2011 / Deckbuilding card game / 1-4 players (+) / USA
*****
I hadn't expected to invest in a proper Ascension set so soon when I bought a cheapo starter off Amazon, but then I reunited with eBay. I don't have the budget or the shelf space to buy too many big box games, but if I don't take the chance to fill those gaps when something worthy comes along, it's only going to end up getting claimed by bloody Monopoly again, God help us.
One nice thing about this game is that each release cycle is fairly self-contained, and mixing multiple sets together mainly serves to muddy things, so you're not compelled to subscribe to increasingly desperate supplements, unless you get bored. For its aesthetics and mechanics, this was my preferred iteration of the digital deckbuilder, so when I saw the big box and its expansion going comparatively cheap*, I indulged myself. (The baby got a play kitchen, she's doing fine).
Two players would take a good while to cycle through this combined deck, and even longer when you're playing the ad-libbed solitaire rules for lonely people that makes a fairer fight than the AI ever was. If I do ever get bored of it, I can swap it out for another Ascension set to be sated by the slightly different features. Owning multiple sets would show a disappointing lack of imagination.
* A £20 limit has kept the likes of Dominion tantalisingly out of my clutches so far.
