Ascension: Storm of Souls

Publisher: Gary Games
Designer: Justin Gary, John Fiorillo
Released: 2011
Players: 1-4 (1-6 with expansions)
Recommended Ages: 14+
Play Time: 30-60 minutes

Theme: Fantasy
Mechanics: Deckbuilding
Randomness: Moderate to high
Luck factor: Moderate
Strategy: Moderate
Interaction: Low

Ascension: Storm of Souls is one of several games in the Ascension series of fantasy-themed “deckbuilding” card games. In contrast to “customisable card games” (CCGs) such as Magic: The Gathering, Ascension: Storm of Souls comes with everything you need to play in a single box without the necessity of purchasing booster packs, and you build your deck naturally through the course of gameplay rather than prior to beginning play. This means that each time you play, things will likely proceed noticeably differently to previous encounters.

The rules of Ascension are also considerably simpler than games such as Magic and its ilk, making this an easy game to pick up and play, and a potential gateway into more complex card games.

How it Plays

In Ascension, you deal with two main resources: runes and combat power. Most of the cards you play will provide you with either or both of these resources, which may be spent on your turn but not stockpiled. Runes are generally used to purchase cards to add to your deck that will be of benefit to you in the future; combat power is used to defeat monsters, which are immediately worth “honour points”, and in some cases may be kept as trophies to be cashed in for an additional benefit later. There’s a set stock of honour points available at the start of the game according to the number of people playing, and when this is depleted, the game ends.

The cards that you either purchase or defeat are placed in the centre row on the game board, meaning that six are available at any one time. Purchasing or defeating a card immediately replaces it with another one, and there are several cards that are always available regardless of what is in the middle row. These are generally less effective than the more specialised cards from the middle row, but acquiring some of these is often a sound early-game strategy.

Since there are only two real mechanics to learn — how to buy things and how to kill things — and the remainder of the game involves reading the cards themselves to make use of special abilities, Ascension is a very quick and easy game to learn. The Storm of Souls version adds a couple of additional elements to the basic Ascension game that began with Chronicle of the Godslayer — specifically, the addition of “Event” cards, which stay in play until replaced by another one and have a constant effect on gameplay in some way, and the aforementioned “monster trophies” rule. These additions aren’t hard to learn, though it’s easy to forget the effect an Event card has, so be sure to check it each time your turn comes around.

At the end of the game, players add up the honour points they have earned through killing monsters and add the number of points they have on the cards they have purchased, and whoever has the most is the winner.

Bits and Pieces

Ascension’s main component is, of course, its deck of cards, which are made of good quality material, stand up to repeated shuffling and are of a standard size, so may be sleeved if you wish to protect them. The cards are designed in a similar way to standard customisable card game cards such as those seen in Magic and its ilk, with artwork at the top and descriptive text explaining special actions at the bottom. Iconography used is clear, simple and easy to learn, so most players will be able to pick up and play fairly quickly.

Aside from the cards, many new players’ eyes are drawn to the plastic gemstones that represent the pool of available “honour points”. These look nice, and it’s satisfying to acquire your own little collection of them — plus they provide a clear and simple means of determining how many points each player has earned through combat, though of course it’s important to try and remember how many points each player has on their cards, too — something which can only be determined by keeping an eye on which cards they buy and play.

Ascension also includes a pleasantly chunky gameboard with appropriately labelled spaces for the middle row of cards, the always-available cards, the draw deck, the event cards and the “void” (discard pile). This isn’t really necessary, but it provides a nice centrepiece to the game, makes setup easier and is also helpful when teaching the rules.

Is it Fun?

The deckbuilding nature of Ascension leads to a strong degree of randomisation, which makes the game very replayable. As with many other deckbuilding games, however, it’s more difficult to come up with a long-term strategy if you’re not sure exactly which cards are going to come up when — it’s not like Magic where you know what cards are going to definitely come into your hand at some point regardless of what you do.

This may frustrate players who like to come up with strategies in advance, but it does help level the playing field somewhat: everyone has an equal chance of getting their hands on the “best” cards, and it’s still possible to focus on purchasing specific cards with a particular strategy in mind rather than simply grabbing the first ones that become available: the various different categories of cards each have their own specialisms, so the most effective decks will take advantage of this.

Ascension is a satisfying game to play. There’s a wide variety of different cards that will come up over the course of the game, and playing a particularly devastating combo of cards that allows you to score a huge number of points in a single turn is very enjoyable. For those who find the base game getting a little stale, however, it’s possible to combine any of the Ascension games together for a wider selection of cards and some potential rules tweaks — later expansions and standalone sets add additional rules, while earlier sets simply add more cards and consequently more variety. Adding more cards to the mix also allows the game to support more players — up to six maximum — though it does significantly slow down with more players, and with interaction practically non-existent this can lead to some downtime.

Ascension actually plays best with just two players, because the more players you add, the more the centre row changes before it comes around to your turn again, making it harder to devise long-term strategies and turning the game into one where you’re more responding reactively to the situation you’re currently in rather than trying to think a few turns ahead. Playing this way isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is worth noting that it’s a very different experience to duelling it out with just two participants.

Overall, Ascension is a fun, lightweight card game that’s easy to learn, quick to pick up and speedy to play, making it ideal either as a filler game or an option for impromptu multi-game tournaments.