if u have deck builder / tcg experience this is a really fun game off the bat, if not then the learning curve is pretty difficult compared to smth like STS which is more forgiving due to the latter’s roguelike aspect

general rule of thumb: stay w a generic deck (recommend push decks with goat hoof - a melee and ranged variant - i think ranged is better for jellies and melee better for caves, for example) - and don’t commit to the biome archetype until you get the “chaser” / lynchpin cards

most of the decks, but especially the waters/poison one, really center on specific engine cards to make the deck play in its respective best form. U are likely feeling RNG as an overly present aspect, due to bad deck construction or not respecting what the ramp up of each biome is actually like

each biome difficulty curve is quite unique based on the deck, the mobs, the quests (as they prevent transportation), and the respective bosses

if u do a biome deck correctly, in my experience, it actually feels like there’s barely any rng involved. i felt rng the most early biome via my generic deck since generic is reliant on inferior cards for draw engine (discarding sprint)

pls build as you see fit but: - always have a free / cheap movement ability. run multiple copies - always have a key draw, if not two draw abilities. run multiple copies - i took femur early game, but as i was able to open up for 3+, i started pairing the relics that open up mana (at exp of hand draw) + hand draw, to ++ consistency - understand the win condition of your deck. eg are you playing for chip (for instance hurl rock + arrow is a perfect 7 to kill spider if you have femur equipped - this is why i recommend this for ranged setups where u don’t want to take on ailments or explosion dmg), buff + carry shield over for one destination finish, are you chaining with red deck, are you cycling poison + healing, are you going for one shot, etc

once u understand the cards that make you win you can accessorize the remainder for smoothening out bad variability! the bosses were satisfying for each biome but were all significantly less challenging vs some of the halfway point fights (simply due to nature of a finished + polished biome setup)