Remember Artifact, the game that Valve first teased during last year’s TI briefly? Well it’s finally launching this year in November 28th, 2018 on Steam. Though we thought it might be free since Hearthstone, the popular competitive card game by Blizzard is, Artifact will surprisingly be priced at $20 USD. That’s about RM 80! The mobile version will come later in 2019.

The game first announced officially by Valve in March 2018 which also revealed some of its gameplay and cards has garnered some attention from card gamers. With the mechanics of the game pretty similar to Hearthstone, however instead of just a single board, you will be playing with 3 boards.

The 3 boards represents the 3 lanes that are present in the Dota 2 game with a slight twist to win the game – you have to take down two out of three towers to win the game. Even the heroes in the form of cards can equip equipment which you can buy during “buying phase” with the gold you earned from killing enemy heroes or creeps. You can check out here for more info on the gameplay.

During PAX West 2018 that will be held in Seattle, attendees will be able to get a chance to try out the game there. This will be Artifact’s first public show at a convention which will take place on August 31st to September 3rd. Players at PAX will be able to battle each other in a single-elimination tournament for a chance to “challenge a champion on the main stage” as well. Players there will also earn themselves Artifact merchandises and two keys for free copies of the game when it’s launched on Steam in November 28th.

The game based on the world of Dota 2 was designed by Richard Garfield who’s also the creator of Magic: The Gathering. Though we’re unsure why Valve has put a price on Artifact, the reason might just be as simple as trying to make it an authentic TCG or building that kind of facade just like Magic: The Gathering. Magic: The Gathering has been around since 1993 and the community still continued to grow strong. With the cards having value to them, maybe Valve is trying to create value for those digital cards.