Magic: the Gathering is the first fantasy card game with deck construction. The game was made to encourage people to make a collection and you can use cards from your collection to make your own deck. I think it can be fun to make your own deck as well. It adds a new element of strategy and self expression. I think Crazier Eights can also have deck construction, and I will discuss what I think is the most promising way to do that here.

Replacement Deck Construction

My idea for deck construction is that you take a Crazier Eights game, and replace any of the cards with cards of the same rank and color from any other deck. If you use a main game, such as Crazier Eights: Camelot, then any of the cards can be replaced with a card from Crazier Eights: One Thousand & One Nights or Crazier Eights: Olympus.

For example, each of the three main games has a blue 8. You get to choose any of them you want. Which of these three cards do you prefer?

Other examples of cards you have to choose from can be seen below.

Deck size options — The deck can include a smaller game, such as Crazier Eights: Shahrzad. Again, every card of the smaller game can also be replaced with a card from another smaller game (such as one found in Crazier Eights: Avalon or Crazier Eights: Pantheon). Additionally, the deck can include promo cards.

Shared deck — The default option is that the deck is for every player to share. That means you should develop your deck to have a proper balance. You don’t want too much card draw or asset destruction, for example. 

Competing decks — A very different option is for each player to make their own deck, and in that case you will want to use all the cards you think will work best together. There is a strategy for trying to make the best deck. When everyone makes their own deck, they should have identical ranks, such as both players using main games. Another option is for the decks to also include a certain number of promo cards and/or a smaller game.

When you use competing decks, the default is to treat the last card discarded as the “top of the discard pile” and you keep your own discard pile separate from those of other players. Another option is to just use your own discard pile and the “top card of the discard pile” is different for each player.

-James Gray

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