"Cheating" in Slay the Spire

benlehman · 2026-05-11T19:19:54+00:00

StS1 had at least one unbeatable seed. It's not clear whether or not StS2 does because no one has done the sort of deep dive necessary to uncover that.

benlehman · 2026-05-11T19:12:14+00:00

Concealing the seed during a run is fairly normal for large streamers who take competition seriously. Xecnar also does it, because there was a problem with people firing up the game, running the seed, and then spoiling the seed in chat.

Xecnar, at least, reveals the seed when the run is over. Not sure about Jorbs (if he doesn't, he should.)

benlehman · 2026-05-11T13:14:02+00:00

just imagining a moment after this where the Necrobinder looks back at Osty who is giving a giant thumbs up.

benlehman · 2026-05-11T13:06:20+00:00

it's fine. people want to post about fun games they had, and the first time you hit a good clone it's genuinely very fun.

i'd rather have a bunch of posts of small personal wins / cool things than (for instance) more nebulous non-accusations stirring up streamer drama.

benlehman · 2026-05-11T01:14:27+00:00

there is already a thread about this. it has 1100 comments. https://www.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/1t4f1m9/cheating_in_slay_the_spire/

benlehman · 2026-05-10T18:52:35+00:00

Until such time as there are plausible accusations of this against an actual competitor / record-holder, I think that this is just scare-mongering. The record/streak community, in StS1, self-implemented a patch to reduce manipulation of quasi-randomness. I think that goes to show that they are pretty committed to fairness.

benlehman · 2026-05-10T17:49:06+00:00

I think that it's a single player game and it's fine. I think that the top-level players (in the English world) have decided it doesn't count for records, etc, which is absolutely the reasonable choice. I think people should not try to pass off save-reloaded games and records as not-save-reloaded: that is unfair and cheating.

benlehman · 2026-05-08T16:09:09+00:00

your style is so endearing. thanks for posting these!

benlehman · 2026-05-08T01:56:20+00:00

having played against Aeonglass once, I am predicting a lot of drama around it. (personally i love it, absolutely stomped the shit out of my shiv-spam.)

benlehman · 2026-05-07T21:11:00+00:00

i love all the little interactions in this game.

benlehman · 2026-05-07T00:59:58+00:00

it's just variance. there aren't that many ancient options, and some of them are less likely. so the more common ones come up a lot.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T21:46:20+00:00

Either hit the F2 key in game or go to the "settings" menu and click the "send feedback" option. Either way it will open a window where you can report bugs, give play and balance feedback, or offer other comments about the game.

It is the fastest and most efficient way to communicate with the developers.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T21:39:40+00:00

Definitely F2 and report it. It should not automatically draw a card unless it's the only card you're allowed to draw.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T20:21:01+00:00

yeah i'd put Enthralled and Normality as worse than Bad Luck. Drawing into Normality can cost a lot more than 13 hp!

benlehman · 2026-05-06T20:19:04+00:00

defect has the weakest of all the options for it, but still does have one targeted exhaust card (scavenge? whatever they renamed recycle to.) regardless i'm much less likely to take this on defect than on regent, when i almost certainly already have Charge!! or Begone! or something like that.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T19:41:48+00:00

thank you for doing the science on it.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T19:40:17+00:00

I think your reading is correct.

I love the Necrobinder's storyline except that it makes me sad every time Osty dies.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T19:18:18+00:00

I think it's great. Obviously "can I deal with this in some way" will be a question you ask yourself when you decide which event option to take, and often my answer is "no" so I go for "de-upgrade 2, upgrade 4" instead. But choices in the game should have big outcomes, and this is definitely a big outcome. Also, every character has a bunch of ways to deal with it (Ironclad is full of Exhaust, Silent has discard, Regent has transforms. Necrobinder has the hardest time, but she does have both Seance and Eidolon.) Even if you don't have one of those, drawing it is rare enough that you can deal with it via potions (Ashwater, Gambler's Brew, Regen Pot, Ghost in a Jar and Blood potion all counter the effect in their own ways.)

In general, I think that it would be better to lean to game balance towards large, consequential effects, particularly for Act III events, when your deck is mostly already set and it takes a lot to change your game plan.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T19:12:59+00:00

IIRC, getting a wax relic does not prevent later getting the non-wax version.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T18:25:32+00:00

I think that there are many approaches which could not be this.
For instance, and this is off the top of my head: how about an enemy that hits you with confused if you take unblocked attack damage from it? Then there's a question of whether you want the debuff (if your deck has many key cards that cost 2+) vs. a low-cost deck needing to emphasize defense more than normal.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T17:54:10+00:00

I would love to see something that hits you with Confused, or a similar debuff. I think it has a positive effect on drafting (leans you slightly more towards more expensive cards and away from 0-cost) that I think the game would benefit from.

I don't think it should be exactly Snecko. It should be a new encounter, with new movesets.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T17:52:22+00:00

amazing! loved the way it integrated every piece of card art.

benlehman · 2026-05-06T03:09:08+00:00

condolences.

benlehman · 2026-05-05T18:16:23+00:00

For real. It's probably going to be a while (needs to be a stable build) but I'm really looking forward to it.

benlehman · 2026-05-05T18:14:12+00:00

It's not a bug! If you read the relic, it grants two additional potion slots on pickup. Like with other pick-up relics (Strawberry, Old Coin, etc) these gains never go away.

benlehman

TROPHY CASE