A new CCG you say? On the App Store? It can’t be! Ok, you get the point, another CCG has joined the fray, but this one’s offers a different experience from the king of the hill, Hearthstone (Free). Battle Decks (Free) was developed by Codemasters (developers of the new versions of Operation Flashpoint) and is published by Chillingo, and tries to blend CCG mechanics with a 3D battlefield. Battle Decks in a way mixes Hearthstone and an older classic, Hero Academy (Free) in that you don’t only have to play a card against your opponent, you can also choose where on the board to play that card. That kind of mechanic creates very different strategies because when placement matters, your whole thinking needs to change, especially when ranged units take part in a battle. Judging from the trailer, cards will summon 3D units that will then fight on the battlefield according to their strengths and weaknesses.

The other refreshing feature of Battle Decks is its theme; the game doesn’t go for high or low fantasy but, rather, near-future warfare with units such as tanks, snipers, and so on. It’s fun to ride dragons to battle, but I also enjoy a nice artillery barrage falling on my opponent’s unsuspecting units (no idea if the game has artillery barrages by the way). The game is F2P (of course), offers online PVP battles, fancy visuals, and over 1000 cards to collect. I don’t know how good this game is yet, but I’m willing to give it a shot (see what I did there?) simply because the theme and the mechanics break from App Store tradition.