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When Ascension first hit the shelves in 2010, it was an early example of what a pure deck-building game could be. The card game, designed by Justin Gary and John Fiorillo, published by Stone Blade Entertainment and with distinctive art from Eric Sabee, took the mechanic popularised by Dominion and employed it in a game with a unique fantasy theme, compelling lore and greater competition for cards.
Eight years on from the first game, subtitled Chronicle of the Godslayer, Stone Blade has now published eight more major expansions (each of which is a complete 2-4 player game), three minor expansions, one team expansion and three collected editions. The major expansions all play similarly enough that this general review will cover the gameplay and theme of all of them, and they're all accessible enough that a new player could start with any of them. Maybe in the future I'll write a more in-depth guide to their differences!
Ascension - A new take on deck-building
The basic principle of a deck-building game is that players start with a deck containing basic, low-powered cards that they use to acquire cards of increasingly higher power from some kind of centralised market area. As the game goes on, decks become more powerful and players can do more with the cards at their disposal.
Ascension borrows heavily from Dominion in some aspects. Like the earlier game, players start with a deck of 10 cards. Each turn, you begin with five cards in hand, play as many of them as you can/want, then discard all of them to a face-up discard pile. If you acquire a new card during your turn, it also goes to your discard pile.
Then, as your final action, you draw five new cards from your deck. If you don't have enough cards in your deck to draw five, you draw as many as you can, then shuffle your discard pile back into a face-down deck and draw the remaining cards from the top. This mechanic allows your exciting new cards to work their way into your deck.
In other respects, however, Gary and Fiorillo innovated on Dominion's formula. Instead of a set group of cards that was always available to buy from, they created a market row, where cards from a large, central deck are drawn and placed in a six-card row. Whenever a card leaves this row, it is replaced with another from the central deck.
They also created a new win condition: honour. The cards that players buy are worth honour at the end of the game, some cards just give you honour straight up (represented by plastic crystals) and defeating monsters in the centre row also gives you honour, which brings us onto the final major deck-building twist Ascension brought: combat.
As well as generating runes (which are used as currency), cards can generate combat, which is used to defeat monsters in the centre row (not to attack other players, as we see in other deck-building games). Most monsters generate some other benefit when killed alongside honour. A slain monster doesn't go to the player's deck, but goes to the void; it's effect is a one time thing (in most cases).
Compelling, original lore
Of the deck-building games I've played, Ascension has the most compelling, original lore. The cards in the game are divided into heroes (which have one-time effects the turn you play them) and constructs (less impactful ongoing effects), which represent the characters, artefacts and buildings of Vigil, the world the games are set in.
It would take far too long to recount the story that has unfolded over a dozen games, but the background is that a seal was created in Vigil to keep out gods and monsters of all kinds. Our story starts in Chronicle of the Godslayer with that seal starting to crack and the influence of the Fallen One, Samael, bleeding through. Over the course of the many centuries that followed, the heroes of Vigil are forced to band together time and again to fight a range of tyrants both divine and demonic and, of course, the monstrous armies they bring with then.
The games do an excellent job of conveying the plot through the cards' art (which is consistently gorgeous across every expansion) and flavour text. Unlike many board games, Ascension actually succeeds in bringing recurring characters to life across multiple expansions: the great heroes of Vigil and their recurring foes.
Further colour is added to the world in the form of four factions, which also serve the mechanical function of broadening the game's strategic depth. The factions are as follows:
- Mechana - Engineers hailing from the realm of Hedron with vast stores of mechanical knowledge. The Mechana create powerful machines that work together to achieve even greater feats.
- Enlightened - The ascetics and warrior monks of Arha are bent on acquiring hidden knowledge. Their spiritual powers manipulate the heroes and monsters of Vigil in unique ways.
- The Void - Half-monstrous guardians watch over the seething mass of the Void - the depthless ocean of death and rebirth. These powerful warriors walk side by side with death as they protect Vigil from the monstrosities that crawl from the Void on a daily basis.
- The Lifebound - The denizens of Ogo are wild and powerful, controlling natural magic that gives them unmatched prowess in runecraft. The people and beasts of Ogo can also fight hard, teasing out power in all its natural forms.
The recurring characters of the game tend to be powerful heroes from each faction: Kor, the great Ferromancer of the Mechana; Master Dhartha, the Enlightened One; Emri - unmatched in battle; Cetra, the star-spirit guardian of Ogo; and more characters that emerge as time passes in Vigil's endless wars. These characters build the lore of the game and tie expansions together, but they're also represented on powerful, expensive cards that feel fantastic to acquire and wield.
A big part of my love from the game comes from slamming my hand down on a card like Isha, the Pursuer (from War of Shadows) and knowing that in a couple of turns I'll be able to do something very powerful in the game.
A game with multiple hooks
There are plenty of different aspects of Ascension that can draw different kinds of players in. I'm personally heavily influenced by art and theme, so there is plenty for me to love. My wife enjoys games that are competitive without too much direct interference with other players, and Ascension fits the bill. Other players will enjoy the strategic depth and the puzzle presented by each different set-up of the game. Still others will simply enjoy the fact that it's a quick game with a flexible player count (while I think two players is the best, I've enjoyed it at both three and four).
I also find that the expansions consistently hit the mark. I personally own four expansions (three major, one minor) but have played all but one of the total that have been released and, in my experience, the designers have done a great job of crafting games that are very similar mechanically, but with enough of a twist that each one offers something unique. War of Shadows, with its innovative day/night mechanic, feels very different to Rise of Vigil, which features energy cards that can unlock additional effects for you. For someone who loves Ascension, there's plenty of it going around to ensure you won't get bored.
That being said, it won't be for everyone. If you like more interaction, you'll probably prefer deck-builders like Star Realms, that allow for direct combat with other players. For some other gamers this style of game will undoubtedly feel too light.
However, if you like card games, games with unique fantasy themes and great art or quicker games that work well with two to four players, I highly recommend picking up an expansion or two. As a final note, keep an eye on what the publisher, Stone Blade, is up to. They seem to have some very cool stuff in the pipeline that should keep fans of Ascension and similar games very happy.
