We are back to looking at board games after a little anime detour. This time I want to look at deck building games, one of my favorite types of games. There are a lot of deck building games out there and a lot of them do very similar things. Sometimes that is okay, but is it always what I want to play?

What is A Deck Building Game?

So I’ve written about deck building games a lot before. I won’t point you to those articles right now, but you can search them and see my Top 10 in that genre and a breakdown of the mechanic and more. Simply put, deck building games are games where you start with a deck of cards and you add to that as you go. Generally you are doing that to create combos that allow you to get more and better cards into your deck.

These cards can be used for a lot of different things depending on the game. But generally they are going to push you towards the end of the game objective. This can be to get points, slay monsters, complete quests, or plenty of other things. But the main focus of the game is going to be on getting cards into your deck that help you complete those objectives.

What Do I Look For In A Deck Building Game?

1. More than Just Deck Building
2. Ease of Play
3. Variance
4. Variable Market

More Than Just Deck Building

This one might seem wrong, and it isn’t always needed, but I don’t want my deck building games right now to be only deck building. When the mechanic first came to board games with the likes of Dominion, the concept was interesting. However, now I have played Dominion a fair amount, and the artwork and theme weren’t for me. I have played Ascension a lot, and I still like it. But I don’t want to get a new game that is only deck building, unless it does something really different.

I prefer stuff like Aeon’s End, Xenoshyft, and Clank! In! Space! where they have more going on. A simple deck building game has it’s place, but for me, I’ve progressed beyond just wanting that. That said, if you haven’t played a deck builder, both Ascension and Dominion are great first picks.

Ease of Play

Now I am going to go back a little bit on what I just said. Yes, I want more than just deck building, but I don’t want too much. I want a game that you can see what is happening pretty easily. There are some deck building games where they try and cram too much information onto the cards. So while I want my deck building game to do more than just deck building, I want the deck building aspect of the game to not to be too complicated.

With ease of play, I also want it to be pretty easy to set-up. Dominion, is not that easy a game to set-up. You generally want a certain mix of cards, so you are searching through the box for specific ones. Xenoshyft has the same problem. And while Aeon’s End might have the same issue, they actually don’t separate the cards enough for it to be an issue. What I mean is that Dominion and Xenoshyft have little decks for each card type. Aeon’s End says put all those little decks into one clump which I have sorted alphabetically. That makes it easier for me to find the cards than with Dominions and Xenoshyft’s nice slots for cards.

Variance

This could also be called variability. But I saved that term for the next point. What I mean in this is that I want the games to have something that change it up between games. It might be a changing market, it might be that you have unique powers to start, but I want my deck of cards to feel different than yours by the end.

It is a knock on Dominion for me. Even though the market of cards can be changed up every game, I don’t feel like my deck of cards and strategy feel different. I’ll dive into that more on in the next point though. Compare that to Xenoshyft though, I start out with some unique cards in my deck, and I get bonuses on buying specific cards or doing specific actions, so I am different from everyone else at the table. It is easy to change it up then as I just pick a different starting deck and powers next game.

Variable Market

So this one is less important to me. If the other things are going strong, that it has more than deck building, there’s an ease of play, and I feel like I’m playing a unique deck or character, I don’t need this variable market. However, if this is just a deck building game I want this.

So what do I mean by a variable market? In something like Dominion or Xenoshyft the items out to buy are the same for everyone. They get set out at the start of the game and those are the cards you have access to throughout the game. Ascension, on the other hand, has a variable market. When I buy a card a new card is flipped into it’s place. I don’t know what that new card is going to be. Basically think of it that I prefer to adapt on the fly versus having a starting strategy.

The reason I don’t like it for Dominion, and I touched on it above, is that Dominion can become a race of players doing the same thing, buying the same card, and hoping that they shuffle better. The card engine that I’m creating and you are creating should be the same, because there is an optimal engine. I don’t mind it it in Xenoshyft, though, because our optimal engines will be different. I can get a 1 cost discount on medical each turn, you can get a 1 cost discount on weapons, we will buy different things. Plus it is cooperative, which does make a difference.

Are All Criteria Equally As Important

Nope, I am going to say they aren’t. In fact, for me, my most important the wanting more going on, might not be important for you. If you aren’t familiar with deck building something like Dominion or Ascension would be great. I need more to the puzzle, generally, than just deck building though.

And you also might prefer that long term strategic planning to that more tactical reactionary planning in the market. Obviously that variable market isn’t always important to me because I do own Xenoshyft: Onslaught and Aeon’s End. But I think I like that fixed market better in a cooperative game. It gives more leeway in what you are buying when you are working together as a group.

Let’s Do An Example

I always want to give you an example of what I mean. Sometimes, with games I already know, the example won’t be as useful. Or with an anime I already know, because I have hindsight, so I want to try and look forward to something that might be coming out. This is, however, going to be a case where I look at something I already have, Xenoshyft: Onslaught. I will try and write it mainly remembering why I got it after watching the Dice Tower play this game.

More Than Deck Building

This game definitely hit that more than deck building style of game. In fact, even within the deck building, there were things that I hadn’t seen before. But let’s talk about the non-deck building piece. You place out troops to defeat waves of monsters that are coming in. That is not something normal for deck building. You might use cards to defeat monsters, but to have a wave you face, then you deck build more, than another wave, that was unique to Xenoshyft.

Also that the deck building itself wasn’t too punishing. In a lot of deck building games if you don’t get any money, you can’t deck build. In Xenoshyft: Onslaught, ever turn you are getting more money guaranteed. With that money you can buy more troops or gear. And that stuff goes into your hand, not into your discard, so you can use it right away.

Ease of Play

Once the game is set-up, I don’t feel like the game play is difficult. The main thing that can make it interesting or a bit more challenging to teach is that when I set-up my row of troops, I can actually give you some troops. So there is almost a trading or sharing piece to the game, which is fun. Especially since it’s a cooperative game, but since it is cooperative it’s an easy thing to teach and talk through as you are playing the actual game.

Variance

Clearly this game has variance since I used it as my example. But I like that each group/area has a different thing to do. If I am the barracks I can get a free troop each turn. If I am the med bay, I can get a discount on medical cards, or armory on weapons. And those are just your base level stuff. You unlock more things the further you go along. So as the game progresses not only is my deck becoming different from yours, my abilities become more unique as well.

Variable Market

Finally, a variable market is not something that Xenoshyft has. When you start out you get the player number of specific cards put out, the med bay has a med card, the armory has a weapon card, and then the other cards are randomized. But, because the cards aren’t a point generation engine, I don’t mind it here. And the card supply is fairly limited for each type of card, so you do need to diversify because you won’t just be able to buy only the “best” card available.

Overall, Xenoshyft is more of a hit than it is a miss. I think that even without the variable market and the bit longer set-up, it does a lot of interesting things. And really it’s that first thing, the fact that it’s more than just deck building that has made me really love the game. It is a bit like playing Starship Troopers the board game, just with scarier looking bugs.

Will This Work For You?

I’m going to say it one more time, if you haven’t played deck building games, I’d recommend Ascension or Dominion, a pure deck building game first. But you might find you start looking for more quickly. So yes, I think that it does work pretty well. Though, live I’ve also said, that last one, the variable market, might not be for some people. It works for me because I am more of a reactionary gamer where I can adjust to changes in states of games or the card market really well. I am less of a strategic long term planning gamer.

What is your favorite deck building game?

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