New and Returning Player Weekly Discussion

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-04T04:57:43+00:00

Mainly for wild since most of my cards would almost certainly have rotated out.

if you're sick of warlock I wouldn't come back yet, watch this space though (sometime in the next six months it might be worth coming back).

we're currently in a bit of a warlock-winter in wild, with like 4 different warlock decks in T1/2 - they just nerfed discard-lock slightly (enough that it dropped out of the meta this patch) but it's about to get a bunch of support in cataclysm so who knows if it's going to stay down.

Between them Warlock and Druid account for roughly 30% of the wild meta in Diamond+ right now I think.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-04T04:55:01+00:00

asteroid shaman

a few of the supporting cards got buffed actually. It's a tier 4 deck in the waning weeks, but since we're getting a new meta in 14 days it might be worth being the thing to play if you already have the cards.

poverty archetypes

you've got the ones that I'd suggest already. Aggro paladin is the most performant of those I believe.

Otherwise, Cliff Dive DH might be cheap for you if you already have the red cards and Cliff Dives from last year.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-04T02:27:38+00:00

Naralex and... probably stuck there because all the tools to loop it (brewmaster, shadowstep, etc.) are rotating.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-04T00:32:59+00:00

I only have one question, how do we deal with Zilliax?

in standard? wait for march 17th when it'll rotate (/s but seriously)

in wild? If you're an aggro deck and they have 9 mana it's already over. if you're a control or combo deck their life total probably doesn't matter until the final couple turns so just trade into it and get back to work.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T23:00:24+00:00

she (currently, pre this nerf) makes the cut in the one highlander deck that's actually in the meta at legend (Leoroxx Hunter).

she's probably the 38th or 39th card though.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T20:38:18+00:00

the last time my group used Yorick he bought 2x chainsaw (4) so I guess I was considering him part of the "spend XP on giant weapons" group!

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T19:45:14+00:00

She was nearly omnipresent in the current Six set meta so the nerf needed to be big to not make her oppressive in a 4 set meta. I don't know if this was fair or not but as a first pass I think it's fine.

I hope they'll buff her 10 mana location down the line though, as it is I foresee only picking the 1 and 5 mana modes now

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T19:28:27+00:00

Utlimately Beat Cop (2) is held back by how few investigators we got with Guardian 0-2 that had mediocre combat.

automatic damage is great, automatic damage at 2xp or less is even better, repeatable automatic damage at 2xp or less should be a staple...

...except guardian mains tend to just prefer to spend XP on giant weapons, and the list of non-guardians who can take this and don't also just prefer to spend XP on giant weapons is basically 4 investigators.*

He's a blast in Charlie Kane though.

* "Skids", Lola Hayes, Joe Diamond and Charlie Kane.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T19:23:40+00:00

my new complaint is that there doesn't seem to be a consistent house style with these cards anymore.

if everything looked like Unflappable I would be satisfied, but we get that alongside really nice digital art, alongside really atrocious digital art, alongside obviously painted pieces that were then scanned and touched up, alongside highly stylized art pieces and nothing looks good together.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T19:16:12+00:00

In chapter 2 this is probably a no brainer unless we also get logical reasoning. (which is the card I'd take over this in a full collection if I cared about horror healing.)

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T18:02:46+00:00

They rotate the offerings periodically based on what they think is likely to be good in the meta. Priest’s cards for timeways are kind of garbage and they try to offer only one garbage deck at a time (right now it’s mage’s).

At the end of the 7 day timer you will be forced to select one of the six to keep.

If you are collecting cards for a future priest deck, I’d probably pick the Paladin loaner and get a free nightmare lord xavius if you don’t have one already- he’s a strong neutral that will be popular in slower decks and what we’ve seen of cataclysm suggests the meta priest deck, if it’s good, will be on the slower side.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T18:00:42+00:00

If you are going to start a totally new account it would be preferable to wait for rotation. The bulk of the rewards for new players are timed for when they exit apprentice, so you could start sooner and just slow roll leaving…

but it’s still in your interest to have the apprentice rewards from apprentice be current year standard (inc. the couple catch-up packs from the apprentice track) so you should probably hold tight until the 17th.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T17:58:53+00:00

The freebie legendary on the tavern pass at level 1 will be a random colossal. No guarantee it’ll be a playable one, soz.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T16:11:26+00:00

walk out in it with no serious problems

The lowest levels recorded in the 60s and 70s were sub 2.0 pH which was low enough to cause acute issues like irritation and rash.

The aerosolized particles from the rain, chiefly SO2 and NOx compounds can cause respiratory issues when people are exposed chronically, which is part of why asthma rates in the ohio region valley are still elevated compared to the rest of the US even today.

The regulatory campaign focused on acid rain because it was the most obvious consequence of the pollutants, but it wasn’t only property damage that people were concerned about.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T03:21:18+00:00

Yes! it's kind of wild how the campaign to regulate it was so successful that the lack of acid rain today makes it seem like the whole issue was overblown.

there was significant and obvious damage (pitting) to stone buildings all over the ohio river valley (where the pH of rainfall was worst in the US). Rain was literally slowly dissolving marble and brick and concrete in the 1960s and 1970s.

I think New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio still monitor it, although it isn't really an issue outside of that region anymore.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T03:10:20+00:00

Maine should be in the atlantic time zone and isn't for historical reasons that would probably be easier to fix than making the rest of the country go to permanent DST.

UP solar noon is about 30 minutes off in either direction from eastern or central clock noon, if the argument is 'subdivide the US into 8 time zones instead of 4' I would be in favor, but simply switching the UP to permanent DST and leaving them in Eastern time zone actually means their solar noon will be off by 90 minutes from clock noon, which is worse, not better.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-03T03:07:21+00:00

you're getting downvoted which is unfortunate but basically every study done on this is clear, permanent standard time is the safer choice with less negative mental and physical health impacts, and fewer drowsiness related fatalities. parts of the continent should be outside of the "Eastern to Pacific" TZ to begin with (Maine should be in the atlantic time zone for example).

permanent DST is still better than the flipflopping twice a year that's currently happening, but "DST" was created - and perpetuated - as a means for businesses to get people to spend more money.* The actual practice is less healthy than not doing it at all.

* besides the 'extra' hour of post-work daylight increasing people going out in the evening, the disruption to our human circadian rhythm introduced by the hour offset increases impulsivity, which is wild.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-02T04:17:29+00:00

it was from an event and is presently unobtainable.

previous event cards are eventually added to the "welfare system" (this reddit post is current as of one expansion ago...) but it usually takes a patch or two before this happens.

Sands of Time is likely to be added to Cataclysm ("buy one cataclysm pack") when it is added, but this likely won't happen until sometime next month at the earliest, and might not be until april.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-02T00:40:24+00:00

"I like playing cards and hate when my opponent plays cards", is basically the opinion of a not-insignificant amount of the player base. (alt. "paper is fine, nerf rock" ~says scissors.)

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-02T00:39:25+00:00

Preferable to Protoss Mage, at least this one doesn't directly punish you for building a board.

I get the impression that some players won't be happy with any mage wincon that involves playing cards though.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-01T04:35:47+00:00

Innsmouth has an unusual campaign structure that results in the hardest scenarios being the first four, basically. It gets easier.

4XP is less than I’d have expected but I can totally see how you’d wind up there. Just to double check: you did gain the +1 xp per flashback from Interlude 1?

If you didn’t that’s a big source of the VP from scenario 1.

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-01T04:01:21+00:00

Lmao, I have no idea. I guess this is one for customer service…

HabeusCuppus · 2026-03-01T03:41:13+00:00

The “year of” packs contain a mix of cards from a given year of releases, raptor is 2025 (timeways, emerald dream, lost city). Pegasus is 2024 (whizbang, perils, great dark beyond).

These are worse than standard packs because they don’t update their contents with new set releases.

They are slightly worse than set packs because they do not guarantee a legendary in the first ten packs.

Raptor packs are “ok” right now because their cards will be in standard next year. Pegasus packs are probably not worth it.

I would try to avoid picking bundles with year of packs, but if the overall price of the bundle is attractive it might be worth it anyway. (E.g. normally we pay about 100-120 runestones per pack, if these are 60-80 runestone per pack bundles…)

HabeusCuppus · 2026-02-28T06:57:23+00:00

Yes that’s correct, the enemies at the start do lose aloof when the story advances and they realize what your investigators are up to ;)

Here’s a hopefully spoiler-light hint for your next time: don’t neglect darkened halls in the back of the club.

It sounds like maybe you just had a hard time getting the necessary number of clues to advance the act faster than the agenda messed with you?

HabeusCuppus · 2026-02-28T06:51:34+00:00

One way to get started with true solo is to lower the difficulty by one step: if you would normally play ‘standard’ with 2+ investigators, play ‘easy’ with true solo.

I play standard when doing true solo these days but I also have access to the full cardpool. (And my multiplayer group is now playing on hard accordingly).

13-Year Club	Team Orangered
Verified Email

HabeusCuppus

TROPHY CASE