Ophidian CCG

Ophidian 2350 is Z-Man Games' gladiator-arena CCG set in a 24th-century stadium where genetically-engineered alien combatants fight for credits and fame, designed as a direct spiritual successor to Galactic Empires.

The game

Released in 2001 by Z-Man Games and designed by Jesper Myrfors (one of the original Magic the Gathering art directors), Ophidian 2350 is a two-player arena-combat duel where each player fields a Stable of genetically-engineered warriors and bets on outcomes as well as fighting. A credit-betting sub-economy sits alongside combat, letting a player lose the fight but win the round through superior wagering.

The context

Z-Man Games is a specialty board and card publisher, and Ophidian was among their most ambitious CCG projects. Myrfors, who had shaped the visual identity of Magic's first expansions, gave Ophidian a distinctive art direction that leaned into gritty detailed creature illustration. The 2001 CCG market was cooling by this point, and Ophidian was one of the last major indie sci-fi CCG launches of the decade.

The collector angle

The base set, the Undercurrent expansion, and the rare Overlords expansion complete the English print run. Overlords was produced in much smaller quantities than the first two waves and is the primary focus for set-completion collectors. Myrfors-signed cards from the 2001 GenCon release event are sought-after cross-over artifacts between Magic and Ophidian collector communities. The Myrfors-illustrated alien gladiator rares are often bought for the art alone rather than gameplay.