Hi everyone,
I am trying to decide between splurging on Mystic vale or Dominion. I have been looking at Dominion for some time, but never did buy it (I am a completionnist and I knew that, were I to start investing in it I would get most expansions…). In the meantime, I tried a lot of deckbuilders (ascension, Star Realms, Puzzle Strike, Mystic Vale, Shards of infinity), and, as a former CCG player, this is a kind of games that really appeals to me. Still, most of them are not that deep. Obviously, I did not expect Mage Knight-like depth (a great game with deck-building elements) but still, “river-like” games such as Ascension or Star Realms are by nature quite chaotic.
Mystic Vale seemed, to me, a bit more original with the card crafing mechanics (which I love) and the use of both vales and different levels of advancements that seems to limit the chaos and increase decision space. I have mainly played the base game and the 1st expansion with the app. Also, it seems that it plays well multiplayer (I usually have 2 or 3-player sessions) and possibly solo (for training purposes), playing 2-handed as there is basically no hidden information.
As to Dominion, it has recently came to my attention anew. I like the “market” mechanics, the simplicity of the core system but the fact that it can be (and has been) complexified with expansions. Hence, it seems that with the right amount of expansions the game is first and foremost a game of skill but one that can be played in something like 30' with 2 players, allowing for multiple games in an evening (with the same market to try different strategies, or changing a few cards at a time).
Also, and related to that, I particularly like the fact that there are extensive discussions/articles about cards, combos and strategies, something that I usually miss from my CCG days. It will never have MK's level of depth but I think this is a game that rewards skill and allows one to improve one's skill by "studying" the game right ?
I have a few questions though :
- What articles/discussions would you recommend for someone wanting to study the base game ? I already found some videos, but I am more of a "reading" kind of person generally as I tend to "retain" more of what I read than what I watch.
- how well does it play with 3 players (does it become too long and uninteractive ?) ?
- when you have multiple expansions, do you usually mix everything or combine just a few expansions that tend to mix well (I recall reading something along those lines, such as I think, Properity (or Adventures) and Empires) or do you stick for a while with just the expansion. I fear that when miing too many expansions some effects might get diluted.
- related to that, how do you store/sort the game ? I probably intend to buy a big cardboard box (something like that :
https://www.bcwsupplies.com/card-game-box-black-white). Have you sleeved all your cards btw ? It makes for a lot of sleeving ! As to sorting, would sorting by expansion then alphabetically work ? With maybe dividers just for the different expansions and maybe the "common" cards. My idea would be to also have a kind of smaller "travel box" holding the common cards and enough cards to do a few different markets when I play at my friends'.
Any comments/remarks/suggestions are appreciated.
thanks !
