Command of Nature   Gameplay Command of Nature is a deck-building strategy game, where the Sages of four different Elemental factions compete for the title of Master of the Elements. Begin by choosing your Sage: Porella, the Leaf Sage, whose strategy revolves around deck and discard pile manipulation and a strong balance between offensive and defensive moves; Cedar, the Twig Sage, who pushes a strong offensive strategy with boosted damage; Torrent, the Droplet Sage, who focuses on card advantage and formation manipulation, balancing both offensive and defensive moves; and Gravel, the Pebble Sage, who competes with a strategy of defense with strong shield generation.   Each Sage leads their faction with a unique strategy, but of course, the ultimate choices are made by each player. In a two-player game, the player who defeats their opponent’s Sage is victorious. In a four-player game, where teams of two compete against one another, the same is true, but both Sages of a team must be defeated before the opposing team can declare victory.   Because I could only talk one of my friends into dedicating their weeknight into learning a new game, this review will describe a two-player game.   Meet Your Faction Each Sage rules over a specific faction that is made up of Elementals that will play different roles in the game. Elemental Sages: the leader of the faction Basic Elementals: have no effect, but they can be used during combat. Elemental Warriors: have effects that you can use when they are positioned in certain rows in your formation. Elemental Champions: are powerful! They have effects that you can use when they are positioned in certain rows in your formation. You can only access Elemental Champions by defeating Elementals in your opponent’s formation to reach the corresponding level threshold on your level tracker (more on this later!).   Familiarize Yourself with Your Commands There are three different types of Command Cards that you can use during your turn to attack or defend against your opponent: Attack Commands, Utility Commands, and Instant Commands. Attack Commands are (surprise!) used to attack your opponent’s Elementals. Each card will specify the amount damage (DMG) it can inflict. There are two types of Attack Commands: Melee Attack Commands: You can use the Elemental in row one of your formation to Melee Attack the Elemental in row one of your opponent’s formation. Ranged Attack Commands: You can use an Elemental in your formation to Ranged Attack an Elemental in your opponent’s formation—the card will specify which row you’re able to attack. Utility Commands allow you to gain advantage in the game, like swapping positions of Elementals in a formation, or dealing DMG to an Elemental in your opponent’s formation Instant Commands are the only card you can play during your opponent’s turn as a form of defense. Important Note: you don’t have to spend AP to play an Instant Command   Know Your Markets There are two Market decks that you can buy cards from throughout the game. There’s the Elemental Market deck, where you can buy new Elementals from any faction to add to your deck, and the Command Market deck, where you can buy new Commands to add to your deck.   Set Up Set up is no small task—but it is part of the fun, if you enjoy a pieces-forward game. Each Faction comes with a Sage board, a level tracker token, and a Sage pack (with your faction’s specific Elemental and Command Cards). There’s also one Elemental Market deck of 40 cards and one Command Market deck of 40 cards. Then we get into tokens: 20 double-sided boost tokens, 20 double-sided shield tokens, 20 double-sided damage counters, and 20 double-sided gold coins.   Start with your Sage board in front of you, leaving space for your deck and your discard pile. Place your level tracker token on the Level One space. As you move up in level (each time you defeat an opponent’s Elemental, you move up a level), you’ll unlock Faction Actions and add new Elemental Champions to your deck. Each of your Elemental Champions has a level designation—place them face down in the area that corresponds to the level. When you reach levels 4, 6, and 8, you can add the corresponding Elemental Champion to your deck and use the Faction Action revealed in its place.   In front of your Sage board is your formation: a set of three rows in the shape of a triangle. Row 1 has space for one Elemental, row 2 has space for two Elementals, and row 3 has space for three Elementals. Your starting formation will have three Basic Elementals taking up rows one and two, your Sage in the middle of row three, and two Elemental Warriors flanking your Sage. The remaining Basic Elemental and Elemental Warrior will become part of your deck along with your five Command cards.   In a spot accessible to both players, place the Command Market deck and the Elemental Market deck. Flip over the top three cards of each deck—these are the cards you can purchase from the market. Now, you’re ready to play.   On Your Turn Each turn is 4 phases and can be summed up as follows: Phase 1: Apply Daybreak Effects Phase 2: Conduct Standard Actions and/or Faction Actions Phase 3: Buy from, sell to, or refresh the Command Market and/or the Elemental Market Phase 4: Restore your hand to five cards   But what fun is a summary?   Phase One: Apply Daybreak Effects Some Elementals have Daybreak Effects, which are signified by a sun illustration. These are little advantages that can boost your game but can only be put into effect during Phase One of your turn. For example, Porella the Leaf Sage’s Daybreak Effect says, “Collect 3 gold,” and Thorn Fencer, an Elemental Warrior from the Leaf Faction has a Daybreak Effect directing you to “Add 1 boost or 1 shield to this Elemental.”   Though not relevant to Phase One, this is also where I’ll explain the other Elemental Effect: Triggered Effects are used in response to specific occurrences throughout the game.   Phase Two: Conduct Standard Actions and/or Faction Actions You have four Action Points (AP) to spend per turn. You don’t have to use all of them, but unspent AP doesn’t rollover into your next turn. You can spend your AP on Standard Actions or Faction Actions. Standard Actions cost 1 AP each and you can do the same one more than once per turn if you have the AP to spend. Faction Actions also cost 1 AP each, but you can only perform 1 Faction Action per turn.   There are four Standard Actions, which are conveniently listed on every Sage board for your reference. You can: Summon an Elemental from your hand to your formation. However, you can only add an Elemental if an empty space already exists in your formation. Play a Command from your hand. After you play it and use the effect, move it to your discard pile. Swap the positions of 2 connected Elementals in your formation. Connected basically means touching another Elemental. So, your Elemental in row one is connected to both Elementals in row two, but to none in row three. Draw a card from your deck.   Faction Actions are the actions you unlock by leveling up, specifically at level 4, 6, and 8. This is where the unique strategy from each faction comes into play. For example, Gravel, the Pebble Sage, who competes with a strategy of defense with strong shield generation, has a level 4 Faction Action that allows you to add 1 shield to each Pebble Elemental connected to your Sage. Alternatively, Cedar, the Twig Sage, who pushes a strong offensive strategy with boosted damage, unlocks the ability to add 2 boosts to your row one Elemental.   Phase Three: Buy from, sell to, or refresh the Command Market and/or the Elemental Market Throughout the game, you’ll have different opportunities to earn gold, which you can use to buy cards from the markets or refresh the markets. One of the ways to earn gold is to sell cards to the market. Buying: Each card in the Elemental Market and Command Market will have a gold coin symbol on the bottom left with a number inside telling you how much it costs. If you have enough gold, you can purchase the card and add it to your discard pile to be cycled into your deck. For an extra 2 gold, you can add it directly into your formation if you have an empty space. You can buy Elementals of any faction from the Elemental Market. If you purchase a card, be sure to replace it with the top card from the relevant deck at the end of your turn. Selling: You can sell a card from your hand to the game box and remove it from the game. You can sell any number of cards you like to earn gold. The card is worth half its cost, rounded up (Ex, if a card costs 4 gold, you can sell it for 2 gold). If the card is part of your Sage pack (it will have a star symbol on it), you may only earn 1 gold for it. Refresh: If none of the cards in the market are interesting to you, you can spend 1 gold to move all three cards available in that market to the bottom of the deck and flip over three new ones.   Phase Four: Restore your hand to five cards Finally, in Phase Four, you clean up your hand. Discard any number of cards from your hand and draw from your deck until you have five cards in your hand. If there aren’t enough cards in your deck to draw until you have five cards, shuffle your discard pile and place it face down to form your new deck.   Become The Master Of The Elements Move through the four phases on your turn, attacking your opponent and strengthening your formation in preparation for your opponent’s attack. If you’re able to defeat your opponent’s Sage, you win!   History Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.   In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, Twisted Cryptids, Happy Little Dinosaurs, and Garden Variety, in addition to Command of Nature.   Variations You can add even more complexity to the game by purchasing the Sand & Wind expansion pack, which adds two new factions to the game. Dusty the Sand Sage and Cyclone the Wind Sage introduce the power of erosion and tailwinds!   There’s also a number of accessories available for purchase, like vinyl figurines of each Sage, card sleeves, and play mat sets.

Garden Variety   Gameplay Garden Variety is a beautifully illustrated card game reminiscent of the classic card game War, reimagined with bees, flowers, garden gnomes, and frogs, among other things. Players roll a six-sided die to decide the rule for each round, then take turns playing cards from their hands to satisfy the rule.   To decide the rule for each round, one player must roll the die. If a 0, 3, 5, 7, or 10 is rolled, then the player who plays a card closest to that number wins. But it’s not always that simple.   The game comes with a deck of 54 cards, which is made up of Critter Cards, Wildflower Cards, and Gnome Cards, each with their own unique—and adorable—illustration. The Critter Cards are numbered 1-9, with a select few cards featuring a “0 or 10” designation. They fall into one of four categories: Blue Opossum, Red Snail, Green Frog, and Yellow Bee. Like in all ecosystems, there is a critter hierarchy. If two cards of the same number are played, players then defer to the hierarchy to determine the winner: Blue Opossum beats Red Snail, which beats Green Frog, which beats Yellow Bee, which in turn beats Blue Opossum.   Wildflower Cards are also numbered 1-9, and if a Wildflower Card and a Critter Card of the same number are played, the Wildflower Card always wins.   Then there’s the matter of the Gnome Cards. With one of these mischievous cards, you can switch up the game in your favor. They feature directions like “Reroll the dice, then play another card,” and “Take another player’s card for the round. (They have no card for the round.)” Play them wisely!   Now, if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice I mentioned the game comes with a six-sided die, but I only mentioned five of the sides. The sixth side is a “!”, which if rolled, means players must play their cards first, then roll the die again to decide the rule for the game. A plot twist, indeed!   The player who wins the round takes all the cards played for their garden—which is an on-theme way of saying discard pile. To start a new round, players refill their hand with a card from the main deck and the winner of the previous round rolls the die again. Once the deck is run through and one player runs out of cards, all remaining cards in players’ hands are added to their garden, and the most populated garden wins!   History Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.   In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, Twisted Cryptids, Happy Little Dinosaurs, and Command of Nature, in addition to Garden Variety.   Reception & Awards Garden Variety was the 2024 Winner of the Top Holiday Gifts category in the Parents’ Picks Awards!