Beta now open

CardBound

Trading Card Game

“Life was never meant to be discarded.”

Every card is a living archive: a creature, a person, a whole world, bound into a card to keep it from dying. Build your deck, wake the memories inside it, and find out who stole the Archive.

Join the beta See how it plays

Opens Apple's TestFlight. Free, iPhone and iPad.

Story mode · The Stolen Archive

The cards are alive. And they remember.

Some are grateful. Some believe they were imprisoned. Both are true.

Mister O found the Bound Realm, a place where time barely moves, and bound the first cards to save what was dying. Then a secret government division took his work, dressed it up as a public trading card game, and turned every sanctioned battle into a field test.

Mister O disappeared. His prototype deck was stolen. When a brass case opens for you, the cards inside start to remember, and you start to hear them.

Duel your way from the practice table to the Architect's vault across a prologue and nine chapters. Win with a card and its memories wake up, piece by piece.

The Forgotten Archive
The Theft
Strange Memories
The Continuance Authority
The Sanctuary Rebellion
The First Savepoint

The Architect, a hooded man holding a glowing card

How it plays

Easy to learn. Hard to master.

A competitive card battler built for your phone: fast matches, real decisions and a bluff behind every face-down card.

1,000

Life Essence

Each duelist starts with 1,000 Life Essence. Break through with your creatures and bring your opponent to zero.

Your deck, your way

Build a 40-card deck, plus an Ascension Deck of boss creatures waiting outside it. Mix archetypes freely; there are no colour locks.

3 + 5

A tight battlefield

Three creature zones, five back-row zones and a Biome that reshapes the field. Every slot counts.

⚔

Sacrifice and ascend

Level up your board: offer smaller creatures to call down bosses, or fulfil an Ascension's requirements to summon it from outside your deck.

Face-down Counters

Set Counters in your back row and spring them on your opponent's turn. Is that card a trap, or a bluff?

✦

Many ways to play

The story campaign, quick duels against the computer, the Weekly Gauntlet, and online battles against friends and rivals.

Five archetypes

Pick a playstyle. Or break the rules and mix them.

Emberfang

Aggression · Sacrifice

Arena beasts bred for the crowd. Hit hard, burn bright and turn every sacrifice into pressure.

Ironroot

Defense · Control

Ancient guardians of the grove. High DEF, hidden creatures and punishing counterattacks.

Stormwing

Tempo · Combos

Creatures of wind and water. Reposition, bounce and strike from the angle nobody covered.

Voidborn

Recursion

The Null Court's dead don't stay down. Profit from destruction and pull the fallen back.

Crystalkin

Engine · Build-up

Mister O's machines. Set up an engine, stack value turn after turn, then cash it in.

The collection

Every card was something once.

A hand-painted set of 100 cards, each with its own lore. Open packs, trade with friends, and chase the Legendaries.

Cardbound King, a crowned lion wreathed in flame

LV 8

Cardbound KingEmberfang · Legendary

LV 8

Ancient TreantIronroot · Legendary

Tideleaf Spirit, a creature made of water and leaves

LV 5

Tideleaf SpiritStormwing · Epic

Cyber Hydra, a three-headed mechanical dragon

LV 6

Cyber HydraCrystalkin · Epic

Sungrass Lion, a golden lion with a mane of grass

LV 6

Sungrass LionEmberfang · Epic

Dimension Lion, a lion crackling with green energy

LV 7

Dimension LionStormwing · Legendary

Nightfall Revenant, a horned shadow beast

LV 8

Nightfall RevenantVoidborn · Legendary

LV 7

Inferno DirewolfEmberfang · Legendary

The cast

Who's holding the cards?

The Player — You
The one who can hear them
A brass case opened for you, and the cards inside began to remember.

Mister O
The inventor
He found the Bound Realm and bound the first cards to keep what was dying. Then he disappeared.

The Architect
Heritage Curator
He preserves the history of the game. Some say a little too much.

Mira
Last Light Cards
Runs the Last Light Cards counter, fast and funny. She can't hear the cards; she stands with you anyway.

Rook
League Prospect
A kennel kid turned League prospect, short and blunt. Your rival at the Qualifier.

Akemi
The Sanctuary
Leader of the people who would free every bound life. Few words. She ends conversations.

Nyx
Memory Broker
Speaks for the Null Court. A price for everything, never a straight answer.

Director Vale
Continuance Authority
Bureaucratic precision. He rations forever, and his cracks show as pauses.

Beta testing

Play it first. Help shape it.

CardBound is in open beta on iPhone and iPad. Testers play every new build before anyone else, and their feedback decides what changes next.

Get Apple's TestFlight app from the App Store. It's free and it's how Apple delivers beta games.
Tap “Join the beta” below on your iPhone or iPad. TestFlight opens: tap Accept, then Install.
Play and tell us what you think. Take a screenshot in the game and TestFlight lets you send it straight to us with a note.

Join the beta

Opens Apple's TestFlight. Free, iPhone and iPad.

What testers get

New builds as soon as they're ready, often several a week
The story campaign, the Weekly Gauntlet and online duels
A direct line to the developer: your bug reports get read
Bragging rights: you were here before launch

Beta builds can have bugs, and progress may be reset before launch. Questions? Email cardboundtcg@cardbound.com.

FAQ

Questions

What devices can I play on?

The beta runs on iPhone and iPad through Apple's TestFlight. Other platforms are planned. Join the beta or email us and we'll let you know when they open.

Does the beta cost anything?

No. Joining the beta and installing TestFlight are both free.

Do I need an account?

No. You can play as a guest, and your progress stays on your device. Create an account (email, Google or Apple) to keep your collection safe across devices, add friends and trade. Your guest progress comes with you.

Will my beta progress carry over to launch?

We try hard to keep it, but a beta is a beta: we may need to reset collections before launch. We'll always tell testers before that happens.

I found a bug. How do I report it?

Take a screenshot in the game. TestFlight will offer to send it to us with your note. You can also email cardboundtcg@cardbound.com, or see the support page.

Is CardBound pay-to-win?

No. It's designed so matches are won by deckbuilding, sequencing and reading your opponent, not by rarity. Legendary cards are limited to one copy per deck.