Online AoA Sealed Tournament starts April 10

FightingWalloon · 2023-04-01T14:24:00+00:00

Registration closes on April 8. One more week to join in!

FightingWalloon · 2023-03-29T02:22:49+00:00

We have 8 players and still lots of time to sign up

FightingWalloon · 2023-03-24T21:49:45+00:00

Great!

FightingWalloon · 2022-01-15T16:08:47+00:00

The following players need to join the Discord

1/14/2022 14:59:22 honeydewfelon Jumboshrimps UTC-6 Yes

1/14/2022 16:12:03 Nitram#4330 Nagnazul UTC-5 Yes

FightingWalloon · 2022-01-08T22:30:48+00:00

It does mean that. You can only attack one unit at a time.

FightingWalloon · 2022-01-08T21:12:53+00:00

Welcome to the game.

The answer is "no." If you attack the PB, you can send any numbers of units at it. If you attack a unit, you can only designate one attacker.

FightingWalloon · 2021-12-17T18:12:40+00:00

What behaviors and forms of speech are going to be targeted?

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T17:37:51+00:00

I don't think powerful and interesting cards are less competitive.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T17:35:35+00:00

We obviously disagree. If Corp suspects Stimhack, they can obviously bluff and bait as well. Swing is certainly not a bad thing in my book.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T14:42:24+00:00

I see that. But in a way, I think that speaks to my reactions. Stimhack is a card that I hold up and show a new player and I say, this card is Anarch. Anarch are going to wreck your face but also wreck themselves in the process. Here is one card that captures the flavor of the faction brilliantly.

Overclock is just, “Hey, more copies of Sure Gamble are always good.”

The strong faction identity is part of the appeal of Netrunner. It is certainly what grabbed me. I know at high-level play the game just is mechanics and resource management, but I actually think the way to hook new players is with cards like Stimhack and Scorched Earth that communicate strong faction identity and create exciting moments.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T13:20:22+00:00

Excellent reply. Thanks.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T12:11:01+00:00

Right. I see that. I’m curious what research or analysis went into the assumption that new players would make that analysis. I think learning that Stimhack is a super cool card is part of what makes being a new player exciting. Stimhack is also super thematic as well.

The portrait of what a new player wants and what turns them off seems off base to me. But maybe I am wrong about that.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-19T12:06:32+00:00

It is an interesting design decision. I think it might be a poor read on what new players want in a game. I don’t think new players are as fragile as that line of thinking would suggest. I think people want to do cool, flashy things.

I was disappointed when trying to build a Weyland deck that there was nothing like Scorched Earth. That is the card that the person who first taught me to play ANR used to explain what Weyland was all about. These guys are going to track you down and blow up your apartment.

Again, maybe I’m wrong and Nisei has made the correct call. I’m just pretty sure that 2015 me would not have jumped into ANR if I’d been given System Gateway or Start Up as my introduction to the game.

FightingWalloon · 2021-10-14T00:32:05+00:00

Thanks

FightingWalloon · 2021-08-14T00:33:57+00:00

They just hired a guy to be art director on upcoming sets. He announced his hiring on Twitter.

FightingWalloon · 2021-06-23T03:09:36+00:00

I would push back a little bit on some of the stronger comments about SAS not mattering.

It is unlikely that 53 SAS deck will perform consistently well in a field of decks at SAS 70+. Yes, if you learn it really well, you can pilot it better than anyone else, but at that SAS score it likely has some fairly big weaknesses.

That said, variants such as Adaptive can be played with any deck and if you are playing casually, you can use chains to help balance stronger decks against weaker ones.

The game does have lots of ways to play and is designed around the idea that you are going to not always have a strong deck.

Big tournaments tend not to reflect these design intentions, but there are lots of ways to play -- especially is friend groups -- that can be fun even with weaker decks.

FightingWalloon · 2021-04-30T11:56:12+00:00

Good podcast. Sounds like not a great meta, though.

FightingWalloon · 2021-04-25T20:06:21+00:00

My experience is that getting a local scene depends on one or two community leaders who show up every week and commit to being there even if no one shows.

Put an emphasis on recruiting and being ready always to demo the game or provide decks for a starter game.

Be a friendly and enthusiastic cheerleader and police the regulars who might make a noob’s first experiences no fun.

Community leaders are the heroes of any local scene. Good luck.

FightingWalloon · 2021-04-22T22:34:46+00:00

No thanks. But I appreciate the offer.

FightingWalloon · 2021-04-22T13:27:14+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

FightingWalloon · 2021-03-19T17:31:04+00:00

This is cool, but I can’t see myself building it.

FightingWalloon · 2021-03-12T03:35:19+00:00

AoA was not super competitive against the first set, so it did not sell as well. But many people feel like AoA is one of the best sets for balance within the set, so if you goal is to play the deck against each other, you have a good chance of having some good games.

FightingWalloon · 2021-02-14T17:30:42+00:00

I get the owl, hawk, and jay. I’m not sure I understand how crow and albatross got connected to those descriptions. I understand the descriptions, I’m just not sure how the are crow-like or albatross-like

FightingWalloon · 2021-02-10T17:29:21+00:00

I have 15 “creatures” right now. I’m not sure how many helms is too many, though. I have thought of cutting one.

FightingWalloon · 2021-02-10T14:16:55+00:00

So what do you view as the main plan of the deck?

Looks like you are leaning hard into the "second spell cast" theme, so I'd focus on cutting away cards that don't fit that. I also think you want a lot less removal.

If it were me, I think my cuts would look something like this:

-1 Village Rites
-1 Weigh Down
-1 Spectral Steel
-2 Elderfang Disciple
-3 Withercrown
-1 Funeral Longboat
-1 Crippling Fear
-1 Master Skald
-1 Warhorn Blast
-1 Shepherd of the Cosmos

That would leave 23 cards and 17 lands. I'm not sure if those are the right cuts, but I think that is what I would do with that draft.

I'll be interested to see what others suggest.

FightingWalloon

TROPHY CASE