Ascension vs GBKeeper
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ascension
Engage in a strategic deck-building card game where you acquire cards to gain Renown and unlock powerful Boons. Battle against the Fallen One alone or with friends, with expansions available to deepen the experience.
- Deck-building card game mechanics
- Single-player and multiplayer modes
- Unlock powerful Boons and Legendary status
- Cross-platform online play
- Offline AI opponents
- Multiple expansions available
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***Legends Expansion Now Available!** Return to the world of Vigil as the Muses of Malevolence rise to bring ruin. Legendary Heroes from Ascension’s past have returned to guide you, granting their power to those who prove worthy. Each card you acquire or defeat grants Renown with its factions, advancing you on the Legendary Track. As your Renown grows, unlock powerful Boons from Legendary Characters and, at the pinnacle of a faction’s track, gain Legendary status with the power to acquire or defeat one card from that faction for free each turn. Ascension: Deck Building Game, is the award winning deck building card game for mobile. Play alone or with friends to battle against the Fallen One for honor and victory. Conceived and designed by Magic: The Gathering tournament champions, Ascension will provide hours of engaging and strategic game play for enthusiast and experienced gamers alike. 2011 Golden Geek award winner (Best Mobile/Handheld Game) Pocket Gamer Bronze Award 2011 Dice Tower Awards Awards: Best Digital Boardgame Best Interface and Graphic Design - 2011 Best Online Multiplayer - 2011 Highlights: • Universal Application: Plays on phones and tablets • Beautifully detailed cards • Full asynchronous support for multiplayer online games • Cross-platform online play • Play against multiple offline A.I. opponents • Multiple expansions available to purchase to expand the Ascension experience! *AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND PLAYDEK ACCOUNT ARE REQUIRED FOR ONLINE PLAY.* Per our Terms of Service, you must be 13 years old or older to use the Playdek online games service. Also by Playdek: - Twilight Struggle - D&D: Lords of Waterdeep - Labyrinth: The War On Terror - Fort Sumter - Fluxx Having an issue? Looking for support? Please contact us at: support@playdekgames.com You can follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram! Facebook: /playdek You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/playdek Twitter: @playdek Instagram: @playdek
GBKeeper
Build and manage your Guild Ball teams, track game progress, and access rules and player information. This unofficial app helps you strategize, play, and store match data.
- Browse player library by guild and position
- Construct teams with captains, mascots, and players
- Track VPs, Goals, Momentum, and player health
- Manage rosters for organized play
- Share team lists with friends
- Connect device-to-device for local multiplayer
- Access rulebook, guild cards, and errata
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GBKeeper is an unofficial Guild Ball app for building teams and tracking damage during games. LIBRARY The Library allows you to browse through all the players in every guild. View each card and see what Union players will work for that guild. You can also search by player name and position. TEAMS Team is where Guild Ball teams are constructed. Create a team by selecting a guild and then choosing the captain, mascot and any number of players. Both in-guild and Union options are presented in one table. You can also build your team by flipping through the card views. When you're heading to an Organized Play event, build a Roster and select your team from that Roster each time you start a game. Once you’ve built your team use the share button to text a friend with your latest creation. PLAY Take your team onto the pitch with the Play screen. Track your VPs, Goals and Momentum while also tracking individual player health. As you activate players you can mark each as activated so you know who still needs to go. Once a player hits 0 health, they are automatically Taken Out. The Next Turn button quickly de-activates each player and assigns any Taken Out players an Icy Sponge token (if they can receive them). Use the Return to Pitch option to bring a player back out and automatically apply their Icy Sponges to update their health. Optionally track the opponent's team alongside your own, offering quick access to your opponent's cards. CONNECT Connect to nearby opponents: share team lists, health and activation status of players, victory points, goals, take outs and current momentum. You don't need an internet connection, you can connect device-to-device directly with WiFi, even without a network. REFERENCE Have a rules question? Head to the Reference screen. Access to the full Season 4 PDF rulebook right within the app, along with the Organized Play document, guild cards and errata. Still have a question? Jump to the rules forum or search the rules forum right from the app. MATCH TRACKING Store matches for your teams including Victory Points, Goals, Take Outs and players for both teams, opponent, match date, location and notes about the match.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: GBKeeper at 5.0 against Ascension's 3.4. GBKeeper also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 60%) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). Ascension's advantage is ratings volume (1.1K vs 32). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Ascension sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. GBKeeper asks for nothing beyond the download.
GBKeeper holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ascension has 1.1K ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Ascension's written reviews are positive against 100% of GBKeeper's.
Ascension ships an update every 3 months, GBKeeper every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ascension | GBKeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (1.1K ratings) | 5.0 (32 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 32 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.2 GB | 123 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Playdek, Inc. | Mickey Roberson |
Customer experience
Ascension
GBKeeper
Bugs and requests
Ascension
Reported bugs
5 issues- Purchases disappearing after updates
- Restore function not working
- Crashes when certain cards are played
- Constructs getting stuck in the middle of the screen
- Game freezing and logging out users
Requested features
5 requests- Increase honor pool limit for online games
- Add custom deck building options
- Optimize for iPhone X and newer devices
- Provide option to revert to old art style
- Improve online multiplayer experience
GBKeeper
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ascension
- Storm of Souls expansion$0.99
- Promo Pack 1$0.99
- Immortal Heroes expansion$0.99
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- Ascension Promo Cards - Pack 4$0.99
- Rise of Vigil$0.99
- Darkness Unleashed expansion$0.99
- Realms Unraveled expansion$0.99
- Dawn of Champions$0.99
- Dreamscape$0.99
- Return of the Fallen expansion$1.99
GBKeeper
No in-app purchases









