Best Dueling Games that Aren’t Magic: The Gathering

boardgamequest.com:

Games bring people together. Whether it’s a cooperative experience or a competitive one, playing a game with friends or strangers is a bonding experience. Especially in times like these, it’s important to have friends that you can spend time with. And sometimes, that time includes crushing your friend’s army like the pathetic set of cards that they are. And that’s what we’re looking at today; some of the best head-to-head dueling games that aren’t Magic the Gathering. I get it, Magic: The Gathering is great and has stood the test of time. But it’s also a lifestyle game. Sometimes you don’t want to have to deal with “keeping up with the meta” or having to buy blind booster packs. So for those that want some options in the dueling genre, we are here to help.

Finally, dueling games are often more abstracted than tactical skirmish games so don’t expect to see map-based games like Batman Gotham City Chronicles or Memoir ‘44 below (unless Chris won his argument with Tony about Unmatched) as we dive into worlds of direct conflict, and just possibly, the perfect games to induce table-flipping rage.

Chosen by JasonWhen Dice Throne was first introduced to me, I was told to expect a sort of mash up between Magic The Gathering, King of Tokyo, and a dash of Poker. I thought sure, I like all that so why not. It did not disappoint. Players pick a  character, their prebuilt decks, and get going. Using smart card play, resource management, and lucky dice rolls, players beat on each other until one person is left standing. During one satisfying game against a friend, I managed to pull off my character’s ultimate attack, which essentially is rolling all 6’s. This usually gets the opponent close to death’s door. We went back and forth, like