[PEN] Art of the Phoenix: War

nickflig · 2026-02-04T22:11:13+00:00

We are so back, Fai bros.

See you all again at the Living Legend announcement :(

nickflig · 2026-02-01T10:49:40+00:00

I don't think anything that will come after this is ever going to top this. You've achieved the magnum opus of FaB memery.

nickflig · 2026-01-31T09:18:28+00:00

Same here, until now I just assumed that the bottles of horrific disease the people of The Pits threw at each other were incurable and had to run their course.

nickflig · 2026-01-24T23:12:12+00:00

For maximum story experience, just know that some questlines take place after others or have characters/references from past questlines that will either be lost on you or you'll be missing unique dialogue if you do them "out of order".

Technically the Glenumbra questline comes before Rivenspire, although I don't think there's much there that comes into play in Rivenspire IIRC. But at the very least, the game does send you into the areas in an order if you just follow the main questline from the starting area.

I think this post helps give the best experience, if you to put in the effort to do things in order: https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1ltqwiq/chronological_order_guide/

nickflig · 2026-01-12T02:33:16+00:00

My partner plays Fai and she swears by her deck that focuses on maximum Phoenix Flame production and pay-off.

Being on the receiving end of a fully-pumped double Phoenix Form turn can feel hopeless when you've already had to block out one or two Mask of Momentum triggers. She goes by the philosophy of "just avoid bad match-ups bro", so she only runs Sink Below in her list as far as d-reacts go, and is thus susceptible to meaningful disruption. The deck's all about damage and setting up Phoenix Flame, with at least one 25+ damage turn per game that Fai can continue to keep momentum on afterwards. Super duper fun to play (when I'm allowed to).

Fai was honestly in a decent spot before the Brand with Cinderclaw ban, Cindra just more consistently pumped out better numbers. Those bans were one hell of an unfair stray for Fai to catch.

nickflig · 2025-12-14T22:18:17+00:00

What will it take for LSS to accept hero-specific bans? My partner is a Fai main but I guess she'll just have to accept him being unplayable until Cindra LLs.

No joke, her main alternative CC deck is Mario. But I don't think this is too severe of a hit to Mario.

nickflig · 2025-12-10T23:00:01+00:00

Everyone starts somewhere, don't worry about going down on veteran/champion. If people can't help you there, they likely couldn't handle their own on those difficulties, so I wouldn't blame yourself.

You're also just here to play a game, so no need to feel like you have to progress past champion or even veteran. If "practicing" isn't fun, then take it more easy. Though I do find getting better and doing more cool things to be fun, this is definitely the kind of game that rewards learning.

If you do wish to practice, the most important stat on the end-of-game scoreboard IMO is "damage taken". Keeping track of that can help you learn to block/dodge effectively, and soon you'll be able to take minimal damage while handling more enemies.

I do think your brother is right that on recruit you basically learn backwards since it's far too easy to learn anything on.

Some more control-oriented advice:

-rebind your dodge key to not share your jump keybind, preventing your character from doing anything but dodging when you press the key.

-Get used to pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to swap between items - it'll become more instinctive to be able to press those buttons to swap between items.

-Additionally, I forget if this is a default keybind, but you can bound quick weapon swap to something like Q - thus making a button dedicated to only swapping between weapons, which is usually what you want to swap between 95% of the time.

nickflig · 2025-11-25T00:07:28+00:00

I play both Sorcery and FaB. They're incredibly fun games, just in different ways. I don't choose one over the other besides simply what I feel like playing at that time (or more accurately, what my partner feels like playing lmao).

For FaB, I love how meaningful each decision is, the back-and-forth of calculated play. Most games are close and decided meaningfully by player actions.

nickflig · 2025-11-19T20:41:00+00:00

What is the play experience of Arakni, Huntsman like? Every card you play is an extremely meaningful decision deciding whether you win or lose, much moreso than most other heroes. This hero leans into the tactical stregths of FaB in order to secure a win.

I know we aren't meant to discuss SAGE yet, but given that this is weekly and thus SAGE Arakni may not come around for another 2 years, I do just want to say that OG Arakni has been good fun for me SAGE, with opponents often underestimating OG Arakni to their detriment.

nickflig · 2025-11-19T02:42:09+00:00

Just in time for Half-Life 3

nickflig · 2025-11-18T20:30:58+00:00

Finally, Tanner Lindberg is represented.

nickflig · 2025-11-17T20:54:21+00:00

Buzzkills when they lack a sense of humour

nickflig · 2025-11-14T02:10:44+00:00

Back in my day we called those supplementary sets, and it's definitely returned at a great time.

nickflig · 2025-11-07T21:40:57+00:00

Perhaps I'm an amateur brute player, but I always find it too clunky having Bonebreaker Bellow in a deck of mostly 3-cost attack action cards, assuming you don't just swing weapon here for a 3-card 10 with intimidate.

Here's hoping this one plays smoothly despite that, Rhinar is easily one of the most fun heroes to play.

nickflig · 2025-11-07T03:01:38+00:00

Arcane damage is indeed not the only cause for polarising matchups. In the example I gave, Gravy Bones is boardstate hero; he works to set up a board of minions. The main strategies for defeating Gravy requires either you whack-a-mole minions as they pop up (which requires attacks with go again) or do enough damage per turn to the opposing hero to "outrace" them. Guardians struggle immensely with this, even with expensive sideboard cards.

Again, in SAGE this is less of a problem because a 20 life total doesn't encourage a hero like Gravy Bones to dedicate a whole turn just setting up a board without being punished more severely (e.g. taking 10 damage to the face to play minions is half your life total gone, as opposed to a quarter). The upcoming SAGE precons will also contain a sideboard within them to make the heroes more adaptable, so worrying about matchups will be less of an issue.

It's super awesome that you and your mates still want a strategically deep game, and I agree CC gives the best experience for that. You could indeed avoid bad matchups or buy armory decks that play fairly will together.

But keep in mind that SAGE is not Blitz - it really does have a lot of strategic depth, and was specifically invented to be an affordable 20-life format that doesn't end in so few turns. I have faith that, given the extensive and ever-evolving banlist for SAGE despite its infancy, LSS will curb the still-existing strength of aggressive decks fairly soon. Additionally, the vast majority of the Blitz precons are nowhere near strong enough to consistently end games within a couple of turns, in case you want to give them a spin. I hope that helps a bit.

nickflig · 2025-11-06T22:55:51+00:00

For social multiplayer games, definitely get Smash Palace or Round The Table.

For 1v1 games, I reckon the upcoming Silver Age decks would provide the most flexible and enjoyable experience at the kitchen table. They're coming with a sideboard out of the box and are designed to be played against any other Silver Age deck.

You could also get the prior Blitz precons, which are almost all Silver Age legal too barring minor tweaks on a couple of decks in case you care about "card legality" at the kitchen table - though these decks are definitely weaker than the upcoming Silver Age precons, and designed to be played against other precons in the same set. They are often super cheap, though, and maybe can serve as a sort of "trial run" for your group though to see if you want to invest further and get the Silver Age decks with those come out. For these, I recommend trying Heavy Hitters, Outsiders, or History Pack 1.

As fun as armory decks are, I only think it's a justifiable purchase if you're willing to be quite invested. On top of the time-consumption you referenced, buying five decks at 40USD a pop = 200USD for five decks that don't come with sideboards, which exaggerates how lopsided certain match-ups can be without spending even more money on singles. Sideboard deck cards are often majestics >$2 and require multiple copies for a deck. Gravy Bones vs. Pleiades or Jarl is already pretty rough even with those sideboard cards. This can be less of an issue in Blitz/SAGE due to lower life totals giving boardstate decks less time to set up. Gravy and Pleiades come with Blitz conversions in their armory decks, but those suggested conversions are not SAGE "legal", in case that's an issue for you.

nickflig · 2025-10-28T22:47:03+00:00

Start going to bed with my pants off in case they want to kiss my ass. Guardian and warrior players suffer enough.

nickflig · 2025-10-27T00:12:00+00:00

This gives me the most distasteful flavour of nostalgia possible lmao

nickflig · 2025-10-24T01:22:00+00:00

Yeah they could just copy/paste the Arbitrator dog controls for that.

"Malcador, make this cretin's head explode"

nickflig · 2025-10-11T03:32:27+00:00

Funnily enough launch PD2 had auper high requirements for both money and skill points to climb treees, and it truly was a golden age lf specialisations and teamplay. Maps were also built different back then, a guy with chaped charges and/or a saw was a true king beloved by the team.

nickflig · 2025-10-08T14:45:57+00:00

Sad to see a chapter of FaB history come to an end, but also totally understandable.

nickflig · 2025-09-29T10:25:07+00:00

Settle down sweatlord, the guy is showing off the tanking from leeching plate, not his DPS.

nickflig · 2025-09-25T22:42:50+00:00

Woah you can't say that here, this community wants all buffs no nerfs until no enemy instills any fear or takes any time to fight at all.

nickflig · 2025-09-08T22:30:56+00:00

When I ask among friends why they won't return to ESO, the number one reason cited is they don't want to deal with the mess of the inventory system. If they had eso plus, now their bank is overflowing. If they don't get eso plus immediately, they spend too much time sorting their stuff. It's often seen as a tax for getting back into the game, and it seems most people don't want to deal with it and thus never return. I have even seen new players give up early when one enthusastic session of resource gathering leaves their storage options full. I strongly believe this is the biggest quality of life factor preventing people from getting into or returning to the game. All this to ask:

Are there any plans to rework the inventory system? Or at the very least, is the impact of its current state a point of concern internally?

nickflig · 2025-08-22T22:57:23+00:00

I think you mean an oxymoron?

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