I’m a fan of Cryptozoic‘s DC Deck-Building Game. While I’ll admit I didn’t get it when I first played it during its debut at Gen Con many years ago. It’s grown as one of my favorite board/card games to play in my free time. For those who have never played it the game is a card game where you spend points to build your deck. Each card bought increases the cards you can play, and then you can buy even better cards. You also use points to defeat villains, which then gives you even better cards to play and the game ends when the deck runs out, or all the villains are defeated. The winner is determined by who has the highest score.

So far, Cryptozoic has release three versions of the main game based on DC Comics, a two-player version, and one expansion. Each release can be combined, expanding the different combinations, and keeping the game fresh. Their latest release, DC Deck-Building Game, Crisis Expansion 2, continues upon that adding even more cards, and changing up the game play even more.

The first thing about each Crisis Expansion is that they allow for cooperative play. Instead of playing against opponents, you team up, working together to defeat even harder villains before time runs out (the deck runs out). Playing through, you absolutely need to cooperate, and we won our game with just one card left in the deck (and it was only there due to my partner’s ability to add cards to the deck). As the deck dwindled the pressure increased, and we scrambled to keep ahead to win. This alone is enough reason to grab the expansion for fans of the game (you need a copy of the main game to use it).

Like the first Crisis Expansion, this release compliments the main set that was released in the same order, in this case Heroes Unite. The Crisis version of the game features suped up versions of the characters that come with that game, as well as monstrous “impossible” versions of previous villains.

Beyond that though, the cards keep up the card flavor of Heroes Unite. The thing that stood out to me about that particular set was the heavy focus on the Green Lantern mythos, and that continues here, especially the DC Comics Blackest Night which featured the Black Lanterns. If you’re a fan of zombie versions of heroes, then you’ll love this set. I was giddy at a card featuring Black Hand holding the skull of Batman. I really enjoyed the DC story, so I particularly enjoyed the set.

What’s also interesting is the new heroes included and their abilities. While many have abilities we’ve seen in the past, the new Lanterns included, like Kyle Rayner, focus on card color. This is a new aspect which takes the game beyond its usual “super power,” “hero,” “villain,” “location,” and “equipment” focus. It’s something new and I hope it’s explored more down the road.

Overall, DC Deck-Building Game, Crisis Expansion 2 adds new gameplay options by continuing the cooperative gameplay, but also adding in this new aspect of focusing on the color of the cards, on top of the card type. For those who already enjoy the game, this continues the fun and expands the possibilities.

You can buy a copy and add it to your gaming fun now!

Check out the list of cards you get below as well as our unboxing video!

Equipment Cards:

• White Lantern Power Ring
• Black Lantern Power Ring
• Nth Metal Mace x2
• Escrima Sticks x2
• Skull of Batman

Super Power Cards:

• Rage Blood x2
• Possession
• Channeling the Emotional Spectrum x2
• Crystal Shield x2

Location Cards:

• Atlantis
• Mogo

Hero Cards:

• White Lantern Corps
• Star Sapphire x2
• The Atom x2
• Ganthet
• Indigo Tribe

Villain Cards:

• Black Lantern Aquaman x2
• Black Lantern Wonder Woman
• Black Lantern Blue Beetle
• Black Lantern Green Arrow x2
• Black Lantern Batman
• Black Lantern Martian Manhunter

Super-Villain Cards:

• Black Hand
• Arkillo
• Graves
• Crisis Nekron
• Amazo
• Black Lantern Superman
• H’El
• Helspont
• Hector Hammond
• Mongul
• Mr. Freeze
• Black Adam
• Vandal Savage
• Doomsday
• Trigon

Super Hero Cards:

• Star Sapphire
• Indigo-1
• Saint Walker
• Red Lantern Supergirl
• White Lantern Deadman
• Kyle Rayner

Crisis Super Hero Cards:

• Booster Gold
• Black Canary
• Batgirl
• Nightwing
• Hawkman
• Red Tornado
• Shazam!
• Starfire

Crisis Cards SPOILERS! (Highlight to see them):

• Villains in Disguise
• Manhunter Invasion
• Draining the Emotional Spectrum
• Corrupted Companion
• Shifting Loyalties
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Super-Villains United
• Hunting Down the Lanterns
• Frozen City
• Missing Heroes
• Rise of the Dead
• Demonic Summoning
• Seven Deadly Sins Unleashed
• Reshaping Our World
• Immortal Villain

Cryptozoic provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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