Designer: D. Brad Talton, Jr

So just how meta do you like your games?

Millenium Blades is about collectable card games – but it ISN’T one. Instead, it’s about the collectable card scene. Players play as your typical nerds playing a Magic-the-Gathering-like game, trying to acquire rarer cards to play in tournaments. They will open boosters and collect rare cards, acquire deckboxes and card sleeves to protect their cards (and give more points), and try to find broken combos to win local tournaments. And a lot of this with in-jokes that laughs at hardcore gaming and geek culture in general.

But this is all a boardgame. A boardgame about being a card game champion. I know, it’s very confusing.

Interesting Mechanic: Buying Expansion Packs. I just like the fact that opening a ‘pack’ of cards just gives you a single rare card, which mimics how most high-level players treat collectable card games.

Favorite Game Component: Stacks of Cash. A lot of games have boring paper bills. This one has boring paper bills — but wrapped with a wrapper to form a ‘stack of cash’. It’s actually the first time that I’ve found paper money to be anywhere near as cool as gold coins.

Millennium Blades is a complex, chaotic game that won’t be for everyone, but if you are at all familiar with hardcore gaming and especially the competitive collectable card scene, it is fascinating, hilarious and deep.

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(Photo Credit: Shut Up and Sit Down)