USD ($)
EUR (€)
When a game is as colourful as Coatl the Card Game, it definitely gets my attention. And when it is suitable for solo play, well, that’s the maraschino red cherry on top!
Now, I won’t lie to you. Coatl the Card Game plays FAST! 4 turns and you’re straight on to adding heads and tales to finish your feathery formations. But those 4 turns each need a bit of think. Place to gain a Prophecy? Place to re-score an existing Prophecy and save it from the clutches of another? Place to steal a Prophecy from someone else? Good for you v bad for them….You get my drift.
The mini-expansion adds a little more ballast, but it’s still as nippy as a snake on s[ ]. The solo, however, feels a little more meaty. Not too much. I wasn’t agonising for hours over which card to put down. But competing against Carl and Carl 2.0 has me taking a bit more consideration…..and I think I might just like it more!
I will say there’s a bit more to set up, but I think it’s worth it. Particularly as you can tweak Carl and Carl 2.0’s style of game play with different action deck combinations.
So in solo, you have two consecutive opponents to beat if you want to win the game. Carl is the easier of the two, but they both play the same. And you can only challenge Carl 2.0 if you have kicked Carl’s Coatl butt first!
Carl/2.0 actually does 6/7 things on its turn:
1. Reveals a feather card to set its palette preference for the round
2. Reveals the next God card and performs the action (which is carried out twice in later rounds when the previous card is discarded and replaced with the new one)
3. Upgrades a card + Steals a card from you + Fulfils a Prophecy from the common supply - note each one is carried out according to the prescribed priority in effect!
We take our turn but to even up the odds a little, we can steal 2 Prophecy cards each round rather than just 1 (as per standard MP mode). And they have to go to the far right of all existing Prophecies on that level (easier pickings for Carl!). But anything dropping back to 0 (because the pattern has been disrupted by placing new cards) gets discarded rather than stalling at nil points.
Once we have topped and tailed our serpent, it’s scoring time. And if we whooped Carl, we get to take on Carl 2.0. And that adds another card into the Action deck and another round of play – see? Told you it was a little meatier! Haha
Final Thoughts
Coatl the Card game is a super-fast, super colourful filler game. To me, the solo has a little more meat on its bones, and not just because there’s an extra round. But, even with two games back-to-back and another round (if you succeed in the first), it still won’t eat up your evening. In fact, it’s a game where I chain a few games together because each one is over so fast! Plus, as there is more to set up in terms of prepping the Action Deck and laying out the cards, it makes it worth the time. But we are only talking maybe a minute more so nothing drastic.
I also like the fact there are staged AIs – you take on Carl, then its brainier bestie Carl 2.0 comes onto the ancient art scene and you get to go again! I nearly always prefer playing solo against an AI (although some BYOS modes are so crunchy that taking on myself is more than enough!). So having two foes is fun.
The main game’s emphasis on balance remains in terms of progressing myself v hindering Carl/2.0. And whilst the AIs’ moves can seem quite powerful (as can the discard effect), being able to steal 2 Prophecy cards per turn and knowing its colour preference for the round at the start helps with planning. And, after all, every little helps when there are so few turns in a game!
