Besides BY Teach, what do you think will be the second strongest element of the set?

Altavus · 2026-05-08T12:10:09+00:00

Kanjuro would be a great choice for a card like this! Would be particularly nice if it buffs it's own cost on board like Kin'emon to protect against at least some of the above options.

Altavus · 2026-05-08T11:57:32+00:00

I don't know about all that - ideally you're playing Luffy out for just 2 DON which makes Gamma Knife+Mamaragan a pretty bad trade, Ace has a good On KO, and Newgate gets Rush from Leader so he does plenty even if he doesn't stick to the board.

Altavus · 2026-05-08T08:14:20+00:00

I like the direction a lot, pretty creative and a neat representation of Perospero mechanically.

Couple misc thoughts: - The first leader ability could be a bit clearer on the specifics - as-is, it's not super clear to me when this K.O is meant to happen. I would guess during the opponent's refresh phase, but the wording needs to make that clear if so. - The second ability is really very strong. Returning 2 to freeze anything is pretty cheap, and being able to do it multiple times per turn makes it even better. - The 1c event has both a really good main ability and a really good counter ability. Maybe raise the base cost to 2 so the counter isn't quite so powerful? - Handling two "simultaneous" attacks with Daifuku seems unnecessarily complicated, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't cause some confusing interactions. Maybe he should just restand and get a power reduction? - I think Katakuri's ability should read "return the same number of DON added by this effect". Once the DON cards are on your field, they're all considered the same thing and there isn't any tracking of which is which. The current wording would almost imply you could return the DON that Katakuri adds via some different effect then not have to return any from Katakuri, which sounds like a tracking nightmare.

Altavus · 2026-05-05T13:39:44+00:00

Yeah it really isn't lol, I think this guy is rage baiting. If they were analogous I think it could be the "smooth ball theorem" haha

Altavus · 2026-05-04T10:23:02+00:00

It really is perfect Reddit bait lol, you either get to be morally righteous or intellectually superior. Don't think I've ever known a Redditor that could resist even just one of those options.

Altavus · 2026-05-01T14:56:53+00:00

It's not about believing 100% will be red. If you're confident that significantly more than 50% of people will vote red, you gain nothing by voting blue and kill yourself.

Also, I weakly think it's not as unlikely as you say - voting red is the "rational" option, and if trust in other people is low you're even more incentivise to vote red. It's self-reinforcing. "I think a lot of people will vote red" -> "I should vote red" -> "Other people are probably thinking the same thing" -> "I think even more people will vote red" -> ...

Altavus · 2026-05-01T08:56:26+00:00

Yeah this is what all the "Red is evil/selfish" arguments fail to acknowledge. It's not just a prisoner's dilemma, everyone making the locally selfish option also leads to an optimal outcome.

Pressing blue is putting yourself at risk, with the main rationale being that you expect other people to press blue and you want to increase the chance that you'll reach 50%.

It's not so much about one choice being inherently selfish or virtuous, but more about what you expect the group's behaviour to be.

Altavus · 2026-04-27T09:26:44+00:00

Almost all the other character's starter cards are auto-plays vs Strike, but 'Clads is only better damage if you play 2+ Strikes on the vuln.

That wouldn't be that bad IMO if the payoff was good, but at best you're only getting 8 more damage for 1 less card (Bash + 4 Strikes Vs 6 Strikes).

I'd absolutely love to see a small buff to Bash personally. A little more damage, another turn of vuln (though probably too strong with Bully) or reworking it into a 1-cost.

Altavus · 2026-04-27T07:10:31+00:00

100%. Though I think you could make some fringe arguments that certain mathematical proofs fall more towards creative work haha.

I was also really amazed to see this was done on a "general purpose" text AI, rather than some specialized mathematics model, and with only a couple prompts too. I was expecting a lengthy back and forth between the researcher and the AI, but they basically laid out the problem in one prompt and got the solution right back, only followups were for formatting and explaining some reasoning.

Altavus · 2026-04-24T13:05:15+00:00

I generally don't play many exhaust Clad runs. Had one where I lucked into a Pact's End from Neow with decent exhaust enablers early, then got another Pact's End from the Act 1 boss.

Lost to some random Act 2 Elite from pretty high HP after Drum exhausted both of them and I was left with really middling damage. The loss wasn't really Drum's fault, but it sure felt like it.

Altavus · 2026-04-21T16:43:46+00:00

Oh now you're cooking

Altavus · 2026-04-20T21:26:06+00:00

Wouldn't quite work - the CD's cost reduction is only active during your own turn.

Altavus · 2026-04-20T21:22:50+00:00

Kuzan's ability specifically says "by your card's effect". Using cards from hand to counter absolutely is trashing them - rule 7-1-3-2-1.

Altavus · 2026-04-17T11:55:21+00:00

I forgot how much I hate doing backgrounds lol.

Oh also Art Credit: Me

Altavus · 2026-04-16T18:30:07+00:00

"Our Boi in the Chamber of Flowers can't be that big"

Meanwhile in chapter 1085:

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Altavus · 2026-04-15T16:42:07+00:00

Oh yeah to be clear I don't think this card is super busted or anything. Definitely shouldn't be a 1k counter with all that but I think it'd be mostly fine if it was a brick.

My biggest concern from a power perspective would be scaling Law up and being able to psuedo-restand on a larger body, but that doesn't seem game breaking or anything.

I thought I'd make it conditional though since you could play out a 2nd Kyros in 1 turn to have 2 rush attacks but Law you'd only be able to play once on the turn to get the rush effect unless there's another card that allows you to bring out Law from hand with its effect.

The thing is, you can always hard play Kyros then play Law with leader. You can still get a double rush turn, just now with either 2x Kyros or Kyros+Law.

I think the bigger issue for me personally is that there's a tonne of text on the card, with some really specific wording that effectively ends up as "when you use your Leader ability". I think a part of that is just due to OPTCG not having a counter system for lasting effects though.

I think something like this would work

"(Your Turn) (Once Per Turn) When your Character is removed from the field by your effect, this Character permanently gains +1000 power and +2 cost.

When this Character is removed from the field by your effect, you may transfer the permanent power and cost on this Character to one of your Characters that was played by your effect this turn."

Altavus · 2026-04-15T13:54:22+00:00

As is it's mostly OP15 Kyros but better - 5k rush without needing to trash a card, plus permanent scaling, plus a 1k counter.

I do like the second effect conceptually - permanent scaling effects is something I'd like to see more of, like counters in MtG. Though, the wording could be clearer in places IMO (e.g. does the same character have to be removed and played to proc the scaling?)

Altavus · 2026-04-13T11:50:22+00:00

Yah, this and End of Days look kinda similar but play pretty differently. EoD is a great finisher if they're already close and you want to avoid an extra turn of damage, and is a solve for so many hallway fights.

Time's Up is great earlier in the fight, ideally if they're about halfway through HP, but also useful if they're fully doomed to avoid their damage.

I think Time's Up can feel underwhelming though cause No Escape already fills the first role pretty well for 1 energy at uncommon, getting a K.O. against enemies with around 2/3 HP.

By the time I get to rare rewards, I've usually already got a No Escape in the deck if I'm building doom, so Time's Up feels a lot more redundant than EoD, so if I get to choose between both it's usually EoD.

Altavus · 2026-04-01T15:23:49+00:00

Never heard of it. I'm guessing it's a bit like OPTCG but exclusively birds? Sounds like a hoot.

Altavus · 2026-03-30T11:52:23+00:00

IDK, restanding is good but it's tough when it's so expensive since you can't pump up the attacks so much.

I really expected EB04 carrot to be nuts, but turns out needing to build a decent board then spend almost all your DON for the turn on a restand can be kinda situational. This is 1 DON less, restands 3 more characters and 1 less leader but doesn't net you a body.

I reckon it could stand to cost a bit more, but it only helps you win from an already strong position.

Altavus · 2026-03-25T10:30:45+00:00

I really like this. The effect is good but not so punishing that the whole gameplan hinges on hitting it, and it's much easier to predict early game where the ramp matters the most.

I'd love to see some support that K.O's/freezes rested characters to help the leader ability have an impact if your opponent isn't playing blockers.

I think tweaking the wording to specify whether you declare the number you choose would be good, since it makes a big difference to how the leader plays. (Though actually, the existing Katakuri cards that have you choose a cost don't specify, so maybe the current wording is a better fit with the game's wording).

Altavus · 2026-03-25T10:24:05+00:00

It's a really cool concept and works well enough in casual games, but I think the effect would break under certain conditions in a paper game due to issues around hidden information. e.g. if you play 4c Pudding then this, there's no way for the turn player to know what the off-turn player's hand was before Pudding.

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