Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Fighting games is one of the most interesting video game genres out there. While the core concept is borderline primal, as the end goal of every fighting game is to beat your opponent’s health to zero, it has earned the reputation of being hard as hell. It’s not a surprise, considering that you need to be absolutely precise with your fighter’s movements, attack execution, and memorizing combos. To even play at a mediocre level, commitment is necessary, and the genre is simply not meant for casual players. Getting beaten by a more experienced player in fighting games often feels oppressive, like someone licking the icing off your cupcake and forcing you to eat it.
Yomi’s intentions are to bring the fighting game spirit into colored cardboard form. No more worries about inputting weird movements with buttons and joysticks. The physical barrier ceases to exist here, and the only bit of fighting game remaining here is the mental aspect. The word “Yomi” derives from the concept of reading one’s mind. At higher levels of competitive fighting games, attacks and movements are too quick to react to, so you must perform your actions through premeditation. In other words, making decisions based on what you think your opponent will do.
Yomi 2 is obviously a sequel to Yomi, Sirlin Games’ first entry into the board game world back in 2011. Yomi is an excellent game, but in retrospect, it had some issues. Lots of keywords to memorize and quirky rules to comprehend, making it hard to onboard a new player. While I do own the deluxe first edition of the game, I won’t make direct comparisons to Yomi 2. The only thing I will say is if you have an interest in Yomi 1 or fighting card games overall, I recommend you steer your attention towards Yomi 2.
So, how does Yomi 2 emulate the high level competitive fighting games that have been around for generations? By being the world’s most elaborate game of rock-paper-scissors.
Strikes beat Throws. Throws beat Blocks. Blocks beats Strikes. You now know 80% of the rules of the game. Time to talk about the other 20%.
Training Mode Essentials
Each character is represented by a unique deck of cards, encompassing strikes, throws, blocks, and ability cards, with some characters featuring additional specialized rules. While this appears complex, there is a deck summary card for every character, making it easy to comprehend an unfamiliar deck.
Although character decks in Yomi are fixed, the game introduces a layer of customization through gem selection. Before each match, players choose a gem that adds unique cards to their deck, which are then shuffled into their character’s standard set. These gems offer strategic opportunities to enhance a character’s strengths or compensate for potential weaknesses. For instance, a White gem increases card draw capabilities, while a Red gem introduces a projectile strike and additional damage-dealing cards, allowing you to subtly modify their deck’s potential and playstyle.
As for the match itself, it’s not as complicated as it could be. Like any other card game, the game starts with a player having a handful of cards. Four of them are fixed, like having a few block cards and a throw, and the other half randomly drawn from the deck. One player will be the “active” player to the start match.
On an active player’s turn, they draw two cards and have several actions they can take before actually playing their card facedown. There are four options to take and you can do them in any order.
Frame Data Breakdown
The first and most impressive one is the Exchange action. Every “normal” block, strike, or throw card has an exchange icon. This means you can exchange that card for another card in your discard pile that also has an exchange icon. As a simple example, you can exchange your normal throw card from your hand for a normal quick strike from your discard pile. Unlike most card games, discard piles are public information for both yourself and your opponent.
Another action to take is Power Up. Discard a pair of cards in your hand to gain either two Power Up tokens or take a single Power Up token and a super move card from your discard pile. As the name implies, these super move cards are powerful and, with certain characters, can be game changers if executed properly.
The remaining two actions are straightforward. The active player can use an ability card which functions exactly as described. The fourth and final action is to activate their Gem Storm ability, a unique power linked to the gem chosen at the match’s beginning that can be triggered once per game.
The active player signals the end of their action phase by placing a card face down, and their opponent does the same. Both cards are revealed, the resulting interactions play out, and a new round commences. This cycle continues until one player is ultimately defeated by having their health reduced to zero.
That’s it? At first glance, this might appear overly simplistic, but Yomi 2 is a little smarter than that.
Cardboard Hadouken
One area to keep an eye on is the number of cards in one’s hand. Throughout my many sessions for this review, I’ve noticed new players underestimating the sheer importance of having a healthy number of cards. Having more cards isn’t just having more options; it also means you are less predictable. And that’s important in a glorified rock-paper-scissors game.
Yet Yomi 2 loves to give friendly punches to your shoulder, reminding you that you can get more out of your victories by playing more cards. Whenever you hit your opponent through a strike or a throw, you have the opportunity to combo off that opening card. Suddenly, your simple attack that does 5 damage becomes 20 and your opponent has to go Plan C or D now, assuming they thought that far ahead. Combos not only deal more damage, but they can introduce new abilities or give you power stars to spend on your future super moves.
Best part about all of this? No complications. The game is merely asking you if you want to play more cards or not after a successful reveal result. That’s all.
The beauty behind this hand management system is it transforms Yomi 2 from a simple guessing game to a nuanced psychological battlefield where every action reveals potential vulnerabilities. By discarding card pairs to gain power-ups or retrieve super moves, you trade immediate advantages for transparency and abundance of choice to mess with your opponent. Yomi 2 masterfully teases you with tempting actions that promise short-term gains, yet the true skill lies in recognizing when to capitalize on these opportunities and when to maintain ambiguity.
From Combos to Cards
Now I could keep going about the card play, such as dodges acting like high-risk high-reward block cards, projectile strikes being soft counters to block cards, and knockdowns. I’ll even say that this system would work fine on its own for a simple dueling game. Yomi 2 isn’t interested in that. It wants to emulate fighting games, and in order to do that, you need asymmetrical characters.
Yomi 2 does an excellent job in this area as a good portion of the characters gives you enough mastery to sink your teeth into without hitting a bone. Every character is thankfully marked with a complexity rating, making it easy to enlist new players.
And as someone who prefers low complexity, the entry-level characters are crafted with a watchmaker’s precision. They don’t require extensive knowledge of Yomi’s nuanced systems, yet they still require constant mental engagement from you and, most importantly, are competitive at higher levels of play.
To give a quick example of this, one of my main characters is Setsuki. Typical rushdown character with low health, high speeds, with a major emphasis on combos. This importance on combos is built into her ability, as she draws four cards if she ever has a round with four or less cards. Her objective is easily digestible even for players not too familiar with the game, and reaching to that point to abuse her ability requires you to properly manage your cards and read your opponent.
Even some of the mid weight complex characters squeeze some flavor for your taste buds to savor. Argagarg, a character who I still cannot pronounce, is a defensive character that starts with a poison ability card in their hand. When played, this poison card keeps damaging your opponent at the end of every round and doesn’t get discarded unless you get hit. In other words, you are playing not to hit your opponent, but to play keep-away. Flip the script, fish buddy.
Salt Check
Not all characters inspire such admiration. I know I’m risking fan backlash by criticizing Lum, the gambling panda.
My issue isn’t the random elements Lum introduces since, ya know, gambling panda. The issue I have with him lies in his item deck. When playing as Lum, certain moves require drawing and revealing cards from this separate deck. While some cards provide straightforward, immediate effects, others introduce ongoing conditions that persist throughout gameplay and it is possible to have up three effects going on at once. These persistent effects add slight complexity through additional record-keeping and new variables.
Compared to other characters, including the other complex ones, Lum disrupts the game’s natural rhythm. Instead of swift resolutions after the card reveal, you now have another set of cards to worry about outside the realm of the rock-paper-scissors relationship. This creates a marked shift in gameplay dynamics, much like transiting from Rock-Paper-Scissors to Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, and Spock. Both have the same end goal, but the fundamental experience is altered. While this isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, it does create a noticeable disruption and concern for future complex characters. This is something that can be adapted, it’s just maintaining consistent pacing and flow across different characters is still important for the overall experience.
I also need to mention that Yomi 2 does come with a cooperative and solo mode. While I won’t dare call myself an expert in this area, I did find the modes to be interesting distractions. They are designed to give you some space to practice your deck and get into a deeper understanding of your character, but it is a shallow representation of fighting a live opponent.
Match Point
Sirlin’s game design philosophy certainly shines through here, as with his other works. While the basics are approachable, mastery demands dedication. This isn’t meant to be a casual, play-it-and-shelf-it experience. Treating it as such would be like taking a trip through the Louvre on a motorcycle—you’d miss the depth and nuance entirely. To truly grasp and appreciate the game’s intricate mechanisms, both you and your opponent need to invest significant time and mental energy.
And I don’t view that as a negative. Many two-player board games often settle for simple back-and-forth mechanics, and Yomi 2 stands as a masterclass in depth and replayability. It captures the essence of fighting games while eliminating the physical barrier, creating an experience that rewards dedication, mind reading, and strategic thinking. A truly competitive game is crafted here, where accountability takes center stage. With no “comeback” mechanic, every decision carries weight, and the consequences are yours to bear.
Throw in some truly creative character designs, gem customization, and intricate hand management, and you have a game that will last longer than a teenager’s tattoo. Just as Street Fighter 2 revolutionized arcades in the ’90s, Yomi 2 might just perfect the art of the tabletop fighting game. And unlike its digital counterparts, you won’t need to worry about frame-perfect inputs or touching more buttons than a three-armed tailor—just the perfect read on your opponent’s next move and enjoy the fight.
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