I just noticed how much Sam's beard matches his shirt.

Dice of Dominaria (the screen in the back lol)

This is a "Tom Quality" rules explanation, Sam. Really good job! Thanks!

I'm not sure this game has enough of a solid framework to survive without the theme, but with the theme I think it mostly works. Not something to rush right out for, but worth checking Target for a decent sale price.

You said it feels a bit short. Would you consider a variant in which everybody plays until they reach X amount of points or until idk, 2 global objectives have been depleted (ie accomplished both tiles of 2 objectives) instead of counting rounds?

That looks like the artwork from Dice Settlers on the screen in the background.

Just got this game at a swap meet. Love it, actually, but can only recommend it with one caveat: dig through your Artifact deck for Mirari, tear it up, then light the shreds on fire. As printed, it is completely bonkers BORKED. It's a straight-out OP "I win" card, especially if you can find one in the first half of the game. Maybe if you sacked it like Black Lotus, as a one-time effect it'd be great, but to pull in nearly triple the average mana EVERY FRELLING TURN is stupid O.P.. We pulled mine, and suddenly the game was way more fair.

I agree with Zee. I don't like the mismatched components.

Thank you for the video. Though to clarify Dominara is not the latest set though it is a more recent one, April 2018. Guilds of Ravnica is the latest one as of this month.

Tom’s kill the Secret Cabal joke has me rewind the video to make sure that’s what he said. Hahaha

The idea behind the 14+ is definitely because of legality issues. Apparently, a game marked for less than age 14 has many, MANY more hoops to jump through before getting released. 14+ just means you have less to worry about

Currently 5.7 on BGG. Let's see if it will increase by this review...

Great walkthrough Sam! Agree with Zee about how annoying it is to mix component styles. I think publishers should realize many gamers have organizational idiosyncrasies that they are passionate about. I am so bad that I hate mixing meeples and dice in Champions of Midgard. I just saw the dice tower preview for the ninja squad game that has great minis mixed with meeples and immediately know I won’t buy it.

I work in a hobby store; we sell a lot of board games and a ton of MTG (among other things.) I'm interested in who they think the target demographic of this product is. Is it board game consumers or MTG players? There's a lot of MTG players and they all play for different reasons. The three biggest reasons I notice as a retailer is (a) the versatility of the mechanics, (b) the competitive nature of the product, and (c) the rich lore and storyline which has been built for decades. Regarding these points, this game is completely non-saleable to the MTG crowd who prefer play because of points (a) and (b.) Point (c) is the remaining option here, and I feel that it doesn't go as far as actual MTG in this regard. This game is called HEROES of DOMINARIA, and you push little Karn and Teferi minis around, but it looks like a worker placement/action economy euro. Move pawn, collect resources, spend resources to build recursion engine parts & get points. For a game with the first word HEROES, you don't fight Bolas, you don't trap Eldrazi in the moon, you can't stop Ob Nixilus, you don't do anything heroic. One could argue that Lords of Waterdeep is very removed from the D&D mechanics & structures, but it's not called HEROES of Waterdeep; it's very fitting that the city big-wigs use real heroes as pawns and currency to fuel their power struggle for the city. You're playing a Mr. Monopoly Man, not an adventurer. So maybe it's for board game consumers then? If so, I'm confused as to why it has the MTG painted-on theme. I've noticed three main reasons board game consumers purchase a game: (1) they're casual consumers who enjoy a specific IP and don't know (or care) about game structures/mechanics (2) they're board game enthusiasts who know what they want from a game structurally/mechanically and don't care about theme (3) they're buying a gift. Regarding these points, I feel like (2) already has games like this. I would explain this like a mix of Agricola and Catan with no trading. Group (1) sounds like "People who love the MTG lore and wish there was a game about it," but there's already a popular game about the MTG lore: it's called MTG. And those people don't have any money for board games, they're buying booster boxes. I'm kinda leaning towards (3); this game is for aunts to buy for their nephews whom they may have seen carrying around binders of MTG cards and don't know what to get them for their birthday. "What kind of deck does your nephew play?" "I don't know." "Is he a new player, or has he been building a collection for years?" "I don't know." "Do you know what formats he typically plays in?" "What's a format?" "Here, get him this board game; it's fun, he'll like it." "Oh, I like board games; I played Monopoly 10 years ago!"

Tom didn’t mention this but, is it true that the designers of this game also designed “Lords of Waterdeep” and “Tyrants of the Underdark”? Cuz those games are really good. I might have to try this game if true.

I have never been an MTG player, though I do like the idea of it and enjoy the universe. This game could be perfect for someone like me, who won't play Magic due to the complete money sink that it is. I won't invest in a CCG, but I can much more easily justify a one time boardgame purchase.

I don't think the movement explanation was correct. It's based on the number of movement SYMBOLS revealed when recruiting heroes. The printed number is victory points. You start with one movement. You get two when you recruit your first hero. Three movement when you recruit your third. And four movement when you recruit your fourth hero.

Odd that nobody noticed Zee's Mark Rosewater reference. :D

Mox Sapphire, Tom... Mox Sapphire. ;-)

Wow super generous scores ... guaranteed to be on clearance by christmas

I might try it sometime but I guess I rather play an MTG match.

Is this better than lords of waterdeep? I adore that game .

Hope is at least half as good as Lords of Waterdeep

It's interesting that Sam hesitates to agree with Tom that this is a gateway game because "while it's easy to learn, it's hard to do well", but a while ago he said 7 Wonders is a gateway game, for the exact same reason.

I've never seen a game mix minis with meeples. It's so jarring to me.

Uncredited game designer, I think I've seen this more recently with other WizKids games as well. What is going on there? Does the designer want anonymity or are they just not giving credit where it's due?

This is how western legends felt to us. spend most of your turns just trying to make something else happening.

After the mess that was Arena, it will be a cold day in Hell before I back another WizKid's MTG game.

Loved magic since I was 14, but this is more of the same for magic boardgames... a bad boardgame just trying to tap that mtg junkie vein for those that moved to boardgames. Wizards NEEDS to hire an actual boardgame designer, imagine if this game was designed by Uwe Rosenberg!

Zee just hate mtg, that’s it, lol

Mtg with Victory points? gross

I'm an MTG player and this game is boring. I think it would have been more okay if it didn't have the MTG theme, cause then you wouldn't compare it to all the crazy stuff that happens in a game of magic. MTG is about summoning mighty armies and devastating spells with godlike powers. This game carries the MTG name and is about building leylines and paying 3 mana to gain victory points............ why make an MTG board game like this? Should have been a different theme, then the obvious euro-game design wouldn't be as jarring.

I've been a MtG player for the best part of the last 25 years and man... this game sucks. =(

okay its tiring to have to repeat this every time but can we please have Tom do the rules intro? or have Sam be more broad in his explanation. because Sam explains rules by literally playing a round of a game which achieves nothing as we dont know the general flow of how the game plays out.

Love card games but have no interest in MTG

This game is really bad. It’s bad for several reasons. It’s based on Dominaria set, this is a set from 6 months ago that’s 3 sets back. The hype to sell this game has passed. Though the hype really never existed It’s like a Marvel movie comes out and then toys come out for it 6 months later. The train has been missed. Next there are two versions of the game. The base game has mini card board tokens as the planeswalkers and only the deluxe has the Miniatures. For a wiz kids product it was a depressing attempt. The price point is way off too. Many of us just laughed at the demo of this game. This is failed attempt at the demo tables at GAMA convention. DO NOT INVEST IN THIS GAME! Retailers you will lose money! Players, it’s not worth it money and it’s boring. Magic the gathering players will not like it and will not buy it.