One-hundred years ago, The Infinity Engine was shattered and its reality-bending shards have destroyed most of the world. Now, it falls upon you to gather your forces, defeat your adversaries, and rebuild the Infinity Engine! Will you survive?
Shards of Infinity combines an unprecedented level of strategy and customization into one small box. Rather than competing for points, players must outlast their opponents and reduce their health to zero, which can be done in a number of ways. Each player starts the game with a basic deck of cards, and they can acquire new cards from a central display of six cards (as in Ascension) and add these new cards to their deck or use them immediately, depending on what they are.
Every character starts with fifty health and zero mastery. On each turn, you can spend one gem (a.k.a., money) to gain a mastery point. The more mastery you have, the more powerful your cards become. This lets even the weak cards in your starting deck become more powerful as the game progresses. If you reach a total of thirty mastery, you can activate your Infinity Shard, which instantly defeats your opponent.
As you acquire new cards, you can employ allies and champions to craft your strategy. Mercenary cards can be added to your deck as in other deck-building games or they can be played immediately from the center row for their ability; this adds even more drama to each player's turn as a key mercenary flip can alter the very outcome of the game!
Will you neutralize your opponents before they can fully master the Infinity Shard? With careful planning and aggressive gameplay, only one player can emerge the winner!
- Solid take on deck-building with tight pacing
- Accessible fantasy theme
- Some iterations feel similar to other deck-builders
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area control / combat-lite — Engage in controlled areas and skirmishes via cards.
- Deck-building / hand-management — Build a personal deck to execute actions and defeat enemies.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you are on pace to lead our leaderboards
- you've got 15 out of 20 points which is huge
- this will be the final episode so i win right
- the reigning champion of the going analog quiz show
- i love these descriptions these are so good
References (from this video)
- Cosmic shards and powerful artifacts
- Fantasy sci-fi deck-building
- Heroic fantasy tone
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Build a deck to perform actions and gain power.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm absolutely pumped and I'm going to get every question 100% correct there will be no guessing I will definitely know all the answers exactly.
- we'll see how good your semic Curren board game knowledge is all right we'll see so let's go to the first picture and name this game.
- I have to check this out I'm so interested.
- these were all deck builders and so very nice.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- gaming is for everybody
- Black history is American history
- If it happened on American soil it's American history
- History is not a priority in this country; comfort is the preeminent american value
- we're here we're here we're here
References (from this video)
- strong two-to-four player feel
- accessible while offering depth
- balance could be uneven in some setups
- deck-building combat
- fantasy/confrontation
- arcade/arena-style duels
- Star Realms
- Shards of Infinity (itself)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card battling — direct interactions between players using combat cards
- deck-building — players customize their deck to build stronger attacks and combos
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's kind of like The Mind but better.
- it's a very, very good two-player game
- we are so competitive that we need to be able to turn it off
- I loved it so much I spilled my water all over the table
- we've met some of our best friends this year
References (from this video)
- robust deck-building with thematic flavor
- digital app compatibility mentioned as favorable
- lower accessibility for new players compared to lighter games
- deck-building with combat
- space/arena combat
- fantasy sci-fi
- Star Realms
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Combat — direct confrontation with other players
- deck-building — build a deck to optimize combat actions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we celebrate women's history month by looking at some of the women in board game design
- gatekeeping and systemic racism in board gaming that we all need to overcome
- we need less games that are about cis white maleness we need more feminism we need more racial diversity
- acceptance and being a good human is saying that you're adequate and you're welcomed
References (from this video)
- tight two-player dueling card game
- themes and components feel robust
- borderline generic to fans of the genre
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — dueling deck-builder with combat elements
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is being put to the top of the list it is anyways
- if somebody asked what my favorite game of the con was it was going to be this
- this is my new favorite game
- this is the best moment of my life basically
- they probably gave it to the right people because i'm gonna pump the heck out of this game
- we got to demo a new game that's coming out in January from Plaid Hat Games called Familiar Tales
References (from this video)
- Fast-paced, quick rounds
- Nice digital adaptation when played on iPad
- Requires understanding of terms; can be swingy
- Deck-building, combat
- Fantasy battle across a shard-based world
- Heroic conflict
- Ascension
- Star Realms
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Combat — Cards grant actions to reduce opponent health.
- deck-building — Players draft and play cards to acquire power and attack.
- Fast recruit / mercenary cards — Special recruit cards with red costs for quick plays.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the digital implementation of Wingspan is really nice; it's one of the better ones I've seen
- the interface is just really nice; it doesn't look like the board game, it looks like a nice video game
- Istanbul is good on the switch
- Slay the Spire is going to be a board game
- Ticket to Ride ever make it for the switch?