


I’m going to give Dominion: Alchemy a 4 out of 10 because I do not recommend it. Dominion is a game about replayability all other expansions for Dominion add to its replayability except this one, which shrinks it. Having only 10 options when playing with potions is not enough for the depth it adds to the game. The last and most significant negative is that there is not enough replayability among the new cards. I can’t imagine playing a game with Possession and cards that let you play it multiple times the long and obnoxious effect is cumulative. Possession is a disciple card that messes up your opponent’s turn for an unknown reward. For instance, playing multiple Golems can let you play tons of action cards and cycle through your deck many times in one turn. I would say that potions add about 2.5 coins to a card’s cost, but the abilities of some of these cards can get out of control. The only way that fewer options in potion-costing cards are balanced with numerous options in regular-costing cards is that the new cards are more powerful.

You could also bust in this case if you don’t hit the expensive cost of a potion card you wanted. If you play with only one or two potion-costing cards, then the decision regarding potions becomes more of a dilemma there are more options in the regular cards and fewer options in the potion cards. This actually makes the decision to go for potions more obvious because there is more flexibility in the potion strategy. This expansion starts to go downhill when the game suggests playing with three to five cards with a potion cost if using those cards. Another thing that happens when playing with this expansion is that players have to choose early in the game regarding whether they are going to pursue a strategy with potions or without them. Whenever cards from this expansion are used, few players try to win the game via buying just the basic money cards. I like how many of these cards suggest playing adventurous strategies with big action card combinations. Let’s start with a few positive comments, the first being that the card abilities in this set are quite impressive. What that means is that I do like the idea of a new card currency, but only 10 cards that involve that new currency isn’t enough to give the replayability that Dominion is known for. My overall opinion of Dominion: Alchemy is that the potions are a good idea but need to be involved with more cards.
