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Cardume

A real-time PvP card battler fought by swarms of thousands of living cells. Build a deck that shapes how your swarm behaves, then swing the fight with a few well-timed cards. Mesmerizing to watch, and deep to master.

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About the Game

Short battles. Subtle decisions. Big consequences.

Cardume is a real-time 1v1 card battler. Two swarms of thousands of living cells fight in a glowing arena. Steer yours with a handful of one-time cards. Lure the swarm onto a point, rally it into a charge, trigger a gorge, freeze an enemy assault. You can't micromanage individual cells, but a few well-timed plays ripple through thousands of them and swing the whole match.

Emergent warfare

Your cells obey simple rules, but the war that emerges from thousands of them is something neither player can fully predict. Learn to read the swarm so you can anticipate your enemy and tip the balance of the medium in your favor.

Win two ways

  • Domination: hold the arena's richest nutrient points and race to the victory-point goal.
  • Conversion: assimilate the enemy until their swarm collapses.
Lean defensive and hold the map and your cards, or go for the throat. Acid trails, cryo blasts, spore clouds, membranes. Every card reshapes the living system in real time.

Modes

  • Draft: open boosters, build a deck on the fly, and run it as far as you can, ranked against humans or against bots on your own.
  • Constructed: bring your own preconfigured swarm into the ladder.
  • Challenges: a hand-built ladder that teaches one idea at a time.
  • Auto-battler: prefer to just watch? Configure a swarm, set it loose hands-off, and let it fight rival swarms on its own.

A living, luminous arena

Abstract, bioluminescent, faintly psychedelic. Cardume is built to be
mesmerising to watch as much as to play. Light, motion, and emergent life.