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What is your favorite deck builder and why?
I've been playing a ton of the Star Wars deckbuilder lately and love how the game flows. Want a short game? Play to 3 planets. Longer so you can get a better theme going? Play to 5. I like that it bucks the points to win trend by putting people head to head in combat and that you can attack a lot of things, even the market. Plus it feels thematic.
Although it's almost a trope to say at this stage, I really do feel like Slay the Spire deserves a mention here. I've had it I'd say at least 3 years and it's still incredibly satisfying to jump in for 20 mins and see what you are delt, so much variety
Do you mean for tabletop games vs video games?
For tabletop I really like dominion!
Hard agree, Dominion is the founder of the genre and still the best IMO. I love that the market-style shop (with stacks of set cards instead of a random row of cards) allows for real strategizing and deck building. And games are always that perfect length, giving you time to do the cool things without overstaying and dragging on
For pure deckbuilding, Race for the Galaxy is probably my favorite. It's got just the right amount of complexity and variety to keep it interesting without becoming a slog. The biggest complaint I see about it is that there's not enough interaction between players, but I feel like that's pretty common for deckbuilders.
For single-player deckbuilding, Legendary is a blast, and the only board game I've played solo more than once. I've been a Marvel fanboy for ~35 years at this point so I'm an easy sell on anything Marvel. The way heroes and villains each have their own decks helps to keep the game varied each time you play (i.e. a Gambit/Thor/Hulk vs Dr Doom game is going to play out a little differently than a Spider-Man/Deadpool/Wolverine vs Magneto game).
For games where deckbuilding is a feature, Dune: Imperium is probably my favorite game of all time. It's equal parts deckbuilder and worker placement, and it absolutely nails the theme and setting.
Race for the Galaxy is my favorite board game. I would say that the player interaction is the most unique part of it. Having to build your strategies around what you predict other people to do means you can't always do what you want. There's a fun mind game that comes with that and some unique dynamics that I really haven't seen anywhere else. Taking advantage of other people's needs to maximize your engine is one of the most satisfying plays in board games.
My biggest complaint is that, while I think the game is incredibly straight forward and structured, the initial learning curve feels like a sheer cliff. I've heard this game described as deciphering hieroglyphics and... they're not wrong. When I teach this game to someone new, they always are taken aback when I hand them the reference sheet and tell them "You'll need this" and they only have an absolutely confused expression on their face as they frantically race their eyes all over each of the symbols. Then, after a round or two, they either "get it" or just flounder no matter how I explain it to them. I'm good at teaching board games, but this is by far the hardest to tackle.
Still my favorite game though. I don't know if that will ever change.
Related to this, the tutorial for the RFTG mobile app is incredibly good at teaching the mechanics of the game without being overwhelming. The Nights Around A Table channel does a good job with an intro as well.
It does feel odd sometimes to sit everyone down, then make them watch a 20 minute video on how to play the game first, though. I can't do a better rules explanation so I'll just defer to the experts when I find a good one. Or: have people watch the video ahead of time if we know that's going to be the headliner game of the evening.
My partner and I really love both Hero Realms and Star Realms. They are fundamentally two-player games, but cane be expanded for more, and even have co-op rules variants you can use. Some of the main reasons we love them:
IIRC they even have PC game versions on Steam, but I've never played those.
Those are so great for travel, too. My wife has them in her "purse games" category - anything small enough to fit in her purse when we're out of the house - for when we're camping, vacationing, hanging out at a quiet bar, etc.
Love Letter, Guillotine, Sushi Go, Hanabi, and Deep Sea Adventure are all in that rotation as well (although they're not really deckbuilders, unless you count Sushi Go's drafting mechanic).
You should add Skull King.
And I made https://oniony.com/boardgames/pinkcity if you want to take just a Jaipur card deck.
I'm a big fan of Clank!. It's well-paced, packed, exciting and goofy. The deck-building is the right amount of synergies but still adding your own touch to it, so you don't feel like you're just doing what the game wants you to do anyway. It's casual enough to get new board gamers to play it, but still deep and fun enough to get seasoned players to join. On top of it, it adds random draws out of a bag for the 'ooooh damn' moments at the table and also enough variety and replayability with the board and artifact. And the theme of silently sneaking through a castle and not waking up the dragon or go full yolo and don't care about the dragon, hoping that you make it out fast enough is great. And if that's all not enough, you can also get the campaign version of it that's very well reviewed.
Clank! is good, personally I prefer Clank! in space!, has a few refinements on the original.
I've found that Clank! is a great introductory game to deckbuilders. The premise is simple: Get in, grab treasure, and get out before you get killed by the dragon. Don't make noise and you'll have a better chance of avoiding the carnage. New players can easily grasp the important strategies common to deck builders: draw more cards, get rid of those pesky "Clank!" cards, don't gum up your hand with useless junk. It just makes sense and will be a mainstay of my collection for many years to come.
Clank is so good, any time someone brings it to game night I'm automatically in.
Always enjoyed Puzzle Strike, which is like Puzzle Fighter / Tetris Attack / Puyo Puyo in deck building form. (Physically it's chips in a bag, but, y'know. Deck.) You have a gem count that can't be at 10+ at end of turn, but your actions take them and send them to your opponent, so you balance trying to teeter on having enough to slam your opponent. Ton of characters and it's pretty quick to pick up, works best 1-on-1.
My favourite is Tyrants of the Underdark. It's got an excellent combination of deck building and territory control, and it's light on the complexity, but still allows for a lot of strategy. There are plenty of ways to earn points, which means that lagging behind on territory control isn't completely damning to your game. Many times the player with the least map control might even win because of other smart plays.
Agreeing with a lot of other suggestions here (clank, dominion) and getting some interesting new ideas... One thing I haven't seen mentioned is Innovation. It's "deck building" in a looser sense where there are 4 or 5 different places you could put your cards. Great strategy game and super fun for 2/3 people.
Chiming in for Innovation. I found it such a tight, elegant, and beautiful little game!
Anyone who notices and respects really clean game design should do themselves a favor ane check out Innovation.
I love Dominion! Can't get enough of it!
Clank and Arctic Scavengers are standouts to me. They're both solid deck-builders with other game mechanics built in to make the game a little more than just deck-building.
Undaunted: Normandy is a fun cross between a deckbuilder and a wargame.
For a pure deck builder, I really enjoy Paperback by Tim Fowers. The gameplay is Dominion-style, but players spell words with letter cards. You can “buy” new letters each round which cycle thru your deck. Very smooth and accessible - you don’t even need to be good at word games to have a good time with it. As far as I can tell, it’s English-centric, unsure if other langs are supported.
When playing with kids, I’d reach for Sushi Go or Abandon All Artichokes.
I always recommend "Fights in Tight Spaces" as a fun variation on the usual deck building formula