

We did a couple things:
- Coag stripped the internal border. This cleans up cards. But it also lets us fit way more text. As a result, I upsized the text 1pt for clarity when playing.
- I brightened / added contrast to all the artwork. It printed super dark before, so I'm hoping this shows off the sick art moreso.

Old & Busted:
[image loading]

New Hotness:

[image loading]
Moderator
Salv
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Canada3083 Posts
August 13 2015 20:57 GMT
#16
I remember reading some of your first blogs about this game when you were initially designed it - I guess that would have been about three years ago based on what you said in OP. I think it's cool as hell that you worked on it all this time and from the pictures you show of the game laid out on the table - it presents itself really well. Some friends of mine and myself play Magic the Gathering a fair amount, and I could see playing this every once in awhile if we wanted to get do that and get fucked up at the same time, haha.

Good luck dude.
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain18049 Posts
August 17 2015 14:59 GMT
#17
I tried to beta test this weekend, but my friends (none of who are gamers) thought it looked too complicated. I should probably have marketed it as a complex boardgame that involves drinking, rather than a new type of drinking game. They were expecting a somewhat more involved form of Kings.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
2v2
11:00
TLMC $500 2v2 Open Cup
WardiTV344
IndyStarCraft 95
Rex74
LiquipediaDiscussion
Afreeca Starleague
10:00
Ro16 Group D
Light vs Speed
Larva vs Soma
Afreeca ASL 17300
sctven
Liquipedia
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10:00
Weekly #106
Solar vs CreatorLIVE!
CranKy Ducklings167
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Lowko326
uThermal 133
IndyStarCraft 95
Rex 74
ProTech65
goblin 44
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 14420
Flash 7559
GuemChi 5950
Rain 4982
Bisu 4151
BeSt 1310
Horang2 1227
EffOrt 971
Mini 756
Hyuk 723
[ Show more ]
Zeus 481
Pusan 457
firebathero 440
ZerO 397
Hyun 235
Soulkey 188
Mind 121
Rush 105
Snow 85
ggaemo 65
Mong 57
soO 56
JYJ55
Liquid`Ret 52
Aegong 49
Backho 43
Killer 39
Sea.KH 34
Movie 32
Sharp 26
sorry 22
Sacsri 21
Free 19
Barracks 15
HiyA 15
Icarus 10
SilentControl 10
Bale 9
Terrorterran 8
Hm[arnc] 5
Noble 3
Dota 2
singsing3489
Dendi909
BananaSlamJamma284
Pyrionflax185
XcaliburYe172
Counter-Strike
x6flipin519
byalli218
markeloff42
Other Games
olofmeister1322
B2W.Neo803
DeMusliM618
crisheroes352
Hui .226
hiko118
NeuroSwarm47
QueenE38
Trikslyr25
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 283
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1810
• WagamamaTV390
League of Legends
• Nemesis4436
Upcoming Events
OSC
36m
PiGosaur Monday
11h 36m
LiuLi Cup
22h 36m
RSL Revival
1d 21h
Maru vs Reynor
Cure vs TriGGeR
The PondCast
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
Zoun vs Classic
Korean StarCraft League
3 days
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
4 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
4 days
Online Event
5 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-09-10
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall 2025 BLAST DEV DEV TESTING
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL World Championship of Poland 2025
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL 21 Team A
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
EC S1
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.