Dominion 2nd Edition | Shelfside Review

In this Shelfside Review, we take a look at Dominion, the deck-building, ever-shuffling card game for 2-4 players. However, this is actually the newer version, second edition! Both for Dominion as a tabletop board game, and as an updated version of our old review, the very first board game review on this channel! We've got a lot more to say this time around, with much more fleshed out pros and cons that properly explain the scores for this tabletop CCG. Well, not exactly a CCG/TCG, but it sure plays pretty similarly to how you'd build a deck for those games.
Dominion 2nd edition changes up the strategy for the base set drastically, removing 6 old kingdom cards and adding in 7 entirely new ones. There's also been updates and erratas for the rulebooks and cards, including a list of expansions like Intrigue and Dark Ages, as well as summaries of them in a sort of buyer's guide for recommended sets. Dominion 2nd edition is undoubtedly an upgrade to the older Dominion 1st edition base set, and the differences really show in how the gameplay improves.
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Table of Contents:
Intro - (0:00)
How to Play/Overview - (0:57)
Pros - (5:47)
Cons - (15:52)
Recommender Score - (19:22)
Daniel's Personal Score - (23:14)
Ashton's Personal Score - (25:00)
Shelfside Social Media:
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Links to our other stuff:
Ashton's Channel: / ashtonwu
Daniel's Channel: / doyduh2
Stuff Used:
Rising Game by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Wii Sports Theme (Medieval Cover)
• Wii Sports Theme (Medi...
Macarena (Medieval Cover)
• Macarena (Medieval Cover)
#boardgames #tabletop #review

[@Bootexe]

When you reshuffle your deck, you're supposed to put the old cards on top, not shuffle them in. You do still get to use the top cards of your deck.

[@alexgardner3125]

Looks like they misinterpreted " If your deck has fewer than 5 cards, first shuffle your discard pile and put it under your deck, then draw."

[@MD-vs9ff]

@@alexgardner3125 Easier way to think about it is "draw as much as you can, shuffle the discards, then draw the rest."

[@Schlohmotion]

I'm still waiting for some maniac ranking every single dominion card of every set and expansion ever.

[@Shelfside]

Goodness gracious. I will put that on the list to do one day. First I gotta find room on the shelf for all the expansions though :) -Ashton

[@silastopole]

The problem is that some cards are really strong with other cards in combination, but suck without them.

[@zoro-sn1zy]

There are actually several compendiums of lists like these, notably the Qvist rankings: wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/List_of_Cards_by_Qvist_Rankings#cards As well as the Glicko and ThunderDominion rankings: wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Dominion_Card_Glicko wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/ThunderDominion

[@ictogon]

@@zoro-sn1zy damn theres some horrible cards in some expansions. specifically scout, why would anyone ever buy that

[@DustyLamp]

Yo these reviews have gotten way better. I just binged most of them and the quality has noticeably ramped up.

[@Shelfside]

Love hearing that! Thank you, we got plenty more reviews planned for the future :) -Ashton

[@Wallach_a]

You guys working together is gold. 👍🏻

[@dazooej5785]

You guys really step up your review game that for sure. always looking forwards to new videos

[@julienmarneffe3716]

Good luck with your addiction! As long as it’s all enjoyment and no pain, it’s all good kind of board/card game addiction (and better than KS backing FOMO addictions) - love your still worth playing series! Really getting into older classics goodness myself as new(er) comer into the hobby!!

[@robertthurman9866]

Thanks. I've been reading and watching reviews of this forever. You are the first person that made this look like fun.

[@Shelfside]

hey! The game is super fun for us! If you're really into deckbuilding or lots of card play in general, can't go wrong at all giving this a shot. Cheers! -Ashton

[@SaschaKleiber]

This is the first time I see the faces behind the voices. I saw your awesome Jaws of the Lion Classguide for the hatchet, I pissed myself laughing because of the voice and the hilarious comments. The face I imagined was completely different lol. Loving your videos, keep it up!

[@Shelfside]

ahaha cheers man! -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Great review! Hopefully you do review for the expansions as well!

[@Shelfside]

trying to get dominion allies reviewed :) -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

@@Shelfside Oh, are you getting that first? Or do you already have some expansions?

[@bushibayushi]

If you want only one expansion - Empires is THE BEST set. Duration cards, money cards, events, different scoring cards, debt mechanic, it has it all. No other expansion packs so much punch as Empires.

[@Shelfside]

awesome! Will have to add it to the wish list to buy :) -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

But I heard that Empires was a complex expansion. I am personally interested in it but I don’t want any brain burning puzzles in my dominion games. How complex (in your opinion) is it?

[@antenna_prolly]

@@fightingkitchen7960 I tried it for free on the app, which, as a video game, does many of the calculations for you, but I'd say it's like... I don't know, "medium?" Probably one of the hardest _Dominions,_ but balanced out by how accessible _Dominion_ is in general.

[@fightingkitchen7960]

@@antenna_prolly Ok, it actually looks pretty interesting so I might like it. Thank you for the reply!

[@allmer]

Cool video! Have you heard of Futory Cards? It's a deckbuilder where you fight against the other players so there's more interaction (and less shuffling).

[@JJ-rv7tt]

26:56 - yes, you do :) The expansions (especially the later ones when they started adding landmarks) are awesome

[@fightingkitchen7960]

I think it said to reshuffle the discard pile and put the card/s you were supposed to draw on top of the new deck, so you draw the card you want to draw.

[@PsychicLord]

Great review as always guys. The next expansion is arriving in early 2022 :)

[@Shelfside]

cheers man! Can't wait, I'm gonna play the HELL OUT OF IT, and it'll be great to return to dominion again on the channel -Ashton

[@spencera1129]

Def my favourite board game channel

[@jauntyjaun]

Great channel guys, you should have more views

[@Shelfside]

Cheers! More vids coming out all the time around here at Shelfside! -Ashton

[@paulgruber3384]

Good Video 👍. 6:17 is hilarious. 😂

[@Shelfside]

ahaha was real fun making that one ^-^ -Ashton

[@saiksaikatai594]

Great review as always. Please I missed where you specified the perfect/sweet spot amount of player for this game.

[@thetruthinthegate]

Played this game for years and played most expansions. Great game!

[@glowlog]

"Also easy to get people to play with you, because dominion never feels like a drag". Glad this is true, looking for board games to play with family members and the drag-ness rings true with other games, I will be buying a physical copy asap

[@Shelfside]

Sweet! Always find that you can be doing something during gameplay with the card reading and shuffling, and the game is only 30 minutes! -Ashton

[@rickwoods5274]

21:30 - “It’s gonna take some time to sleeve each and every one of these [500] cards” … cries into the fifteen expansions I sleeved last weekend. Its fine. I had fun. I had fun! Sleeving 5,500 cards was fun. 25:00 - YOOOO i also quit hearthstone after the HK crap, having played it since release

[@DrumberBoy69]

Great review! You’ve sold me on this. I don’t know why I didn’t get into it sooner. What expansions would you recommend?

[@Shelfside]

sure thing! We haven't played many expansions, Daniel has had a blast with Dark Ages. I really liked prosperity myself! There's also a new expansion coming out soon that we want to cover :3 -Ashton

[@DrumberBoy69]

@@Shelfside Awesome. Thanks!

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Just don’t get the Seaside expansion now, because in about April this year, Seaside 2nd Edition might be released. So maybe a Prosperity 2nd edition might come soon as well so if you’re willing to wait, maybe buy the newer expansions for now. Renaissance seems like a good pick.

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Oh, by the way, by the time I’m writing this, I don’t have any Dominion expansions so I have no experience with them.

[@Shelfside]

@@fightingkitchen7960 ahaha thanks for sharing mate! -Ashton

[@navnnavn1226]

Love dat medieval wii sports theme

[@lukeanzilotti9090]

Can you do a video on how you store your board games on the shelf I just put my board games wherever I can find space but I fell like I need to organize better any tips

[@wayner396]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3aQcmN8qpxjnbM This video should help with that but the answer is kallax shelves from ikea

[@Shelfside]

Our collection isn't the neatest out there for sure. I wouldn't mind doing a video at some point, but again, my games are all over multiple rooms. I like vertical storage if possible (games like Lords of Waterdeep can't be stored vertically at all), or giving big games like TI4/War of the Ring their own dedicated space. I also found a lot of bookshelves for free, see if you can look around your neighborhood for free stuff to help storage! -Ashton

[@antenna_prolly]

Excellent _Age of Empires II_ sound effects.

[@Shelfside]

love that game! Cheers! -Ashton

[@silastopole]

You gotta decide if you want to reveal the moat (for no cost) or not. 🤔 That's decision-making on its finest 😂

[@zoro-sn1zy]

The decision is whether or not to buy the moat in the first place.

[@revimfadli4666]

@@zoro-sn1zy and how many of them. Also how many +2 action cards to pair them with. And how valuable attack cards would be, considering their presence

[@patrickpmcbride]

Curious what a you guys think of the various descendants of Dominion. Nightfall, Star Realms, Ascension, Valley of the Kings, El Derado, Dale of the Merchants, and the recent Fort, OG dominion created a great genre that's spawned lot of games I've enjoyed over the decade.

[@Shelfside]

Oh man! That's quite a bit of games we'll have to get around to. I have enjoyed my time with Valley of the Kings, and Fort was a cool implementation of theme for sure. Star Realms will be on the list to do soon though! -Ashton

[@richmcgee434]

Not even all of them, either. Thunderstone springs to mind, for ex. Very large subgenre.

[@sebastienvivas9319]

Daniel, you look like you're using one of those low flow showers from Seinfeld. You gotta splurge and get one of those Commando 450.

[@DyslexicSupernam]

I think the reason I haven't pulled the trigger on Dominion is how burned it I am on the theme. Is there any other deck builders as good as this one is?Great review thank you!

[@Shelfside]

hey! Aeon's End is pretty cool if you like cooperative games, but it is a bit longer. I played Valley of the Kings a while back and thought it was well made. Will have to look into Star Realms, which is a short 2P deckbuilder that keeps getting recommended around here. But really, I would recommend at least trying Dominion to see if you like the mechanics enough to compensate for the theme. There's plenty of free ways online! -Ashton

[@baileystutzman6096]

Check out Arctic Scavengers. It is a really distinctive setting, and the mechanics are pretty cleverly worked into the theme. Basically everyone plays as post apocalyptic survivor-leaders, trying to bring the most survivors to their group. Winner had the largest group. But there are some insane twists, like the clan cards that give each group specializations... like the cannibals who can literally eat their survivors for sustenance. Lol... You can scavenge, get weapons, build your engines, and there is even a limited amount of direct player interaction... super fun, and very, very different from Dominion while still being the exact same style deckbuilder.

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Is paperback a good deck builer

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Is Paperback a good deck builder?

[@revimfadli4666]

@@fightingkitchen7960 seems good, though I have only played hardback

[@NQYoda]

If you really want to get a rush of nostalgia for TCGs like Yugioh, could I suggest you track down a copy of Millennium Blades? It's Collectible Card Games: The Anime: The Card Game in a box.

[@Shelfside]

oh hell yeah! I actually really wanted to pick it up in the past, but the price point scared me. Will take a look again :) -Ashton

[@lkjkhfggd]

I think it's an amazing game, but after playing a ton of it and then playing a ton of it online, playing offline feels pretty bad. It takes a LONG time to set up and then clean up a game of Dominion, especially if you still have all the cards in their original expansion boxes (not to mention time waiting for people to shuffle). Compared to online which is instantaneous, in the time it takes to play one game offline, you could play 3 or more online.

[@Shelfside]

This is actually exactly what some members of our playgroup think too! The setup can be a little finicky, especially with those expansion boxes (that all take up a lot of room!). But man, there's something about seeing people physically shuffle curses into their deck that just isn't the same online. -Ashton

[@mike9139]

YOU ARE BOTH AWESOME! ❤❤❤

[@Shelfside]

haha, thanks mate! -Ashton

[@piotrjasik2835]

I sugest trying Marvel Legendary after Dominion :D It's setup is a bit longer, but I feel the card play is better and more rewarding :P

[@Shelfside]

I also really wanted to try that one! The price point was a little discouraging, but its on my list! Just hope I don't get sucked in with the expansions ahaha -Ashton

[@randomnamegenerator945]

I full on expected him to pull out every expansion after he trailed off in the end talking about buying expansions 😉

[@Shelfside]

bahaha I only have the new Allies expansion, I am just trying to find some time to make a review on it one day! -ashton

[@PeterIsATeacher]

Sigh. Am I gonna have to get dominion now. I'm gonna have to get dominion now.

[@Shelfside]

it's worth it! It's worth it! Go and buy the witches and fling curses at your enemies! :D -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

DO IT!

[@sebasculin3739]

But Witches can swim...that's why they did dunking during the witch trials.

[@fightingkitchen7960]

20:19, well if you don’t include the mats, metal & cardboard tokens from expansions. And the trash mat.

[@Shelfside]

well dang, I actually forgot that the expansions came with way more components! Trash mat was actually very useful in the games I have played. cheers! -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

@@Shelfside It’s ok.

[@Kartmennnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Greetings from Russia, keep going

[@joseg.6187]

Please buy Prosperity. Cant go back after that.

[@Shelfside]

hohoho i remember plats and colonies, super fun. Added to the list! -Ashton

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Although since Seaside is going to get a 2nd Edition, maybe Prosperity will get one soon as well. So maybe you should wait a while for it to be released.

[@meathir4921]

16:30 …that’s not an improvement to player 2, depending on the kingdom.

[@DreyfussFrost]

Dominion, huh? Allow me to blow your minds in two words. *ahem* Star Realms. No? You want more? Alright, you asked for it. Mage Knight: The Board Game.

[@Shelfside]

Star Realms review coming up soon hopefully! As for Mage Knight: oh man, Daniel and I played that once in high school and had a great time. Not something we would play a lot, but I remember the progression and adventure-feel being enticing. Would like to play again! -Ashton

[@help4343]

3:56 Wrong

[@Shelfside]

Yeah not really sure where that came from in the vid, rulebook says shuffle and put under the deck lol -Daniel

[@nurseruben5431]

You guys played the base set 50 times before buying an expansion? Wow, that is pure torture.

[@Shelfside]

I still call him a psycho for this -Daniel

[@Shelfside]

I love dominion -Ashton

[@mistuhbear]

ashton flexing BSG again >:(

[@101Meeko101]

nono game doesn't immediately upon getting last province or 3 empty piles, immediately and at the end of the turn is completely different, i mean its all semantics but ya know peeps gotta know. moat is a good card, cost 2 for +2 cards. games with villages and buys means you can get these very quickly and start drawing out your deck. as a base set second edition is much better than first edition. the amount of wanting to flipping the table when friends bought saboteur. sleeving every card do not recommend, makes storing the game crazy hard the boxes becomes useless cause the amount of bulk the sleeves add.

[@Shelfside]

you are correct, yeah the game ends on the end of the turn of which that happens. I just say "immediately" in terms to contrast it with many other games where players will go through another round of play before the game finishes. The moat isn't always a weak card if the right +action cards up, like as you said village. We just think the decisionmaking in terms of the defending part is pretty stale. I think saboteur is in 1st edition intrigue? Didn't see that card in my 1st edition of Dominion normal. As for sleeving, yeah I'm not sleeving my cards cause I'm a cheapskate when it comes to dominion, and looks like I won't be having any storage problems :) -Ashton

[@101Meeko101]

@@Shelfside apologies card I was meant to refer too was thief, with base set 1 gains were lower, combos weren’t as strong, so thief stealing the little money you did buy was a pain. I actually play sleeve as I go, I have my own separate 7coppers 3 estate sleeved on the side, finishing up the game is a little slower but just keeps the cards in better condition along with shuffling is easier. Best sleeves I recommend are fantasy flight supply purple (any 59x92 sleeve works) get two packs of 50 per player, never been a game where I have needed all 100 but who knows lol

[@fightingkitchen7960]

Actually, the sleeves part is kinda wrong (imo). I sleeved all my cards in Dominion 2nd Edition and all the victory cards, kingdom cards, & randomizer cards fit nicely and don’t take that long to put back in. However, all the curses, copper, silver, and gold cards didn’t fit but most did (only a few cards didn’t make it except copper.). I just put the remaining in plastic bags. By the way, for those who are wondering, the sleeves I use are the Sleeve Kings Euro Card Sleeves size 59x 92MM. 50% thicker.

[@Chuckmurdock]

I don't play it anymore eventually you cannot play with other people because you know what the best combinations are and you can't help but wreck people

[@Shelfside]

Totally feel that, some of the combos are just really really good once you figure them out. We'll get an expansion vid out eventually for Dominion! -Ashton

[@joshestes6427]

So, I am going to say that cheating can happen in a bunch of games, and if you have someone who does it, they are breaking the social contract of the game so just do not play with them. I mean if we are all getting together to play a game of basketball and and one person decides they want to closeline everyone who tries to dribble past them. I think, because they don't want to follow the agreed on rules you have the right to kick them out.

[@carmpulse9712]

2nd edition Money cards look so bad

[@Trenemy1]

Oh boy another possibly good video ruined by annoying "announcer voice."