Goodgame Empire

Conqueror · Goodgame Studios, first printed 2011 · Common · graded 7.3

Card text

The fastest card to get going. Fifteen minutes from creating an account to sacking our first robber baron castle, and the siege screen, where you assign troops and tools to three flanks against the defender's setup, is a proper little puzzle. On an active server the alliance layer is where the game lives: wars, coordinated attacks, diplomacy in the chat.

The sub-grade that drags it down is fairness. Shields, speed-ups, event ladders and the better equipment all lean on rubies, and a non-paying player feels the ceiling within a few weeks unless a strong alliance carries them. You can be attacked while offline, which makes the shield mechanic feel less optional than it should.

It stays in the set because the game underneath is still good and still busy. If you want competitive PvP in a browser and you're prepared to either spend a little or commit to a top alliance, it delivers. If you want to play for free and be left alone, pull a different card.

Set

01, Season 2026, card 005 of 005

Artist

Goodgame Studios, official artwork

First printed

2011, still updated

Formats

Browser (mobile is a separate game)

Deck time

15 min, often

PvP

Constant