Hello and welcome to my strategy guide on the wonderful deck building game of Star Realms! This guide is based on my own observations whilst playing many a game with friends over the last year. I made this guide to help people think more deeply about the game’s strategy, as I personally believe the game is even more enjoyable when making meaningful and impactful decisions.
In general scrap beats life gain, life gain beats damage and damage beats scrap.
If I see my opponent going heavily into scrap it is pretty unlikely I can win a long game against them, therefore I need to aggressively go for damage cards in order to win the game before they can press home the scrap advantage.
If they are getting a lot of life gain and I see the game going long, then it is in my interest to go for scrap as I will end up having a much more powerful late game deck than my opponent. When I mention life gain, I am also talking about base health.
Lastly if they go for damage I need the life gain in order to survive to a point where I can reduce their life total to zero.
You can actually take this strategy one step further and counter how your opponent beats you. For example If I have picked up a lot of scrap cards, the best way my opponent can beat me is by going for fast damage, I can counter this by going for life gain or counter picking the damage cards.
Buying bases when my opponent doesn’t have many damage cards can also be very effective as it often means they stay out for multiple turns. On the other hand if you notice your opponent going for a lot of bases you may need some damage to deal with them.
Trade and scrap cards are usually best to buy early on.
Although an aggressive damage strategy can definitely work, buying cards that give you trade and scrap is usually best early on. Having trade early is crucial in order to purchase the more powerful cards from the trade row and purchasing scrap cards early ensures you scrap more cards over the course of the game.
Purchasing cards which give you scrap or trade is usually less effective later on in the game compared to combat/life gain. The main reason is that combat/life gain is immediate whereas trade and scrap requires another shuffle of the deck to have an effect.
Always pay attention to what your opponent is buying.
It doesn’t matter how good your deck is, it just needs to be able to beat your opponent’s deck. One of the hardest decisions to make in Star Realms is whether to purchase a card your opponent needs or purchase something that would be better for your own deck. There is no exact science to this and will mainly come from experience. Cards that can scrap themselves are great for this, as you can purchase them to deny your opponent getting them and can scrap them if they are not needed in your deck.
Look at the whole trade row when deciding on a strategy.
For example buying cards that generate a lot of trade is an even more effective strategy if there are some high costed cards in the trade row or there may be a lot of one particular faction that you can switch into. So it is not only important to pick a strategy based on what you are trying to do but also what your opponent is trying to do and what the trade row is showing you.
Also don’t buy cards just because you have the money to do so, even if you have 4 trade left and there is nothing to buy that will improve your deck, it is better to lose the trade in that scenario. If I bought two explorers in that situation, I am now drawing them in my next shuffle instead of potentially more powerful cards and I am also 2 cards further away from reshuffling again.
Don’t underestimate cards that scrap themselves and don’t forget to use them.
Cards that scrap themselves are great for removing a card that no longer fits your strategy or the factions you are in. You should be scrapping even your very best card in your deck for its ability if it’s unlikely you will see that card again before the end of the game. Cards like explorers shouldn’t be held onto for too long either unless the market is very expensive due to them being fairly weak compared to most other cards.
Don’t always draw a card even if you can and make sure you draw at the right time.
You need to be wary when you are drawing a card where it will make you reshuffle your deck. Always make sure to play cards that scrap cards in your discard pile first and any cards that you want to purchase should also be bought first, so they are in your deck for the next cycle. Finally if I have played out a turn with a lot of my best cards, in some situations I would decide not to draw a card at all because then I will have to play a whole new shuffled deck without some of my best cards.
Don’t just focus on buying cards of a certain faction.
Even though it is generally good to be in a couple of factions in order to trigger ally abilities, there are other factors that need to be considered. Firstly it is usually crucial to buy certain cards that your opponent needs, it is also fine to buy a few Machine Cult cards in order to scrap. Moreover some cards are just great on their own and don’t need to be paired in order to be good.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article and I hope you have learned something to make your games of Star Realms even more enjoyable.
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