Mechanic: Deck Building

Intro

Deck Building is a popular and varied mechanic in games. And it happens to be one of my favorite mechanics, due to its chance/skill balance. But it’s a term that comes with a lot of confusion. After all, a lot of games use cards and decks to move the game forward in a variety of ways. Let’s clear up some of that confusion and then discuss some of my all time favorite deck building games!

What Deck Building Is

Deck building is a mechanic where players build and manage a deck over the course of a single game. Players typically start with 10 or fewer simple cards and then use various abilities or currencies to obtain more powerful cards, upgrading their deck. Turns usually consist of playing a single card of hands, traditionally 5 to begin with, and using those cards to earn points, attack other players, purchase new cards, or whatever other goals the specific game presents. After playing a turn players discard their hand and draw a new one. When their deck runs out, they shuffle their discard and it becomes their new deck.

This is the essence of deck building. Everyone enters the game on more or less equal ground and builds up their deck as the game progresses. Decks are typically kept private, with limited ability to add to or take away from other players' decks, to enable players to hone their strategy. (though like all board game rules, there are notable exceptions)

Cards used in deck building games often have categories or ability types that synergize with other cards or with specific gameplay strategies. Most often players are presented with new cards in the form of a draft, seeing only a small, random selection of what’s available. This means they must adapt their strategy to the cards they are able to get a hold of. However, some games, such as Dominion, allow players to choose from all available card types.

What Deck Building Isn’t

Preface: I’ll be the first to admit, I am a bit pedantic about this topic. But this isn’t a rant about the precise definition of terms. Rather I hope to educate in order to improve communication about board game concepts. For instance, when I speak about my deck building games to others their minds often turn to games such as Magic the Gathering, which are quite different functionally and strategically. This misunderstanding can lead to lack of interest (in those who do not care for such games0, or disappointment when they discover the differing nature of the game.

Deck Construction:

Collectible Card Games such as Magic the Gathering are often termed as deck building games. However these games fall under the definition of Deck Construction. This may sound almost the same, but this is actually the most significant difference on this list. Deck construction games are games where players assemble their deck of cards prior to beginning play. A primary portion of the strategy takes place before the game begins as players concoct combinations and choose powerful cards to use during the game. Unlike in deck builders, players do not begin on equal ground and typically, no new cards are available for purchase.

Set Collection:

Some games, such as Ticket to Ride and Pandemic, may require you to purchase or draft sets of specific cards in order to win the game. While these games do involve the careful selection of cards they do not constitute deck building. They usually do not include the rotating deck or turn structure of deck building games.

Hand Management:

Many card games require you to manage your hand in order to synergize cards or complete certain actions. Popular examples include Exploding Kittens, Wingspan, and Terraforming Mars. And while these games contain elements of deck building they fall under the category of hand management. This is because they do lack a rotating deck and often include random card draws rather than careful purchases.

Favorite Deck Building Games

Here is a short list of some of my favorite deck building games:

Dominion: Dominion is the classic deck building game. With accessible gameplay and endless combinations it’s a great introduction to the genre and never fails to scratch the deck building itch. In Dominion players use money in the form of gold, silver, and copper cards and any number of special ability cards, to procure new lands which grant players victory points. I appreciate the non-combat theme of the game, although there are several cards you can use to sabotage opponents.

Shards of Infinity: To me, Shards of Infinity, is combat deck building in its purest form. With amazing card synergies, an awesome champion mechanic (which allows you to activate cards every turn), and a ticking clock as players approach 30 focus granting them infinite power, there’s plenty of strategy and tension to go around. The game can be played very fast and no two games feel the same.

Dune Imperium: Dune Imperium has a lot more going on than just deck building, but it had to make the list because it's such a great game! Players have a rotating deck of cards, and each hand forms the foundation for that turn. I especially like the multi-use cards, where each card has two possible abilities depending on how it is used.

Black Tie: Obviously I had to include Black Tie. I’m a little biased, but I think the game has a lot going for it. It breaks out of the established rut of deck building games by having a focus on player interaction. I also really enjoy the building aspect, where players build cards onto the table which stay in place until removed by another player. The card stacking mechanic, combined with hand retention, creates great build up and release with really powerful turns.

Escape From Atalix: I feel a bit bad talking about two of my own games on here, but hey that's what I'm here to do. Escape from Atalix is a cooperative deck building game where players use their deck to perform actions on their turn. The game has a great narrative storyline and a very interesting action queue turn structure that forces players to make difficult decisions.

Bag and Pool Building

Bag and pool building games are a bit of a special case. It's similar to deck building but uses tokens or other components instead of cards. Typically the tokens are kept in a bag and drawn one or more at a time. Each token has its unique value and ability and players must use the tokens in combination to achieve the optimal results.

Favorite Bag Building Games

Just a quick word about my favorite bag building games.

Quacks of Quedlinburg: In Quacks of Quedlinburg, players are competing to create the most valuable potion. They randomly draw ingredient tokens out of their bag one by one and place them on their potion board, moving along an escalating track. However they cannot draw too many of the volatile cherry bomb tokens or their potion will explode, with devastating consequences. The game has simple but very nice ingredient abilities, and it's very fun to push your luck and see how far you can go without exploding.

Altiplano: Altiplano is a very unique game where players are merchants competing to fulfill contracts and fill their storehouses with valuable goods. Each turn requires strategic planning as you figure out how to use your drawn combination of ingredients to get the most done.