Review: Ascension: Return of the Fallen - Part 1

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer took many players by surprise with it's simple deck building mechanic with an ever changing board state.  One year after it's initial release, Gary Games has put out the first expansion to it, entitled Ascension: Return of the Fallen.  Of interest, it's not only an expansion, but can be played as a stand alone two player game, and when combined with the original set, enables up to six players to play.

VG30 got hold of our pre-ordered copy of Ascension: Return of the Fallen, and immediately brought it home to play.  Pre-Orders were to receive a special card, Kythis, the Gatekeeper.  Unfortunately, our store did not receive any of the pre-order cards, so we were very disappointed by that.  There wasn't a list or anything on the Ascension website of who would be getting them, and our store, The Gaming Goat, did not, for reasons unknown to them or us.  Gary Games, this needs to be fixed for us and future expansions.  Anyway, time for the unboxing!

The box is smaller than I expected for some reason.  I would say about half the size of the original box, which makes sense since it's designed to support two players by itself.  Let's open it up.

A little bit better idea of the box size

Okay, fairly standard, the same kind of plastic insert that was in the original, only smaller, a sealed deck of cards, and a small baggie with counters in it.  Pretty standard fare.  But the size of the deck is pretty impressive, as it should be for the $29.99 MSRP on the game. 

Pretty good chunk of cards

Nothing left to do but open the cards.  The first thing I noticed was that these felt different.  They didn't feel like the high glossy thick Ascension cards that I was accustomed to.  I ran down to the basement to retrieve my copy of Ascension for a quick comparison.  Sure enough, these cards are a different stock and a different gloss then the original set.

Original on left, new on right

It's a little hard to tell from that picture there, but you can see that the light reflects smoother on the new card than the old.  It's not as thick, and my wife worried that they were more likely to fall apart than the older set and thought we might have to pick up sleeves for them now.  That's when it hit me, maybe they did this for the people who did want to sleeve.  There had been many complaints about cards fitting tightly into their sleeves, so maybe they printed a very slightly smaller, slightly thinner card to help facilitate that.  In any case, I'm not a fan of having different printings of the cards.

One last example, old cards on top, new cards on the bottom, twenty cards each

After the initial setup, we shuffled up the cards and began play.  For purposes of Part 1 of this review, we're only going to talk about Return of the Fallen by itself.  We'll cover it's integration with the base set in Part 2.  Right out of the gate, we noticed a power level shift.  After a few rounds we were stringing 6 - 10 card combos together to come up with huge amounts of runic power.  Common cards in the set, in which you banish a card from your hand (usually an Apprentice or Militia) and replace it with either a Mystic or Heavy Infantry, allowed us to tear through high costing heroes and constructs quickly.

The wife strings together a 9 card combo mid way through the game

Constructs, particularly Mechana Constructs, are much more prevalent in this set than in the original game.  Originally you could potentially have 2 - 3 constructs in play at a time.  In our game, I had 8 constructs in play at the same time, and there was very little that my wife could do about it.

My wife believes if your constructs out number the center row, you should lose

There's a few new tricks that the cards allow you to do in this set.  The big new mechanic is one we discussed in the review of Ascension called Fate.  Cards with the Fate mechanic trigger when they are first played in the center row, even if it's during initial setup.  Most of these cards are good and don't do a whole lot in the way of disruption.  You may end up drawing a card, acquiring a Mystic, or banishing the cards around a newly placed creature.  The effects add an element of surprise to the game.  Other new abilities will have you staring into the Void, as it allows you to battle monsters and retrieve heroes and constructs from it, making banishing more of an inconvenience than a permanent solution.

So the important question here is "How does it play?"  I'm happy to report that the expansion brings an epic feeling to the game.  Chosen heroes, impressive costly constructs, and the big bad demon himself, Samael make appearances and carry the power with them that they deserve.  If Ascension were to be described as a battle, this can be described as a war, and it feels good.  There's enough here to warrant the expansion, and any fan of Ascension needs to go out and pick this up.

Check back with us next week when we take the expansion and combine it with the base set to get a real feel for how they play together.  We also have a couple other Ascension related surprises in store that you won't want to miss, but until then, Happy Gaming!

The Banning and Reviving of Jace

Last Sunday night, the standard world of Magic: The Gathering witnessed the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic.  There had been rumors and speculation for some time, but when it became official, I personally breathed a sigh of relief. You see, I'm one of the players that Wizards spoke of who had stopped showing up for Friday Night Magic as well as other more casual days because I was tired of seeing him.

You can't really blame me, though

For the last year or so, Jace has been a staple for many decks.  Super Friends.  Black Blue Control.  RUG.  White Blue Control.  Caw Blade.  These are just some names of top tier decks that I've faced him in.  He always fits in perfectly, and he's always an immediate threat when he hits the board.  When he comes down, you begin to enter a locked board state that is very hard to come back from, and this is why he is so powerful.

Not everybody can wield such power, though.  The types of decks that Jace appears in require a knowledge of Magic that typically only a more seasoned player could possibly understand.  It took knowledge of when to let the Goblin Guide be cast, and when lightning bolt was the biggest threat in your opponent's deck.  You had to understand how a Valakut deck worked so you knew what were your important targets.  I admire the players who wielded him with skill.  Even so, however, over time, seeing the same threat hit the table over and over became demoralizing.  It was either shell out the money for a play set, try to find a way to counter it, or stop playing standard.

Alright, I play this Orcis.... oh, you played Jace. Well, GG

I actually had my own play set of the Mind Sculptor.  I used him in a white/blue ally mill deck that I was particularly proud of coming up with on my own.  Jace made it better by leaps and bounds.  I'll admit, I tried my hand at some of the control variants with him, but i'm too aggressive of a player these days for a control mind set.  I was even told once that they didn't lose to me, they lost to Jace.  That's one heck of a card that allowed him to supersede my skill and win the game on his own.

So since I didn't have the mindset for control, my next step was finding a deck that could combat him.  This is so much easier said than done, because you needed to be fast to gain board control that couldn't be taken away with a four drop.  Quest, Kuldotha Red, White Knights, Soul Sisters and a homebrew Myr deck all stood up to the challenge that is Jace, and all of them won.. for a while.  Once my opponents figured out the tricks needed to stop me, they easily countered my key spells, and stopped me from drawing what I needed to regain control.  It was like fighting the Borg, having to reset the signal of my deck to get past their shields for a few quick wins.

Yeah, I'm not an image guy, just pretend that he looks kinda like Jace

Finally, I had had enough.  Playing Magic wasn't fun anymore because I either had to constantly seek out the latest aggressive deck to throw my opponents off balance, or suffer the same losses every week.  Being a 30(ish) years old, I did what any mature, adult gamer would - I took my cards and went home.  And from what I witnessed in my playgroup as well as other stores, I wasn't the only one.  Not by far.  The only ones who liked Jace were the ones who were using him to win.  And they weren't changing up their decks unless they also included their $400 investment. 

Jace has since left my collection, and my love for the game has been rekindled with EDH.  I was staying away from Standard, but now maybe it's safe to come back again.  Maybe I don't have to worry about seeing Jace sitting across the table from me anymore in a control deck.  Maybe standard can be fun again.

Oh shi-

E3 Wrap Up

E3 has come and gone, and I've had the opportunity to go over what the Big Three brought to their Press Conferences.  I expected things from each, and some delivered, some didn't.  Let's take a look at what we've got to look forward to for the next year.

What was Expected:  Prior to the attacks on the Playstation Network, Sony had the most to gain with announcements of their new PSP 2.  If they could announce a price tag that could stand up to Nintendo's 3DS, they could crush their competition.  Unfortunately, the attacks took a lot of wind out of Sony's sails, and apologies were expected.

What we Received:  Sony started out with acknowledgment of their downtime, but did not directly address the loss of data.  Clearly a strategic decision, this way they address the elephant in the room, but don't look him in the eye.  In any case, Sony unveiled their 3D strategy, by having most of their conference done in 3D.  They unveiled a consumer priced 24" screen package consisting of the tv, glasses, and Resistance 3 for the very reasonable price of $499.  This is a great move by Sony, but I believe many of us wish they could have shown us something a bit bigger than 24".  They also showed off the ability for two people to view two different things on the same screen.  I see this saving many marriages.

The PSP 2, now named Vita was unveiled and looked VERY impressive.  At the end of their game demos, they looked Nintendo square in the eye and said "$249 wifi, $299 3G".  This puts Nintendo in a very awkward position of having less than desirable hardware competing against a Next-Gen platform.  Nicely done, Sony.  Anybody who is looking for a handheld gaming device will be looking this way first.

The Future:  Sony's looking very impressive.  The 3D bit is a gimmick, and won't personally be getting me to purchase one any time soon, but if this is Sony's entry level for home entertainment, it's a great first step.  The Vita is right where Sony needs it to be, knocking on Nintendo's door with a baseball bat. I fear that they may be too late with smart phones in the market that can run simple games right alongside of the Vita, but we'll see how this pans out.  Despite having an Iphone, I kind of still want one...

What was Expected:  Nintendo had all but announced their new console prior to E3, so we knew we were going to see it there.  The big question was what tricks did Nintendo have up their sleeves this time, and would they make people give them another look after watching their Wii's gather dust.  We also wondered what was the future of the 3DS, as well as looking for sequels to our favorite Nintendo franchises.  If Sony had the most to gain, Nintendo had the most to lose.

What we Received:  Nintendo introduced the Wii U, what Nintendo wants us to believe is the next generation of Wii, with a new controller that looked like a cross between a Gameboy and a Tablet.  It will be out next year and Nintendo's big hope to capture the core gamer audience that they lost while the Wii took over.  We also got sequels upon sequels of existing IPs with relatively little new innovation.  The Wii U is Nintendo's effort to try to catch up with the current generation.  Sadly there was no talk about one of Nintendo's biggest shortcomings, their online presence. 

The Future:  Nintendo's in trouble.  As a Nintendo fan since about 1987, it pains me to see the company circling the way that it is. The Wii was a great innovation that nobody knew what to do with, and the Wii U offers some interest, but will ultimately fall flat in the face of Microsoft and Sony.  They proudly announce that Batman: Arkham City will be a launch title on the Wii U.. when it comes out next year.  Meanwhile, everybody with Xbox 360's and Playstation 3's will have already played through theirs, set it on the shelf, and forgotten about it by the time it hits Nintendo's latest offering.

I get it Nintendo, you need to bring back third party developers, so you made a controller that feels like a regular one (albeit a lot bigger), and upgraded the hardware to support the current gen titles. It's a good idea until Microsoft and Sony decide to announce their consoles in the next year or two, completely outclassing the system that won't even be out until next year.  I'm calling Nintendo's death, or at least the final nails in the coffin, within 2 years.  It might be time for them to start looking at Sega's route, and bring the IPs that we love onto their competitor's systems.

What we Expected:  Honestly, I had no idea.  Microsoft's winter catalog looks pretty sparse save for Gears of War 3.  Maybe Kinect?  It's hard to tell, they've been playing their cards awfully close to their chest.

What we Received:  Add Kinect to EVERYTHING.  Microsoft is really trying to get people to want these Kinects and after having seen their presentation... it looks pretty cool, actually.  The Kinect's ability to scan things into the Xbox and make them into items or Avatars, and respond to hand motions was very well implemented.  They also announced that Bing will be coming to the 360, making finding things in their store look ridiculously easy compared to how things are now.  A few more mentioned of You Tube, Hulu,  and Minecraft helped cement Microsoft's Xbox 360 to be the system you want control of your living room setup.

The Future:  Microsoft is looking comfortable with where they're at.  They're beginning to bring their original vision - the set top box that would route all your entertainment needs through one system - to life.  The Kinect is looking cool enough for me to actually consider getting one, too.  But where are they headed from here?  They look almost a little too comfortable where they're at.  I'm thinking we're going to see a big announcement from them next year, but for now, they're not going anywhere.

So Who Won?

Looking for the three presentations, I would have to say Sony is in the best spot right now.  Despite the attacks on their network, they showed great poise and confidence in their offerings.  Sony has learned what consumers expect a game system to cost, what a portable system can do, and are showing what they've got with the entry level 3D televisions.  Will any of it take off?  Time will tell, but without these important first few steps unveiled this year, Sony is showing their commitment to at least trying, and making sense when they do.

Nintendo, on the other hand, is trying to be original and unique for the sake of doing so, and I think this time it's really going to cost them.  The new controller has its own hang ups (only can use one of these on any given system, can't buy more, and looks rather cumbersome), but with no mention of something that is becoming more and more important to consumers, the online presence, Nintendo may still be stuck in the stone age.  

Time will tell, of course on everything we've seen this past E3.  There's some fantastic looking games coming out for all of the systems, and I can honestly say each one has a title I'll be purchasing this fall.  We here at Video, Gaming at 30 are looking forward to seeing what comes of it all, and reporting on them.  Until then, Happy Gaming.

The Ones to Watch - June 2011

What a month for gaming.  The Playstation Network and store are finally back up despite still being attacked, E3 is next week, and we have a slew of game announcements and leaks hitting us regularly.  Why not take your mind off of all the future releases by focusing on what's coming out this month?

inFAMOUS 2 - PS3 - 6/7/11

inFAMOUS was very well received when it first came out.  This open world style sandbox game had some of its thunder stolen when it was so closely released to Prototype, a similar non-exclusive game, but this time inFAMOUS 2 gets to stand on its own merit.  What's more, North American PSN customers will be able to download the first game and get hooked for free within the next few days, so if you're like me and never got the chance to pick up the first one, there's no excuse now.


Red Faction: Armageddon - Multi Platform - 6/7/11

Red Faction is a series that has always found its niche of players.  Never quite hitting mega popularity, but always bringing some innovation to the table, with this one taking place on Mars (note the little Syfy logo on the box).  We'll see how this one shakes out, but I wouldn't get my hopes up based on their track record.



Alice: Madness Returns - Multi Platform - 6/14/11

Alice: Madness Returns is the sequel to a game that came out on PC over a decade ago called American McGee's Alice.  It spun the idea that Alice really just went insane and dreamed the whole thing, and was a much darker interpretation of the Alice in Wonderland story.  The sequel promises more of the same, and an announcement allowing players to download the original adds value to this package.  If you're a fan of Tim Burton, keep your eyes on this one.


Duke Nukem Forever - Multi Platform - 6/14/11

Above this picture are words I thought I would never type.  Duke Nukem Forever .. with a release date.  Duke, having beaten the rapture, has gone gold, and will be coming out later this month.  The question on everybody's mind is "Is it going to be worth the wait?".  I'm as happy as anybody to see Duke back, but there's just too much hype and pressure being placed on this one to be what everybody wants it to be.  Duke, I hope I'm wrong.


The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 3DS - 6/19/11

Quite possibly the only legit reason to own a Nintendo 3DS. If you never have had the chance to play what's considered by most gamers to be the best game ever made, well, here's your chance.  Forget the 3D gimmicks and get yourself ready for the Water Temple, Ocarina of time hits on the 19th.


Dungeon Siege 3 - Multi Platform - 6/21/11

I'm a bit torn by Dungeon Siege 3.  The first one was an enjoyable romp.  The second one never grabbed me.  Square Enix is not anywhere near to being on a hot streak right now.  There's a lot going for and against this title.  If you wanted more of a Baldur's Gate type feel out of Dragon Age 2, you might want to check this one out.


F.3.A.R. - Multi Platform - 6/21/11

F.3.A.R. (or F.E.A.R 3)'s predecessors brought slow motion combat combined with a hell of a creepy atmosphere to consoles.  The closest I could compare the series to is if Resident Evil were to meet Black Ops.  If you're interested in this one and haven't played F.E.A.R. 2, you can pre-order at Gamestop and get it for free.


Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition - Multi Platform - 6/28/11

Capcom continues to milk their Street Fighter franchise and the rebirth of the 2D fighter by beating it like a dead horse.  This edition adds four new fighters, including "Evil Ryu".  C'mon Capcom, we saw how Mortal Kombat did their release.  I think it's time to step up the game a bit, and do something besides just making your game title longer.


That's pretty much it for June.  It's quite the load, but there's a few gems in there as well as a few "wait and sees".  Looking forward to July, it looks pretty quiet except for movie tie ins, and can anybody tell me what Catherine is and why I would want the deluxe edition?