Best Deck Building Board Games (With Reviews)

This game is near the top of the list because of its accessibility and the fact that it’s good to see it as a contradiction to Dominion.

This 2-player game does the opposite of #1 when it comes to interaction among players. This game is strictly a head to head battle against your opponent in hopes of turning them into space dust so you win the game! An interesting note here is that you can buy more copies of the game to expand to more than 2 players.

This game is different from Dominion in that it is a market style game. That means there are a few cards in the middle that you can buy, and once they are purchased, they get replaced with one from the deck.

To keep the opposite idea going, as mentioned, the theme of Star Realms is space/sci-fi, very opposite of Dominion’s medieval theme.

Players start with the same starting deck (scouts and vipers) and will slowly buy cards from the market and add them to their hand. Eventually, you start to attack your opponent and try to get their 50 HP to 0 to win the game.

This game plays very fast, and is very simple to understand. Some consider it a gateway game for those reasons.

The other reason they call it that is its pure affordability. This game is cheap, and only has a few expansions, so it doesn’t break the bank if you want to add to it.

The game is mechanically sound, and can lead to some huge, devastating combos by the end of the game. Experienced players can gain an advantage knowing which combos work well together, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the will get the cards they want… If they do, however, expect a landslide win.

One of the downsides to the game is the score cards aren’t the best. With the high variability in the score/HP you will find yourself writing the score on a piece of paper most times.
Overall, it is quick, easy, and very affordable, which is why it came in as one of the highest rated here.

Looking for a fun theme, this is your game. In this game you get to build a deck based on the superheroes from the Marvel Universe!

In this game you can play solo, or up to 5 players, as you try to defeat one of four Marvel Villains (aka a masterminds). You do so by adding heroes (agents/troopers) to your deck as you progress through the game.

What makes this game different from the others is that you are working cooperatively with your fellow players to try and win the game. This is a great twist on the deck building genre. You win as a team, however there is a winner among winners in this game as you finish the game, or as it would be in this case, a most legendary player.

As the game progresses, you can get some pretty cool combos going. Some people find that the game is too easy the way it is originally set up, but there are ways to make it harder in the rule book. This is a nice feature to have as you get more experienced.

The game has good replay-ability with all the different heroes, villains, and scenarios. It even has expansions to the game if you want to add more too it.

A couple of the negative points to this game are the initial setup can be intimidating and kind of confusing, so be prepared for that on your first play. Also, the card organizing system in the box could be better, but we’re spoiled by Dominion.

This game is great, and kids love it too if you want to get them into the scene.

If Marvel isn’t your cup of tea, then Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game might be up your alley. It is a similar concept with a twist of an optional traitor. Again, some have said this is too easy for them.

This game is made for 1-4 players (plays best with 2 or more players) and comes from Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour champions. That said, you know this one is chock full of your fantasy needs, and this theme is a big premise of the game.

This game is similar to the other deck builders mentioned in that you start with the same starting hand, and your goal is to get as many Honor Points as possible. Your hand allows you to buy construct cards or heroes…or battle against monsters to help you gain those sweet Honor Points.

You can also get the points by buy them, or sometimes playing the card gets you the points. At the winner is the one who has the most Honor Points.

This one is another Market Style game, so you have a little bit of strategy mixed in with a little bit of luck. That being said, there isn’t a tonne of interaction between players in this one, other than the above mentioned and through affecting them by defeating monsters. So it can feel somewhat solitarish in that sense.

This game has a fast set-up and feels easier to learn than Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game.

The negatives are small with this game, but we found ourselves wishing there was more unique monsters, as there are only 10-12 if memory serves. There are, however, several expansions for this game. It can eat up your pocket book if you fall for this game. Some of the expansions end up increasing the luck portion of the game because some of them are fairly powerful.

Otherwise, the game mechanics are good, and it’s very easy to enjoy this one.

Feel like playing a game where the theme is being stranded on an island and have to survive against various dangers? This is the deck builder game is for you. This game take the theme a little bit further by being a 1 player game.

That is one of the reasons this game made the top list. It comes in as one of the best 1-player games out there.

In this game you have a starting hand and must go against a random danger (you actually pick 2 and chose 1 to fight) if you win you get that card (flipped over, as it has 2 sides), and if you lose you lose valuable Life Points based on the difference in value. You will progress through 3 rounds of progressively harder battles, until ultimately battling the pirates to try to get a ship to get off the island and win.

The mechanics are fairly simple making it easy to learn, yet it is clever, so it is accessible to almost everyone. It does have a few different mechanics than some of the others on the list. Such as, you can lose a battle to discard some of your less useful cards (costs you Life Points though), and as mentioned you can chose which card to battle against (the other goes back in the pile for you to face later).

The downsides to this game are the math at the end when facing the pirates can really add up (+1 for the math pun, and one more for this one). The other is that as you get more experiences and/or beat this game, you will find it much less intriguing.

That said, though, there are different difficulty levels you can choose from (level 1-4), so it should keep you busy for a while. Not to mention, this one is pretty cheap relatively, so it is easy to add it to your collection if you want a game to play by yourself.

In Valley of the Kings, you are set in ancient Egypt where you are trying to fill our tomb full of useful goods like food, amulets, statues, and other treasures. One of the twists with this game is that your deck is useless at the end of the game, and you only get points for the actual card that you entomb while playing.

This game made the top deck building list because of its differences in mechanics to some of the others on the list.

Besides the above mentioned entombing, this game plays with a modified market/center row strategy. There is a small pyramid for the market (3 levels), from which you can only pull from the bottom level. Once you are done, the pyramid “crumbles” and higher cards move down to the bottom, being replaced by ones from the draw pile. This allows for some randomness, but a little bit of planning.

Once all the cards are gone, it is game over (expect everyone gets to complete their turn to make it an even number of turns for everyone). So the interesting mechanic of trying to keep a card in your hand for its actions vs entombing it for points adds a lot to the game.

The cards in the draw pile progressively have more value as you get to them, but sometimes they come too late, leaving you wishing you had more time to actually harness their powers before entombing them.

This game is easy to learn, has some interesting moves in it, and is small (around 100 cards total), so it lends well to anyone who likes this style of game! It does work best with 2 players, as with more it can be over really fast. On that same note, there isn’t a lot of interaction between players on this one, feeling similar to Dominion in that regard.

The theme is fun, and it has great artwork, plus some cool facts to learn. This one is worth checking out if you want a small portable deck builder, or want to try out some new mechanics.

Another space themed deck building game has made it onto our list of highest rated games! This one is slightly different from the other, and is a great theme.

In the board game, Eminent Domain, you are building out your hand (i.e. strengthening it) in hopes of colonizing plants and building technology. These planets (once explored and then colonized) and this technology will help you to get Influence Points. Again, highest amount of Influence Points is the winner.

The mechanics of this game start similar to the others with 5 random cards from your deck. The basics go as follows… You then play choose one of five roles from the central area based on what your strategy is. Once that is done you will play out your hand using the cards you have. The difference in mechanic comes next…

After you are done colonizing, or attacking, or whatever you chose (including developing a technology), other players can now play on their turns based on the ‘role’ that you picked on your turn. The other players get the benefit of having a full hand to choose from, whereas, you get a special benefit as the ‘leader’ in most cases.

This is a nice dynamic in the game, as it keeps everyone on their toes and involved in the game instead of just waiting.

The ‘roles’ are static or kingdom based, while the planets you can conquer are a market style, thus giving it a bit from both styles.

Eminent Domain has a little more strategy involved and is more complex than other deck builders, but that’s what makes it great, among other things. It also has a great theme, some cool artwork, and has come out with expansions as well.

Check this one out if you are looking to have some more strategy base to your deck builder adventures.

Clank is a new, action filled, strategy based, fun, 2-4 player, deck building game (enough descriptors for you?). This one should probably be higher on the list, but we haven’t had enough time to thoroughly evaluate it yet (only played it a couple times as of writing).

You are a cave explorer in this one, where you have to go down in search of treasures, artifacts, and all sorts of goodies. You must build your deck so that you can move around freely and be able to attack monsters as they come up. However, you must be careful not to collect too many ‘Clanks’ as those can cost you Life Points when the dragon comes around if you’re not lucky. Too many lost life points and you die. How do you keep track of all this, well with a (2 sided) board of course. In fact, Clank has been called Ascension with a board.

Without going into all the details of the rules and set up; which, by the way, can take a bit of time the first time you play, know that you must go down into the dungeon (a line on the board), to get an artifact among other things before the dungeon collapses. There is an element of pushing your luck in this one which makes it fun.

The artwork and game board are awesome, and there is a lot of variability within the cards you will be collecting. It is a mix between a market style (6 cards in the market) and kingdom style (4 always available) which creates a great balance. You will be searching, buying, burgling for things like keys, teleports, backpacks, ladders, etc. Constantly one will find themselves excited at what is available.

Once set up is done, this one is easy to play and beginners can pick it up fairly easily. Yet, at the same time, there is a lot of options and paths you could take, so that gives way to a good amount of strategy if you want.

You will find this one lighter and more fun than some of those taxing strategy games out there. It can be a bit tricky to find, and the price is a little higher than others, but it is worth checking out.

Core Worlds is a well-integrated space themed deck building game, and makes our top list as an honorable mention.

This game is for 2-5 players, but gets a little more difficult (and slightly less fun) with lots of players.

In this one, you are trying to conquer planets again in order to harness their abilities and gain points to try to win the game.

It is a market style game with a bit of a twist. The number of cards in the market is dependent on the number of players in the game. The other twist is that there are different deck used for the different rounds you are in (of which there are 10 total).

This one has a strategy involved in it, in the fact that you are going to try to pick a direction to go, so that when you get to the last round, you will be able to conquer the ‘Core Worlds’ that give bonuses based on what is laid out in front of you.

The difficulty is fairly easy on this one, but there can be a lot of steps to do during each new round or on your turn. It had more long term strategy than some of the others mentioned since there are some pretty good combos you can get going if done correctly.

As the game progresses the cards get more valuable and harder to obtain, so planning is key. In fact, it can affect your game so much early on that some people dislike it for that reason. It is hard to plan too much in advance because it is a market style game and people are scooping your cards. In the beginning, and at certain points, cards in the market do not turn over very quickly so it can take a bit to get going.

There are expansions to this one as well, which really add to the game, and are recommended.

As mentioned it takes a bit to learn, and there is lots going on each turn including all the planning. It makes it a little slower moving the first few times, so I wouldn’t recommend it as your first deck builder, but it is worth checking out, that’s why it is an honorable mention.