Shards of Infinity Deck Building Game

Deck Building games are quite common, after Dominion started the ball rolling. I like Dominion well enough, but chasing victory points is not as rewarding as crushing my opponents health points to zero. Star Realms fits the bill perfectly and has long been my go to game. However, recently games have come along which mash the genre with others, such as area control in Tyrants of the Underdark and racing in The Quest for El Dorado. Shards of Infinity is a shift back to a more Star Realms style of deck builder. And for the most part it doesn't reinvent the formula. You start with the same hand of weak cards as your opponent and use them to buy more powerful cards, hopefully ditching the weak ones along the way. Shards comes with player dials that track life and mastery. Mastery is a third resource and one of the unique elements of Shards of Infinity. On your turn you may spend one gem to level up your mastery. Certain cards give you bonus, or improved, effects if your mastery is high enough. Interestingly, you start with a card called 'Infinity Shard' which causes increasing damage as you increase your mastery, if you top out your mastery at 30 this effectively kills your opponent by causing infinite damage. Initially this sounds a bit wonky but it's very difficult to achieve and I've only seen it twice. A further difference is mercenary cards. They act as normal cards that can be purchased, but also once per turn instead of purchasing a mercenary you may instead fast play it. This means you use it this turn only and then return it to the market deck. This can be incredible helpful when you need a boost but don't want a particular card clogging up your deck. Lastly, cards sometimes have defensive properties indicated by a shield. When you are attacked you can reveal these cards to negate the damage done by the value of the shield. After this they go back into your hand to be played on your turn. All these changes mean that Shards of Infinity has become my go to deck builder, even over Star Realms. Although I do prefer the theme of Star Realms, the nuances here work really well and make this deck builder more interesting and enjoyable overall. Player Count: 2-4 Time: 30 Minutes Age: 10+