Neslyn A. July 25, 2018
A new leak has brought some of the first bits of information regarding the mysterious Dota 2 card game Artifact to light.
Artifact is a card game based on Dota lore. There are 280 cards featured in the game, with 44 heroes besides. Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering, designed the cards.
In a closed-door launch, Valve revealed that Artifact will create new content for Dota 2. New heroes that will appear in Dota 2 can be played in Artifact first. Valve also confirmed that the game will not be free-to-play.
The board will include three lanes independent from one another. The goal is to destroy the opponent’s Ancient by winning the lanes and destroying towers along the way. Each card will have unique colored spells that can be played on a board with a hero of the same color.
Valve gave access to industry experts and professionals for the closed beta of Artifact. Treephob “Xyclopz” Tiangtrong, a famed caster from Southeast Asia, was among those given access.
Xyclopz then posted a screenshot of Artifact’s in-game features on the Facebook page of Thailand Dota community. The shown deck builder revealed new heroes, including Mazzie and Kanna. He also did a Q&A session in which he disclosed further confidential details about the game’s mechanics.
The leaked screenshot quickly among Dota 2 fans and community members. As punishment for breaking his NDA, Xyclopz’s access key was revoked.
Xyclopz made a public apology on Reddit post in which he told the community that he will accept the consequences of his actions.
“Please look at it as a lesson,” Xyclopz said. “Before you're going to post anything online, please think about this case. I've learned this lesson in the hardest way possible.”
Artifact is scheduled to be released to the public in late 2018.