NightmareZ
NightmareZ
Game
Game2019
Mystic Vale
Developer Nomad Games
Are you ready to lead your druidic clan and cleanse the Valley of Life? Mystic Vale is a stunning digital version of the Origins award-winning AEG card game. Debuting the unique Card Crafting System, players take turns building powerful combos in order to stop the curse. Play online or local hotseat. From the Steam store page
228 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Oct 12, 2026 · last updated Oct 12, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
157 positive · 25 negative
95% range 81–91%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 157 | 25 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 16 | 1 | 21 |
| Lemmy * | 3 | 0 | 5 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
351 of 393 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
86% recommend · 157 yes, 25 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 182 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (420 of 471 positive).
Players praise the digital adaptation for fixing the physical game's fiddly card-sleeve mechanic. [1][2][3] Some find the strategy limited, with one dominant approach of stacking growth. [4][5][6] The game is widely seen as relaxing and visually appealing, with a unique card-crafting mechanic. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [16]
As an avid deckbuilder and card game fan, while the game itself is fun, the constant cheating by AI (playing illegal cards, taking cards they can't afford, or just outright cancelling your actions) ruins the actual gameplay experience. That this becomes utmost apparant the second a human player is in the lead by as little as one point, is ridiculous. This occurs mostly because the AI, even on it's highest …
- [11]
Right, so back in 2016 when this came out as an actual physical thing you could touch with your hands - remember those? - I was absolutely mad for Mystic Vale. Proper obsessed. Now, several years later, I've found it on Steam, and I'm delighted to report it's still brilliant. Mystic Vale is a deck-building game, except, and here's the clever bit, you don't actually build a deck. Stay with me. Instead of hoarding …
- [1]
I played the physical game, expansions included...and man, I hated it. Why? Because each card was in protective sleeves. Much like Gloom, the overlay mechanic is a nightmare, as each card slides around. The visual information conveyance was also confusing. ALL of that is remedied by this Digital version. The UI is efficient and complete. Set-up/clean-up is non-existent. Gameplay is customizable. Big win for me was …
- [8]
This is my favorite deck builder, so I was quite excited to see it on sale and to try some of the expansions that I do not own in real life. This adaptation of Mystic Vale is absolutely amazing with animated cards and relaxing music. For those who are not aware of how this game works it will definitely take some time to learn. The strategies involved in Mystic Vale are quite different from other deckbuilders. You …
- [5]
Good game. Well made. Worth the buy, but short lived. Maybe I'm single minded in my approach, but there seems to be only one strategy, cancel out decay. While there's tactics in when to risk spoiling, which cards to stack where, etc; the (to my view) limitation of only one strategy quickly depletes the replayability (for me). After figuring out the strategy (cancelling out decay) it just became luck of if I could …
Summarised from 34 of the 228 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Mystic Vale talk about digital version eliminates setup and card-sleeve issues; those who didn't talk about limited strategic depth; one dominant strategy. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 228 · most liked firstAs an avid deckbuilder and card game fan, while the game itself is fun, the constant cheating by AI (playing illegal cards, taking cards they can't afford, or just outright cancelling your actions) ruins the actual gameplay experience. That this becomes utmost apparant the second a human player is in the lead by as little as one point, is ridiculous. This occurs mostly because the AI, even on it's highest difficulty, is as useful as a box of hammers, making illogical, inconsistent actions…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game day with @playgamesspreadjoy.weirdgiraffegames.com and @gameenthus.com ! Roll Player + Fiends and Familiars, Mystic Vale, Penguin Party and Word Fluxx - great way to avoid the Sunday scaries is laughing with friends! #boardgames
positive · AI labelView post →The strategy in this game is really mediocre. The issue is that all of the cards that do strategies like stacking armor symbols or having a strong effect for decay are just all bad. Once you play for while you notice that aiming to stack up as much green as possible is basically always the right decision because it both makes your deck extremely consistent drawing itself out, and also gives a lot of mana to spend on better advancements. All other strategies end up sacrificing economy for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spoiler alert: I LOVE Mystic Lands. It's a reboot of Mystic Vale that feels like the original yet surpasses it. Check out our play through on @goodtimesociety.com! #boardgames #kickstarter youtu.be/cmlJcvfUaLU?...
positive · AI labelView post →Today is the 6 year anniversary of Mystic Vale being released on Steam! 🌳 🎉 The team did a great job creating an intuitive version of the physical game, and it shows with it retaining 89% positive reviews after all that time! 💪 #gamedev #digital #boardgames store.steampowered.com/app/908070/M...
neutral · AI labelView post →Right, so back in 2016 when this came out as an actual physical thing you could touch with your hands - remember those? - I was absolutely mad for Mystic Vale. Proper obsessed. Now, several years later, I've found it on Steam, and I'm delighted to report it's still brilliant. Mystic Vale is a deck-building game, except, and here's the clever bit, you don't actually build a deck. Stay with me. Instead of hoarding cards like a dragon with commitment issues, you upgrade the ones you've already…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mystic Vale on Steam is a PC port of a board game designed by [url=https://www.alderac.com/mystic-vale/]Alderac Entertainment Group. Players take the role of druids competing to restore life to the vale. It is essentially a deck-builder but instead of adding cards to your deck, you add effects to your cards. It can be played solo against computer opponents or online with friends. The graphics are good - the UI looks nice and the card art approaches par with Magic the Gathering. The sound…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Has been a while, but finally went to the local board game store in my town and played some games. Highlight of the day was Mystic Vale, a literal deck building game where you get to craft your own cards #boardgames
positive · AI labelView post →Mystic Vale is a neat take on the deckbuilder. Each player starts with the same 20-card deck, but Instead of earning new cards to add to your deck, you modify the cards themselves. You add these clear plastic cards into the sleeve that add or modify one of three sections on your cards.
positive · AI labelView post →Awesome deckbuilder game. The basic version is a bit plain and, therefore, expansions are a must. However, once installed, the game just rocks. I have a question to authors - are you planning to implement other expansions?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New game played! Ruins from @allplay.bsky.social games. Designed by John D. Clair, the amazing designer of Mystic Vale. Had a fun time with this one. A fairly simple card shedding game but the cards can be upgraded to improve your hand ultimately helping you to score more points. #boardgames
neutral · AI labelView post →🔴Live now! Designer, John Clair, will join me to talk about his newest game from @alderaceg.bsky.social, Mystic Lands, a stand alone sequel to Mystic Vale. Come ask questions, check out the differences and how it plays before the KS launches! 📺 www.twitch.tv/panda8... 📺 www.youtube.com/@Pan...
neutral · AI labelView post →Just starting a game of Mystic Vale on #Steam. #BoardGames
neutral · AI labelView post →I like this game. It often feels like as if I'm working on something rather than mindless playing. Every game feels like I'm trying to come up with the most efficient and potent recipe for an elixir or something. My only complaint would be about the lack of variety in the terms of game play, and they could have easily solve that with the expansions but nope, it's the same loop every time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a neutral recommendation. A bit tricky to pick up at first and pretty fun when you get it down (especially with all the expansion sets and new mechanics), but there's not a lot of variety in win conditions. Generally speaking, stacking growth asap is the only path I've noticed that consistently wins games. The game is also not up-to-date on Steam as there are several expansions that have been added to the physical game and not updated here. Fun for someone that likes board games or card…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Game Crafter is pleased to announce a new type of custom printed cards! Introducing the Clear Card Crafting Deck. They measure 68mm x 120mm in size and have a 3mm radius corner, which is exactly the same as cards used in games like Mystic Vale. Details: www.thegamecrafter.com/make/product...
neutral · AI labelView post →I played the physical game, expansions included...and man, I hated it. Why? Because each card was in protective sleeves. Much like Gloom, the overlay mechanic is a nightmare, as each card slides around. The visual information conveyance was also confusing. ALL of that is remedied by this Digital version. The UI is efficient and complete. Set-up/clean-up is non-existent. Gameplay is customizable. Big win for me was that every card mechanic works; which is a problematic issue with many digital…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8/10 It might sound strange that I’m recommending this game and giving it a positive review, considering that I’ve experienced pretty significant number of negative aspects. The game is very relaxing, an enjoyable digital version of a board game that requires strategy, planning ahead, and a great deal of luck. After nearly four hours of playing, I still haven’t managed to beat the AI and I’m talking about the easy difficulty setting, it is seriously hard for newcomers. Board game enthusiasts…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is perhaps the most disappointing game that I bought in at least the past 10 years. The mechanic of building cards in three pieces seemed nice. I've read the full rulebook and done all the tutorials before starting playing. I have played quite a few card games before, so I'm no newbie and I know the general concepts. Still, I only won once in my first 7 or so plays! There is almost no strategy to the game since you are totally dependent on what the game gives you as cards, each and every…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →* Light: Scout * Medium: Terraforming Mars and Mystic Vale * Heavy: Spirit Island * GOAT: Spirit Island with TFM and Mystic Vale as close seconds * Most played: probably Monopoly Deal
positive · AI labelView post →I've dropped hundreds of dollars into the physical version of this game, and have played hundreds of hours of games with it. That being said, this digital variant holds up. Even moreso, it's allowed me to learn new strategies because I'm able to play games with friends so much faster now. Did I mention Remote Play together? Great stuff.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot of inertia from the early choices of cards which are fairly random (the cards you draw from your deck, but also the common pool of cards, and which ones your opponent is able to get). Coupled with extremely limited reactivity and no direct interaction with opponents, the result is a very imbalanced experience. Some strategies exist to counter that, but rely on a lot of luck in the late game, and usually the gap just widens after the first 8-10 turns. In additions, cards are not that…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very calm card game with some interesting mechanics, few UI flaws and a loveless tutorial. I would buy it again, but only in sale. you don't need to be afraid of the game being too complicated. It's easier than it looks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played our first game of Dead Reckoning, one of the card crafting games from AEG. We are big fans of Mystic Vale but we didn't like Edge of Darkness. This one could be a bit mean if you attack each other but we both avoided that - there are also merchant ships you can attack. I liked it.
positive · AI labelView post →Mystic Vale is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it was a real PC game (it's not)... it's a cash grab from greedy mobile devs. The game is a middle-of-the-road CCG/deckbuilder game. It's somewhat complex and deep for a mobile app, as it has a system where you can "build" cards as you play, by assembling different elements of a card together. There's a few other interesting mechanics to flesh out the game, so while this isn't the best, it's not terrible either. Although the game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just finished my first game of John D. Clair's Unstoppable (a one- or two-player deckbuilding game). It's fantastic, and a worthy addition to his portfolio (Mystic Vale, Edge of Darkness, Dead Reckoning, and more). It so happens there's a DCC edition coming alongside a TTRPG.
neutral · AI labelView post →Mystic Vale, developed and published by Nomad Games, is a thoughtfully crafted digital adaptation of the innovative card game originally designed by John D. Clair and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. At its heart, Mystic Vale introduces a unique spin on the deck-building genre through a mechanic known as “card crafting,” where instead of adding new cards to your deck, you upgrade existing ones by layering transparent advancements. This mechanic, faithfully translated to digital format,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh the places we will go... Marvel Champions Star Wars LCG Apocrypha Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Ascension Tactics Mystic Vale Dead Reckoning Edge of Darkness Thunderstone Quest Pixel Tactics Varia
neutral · AI labelView post →Hello, adventurers! I'm the Tiny Triton from Misfit Heroes, guardian of a puddle in your backyard. My favorite AEG game is Mystic Vale. This game mirrors my own world—nurturing seeds into flourishing forests without it Misfit Heroes would not have card crafting. www.kickstarter.com/projects/ald...
neutral · AI labelView post →Last game for January's monthly mechanic at work: Deck building. We've played Dominion, Clank!, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Mystic Vale and now Concordia, a hand building game. What mechanic should we go for in February? #boardgames #monthlymechanic
neutral · AI labelView post →This is my favorite deck builder, so I was quite excited to see it on sale and to try some of the expansions that I do not own in real life. This adaptation of Mystic Vale is absolutely amazing with animated cards and relaxing music. For those who are not aware of how this game works it will definitely take some time to learn. The strategies involved in Mystic Vale are quite different from other deckbuilders. You will find that this game is all about maximizing your chances as it seamlessly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Fanatical] Build your own Card, Board and Dice Bundle (3 for $5, 5 for $8, 7 for $9). - Aces and Adventures - Aeon’s End - Arcanium - Card City Nights 2 - Cardboard Town - Cardpocalypse - Clue/Cluedo - Clue/Cluedo: The Classic Mystery Game - DungeonTop - Field of Glory II: Medieval - Fury of Dracula: Digital Edition - Hasbro’s BATTLESHIP - Kardboard Kings - Luck be a Landlord - Monster Train - Mystic Vale Pack - Right and Down - Right and Down and Dice - Siberian Dawn Pack - SteamWorld Quest:…
neutral · AI labelView post →FINALLY picked up two expansions for Mystic Vale, the John D Clair card crafting game. Forgot that I had to remove the plastic protectors from every card, and I also didn’t realize I’d never done it with my base game. That was two hours of tedious peeling.
neutral · AI labelView post →If you're like me, you like the idea of Magic: The Gathering, but don't want to end up selling your kidneys to line the addiction peddler's profiteering pockets. Mystic Vale is a card battle game where you craft your own cards by sleeving unique aspects. Great crunchy nerdy fun.
positive · AI labelView post →Mystic Vale has been a favorite tabletop game of our gaming group for years. We currently own all the expansions. The digital version contains many of the positive aspects of the game, such as attractive graphics, interesting game play, and a variety of expansions to add. It also makes the logistical aspects, such as sleeving the cards, set up, and tear down, painless compared to the tabletop version. Adding card animation was a nice touch. That said, there are downsides to digital.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, this one isn't for me. It's a lovely deckbuilder with custom art and basically no plot but a loose themeing around ecological recovery. There's no campaign mode, so either you have people to play this thing with or it's solitaire. Mechanically, it feels very competently made. You build cards from draftable pieces, and use those cards to buy more cards from the bank. I'd happily own a physical version of this thing. Unfortunately, the thing I'm primarily interested in is campaign modes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun and different deck builder that is an adaptation of the physical game. I truly enjoy this game, but I think Ascension is a better deck builder. This game and the expansions regularly go on sale, so wait to buy it then.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is totally AWESOME!!! It's a must-buy for strategy fans. The presentation and the UI are excellently designed as well. And the game looks just gorgeous. The illustrations on the cards are very pleasant and are even slightly animated when you hover the cursor over them. The DLCs add only slight changes, but they're not expensive and to a strategy fan they bring so much flavour and variety - every single one of them is worth buying, if you like the base game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My gaming group played a round of **Mystic Vale**. We used totems and leader but not amulets. I kinda stumbled into using the good old Growth build because I couldn't really collect much of anything else for a long time. I saw them laying around and figured "oh well". After a bit I quickly caught up and overtook everyone else. Afterwards we tried our hand at **Thanos Rising** but were immediately stomped into the ground. One of us for never got off the ground and then made the fateful mistake…
neutral · AI labelView post →On Tuesday my group played **Die Zwerge - Big Box** Scenario 2 and so far I'm not a fan. There's no real mitigation option for bad dice rolls making combat really unsatisfying and the final three challenges were just ridiculously impossible. On Sunday I played **Mystic Vale** with my girlfriend. She had a powerful totem that gave her a free mana and a VP for every upgrade that she bought. This meant that she was quickly racking up pretty sizeable mana pools and getting a constant trickle of…
neutral · AI labelView post →Really fun card drafting game. I play boardgames, but haven't played this one before this digital adaptation. This stands up well to similar games I've played and enjoyed, like Race for the Galaxy, Evolution, and Citadels. Without having played the physical version of this game I can't say for sure but I suspect Mystic Vale greatly benefits from the digital format, it looks pretty tedious and fiddly to play the physical version with all the possible card combos. Game has: - a cool theme if…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite simple card building game but it is always a joy to get a good run going. Making it addicting and easy to start a new game over and over again. The DLC addons just make it better too. But more than fine just by itself. Lots of hours to be wasted here! I enjoyed the physical version but always hated doing the setup and other things required that a digital game can easily simplify. I feel like this game really shines in its digital format.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The interface looks very pretty but I dislike it too much to play anymore. There is only one skin which hides more game information then it shares. Information readily available in the board game is hidden. Selection decisions are forced to be from memory because most of the time you are not allowed to "look at the board". This is compounded by the speed of play which is not adjustable so that AI Play speeds by too quickly to comprehend. Many cards you do not even get to see because the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Campaign is live and growing. Join us on this amazing journey. This game is the evolution of Mystic Vale and card crafting in all of the best ways. www.kickstarter.com/projects/ald...
neutral · AI labelView post →Plays exactly like the physical game, UI could be better I think. but its fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although I only have a little time on Steam, I used to own this on my tablet so I've actually played it quite a bit. Positive Nice art, look and feel and music. I have always found this relaxing to play. The basic game mechanics etc work pretty well for me at least, and there are multiple ways to improve your deck and to accumulate points. I found it quite easy to get into and a single game does not take too long (exact time depending on your VP pool). Negative The VP pool options -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Purchased this game because I am a fan of deckbuilders - and this game is a "card crafter," which I'd never heard of before. Now it's a daily player for me. Endlessly re-playable due to the fact that you literally create most of your cards as you play by adding new sections to them from the available selection in the play area. There are a few things I found confusing, having played the video adaptation without ever playing the real -life table top version, so I bought the real game too. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot of the fun of the card game without any of the set up.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Though choice! I choose **Sagrada** just because of how much I like the real game and how well made is the digital version, but Ascension, Mystic Vale, and Through the Ages are close.
positive · AI labelView post →Good game. Well made. Worth the buy, but short lived. Maybe I'm single minded in my approach, but there seems to be only one strategy, cancel out decay. While there's tactics in when to risk spoiling, which cards to stack where, etc; the (to my view) limitation of only one strategy quickly depletes the replayability (for me). After figuring out the strategy (cancelling out decay) it just became luck of if I could purchase a card that can do that, on my turn. If the bots bought them all, and I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First off, let me say that I have a physical copy of Mystic Vale with the Vale of the Wild expansion. I've been on the fence about getting Nemesis for the solo-play variant, mostly because I'm not 100% on board with the other mechanics that expansion includes. That aside, this digital version provides a lot of the bookeeping for the player. The game filling out the field for you, as well as all the in-game counters are all incredibly welcome. I just kinda wish I had more control over what to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It seems very rare these days to find a digital implementation of a board game that has 90% positive reviews. It's because most of the developers create quick cash grabs and are usually bad at coding. There are examples out there where same developer keeps putting out terrible digital versions of top board games and they are simply bad at coding. This game, however, is great. No bugs, looks great, I like the UI, all rules are correctly implemented, never crashed and AI at hardest difficulty is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First impressions after playing the tutorial and a first game. It is a card battler, but without combat as far as I can tell. In a way, similar to other games of the genre, like Wingspan. It seems to be what is known as an 'engine building' card game, where you try to put certain synergies together that will fuel you with more resources to continually multiply your expansion further and further as the turns progress. I was surprised to win my first game considering I do not fully understand…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good PC adaptation of the physical game. In addition cards are slightly animated which is a nice touch. Likely one of the rare times when the PC version is actually a more enjoyable experience then physical as it handles all the tedious management for you. For the best experience you'll likely want to get some other people into it instead of playing the AI.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good implementation of the card game and the AI plays pretty well, too. Will require an expansion or two to have some legs, though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This digital version of a IRL card game is a card-builder filled with tons of mechanics that provides several ways to achieve victory against one or several opponents. It requires a fair amount of time time to get used to - for me about 20h - and must be played in multiplayer at some point to really get a challenge although the AI is good to learn. The overall experience is enjoyable and relaxing : the bucolic theme where the main gameplay happens have you prepared the best field (=hand),…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll admit, I'm biased; I loved this game since the first time I playtested it, before it was originally published in card form. I loved it when it hit store shelves, I continued to love it as a free fan-made computerized version on yucata.de, and I love this version too, with its fancy animated graphics and lovely chillax music/sfx. It's hands down one of my favorite tabletop games ever, and this version does it excellent justice (in all respects other than lacking the ability to undo a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game in person, it translated into the virtual space excellently. Love playing it solo or with friends. My partner had never played it in real life but he picked it up really easily with the tutorials
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I own Santorini and have found it at the thrift twice to give away! ... I'm glad to see it there so many times, because it's a sign to me that it's a hobby game with mainstream appeal. I would've bought Mystic Vale. But I have a hard limit on how much I spend there. They listed it for $16!
positive · AI labelView post →I haven't played the physical version of this boardgame but now I am considering buying it - MV is a surprisingly good, pleasing, and fit-for-all game with ecological theme. Awesome art and presentation, well fitting music. I bought the smartphone app too
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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