New to dice/CCG; Destiny vs Dicemasters

By Eyegor, in Star Wars: Destiny

I jumped into X-wing at wave 7 and have a very small collection so I am somewhat comfortable w/ FFG. I've followed SW:D news since first announcement but now can't get product off the shelf.

However, I can get DM sets at several locations to scratch my dice/CCG itch.

Why should I hold out and keep hoping to find Destiny at my LGS? Other than it is Star Wars, what does Destiny offer over DM?

I've never played either and trying to decide. I don't want "buy both" to be the answer but it might end up there. Thx

What does it have going for it? It's not Wizkids. FFG generally has higher quality products, in most respects anyways. I've grown quite dubious of... certain aspects of their game building, shall we say. It might not be the worst thing in the world to wait 8-12 months and see how things have panned out. That's my $0.02; it's still a very fun game, and you're likely to hear some positive things from other players.

Edited by WonderWAAAGH

Destiny Vs Dicemaster? I have both and think they're both really great games. I guess this is my Pros/Cons list.

Destiny

Pros - Detailed and involved gameplay. Decks provide a lot more play variation. No waiting for characters because they're already in play, which makes you feel like you're really playing actual characters more than dice. Better product quality.

Cons - Right now just distribution or lack thereof. Some characters are also unavailable outside Legendaries, like Vader and the upcoming Palpatine. Hopefully alternate versions of these characters will be available as less expensive Rares or starter pack characters.

Dicemaster

Pros - Less expensive. Faster game. Tons of dice rolling. Huge variety of characters from a number of comics and IPs. Each character usually has multiple rarity values, meaning you can get some version of your favorite characters super cheap.

Cons - QC issues with bent cards in boosters and dice not always stamped well.

Overall, both are worth having and even though I try not to buy a lot of similar board games to avoid redundancies, these dice/card games both feel unique enough to warrant collecting.

Hawkman's list is great and I would agree with all of that. The gameplay is not really similar at all aside from you ending up with dice pools in both games so it kind of depends on what you like!

  • Dicemasters plays like a deckbuilding game where you are buying dice to add to a bag to be drawn later. Strategy is around what you purchase and when and combat is much more like Magic with a declare attacker/blocker phase and trying to damage the other player directly after dealing with his summoned character dice.
  • Destiny has a deck of cards that you draw from and play, some of which allow you to bring dice in from outside the game to add to your heroes. Strategy is more around timing/tempo/ordering in resolving your dice that you rolled or event cards. Combat is more like Hearthstone where you just pick people to attack and damage.

Another thing to consider is the play group for Dice Masters and Destiny in your area. It kind of sucks dumping in a substantial amount of money with no one to play with.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Itch had to be scratched. I grabbed a DM Justice League starter and a few X-men and a couple Yu-Gi-O boosters just for variety. Haven't played yet but are enjoying the old school "primitive" style dice imprints. Even if I don't stay with DM, I'm glad I added some of the dice to my collection.

The search for Destiny continues.

Dicemasters is fun but dying, poor decisions by wizkids are killing it. Being cheap is a HUGE bonus though so it's easy and inexpensive to dabble. Destiny is retarded expensive by comparison and printing growing pains have put its future in question to some, others refuse to believe it can fail but that has been discussed to death. They play very very different though.

You'll find DM to be much more bursty, far more predictable play (everything you or your opponent use is in view) and it requires a much higher element of luck. You can have the best ever team possible in DM, you roll like crap, you lose it's that simple.

Destiny is much more *** for tat and the cards add a much deeper and controllable experience. Dice alone do not gurantee a win or loss and you can manipuale a lot more of the game. It does, already, have a pay to win side to it growing. People can say the cheap deck is viable and right now it might be with shortages and almost no options but it will degrade soon into every other ccg that a small few number of decks rule and the rest are casual garbage.

DM is a dice game using cards, Destiny is a card game using dice. Can't go wrong with either just don't over extend. Time will tell if either will make it.

Edited by LordFajubi
6 hours ago, Eyegor said:

Thanks everyone for the responses. Itch had to be scratched. I grabbed a DM Justice League starter and a few X-men and a couple Yu-Gi-O boosters just for variety. Haven't played yet but are enjoying the old school "primitive" style dice imprints. Even if I don't stay with DM, I'm glad I added some of the dice to my collection.

The search for Destiny continues.

Now that I think about it, you might want to give Ashes a shot. Great art, next to zero rules issues, minimal luck factor, and no collectability (that last one is a big plus for some people).

I bought and tried dice masters DnD. It was neat for a day or two, but never fully captured me. I bought Ashes and really liked it. I totally recommend it. The game play and deck building is fun. Its not a ccg but does suffer from small company limited expansion syndrome.

Destiny on the other hand, the dice are so cool, the theme, the deck building, I'm gushing because this is my game. I have an extra count Dooku die, I keep at work an roll randomly on my mouse pad as a stress reliever.

ashes is a cool little game. Conquest is the best card game ever but destiny is the cool little card and dice game.

Ashes is a nice game, but the stores around here just have the core set and not a whole lot else. Which highlights a rather important aspect of any game, for as good as the game may be, it isn't if you can't play it with anyone.

Destiny's current replacement program leaves some room to be desired. If you get a mismatched die and card, you need to show the receipt to get any help and then expect to wait quite a while for a replacement (they replace the card always, never the die). If a die face is incorrect, they still require a receipt and will send you a booster as a replacement (they never replace the die itself specifically). If a die is damaged out of the booster, I don't know of any replacement program coverage for that.

Fantasy Flight has a history of not keeping their product well in stock, so I predict Destiny to perpetually be hard to ever find in stores, regardless of their plans for reprints. Dicemasters on the other hand is much more readily available.

Dicemasters can support a draft format currently, Destiny cannot.

Dicemasters requires a starter of some sort to play the game, Destiny does not.

Dicemasters has more frequent releases than Destiny and more frequent Organized Play kits. Dicemasters' Organized Play occasionally introduce new cards not otherwise available whereas FFG has never done that for any of their product lines (FFG has for some of their games pre-released product that was later available at retail as prizes for Organized Play).

Dicemasters uses smaller, lighter dice with square edges whereas Destiny uses larger, heavier dice with rounded edges. For some, the tactile feel of the game matters.

Dicemasters is more color-blind friendly, with the one potential spot for confusion being the action dice. Not sure how easy to differentiate the four of those are. But there are multiple colors to choose from to represent the same cards, so in game if a player recognizes only two or three of the four are being used, they can make those few the easier to differentiate colors. Destiny does not use symbols to differentiate gameplay-impacting colors, but as I am not color-blind I do not know if the colors are generally easy to distinguish anyways.

Dicemasters has more total sets, dice, and cards in their game at this point, so there is more to collect.

Dicemasters has an official rules forum where you can ask questions about rules and have them answered. Destiny publishes FAQ's (less frequently than a Rules Forum can answer) based on questions submitted to their customer support.

Not sure how the cost to buy a tournament-worthy deck compares between the two games.

Not sure how the forums fans use compare in terms of popularity or general atmosphere.

Edited by anthonybarnstable