What’s Deck Building and List Criteria

Deck building is when in a game you are adding cards to a deck or cards that you then draw and play from. IT is not a game where you build a custom deck to start and no cards are added during the game to that deck of cards. This eliminates games like Arkham Horror The Card Game, Marvel Champions and Star Wars Unlimited from being on the list.

For this list, one of the important elements is that it needs to matter in the game. There are some games where you maybe add a card or two during the game. Those aren’t going to be making the list. I’ll talk in each about how much the deck building matters in the game.

Top 10 Deck Building Games

10. The Quest for El Dorado

The Quest for El Dorado is the only deck building racing game that I have on the list. In fact, I’m not sure that I can think of any. Heat can have a drafting element before the rest to kind of create some deck construction, but that’s it.

This one is all about getting to El Dorado as quickly as you can with your explorer. You play out cards matching terrains to be able to move along. And there are big blocks of different terrains, so you build up your deck one way and then you need to be able to pivot away from that or not get so deep in that because you need to get cards for the next terrain type as well.

One of the cool thing about this game is that as you empty out piles or cards, the next player picks what new stack of cards is going to go into that pile. It creates this interesting element where the players are the ones who set the market.

9. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is the one campaign game on the list. Though there are two more that offer campaign modes. But this one is only a campaign game where you play through the books of the Harry Potter series. It’s a fun game as you add new spells to your deck and you balance getting cards to get better spells and getting spells to help deal with the threats that can start to pile up.

There is a negative to this game. While it does offer cool unlocks of new things that are added for each book, there are also the same bad guys. So each time you play there are more and more bad guys. Now your deck should be getting more powerful because of the added cards, but you don’t carry anything over. So while I enjoy this game, it’s not one that stuck in my collection because it’s not too fast.

8. Knights of the Hound Table

Knights of the Hound Table is a game that I need to get played again. After playing it at Gen Con I decided I should pick it up. This game is an interesting little game where you are adding dog knights to your deck and them facing them off against your opponent.

You play out three cards each turn and depending on how the fight goes, that is going to determine who gets to buy first and who is gaining points in the game. Each card is going to give you something special. The ones on either end of the three you play give you attack and defense, respectively. Then the one in the middle is going to give you a special power of some sort (I believe I have that order correct). So it becomes an interesting little game of how you can manipulate your hand of cards to get a winning combination out there.

7. Hero Realms

Hero Realms is another two player head to head game, or it can be solo/cooperative against a boss/enemy deck. But I like this game a lot as a two player head to head game. You are trying to whittle down the other players health.

To do this you are playing out troops and they can either attack your opponent, assuming there is no enemy troop who forces you to attack them first. Plus there are other cards that offer more than just troops. Some of it might be money to buy more cards. Or you might be healing up and keeping ahead of your opponent that way.

The game also has a lot of expansions. I really like to use the characters for the game. Each character is going to provide a slightly different starting set-up and some powers that you can use throughout the game. It is going to give you a bit more of that asymmetrical experience while keeping the goal the same.

6. Ascension

Ascension is the most straightforward of the deck building games on the list. It is about grabbing cards, fighting monsters, and getting points. It’s one of two deck building games that I would consider great spots to get into deck building that I’ve played. The other being Dominion. But I don’t like Dominion that well and I think that it struggles more disparity in player experience.

There are three big things that I like better about Ascension. Firstly there are monsters. So it is not just about buying cards to get the victory point cards, you also want to buy troops to fight the monsters and get victory points from killing them. You also have a changing market. By that I mean that when a monster is defeated or a card is bought a new random one is flipped out. Finally are the constructs which stay in play. They give you a bonus that keeps going from round to round, unless your opponent destroys them.

5. Mistborn

Now we move onto the newest game on the list. Mistborn is a competitive deck building game to see who can be the best Mistborn. Or you can play it cooperatively against the Lord Ruler. You can see that cooperative style of game on the Malts and Meeples YouTube and down below.

Both ways work well for the game. And while it is a deck building game, the game offers some very unique things. The big one is that it pulls in burning metals like they do in the Mistborn books. And as you go through the game you get better at burning metals. That means that you can burn more on your turn which means that you can play more cards.

I also like that you can burn the metal on a card to play another card. It offers just a little bit more strategy. And I mentioned leveling up. The game is great with that because you level up each turn. And sometimes you can play cards to make that move faster. But it means that you feel more powerful and also can push the end game faster as you get further into the game. So it doesn’t stagnate in what you can do.

4. Clank! (All Versions)

This spot on the list includes Clank! The Adventure Deck Building Game, Clank! In! Space! and Clank! Catacombs. I recommend if you are starting out, get Clank! Catacombs. That is the newest one but all of the games generally follow the same system. The system is get into the dungeon/spaceship, grab a big treasure and get out.

Clank! is a deck building game that is competitive again, I have one more competitive one on the list. But what you can do to mess with other players is limited. Instead, your big concerns are making too much noise, clank, and then the monster drawing them out of the bag and damaging you and knocking you out before you can get out.

The deck building is all about pushing further into the dungeon. You want to grab cards that are going to let you move. But you also need cards to deal with the monsters or get coins to buy from other markets and grab points that way. The game gives you a lot of ways to get points while also giving you a very nice push your luck feel as you try and race back out once you’ve gotten your treasure. Because when people grab treasure that is going to push the game closer to the end.

3. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is the game on the list that is way more than just a deck building game. And you don’t always draw a ton of cards in the game. So as you build your deck, you might find that you only see cards one or two times. But the deck building is important in this game, as is the worker placement and resource gathering.

Let’s mainly talk about the cards. The cards are always going to augment what you can do in the game. There are two different types that I like as well. There are goods cards which you can buy, and they go to the bottom of your draw pile. So for a game with only a few turns it means that you see those cards quickly. And then there are relic cards that you get to use immediately, without paying their cost and then discard.

I had someone explain them to me this way. Relics are things you find while you explore the Lost Ruins. So it makes sense you can use them right away. The goods, though, are being shipped over to your expedition. So they take a bit more to get to you.

2. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

Xenoshyft: Onslaught is one of my favorite deck building games and just games overall. The first part I guess I didn’t need to say, really. But I love how cooperative this game is. And the final two deck building games on the list are cooperative.

In Xenoshyft, you are battling waves off bug aliens who want to destroy your base. So it is really a tower defense game. And each player has their own side of the tower that they defend against. But the total health of the tower, that is shared across all the players and all sides of the base.

There are a few things that make me love this game. Firstly, the game feeds you money. For each wave you get through you get more and more money. And that corresponds with unlocking better and better troops. So you are always able to buy troops.

I also love how cooperative this game is. I use my cards like grenades or healing on your turn defending the tower. In fact, we talk through that and work through that all together. But there is more than that. Maybe you didn’t draw enough troops because you have a lot or armor. Well, I can just play a troop your side of the base and now that is your card. Or maybe you have an extra weapon. You can equip that card to one of my troops and now that stays in my deck.

1. Aeon’s End

The final game on the list is cooperative and it has a campaign. I love Aeon’s End, and there is a ton of it to choose from. This game is all about surviving a big boss fight. And the bosses, called nemesis, all are slightly different. And the mages that you play, they are all slightly different as well. So your strategy each game is going to change depending on the mages that you play with and nemesis that you are going up against.

One of the big unique things for Aeon’s End is that you don’t shuffle your deck. That seems like one of the standards for deck building, but it’s a negative to shuffle your deck. When you buy cards they go to your discard. And after you are done buying and playing cards, you take those cards that would go to the discard and put them into the discard in the order that you want. So you can try and split-up cards if you get too many spells by each other, or you can create combos in your funding to really optimize your money.

Finally, I like how the spell and turn systems work. Though, the turn system make it so that I think Aeon’s End is a two player game or solo. The turn order is random and you draw a card to see who goes. With more than two, it can be a long time between turns. But with two, players get to go twice in a shuffle of turn order cards with the nemesis going twice as well. And that works well because you play a spell one turn and shoot if off the next. So you feel like you are doing stuff each round.

Final Thoughts

I managed to get 13 games into a Top 10 list. I like deck building and I think there is a ton of fun going on with it. There are other games that I want to play that have deck building in them, or ones that just missed the list. Shadowrun Crossfire is one that I enjoy but I need to play more of it. And Etherfields has a deck building component to it. So does Dune Imperium, which I own but have yet to play. And I suspect that if I were to think about it, there are a few more as well that could have made the list, or have that element that I need to play.

What is your favorite deck building game?

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Ranking My Sci-Fi Games

16. Star Wars: Destiny

I don’t dislike Star Wars: Destiny, I just find that I have room for one collectible game in my life. And right now that is Magic: The Gathering. Destiny is fun, though, because it is cheaper to play. And I know someone who has a bunch of cards (they bought all of mine) so I can play it if I want that way. But it’s a good head to head game.

15: Firefly: The Game

This is a game that I really need to give another chance. Again, I don’t dislike this game, it’s just that I kind of played it once. Everyone was learning and nothing was going that well for us in it. And it just got longer and longer without making progress. But I see how the game works and I think there are some cool elements there. And I know there are people who really like the game. So I want to try it again and set aside the time and group to really play it.

14: Legendary Encounters: Firefly

Much like Firefly: The Game, Legendary Encounters Firefly is one that I’ve had fun with, but I want to play more. I really like the show, and I think that the Encounters version of Legendary works better than the Marvel version. And it also falls into the category of I know someone who owns the game, so I could pretty easily play it again if I wanted.

13: Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Encounter is one that I had in my collection, I really enjoyed, and I traded away. Mainly because I don’t think I can get it to the table all that often. Cosmic Encounter is a really silly negotiation game that works when people lean into that negotiation. There is strategy to the game, but you need to lean into that negotiation to make it work. So it just limits who I can play it with, but I’d never turn down a chance to play Cosmic Encounter.

12: Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc was high on my Top 100 a few years ago, and it dropped down and I sold it. Again, a game that I really enjoy and I would play any chance I could. But it’s an asymmetric game so it is a bit harder to teach and play. With that, I prefer Root to it which is in the same family of asymmetric games. But this is a fun area control game with a cool combat mechanic that is simple but different.

11: Star Wars: Imperial Assault

More Star Wars on the list. Imperial Assault also left the collection only because it is a campaign game. Campaign games are harder to get to the table for sure and Imperial Assault is not exception. I want to get it back sometime and play it. I liked the app that you can use with it to play fully cooperatively. And I like that it feels like a Star Wars adventure.

10: Shadowrun Crossfire

I almost didn’t add this to the list, I don’t know where I want to put Cyber-Punk. But Cyber-Punk is Sci-fi. Shadowrun Crossfire is a game of deck building and defeating challenges, getting XP, and leveling up your characters slowly. That’s the big knock on the game that you don’t level up fast enough, but people house rule around that. It is one I need to dive more into the game, I think you can play it solo, even if it is multi-handed solo gaming.

9: Gravwell

Gravwell is an abstract game with a space theme put on top of it. In particular Gravwell has you getting passed through a wormhole that is closing and now you use different elements to try and escape back. But the different element either pull you towards the nearest object, push you from it, or pull them towards you. It’s a fun little puzzle that keeps it close until someone can get the right cards to make it to the end.

8: Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars in a box, as people like to call it. Star Wars: Rebellion has the Rebels trying to undermine the Empire and complete missions. The Empire is trying to figure out where the Rebels secret base is. All while building up troops and skirmishing as you go. It’s a massive two player game, but an amazing one. If you have the time it is worth sitting down with an getting that original trilogy Star Wars feel.

7: Under Falling Skies

Under Falling Skies is Space Invaders meets Independence Day. This is a solo game about fighting off waves of alien ships and researching the mother ship in order to beat the game. I have yet to beat the game, but it is a lot of fun. But I always feel like I’m getting close. I also really like that high numbers make some ships descend faster but are more useful to research or blow up ships. It’s a clever system and a pretty big little game.

6: Galaxy Trucker

I normally don’t like real time games but Galaxy Trucker is an exception. In Galaxy Trucker you build out your cargo ship as fast as you can. Then you sit back an watch it get blown up. Well, ideally not blown up, and ideally you pick up cargo along the way. You deal with asteroids, space pirates, and come across planets full of goods along the way. It might be too chaotic for some, but I really like it.

5: Battlestar Galactica

BSG (Battlestar Galactica) is a massive game of survival when you might have hidden traitors among you. The Cylons are aboard the ship and you might not even know you are one. This is a massive three hours deduction, survival, even a bit of social deduction game. You try and figure out who is a Cylon and if you can get them off the ship in time before they mess everything up. But that’s way easier said than done.

4: T.I.M.E Stories

TIME Stories is almost any setting. There is Ancient Egypt, a land of dragons, pirates, zombies taking over a town, an asylum, you name it. But the core conceit of the game is that you are launching out, sending your mind back in time from the future, to deal with these problems, where time is changing. The concept is amazing, and I have liked each adventure I’ve gone on. I wish it had more of a story running throughout, but the different missions all feel unique.

3: Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

Rogue Angels isn’t even out yet, I have only played it on TableTop Simulator (TTS) but it is amazing. You can watch my play through of it here with the designer, Emil Larson. The game just works, it is a dungeon crawl style game in space. But it isn’t a dungeon crawl game where you just go in fight the monsters and leave. You make important decisions. And you upgrade your character as you go. There is so much I like about this game. When I get a physical copy, I suspect it’ll move up higher.

2: Clank! In! Space!

Clank! In! Space! is a deck building adventure game where you are breaking into a spaceship, trying to be as quiet as possible so you don’t Clank about. But to move faster, defeat more bad guys, and generally win the game, you will need to Clank. Plus there is a push your luck element where you want to get as far in as you can to get the best treasure. But the longer you are in the ship, the more clank and damage you can accrue.

1: XenoShyft: Onslaught

XenoShyft is a tower defense deck building game with some amazing cooperative elements to it. Mainly, I can buy a card and then give you that card if you need help. You only have two troops to defend your side of the base in your hand, I can help you get more. I can even drop in a paratrooper in the middle of fighting a wave of bugs. Add in that you always get money, that’s even better. I rarely defeat the waves of bugs, but it’s so much fun to try.

Final Thoughts

I own a fair number more Sci-Fi themed games that I need to try. Middara blends Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Nemesis is basically Aliens the board game. And I just realized that I missed Not Alone on the list, probably top 6-7. But I still think there are more fantasy games out there that look interesting.

Some that I don’t own that I really should try are the different Dune games. I own the one based on the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system which I need to carve out a weekend chunk of time to play.

What are your favorite board games with a Sci-Fi theme?

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Before we get to the list, let’s start by talking a little bit about how the list is made. You can see some of the process that I go through in this article earlier this week. But as to the games on the list, these are all games I’ve rated on Board Game Geek.

To go along with that, the games that are in my Top 100, I’ll have links to where you can buy them. I tend to do most of my board game shopping online through Miniature Market and Coolstuff Inc. I’m going to try and use their links over something like Amazon, but I do want you to be able to find these games if they look cool. Let’s get to the list.

Board Games 100-91

100. Skull

This is a great little bluffing game. Normally bluffing games aren’t my thing. I am not the best at bluffing in them, but this one works for me. It is small and it’s simple. When it comes down to it, I think the simplicity of what you are doing in the game is really what works for me. And I like the twist on it that when you bid to flip you have to flip your own stuff first. That means sometimes when you bluff you don’t have a skull in your like you’ll end up flipping our own and beat yourself.

Buy on Miniature Market

99. Takenoko

This game is just a really cute one. Takenoko has you trying to complete objectives to get the most points. The game is just maybe over a gateway game level but really good. The cute factor really sells this game for a lot of people. I like that you have three different ways that you can score points in the game. The fact you can go for panda, gardener or tile points is nice, allows for different players to have different strategies.

Buy on Miniature Market

98. Shadowrun Crossfire: Prime Runner Edition

This is one that I really need to play again. It’s a fun game where you are building out a deck of cards while trying to defeat different threats. You each also start out a different way, so like the RPG it’s based on, Shadowrun, you are building up special skills that only you have. A challenging game for sure, but I like it when my cooperative games challenge me.

Buy on Amazon

97. Photosynthesis

This is a game about trees. It looks like it should be a nice and friendly game, it is not. Photosynthesis is an abstract game where you are planting your trees, figuring out how to maximize your sun points, and blocking your opponent from getting their own sun points. It’s a good puzzle of a game though because the sun rotates around the board. That means you can set yourself up for some really good turns, but on the flip side you might end up with some turns with no points, if you aren’t careful. Fun game, but very mean.

Buy on Coolstuff Inc

96. Mysterium

Another game I haven’t played in a while, Mysterium. This one really is because of the pandemic because I think it works better at a higher count, and I don’t own the game. But in this game one person is a ghost trying to give everyone else clues so that they try and figure a murder, weapon, and location. We don’t play it quite right but we play it in a way that I think is more fun, and it keeps the base of the game the same.

Buy on Amazon

95. First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet

This one I think would be lower on the list for a lot of people because of a bad taste from the app for the start. But the game itself is a good time and you can get it cheap now. The app is definitely better than it was, but you’re trying to survive on Mars. You station might be breaking down, the :44supply ship might have crashed, or something like that and now you are trying to survive the scenario. It’s a challenging game but it feels good when you win. Think of this as The Martian the board game.

Buy on Coolstuff Inc

94. Pandemic Legacy: Season 2

I like my legacy games, and Pandemic Legacy Season 2 is a very good one. The Pandemic games really do a great job of giving you tons of new stuff to unlock during the game. And the story in this one is good. I will say you do need to play the first season of Pandemic Legacy first. Also that while the mechanics are similar to Pandemic they feel different and the game feels unique as you play it and explore the world.

Buy on Miniature Market

93. The Lord of the Rings

Another very challenging cooperative game. The Lord of the Rings is a good book themed Lord of the Rings game that is pretty abstracted. But the artwork is great, the challenge level is great, and you feel the pressure of trying to get the one ring delivered. There was a new edition that came out not too long ago, but I prefer the older version without the extra plastic in it. And I like that you play only as the Hobbits because that’s fun as well.

Buy on Miniature Market

92. Wits & Wagers

The first party game to hit the list. This is my preferred trivia game to play because you don’t need to be great at trivia. Every answer is number based and that means that you are just trying to bet on the right number without going over. So if it’s something about a movie and you know the most about movies, maybe bet on your own, but if you know nothing about sports, bet the other person who knows sports answer. Being close is just as good as being right and knowing who might know best.

Buy on Amazon

91. Criss Cross

This one has dropped a long ways. A lot of that is that I’ve played a lot of roll and write games since I did the list last. There are games that I’ve played which has pushed this one down. That said, Criss Cross is still a really good game. It’s pretty lucky as to what comes up on the dice, but how you put in that combination of two really matters, since everyone is using the same dice. It’s a good quick game and one I wouldn’t say no to playing, but I might not pull off my self as much anymore.

Not on Amazon, Miniature Market, or Coolstuff Inc

There we have the first 10 games on the list. I really like all of these. I think on my list as a whole that 7 or 7.5 is about the lowest that can make my list in terms of rankings and most will be 8’s or higher. Let me know which of these games you like best or which one you want to try.

The Next Ten

And if you want to catch it live, you can do so over on YouTube. Checkout the Malts and Meeples like at the top of the article. I have the next four videos scheduled. So you can subscribe and click that notification bell to know when I’m going live. But if you’re catching this later, 8 PM Central Time every Wednesday from now until the week before Thanksgiving, November 17th to see what games make the list.

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The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s – M’s – N, O, and P’s – Q and R’s

S’s

Sagrada (and Expansions)

I wish that I had backed Sagrada on Kickstarter, not because there is anything special with that edition really compared to what I have, but because I like the game that much. This dice drafting game just works and looks amazing on the table. The theme of stained glass windows appeals to most everyone, even non-nerdy gamers. And the concept of taking a die and placing it into your stained glass window makes sense. Add in that the dice look amazing in the windows because they are translucent, it sells the game even more on the table.

Status: Played

Santorini

I don’t always love abstract games. But Santorini looks great on the table, and that counts for a lot in a game, in my opinion. Especially for a game that is abstract. The simple game play helps the game be even more appealing. You are just moving a piece and building a level. The goal is to make it to the third level of a building, which is simple enough. And when the game becomes too simple, you can add in god cards which give players powers.

Status: To Be Played

Say Bye to the Villains

I like extremely tough cooperative games. Say Bye to the Villains fits that mold perfectly as I have yet to win it. But for me, I don’t see that as a negative, mainly because we are always close to winning. None of the games feel like we’re too far away which is saying something considering how many times I’ve played it. It also helps that the game play is simple enough. You are just playing cards that eat up time, and the game isn’t too long either. For some people it would be a negative, but for me, it’s a good thing. It feels like there’s always just one more thing to do in the Say Bye to the Villains than you have time for.

Status: Played

Scattergories

I have a game from 1988 on my list. And yes, I play Scattergories still. Scattergories is a party game that works well since it depends on the players creativity but not on in-jokes. It also works well over Zoom which has gotten it played several times this year. The game is simple and everyone understands what is going on when played. Scattergories isn’t a game that I’ll pull out all the time, but people have fun when it is pulled out. And it’s a game that everyone knows because it’s been around so long.

Status: Played

Scrabble

If you thought Scattergories was old, think again. I have Scrabble in my collection as well. Scrabble being published in 1948 might make it the oldest game in my collection. I still enjoy playing Scrabble, though. I prefer regular Scrabble to the “quick” Scrabble or Banagrams. The main reason is that Scrabble has more strategy and tactics than those do. In Banagrams it is purely pattern recognition and while I am good at it, it isn’t as fun. I prefer to think about how I might be setting up my opponent in Scrabble and the strategy that comes with that.

Status: Played

SeaFall

I wanted to like SeaFall so badly. And it’s funny that I do have a copy of it still. I was gifted a copy that a friend got for cheap. SeaFall promised that it was going to be an epic seafaring game where the story unfolded as you explored. Instead, we got a story that was a mess and complicated but only because it didn’t unfold in order. Compared to other Legacy Games, story happened much more randomly and the games themselves took too long. I wanted a game that told epic punchy story about adventure on the high seas. And, I think that is possible within SeaFall, how the story works, though, needs to be reworked.

Status: Played

Second Chance

I like flip and writes as I’ve said many a time before. Second Chance is a simple flip and write. You try and fill as much of your square as possible and that’s it. To do that you are putting in polyomino like shapes onto your board. If you can’t place one of the two shapes, you get a second chance card, a card only you can use. If you are able to use it, you stay in the game and continue playing. If not, you are out and count up the empty spaces you have left. The game is that simple. But it works well because it gives a chance for people to be creative in how they fill in the shapes. You doodle on them so you can tell what is filled and what isn’t, or create patterns. And that part of the game is really a lot of fun. Plus, the game works for everyone since it is so simple.

Status: Played

Sentinel Tactics: The Flame of Freedom

Honestly, I ordered this game on accident. I thought I was ordering another expansion for Sentinels of the Multiverse, but I ordered Sentinel Tactics. Thankfully I ordered a standalone game, not an expansion for Sentinels Tactics. Sentinel Tactics still takes place in the Sentinels of the Multiverse world, but is a tactical game, as the name implies. You move chits around a modular board playing through scenarios that have you trying to beat a villain. I hope it’s good, I know one person who said it was interesting, if not, I got it on a steep sale, so I can always use it to get store credit at my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) for a game I want.

Status: To Be Played

Sentinels of the Multiverse (and Expansions Galore)

What, this game comes after Sentinel Tactics alphabetically, who’d have guessed. I picked up the base game used from my FLGS. Sentinals is a game that I’ve wanted to try for a while because of the superhero theme. Then when Tom Vassal played it on a What’s Appening stream for the Dice Tower, I decided it looked good enough to pick up. Then, Black Friday rolled around and Greater Than Games had a massive sale. So I picked up a ton of expansions for it, almost a literal ton. I believe it was 17 expansions for it, plus Sentinel Tactics. I still need to get it to the table, and I plan on starting just with the base game, but I love the superhero world and the comics that come with some of the boxes.

Status: To Be Played

Shadowrun Crossfire: Prime Runner Edition

I picked this one up recently as well. Shadowrun Crossfire first came onto my radar when I played it at Fantasy Flight Game Center off of their demo wall. I knew when I played it that I’d pick it up eventually. I really like the world of Shadowrun. A world where big corporations are running things, and hackers go on runs to try and get data and take them down. The cyberpunk setting works really well for me. I know there are some knocks on the game with how slowly characters level up, but I am still excited to play through it’s campaign.

Status: Played

Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops (with Cooperative Expansion)

This game was a bit of a mess getting it from Kickstarter. The shipping company messed up royally, and while we did get cool extra boards, the creators who were doing updates were not professional about everything. I don’t have any issue with the publisher Catalyst Game Labs, but with Lynnvander Studios, I’d be hesitant to back any of their projects again. The game looks amazing and has a great cyberpunk aesthetic, though, so I am excited to play it. And the game comes in a massive box, where even the box looks awesomely cyberpunk.

Status: To Be Played

Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients

I have some beefs with this game, though it is still on my shelf. The main beef I have is that it sucks to put together. All the little minis come in a lot of pieces and are not easy to put together. This sounds like it’s been rectified to some extent in other prints of this box. However, the game itself is a lot of fun. It’s a weird west game where you are pushing deep into a mine to try and complete objectives. But there are monsters in there, and you might stumble into a whole other world if you aren’t careful. I want more time to play it, but I have to reassemble my minis first, which might be a good winter project, assuming I remember how they go together.

Status: Played

Shadows of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game

I have mentioned a few places that have caused me to pick up games and Shadows of Kilforth is one of those game. This fantasy game with an Eastern flare to it, was one that I saw the original, Gloom of Kilforth played on the Rolling Solo channel on YouTube. The game play looked interesting, so when a sequel showed up on Kickstarter, it felt like a good game to back. I still think it will be, I just need to get it sorted and ready for the table. This game is one that I should be able to play solo on Malts and Meeples in the new year sometime.

Status: To Be Played

Shakespeare

I’m ashamed of how long this game has been on my shelf without getting played. My wife picked it up for we as a gift, and as a game that she’d also like the theme of. But it’s euro game, so I don’t get those off my shelf as much. I am interested in it as I like the theme of putting on a play. Getting costumes, actors, sets, and more ready sounds like a lot of fun, I just haven’t played it yet. I am excited to try it still, I just need to sit down and learn the rules so we can get it to the table.

Status: To Be Played

The Siblings Trouble

I picked this one up off of Kickstarter because of how much I had enjoyed Lift Off! from the same design and company. This one is a light RPG like game that is targeted for families with kids. It is meant to be a way to get that RPG feel without having as much of a ruleset as something like Dungeons and Dragons does. I’m waiting until the toddler is old enough to play it with us because the game looks very cute.

Status: To Be Played

Silver: Amulet (and Coin, Bullet, and Dagger)

Silver: Amulet was a game that I got to try at GenCon in 2019. The game has a puzzle feel to it as you are trying to score the fewest points in your village. The twist comes with being able to swap out two cards for one card, if the cards are the same number. Add in a lot of powers on your cards, and you have an interesting puzzle. And then to top that all off, you don’t know what most of your cards are at the start of the game. The amulet, coin, bullet, and dagger all do different things, so depending on which version you play there will be a unique special power. And the cards you play with between the games can be mixed together, you just need one set of each number to make it work.

Status: Played

Silver & Gold

Roll and write, you know the drill. I like them, and this one does something cool. You fill in spots on cards, which seems bad. But the cards are dry erase, so you can play with them over and over again. It is a clever twist as you start to do set collection with them and score points off of which ones you have filled in. You still make combos though. If you cross of a treasure spot, that allows you to fill in another spot on any of your cards, and there are palm trees that are worth points as well. Super small sized game, but looks to pack a lot of game into it.

Status: To Be Played

Skip-Bo

The section of old games apparently. Skip-Bo is a classic game that I grew up playing less than I’d want in some ways. Fairly often for a simple card game Uno would be the game picked. But Skip-Bo had more interesting game play to it than Uno does. I like figuring out how to place your discards in the most optimal way possible, and sometimes stopping early to try and lock an opponent from being able to play easily. Now, the game can drag because of poor card draw, but it is generally quite fast.

Status: Played

Skulk Hollow

A two player game that was on Kickstarter. Again from the same company as Lift Off! Skulk Hollow is an asymmetric two player game. One person plays as the fox kingdom and the other as the old guardian that has awakened. The fox player needs to get onto the guardian, since it is to too large to beat otherwise, and take out it’s different actions. The monster generally has it’s own objective, but can by taking out the fox leader. The game has simple card play but is very tactical in nature and the box comes with multiple leaders for the fox and guardians for a ton of replayability.

Status: Played

Skull

The first time I played Skull, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it. It had weird coasters that you played with, and it was a push your luck sort of game. However, the more I played it, the more interesting it became, how did you successfully bluff someone into picking from your pile which has a skull in it, when that will bust you if you get stuck with the bid. The bluffing is what makes this game, it doesn’t have a lot of strategy to it, but if you can bluff and read your opponents you’ll do well in this game. And the coaster shaped “cards” are still weird.

Status: Played

Small World (and Small World Underground)

Small World was one of the gateway games for me that got me into the hobby. I like how it has Risk elements, but it’s actually fun. It has a lot of attacking and defeating your enemy, but in a fun way. You aren’t rolling die like in Risk, the battles are determined just by if you have enough pieces of cardboard to beat an area. The powers and races make this game work though, because something like undead ghouls or flying halflings are just silly, and you can get some great combinations, like commando elves or flying sorcerers that can put a bit of a target on your back. Game is a lot of fun every time I play it, which is about once a year.

Status: Played

Sonora

I’ve talked about roll and writes, and flip and writes, even a draft and write, but I haven’t mentioned my flick and write. Sonora is a combotastic [blank] and write game. To start your turn you flick disks around a board which determine who much you get to put in certain areas. Some of them are simple race to completion, others have you putting pieces in like they are Tetris, or filling in dots, or closing off sections of the board. It has a ton going on, and if you get the right things, you then get more to fill in other areas and it can repeat even more. It is extremely satisfying.

Status: Played

Specter Ops

A game that I picked up used, but that was on my radar for a long time. Spector Ops is a one versus all game, but the one is hidden. They are moving around to various objectives trying to get them all. The concept is so interesting to me. I want to play both sides of it, see how well I can hide where I’m at and see how well I can deduce where someone else is going. It feels like it should be a good and challenging experience.

Status: To Be Played

Splendor

Splendor is a light and small engine building game. You are collecting gems to get cards that have permanent gems and sometimes points. And you can use those permanent gems to get even more cards which games on them and the process repeats until someone has 15 points. The game is really simple to play, the theme is not there, but that’s okay. It is meant as an introduction to engine building and it works for that. Not one I want to play all the time, but I keep it on the shelf for what it is.

Status: Played

Star Wars: Destiny

Fantasy Flight Games foray into collectible card games. It was a fun game because it wasn’t only card it was nice chunky dice as well. And I like the Star Wars theme better than say, Magic the Gathering. The issue is that the game isn’t quite as good, and people didn’t get into it as much. Destiny is now a retired game, but one that had a good following and people were sad to see leave. What I think worked well was that none of the cards were rarer than the others. So you got good stuff all the time. That was part of what killed it as well, Magic works because it has a massive secondary market for it for FLGS’s, Destiny had none.

Status: Played

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

The Star Wars dungeon crawl. This game does one thing that I really wish the Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth did, and that is that it is adjacent to the main story and the main characters. But I can’t play as Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, those are characters who just make appearances. But out of the base box, you are still playing around the original trilogy storyline. The game also has an app, so it can be one versus all, but it can also be fully cooperative. I need to play it more because I’ve liked the plays I’ve had.

Status: Play

Star Wars: Unlock!

The unlock games are basically escape room games in in a box. And the Star Wars: Unlock! game is a game that is an escape room in a box with a Star Wars theme. I like these games because they are very puzzly and can give you an experience while you play them. I’ve heard that the Star Wars: Unlock is a bit easier than some of the other ones, but I’m fine with that as it’ll be more accessible to more people. I want to play this over the holidays, and that’s the one downside, once you’ve played an unlock game once, you can’t play it again because you’ll know how it goes, still $30 for three hour long experiences in a group isn’t bad.

Status: To Be Played

Stipulations

I talk about this game a lot, mainly because I really like it was a party game. Stipulations asks the question, what horrible thing will your friends come up with. If you have the super power of flight, what’s the stipulation, or the dream job of being a movie actor, what is the stipulation. This game does what most party games do, it ends up with a lot of in jokes, but it is a fun time and compared to something like Apples to Apples which is basically always clean or Cards Against Humanity which is always dirty, Stipulations can be tailored to those whom you’re playing with.

Status: Played

Super Fantasy Brawl

I’ve decided that I really like games that Mythic Games puts out, or at least in concept. Reichbusters looks like a fun twist on a dungeon crawl, and Super Fantasy Brawl seems like a really accessible two player fighting game. The game has chunky minis that look great, and simple but interesting card play. I like that you play three cards on your turn and those cards have to be of different colors, but each character, of the three you have doesn’t correspond to a color, so if you get a red and a yellow card for one character, you can activate that character twice, from my understanding. I really want to give this one a whirl as it has an epic table presence for a fairly simple seeming game, rules wise.

Status: To Be Played

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-cade

You know the drill, I love my roll and write games. And I like the theme on this one a ton. I like the idea of playing a pinball machine and seeing what the high score is that I can get on it. I like the mechanics of how the ball can bounce around and how it will only bounce certain ways and generally down. You are also trying to bounce it up higher and complete combos on things, just like in real pinball to get even more points. And it’s called 4-cade because there are 4 different machines that you can play.

Status: To Be Played

Sushi Go Party!

This was another early game for my collection as it was on Wil Wheaton’s Table Top show. It is a card drafting game, a mechanic that I quite enjoy, with set collection as well. The game works well, even though with new players you sometimes have someone get off on what they are drafting. Sushi Go Party! also gives you ways to change everything up, so that you can have different combinations of foods on the menu. The game has a very cute table appeal and is just a hit basically all the time.

Status: Played

Sword and Sorcery (plus Expansions)

Sword and Sorcery is a classic dungeon crawl game. This one is pure Amerithrash dice chucking fun. I like how much mitigation you have, but only mitigation in having multiple symbols to use on the dice and being able to reroll dice. My knock on this game is that it is almost a little bit too easy at times. You get great weapons for completing things and now you are hitting really hard and can take down monsters fast. Granted if you roll poorly no matter what you’ll do poorly. I wish it had a bit more of a story to it, but overall, the story isn’t too bad and the game is meant to be mainly a dice chucking dungeon crawl anyways.

Status: Played

Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellows

I love Sword Art Online, one of my favorite anime, and I’ve watched it multiple times. I am also working on a game idea based off of some of the isekai themes from it. But this game is a bit sad, the anime is big and epic, this game is tiny. it does get some things right, mainly the combat of switching in and out and not letting the bad guy go feels like it matches the theme. I need to play this one not solo, because I think it might be better that way and have less upkeep for one player. I’m hoping some day we’ll get a truly epic Sword Art Online board game.

Status: Played

So that’s all of the S’s, there are ton of them. I hope that you were able to stick it out, hte rest of the list will be a lot shorter. There are so many good games in the S’s as well and a lot that I need to play. Which one should I play first? Do I have something that seems like it’s missing to you? I’m guessing people will say Scythe, which I owned, but got rid of.

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Silver Dagger

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because I have Silver Amulet, Coin, and Bullet as well. This is a game that uses a bit of memory and a bit of push your luck and bluffing as you try and build up your lowest scoring village possible. To do this can be a bit tricky though, because you have five cards in front of you and they are all face down. At the start of the game you can look at two of them, so you know a little bit, but not that much. Each card has a number and an ability. The number is how many points they’ll be worth in your village. The abilities can be one time use when you draw it, or it can be an ability that works if the villager is face up in your village. So already having three of them, why would I need another game that does the same thing? Simply for the variety. You can mix the cards from Silver Amulet, Coin, Bullet, and Dagger together, you just need one group of cards from 0 to 13. Needless to say, I’ll have more combinations than I’ll ever be able to play, but it’ll be fun as I can make it more “take that” if I want, or more focused on your own cards.

Roll Player

I could have just done a whole order of Roll Player with the Fiends and Familiars expansion and the Monsters and Minions expansions, and eventually I’m sure that I’ll get them. But I thought, let’s just start with the base game. Here’s a little secret, I’ve played this game only once with a physical copy of the game. Now I’ve played it more than that this year because of Tabletop Simulator. But only once with a physical copy. I like this dice drafting game a lot, I think that there are cool things about it and I love that you’re rolling up a D&D character, basically, and seeing how good you can make them. The game play is pretty straight forward and I love the variety of strategy that you can have based off of your background, class, and race, that’ll make you want to target different cards. Plus the traits that you can get can massively change how you’re going to score at the end of the game as well. This game has a good amount of replayability, and while I do want to get Monsters and Minions, because the game does seem like it ends before it could, and I think that getting to use your character will get me to get the expansions, and eventually Roll Player Adventure and being able to take my character through a whole campaign. But even without that, the game is a lot of fun, and hence why it’s in my Top 100 so it is one that I have felt like I’ve wanted to own for a while, and now was the time.

Shadowrun: Crossfire (Prime Runner Edition)

Another one in my top 100 that I want to play more. It’s a deck building game, but I like the setting that it is in so much. Shadowrun is a cyber punk world, mainly known for an RPG, where you are going on runs, hacking into big corporations, trying to keep from being found out. This makes it into a card game where you are taking on missions, defeating bad guys, and it’s interesting, because you are playing cards to deal with your own bad guys but also others. You also, slowly, level up your character as you play through what is basically a campaign. The setting is what drew me in and I have Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops to play as well in the same world, but I’m excited a lot for this one, because I’ve played it before. It’s one that I think has been a hit or miss for some people, or because of the original having a fairly poor rule book might have just flown under the radar. I think this one might take more time to get to the table, but I know I’ll be glad to have it.

Those are the new games that I’ve ordered. I’m definitely excited for all of them, and I really think that there are some interesting games in there. One thing I forgot to mention with Silver Dagger, since each game is a standalone, I’ll be able to play it with a larger group, have a few groups playing the game at once, maybe do a mini tournament, something like that.

Which of these games seems most interesting to you?

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Now, this is my top 100 games, not the 100 objectively best games, these are my 100 favorite games. To get this list, I go through all the games that I’ve ranked on BGG, minus a few, which I’ll get to in a second, and then using PubMeeple.com’s ranking engine, I go through and do the one versus one comparisons on the games until they are all sorted. This gives you a one to one comparison between the games and in my case was something around 1000 different comparisons. I could have done only my top ranked games, but this gives a chance for a game that I maybe haven’t rerated recently to show up on the list, even if I’ve rated it lower. So, I said this was minus a few games, and I don’t mean ones like Monopoly or Cards Against Humanity that I don’t like, those I actually rated, I’m talking about actually things like ICECOOL 2, Dice Throne Season 2, or Star Wars Destiny Two Player, because I have ICECOOL, Dice Throne Season One, and Destiny that I counted for those.

Next, when I do these lists, if the game sounds interesting to you, I want to give you a chance to pick it up. I always, and especially this year, recommend you order from your FLGS, but some of you might not have a local game store, some of them might be closed due to Covid, some local game stores aren’t friendly, and I fully recognize that sometimes you need a game, funds are tight, and online is cheaper, so don’t feel like you can use your local store, I hope you do pick them up online, more games to play, more fun options to introduce people to, no matter where they come from is great. I’m going to be linking to either CoolStuffInc or Amazon for where you can pick up the games immediately if you want.

Finally, this is obviously just my opinion. There are some games that you’ll hate that I love, almost guaranteed for some of you in my Top 10 even, and there will be some games that you love that won’t make my list, they were obviously my number 101 (all of them). And if it was on the list last year, I’m going to try and put down the number it was at before, just to see which ones move up and which ones move down and what new games have hit the list.

But, without further ado, here’s my list starting with 100 through 91.

100. Lazer Ryderz

Lazer Ryderz is a game of goofy fun as it’s basically light bikes like you see in Tron and you are racing them around, leaving your path behind you hoping someone else will run into it, and trying to get goals. You basically have to go off of feel because you decide where you start at the edge of the table with your eyes closes, when laying down your track route, once you pick up a piece and put it over the top of the table, you’re committing to it. And it’s all in 80’s neon glory looking like a big four pack of VHS. So it has that goofy feel to go with what’s a very goofy game. Good one for when you want something pretty fast and very casual to play.

Last Year: 100

99. Ra

This game is interesting as it’s bidding, it’s set collection and it’s push your luck. I like the bidding mechanic in it a lot as you bid you put that number into the middle if you win the bid and take the number that was there, so it’s possible late in a round to hold onto a low number in order to be able to grab a high number from the middle and change your fate for a future round. There’s also some interesting push your luck because when you’re the last person who can bid, you can always draw more and more tiles, but if you get the wrong tiles you’ll bust. The game maybe plays a touch long for me for what it does, but I like the strategy in it, and I like the bidding in it.

Last Year: Not Ranked

98. Shadowrun: Crossfire

We’ll see a game very similar to this coming up, but this is one that I wish I had in my collection, but I want to find used. I like it for the theme a lot. I enjoy the cyberpunk setting that it’s in, and the idea of going on these runs, missions, to take down the evil corporations. It’s something that is very interesting. Plus it’s deck building, so you can specialize, but that might not always be the best because you don’t know who you’ll have to face off against next and that might not work with your skill set. But other people can help you some as well, which makes it interesting to see how that works. And it’s scenario building as well which is fun as well.

Last Year: 91

97. Legends of Andor

This is a dungeon crawl, kind of, really Legends of Andor is more of a scenario based puzzle as you try and rush to get everything done before the time runs out. And you can kill monsters, but that advances the timer, so you need to understand that is happening and figure out how to balance out killing monsters while trying to complete the mission while trying not to let the story advance too quickly so that you run out of time to complete it. The game does one thing I really like and that’s having both the male and female version of the heroes so people don’t feel like they are locked in playing a certain character because of the sex of that character. I think the one thing that might confuse people about this game is that it looks like it should be a big fight the monsters adventure, but really it’s a very tightly made puzzle where every decision really matters.

Last Year: 86

96. The Lord of the Rings: Journey to Mordor

So, first off, no link for this, it’s out of print from what I can tell and I couldn’t find it even on Amazon which is saying something. This is a little push your luck roll and write game where you are trying to get the ring to Mount Doom and by the first to throw it in. Thematically it doesn’t make sense because you can’t have one ring to rule them all and then four different groups each having the one ring, but as a roll and write, it was pretty solid fun. There are definitely others that I like better but this one was a good time and it plays fast. There is some take that to it which can be a negative thing, but it didn’t seem like there was too much and the game didn’t overstay it’s welcome to make the take that a big deal.

Last Year: Not Ranked

95. Takenoko

This game is a really cute game. Takenoko has adorable little panda figure, and you are stacking up different colors of bamboo. There’s really just a lot of fun stuff in this game. You are growing the bamboo, moving the panda and having him eat it, putting out and irrigating more tiles to grow even more bamboo all to complete different scoring base off of bamboo growth, title placement, or what the panda has eaten and you’re seeing how many you can get done before all the turns run out. This is a game that has an amazing table presence with the bamboo growing up and the panda and gardener figures, and it’s a very enjoyable game to boot without being too complex.

Last Year: 97

94. Dragonfire

So this is the game that is based off of the game system as Shadowrun: Crossfire. Whereas Shadowrun is a future cyberpunk setting, Dragonfire is classic Dungeons and Dragons setting where you are taking on monsters, fighting through scenarios, leveling up your characters and doing it all over again. I think that this game has worked out some of the kinks from the original and it has definitely gotten more support with a lot of scenario packs having come out for it. This just allows you to build into more and more game play and pick the scenarios that look interesting to you. Plus, deck building is always a plus in a game for me.

Last Year: 93

93. Yahtzee

Second roll and write on the list, and this is the original roll and write. I still enjoy Yahtzee today because everyone understands how it works and the rules are simple. In fact we’ll see other games on the list that use a similar mechanic to Yahtzee. But what I like is that I kind of have it down, now that doesn’t mean that I roll a Yahtzee always, but it means that I can look and see what I might want to be doing, what I’ll want to keep, what the odds are of me getting what I need, when it’s worth it to push for a large straight, when it isn’t and so on. Plus, I can play it with my parents and it isn’t as much of a game that plays itself like a lot of the more classic games that we’d play such as Uno or Skip-Bo, which are number 101 in case you were wondering.

Last Year: Not Ranked

92. Pandemic

Last year this was a fair amount higher on my list, but it’s dropped some just because of having played Legacy Season 1 twice and Season 2 once, and Season 0 is coming out soon-ish. Base Pandemic is still a good game, it just feels like the introductory cooperative game that it is. It’s easy to teach, it’s easy to play, but it can be fairly hard to win, depending on how things come up. The game is a classic game for a reason and it is one that I won’t turn down playing, though, I’m not sure it’s one I’d immediately pull off the shelf myself when it comes to introductory games at this point. I think that it really highlights, beyond being a cooperative game, is how every players part of the game can be different with the variable player powers, and I think for new players that is something that is cool and uinique.

Last Year: 50

91. Tsuro

This one also slipped for me because in some ways I’ve played it too much now. I think that this is a fun group game, and I think it’s one of a few games that plays fast and plays a large number but it isn’t just another party game. In this you are trying to be the last person on the board but you must follow the path that you lay out in front of you. And you have to be concerned about the other players as well. If you get to close, you could have to follow a path that someone else lays down, and that might run you off the board, in which case you’re out of the game, or it might hit another players pawn, in which case both of you are knocked out. So there’s some strategic avoidance but you also don’t want to stick yourself in a corner with no way out. It’s a fun game, just one that I’ve played a lot.

Last Year: 61

So we have a few movers in this section with three previously not in the Top 100 games, and two dropping a ways. Oddly enough, the very first game on the list, Number 100 was Number 100 the year before, good job Lazer Ryderz in being consistent.

Looking at this list, are there any of the games that stand out to you as ones that you want to play? If you’ve played any of the games, which is your favorite on this section of the list? Let me know in the comments on on Twitter.

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This first list is going to be Deck Building Games, now on BGG, they combine pool and bag building games as well, but I’m only going to do deck building. However, it is going to include deck construction games as well. Because you are technically constructing the deck, it is just prior to the game, but it is also a large part of the game. I will call out those games. In deck building, you are constructing the deck to do something in the game, it might be getting victory points, it might be for buying more cards, fighting or many other things. Let’s see what my list looks like.

The List

10 – The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth
It’s a long title and an interesting game, a deck construction game, you start out with an archetype and some character cards. But you can play against type, so maybe Gimli as a leader and Aragorn as a tank, and between scenarios you can spend experience to level up the deck and get better cards. How you use the cards is interesting, most of the time you are looking for successes on cards, but you can also use cards for a more permanent ability, but the better the ability, more likely it’s to have successes on it, which means you want it in the deck for your challenges so that you can pass them. It’s a good mechanic because it makes so many decisions tough. Plus, there’s a campaign for it, and an app driven story, this is weaker than Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition for that, but the app helps so much, if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, it’s definitely a game to check out.

9 – Dragonfire
I haven’t played this game as much as I’d like though I have played both Dragonfire and Shadowrun: Crossfire, which are both built off of the same system. I’m going with Dragonfire because that’s the one that I own. The game offers interesting scenarios and challenges for the players to defeat, and you start out with your class which means that you are a little bit better at something than others. You get to purchase cards to improve your deck, but at the same time, you’re trying to deal with monsters and avoid becoming exhausted or taken out. It’s a tough game that I don’t feel like I fully have a grasp on the strategy for it yet, but I like the deck building aspect and I think that it does some interesting things with leveling up your characters. Definitely a fun time to play, and while I like the Shadowrun RPG theme better than the D&D RPG theme, I think that both are fun, so either works, just depends if you want fantasy or cyberpunk.

8 – Magic: The Gathering
MtG was a game that I loved and I’d play all the time for a while, but unfortunately I don’t have a group anymore for it. But I still love it for the deck construction aspect of it. You could build all sorts of crazy decks, and I think, almost as much as playing it, I loved finding an odd card that didn’t have an obvious way for it to work, but I would figure out a way to create a deck around it. Sometimes they were cool decks, and sometimes they failed horribly, but it was always fun to experiment. And then we got into commander which adds a challenge of only having a single copy of a card in the deck and a 100 yard deck, so there was always something new to try and build. I miss playing it as often sometimes, but it’s a classic and extremely popular game for a reason. It’s also addictive to open packs once you get into it.

7 – Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
This is just a fun game as you get to play through the books, getting further in your education and improving your deck. You get to sling spells, get friends to help you and try and defeat everyone. The game starts out pretty simple, and I like that, because it can continue to add in mechanics and rules and cards for each book that you go to, which makes it more thematic. It does get longer the further in you go because, while you are theoretically getting better cards the longer it goes, in the later chapters, you’re dealing with the villains from the first books as well as the ones from the later books so that number always increases. But Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is just a good deck building game and a good theme that will draw people in.

6 – Ascension
This is the most generic deck building game on the list. In it, you have a basic starting deck, you get to buy more cards that allow you to buy more cards or fight monsters that show up. You can combo things together with card draw and constructs, and that’s probably the only unique bit is that you have constructs that you can play out and they stay out while heroes go into the discard at the end of the turn. So you can vary your strategy by either going construct heavy or maybe hero and attack heavy or buy heavy. Each of them gives you a chance to win because you get points for killing monsters, but you can also get points for getting cards and some constructs are worth a lot of points. This is my preferred introduction to deck building.

5 – Clank! In! Space!
Some games take themselves seriously, but Clank! In! Space! is not one of those games. You’re an adventurer/thief, stumbling around Lord Eradikus’s spaceship, trying not to make too much clank so that you don’t get tracked down and knocked out. The cards are all references to other sci-fi things, and it just works really well. It’s a deck builder where you have a few different types of cards that can combo together to create some epic turns, if it shuffles out right, plus it’s push your luck with deck building as well, because you can go further into the spaceship to get a better treasure, but it’ll take you longer to get out and Lord Eradikus might get you before that happens. But if he doesn’t, you’ll be in a much better spot to win. The game is light fun with good replayability.

4 – Aeon’s End: War Eternal
Aeon’s End: War Eternal is such an interesting deck building game that gives you a chance to not have to worry about the randomness of your deck. When you buy cards, they go into the discard, when you spend your cards on a turn, they go to the discard, but cards that you spend on a turn, you can sort those. That’s not a big deal if you’re shuffling the deck, but you’re not, when you run out of cards, you just flip your deck, so it gives you the ability to potentially set-up hands. Add in the game play, which has an interesting spell casting mechanic where you need to prep them, tough monsters to fight, and a town to defend, the game gives you so much replayability just out of the base box and then there is more in expansions and other editions. It’s just a nice twist on deck building that works really well for my style of play, plus it’s cooperative.

3 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Another deck contrusction game on the list, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a great experience creating your character so that they can investigate, attack, or deal with whatever might come up better for a given story. And then you get to take them through a campaign, so it’s not just a one off game, so between games you get to improve your deck so that you’re more prepared for the next part of the story. And characters, depending on their skills will be able to use certain types of cards better or will need help on some skills, so will need more of those cards in their decks, you can really tailor your investigator how you want.

2 – Marvel Champions
It was hard to know where to slot this one in, it’s deck construction, so you build your deck before the game, but it is so much fun. I’ve been writing about it a bunch recently, and it just works for me, all it’s missing is a campaign, which we’re getting. In it, you play as a superhero who is taking on the likes of Rhino, Ultron, or Green Goblin. What makes this work and be an interesting deck construction game is the different archetypes. So you could play someone like Spider-Man with defensive cards in his deck to keep him standing longer without having to flip back to the Peter Parker side, or you could be aggressive hoping to end the game faster. It gives you so many options when you’re constructing your deck. It just feels like taking your superhero up against a villain who has some grand or small scheme.

1 – Xenoshyft: Onslaught
Why is this my favorite, it’s actually fairly low rank on BGG, but the game is just a ton of fun, and I think it does some interesting things for a deck builder. You are never short money, which is nice, but when you buy cards and you are creating your defenses to stop an alien bug attack on your mining base, you can help other people as well. So you build up your defenses, but you can also help build up others, so even if someone has a bad card draw, you’ll be able to help them, or vice-a-versa. It’s just an interesting thing that makes the game feel even more cooperative in it’s nature and not something that you can do in many other deck building games. Plus, you’re blasting alien bug monsters, and I’m always down for that.

I’ve left a few games off of here that do have deck construction or deck building in them because I think that, while it’s important for those games, t here are other things that are also as big a part. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is one of them, but that one is a story driven survival game with deck construction being part of how you level up. The same goes for Gloomhaven, you can improve your hand of cards versus a deck there, but you can improve your modifier deck as you level up. I wanted to go with games where the deck construction is a huge part of the game. I think with the exception of Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, though you are using the deck for everything, you do need to really focus on the deck building part of the game.

There are a couple of notable deck building games that aren’t on the list. First, Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game, I just find that game to be okay. I think that there’s so much in the game now that it can be hard to keep track of everything and you can pretty easily end up with a less than ideal combo of heroes that don’t synergize as well as they could. If that happens, you just get stomped, and I feel like that is pretty common for that game. Dominion also didn’t make my list, and while I know that some of these games, if not all, wouldn’t have existed without Dominion, it doesn’t make Dominion a good game. It’s a pure deck building game, I’ll give it that, but it’s not thematic and it’s not nice to look at, and because it has a static market, someone who has played it more or played with a certain combo is going to be at an advantage because they know what to build immediately, and there’s always an optimal strategy. I like games that make me adjust as I go and stretch me that way, and I don’t think Dominion does that.

What are some of your favorite deck building games? Are there any, based off of what I like, that you think I should check out?

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When I created this list, I determined that about 116 is where on my list of games (192) that I wouldn’t be always up for playing them. At 180, I hit the point where I probably wouldn’t play them again. So there are some games I enjoy that didn’t make the list, Castle Panic, Love Letter, and Forbidden Desert are probably some of the biggest names. If you’re wondering what the bottom of the list is, I’m not telling. Let’s just say it was a bad experience playing it because of some of the people and tactics to get me to try it, and the game wasn’t exciting. Also, be aware that there are some GenCon demos on the list, I feel like I got a good feeling for them, so I can rank them where they fit for me, this is also a living list so things are likely to change when I do this next year or even a few weeks from now. Finally, if there is an Amazon link for it or CoolStuffInc, I’ll share it.

100 – Lazer Ryders
Lazer Ryders is a silly game with an amazing look. The best way to describe this is that you are on light bikes and trying to get through certain spots before other people. But the game is highly reflective and silly. In this game, like I said, you are trying to get through spots, and you are creating a track as you go. But you can’t plan out your moves, once you have a piece in your hand and it’s over the table, you’re playing it. And if you crash, you start from the edge, and when you start at the edge of the table, you do so with your eyes closed. The look for this game is the best part, there are four players and the player pieces look like they are in a VHS case. It’s very 80’s-tastic, and just a fast and fun game that’s good for a laugh.

99 – Skull
I enjoyed this game as a bluffing game where you are trying to push your luck. In this game everyone is playing down coasters, face down, that have either a skull or a rose on them. Then eventually someone is going to bid as to how many of these coasters they can flip over and people take turns bidding higher until only one person is left. Then they have to flip that many coasters. But the trick is you have to flip all of yours, so are you bluffing in hopes that someone thinks that yours are safe to flip so they bust. It’s a small game, it’s a simple game, but it’s interesting and it’s very portable.

98 – Marrying Mr. Darcy
This is a game that my wife kickstarted, not me for once, huzzah! But it’s a very fun little game, especially if you enjoy Pride and Prejudice, and I like it’s snarky feel. The game keeps some snark as you build up your Bennett sister or other characters so that they are able to get their ideal suitor. It’s a very simple game and you really just flip a card and play that card. But that’s not a bad thing, my only downside to the game is that there are a few too many cards that you flip, if that was reduced by 25%, it would be great. Still, it’s not too long, so it’s a fun time and everyone always enjoys the sarcastic and goofy nature of the game.

97 – Takenoko
Sometimes you just want to eat bamboo. In Takenoko, you control bamboo growing, panda eating bamboo, and gardener growing bamboo in order to please the emperor. This game for being very cute is actually somewhat complex as you take different actions to complete objectives that you’ve drawn. It’s really a game that’s about completing sets of bamboo or growing bamboo in a certain way. The game has a nice chibi panda in it, and the bamboo pieces are cool because you set them up. It’s also a game that Kristen has enjoyed so that makes it fun to play as well, even though we don’t own the game. I don’t know that I would say it’s an introductory game, which I feel like it should be though, as there is a bunch going on.

96 – Qwirkle
Some games are good because you can play with with basically anyone. Qwirkle is one of those games, I can play it with my parents, and I can play it with siblings, and I can play it with my wife, so all different levels of gamers. It’s a good puzzle sort of game that is all about pattern recognition, but because of the luck of the draw of tiles, those who are good at pattern recognition won’t always win. In this game you are playing down tiles that have various colors and shapes on them. You score points for adding to rows of colors as long as the shape is unique or shapes as long as the color is unique. It has a bit of a scrabble feel without being a word game.

95 – Telestrations
This is a game similar in appeal to the one above, while that is more of a strategy game to be played with anyone, Telestrations is a party game for anyone. It also goes by the name Telephone-Pictionary if you are playing it without the actual game. In this game, each player has a pad, everyone rights down a phrase, word, whatever, then they pass it, the next person draws, pass it again, next person writes, and so on. Then you flip through it and laugh at how it’s changed over time. And fairly often it’s completely different. This is really more of an activity, like The Mind, because no one keeps score, but it’s a fun activity that anyone can join in.

94 – The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth
When I was saying that there were some games that I expected to move on the list, Journeys in Middle-earth is one of them. I think as I play more and get more into the story this will go up on my list. What I like about it is that it has an app that helps and you get a story because of the app. What I don’t love about it is that you have an app and the app does almost too much so you almost feel like you could play it as a computer game with just a slight tweak tot he game. It looks cool on the table, and if you wanted to take characters from the Lord of the Rings, plus a few new characters on an adventure, you can do that, though, I wish it was only new characters.

93 – Dragonfire
Every time I’ve played this game I’ve lost. But I still like it, this is based off of the Shadowrun: Crossfire system but instead of being cyberpunk, this is D&D. You get your character and class and start fighting off waves and waves of monsters, buying new cards and building up your deck. I actually grabbed this used not too long ago, so I’m excited to stream it solo, because, though it doesn’t have a true solo mode, it’s cooperative, that means I’ll be able to play through the stories that it has. I like deck building as a mechanic, and I like the scenario based game and the adventuring feel of it, and I really like D&D, so it’s a good fit for me.

92 – Charterstone
The first legacy game on the list, and no, Seafall won’t be making the list. Charterstone is really a worker placement game where you get to build the board as you go, and then in the end, you can play a worker placement game. For me, this is a good and simple game that you can play quickly, thankfully, because I don’t feel like there are massive things going on in the game, and there isn’t story. Now, I know there is technically story, but there really isn’t story that matters, so instead I just enjoy it as a straightforward worker placement game with some fun combo building. I still need to finish it, but three of us had babies in the past year who were playing it, so who knows when it will happen. If it doesn’t, I might just make the board and add in the last few buildings, we’ll see.

91 – Shadowrun: Crossfire
I could just say, see 93, so I will, see 93. That’ll give you an idea of what this game is, but what I like about this game better is that it is cyberpunk. Yes, I love D&D, but sometimes you want to play something different, and you can do that in Shadowrun: Crossfire. In fact, that’s why I kickstarted and got another Shadowrun game, because I like the cyberpunk setting. I don’t always love sci-fi, but cyberpunk style of sci-fi is great. I don’t own this one, and I don’t think that I’ve won this one either when I’ve played, but that’s fine because I never felt like I was just getting crushed by it.

Alright, that’s the first 10 games. Only 90 more to go. I’m guessing that people can probably get my top game, but there are a lot of fun games on this list still to come and probably some surprised with how high or low some games will be in my top 100.

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5. Magic the Gathering
Normally I don’t have games on a deck building list like this. MtG, though, is a deck building game, you just aren’t doing it actively in the game. But I would argue that a lot of the fun of Magic, though I really do like the game, is trying to build out that crazy deck that just might work. I think that part of the game can become too much when people start to take the game too seriously and go all in on the pay to win model. But putting together a deck that just might work, that’s a lot of fun. Then you get to test it out, go back to the drawing board, and try again. I really liked to create decks that would build towards a big finish if I could stay alive long enough. Best way to describe it is building the ticking time bomb deck that you know will blow up, but you don’t know when.

4. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
A deck builder that has a good amount of theme. It feels, as you’re early in the game, that you’re playing through the books. The only odd thing is that you continue to add villains each game, so the further in you are, the more it feels like you’re playing through the series as compared to playing through a book. I wish that was different, but the cards themselves, and the characters as you open up more books and unlock more of the rules, feel like you’re playing as the different characters from the books and each has a different thing they are a bit better at, such as Hermoine with spells.

3. Clank! In! Space!
I really enjoy this game for the goofiness of the deck building. The cards are all references to various Sci-Fi shows, books, and movies. I also like it because it’s not something that is just a deck builder. You are building your deck, but you’re building it so that you can move around the space ship and gather the best treasure that you can. So the people you recruit and the cards you buy actually matter in the game for more than just something like victory points. The turns are also extremely fast in the game, which is great, because the game can take a little while to set-up with the modular board and all the different tokens and cards.

2. Xenoshyft: Onslaught
What you’ll notice about most of the games on the list is that they add a lot of plot to the game. Xenoshyft: Onslaught continues that as you are space marines fighting off waves and waves of bug monsters. What I like about this game is that you are using your cards and money to set-up your defenses for the next wave of bugs. So it has the theme of what you are doing, recruiting more troops and upgrading their equipment. I also like that you can help out your fellow players because if they are facing troubles in their lane of defense, you can help them prior to the wave of bugs or sometimes during the wave of bugs, so you can actually help build up someone else’s deck if you have your own engine working well already. It’s a very tough game, but I really like that about it, because you’re always feeling the pressure of getting the right pull.

1. Arkham Horror LCG
This game is amazing and I haven’t even played it a ton. It’s not your standard deck builder as you aren’t purchasing cards as you go, but between games you are gaining XP and upgrading cards or putting in new cards. Sometimes the scenarios even give you new cards you can add to your deck. This deck builder is closer to Magic the Gathering in the style you are building the deck because you build it prior to the game. But it is great because you have to build it in such a way to have some weaknesses that specific to your character(s) in the game, so each deck feels unique.

Now, just a few honorable mentions:
Century: Golem Edition & Not Alone, both great games, but they are really a hand builder versus a deck builder. The mechanics are pretty similar to deck building though, so can be HM’s
Marvel Legendary, I’m not the biggest fan of the game, some because there’s so much bloat that you end up just not getting the right combination of cards because you put together too odd a group of heroes. It can just be too swingy at times, but superheroes are awesome.
Aeon’s End/Aeon’s End: War Eternal/Aeon’s End Legacy, I’m going to be playing this soon, I’ve watched a playthrough of this game, it has enough extra going on with the monster you’re fighting and the spell slots, basically, that you can open up. It seems very interesting, and a deck builder that you don’t shuffle is very cool as you can theoretically stack the deck in your favor.

What’s missing from the list because I haven’t played enough or just didn’t like it that well:
Clearly there is no Dominion on the list. While Dominion is the grand daddy of them all, or at least the first super popular one, Dominion is a pretty boring game where the cards are themeless and could be anything. It’s a pure deck builder, but that’s about it.
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is also missing from the list, it’s a pretty cool epic game, however, it’s supposed to be RPG like, and leveling up is just too slow. The game just needs to move a little bit faster. The same thing is the case with Shadowrun: Crossfire. I love the setting, and the game is cool, but the original printing was also just too slow to build to the cool things. I think that Harry Potter is the game that could be like this, bu t you feel cooler much faster.

What are your favorite deck builders? Which games would you recommend to people?

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