Sangoku

In a mythic oriental universe, great powers battle for control of Three Realms: The Heavens, The Earth and The Hells. Sangoku (meaning "three realms") is an elegant and thematic card game by Thunderstone designer Mike Elliott.
 
A Winning Hand Gets You Creatures To Defend Your Realms... And Attack Others
Players recruit warriors: Dogs, Samurai, Oni and Dragons to their armies by playing poker hands to each of the Three Realms. The best hand in each realm wins and a Warrior is summoned from the winning cards... but the weakest cards also summon the most powerful Warriors, with the 2 card in each suit (Fire, Metal, Earth, Water, Wood) summoning a mighty Dragon.  
 
A Set Of Warriors From The Fire Suit, With Power Listed
With these recruited Warrior Tokens, players advance on their opponents to gain ascendancy in the Realms. They can also wager and collect Legend cards, which when combined into sets can be used to powerful effect, including bringing forth uniquely damaging Warriors.