There is an entire category of games that can’t live on my phone for the sake of my health. Vampire Survivors and Balatro are on the top of that list because they tap into a reptilian part of my mind that I’m not particularly proud of. Today I am adding another game to that list, the roguelite deckbuilder Merge Maestro. It’s simply too dangerous to have on any device if I want to get productive work done.
Merge Maestro looks almost childishly simple: a 4 by 4 grid appears on the bottom. Enemies appear on the top in waves and must be dealt with by using tokens. Low level tokens can be placed in the grid and merged with other tokens of the same type to increase their value, with values starting from one and eventually ending up at nine. As you progress in the game, those numbered tokens are replaced with specific emoji-like tokens, each with different effects. As wave after wave of enemies appear, you begin to build a deck and form synergies between different tokens. Tokens may trigger when they appear, merge, and/or are destroyed. Occasionally, consumables like strawberries and kiwis will appear on the field, which allow you to temporarily buff or trigger an existing token. You start out with four health, and if enough enemies attack you, your run is done.
Merge Maestro's superficial simplicity hides a shocking amount of complexity. Strategies and synergies develop organically, and different token effects impact how you place and prioritize those tokens. Rainbow tokens are plused-up versions of existing tokens, but their effect may be an objectively worse fit for your deck than a plain one. What’s more, tokens with similar mechanics tend to fall into the same “packs.” Some builds might favor infinitely generated tokens like those found in the “creativity” pack (brushes, notepads, paddles), while others may involve sacrificing tokens like those that appear in the Halloween pack (demon or coffin). The relative value of a token is almost entirely dependent on how you can make it sing in your deck.
Like Balatro, Merge Maestro features different unlockable boards, packs, difficulties and challenges to keep things interesting. It is a game that rewards experimentation and careful understanding of mechanics, but is simple enough to jump right into. It also has a free lite version for mobile and costs, as of this writing, two or three dollars on iOS, Android and Steam.
I downloaded Merge Maestro right after breaking my foot in several places, and it is a fantastic game to play while waiting for results in the hospital. It exists in a bizarre sweet spot between a smooth brained ambient phone game that’s just above a fidget spinner and a game that requires serious active strategizing. Merge Maestro is frictionless to pick up and engaging enough that it’s hard to put down. Sometimes you’ll accidentally create an absurd loop, like when I gave a prawn several hundred shots of whiskey and he attempted to fight a shark for three minutes. You do need to make serious decisions about playcrafting and placement, but the game also gives you ample time between those big decisions so you can just glide. When you get into a nice groove and create a combo that almost plays itself, the rush of serotonin is a soothing balm.
That said, I’m deleting this shit from my phone before it becomes a problem. I know my warning signs. Merge Maestro is the bastard child of Threes and Balatro, and if that triggers any alarms in your brain, then perhaps you should proceed with caution as well.
