Hey everyone!
Today I want to talk about one of the core systems in Dino Citadel — something that defines the entire flow of combat and decision-making: how you draw cards.
In most deckbuilders, it’s simple. At the start of your turn, you automatically draw a hand of cards — maybe five. You play some, ignore others, and at the end of the turn, they all slide into your discard pile.
But in Dino Citadel, there’s no auto-draw. At least, not the way you’re used to.
Instead, you spend Coin to add cards to your hand, one by one. Every card is a decision. Every Coin is a choice. And your hand? You build it — you don’t just receive it.
The Order Pile is Dino Citadel’s version of the draw pile, but with a twist.
At the start of each Shard (closed-off regions with specific objectives), your deck is shuffled into the Order Pile. Then, at the start of each turn, you draw 3 cards from it — but they don’t go to your hand yet.
To actually play one, you must spend Coin to buy it and add it to your hand. The rest go to the discard pile… unless you intervene.
You have a few tools:
Freeze: You can freeze 1 card each turn. Frozen cards stay as an option for the next turn, giving you another chance to buy them.
Reroll: If you don’t like your 3 options, you can spend Coin to reroll. All unfrozen cards are discarded, and you draw new ones — letting you buy another card if you want.
Free cards: Some cards, especially Bounty cards, cost 0 Coin and go straight to your hand when drawn.
Even once a card is in your hand, it still costs Energy to play it. So each turn becomes a three-part decision tree:
What can I afford to buy?
What can I afford to play?
What should I save for next turn?
This system turns every turn into a small, evolving puzzle — where you’re not just reacting to what’s drawn, but shaping what your future turns can become.
You’re not handed a hand. You build it — one decision at a time.
And Yes — It All Loops Back. Like most deckbuilders, once your Order Pile is empty, your discard pile is reshuffled and recycled.
Why This System Exists
Dino Citadel isn’t just a deckbuilder. It’s also a game about resource management.
Here’s the core loop:
Use free Bounty cards to interact with the map and earn Coin
Spend that Coin to buy tactical cards from the Order Pile
Spend Energy to play those cards and survive
Your economy is your draw engine.
So you’ll need to:
Use Bounty cards to gather resources
Use purchased cards to protect them, attack, or reposition
Carefully manage your Coin between buying, rerolling, and long-term planning
Take the card Harvester, for example. It’s a free card that places a unit on a productive land tile. That Harvester will passively generate Coin or Food every turn — but only if it survives.
That’s it for drawing cards in Dino Citadel!
If you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain, please consider wishlisting and following Dino Citadel on Steam.
Thanks for reading!
Halit