ASCENSION CARD GAME PORTABLE
ASCENSION CARD GAME PRO
ASCENSION CARD GAME PROFESSIONAL

Once a card is removed from this play area, new cards are revealed to replace them. These six cards are the ones that are available on a turn, either to purchase or to fight. The biggest difference between Ascension and Dominion is that, where the cards available to players in Dominion are always the same, Ascension supplements a handful of “always available” cards with cards from a central deck that are dealt out, six at a time, in the center of the play area. The ultimate goal of the game is amassing victory points in the form of honor, represented by small plastic rocks, which can be gotten by defeating monsters, but also through the acquisition of other cards. Players play cards from a hand every turn, and those cards generate resources – either runes or power – which they can then spend to purchase new cards, in the form of heroes or constructs, or fight monsters. Indeed, the mechanics of Ascension and Dominion are very similar, with just the names of resources changed.

ASCENSION CARD GAME PRO

The version of the game I received for review is the recently-released “ 10 Year Anniversary Edition,” which boasts on the back that it is “Designed by Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Champions.” The fact that it is a 10-year edition also suggests (correctly) that Ascension has proven popular in the decade since its release.įundamentally, the gameplay in Ascension will be familiar to anyone who has ever played Dominion or, really, most any other deck-building game.

ASCENSION CARD GAME PROFESSIONAL

One of the designers – and the head of Stone Blade Entertainment, the studio behind the game – was a professional Magic player, who was a U.S. Of those, it bears mentioning that three of the four are fantasy themed, perhaps as a result of the form’s ties to Magic: The Gathering, while the fourth is built around superheroes.įirst published in 2010, Ascension also traces its origins to Magic: The Gathering. In fact, the Wikipedia entry for “deck-building game” lists four “notable” examples, besides Dominion: Legendary, Clank!, Thunderstone, and Ascension.

ASCENSION CARD GAME PORTABLE

And they take up relatively little physical space, making them portable and easy to play and store.Īmong the slew of deck-building games that have followed in the wake of Dominion, Ascension is one of the biggest players. They’re quick to learn, in part because the specific rules of unique game pieces can just be printed right on them. After all, deck-builders are relatively inexpensive to produce and consume, especially compared to many other types of high-concept board games.

In the decade-and-change since its release, however, deck-building games have really taken off, and now there are countless different iterations, themed around all sorts of varied activities. It remains a popular title that sees frequent play in my house. Released in 2008, Dominion set the standard for deck-builders ever since. Vaccarino, who created what many consider to be the first deck-building game, was an avid Magic played who had contributed several fan-made expansions before he launched Dominion. I open with Magic because, even though deck-building games and collectible card games like Magic share few actual mechanics, they share a tightly knit history. In the years since the 1993 release of Magic: The Gathering, deck-building board games have become a huge business.

I see board games in the store and they always look so cool and then I buy them and bring them home, I’m so excited to open them, and then I play them, like, twice… This column is dedicated to the love of games for those of us whose eyes may be bigger than our stomachs when it comes to playing, and the joy that we can all take from games, even if we don’t play them very often.

Ascension card game