What Is a Trading Card Game?
A trading card game (TCG) is a game where two players each build a deck of cards and use them to battle. Each card represents a creature, spell, or ability with specific costs and effects. You spend resources to play cards, attack your opponent, and try to reduce their health to zero.
If you've never played one, think of it like a strategy game where your "army" is a shuffled deck of cards and your "moves" are the cards you choose to play each turn.
The Anatomy of a Card
Every card in Goblins & Gunslingers has the same basic parts:
- Name — The card's identity. Frontier Marshal, Mud Slicker, Midnight Marauder.
- Mana Cost — How much mana you need to play it. Higher cost = generally more powerful.
- Gold Cost — Some cards also cost gold. Gold is earned by dealing damage to your opponent.
- Attack — How much damage this creature deals in combat.
- Defense — How much damage this creature can take before it dies.
- Ability — Special text that gives the card a unique effect. Keywords like Quickdraw or Ambush have specific rules meanings, all listed in the keyword glossary.
- Faction — Which group this card belongs to (Human, Goblin, Desert Devil, and so on; see our guide to every faction).
Resources: Mana and Gold
GNG uses two resources:
Mana grows automatically. Turn 1 = 1 mana, turn 2 = 2 mana, turn 3 = 3 mana, and so on. It fully refills every turn. This is your main way to play cards.
Gold is earned through combat. You get 1 gold per turn as a base, plus +1 for each time you damage the opponent directly. Gold pays for powerful cards and Deputy summons. Our Mana vs Gold breakdown goes deeper.
Your First Turn: A Walkthrough
Here's what a typical opening looks like (full rules on the how to play page):
- Draw Phase — Draw 1 card from your deck. (On turn 1, you already have your 7-card opening hand.)
- Resource Phase — Your mana refills to the turn number (turn 1 = 1 mana, turn 2 = 2 mana). Your gold refreshes to 1 + any bonus from last turn.
- Action Phase — Play cards, attack with creatures, use abilities. You can do these in any order and as many times as your resources allow.
- End Phase — Your turn ends. Temporary effects expire. Your opponent goes.
Turn 1 example: You have 1 mana. You play Mud Slicker (1M, 2/1, Ambush). Because it has Ambush, it can attack immediately. You swing at the opponent for 2 damage. That one hit earns you +1 bonus gold for next turn. End turn.
Turn 2: You have 2 mana and 2 gold (1 base + 1 bonus). You play Frontier Marshal (2M, 2/3, Quickdraw). It can't attack this turn (no Ambush), but next turn it'll strike first in combat thanks to Quickdraw.
The Battlefield: Lanes
GNG's board has 7 lanes in two rows:
- 2 High-Rise lanes — Elevated positions. Only 1 creature per lane. Creatures here stay concealed and untargetable until they attack. Cannot attack the opponent directly.
- 5 Middle Lanes — The main fight. Creatures can attack any enemy Middle Lane creature, but must clear the creature or Cover Token directly across from them before hitting the opponent.
Where you place a creature matters. It's not just about what you play — it's about where. Our lane combat explainer goes deeper.
Building Your First Deck
A GNG deck has 52 cards from up to 2 main factions (Beasts can go in any deck), with no more than 2 copies of a card, plus 2 Deputy cards kept outside the deck. For your first deck, keep it simple:
- Low curve — Include plenty of cheap cards (1-2 mana) so you always have something to play.
- Mix of creatures and spells — Creatures fight on the board, spells create instant effects.
- One clear plan — Decide if your deck wants to be aggressive (lots of cheap Ambush creatures) or defensive (Cover Tokens, Warrant, healing). Don't try to do both.
Or skip deck building entirely — GNG hands you pre-built starter decks, and our starter deck guide compares them.
Practice for Free
The best way to learn is to play. Goblins & Gunslingers has a free interactive tutorial that teaches lane combat, resources, and keywords in under five minutes. No account required to start — just load the tutorial and play, or jump straight into the no-account AI demo.
After the tutorial, try an AI duel — Greenhorn, Gunslinger, or Legend difficulty — to practice at your own pace. Once you're comfortable, jump into multiplayer and test your deck against real opponents on the frontier. The game is also free on Steam in Early Access.
Start at the Online Outpost — the tutorial, AI duels, and multiplayer all live there.
