Mycelia: The drop (of dew) that makes the tray overflow
💡 Nature
⚙ Pickaxe development (deckbuilding)
By some sort of strange coincidence of life, I had just finished writing my “TOP 10 DECKBUILDERS” (by the way, if you haven't read it yet, it's here !) when I was came across Mycelia , another deckbuilder game released last year by Ravensburger. Obviously, I was immediately bitten by the sharp teeth of doubt: did I miss a game that should have been in my prize list? Should I rewrite my entire TOP 10? Make it a TOP 11? Add a “Mushrooms” category (it’s a bit niche, I admit…)? Calming my existential anxieties, I told myself that I would first play a few games of Mycelia to get my head straight and that, while writing my article to introduce you to it, I would take the opportunity to decide whether it deserves its place in my list or not.
Right off the bat, aside from the fact that I'm a big fan of pickaxe development, Mycelia piqued my interest. A deckbuilder with mushrooms? But at the risk of disappointing you, you can immediately put away your brown bell bottom pants, your Longueuil cut and your old Cream vinyls: these mushrooms do not really plunge us into the heart of a psychedelic experience, but rather into a nice and colorful universe whose aesthetic is at times reminiscent of Super Mario Bros and Pokémon (sorry for those nostalgic for the 70s).
Unlike many other draw development games, Mycelia immediately stands out by its presence on the table: no more simple (and flat) river of cards; here, we have colorful platters, pretty 3D dew drops and, above all, this intriguing tree stump (the “sanctuary”) that we place in the center of the table. Exciting for the eyes, so yes! But I've been too often disappointed by fantastically beautiful games that unfortunately had shaky rules or mechanics. So it was by harnessing my enthusiasm that I launched into this basket of mushrooms! Let's see what I found there!


In the wonderful world of Mycelia , players take on the role of...uh...mushrooms (?!) tasked with finding precious drops of dew and bringing them back to the Sanctuary of Life (that's the curious stump in the center of the table). The catch is that the droplets are scattered throughout the forest (the player's board); we will therefore have to find a way to gradually move them to the entrance to the Sanctuary using our maps. The first player to free their board of all the dew drops wins the game!
As in most deckbuilders , all players start the game with a small pack of starting cards (everyone has the same ones) from which a hand of three cards is drawn. On your turn, you must play the three cards from your hand (you can activate their effects or not, but you cannot keep cards in your hand). These cards allow you to either acquire Leaves (the currency with which you buy new cards), or to interact with the dew drops on our board.
Leaves acquired through our cards can be kept in reserve for future turns or spent to purchase cards available in the central market. We can also use our leaves to activate one of the special actions available under our game board. For example, once per turn, we can spend a leaf to replace all the cards available in the market.
Obviously, the more the game progresses, the more our deck is enriched with new cards which will allow us to manipulate (move/destroy) our dew drops more effectively. As the effects of the cards are very varied, the challenge is above all to find the right synergies between our cards to take the lead in the race for droplets.
When, thanks to our cards, we manage to move dew drops to the entrance to the Sanctuary (this is the box where a blue swirl is represented), these drops are removed from our board and placed in the cavities of the central board , which acts as a clock. When the Sanctuary is full (there are different thresholds depending on the number of players), a new day begins and new dew drops appear in the forest! The Sanctuary board is made to make a complete turn, so as to cause the drops and the Dew die to fall, which will indicate on which squares the new drops will appear.
It looks a bit like the myth of poor Sisyphus, condemned to push his rock to the top of the mountain only to see it inevitably fall back to the bottom: while we struggle to get rid of our drops, others are added each time the Sanctuary empties; This may thwart our plans for a moment, but generally speaking, few drops are added compared to those we manage to get rid of.
So… what do we think?
Beyond its appearance on the table which stands out a little from the crowd, it must be admitted that Mycelia does not claim to reinvent the wheel. It's a good "racing" type deckbuilder, reminiscent of After Us or Race to El Dorado , where it's important to concentrate on our own game and little on that of others. Where After Us suffered a little from the superficiality of interactions between players, Mycelia attempts to correct the situation by offering cards which, once played, also have an effect on our opponents (for example: “Win 3 sheets. Your opponents gain 1 leaf"). This helps a little to draw our attention to what others are doing. The card market is also more malleable, allowing us to use our sheets to renew the market and eliminate cards that could be interesting for our opponents. However, we don't achieve the same level of interaction as the Race to El Dorado , where we can physically block other runners and force them to take detours.
The material is of good quality, the illustrations pretty. Ravensburger clearly wanted to produce a game that would catch the eye, particularly with the addition of the Sanctuary where we place our drops. It should be mentioned, however, that mechanically, the Sanctuary is completely useless; we could have replaced it with a small game board where the drops accumulate. In this sense, it is no more useful than Everdell 's iconic tree or Wingspan 's bird feeder... but do all components have to be useful ? We should not underestimate the power of the visual when we enjoy the experience offered by a board game. If all the cards in our games were printed in black and white, without illustrations, we could still play... but gods it would be boring for the eyes! So... why such a big shrine, which takes up more than half of Mycelia 's storage box? I would first respond with: why not? and then by this quote from Cyrano de Bergerac who, awaiting death with his sword in his hand, declares: “it is much more beautiful when it is useless!” »
Mycelia also offers a certain amount of variability between games. The rulebook suggests starting the game using the symmetrical boards and base cards. Once familiar with the game, we can choose to turn the boards over to the asymmetrical side, and integrate advanced cards which offer more strategic options (notably the possibility of destroying cards from our deck). If you are already veterans of this type of game, you can definitely use the advanced cards from the first game.
In short, Mycelia , without renewing the genre, is an honest and pleasing to the eye deckbuilder , which goes beyond the traditional themes of the genre ( fantasy or science fiction). It may not appeal to fans of strategic high-flying, but that is clearly not its objective. Setup is quick, the rules are simple (and available in six languages!) and the games don't last long (around thirty minutes, depending on the number of players). This could be a great gateway to pickaxe development games, if your collection isn't already well stocked with games of this genre.
WE love…
- The neat and pleasing aesthetic for the eye;
- The fluidity of the games;
- Modular and multilingual rules;
We like less…
- Limited interactions between players;
- The lack of innovation in terms of game mechanics
-Mast
A game by Daniel Greiner
Ravensburger
1-4 players
9 years and over
30-45 minutes
To get this game, click here !
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