Great List. Legendary fell for me a bit due to setup of the Marvel version. But now I have the Alien version, and it is just definitely one of the best! Playing the "movies" makes setup and storage a lot easier.
I'm still confused that LCGs are not considered deck builders...Star Wars I understand... Not a deck builder... But aren't the other LCGs more DBGish? Also, a Solo playing top 10 last would be hella cool man! Thanks!
I really like deck builders, and have a few (Marvel Legendary, Xenoshyft, Dice Masters), but my favorite is STAR REALMS. So quick and easy to play. Lots of fun. My kids love it too.
Also, Puzzle Strike (third edition + Shadows) is actually my favorite game all-time. Give the new editions a try, because 20 characters and more puzzle chips makes the game that much more fun. Can't get it to the table at all anymore though, so I'm hoping the New Puzzle Strike app is good.
I think you and others like you need to stop upselling Thunderstone. Its out of print, 328 dollars on amazon currently, and ive been watching for a reasonable price for over a year. If they do a reprint then shout it from a mountain. Go ahead and ignore my ranting and dont take it personally im just tired of hearing about all you reviewers amazing unavailable game.
I understand your concern - there are two expansions for TA I was never able to get, and may never be able to - but it would be disingenuous of me to ignore a game from my rankings completely just because it's unavailable.
+Board Game Brawl I understand im just suffering from i cant have it rage. Perhaps you and vassel could use some of your board game fame to slap the IP owners in the face and tell them to reprint and make some money.
+loctardamity1 If you get lucky, you might find it at a Half-Price Books. They never check their prices with how much something is actually worth, and will do things like sell 80's comics for 40 cents, and I got Thunderstone for $30 at one.
I just got the chance to get Warmachine High Command for $20. You convinced me to go for it, even though Tom Vasel and all of BGG are not particularly in love with it.
I actually love the artwork in the older sets of Ascension, and found the artwork on the newer cards to be very "meh." Part of that has to do with the fact of how stylized the artwork was so it was a very love it or hate it thing in the earlier versions, and I've always loved that sort of Clive Barker style artwork so I definitely enjoyed the look. And the newer artwork was actually pretty disappointing for me, because it felt less inspired and looked more like every game out there. But, like I said, the original art was so stylized, it's hard to get an "objective" opinion on it.
I'm curious whether you've played Puzzle Strike -- I consider it to be strictly better than Dominion. Same with Legendary Encounters and Legendary -- the face-down Hive cards make L:E way more fun IMO.
+Joel Petersen maybe provide a timestamp instead of just being snarky -- it's a long and barely edited video, excuse me for skipping bits. Oh, and if you mean the Legendary comment, I know he mentioned Aliens, I was just saying that I think the gameplay changes make L:E the better game. Of course if you hate Aliens and love Marvel you should get Legendary, but if you ignore the theme (which I'll grant is silly with these games), L:E is superior.
I am new to all this but i recently got LOTR LCG, i found that to hard and unfair to be any fun, so i got Pathfinder Skulls and Shackles, loving it so far, but the art and cards arent very good. Any reccomendations? just want a good card based game doesnt even have to be a Deck builder, just Solo, so many options so confusing.
+TheFewzz Maybe check out one of the Legendary Encounters games? Predator or Aliens. For a quick, cheap, simple solo deck builder game, Friday is a lot of fun for about $15
+TheFewzz Hey Fewzz. I know where you're coming from; I'm always looking for strong solo card games, being almost exclusively a solo gamer, and not often wanting all the setup and takedown of a big board game (I comment on all my games from a solo player's perspective. If you want to get some ideas, you can read them here: www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/bbblackwell?own=1&subtype=boardgame&ff=1). Friday is a nice little game to throw in your suitcase -- both mechanically sound, and fun -- but judging by your opening choice of LOTR LCG, I'd bet you're looking for something a little more thematically adventurous.Depending on your theme preference, I can't say enough good things about *Shadowrun Crossfire*. I happen to like the Shadowrun universe, so if you really don't like that modern/technological/fantasy hybrid idea, you may not enjoy it as much, but the game is strong, fun, simple yet challenging, and is very managable solo, even with up to four characters.The *LOTR Deckbuilding Game* is another one that I enjoy because it's easy to pull out (it doesn't require the time, space, and mental energy commitment of LOTR LCG). It's more of a mechanical deckbuilder, rather than an adventure, but it's just plain, simple fun. It works on the same game engine as Nick's choice, the DC Deckbuilding game, but even though DC has more expansions, I just like LOTR more than DC, and if I want a bigger game based on comics I'll play Marvel Legendary. There are 3 LOTR deckbuilders (one for each film, plus the Hobbit, which I never played because I want to forget those movies), and they are all compatible. You can also pick them up pretty cheap. Just keep in mind that they are not cooperative -- you'll be playing against yourself -- but that's not a big deal in most deckbuilding games because they're basically multiplayer solitaire anyway.For a non-deckbuilder I think you're on track with *Pathfinder ACG*. I waiting a whole year to buy that game because I couldn't stand that no-background art, but once I got it and started playing, it stopped bothering me. Now I'm wishing I bought in on ROTR because I have S&S and find that I overestimated my interest in pirates hahaha. Watch a bunch of reviews and you'll find what you're looking for. And if you're new to gaming, you may find that the LOTR LCG will serve you better with more experience, I wouldn't trade it just yet!
+Brian Blackwell Thanks for the awsome reply, LOTR LCG i just can not get into, the diffiiculty is just too much to enjoy, the Themeing is amazing though, will be trying this more, ive spent too much on it to ignore, i have many expansions now, trying to find good cards to help me lol. Pathfinder i enjoy playing alot more but the cards are so thin and cheap and yes the art is pretty poor, and you do need time to set up and play but so far its a nice one to play. LOTR card game? ill look into that one but i do need Solo games. I am thinking of the Legendary encounters Alien and maybe Elder Sign. Finally the one i do have but requires more time and space etc is Eldritch Horror, such a cool game, but i need more manageable accessable card/dice game, Solo thematic and preferably expansions etc. Sadly most i am finding arent Solo, most seem to be at least 2 players.
TheFewzz I totally get it with LOTR LCG -- its difficulty and complexity is off-putting at times. Are you playing with just one player deck? Because I found that nearly impossible. I play "2 player solo" with a tactics/leadership deck to handle enemies, and a spirit/lore deck for support (particularly threat management). I also find that creativity and versatility go a long way toward getting the most out of solo gaming -- figuring out ways to make a game work solo, rather than finding games that provide solo rules specifically. Even when solo rules are offered, I usually find that the game plays better when controlling more "players." Marvel Legendary is a good example; the solo game is good for a faster game, but offers less variety and you're not getting the full game experience. A bit of a split-mindset helps too. The hex-and-counter wargame genre has a long history of solo gaming, and those are straight head-to-head games where a solo player must adopt the mental position of both sides (or many sides) trying to destroy each other. Getting this gaming perspective in place opens up a large chunk of the gaming world to the solo gamer. There are relatively few games that are totally off limits; primarily negotiation or bluffing games, or any game where secret information is absolutely vital, like deduction games such as Fury of Dracula. High Command, Descent, Imperial Assault, Magic Realm, etc., are all games I really would have regretted missing just because they're not "soloable." I've even played Magic the Gathering solo against myself, and the game only loses about 10% of what it has to offer by knowing the opponent's hand of cards (particularly the Instants). And it's better than watching the news, or whatever normal people do!
+Brian Blackwell With LOTR LCG i have been playing single player one deck yes, i have not learned the rules for 2 players ( to play solo) but why didnt i try this before, thats my new target. I have decided to order Elder Sign and Legendary Encounter Alien next week though but alway open to suggestions, actually i am torn now as the Shadowrun game looks fantastic, i am a sucker for well made cards and the Art etc. I would love to get Imperial Assault but cant see that working in 2player solo that well. As for normal poeple well umm im not normal i havent watched normal telly for years lol.
Another deck builder that I am surprised not to see on here is Nightfall. Honestly, that game is one of my favorite deck builders. Beautiful art work, awesome chaining mechanism and you actually fight the other players. It feels less like a solitaire deck builder, and more competitive.
One big omission is Core Worlds + expansions. Great intense Deck builder with resource management. Very thematic. Have you tried this one? I rate it at least a noine :)
Good list Nick, I think right now Alien Encounters: Legendary is probably my favorite game I own with Marvel being a close second. An overlooked game, I believe is Nightfall which I think is really good and it's chaining mechanic is great and allows for some player interaction during others turns. Sadly Deck builders, are getting a little stale to me...partly due to Legendary just making such good strides with Predator and Secret Wars and the appearance of so many terrible ones. I tried Thunderstone Advance, I thought the solo mode was decent, but a 3 or more player game is just way to long, especially for a deck builder. Don't get me wrong I don't mind long games but like you said that style/type of game is better suited for 45 minutes-1 hour. Thankfully I was able to find someone to trade it for a good amount of games so all's not lost. Anyways, great list love hearing your input on why you chose these for your list. I'm always on the hunt for games that change the "deck-building-norm" like Legendary Encounters or Nightfall so I'll have to get Xenoshyft now... dammit ;)
Hi Nick,I SEVERELY disliked deckbulding games for a very long time, but am finding it to be one of the styles of play I enjoy most now (along with dice building).Legendary (in all it's forms) is definitely my favorite. How do you feel about the Resident Evil DBG? I enjoy it, but it does take a long time to build up to get ready to start fighting making the game quite long.I haven't tried Dark Gothic yet, but really want to as I'm a huge fan of FFP and more importantly A Touch of Evil. Have you played Dark Gothic? If so, what do you think of it?A tried to get into Thunderstone Advance, but it seems about the time I took interest, everything seemed to be going Out of Print.
Great list Nick! But you missed one... ;) Apex Theropod! It is our favorite deck builder, by far. You have your own different Apex Theropod deck from which you "hatch" your advanced cards to build your deck. You can attack other players Apex's, with specific cards, and use Evolve points to enhance your specific Apex's deck, and Hunt points to attack the NPC dinosaurs. It's is really an amazing and innovative deck builder. Also there is a better and broader release coming in January 2016.
I love Marvel Legendary, but I have recently become OBSESSED with Legendary Encounter: Alien. Holy cow is that a good game. I agree, though, that the Legendary engine is one of the best out there.
Nick, I miss your videos. I hope you are well. Heart of Crown is supper pricy currently. Did you make a 20-11 part of this list? Have you played Arctic Scavengers? You talk about games that most people don't even know about, that is the Brawl!
Recently Picked up Warmachine HIgh Command. I was big into the Warmachine Model game and didnt even know what a deck builder was until recently. Was super glad to be reminded of this game and made it a great xmas gift for a good friend. Thanks for the list dude.
My question is, if the War Machine/ Hordes theme was stripped from High Command, would you still like it? Because most of the reviews Ive seen have completely trashed the game, but said the theme was its only saving grace.
9 лет назад
Oh please let Tanto Cuore: Oktoberfest ship this month! As far as the Heart of Crown KS, if TC: Oktoberfest is any indication, I wouldn't expect HoC to ship until 2017.
Ah, one year late to cheer for thunderstone :) it's my number one game actually, though i've never played real game of it, only online. As my game collection is tiny and i don't get much play time with our group i have to count in the app versions :D btw, i play the original one without the expansions even. Advance has some interesting rules changes (like prepare), so i would like to have/try it.
I agree with you on the love for Warmachine High Command. I purchased that game last summer and went right out and bought the Hordes version the next day. I even recently picked up the third big box with the rest of the races. It's a great game. Star Realms would also be on my list. That is a fantastic little game that gets played quite a bit.
What are your thoughts on Nightfall? It's another AEG dbg and I noticed you have two on your list. I agree with a lot on your list so I'm definitely adding some games to my shopping list. thanks
I noticed that Heart of Crown came up quite often in your review. Really eager to try this game. Where do you buy it? It is so expensive on Amazon (90+USD for the base game!).
You kind of mention the ability to chain cards in one of the games in your list, have you ever tried Nightfall? That made great use of the card chaining, and went beyond that with being able to chain off other people. That was also one of the earlier deck builders where you had a private set of cards only you could buy from.
Last years list was thinking you stated the list was based on just the core sets. I believe when you gave Dominion an "honorable mention", you stated that "the expansions are interesting and if we were including the expansions, it would be somewhere on this list" or something along those lines.
I like your video's Nick watch them all the time. I was wondering which games on your top ten can be played in under a hour with three to four players? That seems to be the sweet spot for my group.
Tanto Cuore always seemed neate. Got a sample play of it at Acen one year, but there's no way that my friends would play it with me. Most aren't a fan of anime and would think the theme is too stupid.
Hey Nick! Fellow champion for the High Command cause here. It's mechanically unique, and one could even argue that it ranks up there with Thunderstone in its ability to make deckbuilding feel thematically purposeful. It feels less like a "deckbuilder" and more like a combat card game with deckbuilding as a mechanism (as does Shadowrun Crossfire, which would make my top 10 easily). I felt High Command dropped the ball by not giving each detachment color an explicit playstyle focus in the rulebook, but I found an article online that offered this information (privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-8-19-13). This makes that opening decision all the more meaningful. *Orange*: New recruits (low cost units most effective early in the game) *Yellow*: Army support (useful abilities, but weak stats) *Green*: Scouts (low Rush cost, good mobility, but low damage threshold) *Blue*: Elites/Veterans (high cost, high power) *Purple*: Arcane (strong magic abilities) *Red*: Heavy Armor (high cost, good power, great defense)
+Brian Blackwell I feel that instead of just colours they could have used coloured symbols instead for each detachment so that it's not so difficult for the colour blind to build decks. It's not a game breaker but definitely would have made things easier and added to the feel of the game
+Rob Heckenkamp You can get the most recent expansion which has the new artwork and play that exclusively, but it won't change the art of cards from previous sets with the exception of the 5 "base cards"
+Mickey Oliver As far as I know, no. Totally different systems. I don't know about expansions, but DCDB, Power is everything except victory points, and any card you defeat in DCDB (including Super Villains) get added to your deck. Legendary uses two currencies (Battle and Influence I think... I don't know, been a while since I looked at rules), where you recruit cards into your discard pile/deck using Influence, and defeat cards into a victory pile using Battle. Also Legendary you sort of choose what cards you will play with prior to the game, where DCDB you basically choose (or randomly make a pile) of super-villains, and everything else other than player decks is just one large deck to be shuffled and dealt into a center row. Sorry if I confused you, I suck at explaining stuff. It MAY be possible if you use certain dc cards as villains, or have enough copies of specific dc heroes to form the normal... what is it? 6,4,3,1 pattern of Legendary Hero piles? But yeah, that's a lot of mechanic playing just to make an iffy crossover.
I've never actually played Dominion, played many other deck builders. But what do you mean exactly when you call something a "Dominion Style" of deck builder?
Yeah, can't say I'm not also surprised that Star Realms isn't on your list. It was the first deck builder I ever played and one of my favorite games of all time. I'm wondering if it's because it's primarily a two-player game but hard to believe it didn't crack the top ten. But I also just tried Dominion recently and fell in love with it and also am loving Arctic Scavengers. Have no interest in most of your list but do want to try Trains and glad to see Paperback still on the list which is the best deckbuilder I've found for non or casual gamers.
9 лет назад
+John Keel It seems like Nick likes the meatier games and probably is why Star Realms isn't on the list. I really like the game but it is very light, almost a filler game.
+John Keel He mentioned somewhere that games he plays mostly as an app weren't considered for the list. I assume that's why Star Realms didn't make it.
i am surprised that you did not include star realms in here Nick. In my opinion one of the best games in its category. Also looking forward to the their new game Epic which once again got a lot of support from kickstarter. Also you should give Ashes rise of the phoenix born a go, fantastic game. You like a lot of anime (Japanese if you like) themed games and i want to try them if they ever come to the west. Great video nonetheless
Tough call for me. I enjoy Star Realms and its spin-off Cthulhu Realms a lot, but both Ascension and DCCDBG fill that same niche for me and have much more variety of cards at this point. If there's a big box expansion for SR that fleshes it out much more, I would expect it to pop onto the list eventually.
I did, and it's great, but it's literally collecting dust. But, I want to bust it out again soon because it may be a good candidate for a solo games top ten.
+Petfles G I love Shadowrun: Crossfire, but in my mind it is more a cooperative game then a deckbuilder, if that makes sense. Of course you build up your deck, but you can't get rid of cards, you can't buy a lot of cards, you don't draw a lot of cards... But the cooperation is VITAL in this game. Probably one of the most cooperative there is, at least if you wanna do well ^^
+Sean Thompson - I like it more as well. The chaining is great. I think one of the key features that does it for me, other then the fact that it's more about killing the opponent rather than trying to buy the highest value card, is that when you recruit a card, it goes on the top of your deck. I find that has huge strategic value, and makes the game less random. If you know you are going to get attacked next turn, buy the card that defends an attack. But that means you didn't buy the card you actually wanted, which means someone else might scoop it up. Oh the decisions. :P It has potential, I'd like to see more god characters to choose from, but I think I'll still be enjoying it now for what it is for the foreseeable future.
+Board Game Brawl - I've actually only played it as multiplayer. Because you can recruit to the top of your deck none of my friends have had a problem with the targeting of one another. To each their own though. :3
+Board Game Brawl give it another go, it is a neat game! (you can follow actions from other players during their turn so the "waiting time" is more interactive, you can manage the complexity of your game by choosing whether or not to go for upgrades or for trading resources)
+zack scott It isn't already out, but it is being made next! It's going to be a new Legendary Encounters game. Check: icv2.com/articles/news/view/32210/upper-deck-release-firefly-legendary-encounters
If you love deck-builders, check out Dale of Merchants. It was Kickstarted in Summer, and will be available later this year. It's quite unusual for a deck-builder: for starters, the cards you buy come directly to your hand. That's bizarre, but works really well. You also have to remove cards from your deck to win. There's tons of combo potential, as well. Add in great art, and you've got a winner. Dale of Merchants is the freshest deck-building game I've played in ages. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176165/dale-merchants
