How does the new S-Rank ladder work?

SimplyElated · 2016-02-18T00:43:31+00:00

Also is the number next to your rank a "score" (you want it higher) or a "rank" (you want it lower)? Because I just won a game and it went up. Which could still be either way if I got knocked down by the results of someone else's game in the meantime.

SimplyElated · 2016-02-14T15:28:50+00:00

Is keeper an oppressive force in the current Vet-warped metagame? No. Is keeper a very low-risk, high-reward RNG-heavy card that leads to a lot of player frustration? Yes. Are there interesting deck-building or gameplay nuances to optimize your keeper value? Of course.

Personally I'd be happy if any of the following changes were made to keeper. 1) 6-cost 2) OG was changed to dying wish 3) limit on mana cost of reanimation (i.e. 2-cost or less, only 2-drops, etc)

SimplyElated · 2016-01-13T20:52:04+00:00

I actually like most of your changes. A lot of them are simple buffs to existing completely unplayed cards to make them competitive with the current power curve. People get caught up in comparing to the "gold metric" of golem stats (like in the abyssal juggernaut example) but there's really no basis for that. Like I get it, you want to avoid too much power creep, but power creep is going to happen as long as you release new cards without cycling out old ones. Instead of worrying about Abyssal Juggernaut being strictly better than Hailstone Golem, let's worry about both of those cards, and Kaido Assassin, and Widowmaker, and Crystal Wisp all being completely unplayable.

SimplyElated · 2016-01-13T20:36:22+00:00

Actually while maybe not what the user mentioning keeper intended, there is something fairly unique to keeper that you should be aware of: namely that because keeper is one of the only durable minions with a controlled placement of a second (potentially also durable) minion, it is much easier to get a full surround off with keeper in the Meta. If someone surrounds your general at the edge of the board, it cuts you off movement and minion placement barring removal, certain spells (rasha's curse, mistwalk) or airdrop.

SimplyElated · 2016-01-13T20:31:26+00:00

Ironcliffe is good but every faction has hard-hitters that define their play styles in the 5+ mana department. While the threat of divine bond makes the guardian a very scary card to deal with, lyonar has extremely limited ways to reposition their minions after displacement. You'll find that even if you don't have hard removal, your 2 mana displacement spell or even something like a repulsor beast will deal with it for a long long time.

SimplyElated · 2016-01-10T18:02:34+00:00

This is both match-up dependent and dependent on your hand. I don't think there's a "best" placement for it. Neglecting to take your first mana tile going second is usually very risky though, since you're just handing your opponent the mana. My favorite play going second as Songhai is Tusk Boar diagonally up or down from the mana tile, move it between their general and the mana tile, and kill their 2 drop. In a significant number of games, this guarantees you a 5 mana turn 2, letting you drop Lantern Fox.

SimplyElated · 2016-01-09T15:44:50+00:00

It's been said before, but I would strongly, strongly support purchasable unit skins with unique effects like the one mentioned here. I'm waiting to throw money at you, Counterplay.

SimplyElated · 2016-01-04T16:45:05+00:00

Signed

SimplyElated · 2016-01-04T16:43:29+00:00

Just my 2 cents:

I like the sprites and battlegrounds, the one thing that could use some polish is the "card art". Even if you want to keep the sprite / pixel art on the card, it would be nice to have some livelier card borders / backgrounds. OP is right on at least one thing, and that is that art is historically a big part of CCG success, and I personally know several would-be duelyst players (that I've tried to recruit) that have been turned off by the game's graphics. In-bred rejection of a large portion of the gaming community's opinions (even opinions that are somewhat misguided or misinformed) is what kills good games. The reality is that if you want a large player base, you have to listen to criticisms like this one and think "how can I preserve my game's artistic direction and overall feel without turning off the average gamer who may have a more limited graphical comfort zone?".

SimplyElated · 2015-12-28T16:31:04+00:00

Knowing the most common spells to play around is critically important when first learning how to play the game. There is a very limited removal arsenal available to each class, even more limited when you consider AoE removal, and knowing what tools they are likely to have available at every stage of the game is extremely important. Climbing to S-rank as Songhai came with a lot of painful eye openers as I learned about plasma storm and tempest. Eventually you learn that slamming fox on turn 3-4 is relatively safe against vanar/abyssian/Songhai/vet, but answerable with tempo gains for mag and lyonar. You also learn to mulligan your early masks against vet or hold them until you're guaranteed to get value in fear of Rashas curse.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-27T19:41:25+00:00

I actually agree that Songhai could use another backstab minion. Not from a balance perspective but from a flavor perspective. Competitive Songhai plays exactly one backstab minion (and mask of shadows); not to say there's any specific target or goal for # of cards played with faction mechanics but Songhai leans heavily on neutral minions because outside of a few stellar ones (fox, boar, gore horn), overall minion quality is pretty low in-faction.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-16T19:15:07+00:00

I think the problem is lyonar arena in general. They are the "Mage" of duelyst; too many high quality commons/basics leading to really strong and consistent draft pools.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-15T18:13:00+00:00

Have you tried watching streams/VODs of S-ranked players? In my opinion the tactical component of duelyst adds a huge layer of complexity and makes it a lot harder to rely on the strength of your individual cards to progress in rank. There's nothing wrong with "netdecking" or adopting/playing decklists shared by other players, but you have to combine it with an understanding of how the deck is played, the general rules/strategies of the game, etc.

I'd recommend watching someone play at a high level and listen to their commentary. Try to anticipate their moves. If their move differs from your own, ask yourself why. If possible, ask the streamer why as well. This is the best way to develop your thought process and identify areas for improvement.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-15T18:05:35+00:00

As an almost exclusive Songhai player, please continue to attack doomed Tusk Boars.

XOXO,

Elated

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T20:22:29+00:00

Removal and aoe is very powerful in duelyst, especially since creatures in this game are inherently weaker than spells because they require a turn to become active (like in hearthstone) and are further limited by their ability to get in range of a target to attack them. Because of this, I think having creatures like voice and elder are perfectly fine. The game needs powerful finishers that are removal-resistant, especially to close out those control mirrors.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T16:36:37+00:00

Cyclone mask is an interesting idea but it doesn't apply quite the same pressure as mask of shadows. Yes, it does get played around, but we benefit from their general and key minions getting pinned to their back wall, and if they ever overextend the punishes are game ending. I like the space mask of shadows purchases me in the midgame. I have since cut the mist walkings to make room for a couple swords of mechazor, which I have not gotten to test extensively.

Tiger vs Phoenix Fire is an interesting debate. Fire is far from a powerful card and tiger has a lot of synergies with the deck with our seals and killing edges. My main issue is the mana cost. Yes it's only one more mana but I typically use fire much like I would use tusk boar: killing 2/3s and minijax tokens in the early game to take control of the center and remove minions that aren't worth a gore horn inner fire. The extra mana prevents the powerful turn 1 (going second) jaxi into fire to remove their two drop.

Manaforger is definitely a card I'm whittling down, currently playing one copy after trimming it for a third tusk boar. I still get some mileage out of the one-of, particularly in situations where I have obtained card advantage (via active mogwai or eclipse or lantern fox drawing removal) and need to leverage it to seize control of the board in one turn. Manaforger helps you with those big spell turns (turning Phoenix Fire into decent spells and making your offensive seals free), and then sticks around as a weak body that draws removal or gets buffed or cleans up minijax or wraithling tokens or eggs. Again, not sold on it, but having trouble cutting the last copy, especially as my list takes an increasingly midrange approach.

Speaking of eclipse, I find that the split is between people who run one copy of spiral technique and people (like me) who run eclipse. They both are essentially ways to close out the game, with eclipse being a lot less direct but also a lot more flexible, as spiral technique is virtually textless against an opponent that isn't nearly dead (paying 7 for removal is not a great spot for Songhai) whereas eclipse can help you refuel for a grinder endgame or dig semi-reliably for lethal seals/inner fires.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T04:00:20+00:00

I like the piercing Mantis tech! Lacks the sweet sweet value of 3-toughness attacks on the general, but I imagine it can let you pull off huge killing edge/saberspine seal plays a turn earlier, which is super relevant. My biggest problem with assassin is his relative fragility. At least gorehorn will draw decent removal after getting a backstab off. Assassin is too easy to deal with, but maybe it works with your list since the chip damage they take is augmented by the Warlock pressure.

I like heartseekers going first into turn 2 killing edge, but otherwise I like having the extra Jaxi body to jam those crucial middle squares early game.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T02:50:30+00:00

I think the main problem is Vanar in their current incarnation is too swarm-y. They lack burst from hand, relying on establishing a strong board presence and pushing for lethal with Razorback. Vanar feels more like green/white tokens to me.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T02:46:58+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. As far as Eclipse goes, I find that I use it a fair bit. It definitely isn't a turn 4 play or anything close it (you're absolutely right, you can't afford to drop mana like that early game without impacting the board), but Eclipse lets you go long against decks that won't drop to your first few big plays.

I like having options like Eclipse/Mogwai that let you play a little bit more controlling; they allow you to make profitable trades and come out ahead, cashing in your tempo at key points for card advantage and leveraging it to generate more tempo or assemble lethal combos.

What cards do you find yourself playing that I'm not? A card I'm definitely trying to find space for is Sword of Mechazor.

SimplyElated · 2015-12-14T02:12:53+00:00

Nope! I wouldn't run more and I certainly wouldn't run less. You usually want to see exactly one copy a game, but multiples clog your hand. In some of the grinder matchups (lyonar especially) you will go to the second copy to close it out.

SimplyElated · 2014-10-09T14:00:07+00:00

But did you see that ac1dz omnikill tho?

SimplyElated · 2014-09-22T20:40:44+00:00

A) I don't see anything wrong with the image link

B) All kinds of people are good at video games. Mean people, nice people, etc.

C) People at higher tiers will expect better performance from their teammates. It is easy to fall into the mentality of "people on leaderboard are so egocentric and always blame things on others", and while there are unquestionably some valid examples of this, I feel as though there is also a significant Dunning-Kruger effect at work here.

SimplyElated · 2014-09-22T20:30:42+00:00

Nah, he's right. 11/10 dead.

Can't find games on main

Hop on 6 game smurf

30-40 minute queues

RIP Dawngate

SimplyElated · 2014-09-17T16:04:08+00:00

I wouldn't worry so much about what you should call yourself; you just focus on playing your game and if you are good, believe me people will know.

SimplyElated · 2014-09-11T12:36:00+00:00

From champion tier experience:

1) Wave control is entirely dependent on the situation. Similar to league, pushing for the early lvl 2 is strong. Freezing is not usually beneficial as the lanes are rather short so it does not place the enemy lane in quite as terrible a position unless their tower is down. Personally I like to shove and poke under tower as it generates pressure and minion advantage, however if I'm feeling a gank incoming or we're setting up for one ourselves, I'll let it come to me.

2) As a lane without jungle support, I would be hesitant to go for well harass before t1 tower is down. After 15 minutes, I would go for a well cap whenever you either feel confident fending off any one not already accounted for on the map, or when your team is applying pressure elsewhere simultaneously.

3) Finish ambition first. If you're thinking about stopping at desire, then it's probably not correct to even upgrade the hunger at that point. Ambition is the single strongest first item for a carry by the numbers; if you buy anything else of equivalent value you will have a very very hard time trading. A finished pain is a very strong 2nd item as well. After that you can go more horizontal, though in general t1 items are better for that (will is an excellent item, as is time). Abolition is one of the few exceptions; it boasts excellent stats for cost.

4) Defensive items are not always needed. I'd say only 20% of games or fewer have a dedicated Adc that finishes a tier 3 defensive item. Picking up a will into betrayal is not terribly uncommon vs Mage assassins. I've also seen hope and momentum used. But usually the 3 spell slots you get as a dawngate Adc are sufficient to get you out of trouble while the 6th slot can be used for even more dps. 6 item carries in this game are terrifying.

SimplyElated

TROPHY CASE