Game Mechanics Part 2: Card Drafting & Deck Building
Last week we looked at tile placement and cooperation as game mechanics, which you can read about here if you missed it. Continuing with the theme of taking closer looks at game mechanics, this week’s blog post is about two more of our favourites: card drafting and deck building.
Card Drafting
A card drafting game typically involves acquiring or accumulating cards from a pool or shared area in order to gain an advantage. There has to be some sort of strategy behind choosing your cards, be it in denying cards to other players or arranging combinations for yourself. Simply drawing cards from a face-down deck is not considered drafting. A drafting game may also use tiles/tokens, thus becoming a tile/token drafting game, however, the mechanic remains unchanged.
Why it’s awesome: drafting is a popular mechanic and is used in many games, sometimes as the main mechanic, sometimes as part of the beginning of a game or round of play. It’s both versatile and easily understood, making it an excellent mechanic for almost any game.
Deck Building
My dad tried to teach me about deck building when I was a wee lad, but I wasn’t a particularly good listener and he wasn’t a particularly good carpenter. Eventually we did it, or rather, he got it done and I helped. Either way, I came away from the experience with a resolute opinion on building decks: not fun. Lucky for you though, deck building is a great time, but leave the hammer and nails at home for this one.
In a deck building game, each player possesses their own deck of cards which they continually cycle through, reshuffling the discard pile to form their deck when needed. These cards typically represent a type of currency which players can use to purchase new and better cards for their deck, increasing its effectiveness. Many deck building games also give players the ability to scrap less useful cards.
Why it’s awesome: deck building games give players a gratifying feeling of progression. As their decks steadily grow fatter and their hands more powerful, it’s difficult to suppress your mirth when your hand has a bunch of strong and expensive cards nestled in between your fingers. It’s not so much like winning the lottery, but rather like a successful pirate gazing in awe at their treasure cache for the first time.
Card drafting and deck building are just two mechanics that go into the board games, but there are many more! If card drafting games interest you, check out Sushi Go, a pick and pass game about assembling the nicest plates of sushi. For more experienced gamers looking for a more in-depth game, try out Broom Service, the game where you all operate potion delivery services and son-of-a-witch is on the tip of everyone’s tongues.
Deck building games are excellent to ease into because of how similarly they work. If you’re new to deck building, try out some Dominion, a game where you develop your kingdom to be better than all the other monarchs. For a twist on deck building, crack open Clank, a dungeon crawling game where you are the clumsiest thieves to ever loot treasure from a sleeping dragon.
