Deck Weaver - A Non-Random interactive deck builder.

Things I dislike about traditional deck building games:

Few interesting decisions:

Deck building games tend to run themselves. What you draw is random, and there is almost always a most optimal way to spend the resources you get.

Decks are shuffled and cards drawn from your engine is random, which eliminates strategy. Performance is dictated by when and what you draw, not decisions made.

Ideas:

Zero shuffle pattern weaving:

On their turn, a player may play out their hand and take card based actions (purchasing from a shop, triggering abilities, discarding, etc.) in any order they choose.
When cards are played to generate currency or other effects, they are immediately placed into the discard pile face up in the order in which they were used.
Cards purchased from the market, or gained by any other means are placed face up into the discard pile in the order in which they are obtained.
Cards can be discarded from one’s hand at any time and in any order (for no effect) and placed directly into the discard pile. (Instead of playing them, you can weave them in between other cards as they enter the discard pile).
When you run out of cards in your deck take all the cards in your discard, flip them over, and resume.

No shuffling!

Hold cards aside:

From the start of the game, each player has the ability to store any one purchased/gained card to the side instead of immediately discarding it as they normally wood, and choose to discard it at any time on a later turn.
Market cards may grant abilities that allow players to hold more cards aside at a time, or manipulate them in other ways.

Ex. "You may put aside a card from your hand." "Increase the # of put aside cards you’re allowed to have by 1" etc.
If a player is holding any cards aside when their deck runs out, their discard pile is flipped over as per normal, and the held aside cards are discarded in the order they were held as the start of the new discard pile. (Don’t hold on to them too long.)

Card thinning should always be available:

Not sure what form this should take, but it should not be a random lucky card/draw that potentially allows you to remove cards from your deck.

Always available market space - for a cost you can remove any card from your hand from the game.
Perhaps in the form of always purchasable cards that when played from your hand allow you to remove another card from your hand from the game. (incentivizes correct weaving/timing of the purchase — don’t buy it with into a part of your deck you don’t want reprogrammed.)

The idea here is to create a formula where decks are never shuffled, rather programmed, and occasionally meddled with.

Cards are purchased and placed in a first in, first out format. Sequencing and strategy becomes very important, and players are incentivized not to simply play out the cards they are drawn… holding some back to weave interesting combos for future turns.

Other Ideas:

Missions:

Cards that require additional resources to produce a powerful effect

EX. A card that when you play it, pay 4 resources and 2 combat to do x.

It only works if you can embed it into a part of your deck’s sequence that can produce those resources on the turn it comes out.

More complicated resource requirements:

Because the decks are less totally random in the way they sequence, a cards’ purchase requirements can be more complex… forcing players to specialize, building efficient patterns to grab certain cards.

Multi-tiered Market:

Three market tiers (with different color backs): Powerful (and difficult to manage, varied currency costs.), Medium, Light (easy to pick up, even with starting deck.)

This reduces the sheer randomness of the market in games like Star Realms, and lets players tentatively build a strategy for progression, based on what cards are available in all three markets, and what their costs are.
In a game about programming a deck for future draws, it’s important that late game market cards stick around long enough to build a strategy and sequence for. But the presence of other players creates time pressure to snag them first.

Combat:

If cards became combative at this point, it would be more fair. Cards in this set up are no longer randomly drawn and spent in pre-scripted ways. Strategic plays can be made by holding attack cards back, and weaving them with money or defense for future draws.
Some cards could be set up as direct counters to other cards/strategies. Such as redirect cards that throw an opponent’s attack back in their face.

In order for these cards to be effective you’ll need to remember when an opponent’s deck is set up to attack, and time your deck’s cycle so that you draw it at the perfect time.

Similarly, now they need to re-write the sequence of their deck to get around yours.

It’s a programmers game of blocking, dodging, parrying, re-orienting strategy on the fly, etc.