Today, the deckbuilding mechanic is so widespread that it is more typically defined as its own genre. It has merged with other mechanics to brilliant effect, and even crossed over into the realm of video games. For now, though, here are ten of the best deckbuilding games to grace our tabletops.
Written by Chad Wilkinson
Whilst many gamers would have been familiar with the deck-construction mechanics in games like Magic: The Gathering, it wasn’t until 2008 that the actual building of a deck could be seen as constituting a game in and of itself. Dominion vaguely told the story of rival monarchs racing to expand their kingdoms. No innovations there. Thankfully, though, its mechanics were novel enough to change the shape of card games forever. Essentially, players are hoping to amass the most victory points by strategically bolstering their initial ten-card decks with a variety of income-generating and special ability-granting cards. Whilst its slick and satisfying formula may have inspired countless other – arguably, more exciting – games, Dominion remains hugely popular.
Deckbuilding games come in all shapes and sizes. Whilst games like Dominion can overwhelm players with the sheer breadth of content, making it hard to choose what to include in any given game, Valley of the Kings is comparably svelte (ignoring the recent Premium Edition). Each game simply gives players their starting decks with the rest of the box’s contents being divided into two tiers and shuffled. The ‘market’ is a pyramid of six cards, which will shift and ‘crumble’ as the various Egyptian artefacts are taken. From here, players must decide whether to play their cards for powerful abilities or ‘entomb’ them for points. This central decision is fascinating, rendering the endgame particularly tense as players rush to entomb their best cards.
I’ve found word games to be a bit hit-or-miss with my gaming group. They won’t play Scrabble with me, and now, unfortunately, they won’t play Paperback (and its fantastic sequel, Hardback) either. Regardless, this ‘word-building’ game offers a terrific twist on the genre where every card purchased feels truly important. As you might have guessed, players are using their cards to spell out words and score points accordingly. As such, players must know their decks inside out, and construct them to be as cohesive as possible. Despite my own gaming group troubles, I’ve found Paperback to be a fine introduction to deckbuilding – and modern tabletop games in general – for those whose experiences haven’t progressed past mass market games and, particularly, Scrabble.
“In space, no one can hear you build a deck of marine & weapon cards to fight aliens”. That’s the tagline under this 2014 game’s Board Game Geek entry. It hardly rolls off the tongue, but it does a pretty good job of summarising the game. The only omission is that this is a cooperative game – the first in this top ten list. Each game sees players choosing a film from the franchise (up to Alien: Resurrection), which will dictate the cards available to them alongside the cards comprising the ‘hive’ deck. The hive contains events, hazards, enemies, and objectives that must be ‘scanned’ (flipped face-up) in order to engage with them. There’s a huge amount of theme and tension in this game, and it all feels suitably lethal in a way other Legendary Encounters games haven’t quite come close to.
If you’re looking for a more family-friendly franchise to satiate your cooperative deck-building appetite, Hogwarts Battle should have you covered. As either Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville, up to four players will use their unique decks to battle the evil forces threatening Hogwarts, and purchase new cards along the way. Cards will range from various characters, spells, and items, and are bought with the ‘Influence’ available in players’ hands each turn. The game contains seven boxes, one for each year at Hogwarts, filled with the extra content needed to support mechanics of increasing complexity. Of course, things never get overly complex, but it’s a neat incremental system for newcomers to the hobby, whilst also giving the game a kind of light ‘legacy’ feel.
Whilst many larger games incorporate elements of deckbuilding amongst other mechanics, such as worker-placement or area-control, this list primarily sticks to ‘purer’ examples of the genre. Clank! is somewhat of an exception though, with its elements of exploration and combat being fully driven by traditional deck-building mechanics. Really, it’s just the idea of ‘boots’ as a resource, and movement around an actual board that leaves Clank! teetering on the edge of what constitutes a ‘pure’ deck-building game. Regardless, it’s a novel idea, executed in a way that gives the genre a much-appreciated sense of space and dynamism, whilst selling its theme of dungeon-delving thievery remarkably well.
Another small-scale deck-builder, this time pitting two players against each other in a game of snappy spaceship combat. Rather than the Dominion approach of securing victory through points, Star Realms takes a more aggressive stance, employing ‘Combat’ as a resource to reduce an opponent’s authority or outright destroy their ‘Bases’. Games of Star Realms may be quick but there are plenty of meaningful decisions along the way, particularly in relation to how well players make use of the synergies between matching ‘factions’. Furthermore, there’s a number of expansions allowing for various multiplayer formats. It’s worth checking out the app too, that is, if you don’t find digital implementations to be sacrilege.
At the grander end of the deck-building spectrum are games like Thunderstone Quest and Aeons End and, in particular, the latter’s Legacy iteration. Aeons End: Legacy takes the gameplay of its predecessor and dishes it out gradually over a number of games. This is a cooperative experience, with players acting as novice mages defending the subterranean city of Gravehold from the onslaught of The Nameless. Admittedly, the story here is slim, but seeing your mage gradually gaining power and battling increasingly fiendish foes highlights the legacy elements splendidly. Thankfully, even when the campaign’s over and done with, there’s still fun to be had in a standard game, with the bonus of having access to the huge catalogue of cards already unlocked.
There’s not enough cuteness in this list, therefore this next entry is the mostly overlooked Dale of Merchants. This is a game about managing a market stall run by anthropomorphic critters. Each animal has their own play style and their own deck; raccoons, for example, excel at stealing cards from others, whilst the pandas have an easier time grabbing cards from the market. Three of these decks will be chosen for each game, with cards then being divided amongst players to form starting decks. Consequently, players can tailor the game depending on whether they prefer more aggressive and interactive play styles or something a bit more laid back.
Buy the Dale of Merchants Collection Here
If you’re looking for a great deck-building game to play with the kids, or if you just fancy a gentle game with great art, The Tea Dragon Society is worth a look. Based on the web-comic and graphic novel, The Tea Dragon Society shows off Kay O’Neil’s fabulous illustrations whilst offering up gently competitive, deck-building gameplay. Players are hoping to strengthen the bonds with their Tea Dragons whilst creating memories. To do this, players must spend ‘growth’ points to buy either market or memory cards, with the former typically being comforting items such as brushes, wind chimes, and incense, and the latter being memories of festivals or lazy afternoons. It’s all very twee and lovely, but, sometimes, that’s exactly what we need.
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