by MantaScorp
I got the DC Comics Deck-Building Game (DCCDBG) last week and have now had a chance to play several two-player games. I’m sure the game plays differently with more players, but I wanted to relate what I’ve seen with two. I apologize if I ramble.GAMEPLAY:
Totally basic deckbuilding fare. You start with 10 cards, consisting of 7 Punches and 3 Vulnerabilities. You shuffle them and take the top five. You use cards that provide Power (this game’s currency) to purchase from the ever-changing Line-Up of 5 cards in the center of the table. Alternately, you can purchase an upgraded Punch card (called a Kick) or go after the current face-up Super-Villain (who requires a bit more Power to defeat). At the end of the turn, discard and draw a fresh five cards, then replenish any Line-Up cards that were taken, and flip a new Super-Villain if the old one was defeated (and resolve the new Super-Villain’s Attack). As your deck grows, you will be able to purchase better cards, as well as perform myriad actions and even directly Attack other players with the Villain cards you’ve purchased. The game ends when you can’t draw any more Line-Up or Super-Villain cards. You then add up all the victory points on all your cards, and the highest number wins.
COMPONENTS:
I love the artwork on the cards. All kinds of different heroes, villains, and gadgets. When I first read the rules before I go the game, I was worried that the text would be too small on the cards, but it’s fine. You can easily see your Power values when the cards are splayed in your hand.
The box is wonderful, and (unlike other recently-released superhero deckbuilding games) actually features an intuitive way to organize your cards, making setup and breakdown ridiculously simple – seriously, this game is out of the box and ready to play in 45 seconds, with put-away taking just a minute or so of card separation.
THEME:
Let me make this perfectly clear. There’s simply no semblance of a story here. No real point to what you’re doing or why, in the context of a comic book world. I thought that this would be a giant problem for me, and indeed my buddy and I were scratching our heads trying to figure out why Batman is taking Heat Vision and a Power Ring. Why weren’t the members of the Justice League cooperating? Our gut reaction was that this game missed the mark big time. But then we played a few more rounds, and suddenly, we totally stopped caring about a plot. The game began to work. We found ourselves spotting combos, and competing to get the cards we wanted. We raced to defeat Super-Villains and screw each other out of victory points. It was glorious! We found that even though there was no actual plot, the theme of the game is incredibly strong because the abilities of the cards are spot-on for the heroes and villains they depict. Two-Face’s ability has you choose evens or odds, then draw the top card to see if what you chose matches the card’s cost, and if you guessed right, you get the card, otherwise you discard it. Perfect! The Superman cards feel epic, and the Batman cards focus on Equipment and gadgets. The supplemental sidekicks, heroes, and foes add flavors of their own. Even without a plot, the theme comes through loud and clear.
THE GAME ENGINE:
Look, the comparisons to Ascension are apt, as you only have one currency and you are really just purchasing cards each turn, and maybe using some special abilities sometimes. Does that sound dry and boring? Heck yes! But in practice, it’s fun and fast. Within three turns, you are building combos and your gameplay style is forming. I can’t stress enough how much flexibility is magically created out of such a rudimentary ruleset. I think this can be attributed to the abilities on the cards themselves, and the balance of the Line-Up deck. In all the games we played, we never got bored of trying out new strategies to either a) race to claim cards to boost our score, b) totally mess with the other’s plans, or c) do a and b simultaneously.
COMPARISON TO LEGENDARY:
(I had to put this in because it is certainly something I was wondering about...)
Okay, so… Legendary has a lot of things going for it that are unfortunately tempered with odd design choices. The cooperative nature of the gameplay can be exhilarating and unique (though it’s hindered by that damned “semi-” qualifier, which basically ruins the cooperation if you have players who wish to compete). The idea of a specific mastermind and an overall scheme with plot twists is true to the comics (except the way it is handled creates very little epic action between heroes and villains – you’re more scared of Scheme Twists than you are of the Mastermind a lot of the time). For a game seemingly built to tell a story, Legendary leaves you wondering exactly what role you are embodying in the universe (as evidenced by BGG threads postulating that you are some sort of S.H.I.E.L.D. executive officers of something, which is cool, I guess, but is it canon?). Finally, the layout of the box with those stupid dividers, the setup time, and the breakdown time are utterly ridiculous for new players. Even with experience, the crazy chaos that ensues when putting it all away is daunting at best.
That said, I like Legendary. I have played it over ten times since it came out, with games ranging from solo to four players. Once you get past the setup, people tend to enjoy it, and when the table is working cooperatively, it’s a great time.
It’s a little confusing to say that despite its bigger box, wealth of cards, giant plots, masterminds, and cooperation, Legendary doesn’t feel as epic as DCCDBG. But that’s the truth.
Legendary feels more fiddly, with more things to keep track of, despite being limited in choices. DCCDBG feels more streamlined and agile. You’re up and running so much faster than Legendary! And I don’t mean initial setup (though that’s true too). I mean that the time it takes for one to think “This is a cool superhero game and I feel like I’ve done some cool superhero-y things” come much faster in DCCDBG than it does in Legendary.
It took me a couple of games to really like Legendary. I knew that it was a good game, but I needed some time to wrap my head around it and form a strategy. With DCCDBG, I knew before I was halfway done with the first game that I was a fan. After a few more plays, the feeling is set. And I haven’t even gotten to the fun of playing with more than two.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS:
A lot of people will look at this game and dismiss it as just another deckbuilder. Certainly, it doesn’t do a very convincing job of differentiating itself, with its simple rules and uninspired name. But underneath the layer of ho-hum, there’s a vibrant, fast, fun card game that deserves to be played. The theme comes through loud and clear in the cards themselves, even when there’s no real plot. Seriously, don’t look for a story here, and just forget about shoehorning in a non-canon narrative to explain it away. Instead, shuffle up and get into the game. Besides, you can probably get two or three games in while someone sets up the table for Legendary…
