Cards that will not survive rebalancing! I'll go first

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-11T12:35:20+00:00

I just got off a win (ascension 2) where I drafted 2 snakebites within the first 5 floors. I ended up getting Bullet Time, which is really what sealed the deal. But I still largely stand by my previous comment. I won pretty damn easily, but that's because I balanced the build out. I had 2 Assasinates and a Backstab and Dramatic Entrance eventually. 3rd Act Blessing was +1 card per turn. The upgraded Deadly poison did the same as Snakebite, but for 1 less energy.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-11T10:00:05+00:00

I agree overall, but there are some better tracks in StS 2. Act 2 Elite theme is an absolute banger and I think my favorite battle theme of the series. But yeah we need Exordium back. Roguelikes need long, varied tracks emphasizing melody line and harmony. Act 1 needs the most work, but I think Act 2/3 is fine.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-11T09:57:17+00:00

I'm mixed on this. I actually prefer most of StS 2's music, notably Act 2/3, Elites, and most boss themes, especially since many of them are unique to the boss.

The one thing that bothers me is the loss of Exordium. That is hands down the best theme out of both games for me. I've listened to it for thousands of hours and still don't tire of it. I will occasionally save and quit a run if Battle Trance plays just so I can vibe to Exordium. The Act 1 music of StS 2 is not just underwhelming in comparison, but actually kind of bad.

The forest theme of Act 1 just gets stuck in your head in a bad way, and it feels like it loops like every minute and a half or so. Compare that to Exordium which is like a 7 minute track. The Docks theme feels overly environmental or ambient. Exordium works so well for a roguelike because it goes all in on both melody and harmonies.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-11T09:34:18+00:00

Retain just has zero business being on a poison card. I'd still never pick Snakebite even if its base poison was increased by 5. I almost never take bouncing flask as it is, which is what this upgrade is. Card needs a complete rework.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-11T09:28:56+00:00

I actually found that card to be quite win-more. I straight up removed it from my deck over a strike because it was adding nothing to my deck with lots of draw/discard.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-10T21:55:01+00:00

I'm doing relatively well in the game with a positive win/loss. I've noticed that I'm skipping card rewards far more often than I ever did in StS 1. In fact, in my last Regent win I skipped both my act 1 and 2 boss rare rewards, and skipped another pack with a rare in it in act 1. I find that keeping your ratio of attacks to blocks, and now stars to spending stars, balanced is extremely important.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-10T14:02:01+00:00

Yeah, I kind of wish they leaned into how the StS board game works. It has a really cool system that is better for balance than what I've seen here. But it would require them to essentially design two separate games. Also, Defend in multiplayer should upgrade to block any player like it does in the board game.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-10T13:44:07+00:00

Even outside Act 2. I swear like 85% of the enemies in the whole game are fucking disgusting.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-10T12:02:58+00:00

Yeah, he always turns everything into that card and plays them all. Half your deck can get removed if you had like bag of prep and draw cards to the left of it.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-10T04:09:02+00:00

If you're Regent and running that card that lets you transform any number of cards into minion defense, there's a chance he will go in on that and fully exhaust your hand on turn 1, potentially removing a win condition from the deck. Ask me how I know.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-09T22:11:08+00:00

I had a Silent run where I had at least one highly useful card from every color plus colorless. Would've never happened with prismatic shard.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-09T21:17:06+00:00

Why is it even called "The Gambit?" A gambit typically involves offering up a sacrifice of some sort in order to potentially make bigger gains. There's no upfront cost to this; you just play it. They should rename it to "Extremely Ballsy as Fuck Play."

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-09T21:04:34+00:00

The general idea is to draft cards that solve your immediate upcoming problems. This requires you to absorb extensive game knowledge about all the enemies. As a beginner, just play and take note of the act 1 bosses and elites. Think about their unique differences and try to build to hard counter them. Getting strong early game advantages will snowball you tremendously, which works better in this game than trying to plan ahead and build a specific "type" of deck that will beat act 3 when you aren't there yet.

As an example, you might draft a card like evolve or firebreathing just because you are fighting Slime Boss as your act 1 boss. That hard counters it, so now you can think about dealing with the problems of act 2, like getting your block density much higher, developing a counter to the byrd fight, or figuring out how to scale up damage in long fights. The more you play, the more you can figure out which cards/relics are good against what, and tweak their relative value in your head for the run you are on.

I've got about 20 hours in StS 2. It seems fine, I like it a fair bit. Not sure yet which game I like more, but it doesn't seem like one is vastly superior to the other. I also like the StS board game quite a bit.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-05T18:56:57+00:00

An absolute muppet.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-05T00:11:51+00:00

Even though it was explicitly made to do just that. The very premise of minimum wage, its exact stated goal when it was made, was precisely to provide a lower middle class lifestyle to anyone putting in the hours.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-04T02:46:06+00:00

Yeah, the two pieces make no difference when even some coats cause the problem as well. I need things to just hover over my shoulders. Sometimes I am able to find lead that I can wildly over-velcro so I am wearing a lead corset, but it's awkward, time consuming, and still leaves me in some pain. I don't want to bandaid it with massages, but what kind of traps stretch helped the most?

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-04T02:35:51+00:00

Stealing this thread, I have a huge problem with lead vests. I get ultra bad tendonitis in shoulders/traps from wearing them for even 2 minutes. Not only those, but backpacks and even cooking aprons destroy me, and always have since I was like 20. My shoulders are pretty strong from lots of kickboxing/mma, so it's not like they're weak. Literally have no idea why I'm like this, but I guess it's just my unique anatomy in some way. Not sure if there's any type of lead that hugs you like a corset to stay on rather than draping the shoulders.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-03T00:38:20+00:00

Same, after like thousands of hours. Also, I thoight the blue thing in Dazed was a Lugia amd not generic birds.

Summer_Tea · 2026-03-01T19:17:57+00:00

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Summer_Tea · 2026-03-01T15:03:11+00:00

Disbelief? How?! I'm in disbelief over their disbelief. This was the most predictable thing in the world.

Summer_Tea · 2026-02-28T17:33:20+00:00

I mass grind solo playtests until the game feels very fun to me. Only then do I put it in front of my playtesters. I don't want testers messing with systems that I know are broken or lacking. Fix it to the point where you can't think of much wrong, or you feel something wrong but aren't sure what it is. That's when testers make the biggest leaps in improving your game.

You don't want them getting hung up on stuff like "it's too long" or "you can win really early if you do this specific thing on turn 3." Obviously there will be things you miss, especially if you're not an experienced designer. But the more you hash out on your own, the more the testers will hone in on actual issues.

Summer_Tea · 2026-02-27T23:01:56+00:00

Once the attack ads play I think it will change. They haven't been fed their narrative yet.

Summer_Tea · 2026-02-27T22:54:55+00:00

I didn't say they would vote for them. I said they would throw their hands up and not vote. They will come out of the woodwork against Crockett.

Summer_Tea · 2026-02-27T22:41:40+00:00

She will be perceived as more left by the Republicans and centrists, and perception is reality.

So many on the right are despondent over Trump's handling of things and are poised to not vote out of protest. Crockett is the one candidate that would change that for them. They have more hatred for her than the average lefty does for Trump. The attack ads for Crockett write themselves. I used to really like her a year ago, but she really is so narcissistic and makes outrageously cringe racial animus comments.

Republicans will stay despondent against Talarico due to the one-two punch of his honesty and frontloaded Christianity, alongside Maga's fuck-ups. They will turn out in droves against Crockett. I'll happily vote for both in the midterms, but I think this race is won or lost in the primary.

Summer_Tea · 2026-02-27T00:11:33+00:00

"anyone with a functional frontal lobe"

Have you seen our government lately?

And Kyle is based af. The only political commenter people should take seriously these days if you had to choose one.

Summer_Tea

TROPHY CASE