A Game Full of Fungi - Mycelia Board Game Review
Review by Adam Ray
It's no secret that I love games. With the big annual ritualistic gift giving ceremony just ended, I was bequeathed a great many experiences to be enjoyed over a night of tabletop fun. One such title I've wanted since I saw the box art's charming little Mushroom creatures, and the dynamic movement of the centre piece has to be Mycelia.
Designed by Daniel Greiner and published by Ravensburger, this charming deck builder has quickly become one of my all time favourites!
Mycelia is a deck-building, action point game. That's fancy gamer nerd lexis for a game where you take cards to add to your personal deck which lets you do certain things to help you win.
In the story of the game, the forest is flooded with dewdrops, and the living mushroom people all need your help to clear those dewdrops. Your cards primarily either grant you more leaves (this game's version of currency) or manipulate the dewdrops, by moving them around or removing them from the board. First person to clear their personal board of their dewdrops wins!
On your turn, you'll have a hand of 3 cards that feature the cute mushroom denizens of the forest. You'll play out those 3 cards, to move or remove the dewdrops from your board. You'll also accrue leaves which you can use to buy more powerful cards from the common market. Unlike other deckbuilding games like Star Realms or Dominon - those newly purchased cards go on top of your deck, ready to be used on your next turn. Each play is live, and you get to think up your own strategy as cards come up in the market. One of the many great features to keep every player involved while it's another player's turn are the cards which offer benefits to the other players, often to balance a powerful effect. Everybody gets something!
Dewdrops that are moved off or removed from your board all go onto the shrine. Once the shrine is filled, depending on the player count, the active player rotates the shrine, and randomly puts a small number of dewdrops back into play for each player. There will always be fewer drops added than removed, so the gameplay loop always feels like you're making progress.
After the second or so rotation, the game truly feels like a race. There are also moments when a player getting ahead might force another player to try and fill the shrine to cause it to spin, thus offering a trip up to the one ahead. That element of knowing how well others are doing, while still focusing on getting yourself the best cards possible is definitely what keeps the level of interaction high, without taxing a younger or inexperienced player.
Once you've played your first game with Mycelia, there are multiple avenues to progress your gameplay. With different setup cards for how you space your dewdrops, different shrine cards for how to add new ones to your board, and a plethora of cards to buy from the market, the base game already has a great deal of replay variance. Each player's matt may look the same, but you can flip them for unique matts for all 4 players. There is also a deck of expansion cards included in the game, which offer benefits when they're bought from the shop, and give new powers, like removing cards from your deck (a key mechanic for any deck builder).
Mycelia is a delight for younger gamers with its cute characters and dynamic shrine centrepiece, as well as seasoned strategy gamers looking to sequence their hand of cards as best as possible. It will continue to be a firm favourite of mine.
Comments
Post a Comment