Review: Mistborn – The Deckbuilding Game

Introducción

Assume the role of a Mistborn, ingesting and burning metals to access a lethal arsenal of superpowers. You will burn Steel to propel coins like bullets at your opponents; Pewter to gain superhuman strength; and Tin to sharpen your senses, among many other powers. Will you focus on Steel and Iron to become a direct damage powerhouse? Will you specialize in Bronze and Copper to hide from opponents and seek new powers in the card market? Or will you prefer a generalist approach, constantly surprising your opponent with a wide variety of new abilities?

This is how Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game, designed by John D. Clair (Mystic Vale, Cubitos), is presented to us. First published in 2024 by Brotherwise Games in an English version. The illustrations are handled by a large cast of artists led by Johnny O’Neal and Katie Payne.

It is published in Spanish by Devir (the game has slight language dependence on some cards, in addition to the rulebook). It allows for games of 1 to 4 players, with a suggested minimum age of 13 and an approximate duration of between 30 and 60 minutes. The recommended retail price is 40€. For this review, a copy of the Spanish version from Devir was used, which the publisher kindly provided to us.

Importante: si ya conoces el juego y/o sólo te interesa mi opinión sobre el mismo, puedes pasar directamente al apartado de Opinión. Los apartados Contenido y Mecánica están destinados especialmente a aquellos que no conocen el juego y prefieren hacerse una idea general de cómo funciona.

Ir a la Opinión Personal

Contenido

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom), with dimensions 26.7×26.7×5.1 cm (a medium square box similar to Looot), we find the following components:

• 4 Player Training Boards (cardboard)
• 4 Player Health Dials (cardboard)
• 16 Player Tracking Cubes (4 of each color) (wood)
• 160 Medium Cards (63×88 mm.):
  • 40 Starter Cards (10 for each player)
  • 82 Market Cards
  • Lord Ruler Card
  • Dominance Track Card
• 36 Lord Ruler Challenge Cards
• 12 Large Cards (69.78×120.25 mm.):
  • 4 Character Cards
  • 8 Mission Cards
• 32 Metal Tokens (8 for each player) (cardboard)
• 16 Atium Tokens (cardboard)
• 14 Coin Tokens (cardboard)
• Target Marker (cardboard)
• Lord Ruler Dial (cardboard)
• 8 Lord Ruler Tracking Cubes (wood)
• Rulebook

Mecánica

Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is a deck-building game set in the world of Scadrial, where players take on the roles of powerful Mistborn competing against each other. The main objective is to build a stronger deck by buying and removing cards from the central market using coins to trigger offensive or mission-based strategies. At the beginning of their turn, the active player plays cards from their hand of five, burning metals represented by double-sided markers to boost their action cards’ abilities. These actions allow them to deal direct combat damage, progress on the active mission track to earn rewards, gain coins, or heal health. Players can also advance on their training track to unlock new abilities and the capacity to burn more metals per turn. It is possible to use more metals than the training track allows, but they become locked until they are refreshed using a corresponding card type. The game is won by completing all mission tracks or by eliminating all opponents.

Conceptos Básicos

Let’s start with the Training Board. Each player has one of these boards. On it, there is a training track along which the player’s Tracking Cube will advance at the beginning of each turn, and it can also be advanced through certain card effects. In certain positions, we find icons that unlock permanent upgrades for the rest of the game or immediate bonuses. At the top, we have eight slots for the metal reserve.

Metals are the main resource of the game. These are represented by physical tokens. There are 8 basic types (Iron, Steel, Tin, Pewter, Zinc, Brass, Copper, and Bronze). Players manage these tokens in their play area. During their turn, they can “burn” them (use them and return them to their reserve) to activate cards, or “flare” them (flip them to their dark side) to exceed their burn limit, at the cost of leaving them unusable until they are refreshed (usually by discarding cards). Metals act as the “fuel” that allows firing the abilities of action cards and allies. A flared metal can be reset using cards that allow it. The limit of metals a player can burn without flaring depends on their training track as well as the abilities of certain allies. There is a ninth metal, Atium, which will be obtained by reaching a certain level on the training track. If the last space is reached, each step that the marker would otherwise advance will provide an Atium token. It acts as a universal wildcard: it can be used to pay for costs of any other metal or to boost Atium cards. In addition, this metal allows activating one of the ways to achieve victory through the Confrontation card (which must first be purchased from the market).

As a deck-building game, the fundamental axis of the game are the Cards. Each player starts with an initial deck of ten cards, to which they can add new cards present in a market. These cards show their cost in coins in the upper left corner. When a player buys a card, it will be placed in the player’s discard pile and will not be shuffled until the draw deck is exhausted, allowing the new cards added in the last cycle to be drawn. We will find two types of cards. On one hand, action cards (vertical), which represent techniques and powers that the player uses and discards during their turn. These cards indicate the metal needed to activate their main ability. In the text box, they detail the basic effect and, often, boosted effects if additional metals or Atium are burned. In the lower right, they show a vial with a “pair of metals,” indicating what other effects they can serve as fuel for, potentially triggering some additional benefit if used in this way. On the other hand, we have ally cards (horizontal), which represent support characters that remain in play turn after turn until defeated. In addition to their cost, they show a defense value and effects that are activated if the player burns the metal associated with them. Some allies possess the “Defender” keyword, protecting the player from direct attacks, and must be defeated before being able to attack the player. To defeat an ally, it will be necessary to deal as much damage as its defense value.

With the coins generated, players will not only be able to buy cards but also Coin Tokens. These work as coins that can be used in subsequent turns and are not lost at the end of a turn, something that does happen with the coins generated by card effects.

To manage character health, the game includes health dials. These have two wheels that allow tracking life points. One dial marks the tens (with values 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4) and another the units (with values between 0 and 9). Each time a player receives an attack, they must reduce the value indicated on their dial by the corresponding amount. In turn, players can gain healing points, raising the amount of life points on the dial. If a player runs out of life points, they are eliminated from the game. Defeating all rivals will be one of the paths to victory.

In games with more than two players, the Target Marker comes into play. The player in possession of this marker will be the only one the rest of the players can attack, so they cannot inflict damage on each other. Instead, the player with the target marker will inflict all the damage they generate on all players (each player receives the same amount of damage, it is not split). When the player with the target marker receives damage, they can decide to pass it on to another player (not necessarily the player who attacked them).

The third of the paths to achieve victory is to be the first to complete the three Missions that are set up at the beginning of the game. Each card shows a track of 12 spaces that players must climb by earning mission points. Along the way, there are reward icons that are obtained upon reaching or exceeding certain spaces. There are exclusive bonuses for the first player to reach certain intermediate milestones and for the first to complete the mission. Each player will have a set of Tracking Cubes. Three of them will be used on these Mission Cards to indicate progress on the victory tracks. In the missions, the relative position of these cubes (who is higher or lower) is relevant for certain card effects. The remaining cube will be used to mark the current power level of the Allomancer on the personal board track.

Finally, we must talk about the Character Cards. These represent a specific protagonist from the story. The card shows the character’s name and a series of sealed abilities that correspond to specific spaces on the Training Board. Thus, we will have three abilities:

• Signature Metal Ability: a unique ability that is activated by burning the character’s specific metal.
• Purchase Ability: a common capacity that allows, once per turn, to discard a newly purchased card to execute its effect immediately.
• Atium Ability: an effect that is activated whenever the character uses Atium.

With this, we have enough.

Preparación de la Partida

1. The mission cards are shuffled and three of them are revealed, placing them in the center of the table. The rest are returned to the box.
2. A general reserve is formed with coins and Atium.
3. The market deck is shuffled and placed face down in the center of the table. After this, the first six cards are revealed to form the market.
4. Each player is given a randomly selected character card and receives the components associated with it:
   • A training board (which they place in their play area).
   • A deck of initial cards associated with the character.
   • 4 Tracking Cubes (they place one on the first space of the training board track and the other three at the beginning of the tracks of each mission card).
   • 8 Metal Tokens, which must be placed in the spaces marked on the training board.
   • A life dial set to 36 health points.
5. Each player shuffles their initial deck and draws 5 cards to form their hand.
6. The market deck is shuffled and placed in the center of the table.
7. The top 6 cards of the market deck are revealed and arranged in a row to form the “market.”
8. All “boxings” and Atium metal tokens are placed near the market, forming a general reserve within reach of all players.
9. The mission cards are shuffled, 3 are revealed at random, and the others are put away.
10. Three tracking cubes of each player’s color are taken, and one is placed on the image located on the right side of each of the three mission cards.
11. A player is chosen to be the start player. The second player receives 2 additional health points. The third player (if there is one) receives 4 additional health points. And the fourth player (if there is one) receives 4 additional health points and one coin.
12. In 3/4 player games, the target marker is given to the player sitting to the right of the start player.

We are ready to begin!

Desarrollo de la Partida

A game of Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game takes place over an indeterminate number of turns alternated by the players, starting with the start player and continuing clockwise.

In each turn, the active player must resolve these steps in strict order:

1. Training. The active player begins their turn by improving their capabilities. To do this, they must advance the training meter, moving their tracking cube one space to the right on their personal training track. If the cube reaches or exceeds a reward icon, the player immediately obtains the benefit. This may include permanently increasing the limit of metals they can burn per turn, obtaining Atium tokens, or unlocking special abilities on their character card.
2. Actions. The active player can perform the following actions in any order and as many times as their cards and resources allow:
   • Play cards. Cards are played from the hand to the play area to activate their basic effects or prepare them to be boosted.
   • Burn metals. The player can place (“burn”) their metal tokens on action cards to activate their abilities. The number of tokens that can be used is limited by the current level on the training track.
   • Flare metals. Once the limit of metals the player can burn is reached, they can flip a metal token to its dark side. A flared metal counts for activating abilities but cannot be used again in future turns until it is refreshed.
   • Use cards as metals. A card from the hand can be played rotated sideways to act as one of the metals indicated in its lower vial. This does not consume the turn’s metal burn limit.
   • Refresh metals. The player can discard a card from their hand to return a “flared” metal token whose type appears in the card’s vial to its normal state, allowing it to be used again in the same turn.
   • Activate abilities. The abilities of allies in play or the unlocked capacities of the character card can be activated.
   • Advance in missions. If the player has generated mission points, they can move their cubes on the mission tracks. If they reach a level with rewards, they will receive the indicated benefit (if they are the first player to reach it, they will get an additional bonus).
   • Buy from the market. The player can spend the coins generated in the turn or coin tokens to acquire new cards from the market. Purchased cards go directly to the discard pile and are replaced immediately. Unspent coins are lost at the end of the turn.
   • Buy coins. The player can use coins generated in the turn to buy coin tokens at a rate of two generated coins per coin token purchased. Coin tokens are not lost (generated coins are) and can be used in a later turn.
3. Combat. The player must assign the damage points generated during the previous step to their rivals. In a two-player game, the player attacks their rival, while in three or four-player games, if they are not the player with the target marker, they will attack this player, while if they are the player with the target marker, they will simultaneously attack all players (each player receives all the damage points generated, it is not split). When assigning damage points, there are two options:
   • Attack allies. The player can assign damage to eliminate the opponents’ allies. To eliminate an ally, the assigned damage must be equal to or greater than its defense value in a single attack. The ally is placed in the player’s discard pile. If the player has an ally with a defender ability, it will be mandatory to eliminate this ally before being able to assign damage to the player. If an ally does not have this ability, it is not necessary to eliminate it to be able to attack the player.
   • Attack players. The remaining damage is directed at the health of the affected opponent or opponents, who will deduct it from their life dial.
4. Maintenance. Proceed as follows:
   • Clean the play area. All played cards (except allies) and cards remaining in the hand are placed in the discard pile. Used metal tokens return to the reserve area (maintaining their “flared” state if applicable).
   • Draw. The player draws 5 new cards from their deck. If at any time there are no cards left in the deck, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new one.

After this, the turn passes to the next player.

Fin de la Partida

The game ends immediately when a player meets any of the three victory conditions, immediately declaring themselves the winner. The victory conditions are:

• Completed missions: reach the top on all three mission tracks.
• Last survivor: eliminate the other players, being the last player alive.
• Confrontation: play 4 Atium tokens on the Confrontation card.

Variantes

Solo mode. The objective is to defeat the Lord Ruler by reducing their health to 0 or playing 4 Atium tokens on the Confrontation card before their deck runs out or the player loses all their health. The Lord Ruler uses a deck of cards and a Dominance meter, which increases the difficulty of the effects marked with an “X”. After completing a turn normally, a Lord Ruler card is revealed and its effects are applied. These can be:

• Adversaries: minions that remain in play with constant negative effects until you destroy their shields through damage.
• Edicts: immediate events that increase Dominance, attack the market, and, crucially, heal the Lord Ruler for each mission you have not completed.

Cooperative mode. All players share the victory if they defeat the Lord Ruler (reducing their health to 0 or completing the Confrontation card), while they are defeated if the Lord Ruler’s deck runs out or they eliminate the entire team. Players cannot attack each other, but they can use cards to protect teammates and attack adversaries that are in front of any player, not just their own. The Lord Ruler’s mechanic includes “collective” effects in their Edicts, which allows deciding strategically how to distribute the damage among the group.

Opinión Personal

One of the “problems” I face daily is managing my “leisure time.” Most of it is absorbed by this wonderful world of modern board games. Not just because of the number of hours I dedicate to playing per week, but also because of the, probably greater, amount of time I dedicate to generating content, both in this blog and on the podcast (Más Madera, for those who don’t know it).

We would all like to have more time, but in the end, we have to choose. And the reality is that I am still passionate about trying new games and analyzing what they propose and explaining to you in a more or less reasoned way the sensations they transmit (with more or less success, but always with honesty).

The “bad” thing about this choice is that I have little margin for other hobbies that I also enjoy. And one of them is reading. The years when I would get hooked on a book and spend hours devouring its pages are far behind. The consequence? That there are certain books and sagas that have been building up collectively but that I haven’t had time to enjoy.

And one of those literary universes that has gained the most followers during those years in which I have read more rulebooks than anything else is that of Cosmere by another tireless soul, Brandon Sanderson, a true machine for producing fantasy literature.

It was a matter of time before that entire universe was used to set a board game. And the moment has arrived with this Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game. So it’s time to put it under the microscope of the tocho-reviews, but not before thanking Devir for the review copy that makes it possible.

Obviously, the first thing I have to warn you about is that as an absolute stranger to the entire universe devised by Sanderson, my approach will be purely mechanical. So from now on, I ask those who know the story on which the design is inspired and have played a few games to leave in the comments to what extent the game is adequately set in the story of the books.

Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is a confrontational deck-building game in which players will compete to achieve victory through three possible paths. The first and most direct is to eliminate their rivals, since each player will have a life point counter. If it reaches zero, they will be eliminated from the game.

The second is to be the first to complete three missions that are configured at the beginning of the game. Each of these presents a track of ten positions, with three rewards (two intermediate ones that will be more powerful for the first player to reach them and one in the final space only for the first to reach the top).

The third and most complicated of all requires having purchased a special card and employing a series of resources that are difficult to accumulate for a good part of the game. Only in the event that it drags on without any of the contenders reaching victory through one of the previous paths can it become a more or less viable option.

In each turn, the active player must manage their hand of cards. Cards that can be of two types: action and ally. Allies are played directly, have no cost, and stay in the play area at the end of the turn, so that, as long as they are not discarded, they will provide their effects in subsequent turns. Action cards will have a cost in metals to be able to apply their effect.

Metals are the distinctive element of the game and, from what I have informed myself, of the Mistborn saga. Allomancy is the art that allows Mistborn to ingest specific metals that they “burn” (magically metabolizes them) in their stomach. The metal acts as a catalyst, granting them a specific ability according to the metal.

Thus, each action card will require “burning” a specific metal to be able to carry out its effect. These metals are represented by coins of eight different metals arranged on the player’s personal board. The amount of metals that the player can “burn” will depend on the player’s ability, which will progress during the game.

Does this mean that this limit determines the number of actions a player can resolve in a turn? Not necessarily, since, once reached, that is, when a player has assigned as many of these tokens to cards as their limit allows, they will have the option to “flare” other metals to execute more actions, provided those metals are available (each metal can be used once each turn while available), with the trade-off that that flared metal will remain inactive (it is flipped), not being able to be used until it is reactivated.

Alternatively to using metals, it will be possible to use other cards as “fuel” to activate actions. Each action card is linked to the metal that allows activating its effect, as well as its twin metal. In the Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game magic system, the metals are related to each other such that each pair is composed of a pure metal and an alloy that includes said pure metal. Thus, we have the pairs iron-steel, tin-pewter, zinc-brass, and copper-bronze. If a card requires a specific metal, it can serve to assume the cost of a card that requires said metal or its pair. For example, a card that requires iron can be used to activate a card that requires iron or steel.

This cost system is, as I have already said, the most characteristic thing about the game and which, from what I have informed myself by reading on some web portals, I understand is very well integrated thematically. I suppose the names given to the actions of the cards will be very related to the powers conferred by the different metals, although I haven’t gone that far.

I refer to the names because the effects are nothing out of the ordinary and there the thematic connection will be weaker. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is, in essence, a game like Star Realms (here is its tocho-review) or Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game (here is its tocho-review) with a small twist regarding metals. A twist that suits the game very well because it raises the card hand management mechanic in a very interesting way, which you know I feel is fundamental in a game whose main mechanic is deck building, without relying on other mechanics (as is the case).

The premise is basically the same, that is, to prevail over the rival or rivals, usually by direct attack on a life point counter by activating card effects. In all three games, we have two types of cards, some that will be played from the hand to apply their effects and others that will remain in play boosting subsequent turns and/or serving as a defensive shield. In this sense, they are almost identical games, and it is normal that they transmit similar sensations to you. So if you enjoy Star Realms or Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, you will enjoy this Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game.

It also shows two important differences compared to these two. The first is the alternative ways to achieve victory. It seems like a success to me because it enriches the set of effects of the decks, which are not limited exclusively to inflicting damage, recovering life points, and generating purchasing points, but now we will have an effect related to progress in the missions, which disperses attention and opens strategic paths.

The second is the issue of progression on the training track, which functions as a kind of game timer. At first, it does not allow players too many frills as far as burning metals is concerned. But as the turns pass, players will see their room for maneuver expanded, being able to burn more metals without having to lock them or activating passive effects associated with a metal related to their character, which means a slight point of asymmetry. And, if the game drags on, the players will begin to generate Atium, a ninth and powerful metal that enables a third costly but very direct path to victory.

Another particularity of the design is that, unlike Star Realms (at least in its initial versions) and Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game admits up to four players, adding a combat system that is reminiscent of King of Tokyo in the sense that one player will have a target marker and the rest of the rivals will only be able to attack them, while they will multiply their attacks on all rivals. Only when this player receives an attack will they be able to decide to yield the target marker to another player.

The problem with this system is that it implies player elimination. It is true that, due to how the design works, it is rare for a player to be eliminated when the game still has many turns left to resolve, but the possibility is there. All in all, the feeling I get is that it works best with two players, and I would only play it with three or four if all participants know the design and there is no great imbalance as a consequence of bad decisions made by a novice player.

I am also not convinced by the training track issue. The idea that it acts as a timer and booster for the turns doesn’t seem bad to me, but the system does, since it is tremendously easy that, as it is a relatively trivial step, forgetting to execute it at the beginning of the turn.

Finally, it is appreciated that players can buy coins when they are overflowing with purchase points and there is nothing that interests them in the market or they do not have enough coins to acquire the desired card. Coins that will be kept in the personal reserve until they are used.

As for replayability, it is a game that sees the table easily if you enjoy the mechanic. It is deployed quickly on the table and the games will take place within a contained time interval, being rare that, even playing with four, the matter lasts an hour. If we add to this that the deck is relatively generous and there are several strategies to explore along with the variability added by the characters and the different mission cards, I think there are enough incentives to deploy it on the table with some regularity.

Let’s move on to production. We find decent finishes, with cards of an acceptable weight, smooth texture, and decent elastic response (it is advisable to sleeve to avoid marks). The cardboard elements show a somewhat tight thickness but good pressing, so the punching is relatively comfortable. And the wooden cubes for the tracks are of a suitable size. And the rulebook could perhaps have been structured in a different way because locating some concepts is not as easy as it might seem, but it is not an insurmountable challenge either.

As for the visual aspect, I understand that a lot of stock material has been used due to the huge number of credited illustrators, but I cannot state it for sure. Personally, it seems to me that it shows a correct finish, with a correct weight between images and effects. But as I am not an expert in the franchise, I wouldn’t know how to say if the representation is sufficiently faithful (again, I await your comments).

And let’s wrap this up. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is a design that, although it is reminiscent of several previous designs with a similar premise, that is, supply in the form of a river and with a main dynamic of attacks between players seeking to reduce their life points, stands out slightly above them thanks to the metal system, which enriches decision-making regarding hand management. It is not that it is a radical change, but it will cause each turn to be a small optimization challenge, which prevents turning on the autopilot since you can apply the effects of all or almost all the cards in hand. Although I don’t know the lore of the saga, an effort is appreciated to implement certain elements thematically, such as the issue of metals, which is appreciated. As the biggest negative aspect, I don’t like that there is player elimination in games of more than two and having to be aware of advancing a track at the beginning of the turn, as it is easy to forget it. A good deck-building game that, without being especially surprising, fulfills its function in a solvent way, even if you don’t know anything about the story in which it is set. For all this, I give it a…