#Ascension board game version plus#
#Ascension board game version professional#
#Ascension board game version series#

While each set has added something new, the basic rules have always been the same. The basic Ascension formula has been mostly unchanged for the past four years. Most deck building games have a specific goal that triggers the end of the game and points are usually scored by victory point values on the cards they purchased. Some games have a set number of cards to buy from, while others have a random set that changes as players purchase them. Once players go through their whole deck, they add in the cards that they have purchased with the cards that they already used and shuffle them to create a new draw pile. These cards can then be used to buy more powerful cards out of a collective set in the center of the table. If you’re unfamiliar with how this style of game works, generally, each player starts with a preset deck of resource cards, and draws a certain number from their deck each turn. Like I mentioned before, Ascension was one of the first major deck building games released after Dominion took the industry by storm. (If you’re familiar with deck builders, you can skip this part)

#Ascension board game version series#

Hopefully a little context will help out as you begin to explore this series further! What is a Deck Building Game Anyway? After seven years, eight games, three expansions, and countless promotional cards, it might seem a bit confusing to see another version hitting the shelves of your local game store. Normally, I wouldn’t give this much backstory for a game I’m reviewing, but Ascension is a funny case.

While they were certainly interesting, I felt like these new mechanics made the game a bit harder for new players to pick up and learn. The last few Ascension releases (Dreamscape and War of Shadows) really stepped out into unknown territory by adding in some new mechanics that were a far cry from their traditional systems. This meant that they could spend more time experimenting with cool ideas since they didn’t have to commit an entire release cycle to them.

#Ascension board game version plus#

All of them could be mixed together, but they played best with their specific expansions.Īfter the first three Ascension game cycles, Stone Blade Entertainment decided to change their release model from one game plus an expansion, to simply releasing more base games. Each new base game would introduce a new idea or ability in order to spice the series up a bit. For its first few releases, the series would have a new stand-alone game followed by a small expansion that built off of that base game’s main mechanics. Over the years, the Ascension model has taken different forms.

#Ascension board game version professional#

The game was actually designed by a few professional Magic: The Gathering players who wanted to bottle the excitement of building a Magic deck into a stand-alone board game. Released just two years after the first real deck building game, Dominion, hit the market, Ascension took some of the ideas and concepts that made its predecessor great while also mixing up the formula a good bit. If you’re not familiar, Ascension is one of the veteran deck building franchises of the hobby. Sometimes it just feels right to go back to the basics and improve on a formula that is already successful. The sets, props, and characters greatly mimicked those of the original trilogy. Instead of breaking outside the box, The Force Awakens drew people in by going back to the basics. I think most people understand why its first reinvention wasn’t viewed very highly, but its newest iteration is quite interesting. Star Wars is an infamous example in that it both failed and succeeded in this endeavor on two different occasions. When a series lasts long enough, it will eventually have to find some way to reinvent itself. Every now and then you have a franchise that seems to peak somewhere in the middle (The Dark Knight). Other times a series might start out weak, but really grow into it’s potential (Parks and Rec). Sometimes a franchise can start out strong and then fall short as it continues to iterate (The Matrix). No matter what the medium, any long running series will have its ups and downs.