The interesting thing about Drop Duchy is there doesn't seem to be rarities? You're just as likely to get each different type of building? Which means it feels pretty easy to draft the strongest building each game and run with that, instead of coping with what you have.
Because I don’t like rarities, even if that’s a good tool to increase the longevity. I preferred to have a meta progression based on challenges and factions that encourage to try out the variety of options available, rather than force it. It feels like rarity would be frustrating in this context
I thought about this, and I think if I wanted to emphasize trying different combos, I would've done fewer common cards and had more different factions, a la Monster Train. Then have a checklist like "Lumberjacks / Clergy won Hard Mode 8/29/26" for faction combos.
I look at the huge unlockable skill tree in the game and go, "Wow, look at all these buildings I never want to unlock because I just want to build River Castle every run." Totally worth the $15 for a few hours of playing with it, but don't expect the world from it.
And to convince myself that I should absolutely not keep playing Drop Duchy, I finally bought UFO 50. And after trying 5 of the cartridges there, I feel like I already have conflicting thoughts on that one.