Another alpha arrives soon! This one from the sci-fi themed, TCG, Parallel. Though only open to those who receive invites, early access applications for Parallel are open to everyone.
Parallel has been steadily dropping new packs every few months. And now, at last, collectors can see those cards in action during the early access, closed alpha!
Players can apply for early access at https://parallel.life/earlyaccess/ . The Parallel team has said that email invites will start going out on February 22nd, for the planned alpha launch date on February 28th.
The specs for playing the alpha are pretty minimal. Windows 7+, 8G RAM, 3G of disk space. Though I don’t think you need to own any NFTs to join the alpha, I imagine that those with large card collections may be given priority access.
The Parallel cards have a very distinctive, dark, art style. You can pick cards up on Open Sea for as cheap as $1.50 (USD).
Interestingly, NFTs in parallel do not include the game stats. This is to allow the team to make changes and balances as needed. They also open a card ‘faucet’ on a regular cadence. Players who trigger the faucet can receive a free NFT card, paying only the gas fees involved.
What is Parallel?
Parallel is a sci-fi themed TCG with some interesting mechanics.
A lot of it is the standard stuff we expect with a digital TCG these days. Two players build a deck of cards and then take turns drawing and playing these cards in a duel. The first player to reduce their opponent to zero life wins. Cards come in three types — units, effects (spells), and relics. Parallel offers five ‘Parallels’, which are similar to gods / summoners / champions / etc in other games.
Players build decks of 40 cards in Parallel. Each deck can have up to three copies of a card in their deck, except for Legendary cards, which may only be included once. Each deck can use cards from one Parallel and also cards that are marked as Universal. In addition, players choose a Paragon for their deck. Paragons offer passive bonuses throughout the match no matter their status, and then also function as in-play units with stats and potentially other bonuses or effects.
The mana / energy system in Parallel requires players to ‘bank’ cards from their hand. Each card banked provides one additional maximum energy each turn. Players begin the game with zero energy, so they will need to bank at least one card. Players can bank one card per turn, and on a turn that they bank a card, they draw an extra card at the end of their turn.
Parallel features a play and earn feature. Players who win matches with NFT cards in their deck receive PRIME tokens. But Parallel will include a free to play option as well.
PRIME is the main game token, and card collectors can already earn some by staking their cards. Also, Parallel offers a card creation tool called Payload. Players can pay a fee in PRIME tokens to generate new cards.
To learn more about Parallel, visit their website, follow them on Twitter, and join their Discord.
