Favorite Game for December 10th

#15 DC Deck-Building Game

A few weeks ago, I posted about a trip to Columbus, OH. We visited a few game stores while there, and I found two previously difficult to find expansions. I also discovered a new version of an older game (that I had long regretted purging from my collection) the DC Deck-Building Game.

In the DC Deck-Building Game players collect cards from a central market to create an increasingly more powerful deck. Power (the game's meta-currency) is used to "purchase" cards from the market and to defeat super villains.

 

A stack of super villain cards act as the timer for the game. These are expensive, powerful cards that players are able to add to their deck once they are "defeated." As one super villain is defeated and the next in the stack is revealed, the new super villain imposes a penalty on all players that is thematic to the super villain card in question.

The super villain cards add a bit of thematic flavor to what is really a pretty thematically disjointed game. Sure the cards each have an internal logic that works thematically for that card, and the players each have a character card that works at a similar level, but when all the moving parts are put together, the game play doesn't "feel" like superheroes working together to fight super villains. And that doesn't matter, not at all.

The thematic disconnect of the overall game play doesn't matter to me. The thematic ties of the individual cards is fun. Seeing my favorite heroes and villains depicted on the cards is enough. It's enough because the game is fun. The DC Deck-Building Game is really fun. It's easy to learn, teach and play. It moves quickly and the game play loop is satisfying and engaging. It's awesome!