Malediction - Creating a Nemesis
- Pettersen L.
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 6
From deck creation to custom battlefields, giving players tools to be creative with our system was always at the heart of Malediction. So when we launched our Gamefound campaign, it was no surprise that one of the first things people asked for was new game modes. Of all the ideas we considered, a 2v1 format stood out as something we could implement without a complete overhaul of the core system, being able to release it along with the game without compromising our work on the expansions.
But if we were to create a new mode, we wanted to approach the rules with the same passion and care that we've put into crafting Standard and Allegiance modes. Not a throwaway variant, but a polished format that could stand as an appealing alternative to the other two. That meant starting with a clear design goal: To make it feel like a boss battle.
Setting goals and limitations
In what situation would you usually play a 2v1 mode? A starting point for us was to write the rules with the mindset that our players would choose to play this mode whenever they had an odd number of players. Maybe someone is waiting for a friend to arrive?
In that case, it would be a huge plus if people could use their existing Standard or Allegiance decks without needing to tweak them. Thankfully, our card wording already supported team play, using language like "ally you own" or just "ally", so structurally, we had a solid foundation.
Another core goal was to keep victory conditions and deployment rules consistent across modes, as it meant player expertise would carry over between game modes, reinforcing a cohesive Malediction experience.
This meant pursuing even grounds in a mode that was asymmetric by default.
Designing around asymmetry
Games that feature interesting choices are often riddled with asymmetric elements, like the unique characteristics in a hero shooter or the Seekers and factions of our game. But when one player faces two, balance becomes more delicate. Decisions like which Seeker to build your warband around or whether to go solo or join a team all need to be viable, provided players bring skill to the table. Since a 2v1 is asymmetric by default, the player going solo needed some extra help to balance everyone's chances at victory. We started calling this player the Nemesis and the other two players Union, highlighting that they represented two Seekers banding together to face a common foe.
When looking at what resources we should adjust to give the Nemesis the necessary edge, the most intuitive option seemed to be giving that player a bigger starting hand and more echo to spend on cards. However, it quickly became obvious that this was affecting the deckbuilding decisions, incentivizing the creation of decks greater than the usual 30 cards or crafted to bank on the early extra echo to net a fast win. It also meant that the game was becoming less welcoming for new players, as increasing the starting resources overloaded them with decisions and cards to read through, increasing cognitive load.
Trying to match the Nemesis total resources to the Union's two-player total resulted in explosive power curves that skewed balance. Something you've surely experienced as a player if you ever saw someone snowball to victory on MOBAs or ramp to play their strongest resources like on Magic: The Gathering. To put it in simpler terms, we were facing a timing problem, not simply a power one.
Creating an uphill battle
As authors Ian Schreiber and Brenda Romero explain in their book Game Balance, players often judge fairness by pacing: How soon do they reach a certain threshold? Are matches taking too long, or ending too quickly? We needed a form to make the Nemesis player scale in power over time rather than explode, which made me wonder what resource I believed was the strongest thing we could give a player while still giving opponents a way to react. The conclusion was: The power to activate exhausted units.
In Malediction, a unit's activation is essentially a player's turn. The more activations you have, the more influence you can exert on the battlefield, being able to react or even have final say on what happens during a round. By giving the Nemesis the power to refresh exhausted units based on the number of the round, we dodged the issue of frontloading resources and managed to keep initial handsize and echo consistent. Now, Union players had to plan around eliminating key threats before they could activate again, emphasizing coordination, threat priorization, and that "boss battle" tension we were going for.
This mentality also gave new weight to other decisions we made, like giving the Nemesis an advantage on terrain placement, allowing him to deploy a basic or elite unit for free, or how initiative bidding works. We had decided early on that when players bid for initiative, the Nemesis card would count as double. But in this new light, that decision also became thematically consistent.
Because most decks skew toward lower-cost cards, Union players can coordinate low bids more easily than high ones, which require both players to spend costly, high-ranking cards. This naturally gives the Nemesis an edge when bidding high, mimicking the feeling of a boss regaining control at the critical moment, unless the team can unite and outplay it.
Meaningful mechanics are often the most thematic ones!
We set out to create a mode that wouldn't compromise the foundations of Malediction, and what emerged was something that helps deepen them. By treating the solo player as a scaling threat and keeping the core systems mostly intact, this 2v1 mode became more than a convenient solution for an odd number of players. It became a new lens through which to experience the game. One that elevates tension, reinforces teamwork, and lets you decide: Will you be a boss or one of those who dare stand in their way?
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