Our new deck building favorite

How is your Monday going? Did you play anything on the weekend?

We tried ✨ Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game ✨ yesterday! It is a deck builder (surprise! 😀) with a moving market of cards akin to Star Realms, but it also has a bunch of ideas up its sleeve to set itself apart! 👍

You play as either the Empire or the Rebellion, and your goal is to destroy 💥 3 bases of your opponent. Both players start out with a deck of 10 basic cards - you can use these to get resources and buy additional cards, or to damage enemy ships and bases. Cards you buy will go into your discard, and eventually get reshuffled back into your deck so you get stronger as the game goes on. 🧐

You can only buy neutral cards or cards of your faction from the galaxy row (aka. market), however you can also destroy the cards of your opponent - both to deny them and to get a reward. I think this is a really clever twist!

There is also a little tug-of-war element. 🤼 During the game you can gain Force which will move the Force marker on its track towards you. Certain cards have abilities that only work if “the Force is with you”, which makes this an important aspect to manage!

The bases are a lovely touch in this game. 😊 As you lose your starting base, you get to pick a new one out of multiple cards - all of them have different abilities and hit point values, and you can pick one that best suits your current deck or situation. I love the bases! 🤩

Artwork on the cards is awesome too, and there are some nice thematic touches for the abilities. One thing that bothers me a bit is the flavor-text. 🤔 I know it is a staple in card games, but sometimes you have so much text on a card only to realize it’s not an ability, just some flavor. I’d also would’ve preferred a bit more iconography - unless you already know every card by heart, you will have to keep re-reading them to know what they do.

The game is really fun! 😍 Even though our plays take much longer than the indicated 30 minutes, I think the arc of the game is really satisfying! The way you collect cards, get stronger and systematically chew through bases is epic! Definitely worth the extra minutes!