In particular, I like the part where you build your deck from a set of themed sub-decks before the start, and then it’s up to you to find the synergies between those themes. Not sure if there’s an existing term for that mechanic. I think it may count as a form of a deckbuilder, but editing the deck’s contents isn’t part of the main game loop. Maybe a deck drafter?
I also like that it’s a compact card game that doesn’t take long to learn or play, and plays well with only 2 players. The only other drafting games I’ve found have a board, lots of pieces, and are aimed at 4+ players.
Trying to search for games like Compile is a bit difficult, because in the other threads I find, people like to focus on the lane battling aspect, which I could take or leave. I’m mostly interested in compact drafting games for 2p. Anyone know any?
I haven’t tried Compile, but your description reminds me of Sorcerer from Wise Wizard Games. It is similar to what you described. As part of setup, each player picks a character, domain, and lineage deck and shuffles the three together to get a deck to play a tactical card game.
The game itself is fun. You always have options for what to do on your turn but never enough actions to do everything. The deck modules each have a distinct identity and abilities, creating satisfying asymmetry.
I did run across Sorcerer yesterday during my searching. I think the only downside is that it doesn’t look very compact. But I am intrigued, thanks for mentioning it.
Have you heard of Smash Up? It’s a little older but the exact same deck construction concept as Compile. Just with area control type battling.
Apparently, Nexus is newer, uses similar deck construction, and more highly rated on BGG but I haven’t played it so I don’t have a personal recommendation on it.
I saw Smash Up, haven’t tried it, but it looks promising.
From a cursory glance, Nexus looks perfect! I’ll definitely check that out.
check out https://nullsignal.games/
its the continuation of the living card game Android: Netrunner
you can build decks and then play online too at jinteki.net
Ah yes, Android: Netrunner is one I need to check out. I think that might be closest to what I’m looking for. Hah, it feels like every single one of these deck drafting games is set in the same quasi-sci-fi, play-as-an-AI-in-the-future type universe.
I can confirm that a couple pages of printed cards in sleeves has given me endless hours of fun. The only thing is the rules are a little fussy, you’ll want an app counter for money and a bag of tokens to keep track of what virus is attached to what ice.
The asymmetrical play and “what cup is the ball under” mechanics are very replayable. My partner and I have a backpack of games to take on the go, and there’s always a dozen netrunner decks inside. There’s a lot of mayhem to be had with all the different decks and styles.
But for real, the rules to play netrunner to me feel much more complex than MtG, and it feels super unfair to the corp at first because you’re always on the defensive and the runner is so much more active with an extra action every turn. It’s a very hard game to teach someone at a pub. I swear sometimes I forget rules from week to week and I’ve been playing it off and on for like 10 years.
For on the go pickup games, in my bag I have Hive, Go, Jaipur, Carcassonne, and a regular deck of cards. I feel like those offer a range of quick fun. I especially love teaching someone Go and letting them whoop me at like 4-5 stone advantage on a 9 wide board. I get a great game to play from behind and they get to practice a new game.
Despite most of the bag being Netrunner decks, I’ve never once gotten someone to play it with me who wasn’t already into the game.
Maybe check out Algomancy? It’s a drafting game for 2-4 (technically 2-8 if you have 2 box sets) players with a few unique gimmicks. You start by picking 2-4 of the 5 “colors” and shuffling all of their cards together to create the draft pool, then draft cards each turn as the game progresses. If you have Tabletop Simulator, you can try it for free on there before committing to buying anything. (The TTS module was created by / is endorsed by the game’s author.)
Ooo, that looks really interesting. It looks like it also supports “constructed” play, where you build a deck tcg style. Wow, bgg has the complexity weight at 4.36, that’s pretty intense. Thanks, good recommendation.
Don’t know if you’ve given it a try yet, but magic the gathering cube is basically exactly this with the added facet of 32 years worth of cards to play with.
Hah, I’ve never heard of the cube format, but from what I’ve read in the last 5 minutes, the responsibility of constructing this 720+ card cube, much less transporting it, sound like deal breakers. I’m not against gameplay like MtG, but I like compile because I don’t need to think about the cards out there that I don’t have. It is also nice that teaching Compile is a 5-10m process, though. I can’t throw the cube in a bag on the way to a pub, and casually teach magic to someone over a beer.
So while a lot of people talk about cube as a big wild thing, I actually had a lot of success with a smaller, more contained version. When you do a classic draft, you get 3 boosters per person, and lands. So if you set up a cube with 45 cards per expected player and enough land to go around, that’s only ~300 cards for 6 people. A fat pack holds about 400 on it’s own so transport really just a smidge more in² than a paving brick.
Teaching is the hardest part though. It’s got a low barrier to entry, I’ve taught people in 20min, but keeping it simple will really dumb down your potential when it comes to making a cube.
This could be worth exploring, thanks for the idea. I’m not really interested in building a custom cube, I’d rather have a well playtested set of cards that are fun together. It looks like I could just pick a popular/smallish cube from this website to try it out.
On conversation with another poster I actually learned about the JumpStart format and that might be even more up your alley. Instead of diy boosters like cube does, you make preselected stacks of 20 cards. Everyone picks two, shuffles them up and you jump in. Apparently there’s premade packs already and once you get tired of those they’re pretty easy to diy your own.
Im planning on putting my own together, then printing up reminder sheets for each stack so I can use them to teach the wife and kid.
OP’s ask sounds similar to MtG’s Jumpstart decks… if you like MtG, that’s worth looking into. (To make it replayable, you’d need to separate out the themed card packs after each play session so you can choose / combine them again.)
So, I’ve been out of the scene for a while now and did not know about JumpStart. After looking into it, this sounds like an absolutely blast and I’m literally going to dredge out my cards too tinker with this later today.
It plays like Cube Lite. It’s great if you want to make a sort of box set that you can break out when friends are around that let you jump into a game in a few minutes, but with a much wider variety of decks than you’d otherwise have available without running a full draft.
This is what my read on it was and it’s actually got me so excited that I’ve broke out my cards for the first time since the golos ban in edh. I’ve been wanting to teach my spouse and child lately and this is shaping up to be a really easy way to make that happen.
This was my first thought, as well. I don’t know of other games that function this way, but am definitely looking into Compile, now 👀
Dominion may be the pioneer of this? Bgg classify it as variable setup and deck, bag and pool building. Dominion is not a small box but it is just cards really and plays well at 2.
I feel Dominion-like deck builders are a dime-a-dozen these days. In video games too. But what distinguishes Compile for me is that editing your deck isn’t part of the main gameplay loop. Instead you and your opponent draft sub-decks at the start of the game, shuffle them together, and then play with that. That’s the mechanic I’m asking about that seems harder to find. At least while staying compact and relatively quick to learn and play.
I remember when this came out. Looked interesting, but I never did get a chance to play it. More heavyweight than what I’m looking for though, I think. Seems more like a meta TCG-simulator, and a “game” takes hours.
Compile has an expansion called “Main 2”, if you havent grabbed that already.
I realized that today and ordered it!
