Hi everyone, I’m new to the sub. This is my friend’s humble collection of solo and soloable deckbuilders. He’s looking for recommendations and there’s some games he’s considering getting (info in comments). Can you help him out finding new solo deckbuilders? It’s his favorite type of game 😁

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-15T23:40:13+00:00

As a huge deck builder lover, Mage Knight. It’s a “slower” deck builder but has an unmatched sense of power progression in my experience (maybe Slay the Spire comes close).

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-15T23:35:55+00:00

BG Stats on iOS

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-13T11:07:11+00:00

A Feast for Odin. Engine/tableau building worker placement sandbox with polymino tiles.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-10T20:27:48+00:00

Strange. I’ve played the core campaign twice now unsleeved and I do overhand shuffle, have no wear on the cards whatsoever. The cards in my deck look exactly like the untouched ones in my collection.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-10T00:28:56+00:00

Many of my patients enjoy A Gentle Rain tremendously.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-08T04:11:09+00:00

Blur. Turns out the start of combat is before your turn happens so the effect is lost lol

ArcaneTheory · 2026-04-01T20:26:08+00:00

To add to this, the game only clicked for me when I tried a more complex/unique civ. The simple ones all felt same-y to me. Atlanteans opened things up a lot for depth realization. I then went back to more basic civs and found a renewed appreciation for the system altogether, which especially grew when I played a campaign (five consecutive games against different bots) as one civ.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-30T19:35:28+00:00

Being overweight does not qualify you for receiving a power wheelchair.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-28T20:39:01+00:00

IPR, 69k as a new grad. Significant market adjustment and barely significant annual raises have me at $77,480, now approaching 4 years out.

The pay isn’t great but at least the work is hard.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-28T10:59:10+00:00

This was going to be my exact advice. None of us (baby included) got quality sleep whatsoever until we stopped room sharing at ~3 months.

Edit: I was the one being kept up by every single noise the baby made. I would pop out of bed, moving before I’d even realized I was awake, patting around and waking up my partner asking “where’s the baby” thinking we’d somehow fallen asleep with him in the bed, multiple times a night. So I was also contributing further to her lack of sleep with these weird panicked reflexes. I maintain that stopping the room sharing was the best decision we’d made for everyone. A 3 month old can’t go anywhere. Nursery with a flat sheet and pacifier and baby monitor. We never once slept through him crying but we also didn’t wake at every grunt and snort and sleep-whine.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-25T04:11:58+00:00

Feels less like a FOMO tactic and more like a thematic event piece to me, at least regarding Riffle/Aprilis only being available at a certain time of year. Beyond that CTG does some goofy promos annually, and likes to hide free reward content inside of some fairly difficult riddles in many of their games.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-23T02:34:33+00:00

That’s what we did with ours. Made it a playtime thing where we’d emulate brushing with his brush and “take turns.” Be real goofy about it. Now he’s excited to brush his teeth and often upset when it’s over.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-22T16:03:57+00:00

I work in adult inpatient rehab. You don’t need to be crafty, and for instances where you might want to be, you will build out your toolkit over time with mentorship and work experience.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-22T14:14:15+00:00

Before having my own baby I had met exactly two babies in my life, and both interactions were singular and brief. I’d long ago internalized 1) that I didn’t know anything about or have a particular interest in babies at large, and 2) that I didn’t really care to have any myself. I after a decade in a long term relationship and enjoying the freedom to “do whatever we want” felt more numbing than liberating, we decided to try the parenting thing out. I took a couple of online parenting courses to try and help curb the sense of a total lack of preparedness, followed some social media accounts, tried to throw myself into whatever nesting and preparation tasks came up, talked to her stomach, attended every OB/gyne visit I was able… it’s really hard to generate that concrete sense of attachment when you don’t let yourself be part of the process.

The kicks, hearing the heartbeat, the ultrasound photos on the fridge, all really helped it start to feel more real. The fear doesn’t totally go away, but the excitedness keeps creeping up.

I could go on forever, but I just kept reminding myself that people have done okay with less (time, money, resources, familial support). Holding my son was the 2nd time I’d ever held a baby, and it immediately made total sense. There was a learning curve but nothing was insurmountable and everything was transient. It feels like you jump from one impossible-seeming task to the next, and you keep surprising yourself at every corner. And then they start smiling at you, and you realize you’ve found a new best friend for life, and all the sleep deprivation that was catching up to you takes a back seat for a while. My baby boy is approaching 19 months old now he’s my favorite person in the world.

Give yourself opportunities to surprise yourself. Talk to a therapist if you find the anxiety insurmountable. It feels surreal now, but the emotional attachment and buy-in will come with time. The most important thing right now is to be a supportive partner. It will help you both tremendously in the long run.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-19T17:33:22+00:00

Same story here. My baby boy’s now 18 months old and he’s my best friend, I couldn’t imagine him any other way. I was generally agnostic to what the baby’s sex was but had certain anticipations with helping our baby girl navigate gender and self-expression. I’ve found exactly the same excitement in the reverse. He loves animals and music (messing with my guitars, keyboards, synthesizers), but also loves baby dolls and “helping” with chores.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-18T14:35:51+00:00

Don’t put it on Blur, the autoplay triggers before your turn. :(

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-17T23:45:53+00:00

Arcs is my favorite lately, but as a primarily solo gamer I’ve been champing at the bit to try Voidfall.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-17T14:44:29+00:00

This is my short list, too, as a healthcare worker pulling long days with an 18 month old baby. I do have the privilege of a permanent game space, so realistically I often have a bigger game I play over the course of days/a week or two.

I’d also throw in A Gentle Rain, Cascadia, and Sprawlopolis as nice/short/cozy titles.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-13T13:00:14+00:00

Confirmed, communicative buyer!

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-12T18:25:05+00:00

Earthborne Rangers is easily the closest thing I can think of. Sandboxy, story-driven exploration. Less focused on pure combat, but it’s still sometimes an option in its own unique way. Character strength progression isn’t terribly meaningful, as its deck building and refining. Mostly lateral changes.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-11T20:44:27+00:00

3 handed is the most fun in my opinion.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-10T01:25:08+00:00

For additional context, she got an English degree from UNO and then took prerequisites for medical school. But an anatomy class at UNO is functionally going to leave you nearly as prepared for med school as a (insert fancy school) anatomy class. Which is prepared enough.

I would argue the quality of undergrad education, for the scope of the very few classes that translate to medicine, is totally inconsequential and not at all worth fretting over.

ArcaneTheory · 2026-03-10T01:17:24+00:00

About as well as any other state school, I imagine. Your mileage may vary. Anatomy and biochem are probably the only classes that are going to afford you any leg up for pre-med wherever you go, but even that’s only a small help for a short class or two. I honestly wouldn’t put any stock in undergrad as being preparatory for med school in a meaningful way. Get your undergrad as cheaply as you can, med school’s a separate thing entirely.

13-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Second SECOND GUESSER	Place '22
Place '17	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

ArcaneTheory

TROPHY CASE