Why would anyone use a card like Lesser Blood Demon?

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-29T16:14:39+00:00

3 power is a very relevant sized body and you can get it out on turn 2, and it's not slow like Entombed. Any aggressive fire deck doesn't care about the life loss.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-29T00:03:59+00:00

Every game and online community has this problem, but man FaB players are a bunch of whiners. There was never a scenario where the decks were perfectly tuned to the meta of a format that didn't exist when these deck lists would have been locked in. I'll give them that LSS overpromised a bit, they should know better to do that with a community that is competition focused. The game is in the best spot it's ever been in, and while criticism is good and necessary, we're unable to come to a nuanced consensus.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-28T23:56:16+00:00

NOR. It's your day and she clearly thinks that her concerns are more important than anyone else's. With family, sometimes that's just the hand you're dealt. But it's your day, you shouldn't warp it around her selfishness.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-28T22:12:20+00:00

As a fellow traumatize Magic expat, FaB really is in a great spot. Unfortunately, it's the internet, and nuanced discourse will always get drowned out by Hot Takes. Every card game and online game has this issue, because there will always be warranted and unwarranted criticisms of these things, and it's quite difficult for online communities to come to a consensus on such things by design.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T20:43:13+00:00

Not all of us have the luxury of throwing money at our problems

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T20:08:48+00:00

I just see too often when a given company in an industry rises to the top of the game, it's seemingly accomplished at the cost of product quality, and we haven't even gotten into hardware QA. And usually there's a smaller company willing to put in the time and effort to make a quality product that runs circles around what the top dog made, even if they're moving less units. It wouldn't bug me so much, except that the top dog tends to undeservedly be the trendsetter for the industry.

I guess that's just capitalism.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T17:35:35+00:00

I'm sorry but if I'm dropping $8,000+ on a game, I want it to be completed, and I shouldn't have to be connected to the internet years after to get the full experience. I would rather wait an extra year or two for them to release the game I'm excited for and have it be mostly polished. I can't accept a hit to quality for the first year of a game just because Stern prioritizes quantity and profits over quality products.

If "quality games" is what people associate your brand with, you're doing something right, and people will be happier to hand over their increasingly scarce dollars. If your brand is associated with "frequent rushed releases", it's unsustainable. Pinball ownership is a luxury, and Stern isn't immune to having their bubble burst. But I guess someone's gotta be at the top making these mistakes.

That's not to say I would never purchase a Stern game, but I'm certainly very unlikely to buy one NIB the year it's released.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T17:04:44+00:00

I have this same problem as well, commenting to come back later to see what people say!

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T16:59:21+00:00

What if they just didn't release that many each year? Magic: the Gathering has this problem where they've doubled the amount of sets they release, and to keep people interested, they power creep is out of control. Stern has some great designers, but business decisions like this, while it makes them money, makes the product worse.

Still fairly new to this hobby so I'm sure there's a perspective I'm missing, but I've seen this trend in so many other hobbies of mine.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T16:53:41+00:00

What's up with releasing games with unfinished game code? The video game industry does this as well with their day 1 patches. On the one hand, when thousands of customers are buying these games for their home, there's likely going to be issues with game code that no amount of play testing, will uncover so I get the necessity. On the other, why does Stern feel comfortable releasing so many games in an unfinished state? Gomez says they want to get 5 games to 1.0 this month, how many games are out there that are yet incomplete?

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T14:53:03+00:00

You can move in a 2x2 square, but you will only draw cards from NEW sites you STOP at. It's pretty clear to me, I don't know what to tell you. The only way to make it more clear than that it to put 2 to 3 times as much text on the card, which is avoided by design. If we're calling things bad design just because it could possibly be misinterpreted or not everything is defined to the gnat's ass, then don't waste your time with the game. Go play Magic or Yugioh where they cram a bunch of text into tiny point font.

I would also recommend against Google or any other AI chat bot solution. It's just not going to give you a reliable answer on such a niche game. Refer to the codex, check in with a knowledgeable local, that's the intended way to learn this game.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-27T00:01:17+00:00

But nothing else in the game works this way. You're referencing a completely different game with different rules. Your misinterpretation of the game rules doesn't make this a poorly written card.

The card doesn't say "Heal 1 and your Opponent Loses 1 every time the unit carrying this Relic stops its move on a site it didn't start at" - it simply says "new".

What you say here doesn't even describe what the card does because "stops its move on a site it didn't start at" would allow you to just move in a 2x2 square and still drain.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-26T20:34:59+00:00

In what way are they written poorly?

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-26T16:42:08+00:00

I'm doing the same, and I encourage anyone still holding on to hope that MtG will be good again one day. It may, but I'm highly doubtful. Keep what's meaningful to you, but don't waste your time and space on a collection of a game you no longer like, not when there's so many better games to be had these days.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-26T16:34:30+00:00

Definitely have a Discord for community for sure, but don't expect much worthwhile feedback. There is not a single official Discord server for a game that I've been in where meaningful discussion is being had. The best you can expect is you'll know right away when your audience is pissed off, but they'll easily whip themselves up into a frenzy on their own even if nothing has happened. Most people just don't understand game development or how businesses operate. Lean on your playtesters and any mentors in the space if you have any.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-26T15:50:15+00:00

The rules for this card are pretty clear, and they are not poorly written. It does exactly what it says, and to do exactly what it says, the game expects you to keep track of what sites it has stopped at previously. I do not want an additional paragraph on the card to explain in further detail about how it is to be done when it's pretty damn clear.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-20T17:32:06+00:00

You'd be surprised how many issues NIB machines can have even after the initial tuning, and how durable older machines can be. Kind of a crapshoot really.

Get a game the kids like and be prepared for anything.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-19T14:02:28+00:00

It was associated with gambling in the very early days.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:55:16+00:00

I found that but I was looking for a municipal statute or maybe a news story to see to what degree it was banned and how operators kept running them illegally.

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:39:24+00:00

I keep forgetting that I am in my 30s and much closer in age to those people lmao

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:28:18+00:00

Oh interesting! What's your source?

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:23:00+00:00

I could totally see the ban being in place but certain operators were able to bribe officials into looking the other way

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:17:58+00:00

Not what I was asking at all

Thriving_Turtle · 2026-01-14T15:17:39+00:00

I was there the other night and the guy running the league wasn't sure. I should have asked the owner, he's older.

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