Review: SHATTERED GRID is the New Gold Standard for POWER RANGERS DECK-BUILDING GAME Expansions

Lord Drakkon reaches forward with seven other Power Rangers characters divided by shattered glass effects.

In the last half of 2023, Renegade Game Studios launched the Shattered Grid expansion for the Power Rangers Deck-Building Game. Like the other expansions, this expansion brings new characters, new Zords, new Masters, new main deck cards, and new mechanics. Renegade was kind enough to supply me with a copy of the expansion to review but all the thoughts below are my own. You can grab your own copy from Renegade or your favorite local game store now for about $30.

Go Beyond the Grid!

A Power Rangers Crossover Event!

Lord Drakkon is on the loose and seeks to destroy the Power Rangers, no matter where they exist in the multiverse! Rangers from across the eras must team up to stop him.

This expansion explores the Shattered Grid storyline involving alternate universes, strange visitors, and time travel. Now is your chance to use all of your Power Rangers sets and expansions in one all-inclusive battle for the ages!

I really enjoyed Shattered Grid. It’s not a perfect expansion, but it might be my new favorite. Let’s start with some of the aspects that feel weaker and then we’ll wrap up with the highlights. Sadly, one of the bigger problems from the main game carries over and is amplified by Shattered Grid. Depending on the setup of the grid, it’s very easy for one of the players to get overwhelmed by Adversary cards that chip away at their HP every turn. This can be very frustrating, especially since there’s no mechanic for a complete Grid refresh that could help alleviate this, and Shattered Grid introduces the mechanic of a Secondary Grid which can quickly increase the pressure creating a one-sided game rather fast. When playing with my wife, this did happen making the game pretty quick as the Adversaries dealt probably 75% of all the damage to her throughout the game. The expansion does have Resistance Hideout which can help lessen this, but there’s only one copy and so you have to get lucky and see it flipped up.

Another weak point is that some of the characters, Zords, Signature Items, etc. are only usable with cards or mechanics specifically from the Shattered Grid expansion. I will say that this is a minor issue because it’s mostly limited to items related to Finster-5 (only useful with ‘Sentry’ cards), Doctor K (part of her Scientist ability and Zord require the Secondary Grid mechanic), and Lord Drakkon (his Signature Item and Empowered abilities require the Secondary Grid mechanic). However, that brings us to our first strength.

Most of the characters and cards can be used even if you decide to play without the Secondary Grid mechanic from Shattered Grid. Many of the cards that interact with the Secondary Grid say ‘each Grid’, ‘either Grid’, etc. which means that you can technically use only one Grid and still use the majority of cards. This puts Shattered Grid leagues ahead of Flying Higher in my opinion because most of the cards in that expansion require the use of the alternate win condition mechanics. If you want to play Shattered Grid without the Secondary Grid, you basically just have to recognize that Lord Drakkon and Doctor K are not viable picks. Heck, you can even play Ranger Slayer, Time Force Pink Ranger, Black Dragon, Super Samurai Red Ranger, and Dragon Armor Trini without using any of the other cards from Shattered Grid. This is fantastic design for an expansion in my opinion. It lends itself much better to the mix-and-match gameplay style that Power Rangers Deck-Building Game aims to have.

Now let’s talk more about the Secondary Grid mechanic from Shattered Grid. I really like it. You start the game with only the Main Grid, but once a player drops to 25 HP (or lower) Secondary Grids are brought into the game. Secondary Grids only replenish with card effects but once the six cards are gone, the Secondary Grid is removed and replaced with a new Secondary Grid. Also, each Secondary Grid has an Ongoing effect which can be really helpful. For example, the Core Set lets you immediately attach cards obtained from its Grid to your character instead of waiting for it to cycle through your Deck.

Another strength in my opinion is that when you play with the Secondary Grid mechanic, you don’t shuffle the Shattered Grid cards in with either the Core Set or Zeo - Stronger Than Before decks. That means that your Main Deck is only 38 cards making it more likely that you’ll come across cards you want and need. Then, the Secondary Grid provides you with additional options for when the Main Grid feels lackluster.

Shattered Grid is a shining example of how expansions for Power Rangers Deck-Building Game should be. Introduce optional mechanics with minimal components that require those new mechanics so you can more easily mix-and-match your sets. It is definitely one of the first expansions I would recommend although it does work better the more sets you own for the game.