A lot of good games can be based on randomness. Being in control of the deck building means that your choices shape the odds. I used to have a similar viewpoint as you, but learned to really embrace randomness and the design challenges it presents.

I say this as a Magic player, where even the greatest players in the world can get screwed or flooded on mana. The possibility of screw/flood increases the importance of card draw/card selection, makes the playability of low-mana cards more important, and makes heavy color pip investment, multiple colors, and higher mana costs a very serious concern.

Oh, I already have it, I just needed a good reason to hop into it and really give it a shot over the holidays.

I’m fine with games that push you to change your combat; combat that’s only there as a stat check and grind doesn’t feel like a compelling reason to have combat.

I’m like, one toe deep in 4 different turn-based RPGS. What does this one do particularly well?

Wyrmspan is awesome.

If you enjoy Wingspan, Wyrmspan feels like a Wingspan where you can actually “build” in a cohesive manner, and everything feels a little tighter/tougher due to the reduced number of resources you can get per action initially. The ability to earn more actions within a round becomes pivotal. And it feels like there are different viable paths to victory, whereas Wingspan really felt like "get early pink ability birds, then focus on high point value birds.

My board game group has switched over without looking back, and we had already invested in the Nesting Box and every expansion for Wingspan.