Millennium Blades Review

There's something special about explaining the concept of Millennium Blades to the uninitiated. Here’s the pitch - "it's a board game simulation about playing through a collectible card game season with real-time buying of boosters and deck-building in preparation for mini-tournaments." You can see the exact moment their brain begins to cave in on itself and their head implodes leaving a horrific mess.

The concept is intriguing, even to someone like me who hasn't even played a CCG competitively. I've circled around “serious” play with Decipher's take on Star Wars and the amazing Netrunner, but I never quite made it to the big leagues. This is a key component of this game's magic as it condenses a meta-level journey into a compact two hour experience in an extremely gratifying manner. This isn't a cut-price bootleg; rather Millennium Blades takes the extra step and puts you at the scene. You’re not looking at Uncle Eddie’s spread of polaroids, you’re standing at the Grand Canyon yourself.

There are two distinct phases to this game that work together in perfect harmony. The more interesting area of play exists in that of the deck-building portion. In real-time with the clock ticking, players hastily scramble to buy booster packs, trade in cards for promos, and buy/sell to the aftermarket.

All "packs" are abstracted into a single blind purchase from the store, the card you receive representing that sweet, sweet rare. That rush of throwing down money and tearing open a foil pack is mainlined through an IV and it gives you a jolt. It's visceral and it puts you in the moment through emotion and feeling.

Millennium Blades is all about emotion. Even the paper money consists of wads of bills taped together to give that raw sense of tossing fat stacks of cash towards chasing those expensive rares in your game store's glass case. When you flip that card and then need to hurry along and find a way to work it into your deck for the next tournament mini-game you have to quickly evaluate combos and synergy. The ball's in your court and it's up to you to get that magic deck-building swag on.

You're sweating and nervous as the timer ticks down and you're furiously separating cards between the storage "binder" area and the deck for the big stage. Pressure and performance is on as you need those precious Victory Points from placing high in the tournament to win the overall game.

When taken out of context the tournament aspect of this design is unimpressive. It's a simple tableau builder where you play a card from your hand to fill the next space in a line. There's a multitude of effects but they mostly boil down to scoring Ranking Points which determine how you will place in the tournament. There are a few clever elements and certainly room for creativity, but it's not altogether riveting.

However, the simple structure is elevated when contextualized around the framework of testing your deck. Those previous minutes and rounds spent bartering and flailing about all come down to that moment where you head to the arena and seek blood. There's a very emotional and satisfying connection to succeeding in the deck-building phase and watching your plan come together in the tournament. The time pressure and format tease out maximum payoff and this manages to snag that triumphant joy found in much longer games as you assemble an engine and watch it tear the world apart.

But sometimes you forget to include a card in your deck or lady luck decks you across the jaw. You hit the tournament and get messed up like an armless boxer. You have to pick yourself up and get back to the table to break down your atrocity of a card set and build something better. Sometimes you specifically build to counter that “Mr. Suitcase”-class jerkwad who assembled a ridiculously powerful combo. Sometimes you just take chances and swing for the fences. Regardless, you're invested and you're moving forward.

You have to put elbow grease into it for success, and the trophy of victory is worth the blood, sweat, and tears.

This is a fiddly game with piles of cards and a large footprint. But the experience is absolutely worth the lows because the highs extend out of sight. You spend a couple hours jumping into a pool of sharks and testing your nerves. It's an exciting, hugely replayable thrill-ride worth the wait in line.