Card game games
The genre where deck building, hand management and resource timing decide the outcome.
What is the card game genre?
Card games are played in two stages: Away from the table you build a deck, and at the table you try to make the best of what you draw. This duality produces all of the genre's depth. A good deck can save a bad hand, and a bad deck can waste a good one.
The genre stretches from traditional card games to digital collectible card games and deck-builders where you rebuild your deck every run. What they share is managing probability: You cannot know what you will draw, but you decide the odds when you build your deck.
What defines it?
The real strategy is deciding which cards go into the deck before the game starts.
Whether to play a card now or wait for the right moment is a decision weighed constantly.
Luck is part of it, but you tilt it in your favor by designing your deck.
Energy or mana that grows each turn decides when cards can be played.
Landmark games
Well-known examples often used to explain the genre. For the list on our site, see the games section below.
At a glance
Card game games (9)
Frequently asked questions
What is a deck-builder?
It is a design where you build your deck during the game rather than outside it. After each encounter you add new cards, so every run produces a different deck.
Are card games down to luck?
There is always luck, because the cards are shuffled. But deck design, resource management and the order of play are what decide the result in the long run.