If you missed it the first time that we talked about it , the Resident Evil Deck Building Game is out and is available for purchase ! I have a few sets that I’ll be giving away later this week, but for now, we got something special. 

Deck Building Game AND Resident Evil fans are in for a treat as we have Alex Bykov from Bandai America Inc. here to talk a little about strategy in the game. Hit the jump for some of his pro-tips!

From Alex:

Starting Your Game Off Right

There are a lot of factors that lead to a winning strategy. Some of those factors are obvious while others are less noticeable. When the game is coming to an end it may be hard to look back at the beginning to see what you did right or wrong to get you to where you are now. Did you buy the right cards when you started the game? Did you take too long to go for Weapons? Should you have not fought the other players for that last Action card that everyone was going for? Let’s look at some of the different starting strategies and what are the pros and cons of those strategies.

Every Resource Pile setup will be different, so not all strategies will work the same in all setups. If some of the cards mentioned are missing, then that strategy may not be viable, so it is best to take into account what combination of cards are on the board before deciding which path to take. The three basic starting strategies that I made names for so they sound cooler are: “Go for the Gold”, “Level it up a Notch”, and “Shrink and Fix”.

“Go for the Gold” is as simple as it sounds, you ignore the rest of the board and just buy either Ammunition or cards that let you upgrade your Ammunition. The idea is to focus just on improving the amount of Gold you can generate as fast as possible, so you can skip over all those cheap cards and buy the expensive ones before anyone can afford them. The best part about this strategy is once it gets started, the expensive Action cards you buy will usually help you improve your draw so you can keep drawing all the Gold and buying more expensive cards. Who needs a couple of pistols or shotguns, when you can be holding two Magnums and blowing up any Infected that comes your way? The con to this strategy is that you can have a few bad draws that will slow you down and help the others catch up. Also, if the other players gain their level 1 and 2 effects ahead of you, you will need to hurry up to not get too far behind on Decorations when you finally start destroying those Infected.

“Level it up a Notch” just means start killing as soon as you can so that you can level up as well as mess with other players by killing off some of those fun Infected guys that make others skip their turn or unable to play Actions. The basic strategy for this start is to buy a Weapon earlier than others and then work towards being able to shoot that weapon along with either your starting Pistol or Knife so that you can shoot at or above 20 Damage. Once you level up and can utilize your effects you can switch gears and work towards getting whatever cards best work with your character’s effects. This strategy does work better if your effect doesn’t require too many commendations and if it messes with other players, such as Wesker, Jill, or Rebecca. The con of this strategy is just a matter of bad luck, if you flip into a bunch of Big Bad Beasts you won’t be able to get those Decorations but at the same time you may see a Rocket Launcher or Gatling Gun, which should bring a smile to your face.

“Shrink and Fix” is our last strategy for this article. In this strategy you should focus on keeping your deck small and potent first and foremost. That means buying those Shattered Memories by the bucket load and using them as soon as possible to get rid of anything in your deck that doesn’t help you at the start. Most players don’t want to have the Knife and Pistol in their deck, so trash those as soon as you can. Load up on some draw Action cards and better Ammunition, then immediately Trash any cards that you no longer want like your starting Ammunition. This strategy is tricky because you can sometimes Trash something you later realize you needed, so it requires you to remember what you still have left in your Deck and stay focused on what you need to buy before you can Trash something. The reward for this strategy is that you will see the same cards much more often than most of the other players and so you will be the most consistent in your plays. This strategy is a bit harder than the other 2 so you may need to practice it before you can get maximum results from it. This plan should be a bit faster than “Go for the Gold” but slower than “Level up a notch”. The con of this strategy aside from simply misplaying by trashing something too soon is that if you get a few bad draws you may not see those Shattered Memories when you want to. If more cards emerge that Trash cards, this strategy will become more popular and easier to pull off.

These are all only starting strategies, and as a good player, you will likely adapt to the character and play style of the other players. I suggest you try each of the strategies and then you can let me know which you like most. If you have a different strategy please feel free to either write about it in our Forums or in the comments below.

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