Cryptozoik "RIVALS Batman vs The Joker DC Comics Deck Building Card Game

Having played and loved the base set of the DC Deckbuilding game plus the first Crisis expansion, I decided a shorter, two player variant (which is based on arguably the greatest match up of all time in Batman vs Joker) was a must. The package is neat, you get all the needed base cards (Punch, vulnerability and Kick), new Block cards for dealing with the new game mechanic 'Confrontations', the core line up cards and three oversized super hero cards for each character. The hero cards now have a value and replace the super villain cards from the base set. I really enjoyed this new variant and it did feel like I was battling away at an old adversary instead of a whos-who of Arkham inmates. I like the fact that in confronting your opponent, you have to make your play by adding up all your power and any additional cards and when you confront, you can not play any further additions. This makes an interesting play as you put your money where your mouth is and it is very much a case of hoping your opponent isn't loaded with block cards so you can take one of his 'lives' (ie one of his three oversized cards) If you enjoy the base set, you'll love this. It has a shorter play time due to less cards in the set and can be over in 25-30 mins. Ideal for train journeys and camping trips I'd say. If you're new to franchise, check out the base set first - it's a much more comprehensive game with more mechanics and a large amount of heroes / villains and super villains to take care of. I totally recommend this game - do yourself a favour and get it played :)

Easy to understand, quick to play and a load of fun. Highly recommend.

Really Great!

Very good board game.

I have been playing the various games using the Cryptozoic Deck Building engine for some years. I continue to be impressed by how much they can wring from the system. In this case we are firmly in DC Comics Deck Building country but with a few twists. There are no arch-villains just the two rivals - Batman and the Joker represented in each case by three large cards with increasing strength and abilities. One gains cards normally but can, if you feel lucky (punk) choose to have a confrontation where you must beat your opponent's strength. In most cases you will not be certain of doing this - counting on drawing and deploying cards during your play. Just to add to the fun your opponent can play blocking cards to increase his strength. If you fail to beat your opponent you do not use the cards to gain others, you simply discard them. The usual Equipment, Super-hero etc etc cards are present but all with a Joker or Batmen theme. Great fun

I'm a big fan of the DC Deckbuilder series, and while I don't think this set is necessarily the best one, it serves two important purposes. One is that this set is a little simpler than most (probably tied with the original set for card complexity), and on top of that the card pool is much smaller and hence easier to learn, so it makes a good introduction point for those new to the game. Even for a gamer, the first pass or two through a new deckbuilding game can be difficult, because they require you to understand mechanics and strategies from turn 1. This 2-player set somewhat reduces that problem by making the strategies straightforward and somewhat obvious, and you can learn all the cards after 2 or 3 games. The second major point in favor of this set is the 2-player mechanics. I play a lot of games with just 2 players, and while I love DC, the normal sets are not optimized for 2 players. In general you won't go through enough of the main deck to see a good randomized sampling of the cards, you might end up biased towards certain card types and strategies just based on what is available due to slow turnover in the line-up. This set being built for 2 is very handy for those with only one constant gaming companion. If I had a criticism, it's that I don't love the Confrontation and Block mechanic introduced in this set. For one, it means many of the cards in this set can't be mixed and matched with the other sets, which I like to do. More importantly, however, I find the risk of initiating a Confrontation is too high - if I fail I wasted my turn, and my opponent probably only had to discard one card from their hand. And even if I succeed, I reveal a more powerful character card for my opponent to take advantage of. Of course, winning the game as a result of 3 successful Confrontations is a big incentive, but after playing this set many times and learning it's strategies I often find that neither player wants to risk Confronting early in the game and lose out on valuable set-up time to improve their deck. By mid game the risks of your opponent Blocking and ruining your turn is too high, and then when you reach the late game point where a successful Confrontation is all but assured, it may be too late to nab all 3 of your opponents character cards before the deck runs out of cards. Overall, a definite buy for those looking for a cheaper and simpler way to try out the Cryptozoic Deckbuilding system, or for those who enjoy DC deckbuilder but are looking for an option built for 2 players. If you're familiar with deckbuilders and want to play with a bigger group, however, then clearly you should go with one of the base sets.

Kurz vorweg, ich bin ein TCG und LCG Kartenspieler der ersten Stunde. Angefangen mit Magic The Gathering, als es noch sehr unpopulär war (1994), bis hin zu LCG's wie Herr der Ringe, Netrunner und Warhammer Conquest spiele ich alles. Diese Anschaffung war vorerst lediglich angedacht wegen meiner Affinität zu Batman und auch seinem Nemesis dem Joker. Habe mir vor dem Kauf auch einige Review Videos auf youtube angesehen, war aber nicht besonders angetan von dem Gezeigten. Zum Glück hat der Nerd in mir dennoch den Kauf gewagt. Das Spiel macht wirklich sehr viel Spaß. Der Grundlegende Unterschied zu TCG's und LCG's ist, dass hier das Deck während dem tatsächlichen Spielen gebaut wird. Deshalb nennt man diese Form auch DECK-BUILDING GAME. Diese Variante ist rein für zwei Personen ausgelegt. Jeder Spieler beginnt seine Hand mit den SELBEN 10 Karten, welche man benötigt um Karten(Helden, Bösewichte, Ausrüstung, Fähigkeiten und Orte) welche in der Spielmitte ausliegen zu kaufen. Mit jedem Einkauf wird das eigene Deck verbessert und auch größer. Je stärker das eigene Deck wird, desto höher sind auch die Chancen den gegnerischen Charakter(Batman oder Joker) in einer vorher angesagten Konfrontation zu schlagen. Wenn man das schafft, hat man allerdings noch lange nicht gewonnen, denn ist erst einmal die erste Version seines Gegenspielers besiegt, taucht auch schon eine weitere Inkarnation desselben auf. Allerdings mit einem höheren Stärkewert und einer neuen "besseren" Fähigkeit (ist situationsbedingt) . Sollte man es tatsächlich schaffen, den Gegner dreimal in einer Konfrontation zu schlagen, hat man das Spiel augenblicklich gewonnen. Es gibt allerdings auch noch eine andere Möglichkeit, das Spiel erfolgreich für sich zu entscheiden. Kann nämlich keine Karte mehr vom gemeinsamen Kartenstapel nachgezogen werden, so kommt es zu einer Entverechnung der Siegpunkte. Hier zählt man die Punkte der im laufe des Spieles erworbenen Karten zusammen. Die Karten selbst sind großartig illustriert. Es sind die wichtigsten Bösewichte und Helden des Batman Franchise dabei. Auch Ausrüstung und Fähigkeiten sind an die Protagonisten angelehnt. Das Spiel gibt es meines Wissens, bislang nur in englischer Ausgabe, was allerdings für die meisten Käufer dieses Artikels wahrscheinlich kein Problem darstellen wird. Selbst meine Frau, welche kein wirklich großes Interesse am DC Universum hegt und auch andere Kartenspiele eher skeptisch betrachtet, hatte an diesem Spiel, wider meiner Erwartungen, richtig Spaß. Warum das Spiel von mir dennoch "nur" 4 Sterne erhält ist aufgrund der Tatsache, dass ich einfach komplexere Spielmechaniken bevorzuge als sie hier geboten werden. Es ist eben kein Magic, aber dennoch ein wirklich tolles Kartenspiel.

Quality card stock. Great game length. Not particularly pleased that it’s only 2 player but knew that at time of purchase. Good introduction to deck building games.

Me gustó mucho, son personajes muy icónicos que creo deberían estar en la caja principal de confrontación pero por lo menos se pueden adicionar

For transpency, DC deck builder is my favorite deck building game. This is the first introduction into the Rivals format. Because of that most of the cards are relatively simplistic. This is great for people who are new to deck building games. Also given how the rules are set up, this deck builder is much more approachable than others like Dominion. The cards themselves are high quality with beautiful art most of which are pulled from comic book panels. This really helps to keep newer players engaged and it also allows for cards to be easily recognized. As with all DC deck builder expansions these cards are compatible with the other expansions and base games. The hero cards are not as they work on an entirely different rule sick compared to the rest of the expansions. With that said though they are compatible with the other Rivals expansions so you could have a two versus two format.