In the distant and dangerous future, our world’s power rests between opposing forces known as factions. Both with unique strengths and tricks up their sleeves, the balance of that power is in a constant tug of war. Which side will you choose, and will you be able to lead your faction to victory, or will you crumble under the might of your enemy? Well – are you ready to find out?

What Is It?

Master of Wills is a 2 or 4 player deck construction* game where you use community cards to move points (on said cards) around and get them on your side of the board. You’ll also use the cards to gain faction card actions which range from simple actions to legendary cards and can be powerful in helping to annihilate your opponent’s points.

*You may also see this one called a deck builder, but to me that is a game where you build your deck throughout the game (like Dominion or Legendary). In this game you create your faction deck before the game begins, so I see it as more deck construction. It’s a lot of semantics and just comes down to how you personally classify these types of games really. Anywho, moving on….

Who Is It For?

The game itself recommends ages 13+ and I’d say that’s probably generally accurate. If you have young gamers familiar with other similar mechanics though, they could probably pick this one up a little earlier (10+) because it’s not that difficult.

I’d also say this one is good for those who like trying to pre-plan a strategy by constructing their action card decks before the game starts. And it is a great 2-player game so if you and you’re significant other, best friend, roomie, et cetera,  are constantly looking for things specifically geared toward only 2, this is a solid choice.

Quality of Components

The cards are really nice. They’re a nice size and very sturdy. The art is also really great and everything on the cards is very vibrant and clear. The board and cards all have a great layout and it’s organized well over all. No quality complaints here!

PROS

  • Balance in building decks by setting cards limits, but also still lets you bring a nice variety
  • Plays pretty quickly, especially once you know the mechanics
  • The casual game recommended in the rules is an awesome way to learn the game. We did this for our first play and it was great! (No deck construction, just using the whole decks)
  • Neat concept, and very streamlined!

CONS

  • Can be a little AP prone because you have to try to plan a few moves ahead to beat out your opponent.
  • The game claims on the box to be 2 to 4 players, but it’s really more of a 2 or 4 player game. Not that bad, as it wouldn’t make much sense with 3, but definitely something to note.
  • It’s big for what it is – you could probably play without the board and cut down on the space with a different box. But the board is cool too, so it’s not the worst that it’s a bit bigger.
  • The rulebook print is a little small for my taste, gives me a headache.

Difficulty

I’d probably give this one a 3/5 for difficulty – right in the middle. The concept of moving stuff around and gaining actions isn’t very difficult, but you have to be meticulous in your choices and plan ahead in order to  make sure your opponent isn’t getting more points on their side than you are. There’s a very nice balance of strategy and variability in gameplay!

Final Thoughts

As you may have been able to tell, I really enjoyed this game (*Gasp* What? No! YES, it’s true!). There are so many possibilities when constructing the decks and then what comes out and how the game will play out, it’s different every single time! It’s something I’m willing to play multiple times in a row because it’s pretty quick and I’m able to change out different faction cards to try new strategies. It’s a really neat game and I highly recommend it especially to pairs looking for new 2-player games.

Happy Gaming!~

Additional Information:
Publisher – Stormcrest Games
Designer – Randy Van Gelder
Artist – Joshua Calloway
BGG

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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