DBS Score Is Dead… Gone.
A Designer’s Letter to the Wonders Community
Every game, as it grows, reaches a point where clarity matters more than tradition. Wonders hit that moment with “DBS Score.” Over time, the term drifted. Players used it to describe both a card’s value and a deck’s overall weight, and the result was a conversation that never felt as sharp as the system behind it.
So we’re fixing that.
Nothing about how the balancing framework functions is changing. The philosophy that keeps the game healthy stays exactly where it is. What is changing is the language around it. From this point forward, DBS simply means Deck Balancing Score, and it refers to the total value of your deck. One meaning. One purpose. Clean and direct. Ultimately, it’s just a change in official terminology, nothing else.
This is still the same dynamic, point-based system that helps regulate the strength of cards used in competitive play. It remains the backbone of deckbuilding. It stops any single idea from overwhelming the meta. It keeps the focus on creative deckbuilding instead of cramming together every high-impact interaction. It gives us room to design the powerful, cinematic cards this game is known for without letting any of them take over the experience. That part is untouched.
What we’re doing now is making the conversation more straightforward. You deserve vocabulary that reflects how the game actually works. Judges deserve terms that are easy to interpret. New players deserve language that makes sense on day one. And as the game continues to expand, this clarity becomes essential.
So the old meaning is gone, and in its place is a single, precise definition that strengthens how we communicate about the game we all care about.
DBS Score is gone.
Deck Balancing Score moves us forward. Thank you for being part of this world, for challenging it, for shaping it, and for helping it evolve. Wonders grows because the community grows with it, and this update is one more step toward a healthier, clearer future for all of us.