Clash of Decks: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Head to Head, Hand Management, Line Battle
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 Players Time to Play: 15 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Léandre ProustGame Artist: Clément Proust, Studio RexardPublisher: Grammes EditionYear Published: 2020BGG Weight: 1.50Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Léandre Proust
Introduction:
Clash of Decks is a quick head-to-head game with elements of hand management and line battling. Each player holds their entire 8 card deck in their hand for the whole game. Players can only play the four leftmost cards every turn and are trying to damage the enemy player through a line combat system. Every time a player takes damage, they move their stronghold card in their hand right one space per damage taken. Once the stronghold is in the rightmost space for the second time during the game, that player loses.
The creators of the game are so confident that you will love the gameplay, they offer a standalone initiation set that includes four playable decks for free with no shipping cost worldwide. Each subsequent standalone expansion also has free shipping. The game is completely language-independent as each key abilities on cards are linked to an image instead of text.
Card Anatomy:
Stronghold Cards:
The Stronghold card is your life force. Whenever you take damage, this card will move one space to the right side of your hand for each damage taken. During the start of the game, the card will start on the bastion side and once it reaches the rightmost side of your hand, it will return to the leftmost spot in your hand and flip to the fort side. If the card ever returns to the rightmost side of your hand in the fort state, you lose the game.
Creatures:
Each creature has some great art in the middle of the card, a summoning cost on the top left of the card, an attack value on the bottom left, a defence value on the bottom right and any abilities in a centre textbox.
Incantations:
Incantations work the same as creature cards except that they are instantly used. They target a creature, resolve damage and effects, and are then returned to the rightmost spot in the player's hand.
Discarding Cards/Graveyard:
A key part of this game worth mentioning is that there is no graveyard in this game. When a creature is defeated or an incantation is played, the card instantly returns to the rightmost spot in your hand. In fact, this gives you life in the game as your stronghold is now one more card away from the rightmost space. Making proper hand management a crucial element in this game.
Bridge Card/ Card Glossary:
The bridge cards are used to signify the two rows that creatures are able to be placed on. The left side of the bridge is for one player and the right side is for the other player.
Each bridge also has the key abilities outlined on the back of these cards to properly explain each ability illustrated on the cards.
Setup:
This setup will be outlined for the pre-constructed duel mode.
- Choose one of the four pre-constructed decks for each player.
- Place the two bridge cards in the centre of the play area.
- Shuffle each player's deck and draw all the cards.
- Place the stronghold card with the bastion side up. In the leftmost position of each player's hand.
- Toss a coin to determine the first player
How to Play:
The game will have players resolving their turns back and forth until one player has successfully moved the opponent's stronghold into the rightmost spot with the fort side face up. These turns will consist of the three following phases.
Mana Regeneration:
At the start of a player's turn they will gain mana equal to the number of cards in their hand (inclusive of the stronghold card). On the first turn, the active player will only gain six instead of nine mana.
Summoning:
Using the mana, the active player will play incantations and creatures from their hand. They may choose not to play any as they will often need to if their hand has limited cards. Only the four leftmost cards can be played at any given time (not including the stronghold card). The available cards will change throughout a turn as new cards will then become available as one of the four leftmost cards. If the hand is particularly small, incantations can be played repeatedly (assuming there is enough mana). When a creature is played it can be played on either bridge line, starting next to the bridge and each subsequent creature will be placed behind any already there in that line.
Assault:
If the active player's creatures were not summoned this turn, they will now attack. Starting with the top line, the furthest card from the bridge will attack the first card on the other side of that bridge. The rest of the creatures in this line will attack one by one, if there are no longer any creatures on the enemy's side of the bridge they will instead start attacking the stronghold. This will then continue for the second bridge. The enemy creatures do not fight back until their assault phase and once they have received damage equal to their defence, they are destroyed and return to their owner's hand. As long as there is a creature to take at least one point of damage, the extra damage of that attack will not carry over to the enemy's stronghold unless it is attacked directly.
Game End:
Once a player's fort has reached the rightmost location in a player's hand, they have lost the game.
Formats:
There are three formats of deck construction. The pre-constructed decks, player constructed decks (no duplicate cards), and a drafting method that uses a snake draft method. This occurs when Player A chooses one card, player B chooses two cards, and player A then gets the remaining card. This pattern is then swapped around and once this has occurred four times each player will have their deck.
Final Thoughts:
- A very unique method of managing health.
- Language is independent as each ability is linked to an image.
- Unique mana system.
- Interesting hand management system.
- Line-based combat with some interesting abilities linked to this style of combat.
- Multiple expansions with different key abilities.
I have recently played some quicker, more compact head-to-head games and each one surprised me with the decision space that the games offers within a limited selection of cards. Clash of Decks is no exception. I find myself excited to dig deeper into this game as it simply has unique mechanisms that I have not seen elsewhere. First off is the hand manipulation, the entire deck is in the player's hand for the whole game. At any given state only four cards are usable and as your battlefield gets larger, your hand gets smaller. Each turn you only gain mana equal to your hand size so if you have a prominent force on the battlefield you won't be able to do much on your turn. In the same state, the more cards you have active then the less health you have, creating a liability if your opponent finds a way to strike hard. When combat occurs, the most recently placed creatures attack first while the opposing creatures closest to the bridge defend. This creates interesting decisions on how players should set up their battlefields. Combined with tense hand management and quick gameplay, this is an easy recommendation, after all, there is zero financial risk to getting this game. The only cost will be the additional content you will want after playing the initiation set on offer.
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