Shadow Moon Syndicates, the second design by Jarrod Carmichael, brings out my inner cynic. It might have something to do with the setting, all grungy piping and colorful gangs grappling over the guts of a husked-out asteroid. Or it might be the particular blend of chip-stacking, hand-building, and shifting objectives, which feels like somebody played Paolo Mori’s Ethnos and wondered why it wasn’t more complicated.

But then I come back to the star of this particular showdown: the cards. Oh, those cards! What marvelous little bastards!

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