Summoner Wars has been going strong for over ten years, and the Alliances Master Set is the pinnacle of the series.  For those of you that haven’t been paying much attention to this incredible game, I’m going to start with a brief overview and extol its virtues.  Then I’ll dive into ranking and discussing many of the 40 unique faction decks that have been released, which make for over 1,000 different thrilling match-ups to try (and that’s without any deck construction).

The journey started in 2009 with the release of two simple, unassuming base sets.  Each came with 2 faction decks, a plain paper mat, dice, and wound markers — everything you need to play.  The game is a two-player card-based combat game where your goal is to eliminate your opponent’s leader using your faction deck’s unique unit and event cards.  The original base sets featured Prince Elien of the Phoenix Elves squaring off against Grognack of the Tundra Orcs, and Oldin of the Guild Dwarves lined up against Sneeks of the Cave Goblins.  Many of you probably played the game back then and never gave it a second thought.  The game has come a long way since then, in both intricate mechanisms and quality components, so it very much deserves a second look.

The game was first expanded through a series of faction decks in 2010 and 2011.  These decks required a base set to play the game, but could be matched up against each other or any of the earlier factions in any combination.  This is when we were introduced to Ret-Talus of the Fallen Kingdom, Sera Eldwyn of the Vanguards, Vlox of the Cloaks, and Abua Shi of the Jungle Elves.  These were not my favorite decks as I’ll discuss later, but they do contribute nicely to the incredible variety of the possible match-ups.

Summoner Wars really hit its stride in 2011 when the Master Set was released.  The game finally got the beautiful (and still very functional) mounted board that it always deserved, but more importantly, the designer Colby Dauch worked up six great new factions and put them all in this set.  It’s a fantastic entry point for the series despite its somewhat misleading name.  The Master Set included Selundar of the Shadow Elves, Tacullu of the Benders, Sunderved of the Mountain Vargath, Krusk of the Sand Goblins, Tundle of the Deep Dwarves, and Mugglug of the Swamp Orcs.  I love how the descriptor in the faction name is not just window dressing.  There are three distinct kinds of elves (Phoenix, Jungle, and Shadow) each with their own feel and style, and the same goes for orcs (Tundra and Swamp), dwarves (Guild and Deep), and goblins (Cave and Sand).

At its essence, Summoner Wars is essentially what would happen if the classic 1940s board game Stratego grew up in a post-D&D, post-Magic world.  I loved Stratego as a kid, and I enjoy games with a lot of setup variability, so it’s no surprise that I see Summoner Wars as a huge achievement in game design.  The precision of the wording on the cards, the functional nature of the thematic ability descriptions, and the even-handedness of the diverse matchups make for a game that showcases the designer’s incredible attention to detail in a way that makes playing the game even easier and more enjoyable than almost anything comparable out there.