ASCENSION and GORMITI in Review Hot

Things I like about Ascension vs. Dominion. Quick setup and not a programmed strategy that dominion players fall into a rut with.

Yeah, I think having six random cards out per draft choice instead of a range of always available options makes the game much less susceptible to programming. It gets the game away from that processional, mechanical feel and toward something more fluid.

Every time a new deck building game comes out I think to myself "Fuck, I've already got Dominion and two expansions... can I justify this?" Right now the answer is no... I'm still going to wait for the re-release of Arctic Scavengers. My buddy has Thunderstone and we'll probably just play that if we want fantasy deck building. Although this does look pretty cool, I liked the art an awfull lot.

Thanks for the great review.

Yeah, I really liked the art too. It's sort of 1980s, but in that weird, kind of dark fantasy way. Not in that Larry Elmore kind of way.

I still think ARCTIC SCAVENGERS, under the assumption that it's going to be expanded, is the best of the deckbuilders so far...I've been playing HEROES OF GRAXIA, that review is on its way. It does some interesting things too. I'm kind of starting to feel like these guys ought to get together and just design the one great deckbuilding game. All of them so far have had one or two really good ideas.

I actually like deckbuilding games, I've come to terms with that. It's just that DOMINION so far is probably the least good out of them.

I like Dominion because it feeds the combo lover in me, but it can suck when someone in the group just takes too damn long to play theirs.

It seems to me this game feels more like a booster draft where you're trying to pick up the best stuff that's randomly placed in front of you (can't read your review at work, is that correct?). Dominion feels more like constructed where you know what the pool of cards is and you try to make cool combos out of that, you just make the deck as you go along. It's hard to get a good pool going where there's enough viable/interesting strategies to take though.

I saw on the Ascension website that they'll sell you sleeves and a gool looking deckbox. Not sure why they didn't just sell you that instead. The board seems worthless and i have enough glass beads/D20s/pen and paper to track my VPs with. Besides, after a few expansions, I'm probably chucking the clunky ass box anyway and putting it in one of those ugly white cardboard longboxes anyway. But I guess you need to be noticed on a shelf crowded with other deckbuilding games.

And you guys like the Ascension art? Takes all kinds I guess...

It seems to me this game feels more like a booster draft where you're trying to pick up the best stuff that's randomly placed in front of you (can't read your review at work, is that correct?).

Yes, I think that's really what makes this game work a little better for me than DOMINION. That's one of the things I like about booster draft, where somebody hands you this stack of cards that might be utter crap...but it might have something that you can use with something else you've drafted. I think this is what they were going for in the design, but the cards somewhat lack the kind of synergy they need for that to really work.

That's a good point about DOMINION feeling like constructed, I hadn't really thought of it that way but you're right.

I think the art is distinctive. Like I said, it reminds me of Bob Pepper. It has that really defined, intricate line work and it sort of brings in some more modern baroque fantasy style. It's not high budget, FFG stuff, no...but it's pretty idiosyncratic to this game, and it stands apart. It's a HELL of a lot better than the DOMINION art, that's for sure.

Dominion feels more like constructed where you know what the pool of cards is and you try to make cool combos out of that, you just make the deck as you go along. It's hard to get a good pool going where there's enough viable/interesting strategies to take though.

Hmmm, wonder if you could run a Dominion varient where you selected your 10 kingdom cards, shuffled them all together and delt out 10 piles. Could be fun.

So . . . how do you pack it? Is this essentially a deck of cards in a baggie? That's a plus in my book, though it would be a tough sell at the MSRP listed.

S.

No...I stupidly cart around its giant box. I really should just stick it in a deckbox or two and ditch both the board and the gems. You seriously don't need either. Most of the honor points you get you can track by simply keeping the monster card you killed and then maybe making a hash mark on a piece of scrap paper when you murder the Cultist or get honor from a card affect.

It's a HELL of a lot better than the DOMINION art, that's for sure.

I don't know about a hell of a lot, but yeah, Dominion looks like dog ass at times too.

The deck box/sleeve combo is only $16 on their website (not sure about s&h), but I wouldn't really want their sleeves since I can't just pick up replacements at the store. Would have been cool if the game had shipped in that, and knocking a couple bucks off for removing the board/gems means I probably would have impulse bought this already.

Have you sleaved your cards? How they holding up? I know they can be anal retentive, but the TOSers seem to be reporting shitty card stock, which sounds sketchy for a $40 card game.

Card stock isn't that bad. Frankly, I don't see it any worst than other card stock - the only issue is that it's glossy so riffle-shuffling probably will damage them faster. Then again, if you're riffle shuffling with sleeves, I'm wincing for your cards anyway.

Strangely enough I like Ascension better than Arctic Scavengers. Arctic's fun, but I'd prefer Ascension for its simplicity and giggle value at beating up the Cultist repeatedly.

With all these new card game coming out, mostly Dominion clones I don't really care for, I wonder has anybody played Gosu yet? (non-CCG MtG clone would be quite welcome)

I'm in that small faction on this site that really love Dominion, but Ascension does sound cool. Something that is more accessible and more confrontational is appealing to me, and I like what I've seen of the art.

I haven't yet tried any of the other deck-building games, partially because of lack of opportunity and partially from loving Dominion as much as I do. I'm very interested in the Blood Bowl game, though. It sounds quite interesting.

It's definitely more accessible than DOMINION, and there's not the onus of feeling like you need to own three fifty dollar "expansions".

As for the confrontationalism...you may want to stick around for the HEROES OF GRAXIA review. It's even more confrontational, you can attack other players. It's kind of a mess, but it has- again- some interesting ideas.

There is nothing "shitty" about the card stock. It is a little glossy, but it's not substandard in any way.

I own Ascension and it's the only deck building game I've ever played. I enjoy it very much, and everyone who has played with me has also liked it.

I think the card stock is fine, but I would like to get sleeves at some point. As for the box itself, it is actually very cleverly designed; it is set up to already accommodate expansion cards, and all the card areas are set to handle all the cards being sleeved. There was definite thought put into the packaging.

I will DEFINITELY be buying expansions, and I wish they were already available. I want them to add more monsters, and I agree that monsters should pose some sort of actual threat. As it stands, I personally feel that going 'combat heavy' is not a valid road to victory. I focus on runes and buying cards, and I've only lost 1 time. I also wish there was even more player interaction; screwing with other players' constructs is fun, but I want it to go further.

The one newish card game out there that I'm interested in at the moment is Gosu from Asmodee. Any plans to review that one in the future?

http://us.asmodee.com/ressources/jeux_versions/gosu_3.php