Millennium Blades: Collusion

Millennium Blades: Collusion Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About Millennium Blades: Collusion

Board Games UnLocked is the channel behind every perspective here, and its host clearly admires the card game that Collusion completes. The host calls the base game a phenomenal experience, and in a list of anticipated 2020 expansions placed Collusion twelfth, with the storage solution as a major reason for the high placement. The host says the base game already has so much content that the expansion is almost a bonus, and treats the new cards, characters, and team mode as more of a good thing.

That enthusiasm is tempered by the expansion's physical delivery. In a dedicated unboxing and rant video, the same host describes a copy with a cracked and warped insert, misprinted and missing dividers, promo tiers labeled with the wrong rarity, and starter sets with no dividers at all. The host notes that Kickstarter comments showed similar damage across many copies. The reviewer still calls the game itself perfectly fine and praises the artwork as phenomenal, but argues that Level 99 Games has not met the standard its backers deserve when it comes to fulfillment. The overall reception is therefore favorable toward the content and sharply critical of the packaging and organization.

Core Mechanics That Define Millennium Blades: Collusion

Real-Time Deck Construction

The host describes Millennium Blades as a real time, fourth wall breaking deck building game about building a deck the way a player would for a tournament. Collusion keeps that structure. The host points out that players really have about twenty minutes to build an eight card deck, which keeps the decision-making tight and makes the real time pressure a defining trait rather than a quirk. The result is a deck builder that rewards quick judgment as much as collection depth, and the host considers that combination the heart of the appeal.

Team Play and Non-Player Characters

Collusion adds team play, which the host compares to the two-versus-two formats found in Magic, alongside new characters with their own deck building powers and tournament powers. The expansion also introduces NPCs, which the host hopes might support a solo option. Publisher Level 99 Games designed these additions as a way to vary how groups sit down together, and the host sees them as a meaningful expansion of how the game can be played, with up to six players supported. The host also admits that a six player game would be a stretch and that the game may work best with two.

The Millennium Blades: Collusion Experience

A Fourth Wall Breaking Collection Simulator

The game leans into the experience of collecting and trading a fictional trading card game, and the host describes owning it as a feeling of abundance that never fully resolves. The host compares the sheer volume of cards to trying to learn every card in Magic, and says that with Collusion added there's going to be so much content that "I believe I'll never see it all, but that's that's a good feeling to have." That sense of an endless collection is what keeps the host returning to the game, even when the physical packaging frustrates them.

The Chore of Organizing a Sprawling Collection

Owning Millennium Blades also means sorting, and the host's experience with Collusion makes that clear. The host hoped the storage solution would let players reach the table without sorting through thousands upon thousands of cards. In practice, the unboxing shows a tray of inserts, three sorting columns, loose tiers that have to be slotted by hand, and a box that the host says is too fragile to hold the full collection securely. The game rewards a collector's patience, but the host's experience shows how much that patience is tested before the first hand is dealt.

What Makes Millennium Blades: Collusion Stand Out

Sheer Card Depth

The most consistent praise is for the volume of content. Collusion adds more than four hundred cards along with six characters, NPCs, team play, new sets, and a storage solution. The host says the expansion is epic in scale and that the team play and new characters promise new ways to approach a familiar game. Even a reviewer who acknowledges the game is already deep sees the additional cards as a welcome expansion of options rather than padding.

Level 99 Games and Ambitious Projects

The host repeatedly credits Level 99 Games for undertaking large, risky projects. The host says the publisher's huge projects feel closer to genuine innovation than most of the industry's output, and points to BattleCon and Temporal Odyssey as examples of its design ambition. That goodwill is central to the criticism that follows. The host's frustration comes precisely because the company is capable of excellent work, and the fulfillment problems feel like a failure to finish the job well rather than a lack of creativity.

Potential Drawbacks

Fulfillment and Storage Shortcomings

The host's most detailed criticism concerns the storage solution and the way it was delivered. The host describes the insert as flimsy, warped in shipping, and cracked, with one edge shattered on the review copy. The host also notes that Level 99 suggested fixing warping with a hairdryer and cracks with tape, which the host found insulting for a product purchased in pristine condition. Missing dividers for the starter sets, misprinted divider labels, and a long wait for replacements compound the problem. The host argues that a company should plan for shipping damage and should offer replacements, and that wider changes to Level 99's processes are needed.

Component Quality and Misprints

Beyond the insert, the host finds several components underwhelming. The neoprene style playmats feel cheap, the score pad is colorful but adds little, and the money trays are described as flimsy enough to break. Several promotional packs carry misprinted labels, so a card that reads silver can be filed as bronze. The host acknowledges that these errors do not affect gameplay, and points out that Level 99 has at least published an errata document for some terminology. The concern is that these small errors show a pattern of incomplete quality control, and that owners should not have to compensate for them with their own supplies.

If You Enjoy Millennium Blades: Collusion

The host's most direct comparison is BattleCon, another Level 99 card game that the host reviewed alongside Collusion. It shares the same kind of storage and fulfillment history, so readers who want the same publisher's card-driven style should expect similar packaging concerns. For a lighter option, the host recommends Sellswords as a fun filler game that asks for less time and commitment than the deck building experience of Millennium Blades. The host also praises Temporal Odyssey as a great game but warns that it will never get further support, so it suits players comfortable with a finished product. Finally, the crossover set's gold tier includes a Near and Far pack, and the host notes that its event cards can simply be filed alongside it, which makes Near and Far a natural companion for owners of that set.