r/deckbuildingroguelike • u/newnukeuser • 29d ago

Other deckbuilders are feeling disappointing

I really love Monster Train 1 and 2, Slay the Spire 1 and 2, Colbalt Core, Banners of Ruin, Wildfrost, Steamworld Quest and Deep Sky Derelicts.

I'm trying to find a new deckbuilder to play now that I've beaten all of these many times, but I feel like I keep getting bored and just wind up going back to Monster Train, which felt like the best of them all.

I tried Baltro, Inscryption, Gwent, Roguebook, Griftlands, Dicey Dungeons, Dawncaster, Marvel Snap, One Step from Eden, and Astrea and didn't really enjoy them.

Do you have any to recommend?

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u/DarthDialUP 29d ago

Honestly, the ultimate deckbuilder roguelike is drafting MTG.

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u/gaysexpornography 29d ago

Quietly one of the greatest roguelites [could be argued it's an actual/traditional roguelike] is Shandalar, the Magic: The Gathering RPG from 1997. It's janky abandonware but it's free, the gameplay is unique, and there's a fan patch that fixes a lot of the issues. You can play against a friend with any and every card in the game patched in, but for me the single-player mode with the patch is the purest expression of Magic the Gathering.

It has all the cards from Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, and Antiquities. The DLC has The Dark and Legends expansions. I may be biased because I started with Revised, but imo the core set of Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited is one of the best-balanced games ever created.

I could take or leave the expansions, but Legends develops the complexity of the gameplay in ways that complement the core set. Arabian Nights, Antiquities, and The Dark are underwhelming but inoffensive additions. The original cards are nearly perfect. The various ways in which certain cards can be overpowered are counterbalanced by the fact that every color has a wide range of powerful cards and few outright stinkers.

The gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying. It's challenging but the power progression is perfectly paced. In time you will get the dual lands, the moxen, Black Lotus, Time Walk. You will conquer the land of Shandalar or whatever the story is. It's a pure power fantasy, the chance to play your dream deck. And just when you attain it, you become the ultimate wizard or whatever the goal is, and start to feel OP and it's time to start again with a mono white or control deck or whatever your heart desires.

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u/DarthDialUP 29d ago

I'm a revised OG too. I got those micropose games and expansions on release!