In this article, you will be introduced to this system and learn how you can upgrade your cards and ultimately awaken them into more powerful versions.
(read the Cards article to have more info on the different types of cards and rarities)
Let’s break into it step-by-step!
Rank — Upgrade your Cards
Basic principle
Cross The Ages: TCG is a card game that incorporates a unique system in the trading card game ecosystem: your cards can be upgraded and evolve in more powerful versions! This is what we call Crafting.
Every card in the game has a “potential” gauge, visible when you click on it in your collection. This gauge is split in 5 ranks, from 1 to 5. If you increase this gauge and reach a new rank, the power of your card will increase:
Increase your Ranks
Let’s get into it, how can you increase the rank of a card?
In order to increase the rank of card, you will have to sacrifice a certain amount of cards! This is what we call “power-up”. The number of cards needed to reach the last rank of a card (rank 5) varies depending on the rarity of the card you wish to upgrade. Obviously, the higher the rarity of the card you want to upgrade, the fewer cards it will require to upgrade it.
You must use cards of the same rarity as the card you want to upgrade!
- Example: Rare cards can only be used to upgrade other rare cards!
The upgrade process also has a cost and requires spending an amount of Trisel, an in-game currency that you can acquire by playing the game! (read the “Game Economy” article).
How to power-up a card
Click the Craft button
Make sure your are on the Power-Up screen
Add the card you want to power-up
Add the cards you want to sacrifice
Make sure your have enough Trisel in the top right screen corner, and click on the Trisel amount button
Confirm your choice
New Horizons
Does the evolution of your card end here? Not necessarily!
Once your Standard card reaches its full potential (rank 5), you are now able to awake your card into a more powerful version: Alternative Card.
Alternative Cards: Awaken your Standard Cards
Basic Principle
Once your Standard card reaches its maximum potential (rank 5), you can perform an awakening and thus obtain the Alternative version of this card.
Your card will change its illustration and its power will increase! Performing an awakening is not free and depends of the card’s rarity you want to awaken .
You are free to decide to awaken your card or not. Once your card is awakened to its alternative version, you can’t go back!
Probability of Acquisition
Be careful though, the awakening does not always guarantee the awakened card you want. Indeed, the result of the awakening depends on the cards you used when upgrading the rank of your card. A system of probabilities based on the different sacrificed cards is used.
Example for a Rare card, which requires 5 other rare cards to reach rank 5:
A rank increase of the Rare card “Ruby” with only duplicates Ruby cards guarantees to get the Alternative Ruby card after Awakening.
This time, only 3 rare “Ruby” cards are used, granting a ⅗ chance of getting the Alternative Ruby card. The other two cards used each grant a ⅕ chance of getting them as an alternative version.
Grade
The potential gauge of an alternative card is always at 100%! Meaning you don’t need to upgrade them anymore like Standard cards. However, a new element must be taken in account: the Grade.
Did you notice the number of crystals at the bottom of your cards? This represents the Grade of your card.
All Standard cards in the game have a single crystal by default. After awakening your card to its Alternative version, the grade of your card will randomly be upgraded. Depending on the grade received, your card will gain additional power value!
Your card can randomly be upgraded to one of the following Grades:
Grade is a definitive characteristic and cannot be increased afterward.
However, you can improve your chances of getting a higher rank after Awakening by using more duplicates when you increase the rank of your card.
Secret Combinations
Does the evolution of your card end here? For some alternative cards yes. For a few not necessarily. (yes, again!)
Once you acquired some alternative cards, you can perform one last type merge.
This type of merge allows you to merge two compatible alternative cards together to create the ultimate level of card: the Alternative Combo cards.
Combo card: Merge Alternative Cards Together
Some Alternatives Combo cards require you to merge 2 Alternatives cards of different rarity, such as Ruby (Rare) & Ronan (Uncommon). In this case, the resulting Combo card will have the higher rarity of the two (in this case Rare).
How is the Grade Decided?
The merging of 2 Alternative cards of different grades follows another logic: the grade assigned to the Alternative will be chosen randomly between the S grade and the lowest grade of the 2 sacrificed Alternative cards. For example: a Combo card obtained by sacrificing an A Grade and a C Grade Alternative Card will have a grade between S and C according to these odds:
| if the lowest grade used for the merge is: | S grade probability | A grade probability | B grade probability | C grade probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| A | 12,5% | 87,5% | 0% | 0% |
| B | 3,33% | 23,33% | 73,33% | 0% |
| C | 1% | 7% | 22% | 70% |
Combo Cards’ Arkhome
Some Combo cards require the sacrifice of 2 Alternative cards of different Arkhome.
Let’s take the example of the Combo card of Shado (Darkness) & Solis (Light).
In this cases, the arkhome assigned to the Combo card is randomly selected between the two cards you used to create the card.
Yes, you got the idea! One Combo card can sometimes exist in 2 different arkhome versions!
Recap with all Ruby Possibilities (P=Potential, R=Rank, G=Grade)
- Ruby Standard P0 R1: 535 (base)
- Ruby Standard
P25 R2: 550 (+15)- Ruby Standard
P50 R3: 565 (+30)- Ruby Standard
P75 R4: 580 (+45)- Ruby Standard
P100 R5: 595 (+60)
Rank 5 reached → You can awaken your card into an Alternative Card!
- Ruby Alternative C Grade: 615 (+80)
- Ruby Alternative B Grade: 630 (+95)
- Ruby Alternative A Grade: 645 (+110)
- Ruby Alternative S Grade: 660 (+125)
Ruby an Ronan can be merged together to create an Alternative Combo card. Its power will be based on the most powerful card between both of the merged ones and will get a +25 power bonus instantly.
For this example, we will presume the Ruby card is always more powerful than the Ronan card during the merge :
- Ruby + Ronan Combo C Grade: 640 (+105)
- Ruby + Ronan Combo B Grade: 655 (+120)
- Ruby + Ronan Combo A Grade: 670 (+135)
- Ruby + Ronan Combo S Grade: 685 (+150)
To conclude, a basic card can, at the end, increase its power up to +150!
FAQ Regarding the Crafting System
Can I merge non-NFT cards and NFT cards together ?
No, non-NFT cards and NFT cards can’t be merged together.
Can I merge non-foiled cards and foiled cards together ?
No, non-foiled cards and foiled cards can’t be merged together. This make the foil Standard, Alternative and Alternative Combo cards even more rare!
What if I merge an animated card into a unanimated card ?
If you use an animated card to upgrade an unanimated card, the animated card will be lost! Pick the cards you want to upgrade or use wisely!
Can I use my Alternative cards to upgrade Standard cards?
Yes! Depending on the rarity of the card, the alternative cards will count as multiple duplicates.
For example: If you use an Alternative Ruby card (rare) on a Standard Phoenix card (rare), it will count as 2 cards!
