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Dust to Dust is a deckbuilding game about getting rid of cards

Welcome to Urth.

Get rid of cards to perform more powerful combos in Dust to Dust, an upcoming board game that’s more about removing cards than gaining them.

Set on the planet Urth, Dust to Dust is a deckbuilding game that has players becoming Divers - people who are able to dive down into the dust piles on the surface in order to find powerful relics. As the players’ island homes steadily sink deeper into the dust, the players must attempt to acquire enough influential allies, relics and the fusion fragments necessary to save their lands from total disintegration within the dust. However, there are only so many resources left to go around, meaning that slower players will risk missing out.

The aim of Dust to Dust is to collect the most victory points by gathering cards that contain victory point totals such as relics, fusion fragments and allies. Other cards, such as the energy cells are worth no victory points but can be used to buy cards that are. At the start of the game, each player starts with five cards and can use any energy cells on those cards to recruit allies from the available market or to gain more energy cells or fusion fragments.

Dust to Dust cards

During their turn, players can choose to take the dust action, which will enable them to remove a card from their hand and put it in a slot on the game’s playmat. By removing certain cards from their hands, players will be able to increase the chances of drawing other cards - such as powerful allies or relics - instead of the ones they dust. Players can also force their opponents to dust cards from their hands, with some relics requiring players to dust cards to use them. The retrieve effect shown on some ally cards can allow players to take back certain cards they’ve dusted into their hand.

Ally cards will enable players to perform various actions when played, with the keyword printed on the card indicating what kind of action that is. Most ally cards will need to be played during the ally phase of a player’s turn; efficient allies can be played without using up the player’s ally action. Others generate energy cells that can be used to buy cards, whilst some will allow the player to attack or defend against their opponents. Relics have entirely unique abilities that can be activated during the relic phase of a player’s turn.

Cover image for YouTube video

Once a player has managed to purchase three relics, then the game enters the final round and the points are tallied - with the player holding the most points being named the winner.

Dust to Dust was created by Spencer Swan and the game set to be published by the company founded by Swan, Haven Wall Games, with this being the studio’s debut release.

The Kickstarter campaign for Dust to Dust is live until August 16th, with a pledge of $50 (£36) getting backers a copy of the game that’s estimated to arrive in November.

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Dust to Dust

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About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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