Deck Building Games

Grudunza wrote: Ascension is decent. I like that there's some more interaction to it

The interaction in Ascension being that you can take cards that your opponent might want even if they don't fit well into your deck, resulting in us both having weak, boring decks? Awesome!

Grudunza wrote: the way that VPs are drained from a collective pool

That's been there since Dominion...

I agree that the art is good in Ascension and is its one virtue, and on the scale of "similar to an MTG booster draft but the fun parts removed", it is less awful than 7 Wonders, but still significantly worse than drafting Coldsnap.

VOTE: Dominion

Michael Barnes wrote: Puzzle Strike is cool, but for some reason, it doesn't really compel me.

My guess is that the reason it doesn't compel you is because it manages the amazing accomplishment of having *less* theme than Dominion! On an individual chip level. On a macro level, it does indeed match its incredibly bizarre "Super Puzzle Fighter" theme...but what's the point of that?

1 - Penny Arcade
2 - Ascension
3 - Star Trek (I prefer TOS cards)

dragonstout wrote: My guess is that the reason it doesn't compel you is because it manages the amazing accomplishment of having *less* theme than Dominion!

Impossible.

dragonstout wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: Puzzle Strike is cool, but for some reason, it doesn't really compel me.

My guess is that the reason it doesn't compel you is because it manages the amazing accomplishment of having *less* theme than Dominion! On an individual chip level. On a macro level, it does indeed match its incredibly bizarre "Super Puzzle Fighter" theme...but what's the point of that?

Because Super Puzzle Fighter is awesome?

Seriously, along with Tetris Attack those are my favorite puzzlers.

A lot of folks seem to rank Nightfall high, so I downloaded the app and it seems like a pretty fun game. To the folks who've played the app, does the physical game play as good or better?

Is Puzzle Strike really a deckbuilder? Or a sackbuilder?

I agree that Blood Bowl:TM must not be a deckbuilding game because it's the only one I like. Ascension on iOS is awesome but if I tried to play it in real life I would kill myself.

Ken B. wrote: Because Super Puzzle Fighter is awesome?

I actually really like Super Puzzle Fighter too, but a deckbuilder trying to reproduce that...I feel like I'm watching a porn video that just shows a dude masturbating to porn.

dragonstout wrote: ...I feel like I'm watching a porn video that just shows a dude masturbating to porn.

That's exactly why I like it.

Now that is a great exchange.

In some order:

Nightfall
Puzzle Strike
Core Worlds
Quarriors
Blood Bowl (if we are counting it).

Haven't tried Fantastiqa yet.

Last would be Thunderstone.

I came to the conclusion lately that I'm still into deckbuilding as a mechanic, but not so much into just plain deck-building games. I really dig the use of it in Mage Knight and Blood Bowl, and I think stuff like that is where it's finding it's future. To one extent or another, all of the other iterations have started to run together for me.

Bull Nakano wrote: A lot of folks seem to rank Nightfall high, so I downloaded the app and it seems like a pretty fun game. To the folks who've played the app, does the physical game play as good or better?

The physical game far exceeds the iOS version. Here's why:

There are far more cards in the real thing
Online MP takes too long, with constant back and forth
The complexity of the game makes the iOS UI a bit much

I've tried the IOS-versions of both Nightfall and Thunderstone and was impressed by neither. Maybe having the physical cards would make me appreciate the theme more, but I'm not sure. Ascension is a good game in IOS, but ultimately shallow.

In real life I've tried Dominion which is a very good bad game. It's soulless and uninteresting, but I can't deny it's a good game. I would probably play it if the right people asked, but I'll live happily ever after even if that never happens.

Rune Age is an entirely different beast. The Runewars scenario is great and feels like a card version of a DoaM game, but the coop/solo scenario is very good as well. I like that the game actually has a theme that fits with the deck building, namely that just because you have x of y units in your army, doesn't mean they're ready for battle when and where you need them. I haven't tried the expansion, but I'm looking forward to it.