Exploring how the addition of the "fast-play" mechanism in Shards of Infinity creates tougher choices in a head-to-head deckbuilding game. Also, what I'll be doing at Unpub Festival 2026 in Baltimore.
Easy to learn, fast to play, I have fun playing it. It has its merits! Of the three “base sets,” Colony Wars is probably the smoothest to play. The expansions might be considered “modular” in that you can use one, all of them, or mix-match an equal number of ship types to make your own; they work with any of the base sets. This isn’t always the case for expansions, and when this first dropped ten-some years ago, I think it had another layer of appeal simply for not being Dominion. Since then, the company has taken flak for using/defending AI art in another game; a series of delayed kickstarter fulfillments have soured a number of players; and a notable reliance on the digital app for the latest drop (conjecture coming) split the player base pretty much down the middle: those who value the analog experience of the game and those who want more cards to play with (in-app). There’s a case study somewhere on the weight (and value) of player feedback in the design process.
While Dominion was a breakthrough, I gotta say we also locked ourselves in a very narrow understanding of what deckbuilding is. No matter if it's Trains, Cubitos, Tyrants of the Underdark or Marvel Damage Control, it's very often "get money, buy VP", with almost no meaningful interaction between cards. This leads to very samey games and very shallow deckbuilding.
Since Dominion came out, I was waiting for a deckbuilding game with less barebones gameplay, and actual combos outside of "if you played red card, also gain 1 coin". Almost 20 years after, there's still almost none.
My first actual "meaty" deckbuilding experience was Decks Assemble tavern brawl mode in Hearthstone. Then Codex came out, which has absolutely amazing design (Magic the Gathering but deckbuilding), but I felt it's so overtuned for competitive hardcoreness, that it leaves zero margin for error and demands absolute focus.
At some point I've ported Codex ruleset back to MtG, which finally gave me quite a satisfying deckbuilding game to play for years and years. Even with all MtG's quirkiness, I still find it a much richer experience than anything on the board game market at the moment. Which is not to say that it's a good hack, but that sadly not much progress has been made in the deckbuilding design since.
Thanks for the comment. The Undaunted series does some interesting things with the deck-building genre. I prefer the Undaunted 2200: Callisto version, but I think more people prefer Undaunted: Normandy.
also a great fan of deckbuilders :D only had the chance to play Dominion (with several expansions), but would love to try more some day ^^ i grew up playing Yu-Gi-Oh, so i've always loved card games, but with deckbuilders you can get the same feeling of crafting a fun deck, while also not spending so much money on getting the cards you need, haha xD wonderful article, Shards of Infinity sounds like a ton of fun!
reminds me of Heroes in Star Realms. great article, will look out for Shards 👍
Thanks! Yes, I've heard they are very similar. I've yet to try the Realms games.
Easy to learn, fast to play, I have fun playing it. It has its merits! Of the three “base sets,” Colony Wars is probably the smoothest to play. The expansions might be considered “modular” in that you can use one, all of them, or mix-match an equal number of ship types to make your own; they work with any of the base sets. This isn’t always the case for expansions, and when this first dropped ten-some years ago, I think it had another layer of appeal simply for not being Dominion. Since then, the company has taken flak for using/defending AI art in another game; a series of delayed kickstarter fulfillments have soured a number of players; and a notable reliance on the digital app for the latest drop (conjecture coming) split the player base pretty much down the middle: those who value the analog experience of the game and those who want more cards to play with (in-app). There’s a case study somewhere on the weight (and value) of player feedback in the design process.
What do you think of Star Realms? I was going to pick up shards of Infinity, but someone said the two are too similar.
I’ve never played it. Heard it was similar to Ascension/Shards, so I never picked it up. 😅
While Dominion was a breakthrough, I gotta say we also locked ourselves in a very narrow understanding of what deckbuilding is. No matter if it's Trains, Cubitos, Tyrants of the Underdark or Marvel Damage Control, it's very often "get money, buy VP", with almost no meaningful interaction between cards. This leads to very samey games and very shallow deckbuilding.
Since Dominion came out, I was waiting for a deckbuilding game with less barebones gameplay, and actual combos outside of "if you played red card, also gain 1 coin". Almost 20 years after, there's still almost none.
My first actual "meaty" deckbuilding experience was Decks Assemble tavern brawl mode in Hearthstone. Then Codex came out, which has absolutely amazing design (Magic the Gathering but deckbuilding), but I felt it's so overtuned for competitive hardcoreness, that it leaves zero margin for error and demands absolute focus.
At some point I've ported Codex ruleset back to MtG, which finally gave me quite a satisfying deckbuilding game to play for years and years. Even with all MtG's quirkiness, I still find it a much richer experience than anything on the board game market at the moment. Which is not to say that it's a good hack, but that sadly not much progress has been made in the deckbuilding design since.
Thanks for the comment. The Undaunted series does some interesting things with the deck-building genre. I prefer the Undaunted 2200: Callisto version, but I think more people prefer Undaunted: Normandy.
also a great fan of deckbuilders :D only had the chance to play Dominion (with several expansions), but would love to try more some day ^^ i grew up playing Yu-Gi-Oh, so i've always loved card games, but with deckbuilders you can get the same feeling of crafting a fun deck, while also not spending so much money on getting the cards you need, haha xD wonderful article, Shards of Infinity sounds like a ton of fun!