Ascension Review: Explore the World of Vigil!

As a result, Ascension stood out straight away and was nominated for many prizes: Best Card Game by Golden Geek, in 2010, Best Traditional Card Game by Origins Awards in that same year, and, in 2011, it was once again nominated for the Best Card Game category by Golden Geek.

In the past, we, the mortals of Vigil, didn't have access to magic or Gods. After a thousand years of peace and prosperity, the barrier that separates our world from the multiverse was broken, and demonic forces now threaten to destroy Vigil. The benevolent Gods of the Old Realms have returned, alongside their Heroes and powerful Constructs, and have decided to help us in any way they can. With only our guts and will, we can drive back the approaching hordes.

Will you defeat Samael, the Fallen One, and save the world? An interplanetary war has begun!

That's our setting in Ascension - we fight for Vigil in search for Honor (points, in the game). Depending on the number of players, we first put a specific number of Honor points in play, represented by tokens.

We start with ten cards in hand. Eight of them are Apprentices, which will give us Runes (money, in the game), and two of them are Militia (the military forces, in the game).

Before the game starts, you'll set up a Center Deck on the board and form a Center Row with six cards from it. That's where you'll get your Heroes and Constructs, and, obviously, that's where Samael's attacks will come from. That's it, you're ready to play!

Then, shuffle your 10 cards and draw 5 of them. This is the hand you'll be working with that turn, which is played in the following way:

It's that simple! Now let's go through a few details.

The 5 cards you draw will determine what you can do in that turn. For instance, if you draw many Militia cards, your best turn will be defeating Samael's horde (so cross your fingers) to get Honor. If you don't have many Militia cards, at least try to attack Samael's Cultists, which will remain on the main board at all times.

If you draw many Runes in your turn, it's time to hire the Heroes the Gods sent to help you, use their technology, their Constructs, get more Military power or Apprentices. Use your Runes to do all of this.

If you draw Constructs, and this will happen, obviously, after you've already drawn them, and they're already in your hand, just use them. They're the only cards that remain on the board after the turn ends, and are not discarded.

As this is a deckbuilding game, your deck will get better as the game goes on, and you'll get great Heroes and Constructs after each turn. That's the core of the game.

That's a turn in Ascension!

The game ends when someone gets the last Honor token. The game will carry on from that round onwards until everyone has played the same number of turns. If necessary, use extra Honor tokens to count how many Honor points everyone got at the end of that turn.

This is how you should count your points:

The player with most Honor wins! If there is a tie, the player who played last wins - after all, they fought to the very end!

In Ascension, like in any great deckbuilding game, you should get resources (Runes, in this case), and improve your deck turn after turn.

The Heroes and Constructs you get from the Gods come from 4 different worlds, and, if you like games with this mechanic, here are a few stats for you:

Based on this, and considering Constructs are the only cards that aren't discarded at the end of your turn, you should build your strategy around how rare each Hero and Construct is. This is incredible for anyone who enjoys deckbuilding.

Oh, and, obviously, Samael's monsters, even if defeated, can still affect you. They might let you pick enemy cards and take control of them, as if they "changed sides" in the main narrative. Other monsters, when they're in combat, destroy enemy Constructs, and so on and so forth. These are important details for deckbuilding games. It's the iconic take that mechanic, and, this time, Samael's monsters are the culprits.

Build the best strategy and the best deck, get Honor, and win Ascension!

Check out this unboxing:

Learn the rules:

Watch some gameplay:

Ascension's entire theme is not for the faint of heart. After all, it is about fighting demons. I suggest that you don't focus on the lore that much; just learn and explore the game, which is quite easy, and take it as a fight between good and evil, the good guys versus the bad guys. It's the best thing to do.

Nonetheless, this game is a lesson in strategy and hand management. If you want to work on these concepts, Ascension might be the game for you.

Bottom line, you have to play with the 5 cards you get, and that's basically the core of the game, as well as very interesting in terms of skill. You'll have to make the right decision at the right time, but the game isn't that variable - you just need to look at your cards and decide what to do with them.

That's also why one of this game's main mechanics is hand management - you'll have to manage your Runes, Militia, and much more. You'll have to make decisions with limited resources. Now, if you enjoy counting cards, that is, taking note of which Heroes and Constructs have been played or discarded, you'll be incredible at this game.

Ascension is a lesson in management and strategy!

I highly recommend Ascension for your collection!!