New Mechanic - Transformation. With the advent of Darkness Unleashed, some cards gained a very specific Energize effect: if powered up, the cards transform, permanently becoming a more powerful version of themselves. Having cards that work differently in different circumstances is a nice addition to the deckbuilder milieu, and one that creates tactical depth. How It Works – Energize. The Energize effect is a nice addition to the game, because it allows the cards to have variable powers, based on a player’s overall card draw. Having already learned that people don’t play Ascension in the blocks that they recommend, Stoneblade included more Energy Shards than were necessary, and specific rules for how many to add to a game based on how many sets were being used. Adding even more swinginess can be problematic. Because of its various random elements, Ascension has always been sort of swingy.
This can be a big stroke of luck for the next player, who buys whatever is on top of it, and gets a bunch of free Energy as a reward at no cost to him. You can stack a bunch of them in a single center row space - continuing to draw until you get something that isn’t a Treasure. Unfortunately, the Energy Shards have one big draw back that resulted from them being such a wallflower. Each Energy Shard card also lets you draw a new card - which again repeats the “surprise” factor that Gary is so fond of. Second, he also made sure it doesn’t take up a space in your hand. First, he turned them into a new sort of card - a Treasure - which doesn’t take up a space in the center row. Gary did everything he could to make sure that Energy Shards wouldn’t take over space that should house Power or Runes.
So how do you add a third currency without totally breaking the game? Similarly, it’s quite possible to block up the center row if it fills with a type of card that no one can buy because they don’t have the right currency. Thus in Ascension it’s quite possible to muddy your hand if you mix the currencies of Power and Runes too much. How It Works – Energy Shards. Having even two currencies in a card game is pretty tricky. This was just a minor change: Dark Energy Shards include a Fate effect (harking back to Block One) that allows all players to filter out a card. It also works in an unusual way: energy isn’t permanently expended, but instead can be used to power all cards that had an energy threshold equal to (or less than) what the player had available that turn.ĭarkness Unleashed then adds a variant sort of Energy Shard: the Dark Energy Shard. Instead of being used to buy cards, this new currency is used to activate additional powers on cards. Rise of Vigil introduced a third type of currency, energy, which is available through new Energy Shard cards. These two sets also used a simple model for introducing new mechanics: a major mechanic appeared in Rise of Vigil (Energize), and then was ever-so-slightly adjusted in Darkness Unleashed, which also saw a new and related mechanic (Transformation). In doing so, I’ll be bringing Ascension up to date - and perhaps I can repeat this exercise in another 2-3 years.Īscension fell into its scheduling stride with the release of the large-box Rise of Vigil (2013) and the small-box Darkness Unleashed (2013) which together form Block Three of the game. I’ll be examining how they influenced the Ascension game and deckbuilding in general. In this article, I’m continuing that journey by looking at the most recent four sets - from Rise of Vigil through Dawn of the Champions. Two weeks ago I took a look at the first four Ascension sets, examining the mechanics of each.