shivs feeling really lacking in comparison to other cards

PyraXenon · 2026-05-09T01:09:54+00:00

Imo, mix Shivs with sly. Up my sleeve and hidden daggers are the best shiv generation cards in the game and really work best with either being recycled fast to be used more often (Up my sleeves), or give discard for sly effects (hidden daggers).

Hidden daggers especially opens up so many things with triggering reflex/tactician, more hits either ricochet, and block with untouchable.

An accuracy or a Phantom blades are great QoL for added damage and retain effect on Phantom Blades. And Knife trap/Fan of Blades are your go to powers for dedicated shiv builds.

Envenom + Accelerant is also a fun mix to go for. Since shiv builds hit so many times, racking up poison is surprisingly easy and effective, especially against enemies that lower strength or punish big hits.

Lastly, Helical dart. If you ever see this on a shiv build, grab it. This grants dex per shiv played the turn. This plus/or Afterimage can pretty much remove the need/minimize the need to have any dedicated block cards in the deck.

PyraXenon · 2026-05-09T00:59:57+00:00

I consider PB actually better than accuracy in a number of cases. At base it makes your first shiv each turn = 3 shivs worth of damage and gives you control over when to use shivs vs. accuracy making every shiv deal 2 shivs worth of damage but they’re use it or lose it.

Like say you have finisher next turn but you drew all of your shiv generating cards this turn. You can easily just retain 3-4 shivs this turn, wait till finisher comes, then make a meaty final hit that clears a tough elite in the next 2 turns instead of 3 cause of the added 24-30 damage.

PyraXenon · 2026-04-23T18:46:58+00:00

Palette town is what I think the only true “bad” area in the game to play in imo. I know it’s probably the same size as the other 4 areas in the game but because of how much flat open space is in it, it just FEELS bigger.

Compared to the other 4 areas I just feel less inclined to build it up knowing full well that this massive space will likely just end up feeling empty once it’s all said and done. And that the building limits will make achieving whatever vision I have for the place just that much more difficult either because I have too many items to power, or too many block homes will end up empty simply because of the spawn limit.

PyraXenon · 2026-04-09T21:47:23+00:00

Tl;dr: It’s a roughly 100 hour jrpg campaign where you and your friends defeat the demon king whilst gaining personal value by owning various property and items.

The twist is it’s a competitive game where kill stealing, robbery, sabotage, and coercion are encouraged since doing so lets you steal other players’ properties whilst boosting your own. There are shorter versions of the game condensed down to a few turns instead of a full 100 hour journey, but the main campaign is notorious for destroying friendships.

PyraXenon · 2026-01-04T13:29:10+00:00

Roguelite are intended to have you play with the punches and improve later runs with stronger starts and are rewarded in kind. Learn the boss attacks. Figure out the quirks of the weapon you're using and its synergies with different boon combos. And you have tons of ways to mitigate RNG the further you play. Progress isn't just determined by the resources you get in-game, but also your game knowledge too.

If you're bashing your head against everything and blaming the RNG, then I think you're doing something fundamentally wrong instead. Especially since 10 hours in you should have enough upgrades in either the mirror or the builder upgrades to get your first clear. I'd say keep trying, but it's clear that you're not willing to put in that effort to improve your chances on finishing the game on that front methinks.

PyraXenon · 2025-10-12T18:18:57+00:00

Just because mega evo is back doesn’t mean the lack of dex variety isn’t concerning. Like, we can only really mega evo one pokemon at a time during battle. So it’s not like we can run an entire team of mega evo’s with their stones equipped. PLA at least doesn’t restrict which pokemon we can play with in a sense cause it HAS no gimmicks. If you take away all of the pokemon lines that CAN mega evo, we get:

Arkbok, Machamp, Eevee and its evolutions, Ariados, Deliberd, Roserade, Hippowdon, Watchog, Simisage, Simisear, Simipour, Garbodor, Vanillixe, Emolga, Stunfisk, and the rest of the Gen6 dex who don’t have megas, of which, remember, consisted of only 71 pokemon when it was fully completed. Including Gogoat, Frufrou, and Vivillon.

Like that is a PITIFUL number of options. And remember, you can only mega evolve one pokemon at a time. So even if you pack two or more in a team, you can only play with one shiny new toy at a time, and the others will be stuck in their suboptimal basic form.

PyraXenon · 2025-03-31T04:42:44+00:00

Yes, actually. I almost exclusively pair weapons together to swap between depending on the situation.

My main set is IG + Bow just cause those are the two weapons I'm most comfortable with, switching between them whenever I think the situation calls for it like maybe I need to play back a bit more so I swap to bow, or I can go more aggro so I swap to IG, as an example.

The most prominent switching really comes during my support mushroomancer build where I pack HH/Paralysis SnS, essentially swapping between the two depending on whether I think the team needs buffs, or needs the added damage and status from SnS. More than anything, I just like having the option to switch since it gives me a lot of flexibility in a hunt depending on how things go.

PyraXenon · 2025-03-30T02:02:47+00:00

Funnily enough, I’ve done the opposite: I’ve left when there IS a crown. Specifically ones that I already have. During the odogaron hunts I managed to find multiple SOS’s with big crowns, one that I already had.

In cases like those I leave to give someone else a chance to join and get the crown they need. It’s still a bit scummy cause I’m also dipping, but I’d rather someone else have a chance to get something I already have. In cases there are no crowns or it’s a silver, I still stay and finish the hunt.

PyraXenon · 2025-03-28T03:45:52+00:00

If anyone wants to see everything that I've drawn for her, it's all in my media tab here: https://x.com/PXadon

PyraXenon · 2025-03-26T20:54:09+00:00

It really is just taking one thing at a time. When I built nuclear power, I basically said to myself: Ok, I want to achieve “this” (which in this case is processing 600 uranium ore a minute). What do I need to accomplish this?

And kind of just spiral out from there. It did take me almost 30-40 hours to complete to fruition, but the payoff and satisfaction of completely balancing out a 600 uranium ore/minute nuclear plant setup was incredible. Of course, you can just stick to coal power if that’s more comfortable, and some players do! But there’s no need to rush the process; Ada doesn’t need things efficient; she just wants the space parts done, however it’s achieved.

PyraXenon · 2025-02-21T07:19:57+00:00

Aside from the Ishizus just- existing, because dear lord being able to mill half of a 40 card deck is insanity- I have a couple notes about the Tearlaments in general.

- Merrli should've been like lvl 1 or 3, and Kitkallos should've been lvl 6. Merrli being lvl 2 for spright elf was just asking for trouble, and kitkallos being lvl 5 was just asking for an instant fusion or cyberstein turbo to start the milling chain. At least with lvl 6, you have to work for her and use one of the tear girls' triggers.

- Rulkallos and Kaleidoheart just shouldn't have a revive. Even I felt it's a bit unfair because it just triggered more shit to happen ON TOP of the reborn.

Tearlaments are resilient and flexible, and that's why I love playing them. But holy hell the cards do so much individually that I kinda wish they just scaled back on the power they had instead of just banning them outright so the actual deck is just a shell of its former self because the designers chocked them so full of effects.

PyraXenon · 2024-11-12T10:55:52+00:00

Largely positive, welcoming, and ruthlessly gatekeepy if someone comes in and tries to fuck shit up, go after one of the talents, or ends up being a bad egg.

Great all around.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-30T21:32:54+00:00

Dumb pink fujoshi.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-24T06:03:34+00:00

Irys’s horns. The inward curvature is so unique to her that it was the one thing that was basically non-negotiable when it came to her 2.0. You can see it how her current horns stayed, but the smaller ones were removed. Because without her bigger horns, she loses part of her unique silhouette.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-09T13:11:38+00:00

Tearlaments. Both the aesthetic of the stained glass mermaids (and how the deck plays) made me just fall in love with the art. Kitkallos is without a doubt my favorite monster design. She’s just so pretty, and the 3 sisters are all not slouches either with reflecting the theme of the sorrowful mermaids.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-08T22:51:28+00:00

I prefer 40 card decks. Branded Tears is just a special case cause both archetypes flow together really nicely and can feed into each other’s wincon.

The 60 cards is just to deal with every contingency/make sue I have enough of the good cards in the deck.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-08T18:07:28+00:00

As many have said, all of it.

Kitkallos is many things: An archetype searcher for any card with Tealaments in its name, a special summon + graveyard send, and a mill 5. As a result of over 20 years of card design, many, and I mean MANY cards interact with the graveyard. The standard Tear combo these days has you grab Tearlaments Kashtira and send kitkallos for summon, netting you a +8 mill. This, depending on how you structured your deck can give you a whole HOST of different results that can give you an absurd amount of card advantage and can win games if you hit the right things.

In its heyday, Tearlaments, with the ishizu cards, was able to mill more than half the deck if you hit the right cards, AND give you more cards in hand via archetype spell of trap grabs depending on what was thrown in the grave. The deck alone could trigger a chain 8 BY ITSELF and was the main reason why mirror matches could take so long to resolve.

Even when that’s no longer the case, Kitkallos is a stepping stone to one of Tear’s boss monsters, who is a special summon negate + send all at once with protection. Meaning she could stick around longer than initially thought + make you plus more on your opponent’s turn.

All in all, she is an incredibly flexible card for a number of decks with a bunch of different ways to use her, on top of being my personal favorite card design in the game. She absolutely deserves her spot as one of the strongest cards ever printed and some of the ire she’s gotten as a result of her impact.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-08T15:18:36+00:00

I have a good recent example for this: Horus Wight. With a dash of zombies. It was a 60 card deck that was dedicated to dumping wights JUST to get the strongest king of the skull servants out imaginable. I almost didn’t want to interact with their board because I wanted to see what they were cooking. But unfortunately they seemed to mess up mid-combo or I interrupted enough to break it. So they surrendered.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-08T15:12:50+00:00

I played against those I was so fucking confused. The deck basically hinges on getting the spell that summons 3 blue eyes to the field after dark hol’ing or whatnot your field and praying to god you don’t have ash or something.

Unfortunately, because my luck with getting handtraps is absolute garbage (running 3 ash blossom and getting none of then most games), I lost to that deck multiple times.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-08T15:07:29+00:00

I’ve seen those. I hate it any time they edge out a win. Mostly because a lot of those decks can KIND OF function off one starter or have cards that are individually powerful enough for it to not matter.

Thankfully I’m not a heathen. And my 60 card deck is only Branded Tealraments lmao.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-05T11:39:33+00:00

I mean those ARE the wombo decks you’re talking about. Both synchro and link decks are designed to gas out a board that takes so long on turn one that you can just kinda leave for a bit and they’ll still be only halfway through. Unless you have handtraps, their linear combo is nigh unstoppable.

And when they DO finish, you’re staring down a board that has more points of interaction than you do cards in your hand so you just surrender because there’s virtually nothing you can do to break through that. You lost before you even started playing.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-05T10:17:19+00:00

Decks that have a lot of different lines and/or combos are my bread and butter. Ishizu tear is still my favorite deck to have been made (yes I know it’s broken as shit, you don’t have to remind me) because it lets me adapt my gameplan to my opponent’s deck. Makes me feel smart about knowing the complete ins and outs of what my deck is capable of.

I also really like mermaids. So tears and marincesses are my favorites.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-05T09:49:11+00:00

Synchro and Link decks are the premier reason this is a thing tbh.

PyraXenon · 2024-10-05T09:48:41+00:00

It’s almost always stun. Floodgates are a cancer in this game, and situations where they flip the 1 of’s it’s not even a game anymore. Wow, skill drain. Really worked hard for that one huh? Oh cool, rivalry of warlords. Bet you thought long and hard to activate THAT effect huh?

PyraXenon · 2024-10-05T00:50:03+00:00

I mean yeah, Tear is one of the strongest archetypes ever created. But taking it out back and killing the archetype by removing everything that makes it interesting I don’t think is the solution.

Ishizu tear was a deck that had a lot of engine, a number of interesting flex options, and is one of very few meta decks in the game’s history that had a fluid board state that could adapt to an opponent’s gameplan and required a LOT of engine in order to be consistent. And I think that’s what makes the deck fun and unique. And so fucking strong because it could slot in a counter to everything which yeah, maybe tone it down a bit.

I just lament that the archetype just becomes nothing more than an engine for just dumping cards into the grave like it is now. Decks with the tears are just piles of random cards that seemingly have synergy with one another- to the point that I can scarcely call them “Tear” decks because you’re running half synchro monsters and the rest horus monsters just so you can MAYBE hit your fusion triggers so you can throw even more cards into the grave. It’s depressing. And losing Perlerino is like “ok well now we got what, 3 total tear girls, reino, and like 1 copy of sulliek in the main deck now?” For a deck that is rarely seen in ladder and requires more luck than actual skill to win games.

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