Deck Building Games, Cryptozoic (DC, Middle Earth) & Upper Deck (Marvel)

The Lord of the Rings - LotR & Hobbit Deck Building Games

On-topic and slightly off-topic depending on your point of view, but I am going to write about a fun Deck Building Game based on Middle Earth. I stumbled across the Hobbit Deck Building Game at a loca...

imzy.com

I am not sure the best or most appropriate way to cross-post something here on Imzy, but linked is a post I wrote over on Lord of the Rings about Cryptozoic's Deck Building Games for Middle Earth.

Additionally, my son is into DC, so we picked up a number of the DC DBG as well. While I don't feel the DC games are as deep or that I don't feel as connected to them, I do have a lot of fun with them. I don't mind destroying cards as much, for instance, as it is just a game and not characters or objects I'd really want to have (vs. I cannot bear to destroy certain heroes, artifacts or maneuvers in the Middle Earth games).

One problem with the DC universe is that it doesn't seem anywhere near as deep as the Marvel universe, or at least not in what I recognize in the lesser-known enemies and arch-enemies and heroes. That is ok, and I just play it for the fun of building up what makes the most effective deck, but I wish Cryptozoic had the rights to do Marvel as well.

The said, I also like the the Cryptozoic Cerberus game engine is rather easy to learn, even if each base game or add-on pack may have some extra rule twists. Like playing as the bad guys in the Forever Evil base game and trying to defeat the Superheroes.

There is a DBG by Upper Deck called Legendary for the Marvel universe, but right now I am not wanting to check it out (far from bored with the DC and Middle Earth games). I am sure at some point we will move over to the Marvel game, which is much more complex, and will probably be more enjoyable long-term. One upside to playing "less-popular"(?) DBGs is that they are much cheaper to pick up on Amazon. $10-25 each for Cryptozoic vs. $25-$60 for Legendary. The expansion's and add-ons are much cheaper with Cryptozoic as well, running about half the cost.

If nothing else, I am betting when we do move on to Legendary, that we will be glad we experienced DBGs in that order. We might not have picked up and gotten very into a more complex DBG system if it has been our first. Plus, having the "simpler" ones will be great to introduce friends to the DBG genre of tabletop games.

What are your thoughts? Do you play any Deck Building Games? If so, what are your favorite DBGs?

If you have never played one, here is a great demo of how the gameplay goes from a reviewer I enjoy watching. You can jump to about 4 minutes into to get right to the game play. https://youtu.be/PhBb0zJOnas