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My my, how ominous 😶
Actual answer, first game would be Dominion (assuming I can bring my xpacs): tons of variety, is just fun, and in extremis it's a lot of kindling if it comes to it 🔥
For my second answer, I'm going to say Mage Knight. It's long and in-depth, has several game modes including both co-op and competitive, and if my islandmates are too concerned with stuff like "finding food" the solo is fantastic. This is a true island game, as I never play it usually, but with nothing to do and infinite time it seems perfect
I always love a round of dominion. Something that I am missing from other deckbuilders is this focus on a particular strategy (like when Remodel is there or Vassal+Sentry and so many more combos). Most other deckbuilders I play have a lot more random shop and thus do not allow to plan ahead that much.
Right?? I'm so mad the "trade row" style of Ascension is what took off instead of the "market" style of Dominion. It makes sense from a developer side as it's much easier to just make a stack of cards and let the variance balance the powerful stuff for you, but the ability and satisfaction to make long-term strategies makes market superior to me IMO.
If you haven't heard of it Aeons End is another fun deckbuilder that uses market-type randomization. It's cooperative and features enemies so it's not too similar to Dominion, but it's a fun time!
We have tried Aeons End but had no fun playing it. Its one of the few games we ever sold. Coop games are always a bit rough to be honest
Fair enough! It does have the downside of open information which means you could technically play the entire game by committee, which rubs some groups the wrong way. Sadly it's the only non-Dominion market deck builder I know of, but if you or anyone else has other suggestions I'd love to hear them 😊
To be fair Ascension is really good too and they have done some cool stuff with the trade row in some sets for example the day/night cards in War of Shadows. I didn't include Ascension in my island picks but I would be very happy if it turned up on the beach, especially if it's my favorite sets!