Myth cards and tokens. Photo: Jonathan Liu.
Myth: Pantheons was released last summer by AEG (the company behind The Isle of Doctor Necreaux), but I just recently got a review copy to try out. This is a game that, at first glance, does not look like it’s a trick-taking game—almost everything has a carved-in-stone or etched-in-bronze look to it, there are Deity cards and City cards, and that big pile of tokens. It’s a lot to take in, but at its core Myth is still essentially a trick-taking game.
Thor's special ability. Image: AEG
The Basics
Myth is for 3 to 6 players, ages 10 and up, and the box says it takes 45 minutes to play. Our first time through was closer to an hour and a half, though we were still working through the rules as we played. I would definitely recommend a careful reading of the rules before introducing the game, but there are still some parts that are easier to understand once you’re actually playing.
The box comes with 12 gods and goddesses (with 5 Deity cards each), 30 City cards, 60 Mortal cards, and 160 Domain tokens. The artwork is pretty nicely done and suits the theme, but because a lot of it is beige-colored, I found it was pretty hard to distinguish the tokens and the domains (suits) on the cards at a glance. Also, the numerals on the Mortal cards (which correspond with your playing cards) are in Roman numerals printed fairly small in the corners, which makes legibility an issue at times.
The Twist
In Myth, the players choose from the dozen deities from various cultures, each with their own special abilities. Since each deity has five special cards they can use, learning each one’s strengths and limitations is surely a significant part of the game, and will take some time to work into your strategy. The goal of the game is to have the most followers at the end of three “epochs.” The end of an epoch basically amounts to when a player runs out of Mortal cards—but since there are ways to get more cards, the length of the epochs can vary.
The rules are fairly complex (you can download the rulebook from BoardGameGeek) so I won’t get into all the details here, but I’ll try to give you at least a glimpse. Each City card has a number that represents the number of challenges (tricks) that you need to win in order to claim the city. The Cities, in addition to the followers they come with, also grant you various abilities for the rest of the game. Challenges are won by having the highest value card in the leading domain (whatever suit started the trick), unless somebody plays a card from the ruling domain (trump suit). But many of the cards also grant you tokens, cards, or Divine Acts even if you don’t win—or in some cases, only if you don’t win the trick. You also gain a token whenever you lose a challenge, matching the domain of the card you played. The tokens match the five domains (Harvest, Weather, the Heavens, Death and War) and can be used to protect your own Cities, attack other Cities, change the ruling domain, or even increase the value of your cards. Because of the extra features on the cards and tokens, selecting a card for any given challenge can be a real puzzle.
It’s not enough just to take a bunch of tricks, because the other players may be able to amass tokens and Divine Acts to devastate your winnings. Myth is a balancing act, winning tricks to get the cities (and followers), but then losing tricks to gain tokens to protect your cities and followers. And there’s also knowing when best to use your five precious Deity cards.
The Verdict
Once we got the game going, I really enjoyed it but was a bit surprised by how complex it was. There’s a lot to keep track of—sure, it’s a trick-taking game at its core, but that core is pretty deep inside a whole mess of resource-management and special ability stuff. I think it’s not necessarily one that I’d introduce to casual gamers for fear of scaring them off, but somebody who’s used to multiple-level strategies would probably enjoy it. My biggest gripes, in fact, were not about the gameplay but the presentation. Because of the design of the cards, it’s very hard to hold your cards in a fan and read the suits and the values at the same time (the numbers are in the top right corner, which doesn’t work well for the typical fan direction). The instructions aren’t always very clear—I had to use the process of elimination to tell which cards were the Mortal cards, because there is not a single image in the instructions labeling them as such. Also, I understand the need to make the terminology fit the theme, but renaming everything sometimes just makes teaching the game harder. “Ok, domain means suit, ruling domain means trump suit, challenge means trick, epoch means round …”
Overall, I think it’s one that I’d like to try again, particularly with the different deities, but it has a pretty steep learning curve.
AEG’s website has a closer look at the twelve deities. Myth: Pantheons is available at many game retailers or from Amazon
Wired: A complex game that expands significantly from its trick-taking core.
Tired: Attractive but not necessarily practical visual design; rulebook not so great.
Note: AEG provided a review copy of Myth: Pantheons.
