DC Deck-Building Game

Today's review is of the 2012 game, DC Deck-Building Game. For 2-5 players, it takes 45 minutes.

Overview

You are a superhero, intent on taking down super-villains. But your foes (other players) are too . . .

can you have the most victory points at the end of the game?

This deck-building game works like most in this genre. You start with a deck of 10 cards, drawing 5 to form your hand. The cards grant power (and sometimes other abilities), enabling you to buy cards from the central row ("lineup"): heroes, equipment, locations, superpowers, even villains. You will buy cards from the lineup, replenishing that from the main deck, each turn. Cards you buy, plus any in your hand or played to the table that turn, go into your discard pile. Then draw 5 cards to prepare for your next turn, shuffling your discard pile to form a new deck as needed. Play passes clockwise.

Setting up the game; image from here

You can also use power to fight super-villains. (The game comes with 12 but recommends you play with 8, placed in a stack next to the lineup.) If your power on a given turn equals or exceeds the super-villain on the top of the stack, you defeat them, putting them in your discard pile (yes, this means you can use them on a later turn). Once all super-villains have been defeated, each player tallies their victory points (printed on each card) to determine the victor.

Finally, you each have a unique superhero that grants specific abilities. Batman, shown below, grants +1 power for each Equipment you play during your turn. So the player with Batman will want to buy as much equipment from the lineup as possible during the game.

Review

I really like this game. It is easy to learn and fun to play. The thing that threw me was being able to buy villains from the lineup and use them in your deck—that felt weird (though understandable to more fully represent the DC universe). The other odd element was having multiple copies of cards in the main deck: multiple heroes (like Robin), villains (like Scarecrow), or equipment (like the Batmobile). From a gameplay perspective, that made sense, as it gave multiple players a chance to pick up key cards. From a thematic standpoint, it was strange, and it limited the characters in the game (my boys and I would have loved to see more heroes and villains from the Batman universe). Those quibbles aside, though, this is a winner.

Rating: A-