Summary

DiceMasters was a collectible dice and card game published by WizKids, featuring multiple properties such as Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and DC and Marvel comics. In the game, you buy and roll dice to defeat your opponents.

The game grew out of the board game Quarriors!, which was described as a "dice-building" game, similar to deck-building games which were popular at the time.

The game was distributed in starter decks, collector's boxes, origin packs, booster packs, draft packs, and team packs. The game also had deck boxes (called "team boxes") available for various sets.

Card Types

• Basic Action - Actions that pair with the more generic dice.
• Action - Cards and dice with various effects and that can be used to build other dice.
• Character - Cards and dice that primarily fight your opponent.

There are also "sidekick dice" which don't have matching cards. You start each game with 8 of them.

Sets and Decks

The game saw 48 sets released: Avengers vs X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Battle for Faerun, Justice League, Age of Ultron, War of Light, The Amazing Spider-Man, Faerun Under Seige, World's Finest, Civil War, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Green Arrow and The Flash, Doctor Strange, Deadpool, Heroes in a Half Shell, Iron Man and War Machine, The Defenders, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, Spider-Man Maximum Carnage, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men First Class, Tomb of Annihilation, The Mighty Thor, Avengers Infinity Campaign, Kree Invasion, Harley Quinn, Justice Like Lightning..., Battle for Ultramar, Orks - WAAAGH!, Space Wolves - Sons of Russ, Doom Patrol, Justice Campaign, Mystics, X-Men Forever, Uncanny X-Force, Dark X-Men, Adventures In Waterdeep, Trouble In Waterdeep, The Zhentarim, WWE, Tag Teams, Bitter Rivals, Avengers Infinity Gauntlet, The Dark Phoenix Saga, Superman Kryptonite Crisis, and Secret Wars.

Not every set was available in every product. Many sets were released only as team packs or starter decks.

In terms of non-starter products, booster packs included two random dice and two matching cards. Draft packs included 24 random dice and 15 matching cards (including 3 basic action cards, but no basic action dice). Team packs included 24 fixed cards and 16 dice (but no basic actions). None of these include sidekick (starting) dice. I'm therefore considering these products to be boosters rather than decks, since you can't play without some other product that includes basic actions and basic action dice, as well as the 8 sidekick dice.

Sets with randomized products (AKA sets that were available in forms other than team packs) include super rare cards (and dice). There were also promo cards available.

Deck Composition and Contents

Starter Decks

Starter decks support two players, and include 10 basic action cards and 24 other cards, as well as 16 sidekick dice, basic action dice, and dice for the other cards. They also include four color assignment cards for the basic actions. This is enough for two players.

Starter deck contents were fixed, and the boxes indicated which deck you would get. The decks contain starter-rarity cards.

Origin Packs

Origin packs support one player, and include two basic action cards and two other cards, as well as 8 sidekick dice, 6 basic action dice, and 8 dice for the other cards. They also include two color assignment cards for the basic actions.

Origin pack contents were fixed, and the boxes indicated which deck you would get. The decks contain starter-rarity cards.

Collector's Boxes

Collector's boxes come with 8 sidekick dice, 10 basic action cards and dice, and a special full-art card. They also include four color assignment cards for the basic actions.

* The boxes also include 4 booster packs, which can be used to build a full deck for one player, as long as you don't pull duplicate cards from the packs, since a full deck requires 8 unique non-basic-action cards (plus two basic actions), and each pack comes with two.

Collector's boxes come in a large box that can be used to store an entire set of dice, and include a cloth bag and checklist for the set.

Deck Rarity Analysis

Starter-only rarities and booster packs? Heck yeah.

Alan's Thoughts On The Game

I love Quarriors!, and if you just buy starter decks, this pretty much plays the same. It's randomness in a fun and controllable way (looking at you, Star Wars TCG), and buying up dice to roll is fun and satisfying.

I haven't tried customizing the decks in any way, so it's hard for me to opine other than that. But I recommend this game, especially because you can pick up older two-player sets for cheap.

Resources

• Dice Coalition (includes rules, info, and a full card listing)
• dm:united (includes rules, info, and a full card listing)