Deck Bulding_Article
(Deck) Building your Foreign Relations

In many of our posts and articles so far we have described World Order as a game combining deck-building with area control. We’ve already described in detail how area control works (you can check our article here). It is time to have a look at how the deck-building part works too!

Every player starts with their own deck of 12 Ability cards. Each round, you draw 6 of those cards and you use them to perform the actions that you want. These actions will fall into one of four categories: Diplomatic, Economic, Military and Domestic. The Diplomatic actions make use of your Diplomacy and allow you to either improve your relations with other countries (getting country cards from the board in front of you) or engage in regions, helping you increase your Influence there. Economic actions allow you to invest in countries and get Influence or trade with your allies (and/or other players) and either sell extra resources you have or get the ones you are missing. Military actions are all about your armies – they allow you to move your units across the board or use them to build bases in foreign countries, establishing a foothold there. Finally, the domestic actions help you with running your game as efficiently as possible. They will allow you to produce extra resources, get Growth cards, draw extra Ability cards or manipulate your deck to reach the cards you want faster. 

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Contrary to how most deck-building games work, the players’ starting decks in World Order are not identical. While they do share some common cards, the ratio of Diplomatic, Economic and Military Ability cards is different, reflecting each superpower’s different approach to foreign relations. On top of that, each deck contains 2 cards that are unique to that superpower, further reinforcing its thematic connection. 

During each round, players will take a total of 4 actions. Usually, each action will correspond to a single Ability card played but there are cases where this can change, with effects that allow you to play additional cards from your hand within the same turn. After you play all of your actions, you will (most likely) be left with a couple of cards in your hand. These cards serve 2 important roles: They provide you with some extra resources (usually money, but in some cases also diplomacy or armies) and also allow you to add more cards in your deck. You see, each Ability card has a Bonus section on its side. When you reveal the remaining cards in your hand, you get the bonuses listed on them. 

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The top bonus item will be something you just get, like money or resources. The bottom bonus will always be a number of Research points. Research is the currency you use in the game to get new cards. You just add the Research in the cards you revealed, and use that amount to “buy” new cards and add them to your deck. You choose the card you will take from a row of 6 revealed cards, we call the market. The fun part? You get to use the cards you buy right away since they go on the top of your deck making them available in the coming round. This not only allows you to reap the cards’ benefits right away, it also adds an interesting choice to make: Do you take a card that is better for your deck or do you choose based on what you want to definitely do in the next round and don’t want to leave it to the luck of the draw? 

Note also that you are not limited to a single card. As long as you have enough research, you can take any number of cards from the market. And if you are a few Research points short, your allies can come to the rescue and provide you with what you are missing. 

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While getting new cards and playing them right away is very fun, there are times you want to interact more with your deck, like drawing extra cards or removing some of them from the game permanently. Here is where Growth cards come in, giving you ongoing abilities that allow you to do all kinds of things with your deck!

The deck-building aspect provides you with lots of opportunities when you play. You can get the right tools to follow your strategy more effectively or you can find an answer to a problem you have at the right moment. You may stick to your guns and follow the path laid before you by your starting deck or you can explore new options and venture into new territories. 

The choice, as always, is yours! As we gear up for the Kickstarter launch on November 12th, be sure to stay tuned for more updates and insights. Don’t miss your chance to shape global politics—click “Notify Me” on Kickstarter to be among the first to support World Order! 

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