Elestralshas been sweeping through the card game world for a year now, and it’s about to become more accessible. Released in 2023 on the back of an overwhelmingly successful Kickstarter campaign,Elestralshas been taking off as well as an indie trading card game about mythology possibly could.
Players from across every major card game on the market have been converting to Elestrals, even card game content creators have made whole new accounts to play the game more and spread the word. The game has even started appearing in local game stores; it might even be at yours. Now, the game is on its way toward the next big step to finding players: a way to play online.
Around the same time thatElestralsfirst released, a much bigger new card game hit the market in the form of Disney’sLorcana. About as far from the indie status as you could get,Lorcanawas destined to be popular on the strength of Disney’s familiar characters appearing on cardboard. A big driver for people discovering and playing the game, though, was Pixelborn, a fan-made, auto-simulated, digital client for playingLorcana. It was much beloved until it was shut down earlier in 2024.
The developers behind Pixelborn have been tapped by theElestralsteam to instead develop their auto-sim client,Elestrals Clash!
The most unique promise ofElestrals Clash!is the accessibility to the card pool.The team has declared that every legal card inElestralswill be available to all players. This is opposed to card collecting systems in games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel or Magic: The Gathering Arena, where players must purchase and open booster packs to get new cards. All of this is in addition to the promise of being a free-to-download program. Monetization for the game is stated to instead focus on in-game accessories and customizations, another common aspect of card game digital clients. This access to the entire legal card pool ensures that all players will have all options available to them when trying outElestralsfor the first time.
Thenew Kickstarter launched in mid-Octoberand quickly reached its initial funding goal. At the time of writing, Elestrals Clash! has almost doubled its goal and is well on its way to stretch goals. Kickstarting for this project runs until November 4. A beta test for the game is supposed to be out not long after the fundraising concludes.Elestrals Clash!is currently promised to be on the market and available to all potential players in Spring 2025.
