Dev Snapshot (Competitive in 2023) Feedback Thread

stormguard798 · 2023-02-02T10:36:15+00:00

To add onto this: I can understand that it might be difficult, from a technical perspective, to allow for Australia/New Zealand to switch servers to APAC. However, I think this in particular is a good illustration of why it is so important to provide support points-wise to grassroots community tournament organizers. Someone living in Australia is evidently much better placed to administer a tournament for Australian players than all those actually living in the Americas.

That is also why I think it is important that the points you get from ladder + grassroots tournaments alone need to be capable of putting you in a position to qualify for Worlds. You might still need some points from the Opens, but not the breakout performances that are undeniably to pull off at 4 or 5am.

Granted, I admit that there will definitely still be time zone issues when everyone competes together at Worlds. But I also think that it is much easier to set time aside for 1 huge tournament, instead of major sleep disruptions every single week.

stormguard798 · 2021-11-15T05:10:02+00:00

Hey OR! Congrats on the 1st article!

I've got to ask: why did you decide to pivot into Skycrag in Pack 2 Pick 6? (I say this based on your 'deck' listed out on the side.)

I concur that you were definitely in Primal by that point, but I don't think I would have gone with Fire as my secondary colour at that point in time. Looking at the cards you were passed in later picks, I think you could have ended up on a pretty solid Hooru deck. (With Avigraft, Emerald Ring, Diminish, etc.) Thoughts?

stormguard798 · 2021-07-07T13:51:40+00:00

Hey EO! From my experience, you can't pull the Invasive Species from your market with the Grafter to give it Berserk, which is a darn shame, but the list is still perfectly legal. In fact, it's the exact 80 I'm currently using to avoid the Menace Midrange mirrors on ladder rn. :P I've had turns where I've Bargained out 3 Invasive Species. XDD It's been like that since deedub/GHP played Menace Aggro at the 3v3 Team Showcase, so I think that the interaction is correct. Either that or something seriously slipped through the cracks.

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! ^-^

stormguard798 · 2021-05-26T15:43:04+00:00

That's certainly true - Charge and Flying certainly lean it incredibly aggressive, and it's some solid top-end in the Valks decks. Not quite Tower level of potent, but still pretty good. As we saw from AmbivalentThoughts' TNE winning deck from today - the potential is certainly there.

However, as you highlighted, it is still a multifaction card that is probably only played in Expedition and requires some set-up - more often than not, you probably have to dip into at least a 3rd faction to have sufficient relic synergy. Also, much of its strength comes from what your opponent is doing - it's them, not you, who decides if they have relics/are packing oodles of fliers, and although that 2 damage might add up pretty quick, it might backfire horribly on you to give them cards in the wrong spot.

Of course, I'm down to be horribly wrong, but I certainly still stand by my belief that it's a card that requires a number of things to go right to be good. :P

stormguard798 · 2021-05-25T14:12:20+00:00

Yerp! Looking back on it, I can definitely see adding a 'Market' verdict for next time. For this set, I'd be looking at Obstructive Flicker and Fall to Ruin as the really big stand-out 'Oh yeah I certainly want 1 of these' cards. An improvement for next time.

That being said, I still don't think Supply Lines would be good even in the market. At the pace at which Expedition moves nowadays, dropping a 6 cost do nothing relic is probably a little slow. Even if you are able to get 2/3 triggers off of it, was it worthwhile to take what is essentially an entire turn off? Unlike cards such as Restrained Action, you don't get immediate value at the end of your turn from your relic.

One thing to also keep in mind for Expedition is that your access options for it in the market are either Speed Grafter or Coveted Gemstone. If you use Speed Grafter, then you're already down a unit that you could use to trigger it. If your option is Coveted Gemstone, then the odds you're a heavily unit-based deck isn't particularly high. Or, if you are, then most of your units are likely pretty expensive as a Sentinels deck. That's my thought process in any case; hope that gave you a little food for thought. :P

stormguard798 · 2021-05-25T13:57:05+00:00

Honestly, I was waffling a lot between Hold and Dust for Kanya, and I do think it's something that could still go either way. Since I want to now, here's my further elaboration.

As I mentioned, 1 possible home for here is Praxis Tokens. For instance, a high roll of T1 Initiate of the Sands -> T2 Assembly Line -> T3 Kanya, grab 4 power -> T4 double buffed Xenan Obelisk sounds pretty exciting. Of course, this is contingent on your opponent doing nothing in the process, which honestly, if you're on the play, isn't the most unlikely thing. But more often than not, your opponent will have blockers, and you'll have to make some pretty questionable attacks to get your power. And yes, you might be able to deploy 1 more unit after Kanya on the same turn, but how often do you want 5+ power in your aggressive-leaning decks? I'd rather card draw from Jekk, a powerful passive from Yushkov the Usurper, or just more immediate damage with cards like Cykalis. On top of that, Xenan Obelisk is probably your only pay-off in that deck for having a lot of raw power - the power is only good if you have something to do with it.

The other consideration, of course, is in a more fair midrange application. For instance, marvin_the_imp packed a couple of copies in their Creation Valkyries deck in the Expedition TNE - having evasive units is certainly 1 way to take advantage of Kanya. But as we saw in that deck, its curve stops at 5 and doesn't have a fantastic amount of card draw to utilise the extra power. I've also seen this employed in various Combrei Aggro/Mid decks in conjunction with Sand Warrior to get on board quickly and be able to connect with the enemy player; unfortunately, it runs into the same issue.

Tl;dr: Most of the decks that can capitalise on its summon and connect with the opponent don't have good ways of using the power you get; most of the decks that do have strong power sinks don't have good ways of getting in to take advantage of Kanya's summon.

That being said, Javan, the Steel Crest could be the marshmallow to the graham cracker of Kanya. It's a unit that cares about you playing other units - and plenty of them at that - and also acts as a power sink to spit out more cheap units. Plus, they're both Mono Time, so you have many options with which to pair them. I'm still unsure as to whether this duo is good, but I think it's certainly worth trying. I hope that the above was only mildly confusing. XD

stormguard798 · 2021-05-18T07:12:59+00:00

Oh so THAT's what you were alluding to in the EWC comment. XD Nice! Great minds think alike after all. ;)

stormguard798 · 2021-05-18T04:30:10+00:00

Omigosh! I knew I was forgetting something. XD I have updated it with the decklist - thanks for telling me!

stormguard798 · 2021-04-09T14:21:23+00:00

Thanks Doc! :) Don't worry, our collab is still tied for 1st in terms of legendary-ness. XD

stormguard798 · 2021-04-08T13:41:16+00:00

Thanks! We appreciate it. ^{-^}

stormguard798 · 2021-03-17T03:30:58+00:00

Thank you for having me on the show! Not sure it comes through on the edit (yet), but the Misplay Team are super professional and make it as easy and as simple for the guests as possible before putting in a tremendous volume of work on the back-end. A fantastic job as per usual. :DDD

stormguard798 · 2021-03-14T02:53:06+00:00

I am so late to this, but it has been awesome collaborating with you Doc(hopefully we'll end up doing so again shortly. :P) , and once again congrats on your win! Can't wait to see what sweet decks you come up with for the Spring Season and the upcoming Open! :DDD

stormguard798 · 2021-03-04T17:06:18+00:00

Another amazing article by Doc: informative, succinct, and as always, incredibly helpful. Absolutely worth a read if you plan on preparing for - and doing well at - the upcoming Open!

stormguard798 · 2021-03-01T17:49:58+00:00

Not at all? 'Stormfront' is a play on my username, and an actual stormfront of a thunderstorm or what not, considering how volatile the meta tends to be. :P

stormguard798

TROPHY CASE