XCAFS20 Initial Ruleset definition discussion!

What is PBF environment?

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I don’t disagree with you, but I stand by my assertion that it’s too good at 2. One gold makes a world of difference; if we’re going to balance it, we’re going to have to seek alternative methods than just cost adjustment.
See my thought provoker above for ideas.

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@FrozenStorm @EricF Does Drill Sergeant still target with his changed ability?

It would be rather strange if it did, since the player doesn’t select a unit for the +1/+1 rune to be moved to.

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Pretty happy to see such a tournament being run. Also happy with suggested changes to be tested. Since I agree with 90% of them :stuck_out_tongue:

I finally got around to post Blue vs. Black nerf test session report from February, so a bit of an opinion on changes to test.

Black Starter:

I suggest to also nerf Graveyard to break when it holds 3 units instead of 4.
Curbing Haunt to 1g sounds interesting, as this nerf also hits Graveyard and Sacrifice effects as collateral.

Demonology:

Dark Pact to deal 1 damage to Vandy instead of 2

Nerf Vandy’s midband to levels 4-5; Maxband to 6. Still not sure if cutting Resist is correct, but it’s such a red flag for everyone else, so try it, whatever.

Metamorphosis: Remove Readiness instead of Invisibility. I think Metamorph is too much of a different/weak card without Invis. The point of it is to go all-in on heroes; Without Invisibility it loses this design intention. Testing absence of Invisilibity could be interesting from the point of view “How much of a nerf is too much”, but I’m afraid it would all but kill the card from design space standpoint. If you believe cutting Readiness alone is not good enough, maybe cut one of +1/+1 tokens as well. But keep Invis.

Disease:

Orpal Midband to be 4-6, Maxband at 7.

Blue Starter:

I think letting Building Inspector straight up discount controller’s buildings 1/turn is way more elegant.

Law:
Don’t like suggested Jurisdiction change. Clunky. Barely changes anything at all. I like tucking Lawful Search effect on this card instead. Very elegant, and powerful. Full text would be “Look at opponents hand or discard pile. Then play any non-ultimate spell from your codex, paying it’s cost and discarding it.”

Peace:
Drill Sergeant NO NO NO. You lose Hallucination / Dreamscape combo with this change. Just limit rune moving ability to 2/turn, same as Blooming Ancient.

Truth:
I’d suggest discounting Quince’s midband ability to 1g or — if you are feeling bold — making Mirrors 0/2s.

I like everything else in the list except for a few minor odds and ends here and there, like KotC Forecast at 2 is too much with Time Spiral and Tinkerer changes, Regular Sized Rhino is now very sad when compared to Oversized one, don’t understand +1 HP on Predator, agree with Bomber on 2g Rich Earth, etc…

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Metamorph granting Invisibility leads to non-interactive games where the Vandy player summons a hero, casts metamorph, and wins 2 turns later with literally nothing the opponent could do in the meantime to interact with it (since almost no specs have detectors, and you can’t use a fresh tower to attack or target an Invisible thing).

The dreamscape thing a) never comes up, since just having a DS in play wins most games, and copying it with Quince is almost as good without the tech card risk. And b) isn’t a fun interaction anyway

If nothing else, this:

is wrong.

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agreed, is one of blue killer combo.

What game are y’all playin? I’ve basically never had a scenario where Dreamscape was warranted. Hallucination is basically always better for one less gold. The only time Dreamscape would be better is your opponent has massive flood, and you have DS + Macciatus already out on board. I’ve never seen that happen.

I’d much rather have Dreamscape changed to some other function than worry about how DS changes interact with it

I feel like I’ve used Drill Sergeant / Dreamscape against you effectively before, Frozen, and if not you, then definitely against someone, and on more than one occasion. Dreamscape is more efficient across multiple turns, or against large numbers of units in a single turn, but Hallucination is more efficient against 2 units if you don’t expect Quince to survive, if your opponent is running ongoing removal, or if you’re expecting to win the game by removing those 2 units, or if you’re concerned about targeted retalliation.

You don’t actually need Macciatus to make Dreamscape viable, or even Mind-Parry Monk (which, btw, is an excellent choice of unit to copy with Mirror Illusions), in fact just putting a pair of Spectral Flagbearers in your Scavenger and Technician slots is enough protection in many cases, and if you’re also using Flagstone Garrison to quickly dump Overeager Cadet, Spectral Flagbearer, and Spectral Hound, you can replay them every turn if they get killed, and rack up +1/+1 runes on Drill Sergeant at the same time.

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You may have used it, but would you have lost if it was some other card from your Codex?

I will note that the combo makes it easier and faster to win, which is relevant in F2F play when you don’t have time to math out your Garrison/DS/reshuffle turns.

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That’s not a reasonable question, by which I mean, to accurately answer it would be more trouble than it’s worth, if indeed it can be accurately answered at all. What I can easily say is that the Drill Sergeant sniper strategy would often be less appealing if Dreamscape didn’t exist, and that I have no intention of running Truth, and especially not Peace with Truth, under the current change list.

Yeah I’m with Eric here, I need to see a link to this game where it was instrumental in the win, and an explanation for how Judgment Day or Hallucination (or just Mirrors) would not have done the same job as well / better.

I don’t disagree that there exists a hypothetical situation in which it is demonstrably better, but I have never experienced a practical one

Judgment Day kills your own units too…

Right but with Peace Engine that usually doesn’t matter as much to you as to the opponent :wink:

To a degree that’s true, but the Peace engine strategy tends to go through a growing pains phase what with the purchase of the Tech II, the Garrisons, and the Sergeants, and if the opponent is applying pressure, every gold is precious. Not to mention the price tag on Judgment Day is a considerable $10 including Bigby, and none of that advances the engine at all, plus depending on circumstances he might conflict with a different hero.

At a glance, it looks like I won a game using the Dreamscape / Sergeant combo against you here.

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Checking the forum, this was the first game I found where it was used: Codex Newb [Finesse]/Peace/Truth vs Dreamfire [Demon]/Balance/Anarchy - #29 by codexnewb
If codexnewb had teched a second Drill Sergeant instead of Dreamscape, he would have won 1 turn earlier than he did.

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Be that as it may, it’s a far cry from saying that in one particular situation Dreamscape was suboptimal, than from saying that in every situation it’s suboptimal.

No, no, it’s really not. Find an actual forum game where Ds/DS was used, and I can almost certainly find an alternate tech that would still win the game.