With the roguelike deck-builder arriving on Switch, Nintendo fans will finally get to see the best Inscryption cards the game has to offer. Inscryption has you at the mercy of a spooky supernatural dealer, and you’ll need to collect, play, and sacrifice cards to keep yourself alive. The strength of your hand is paramount, so here are the top picks to set you up for success.
Inscryption’s Nintendo debut was on December 1, squeezing onto the console just before the best Switch games of 2022 are decided. Judging by its price on other platforms, it’s likely to be a must-buy if you’re a fan of cheap Nintendo Switch games. We don’t want to spoil the whole game if you haven’t played yet, but know this before you read on – for now we’ve selected the best Inscryption cards from those found in Act One and the game’s unlockable endless mode, Kaycee’s Mod.
Here are the best Inscryption cards
Mantis God
The Mantis God is a single-cost rare card that bears the Trifurcated Strike sigil. This means it attacks three opposing card spaces (one on its left, its right, and directly opposite) in a single turn. Its starting attack and defence may look insignificant, but buffing the Mantis God’s attack just once turns the three damage it deals into six – and nine, and 12…that’s right, bow down.
Adding other cards’ sigils to Mantis God at sacrificial stones opens up plenty of powerful combinations. The Unkillable sigil is a great choice, as it gives you a never-ending supply of this cheap-to-play heavy-hitter. Giving Mantis God the Touch of Death sigil also means you can quickly kill three opposing cards instead of one.
Geck
The greatest thing about Geck is what the rare card lacks – a cost to play. Geck’s freebie status means you can soak up a turn of damage or quickly play a more powerful creature without wasting time drawing your usual free sacrifice fodder, Squirrels. Add sigils like Worthy Sacrifice or Many Lives into the mix, and you can generate even more free sacrifices to get your best cards on the board faster.
Unlike Squirrels, Geck can attack and defend. It may only have one point in both stats, but if you can buff this during your run, you’ll quickly have a formidable card that’s still free. They say that’s what all the best things in life are.
Child 13
Child 13 is a rare card that carries the Many Lives sigil. This means that, when you sacrifice the card to pay the blood cost of another card, the sacrificed card remains on the board. It’s a sigil also found on the cat, so it isn’t the only way to add it to your deck – but Child 13 comes with an extra surprise.
Sacrifice Child 13 for blood, and it awakens, turning into a one attack, one defence card with the Airborne sigil. This gives it more utility than the cat – though beware, as once you sacrifice it again, it returns to its original form. You’ll need to time the switch between its dormant and awakened forms carefully.
Ouroboros
A rare card with the Unkillable sigil, Ouroboros returns to your hand every time it dies. While the sigil alone is pretty powerful, Ouroboros makes it even better by gaining one point in attack and defence every time it dies.
It costs two blood to play Ouroboros, so buffing its stats can be slow-going if you’re trying to do so without extra sigils. However, if you can create a combo that gives you unlimited blood to spend, you can create an Ouroboros that deals thousands of points of damage with a single turn.
Beehive
The Beehive comes with the Bees Within sigil, and this gives you a one attack, one defence Bee card every time the Beehive is hit by an attack. The Bees have the Airborne sigil and are free to play, so while they can do a little damage on their own, they also make great sacrifices for more powerful cards. Be sure to boost your Beehive’s defence to get even more Bees for your buck.
The great thing about this card is that you even get free-bees (pun intended) when your opponent’s Beehive is struck. Plus, your Bees will have any sigil you’ve already given to the Beehive – which opens up a lot of combo potential.
Magpie
The Magpie deserves a place on this list because it’s the only card with the Hoarder sigil. Once a card bearing this sigil is played, you can search your deck for any card you want and add it to your hand. Drawing your game-winning cards early is often crucial in Inscryption, so this sigil has a lot of value.
That being said, you’re better off sacrificing the Magpie at the sacrificial stones and giving the Hoarder sigil to a card that’s cheaper to play. Even better, if you give it to cards like the Beaver, the Daus, or the Beehive, you can search for multiple cards during play.
Corpse Maggots
Five bones isn’t cheap, but the Corpse Eater sigil means you’ll never need to worry about the Corpse Maggots’ cost to play. The sigil means that, as soon as any card on your board dies in combat, the Corpse Maggots will take its place for free.
Corpse Maggots is handy for defending when your opponent’s cards can strike a card lane twice. Giving its sigil to expensive heavy hitters like the Bear or the Dire Wolf also reduces their cost to play massively.
Corpse Maggots also provides a small benefit outside of combat. If you’re sick of the campfire survivors threatening to devour your creatures in Act One, simply feed them your Corpse Maggots – they’ll soon grow sick and never bother you again.
Black Goat
The Black Goat is a one blood card with the Worthy Sacrifice sigil. It’s not made to attack or defend, but when you sacrifice it, you’ll get three blood to spend instead of one.
A Black Goat provides an easy way to get more expensive cards on the board with a single Squirrel. Pair it with a card like Bear, Moose Buck, or Great White in your deck. Additionally, give it an Unkillable or Many Lives sigil, and you’ll really get your money’s worth.
But what if you’re running a deck that relies more on bones than blood? Black Goat can help here too. Simply sacrifice it when you meet the Bone Lord on your travels, and you’ll gain his boon – which grants eight bones at the start of every battle.
Cockroach
We’ve talked a lot about the power of the Unkillable sigil so far, and the power to return a card to your hand when it dies can’t be overstated. That’s why the Cockroach is so important – apart from the valuable Ouroboros, this is the primary Unkillable card.
The obvious move is to sacrifice your Cockroach ASAP to get multiple uses out of your biggest players. But as a one attack, one defence card that costs four bones, the Cockroach also makes a solid backup blocker or sacrifice for your deck.