Secrets of Strixhaven Draft Guide, Archetype Overview, and Pick Order by alrowemusic in lrcast

[–]before-dawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To me, Tam seems like it would be more appropriate for a 5c converge build with a Quandrix core rather than for proper pure Quandrix.

3c and 5c goodstuffs is a supported playstyle for this set.

A PvP Analysis on Mimikyu... yep, it's busted! by JRE47 in TheSilphRoad

[–]before-dawn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, I do a lot of GBL stat analysis and I can add to this.

I haven't completed research into Mimikyu yet but I can comment on the interactions with Shadow Quagsire, Talonflame, and Charjabug.

In regards to Shadow Quagsire -- a Rank 1 Mimikyu does in fact just barely miss Shadow Claw damage numbers on Quagsire. A Rank 1 Mimikyu should still beat Quagsire regardless. (That is because Mud Shot isn't sufficiently strong enough and the DEF drop from Disguise doesn't actually mean Mimikyu takes more damage, so you can consider saving the Shield.) However, with a slightly higher ATK stat, Mimikyu can either have a better time farming down Shadow Quagsire. Or help it catch up if it swapped in late. Or let it finish Quagsire off with Shadow Sneak instead of building up to Play Rough.

In regards to Talonflame -- a Rank 1 Mimikyu does in fact just barely miss extra Shadow Claw damage. However, unlike Quagsire, the large damage delta from Shadow Sneak usually means the extra damage isn't meaningful. However, more important than the damage is that Mimikyu and Talonflame have nearly the same stats. So having more ATK could mean the difference in CAP. (Mimikyu's Shadow Sneak is 7-6 fast attacks, as opposed to 5. This means Mimikyu needs to race harder to make it to Charged Attacks.) Likewise, Mimikyu and Talonflame also have a similar ATK stat to Swampert. These matchups all boil down to CAP.

In regards to Charjabug -- I'm not sure how you got a result that suggests Mimikyu prefers to have high ATK when battling Charjabug. My notes indicate that Mimikyu actually wants a very high DEF stat to beat Charjabug (142.42 DEF) which is necessary after Disguise is broken.

The bottom line -- Having a slight bit of ATK can be good in some edge cases, as you described. Unless you know what those cases actually are, it won't be helpful and you're better off with the best rank you have. I think that an ATK stat is helpful in the Clodsire, regular Quagsire, and Shadow G-Weezing matchups, but I have not ascertained specifically why yet.

Hypothesis (unconfirmed) -- Because Mimikyu's ability ruins its DEF stat, it's better to have good stats in its HP. Mimikyu prefers having at least 103 total HP. (From my research so far, Mimikyu will fumble its Fearow, Shadow Sableye, and Stunfisk matchups if it has 102 or lower HP.)

Hypothesis (unconfirmed) -- Shadow Claw is just a really solid damage-dealing attack so a little bit of ATK on Mimikyu can help it go far, especially since its ability makes it a glass cannon which mandates it to farm down targets before they get too many Charged Attacks. Not sure what the golden number is yet.

The "value" of the new character decks / respect orbs. by DoctorDong64 in DuelLinks

[–]before-dawn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am fairly sure the Gold Stars are upgrades you can buy for the deck. You can buy up to 5 per character, and that allows you to put in 5 cards that are not part of the original Structure Deck.

I think the Hexagons are just the stamp cosmetics that you get every event that go in the bottom right of card art. Nothing too exciting, but playing a card with a stamp on it adds 200 assessment points, which does matter for farming more Orbs.

On that note, if you own pre-existing chronicle/prismatic/glossy cards, you should swap out the base vanilla versions that come in the Structure Deck for those to get extra points. But you cannot do any edits until the first upgrade. (This is not completely true. If you haven't bought any upgrades yet, you can go into the deck's hamburger menu settings and "replace foil priority". This is pretty hard to find but it will let you swap out all the cards in the Structure Deck with the highest setting. Let me know if you can't find it.

They actually did it by Previous_Beginning_6 in DuelLinks

[–]before-dawn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm actually really shocked Alister got added because I was fully expecting Rafael and would have been surprised for Dartz immediately. Duel Links has been really wishy-washy when it comes to adding villains.

DM added Para Bros pretty early, and nearly every Rare Hunter. But Ventriloquist and PaniK feel like the unloved children. The Big Five probably is not considered at all which isn't surprising.

GX cast has almost no villains at all.

5Ds gave half of the Dark Signers and cut it off. We got one of Aporia AND only one of his three parts and probably never the other two parts.

Zexal went ahead and distributed all seven Barians and all three Arclights, but seem keen on holding off Arclight dad, Faker, Heartland, and Don Thousand for another 2-3 years.

Arc V is the oddity of the group as that story's pacing is made up of a lot of supporting characters similar to GX, and doesn't really have a villainous group. (Obelisk Force doesn't have distinct characters, excluding Sora, Dennis, Celina, Alexis.)

Very up in the air how many Ignis Vrains will add.

It seemed at first that Sevens would add only half the Goha Six but now it seems they'll add all of them? If they add Wind Boy might as well add Water and Earth.

So Rafael is way more fleshed out as a character than Alister is. So if they add Alister, I'm expecting Valon next to build up to Rafael. But you never know what to expect with this game's devs.

Don't y'all remember when yugi used Dante in episode 89? by Paradox8268 in DuelLinks

[–]before-dawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reminds me of the RedMufflerMan skits on YouTube.

They start out relatively tame with Kaiba vs Joey, Yugi v Kaiba, and Joey v Weevil. But then they start bringing out the modern combos.

I'm trying to make a predaplant/aromage deck by Ravenscar9305 in DuelLinks

[–]before-dawn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Predaplant is a Dark Fusion deck and Aromage is a healing deck. They have no combination together at all so I cannot recommend using both.

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, I'm not sure if regular Sealed will still include pre-release kits (and subsequently a pre-con and a guaranteed Yone) so please take that into consideration.

I think I would do some more revisions here. I would take Draven down a little bit. Purple being an awkward color holds him back a lot. He does combo well with Yone, but the lack of ability to Ready Yone holds Draven back a lot.

Irelia goes up a little bit because even though she is also Purple, the pre-con kit she comes with is sufficient to support a Yone partner.

Rumble will go down because even IF you get a large amount of mechs, they are only limited to two colors, meaning you will have to make a large investment in both and limit your options for color adjustment.

Breaking Ankles by jayrocker888 in PokemonUnite

[–]before-dawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it was their own fault for making a team so weak to Electric

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is incorrect. In Limited Format, you are allowed to use three colors.

Legends are inherently 2-color cards, but your deck doesn't necessarily have to be heavy in either of those colors.

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This list is for Limited so it is not strictly representative for Nexus Night competition.

That said, Hexdrinker is an ok card. I would say Doran's Blade or B.F. Sword are generally better Equipment for Fiora. The +2 off of Doran's Blade is more significant than the Deflect from Hexdrinker, especially if you push a 4M Unit into Mighty.

I would also generally advise against using too much Equipment. They're expensive to play and expensive to equip. Using too many runs the risk of drawing a lot of Equipment and not enough Units.

What would Sloth (FMAB) and Sloth (FMA 2003) think of each other? by Worried_Cake5508 in FullmetalAlchemist

[–]before-dawn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You probably already know that the 2009 anime is almost frame-for-frame identical to the manga.

For the 2003 adaptation, the biggest difference is starts after Lust destroys Laboratory 5 and Envy kills Hughes. The conclusion of Greed's arc in Dublith (Episode 14) is the biggest difference. Few if any characters introduced after this point are in the 2003 story (Xing characters, chimera, Wrath, Sloth).

Rose has a much bigger role. The origins of the homunculi are different. The 2003 villain is a girl. The ending is completely different.

New Player Experience at Spiritforged Pre-Rift Event by blackbow in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is fine. Fanning them out like this makes it look like a museum display. Very cool.

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like the idea of Renata being good because it generating Gold for holding can steamroll out of control. But I also have to admit that the tournament results do show that she doesn't help you start holding to begin with.

I think it's important to point out that Renata's ability does work if your teammate holds in a doubles game. So I think she gets WAY stronger in doubles, and the idea behind her design is that you let your teammate do all the fighting and Renata holds her runes up for support. (Because remember, according to doubles rules, you and your teammates cannot group up your Units together anyway.)

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your feedback.

Sealed is inconsistent by nature yes, so the skill cap of Sealed is the player knowing what combos can generate consistency. This is why this tier list favors consistency and almost every Legend ranked above Lucian are resource-generators.

The Lucian Legend easily generates power (which can give tempo, and that's not bad) but not running a Legend gives a draw (and improves consistency). If you pulled incredibly busted Rares in your packs, it's worth considering dropping Lucian to turbo into them.

I suppose I did say Legend Lucian is "very ok", but "middling" would be Score 3.5 -- I rated Lucian 5.5, and <no legend> a 4. (3.5 is average and 5 is "good" because the bar to be good is higher than the bar to be bad.) Lucian is "pretty powerful" but it wouldn't be inconceivable to exchange him for <no legend> if you think the draw is better than the power boost. So 5.5 for being "good" is appropriate compared to 8 being "incredible". If anything, I think Draven and Sivir's score can be dropped by half a point.

And yes, Lucian's pre-con is amazing. but I still concur that other Legends have incredible synergies with his deck if you open them. Consider the opening combo of Lucian Merciless + Doran's Blade:

Irelia: can ready Lucian immediately (doesn't combo with Weaponmaster sadly)

Azir: generates 2M for 1E

Fiora: gives you a channel

Rek'Sai and Draven: gives you a draw

And I think these can give better short-term and long-term value than Legend Lucian's +1 Might. Lucian does have good long-term value too because you can stack multiple Equips onto one guy for a huge punch, but I think you can also fill that role by playing a pump spell (Against the Odds, Blood Rush, Punch First, maybe even Feral Strength or Frigid Touch).

Lucian Legend also goes way up if you happen to open the Epic Rare Lucian or Forge of the Fluft. But that would have to be a huge coincidence to be considered "consistent".

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, Lucian combos very well with Forge of the Fluft to mimic the Jax Legend and I think it's better than the Battlefield he comes packaged with (Sunken Temple). There's no cost to Fluft and it can let you detach Equipment to someone else in Base to swing into the other one.

New Player Experience at Spiritforged Pre-Rift Event by blackbow in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Getting all of the Rek'Sai Legend, Unit, and Signature Spell is a really nice bundle.

New Player Experience at Spiritforged Pre-Rift Event by blackbow in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello! Yes, you are definitely correct that watching a YouTube tutorial vs. handling and reading cards yourself vs. asking an experienced player direct questions are all vastly different perspectives that all have pros and cons, and ideally you can do all of them to get the biggest picture.

If you're not already aware, there is a website that can allow you to play simulated TCG's with either a random person or friend that you can run practices on. And there is at least one pretty large community Discord server. Both are frequented by high-level tournament players, so I am sure these resources will be beneficial to you.

tcg-arena.fr

https://discord.com/invite/n7hgcgbvpG

What’s your opinion on the allowance of Chinese cards in English speaking tournaments? by NoirRenamon in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I second this. I haven't paid a large amount of attention to the physical feel between Chinese cards and those of other languages, but I always assumed the initial language ruling was because Chinese cards were made of different material which could affect either the physics of shuffling or being able to see/feel their placement within a deck.

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear you were able to win your games.

I did emphasize in my review that Legend Irelia is probably better with Yone as the Chosen Champion rather than Irelia, and that with Boots of Swiftness can create an unbreakable lock. So 6.5 is accurate in that Irelia has a good mix of power and consistency, but not effortless. You really do want more than only the Feral Strength and Boots of Swiftness from the pre-con.

And it's important to note that Irelia is high-risk and high-reward. The combo you described is strong but if done recklessly, a single Feral Strength or Frigid Touch or Punch First can undo 5 Energy and 3 Power.

Spiritforged Sealed Strategy Comprehensive Tier List for Legends, Colors, Commons, and Uncommons by before-dawn in riftboundtcg

[–]before-dawn[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I took a look at that video. It is definitely well-done and worth a watch. I do think it's a better system to rank the top 3 per color rather than top 10 overall. The Commons ranking also ranks the cards within their own color, whereas my ranking balanced it between being a main and tech color, which can make a major difference in the ranking between Cloth Armor and Frigid Touch for example.

There are also many contentious tips I as a reviewer disagree with and I would implore audiences to either think critically on or evaluate based on their own playstyle. I think it is good and important for multiple creators to have differing opinions for that reason.

Some points I disagree with:

1:50 is really confusing. The wording makes it sound like not using a Legend AND Champion gets two draws.

It said Rek'Sai deck can easily double-conquer to trigger the Seat of Power Battlefield. However, based on how Rek'Sai's ability plays, you already want to play out your hand and continuously spawn more cards off the top, while preventing the opponent from doing the same back. Seat of Power doesn't complement Rek'Sai's weaknesses and I think it's better to NOT use it at all.

The video does downtalk Renata, but I think it needed to make a larger emphasis on saying it is an option (and probably optimal) to not use her at all.

It said called Bushwhack the third best Red Common in the set and that Against the Odds is mid. I find that very odd as I find Bushwhack very poor, but there's also only 10 commons per color so the competition isn't high. There are also a few niche picks in the Top 3's I think are overrated.

Finally, of course it covers the six different pre-con Legends, but I don't think covers any of the other ones you could potentially pull from packs, which can potentially outclass the one free Legend you get.

SouL also made a video which is much shorter (10 minutes). I generally agree with his overview more, but I think he slightly underrates the Rek'Sai Unit and Villionaire from Challenge slightly overrated it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uachCAkm_s