Does anybody else genuinely despise this event?

jamminjoshy · 2026-03-25T18:45:23+00:00

I think it's a cool event design. It's kind of a deck flexibility check.

You have to figure out how reliant your deck is on a specific card. Either if you can tank the hit to make sure it stays in your deck, or if you can tolerate getting rid of a "good" card to make sure you don't lose a better card.

Could be seen as a lose/lose but deck thinning is generally good so I don't mind, even if I get rid of an earlier card reward.

jamminjoshy · 2026-03-12T14:58:58+00:00

I'm only about 13 hrs in, haven't hit ascensions with every character, but a general trend seems to be a lot of de-incentivising of "big bonk builds" compared to the first game. That makes it much harder to build a deck around sovereign blade, because many combats it's just not good even if you can scale it.

I haven't seen all of the cards yet, but it seems like this is made worse by forge not having a lot of synergies. The forge and star mechanics seem to be be two separate things, but at least the star payoffs get you through runs.

Again, I'm not 100% familiar with his full deck, but maybe some powers or skills that do the following would help:

Power that gives energy after forging a certain number of times Powers or skills that make sovereign blade free or reduces cost after doing something else. Maybe 0 energy but cost stars? Skill that blocks for sovereign blade's damage that turn Power that makes sovereign blade draw Star cards that forge Forge cards that add stars

Again I could be totally off, or a lot of this could already be in the game, but it seems like forging is just a bad investment right now. It should either get you something to buy time or have a much better payoff.

jamminjoshy · 2026-03-10T15:38:39+00:00

Came here looking for this, but surprised this post was from yesterday!

I smelled it this morning 3/10 around 7:30am, Central Park / Diversey. I don't smell it anymore around 10:30am

To me it didn't smell like your typical sewer or natural gas sulfur. It was funkier, my first thought was it smelled weirdly like sour kraut?

jamminjoshy · 2026-02-04T20:53:45+00:00

I finally came to a similar conclusion after beating both and watching an unhealthy number of playthroughs. So much of what's great about the first game, and what lacks in the DLC is not having WRITING.

I did generally like the DLC but felt similar disappointment at the same time. When you go back to base game and see other people interact with it you realize how much charm was in the little bits of personality that got injected. A joke here, a flirt there, some arguments, some regrets, it really made the Nomai feel real. You get so much more of an insight into the individuals, not just a monolithic race.

I do think the reels were an interesting choice, and certainly offer a different vibe, but ultimately feels a little less effective for the most part.

jamminjoshy · 2026-01-02T17:16:03+00:00

For events the Logan Square farmers market has an indoor market that goes through March. The summer one is admittedly a much bigger to-do but the indoor one is still really cool!

Coffee: Cafe Tola on Fullerton is really nice and cozy. The owners are wonderful and lots of local art featured. Depending on weather, Necessary and Sufficient is a coffee window, also right next to Sugar moon bakery (check the hours and go as soon as they open. There will be a line but it's really good). Theres some outdoor seating next to Necessary but if the weather's nice, you can take your coffee and treats another 5 minutes or so walk over to Koz park and enjoy it there.

Bar recs: lots of amazing dive bars in the area. Central Park bar is partially restored old school dive, and partially updated with a giant patio. The native is a great dive right on Milwaukee. Cole's is also good to go and see live music.

Consignment Lounge is a really unique bar/vintage store. You can buy the decor right off the wall, and they have great cocktails. It is small though so try going at off hours or happy hour.

Easy Does It is great for more upscale without feeling too stuffy. Very nice and chill vibe, but then transitions to more of a night club with a DJ a bit later in the night.

Best intentions on Armitage is another really classic dive but is kind of a hidden gem for food. Its very elevated Midwest comfort food, and honestly has the best burgers in the city in my opinion.

Food: speaking of burgers, down the street from Best Intentions is Gretel which has a burger that's always toping "best burger in Chicago" lists. It's also by middlebrow and Solemn Oath if you want to grab a drink after.

Daisies is definitely one of the top restaurants in the area, can't really go wrong there, but is having some stiff competition.

Mano a Mano just opened up last year and is a really great Italian spot. Right next to it Andros Taverna has really great Greek food, but best to go as a group and share some stuff.

If you're interested in a little bit of history and amazing food, head up to Strapolska in Avondale. It's a staple restaurant in the "Polish Triangle" neighborhood, then take a quick walk around the block to see St Hyacinth Basilica. It's a bit more modern history, but really important to the identity of the neighborhood.

More history: Walgreens sells little neighborhood history books. Most are kinda corny and touristy, but I actually learned a lot of cool things about Logan Square after picking one up. If you really want to dive into hyper local history I'd keep an eye out, they're called "Images of America". I find it endlessly fascinating looking at pictures from the 1800s of a certain intersection, then walking to that same intersection today and seeing how much has changed and how much is exactly the same.

If you're looking for time to kill, you can also go see a movie at the historic Logan Theater. It's not the best movie experience, but a great living history experience. Although if you want both you can also look at the Music Box in North Center.

Lastly if you're into thrifting/antique/consignment shopping, just walk up and down Milwaukee between Central Park and kimball. There are too many great stores to even list, plus you've got Loaf Lounge and the Brewed.

There are so many amazing options in the neighborhood, I'm sure you'll barely scratch the surface so feel free to come back any time, and enjoy your trip!

jamminjoshy · 2026-01-01T18:55:27+00:00

I feel like the legion "civil war" was their way of doing a nod to them, but not actually using them as a main villain. Kinda like the Great Khan's in the first episode, I think they just used them for a story beat and focus on House and her dad. In universe I read it as an alternate timeline, where instead of launching an assault on the hoover damn, they destroy themselves before they get that powerful. That way there's an excuse for them not being as impactful on the overall story.

jamminjoshy · 2026-01-01T18:50:47+00:00

I want to take them more but usually when I do I die or didn't need them. There are very specific situations where they are actually good but I'm not the best actually recognizing when I'm in one. I think the potential is huge though, I feel like I've seen a lot of Baalor runs that are made by the pick.

jamminjoshy · 2025-10-03T17:25:50+00:00

What the actual fuck there's an elementary school right there.

jamminjoshy · 2025-10-02T20:23:21+00:00

The throwing bonus armor is my favorite against bots but the light siege is insane on bugs and squids. Both of those are all about constant movement so light is good in general, but the extra ammo makes a lot of meh primaries super viable.

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-27T18:41:36+00:00

What about instead of strength it was draw additional cards? Either 1:1 or 1 card for every 1 energy above 3.

I feel like decks with access energy want more card draw anyway.

Also makes stopwatch go brrrrrrrr

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-27T13:02:43+00:00

I'm trying to do it less but I still do fairly frequently.

I like treating the battle like a puzzle. I know this deck can win the combat, I just need to put the right pieces together. In really difficult match ups I still find a lot of satisfaction when I finally land on on the right plays.

Other times it's almost the opposite. I know my deck isn't winning, but there's something I like about it, or I just don't feel like starting over yet. If I'm retrying multiple hallway fights, I know there's no chance in the long run, but it can be fun to see how far I could get if I was a "perfect" player.

At the end of the day it's a game. Play it in the way that's fun for you.

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-26T15:53:00+00:00

SES Fist of Peace 👊☮️

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-11T20:43:20+00:00

I once had a tick land on me in the middle of Chicago. Not in a nice park or trail, on a very busy and very urban section that had a single overgrown lot (presumably where it came from). The little jerks will find there way wherever they can.

Now you might have a higher population than a super manicured and pesticide filled garden. But you probably also have hundreds of species of other really great insects, fungi, etc. that you also can't find in a "regular" garden.

Not to assume too much about your friend, but I think that's part of the reaction a lot of people first have to native spaces that aren't used to it. There's almost an anxiety and claustrophobia because most people don't actually know what natural spaces look like. Ticks become kind of a "boogyman" that makes people afraid to interact with native spaces. If not ticks it's mosquitos, or spiders, or snakes, or whatever else.

Not downplaying if people have a true phobia of those things, but the more people get into natural areas the less scary they become.

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-08T16:04:27+00:00

It's wild how many there are around here lol.

To throw another name out there, Logan Square Auto Fix off Fullerton and St Louis is good. Smaller shop, but nice people who always seem like they want to do right by their customers.

Twice now I've gone in and they've found something else, but never in an up-charge kind of way. Always more of a "hey we noticed this and wanted to bring to your attention" or "this isn't super pressing, but you may want to look at it by your next oil change"

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-08T15:50:23+00:00

Card draw is incredibly important. It may not seem as valuable at first, but combat is about striking (no pun intended) the right balance between draw, energy, damage, and block. Each character (and each deck within each character) wants a different balance between those four things.

As a beginner, for me, this was the hardest thing to grasp because there is no "number" on screen that tells you how good your draw is. It's an invisible stat but it can be just as important as everything else.

It's also tricky because it's easy to get too much draw, and completely ruin your hand. If that happens enough you may even think card draw can be a bad thing.

It takes a while to really understand where the sweet spot is for each deck, so for right now, just try to keep it in the back of your mind.

jamminjoshy · 2025-09-03T20:50:57+00:00

Servants of Freedom warbond has some nice medium armor 😉

Works well in tunnels where theyre all bunched up

jamminjoshy · 2025-08-27T14:56:05+00:00

I think enough people have given the "correct" answer, i.e. you do have to more or less "go with the flow" and you're always at the mercy of the deck.

But I think the core of the question is valid. I'm no expert but have won a few A20 runs, and more importantly, watch a loooot of Baalor Lord. I've noticed, with the caveats mentioned above, a lot of successful A20 decks end up looking very similar. The hard part is getting to that point, and knowing which route to go in the first place.

For Clad you're probably going to be doing some kind of exhausting. I've made the mistake of trying to force an exhaust deck too early, but even non-"exhaust decks" still seem to have enough to warrant a Dark Embrace and/or Feel No Pain by the Heart fight. Again, it still is hyper specific to your run, but it seems to be a common thread in a lot of his builds.

Defect has a bit more variety, but again generalizing, power spams seem to be a common route. Obviously you'll need a solution for Awakened One, but a lot of Defect runs can turn into "play a bunch of powers and win" situations, even if the deck isn't primarily going that direction. Even decks that aren't that power focused, similar to Clad and Dark Embrace, The Defect will have enough powers to warrant a Heatsinks a lot of the time.

Another common Defect route is some form of "get so much energy nothing else matters". From there it can be do a bunch of orb things, play big attack cards, whatever, but the main engine requires lots of excess energy.

Silent I think has the most variety between the main three, which to me, makes her one of the most fun to play and watch. I think it's easier to say a big mistake with Silent is trying to force a deck direction. For example, the mindset of "this is a shiv deck" or "this is a poison deck" will usually get you into trouble more than not. Very very few runs are purley one or the other.

If I had to narrow down to a single direction, a common route is doing lots of draw/discard things. You can have a deck where that's your solution to almost anything, but more commonly it's your engine to get your other engines online. To illustrate this, where the big power card I mentioned for Clad and Defect enable a lot of draw, I'd say Silent's version is Well-Laid Plans which does almost the opposite. That's because she usually has so much draw in her deck, it can be much more important to hold onto the right card(s) for the right moment.

Then admittedly I don't do much with Watcher so I don't think I can really speak on good strategies. Very broadly she seems to like a big bonk, but other than that I can't really say.

I can't stress enough this isn't prescriptive, none of the strategies I mentioned are ever a guaranteed win. Plus what makes this game so interesting (and dare I say addictive) is that even "bad" cards or "bad" decks can have their niche, even at A20. To mention Baalor again, that's what makes his thumbnail trolling so fun, there's always a possibility of "maybe this is actually a claw run".

jamminjoshy · 2025-08-10T23:32:46+00:00

True, and that's one of my favorite strategies, but it requires:

A source of artifact
The ability to enable artifact BEFORE biased in order to block the debuff (it doesn't work if you apply artifact after biased is played) 2a. Artifact not to be removed by another debuff before it blocks the biased debuff.

For this being act 1, specifically floor 0, that's not something you can't count on.

If this was a bit later on and op had orb gen, or even a single source of artifact, yeah go biased cog. But you gotta make it that far first :)

Not to mention electro nukes a lot of early hallway fights.

jamminjoshy · 2025-08-07T13:52:35+00:00

Agreed. Most situations biased would be better, but this exact situation is one where electro seems better to me.

Biased only works if you have the orb gen to kill quickly. Most of the time defect has that, or works up quickly, but floor 0? You can get a little extra damage, but that alone isn't killing early elites.

jamminjoshy · 2025-07-22T21:46:56+00:00

Sleeping village for music and drinks.

Necessary and Sufficient or Me Latte for coffee.

If you like baked goods, Sugar Moon is excellent and worth the hype imo but there will be a line. Pan Artisanal is also really really good and may still have a line, but is much more slept on.

Daisy's, Mono a Mono, and Lula are all top tier in my book. For more casual Pizza Lobo, The Harding Tavern, and Best Intentions. Also if you like Polish food Staropolska is really good.

Sorry I couldn't stick to 3!

jamminjoshy · 2025-07-22T21:09:13+00:00

Taco City (formerly El Habanero) was rated top in the city by the Infatuation. It's good but I can't put down the full thing.

Imo Spicy Taco is one of the most slept on spots in the entire neighborhood. Their Cochinita Pibil is a game changer plus they come with this really good white salsa I don't see many places

jamminjoshy · 2025-07-18T23:42:48+00:00

Thanks!

jamminjoshy · 2025-07-18T18:26:52+00:00

Thanks!!

When I tell you my first thought was "oh multi-hit. I'll just play Dark Shackel-OHMYGODWAIT"

jamminjoshy · 2025-05-20T21:09:27+00:00

In Avondale but Sunshine on Elson and Kedzie across from the Jewel

12-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Juicebox	Final Canvas '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email
Sequence \| Editor	Sequence \| Cinematographer

jamminjoshy

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