Summoner Wars: Alliances Master Set

If you have never played Summoner Wars and you want to get started, this set is a great option. If you have played Summoner Wars, well, you probably either already own this, have it on pre-order, or it's on your list.Summoner Wars is quite simply the best hand management game of all time. Imagine chess meeting Magic: The Gathering meeting a miniatures game but played with cards.What's good:Accessible; you can learn to play in about 10 minutes and start playing right away, has very little setup time. Games take around 30 minutes to an hour at the most, so you don't need to invest a ton of time to play. But you will want to invest the time, trust me.Engrossing; Expect hours to pass in a blink while playing, the immersion is top notch. If you're like me you will want to play all the races again and again to work different strategies and learn what they are about.Deep; Strategically deep, "easy to learn, hard to master" while still being a blast to play while you're learning. If I was going to a convention to play this all day and knew beforehand that I wouldn't win a game, I would be just as excited to go and play.Beautiful; The artwork is awesome. Just look at the cover of the box for an example. It's just beautiful.The great artwork really adds to the fun of this game.Replayability; Seriously, I really don't see how I will get tired of this game. It's so fun to play and I am learning something every single time I play it which helps me get a little bit better. Not to mention the large number of factions that you can have, the deck building you can do now... Just wow. This is a game that will be on my shelf for years and years.Some comments specifically about this set.First, the board that comes with it is one of the best included game boards I have ever seen. It is basically like a big 2 piece mouse pad you roll up and fit together. What this means is that it's much more durable than a regular game board, and more portable (important to me with small children running around). It's also slick enough to slide the cards around very easily.Also, with it's rubberized bottom, it doesn't move around on the table.Second, this comes with 8 different factions. More than enough content to keep you busy playing for a long long time without the need to add the individual decks (though you will probably want to later). This is 2 more than the first master set for around $12 more. This plus the neoporene game board make this set a great bang for the buck option as a starter set. The box also has a ton of storage space. I know that you can fit every faction that has come out into the box with room to spare (unsleeved), basically what this means is that your whole collection will fit in one box.Finally, and this is for all Summoner Wars sets, the balance of this game is phenomenal. Plaid Hat is a great company and they do some of the best play testing there is. If you play this and think a certain faction is "weak", try thinking outside the box a bit. The main thing to remember about this game is that you should build your strategy around your event cards. They are the meat of your deck.If you are on the fence about this don't be. If you have an inkling that you might like this game, you will probably love it. I can tell you that I actually ordered both master sets before I ever played a game of this because it looked so amazing, and it even exceeded those expectations!*Edit*I wanted to put a couple of thoughts here about why this or the original master set may be a better option than the starter sets that are available. Currently, the starter sets are $24 and $27 respectively, while the first master set is about $36. The differences being that the starter sets give you only 2 faction decks and a kinda crappy paper mat. The paper mat does not like to lay flat and is honestly a bit of a pain to play on.The first master set however gives you a very nice rigid cardboard game board and 6 factions for only 9-12$ more than a starter set. Obviously this is a much better value.The Alliances master is is about $12 more dollars than the first master set, gives 8 decks instead of 6 (decks are usually 10-15$ each), and has the awesome neoprene board. It also has enough space for all factions to keep your entire collection in one place, and comes with awesome cardboard dividers for each faction, along with dividers for each reinforcement pack! This makes keeping your collection organized a snap. In my opinion this is by far the best value. That being said, honestly, just get the first master set too at some point for the decks, they are great and a great value for 6 decks.Another awesome thing is that all of the factions in all these sets are different from each other. Some game's might put out a "Master Set" that would contain all of the previously made decks but just include a nice board, not Plaid Hat. This is a great thing in general, and good to know because the flip side to my value argument is that buying those starter sets is the only way to get those particular factions. Another point to remember is that from what I have read the factions that have come out since the starter sets were introduced are much more interesting. I cannot speak to this as I have not purchased the starter sets, it's just something to think about.Anyway, I don't change my recommendation that the best way to get into this game is with the Alliances master set and go from there.Great value, amazing game!

Summoner Wars is sort of like a mix of chess, luck, and Magic the Gathering. You take turns summoning units, moving, and attacking your enemy, with hits being determined by dice rolls. It supports 2 or 4 players, although I've only played 2 person games. It's a great game and a lot of fun, and this set gives newcomers everything they need to start playing. It comes with a bunch of decks, dividers, a beautiful game pad to play on, instructions, and plenty of tokens that you'll use in the game. An even better starting set than the previous Summoner Wars Master Set.For those that already own a few Summoner Wars sets, this is still worth a buy. The box is perfect for storing ALL of your decks and the added factions are great if you want to build your own decks or just get different twists on factions you already may own. Each faction is an alliance of two already existing factions, but they still play differently than their two parts. New units called "conjurations" have been added and are very powerful while still being balanced. For the price, it's a fantastic way to get a lot of new decks and a better play mat (plus great storage).

Having the original master set, both beginner sets, and several other faction, and second faction decks, this seemed to be an obvious purchase for storage. This fits everything made for the game and includes dividers for all of them too. It also includes a neoprene mat for the board. Personally I prefer the cardboard game board that came w/ the original Master Set but the neoprene rolls up nicely to fit in this box.We have only played w/ two of the dual faction decks that come w/ this set and they seem a little op. But more play is required. We aren't experts by any means, just fans of the game.

This is the replacement for Magic hands down. Summoner Wars is a far superior system for mana, combat and deck building. It's a combination of magic, chess and dice rolling. This box alone, offers 8 pre built decks and is ready to go right from the start. As it has been noted, the game is easy to learn but difficult to master. Expansions for the game, are also pre built, no blind packs like Magic boosters. It is by far, my favorite game in this genre. If you are new to this game, this set is an excellent starting point.

I used to love Magic the Gathering, still do in many ways. The constant collecting and buying eventually got old to me. I have been looking for a game that gave me that same feeling, of card duels which require high strategy. This game absolutely does this and more. This game adds in the deck vs deck feeling, but with nice pre-constructed decks which are fair and balanced, but also adds in the tactical decision making of the positioning of the cards. If you like dueling card games, you will LOVE this.

Great deal for so many decks! We love this game and we love this particular set. The neoprene mats that come with it are really nice and great to play on. While this is designed as an ‘alliance’ set, you don’t need any other decks to play or love the game. Alliances are only ever useful if you play with four players (not that these decks aren’t useful, but their compatibility with other decks is unrelevant in a two player game).

my boyfriend wanted to get this game. he was eager to teach me how to play since he and some old roommates had always had fun playing it. i didn't think i would like it. I have never really been a fan of table top games. our first time playing.... I destroyed him. now most of our time is spent arguing about game rules and interpretation but I LOVE IT!

Best game! We have the first Summoner Wars Master set as well and together we can have two friends play with for a great time. In fact the mat that comes with this set is petty cool. It is a good buy for the number of summoners that come with it. I am quite satisfied.

For an Amazon review, I'll leave the details of ALL the cards included in this set to YouTube or hardcore Summoner Wars fans. :) I will say those I have played have made for very fun games. Merging factions was a great idea.What I will comment on are the "extras". The set comes with really nice neoprene playmats instead of the cardboard game board from the master set that never seems to be quite flat and catches the cards at the mid point (less so when sleeved). The box is nicely divided into 3 columns (rows?) that will hold all the issued cards to-date (2015) with room to spare. I have most of them and can still store my rolled up mats (with games bits inside) in one of the columns. I have several "The Broken Token" organisers but will not require one for Summoner Wars with the addition of this gem.And for those of you that love to have everything neat and tidy, there are dividers for all the existing expansion (2015).

I bought this set as my entry into the Summoner Wars franchise. It comes with 8 new decks that all combine two previously released factions into a new faction with a new feel. All of the decks are very enjoyable to play and can be further customized with cards from previous factions. The set comes with everything you need to play the game including dice, wound markers, poison markers, boost markers, rule book and a very nice neoprene mat. The box is huge and has excellent dividers for every single deck released for the game which make organizing a collection very easy. There is plenty of room to sleeve the cards as well. The only thing notably missing are rules for poison markers. Excellent starter pack, especially for the price point.

Love it. Excellent value for the collection. I had 4 decks prior to buying this with a simple paper mat, so the difference in quality of the mat alone is worth it. The neoprene mat is fantastic quality. Looks great, cards slide easy over it. Decks are all fun to play and varied, and it is more than spacious to accomodate all your summoner war decks. Also comes with nice dividers for each one. I love summoner wars - absolutely great replay value.

Amazing game and expansion set to the already spectacular strategy board game that is Summoner Wars. The creators, Plaid Hat Games, really knocked it out of the park with the Alliances Master Set edition.Package was delivered expeditiously and as expected. Original plastic cellophane still on the box.

It's my first Summoners Wars set I bought and I'm still impress by the value I got. The rules are clear and factions are both balanced and asymmetrical which is pretty awesome.