Buying and Trashing: Building a Dune: Imperium Deck

Welcome to Level 2. At Level 1 you learned to plan a hand and run your economy. Now you shape the deck those hands come from. Dune: Imperium is a light deck builder next to games built only on decks, but the deck still decides what you can do each round. Our explainer on deck-building games covers the general idea; this lesson is the Dune: Imperium version.

How your deck cycles

The rulebook puts every card you acquire into your discard pile, and you reshuffle only when you need to draw from an empty deck. That makes the deck a loop. Each card is drawn once per trip through it, and a trip takes about deck size divided by five rounds:

Draw effects speed the loop up, but the rule of thumb holds. With 15 cards and four rounds left, a card you buy now will probably be played once, maybe twice. With 20 cards, maybe once, maybe never.

That one table explains most deck building advice in this game.

Judging a card in the Row

Ask four questions about every card you could buy.

1. Where can it send an Agent? The rulebook’s strategy tips say part of what you pay for is access to the Factions. A card that reaches a space your deck cannot is worth more than its text suggests. Count your icons now and then: if only one or two cards can reach the Fremen, your water plan depends on drawing them.

2. What does each half do? A good card is useful whichever job it does. A card with a strong Agent box and a strong Reveal box gives you options every round it shows up.

3. Does it pay when you buy it? Acquire boxes pay immediately. The Spice Must Flow pays a Victory Point the moment you buy it. Late in the game, these are often the best buys, because they do not depend on being drawn.

4. How many times will you play it? The cycling table answers this one.

Faction cards and synergy

Many Imperium cards belong to a Faction, and some reward you for playing them with others. The rulebook’s Fremen Bond, for example, works when you have another Fremen card in play. Some cards check your Influence or Alliances. Buying a few cards from the Faction you are already climbing makes each of them stronger. Buying one card from each Faction rarely does.

Trashing: smaller is faster

Your ten starting cards never get better. Trashing them means your strong cards come around more often. Ways to trash in the original game:

• Selective Breeding: 2 spice to trash a card, draw two, and step up with the Bene Gesserit.
• Imperium cards with the trash icon.
• Seek Allies in your starting deck, which trashes itself as part of its effect.

What to trash first: the starting cards that do least for your plan. A card that only helps you fight is weak if you are not fighting, and a card worth 1 Persuasion is weak once your buys cost 5 or more.

But stop before the deck gets too thin. Karlis Povisils, the 2022 North American Champion, warned in his interview with Dire Wolf that over-trimming can backfire. A deck of eight cards draws itself in under two rounds, and if a round’s five cards lack the right icons, you have nothing else.

Persuasion is the engine’s fuel

Persuasion buys better cards, and better cards bring more Persuasion. The High Council’s 2 Persuasion every Reveal turn is the steadiest boost on the board. Hall of Oratory adds 1 on the round you visit. Remember that Persuasion is never saved: plan your Reveal around a buy you can afford, or two smaller ones.

The Imperium Row refills the moment you buy, so after one purchase you may buy the card that replaces it if you have Persuasion left.

Early buys and late buys

Rounds 1 to 3: buy cards that will be played four or five times. Access, Persuasion, and trashing.

Rounds 4 to 7: buy for your plan. Swords if you are fighting the Conflict II and III cards, Faction cards for the track you are climbing.

The last rounds: buy for now. Acquire boxes, cards that score on acquire, and The Spice Must Flow. A big card that you will never draw is wasted Persuasion.

Denial buys

Sometimes the best card in the Row is the one an opponent needs. Buying it denies them. It is rarely right early, when your deck needs help, and more often right late, when one card can decide an Alliance or a Conflict.

The deck check

Every few rounds, flip through your discard pile and count three things: Agent icons by type, total Persuasion, and total swords. If one is badly short, your next buy should fix it. The engine-building explainer has more on why a lean, balanced engine runs best.