Ascension is a deck-building game that was designed by champions of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. Acquire and spend Runes to build your deck with powerful cards that help you slay foes and build your honor. In the fantasy world of Ascension, good and evil are pitted against each other in the ultimate battle: the Chronicle of the Godslayer. Can you come up with the best strategy to prevail against the monsters?
Building Your Deck
In the deck-building game of Ascension, each player is focused on building their deck and gaining honor through buying cards and slaying monsters. Each player starts the game off with their own small deck of cards, which they then use to grow their deck with additional and better cards. Cards come with honor points, so the more cards you purchase, the more honor points you receive.
Each card will give you a new benefit, whether it’s more money for purchasing cards or more attack power for slaying monsters. However, some cards give you extra special abilities such as drawing more cards or clearing cards you don’t want. Your strategy for winning the game may change based on the cards you receive, so you’ll have to stay on your toes if you want to win the most honor points and beat your competitors.
Honor Points
While you can gain honor points from collecting cards, the real fun comes from killing monsters. Attacking monsters also gains you honor points, and an important part of your strategy may need to focus on battling these nefarious creatures. Ascension comes with a rotating market of cards you can purchase, and sometimes you may have no choice but to purchase a monster card and engage in battle. Winning the game requires you to come up with your own strategy but be flexible enough to adapt to whatever the god of the cards chooses to give you.
Factions
Ascension comes with four unique factions that will focus on different strategies. If you’re keen on avoiding the monsters, the Lifebound faction will give you greater power for purchasing cards and allow you to win honor without having to fight. If you like cycling through your deck and playing as many cards as possible, the Enlightened faction will help you quickly build up money and attack. The Mechana and Void factions also contain their own unique rules that can help you find whatever strategy works best for you.
Construct Cards
Construct cards are one of the most interesting elements of the game, allowing you to keep a card around for continued benefit even after you play it. Depending on what type of construct you play, you might be able to draw more cards, rake in extra dough for purchasing cards, or even collect additional construct cards for further benefit. Constructs aren’t invulnerable, however, as the death of certain monsters may wipe out most of the construct cards in your hand!
Ascension Expansions
Ascension has come out with multiple expansions that can also function as standalone games of their own. Ascension: Darkness Unleashed features additional Energize cards and Monster cards, which can become much more powerful than their original forms. Ascension: Dawn of Champions adds a fun twist to the game by allowing you to play as a faction leader, building your reputation and championing your faction to victory. Buying one or more of these expansions is a great way to keep the original Ascension game feeling fresh for experienced players.
Ascension: Chronicle Of The Godslayer
One of the things that sets Ascension apart from most deck-building games is its detailed theme and emphasis on strategy. It’s far from predictable, as the luck of the draw means that your strategy will have to shift with every new round. Ascension can be played by 1-4 players, which makes it an excellent game for groups or for one’s own entertainment.
Ascension is also suitable for ages 13 and up, and it’s simple enough to be the perfect introduction to deck-building games. With a playing time of 30 minutes, Ascension is a quick and fun excursion into the fantasy realm that won’t get you bogged down in the details.
