Besides relying on the death dividends to your mana pool there are ways to earn more than the usual two mana per turn. You can use special cards to sacrifice creature cards either in your hand or on the play field to earn mana, for example.

Eye of Judgment does require some strategy and forward thinking when playing. It is important to create a deck that is well balanced with different elemental types and both high and low level cost cards that will help see you through the early parts of a match. The game allows you to create a deck by scanning it in with the eye. A deck consist of 30 cards that can be from the starter deck and booster pack that ships with the game or extra packs that you can purchase.

Of course playing those high level creature and spell cards never guarantees a victory. What guarantees a victory is keeping five units alive. If you can do that and end your turn than you have won the game.

Eye of Judgment is very straightforward, though sometimes the mechanics as they relate to the Eye can slow down the pace of the game. The one novel thing about the game is that you never have to use a controller once the match has begun. The deck that the game comes with contains function cards to end your turn, commit to an action, get a status on a card, etc.

The real trick to the game is setting the camera up right each time you play, making sure that your mat is properly place and that the grids match up to the eye’s own grids. The camera has moments where it has a hard time recognizing a card or an action, but most times a solution to these small technical hiccups can be figured out with a little bit of patience.

Eye of Judgment is fun against the AI, but player vs. player and multiplayer are the most fun to play. Playing online allows you to gain ranks on multiple leaderboards, which is a challenge, but the real value of playing online is the human element that makes collectible trading card games fun. My only real complaint with online play is that the rules are slightly different to prevent players from cheating: instead of letting you randomly draw cards during a match the game tells you what to draw based on the deck you have registered.

The only other real problem with multiplayer is that you don’t really know what level competitor you are facing until you are in a match. Those that want to avoid an entry level newbie challenger won’t know until they are in the thick of it. For more seasoned players who want a faster paced game this can be problematic and lengthy..

At the end of the day Eye of Judgment is a decent collectible card game that can be picked up by players of all stripes in a relatively short amount of time. The game’s mechanics as they relate to the eye itself can be clunky at times but the overall experience is a lot of fun online, against the game’s AI and especially against friends who want to have a traditional sit down battle.