Barnes on Games- Baseball Highlights 2045 in Review, Historia, 13 Days, Greenland again

I hate war and killing people but I have tons of games that have those concepts. I don't care anything about managing hotel chains, but Acquire is one of my favorite games. I have absolutely zero firsthand experience with taking mushrooms but The Mushroom Eaters is one of the most brilliantly thematic games I've ever played. So what is the point here? Why can't I like a baseball game and appreciate how it uses that subject matter?

The deckbuilding isn't even really the focus of the game- it's in looking at your six cards and analyzing how to best play them in anticipation of what the other player might play...bluffing, taking a chance and working out how to get your runners to score. There's PLENTY of baseball in it, and rotating players into your team is part of what gives it a "season" and team management feel beyond the actual games.

He ain't making this shit up. I actually do admire baseball and sports as a theme in board gaming really interests me (though aside from baseball and basketball, I don't really watch sports). Guess what? Best sports game ever. All respect to Blood Bowl, I love it, but

I also think you're entirely off the mark about theme being thin, and I have to make the assumption that you've only looked at the game on surface level (the other possibility is that you have played it/looked deeper into it and you've somehow missed the point,but I'm going to give you the benefit of a doubt, don't disappoint me). The deckbuilding feels like a footnote in the grander scheme of things. The card play is definitely the star of the show here, which is somewhat abstracted (only as much as a highlight reel is an expedited look at a game) but also quite detailed. The first time I saw the AI player steal bases, though no one else's as around I said out loud, "That's so cool." The thematic flourishes are there, the bluffing is there, and with the futuristic liberties the game takes, the feeling of baseball is there. It certainly has oodles more baseball in it that Team Manager has football.

I'm also curious as to when someone voicing an opposing opinion to your own became "trolling." Perhaps the same time the Internet decided that plot points in movies they don't like are "plot holes." Even if you look at Michael's statements as contradictory of hypocritical, it still not even close to the definition of "trolling." Hmmmm...

I like that it tends to emulate the different types of baseball games. Sometimes it's a 12-3 blowout. But I especially love when there are apparent pitchers duels, where you're desperately trying to eke out a 1-0 win, and every new batter/card brings a little more tension and drama. The deck-building here is a smart and very thematic thing that only happens briefly between games, where your team brings in a better player and releases an older one (just like teams do). And yes, that does have an effect on the next game and the longer term series, but it's hardly a major aspect of the game, or the only aspect of the game (as is the case with many deck-building games). As Barnes said, the main focus is on the card play during each mini-game.