Intro to Deck-Building Games

Image taken from Amazon.com

In 2008, the gaming world was introduced to Dominion, the very first deck-building game. Designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, the game was an instant hit and won several awards, including the coveted Spiel des Jahres in 2009. Since then, there have been several deck-builders released such as Star Realms, Ascension, Clank!, and those based on popular media franchises like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Alien films. 

A deck-building game is a card game in which the focus of gameplay has players constructing their own decks. There is an objective of some sort, and these decks are used to accomplish them. Deck-builders are different than traditional collectible card games in that deck-builders are sold in sets and not randomized packs. Some deck-builders can be competitive, and others are cooperative, but all of them consist of a small starting deck for each player, and a main community deck from which the players draw additional cards from. The starting decks consist of basic cards that are usually less powerful than the cards in the main deck. Throughout the game, the players will add cards from the community deck to their own, thus making them bigger and stronger. Weaker cards can be replaced with stronger versions, and some cards can be combined with others to perform powerful moves that bring their owners closer to victory. 

Image taken from BoardGameGeek.com

The cards in the main deck can vary from magic spells, locations, and weapons to attacks and an assortment of human and non-human characters. In addition, they will have both an action ability and a spending cost listed on them. The action ability allows the card's owner to perform an action such as casting a spell, gaining a card, attacking their opponent, and the like. The spending cost is the amount of in-game currency that the player must "spend" in order to "buy" them and add them to their deck. The gained cards are immediately put into the discard pile, along with any cards that the player used and did not use on their turn. Should the player's deck run out, they shuffle their discard pile, and then draw up to the number of cards that they are supposed to have in their hands.  

The majority of deck-builders can be found at your local game store, major book stores, and of course Amazon. As I mentioned earlier, some of these are based on well-known properties and others have their own storyline. I applaud the idea of the included themes as I feel it would be a great way to introduce their fanbase to these types of games. The only downside to these is that most of them only allow four to five players, so if you have more than five, you may have to team up or buy extra sets.

Image taken from BoardGameGeek.com

Coming soon: a deck-builder featuring the decades-long rivalry between The Dark Knight and The Clown Prince of Crime!