As Origins continues to evolve as a game, this article will serve as a guide for new trainers who are considering joining the fierce battles in Lunacia.
Note: This article will be updated accordingly whenever changes in the gameplay mechanics have been implemented. You may also want to refer to this article for the latest updates on the current season's patch:
Axie Infinity: Origins - Seasonal Guide
Contents:
- Turn Selection & Rock-Paper-Scissors
- Keep
To become proficient in Origins gameplay, it's essential to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics and how they operate. Axie Infinity: Origins battles are centered around two primary game modes, as well as a friendly duel mode. These modes include:
- Arena Mode - Player vs player (PvP) where you battle other players.
- Practice - Unranked casual matchups without rewards.
- Ranked - Competing in ranked matchups, with rewards being granted based on achieving a high rank on the leaderboard.
- Arcade - Classic Origins with a twist! No runes/charms with class advantages, class bonuses, and critical chance.
- Friendly Duels - Friendly unranked matches against players on your friends list.
Note: All mechanics explained below are applicable to all Arena mode options.
Turn Selection & Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS)
RPS
Each battle starts with both trainers deciding on their turn preferences.
Note: Players below Boar rank will not be required to play RPS, and will be assigned first and second turn at random.
If both players choose the same turn preference (Go First or Go Second), a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors will be played to determine who will get their desired turn preference. The winner of the Rock-Paper-Scissors game will receive their intended turn preference, while if the game ends in a draw three times, turn preference will be assigned randomly for both players.
First Turn vs Second Turn
- The player who goes first gains 1 Energy and draws 3 cards on their first turn
- The player who goes second gains 2 Energy and draws 4 cards on their first turn
- The player who went first gains 2 Energy and draws 4 cards on their second and third turn
- The player who went second gains 3 Energy and draws 4 cards on their second and third turn
- From this point on both players gain 3 Energy and draw 5 Cards for the remainder of the battle
Battle System
Sequential Turns
Players engage in battles by taking turns to play cards.
Cards and Energy
Each card requires a specific amount of energy to be activated. The energy-cost will be indicated on the card. Any card or energy that remains unused during a turn will not carry over to the next turn by default.
Win Condition
The objective of a battle is to defeat all three of your opponent's axies in order to emerge victorious.
Energy Burst
Players can trigger an Energy Burst by collecting Energy Fragments. Each Energy Burst will increase a player’s energy per turn by 1 permanently and every two Energy Bursts will increase a player’s card draw per turn by 1 permanently.
The number of Energy Fragments required per Energy Burst is increased each time there is an Energy Burst.
Player 1's First Energy Burst
Energy Fragments are collected by:
- Using energy to play cards - Energy Fragments collected are equivalent to the energy cost of the card that was played.
- Inherent traits/effects of cards, runes, and charms.
- Unspent Energy at the end of turn is converted to Energy Fragment +1
- Example 1: You have 1 unspent energy for the turn. You get 2 energy fragments.
- Example 2: You have 2 unspent energy for the turn. You get 3 energy fragments.
Your Opponent’s Zones and Resources
The Energy Burst system offers players a broader range of options as the game progresses, while also enabling them to concentrate on this game mechanic to develop midrange or late game strategies.
Certain effects in the game will enable players to consume Energy Fragments as part of their mechanics, while others will allow the destruction or theft of Energy Fragments.
Team Health Bar
Introduced in the 5th Season's Epic era, Team Health Bar gives new users a cleaner understanding of “who’s winning” at any point of the Battle. Similar to chess game analytics, the health bar serves as a guide to understand who's currently at an advantage.
Stats & Parts Evolution
Introduced during the release of Parts Evolution and before the 7th season, Battle-hardened axies, which include leveled-up or ascended ones, demonstrate enhanced prowess with improved stats or more powerful effects. Additionally, axies will gain a slight increase in HP for each level, including a small bonus for each Ascension. Specifically, they receive 1 HP per level and an additional 2 HP for every 10 levels; this amounts to a total of 12 HP per 10 levels. Furthermore, Collectible Axies will receive an HP Bonus based on their type. Below, you can see how the Base HP of all Collectible Axies has been increased.
Blood Moon
The Blood Moon mechanic is designed to ensure that matches come to a timely end. If a battle is still ongoing by turn 10, Blood Moon will activate, causing a reduction in the maximum HP of all axies at the end of each turn. Players will not be able to restore the maximum HP that has been lost due to Blood Moon's effect through healing.
The aim of the Blood Moon mechanic is to bring the battle to an eventual end, and the only way to delay this effect is by increasing your axies' maximum HP.
With the current Blood Moon mechanism, the only way to end a battle victorious is to defeat all three of the opponent's axies through actions in the end game. Max HP reduction is increased by 10 every turn. On Turn 18, all Axies' Max HP is reduced by 9999HP.
Keep
Keep gives players the option to hold onto cards and save them for later, at the cost of using up energy fragments. With each Keep used in a turn, it will costs 1 more energy fragments. The cost will resets in the next turn.
This can be especially useful for setting up larger plays in the later stages of the game or for responding to unexpected situations. It also adds an element of resource management, where players need to balance the use of energy fragments to activate cards with the need to maintain a healthy supply of energy for future turns.
Account Level Reward System
The Account Level Reward System enables players to earn EXP – and get rewards! Unlock new cosmetics, Moonshards, Honor medals, and even starter axies by playing Origins. This system gives us a sneak peak into what an Axie Battle Pass might look like.
The new starters, Xia and Bing, can be obtained from this new reward system. Some of the older starter axies, Olek, Puffy, Ena, and Tripp, were moved from the Adventure Mode to the new reward system as well. If you have already obtained Ena and Tripp from Adventure Mode, they will be replaced with starter upgrade materials instead [this doesn't apply to Puffy and Olek].
Rewards for further account levels [16+] will be added in the future.
NOTE: Existing players can claim the first batch of rewards as long as they’ve leveled up their account before.
Quick Select Keys
You should be able to find the Quick Select Keys toggle option in the Settings. Toggling it will allow you to use set keyboard shortcuts for a more diverse gameplay experience.
X = Banish pile
S = Discard pile
A = Draw pile
H = History
E = End Turn
0-9 = (Number above cards) Shortcut to use them
ESC = Settings