Mysticjuicer non-SG videos

Hey all, I occasionally record some non-Sirlin Games stuff for my YouTube channel, so I figured I’d go ahead and make a thread in the lounge for it.

Recently I’ve been playing this rogue-like deck building game on Steam early access called ‘Slay the Spire.’ It’s a lot of fun to play, even if I’m not all that great at it, and I think it could make for a pretty cool set of videos! Let me know what you think!

3 Likes
1 Like
1 Like
1 Like

This game looks really fun! Though they should warn you if you try to end turn without playing anything… :wink:

1 Like

I’m sure I have no idea what you mean. :eyes: :sweat_drops:

1 Like
1 Like

What are you thinking of the game so far? What decks are working for you?

I’ve played more of the Ironclad and I’ve found there’s only two decks that I can get to work. They either have to be built around Demon Form or Barricade. Even with the Barricade deck you still need something that either ramps up your damage or hits really hard so you can kill bosses quickly enough before they stack too much strength.

Some cards I’d take with either deck:
Shrug it Off (8/11 block and draw 1 card), Rampage (deal 8 damage +4/8 damage every time the card is played), Pommel Strike (deal 8/10 damage draw 1/2 cards), almost anything else that draws cards, because like in all card games card draw is insanely good. Most things that give extra actions are good in either deck.

Heavy Blade (15 damage strength counts for 3/5 times its value) is just absurd in the Demon Form deck and is a must for it.

I’m quite fond of True Grit (7/9 block exhaust a random card/card of choice) and will take that if I still have time to get it upgraded. In terms of the power jump I think this card has one of the bigger jumps once upgraded.

Like all deck builders keep your deck size low. I won’t go above 20 cards unless a super good card comes up or a good card comes up and I’ll soon be able to cull a card from deck.

I’m a whole lot less consistent with the Hunter/Assassin chick. The only deck I’ve gotten to work for her is a Noxious Fumes deck. Just tons of poison on everyone. This deck falls flat on its face against the level 3 time boss though.

1 Like

I’m super consistent with the Silence, at least at the base level of difficulty. I think I’m at something like 60% successful runs with that class, compared to… 5% with the Ironclad.

Silence build

If you get Footwork + a bunch of their armor gain skills + a bunch of poison effects + Catalyst you can probably beat any of the bosses. Most of these cards are maximum of “uncommon”, so it’s a really consistent build to pull off, and isn’t really dependent on any relics.

I got a bunch of suggestions for cards to ignore for the Ironclad, and my last run felt much more stable than previous ones, even if I never really settled into a specific archetype. I had a bunch of exhaust cards, but never got Corruption + Dead Branch, got Demon Form but not Limit break. The Pen Nib relic + fairly consistent armor gain carried me super hard, but I died in world 3 because I didn’t have any AoE effects. Not sure it would have been a successful run if I’d managed to reach the boss, but it had a shot, I think.

Will probably record another Ironclad video this weekend, hopefully show some improvement. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Join me as we venture… ‘Into the Breach’.

1 Like
1 Like
1 Like

More Slay the Spire stuff

Found another deck that worked really well. It might have been the deck that allowed me to coast through the standard mode the fastest/easiest.

It was a wound focused deck (putting wounds into your own deck). This was the final deck list:

Bash
Strike
Defend
Defend +
Evolve +
Body Slam + (x2)
Wild Swing + (x3)
Shrug it Off + (x2)
Iron Wave
Offering
Second Wind +
True Grit +
Metallicize +

Idea is put wounds in deck with Wild Swings, while doing good damage. Get Evolve into play so the wounds draw into more cards. Use Second Wind to get rid of mass amount of wounds which prevent them from clogging up your hand. Once you have 50+ with Second Wind and Shrug it Off hit the opponent with Body Slam.

The deck worked really well and was able to smash through the run. Think I finished in 35 minutes or so, which is fast for me.

Some notable Relics:

Mark of Pain: gain an action at the cost of starting with two wounds. both positives for this deck.
Ice Cream: Conserving energy from turn to turn? Turns a bad draw into an amazing following turn. I loooove Ice Cream.
Charon’s Ashes: all enemies take 3 damage for each exhausted card. Works wonders with Second Wind. Got me 40 block and did 15 damage to all enemies.
Happy Flower: Gain an extra action every 3rd turn. Just a generically good Relic and combos well with Ice Cream.
Paper Phrog: Opponent takes 75% more damage while vulnerable. This allowed those 50+ damage Body Slams hit even harder.

I’m not sure how good players are doing on their consistency but I’m finding the game extremely random. Getting good cards is one thing but getting relics that mesh well with your deck I’ve found to be much more difficult.

Is there a way to see what bosses you’ll be facing on floors two and three? This would be supremely beneficially in crafting a good deck.

1 Like

I’m so jealous you got this to work! It’s one of the archetypes I’ve been really excited to try, but I just haven’t had the cards come together in a run. Maybe someday!

It’s definitely random. I’ve started playing Ascension mode, where each time you complete a successful run, the difficulty ramps up. I’ve just hit a streak of 3 successful runs in a row, which is super exciting, especially since they’re with the Ironclad, which I was having a really hard time even clearing World 1 with about a month ago.

Luck definitely plays a part, but there is a lot more I could do to mitigate run RNG that I wasn’t doing earlier.

  • Picking the right route. In the early game, before your deck has a real direction or any synergy going, you want to prioritize fights (so that you can roll for good cards as often as possible) and elites (so that you can roll for good relics as often as possible, especially since relics can really define a deck direction).
  • Only picking good cards. There are cards with really game changing effects that are only actually good if you already have cards XYZ, or after they’re upgraded, or with a certain deck size. I think it makes sense to most people to be picky about what cards they take in the late game, once your deck has a clear direction, but it’s equally important (and much harder) to reject “bad” cards in the early game. What counts as a bad card in the early game really comes down to experience.
  • Maximize your opportunities for high-rolls. Once you have a deck with a strategy (but before it’s perfected), try for as many ‘?’ spots as you can, looking for relics, high rewards events, and deck thinning.

You only get to see what the bosses are once you reach their world. There’s no way to peek ahead to World 2 when you’re on World 1, or anything like that.

So after the last Into the Breach videos I’ve had nearly perfect 2-island and 3-island runs with the base squad. This weekend I’m going to record my 4-island attempt with the squad, and then move onto the other dudes.

As I was finishing up the last run I was thinking, “man, I love this game, but I feel like it might not have as much staying power as FTL” but then I remembered it has a “randomize squad” feature! And I’m still playing on Normal instead of Hard! SO MUCH CONTENT! AAAAAH!

Was just going to ask you what you thought of the other squads but it seems you haven’t played them yet. I’m finding the game to be much harder with any squad that isn’t the Rift Walkers. I’ve tried three other squads (all the ones that cost 3 coins to unlock) and they all have at least one weirdo that doesn’t deal direct damage. Much trickier to get to work. Many weirdo trickshots in non Rift Walker squads.

1 Like

Yeah, I’ve heard the difficulty definitely goes up from the Rift Walkers. rubs hands together excitedly

1 Like
1 Like

Have you tried any of the other squads yet? I think my favorite so far is the Rusting Hulks. Really enjoy their area control/denial. I’m also discovering that their artillery piece can really get in the thick of things and do well.

1 Like