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An Analysis of Faction Design Coherence

Bagoum / January 29, 2017

Beyond the questions of faction rankings, players have always been interested in the question of faction design. The purpose of faction-restricted cards, after all, is to provide each faction with a unique style of gameplay, with unique strengths and weaknesses.

Whereas Bagoum normally concerns itself with the strength of factions within the meta, today we're going to take a detour and discuss the strength of faction cards within a faction, as well as deal with some basic questions of faction design. First, we'll go through the factions in order, then at the end review the analysis and create a faction coherence tier list.

Lyonar

Within Lyonar we can identify two major themes: one, winning via dropping overstatted minions, small or large; two, winning via heal synergies. Fundamentally, all builds of Lyonar excel at close combat, due to overstatted minions and powerful effects. They have tools to force enemies into close combat, such as powerful Provoke minions starting from 3 mana and Decimate as a punish, as well as tools to abuse close combat, notably Holy Immolation.

Characteristic Lyonar cards for Tempo Argeon, Bond Argeon, and Heal Zir'An.

Before Shim'Zar, Lyonar's primary weakness used to be cheap removal. Because Lyonar lacked a viable Tempo or Heal archetype then, a well-timed Hailstone Prison could render an Ironcliffe, and the entire gameplan, useless. Currently, it's difficult to pin down a weakness on Tempo Argeon, but Heal Zir'An can suffer from archetypes that develop powerful boards early or that can wipe hers, since she is very reliant on supporting minions.

Overall, Lyonar exhibits a high amount of coherence; its playstyles are brought about by its characteristic faction cards, and its playstyles can be interweaved between archetypes. However, there's ultimately no overarching theme; Tempo, Bond, and Heal play quite differently and have different win conditions. As another issue, Argeon has a notably high ratio of neutral card usage, especially Tempo Argeon. This is likely due to the fact that his BBS makes "ok" neutrals like Saberspine Tiger significantly more abusable. In non-Trinity Oath builds, Lyonar also exhibits reliance on neutral draw, but this issue is shared, not localized to any particular faction.

Songhai

Songhai as a whole revolves around bypassing traditional notions of turn-by-turn efficient question-efficient response play. Its cards are noted for their ability to produce value far out of proportion to their mana costs, as well as make redundant traditional problems of positioning and passive trade advantage. Songhai also makes great use of spell procs, a feature mostly unique to the faction.

Left: Kill 4-drops for free. Middle: An infinitely-growing 2-drop. Right: Make your opponent unable to control their movement.

Songhai's strength lies in its ability to bypass the board-centric value game, but the price it pays for this is an upper curve far from as threatening as Spectral Revenant, and cards that are generally understatted when compared to cost raw. A lack of endgame value comparable to those of other top archetypes means that Songhai tends to get outvalued if its midgame burst and fancy effects are neutralized, even as Songhai can continue to threaten large amounts of out-of-hand damage throughout the game.

Overall, it's quite noticeable that this entire analysis of Songhai has been made without mentioning differences between generals-- this is largely because Songhai's cardset is very gradiented, even while one general is significantly better. Reva makes great use of Backstab and movement synergies in Katara and Juxtaposition, while Kaleos can equally utilize spell procs with Chakri Avatar and Four Winds Magi. Furthermore, the only neutral cards that Songhai consistently utilizes are draw cards, as Songhai's synergies are fully self-contained.

Vetruvian

It's not fully clear what Vetruvian consists of as a whole, but there are two distinct identifiable themes within the faction, which are completely separate and cannot be realistically reconciled. These two themes are Obelysks and Artifacts. Obelysks are the only truly unique Vetruvian characteristic, whereas the Vetruvian uniqueness of the artifact builds only really consists of the two combo cards.

Two of the few uniquely Vetruvian cards.

Vetruvian faction cards suffer largely from the fact that most of them are terrible outside of the Obelysks build. The few common minions that aren't terrible-- Pax, Falcius, Starfire Scarab, and Aymara Healer-- create no sense of identity; one is a value card, one is a tempo card, one is an slow midgame threat, and one is a reactive lategame card that has no synergy with the rest of the set. Furthermore, Blast, Vetruvian's featured keyword, is terribly undersupported.

Overall, it's difficult to evaluate Vetruvian's identity because it's not clear what it should be. Obelysks stands out as a coherent archetype, but every other well-performing Vetruvian archetype in the past--most recently pre-June Aggro Zirix and September Midrange Zirix-- has exhibited an unusually high amount of reliance on neutral value cards. Sajj has, furthermore, never stood out as a general, and it's worrying that her best archetype is a janky OTK combo build. Obelysks is ultimately the only well-defined Vetruvian archetype, which is questionable given the past prominence of Aggro, Midrange, and Control variants.

Abyssian

Unlike Songhai, Abyssian's themes are fully distinct. Swarm and Creep see almost no overlap, and thus it is difficult to talk about Abyssian "as a whole". The Swarm archetype is built around swarming the board and using powerful death-based effects to turn a few Wraithlings into lethal, and the Creep archetype is built around building Shadow Creep to strengthen midgame and endgame threats.

Swarm and Creep-- do not mix.

Swarm as an archetype threatens to quickly end games with cards like Deathfire Crescendo and Soulshatter Pact, but can have difficulty responding to AoE board clears if it overcommits to swarming. On the other hand, Creep plays a slow game and utilizes Abyssal Juggernaut and Obliterate as creep-based win conditions, and loses to efficient removal as well as creep removal. The synergies for each of these builds are entirely infaction, although Swarm Lilithe utilizes some neutrals like Cryptographer to amplify her swarm abilities.

Overall, Abyssian lacks a coherent faction theme, rather showcasing two very defined and very distinct themes. The few of its cards that are shared between its archetypes are done so for power or utility, rather than common synergies; compare Spectral Revenant to Scintilla. However, both its generals are viable, and, outside of dispel and draw, both its archetypes use mostly faction cards. Abyssian is also one of the few factions in which both generals are individually strong, so while amorphous, the Abyssian faction is not weak.

Magmar

Originally, Magmar had a faction identity of big green lizards, with Starhorn branching off awkwardly. Now, it's much less clear what their identity is. The previously unifying theme-- big, green, slow, close-ranged lizards-- has been brought into question by Entropic Gaze and Tectonic Spikes. It's also unclear how Starhorn's excessively pushed draw synergies factor into the equation, and what kind of synergies we should expect moving forward.

Magmar's two greatest threats-- Makantor and... a neutral?

Vaath and Starhorn share an awkwardly categorized fundamentally midrange archetype which can branch off into aggro or greed on Vaath's side and gimpy draw synergies on Starhorn's side. Currently, there are only two defined themes in Magmar, both at opposite ends; Control Vaath flashes out oversized minions to win the game, and Decimus Starhorn gimps the opponent with Decimus burst damage. Everything else comes in between with some awkward mixture of burn, sustain, and aggro.

Overall, Magmar's faction identity has grown less defined over time, especially as Starhorn, whose BBS is not in the least related to the core faction, has become more viable. However, Magmar does utilize a high number of faction cards, even if some of them have the greatest synergy with neutrals (Flash Reincarnation and Sunsteel Defender, for example). It's somewhat unusual that an entire half of the faction is based around a neutral card, and this hurts the perception of Starhorn's identity greatly.

Vanar

When Kara ruled over the meta, there were a few voices decrying not only her power, but also the fact that about a quarter of her deck, on average, was faction cards. This perception of Vanar has changed little, and there are still very few good Vanar minions. Thankfully, the new expansion has brought several new tools to Vanar that give it more of an identity, even as Kara is now cast to the side.

Vanar's identity: NO FUN ALLOWED

Generally, modern Faie is characterized by a focus on "disruption". This trend has its origins in the Kara deck which would Hailstone Prison, Cryogenesis, or Ephemeral Shroud/Chromatic Cold every threat. Now, Faie combines these old spells with the trifecta of the expansion, Concealing Shroud, Frigid Corona, and Enfeeble. In this sense, Vanar's amorphous identity can be perceived as a negative of its opponents.

Overall, it's telling that Faie's endgame finishers are the neutrals Jax Truesight and Meltdown: Vanar is built around negating the opponent's play, rather than pushing its own strategies. Interestingly, this renders Vanar the only faction without a robust infaction win-condition (Grandmaster Embla is highly questionable). Vanar has a full-- and possibly the best-- array of faction spells, but its high-curve minions really need some love.

Conclusion

1. Songhai

++ Fully infaction synergies, no prominent neutrals except card draw, gradiented faction themes, thematic generals, best faction thematic synthesis
-- Power disparity between generals

2. Lyonar

++ Mostly infaction synergies, gradiented faction themes, thematic generals, overall few prominent neutrals
-- Neutral reliance for some variants, questionable faction thematic synthesis

3. Abyssian

++ Fully infaction synergies, almost no prominent neutrals except card draw, most thematic generals
-- Disparate faction themes, influential nonthematic cards, completely lacking faction thematic synthesis

4. Vanar

++ Mostly infaction synergy, thoroughly supported infaction spells, somewhat thematic general (Faie)
-- Neutral minion reliance, amorphous general theme (Kara), only one faction theme, amorphous faction thematic synthesis, power disparity between generals

5. Magmar

++ High infaction synergies, thematic general (Starhorn)
-- Neutral reliance (Starhorn), amorphous general theme (Vaath), disparate faction themes, little faction thematic synthesis, infuential nonthematic cards

6. Vetruvian

++ One infaction synergy
-- Neutral reliance, weak general themes, disparate faction themes, no faction thematic synthesis, power disparity between generals, influential nonthematic cards, weak keyword support


Above you'll find the final tier list for faction consistency. Overall, this ordering is fairly uncontroversial, although some players may rank Magmar above Vanar (before the Bloodborn expansion, I would have done so as well, but Entropic Gaze and Tectonic Spikes have rendered me unable to find an overarching theme). However, Vetruvian is by far suffering the most, and this is evident on the competitive tier list as well; it is standing on one leg of obelysks and may topple any moment.

It is also necessary for us to pay attention to how Magmar and Vanar develop over the next few months. Magmar is suffering right now from an identity crisis-- it's at the same time a close-range big stuff archetype, but also an aggro-burn archetype, and also a combo archetype, and every expansion pulls it in different directions. Vanar is finally seeing some sort of consolidation after the Bloodborn expansion, but still suffers from a lack of good infaction minions as well as a wide general disparity, which undermines its uniqueness even if it is currently at the top of the tier list.

On the other hand, Songhai, Lyonar, and Abyssian seem to be, in terms of faction coherence, the best designed. There are definitely questions to be asked about Songhai's board bypassing or Lyonar's stat efficiency or Abyssian's absurdly powerful value generators, but these questions do not detract from the sense of coherence in these factions.

I'm looking forward to seeing how CP improves some of the game's struggling factions in the future!

-Bagoum

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"Rise of the Bloodborn": Card Ratings and Thoughts

MYW / December 16, 2016

Hey, MYW here. I did initial ratings on all the cards in Shim'zar a while ago and that was fun and mostly accurate, so I'm going to do it again here. Hopefully you enjoy my opinions! Grades are a combination of actual power, and potential. And bias. 

I was going to link all the images, but that would be a pain to load. Just go here and follow along! https://duelyst.com/rise-of-the-bloodborn

Lyonar

Draining Wave: Quite a strong tempo card. Not much else to say there. If the deck is fast enough, that HP won't matter. Helps Lyonar solve minions at a distance when they don't want to play Martyrdom. A-

Prism Barrier: Pretty nasty. Best comparison is vanar's Boundless courage, only instead of damage, you get forcefield on other turns. While that is very strong, especially when combined with Roar, it's hard to imagine Lyonar playing this over Afterblaze, and there is only so much space in a deck for buffs. Rating: B

Scintilla: Strong heal card. A good body with a decent heal is the most any heal card deserves. Realistically, better in Argeon because Argeon reliably has targets to Roar. Rating: A-

Sunbreaker: Solid card, but realistically only good against Abyssian and Wall vanar. Otherwise, the body isn't quite competitive enough, and not being able to choose when you want to suicide this card makes it inflexible.  B-

Trinity Oath: People were hyping this up, saying it would break aggro/tempo, but I'm not certain about that. L'kian is functionally better for that deck as Lyonar gets high value out of on board bodies, and because Tempo Argeon is usually consistent enough that it won't need to draw cards out of the deck. This is more useful in slower decks, and for making Solarius sad. Rating: A

Excelsious: Unfortunately, it's probably bad. It's just another fat Lyonar body. Maybe play this if you already have 3 Ironcliffe and don't want to play Elyx or Z'ir for some reason, and have a little dispel bait. I guess I could see it being useful if you don't want to play divine bond but still want single body wombo combos. In that case, this card is basically like dropping Ironcliffe and Divine bond in the same turn in one card. V-value? If you think this card is good, I encourage you to beat my face with it. I'd be glad if this card was good. Rating: D

Songhai

Obscuring Blow: This card is amazing, I think. Giving ANY minion the ability to take no damage and deal 2 extra conditionally is quite powerful, and the ability to give it to your general is also conditionally very useful. It has two conditional but powerful use cases, in one card, for 1 mana. It's good. Maybe good enough for some people to play Kaleos? Rating: A

Ethereal Blades: Not much to say here, it's solid damage, that can be used as removal or face damage. Reva will probably love it, as it's another card to dump on ranged units, and also gives the main body some removal power. I also like this design because it encourages Songhai to try to play a bit more minions, so this can get value most of the time. Rating: B+

Twilight Fox: Fun, flavorful. Is it good? Hard to say. It seems like it's obviously telling you to use Mask of Shadows, but I'm not sure this minion is solid enough to make that combo strong. I believe that's a theme with this card in general: a flavorful and fun effect, but a bit on the slow/weak side. I do appreciate the design, though. Hopefully I underrated this card. Rating: C

Whiplash: It's kinda bad. For the most part, it's a 3 mana golem. Sure, it'll plausibly do 2 burn damage, maybe 4, but it's a hard sell in the finely tuned songhai decks that actually work. Rating: C

Cobra Strike: This is a meme card, but it's actually not bad. Ever wanted to Phoenix fire a minion, and then face? Do you do that a lot? Well, you're in luck! Also, this card is pretty great with Crescent Spear. Maybe A new form of Crankyhai would use this card. Rating: B

Geomancer: It's ok. This card supports a theoretical late game Songhai which is nice, but realistically, Songhai already can make free heartseekers, which is already as good as phoenix fires. With the bad body too, I can't imagine this seeing too much play. I suppose the only real use is playing it against Cassy, as Reva's BBS does not have a lot of value in that matchup. Still, it's an interesting card to exist and I look forward to it's future. Rating: B-

Vetruvian

Stone to Spears: Awful. Sorry Obelysk vet mains, this won't save you from the oppressive gaze of Nightwatcher. All this card does is give you 3 damage for 1 mana, in very conditional scenarios. Maybe this will see play if there is some MEGA OBELYSK in the future. Rating: D

Zephyr: Vegeta is pretty interesting, and makes vet even stronger as an anti-aggro deck, if they want to play it. Against non-aggro, this card doesn't really do too much, and has the same issue as Twilight Fox. Rating: B-

Divine Spark: Hmm. It doesn't look as good as the other draw in this expansion, but it's instant draw and card advantage still. This card will be better if vet gains cheap answer cards in the future. For now, it's a bit on the slow and un-impactful side for a faction that depends on using it's mana efficiently. Rating: B-

Incinera: Fun fact, I speculated that vetruvian would be gaining the ability to move further, due to the fact that most vetruvian tools had become limited to within the general's reach. This card... not quite what I was expecting, and I'm not certain it's strong. The best part about this is that it allows vet to face-punch most ranged units that Songhai plays, which Vetruvian deeply struggles with, but otherwise, being able to move great distances is not that useful the turn you play this card as it costs so much. The turn after though, you can threaten every single vetruvian threat, which is nice. Still, not sure it does enough on the turn of play for it to see play when Vetruvian already has several high value mid-range drops. Overall, I enjoy the direction of the design. Rating: B

Autarch's Gifts: In the average case, it's technically high value. However, the randomness of the card prevents you from establishing a consistent gameplan with the card that isn't just pushing face damage. Non-risktakers probably won't play this too much, but considering any combo that involves Ankh or Spinecleaver is probably very strong, and you have roughly 66% chance of hitting one, it could be pretty strong. Artifact vet players are crazy anyway, so I assume they'll like this. Rating: B

Grandmaster Nosh-rak: Another solid minion in Vetruvian's pile of big minions. It has a decent amount of utility even on the turn it is played for pushing face damage, and if it survives a turn the opponent is in for a world of hurt, so this could plausibly see play even in an aggressively curved tempo deck. Probably the most Remove-or-lose 7 drop in the game too, which also makes it strong as a control deck's topper, since Vetruvian is the faction of remove-or-lose monsters. However, vetruvian control's existence depends entirely on how much backrow play there is in the coming meta. If there's even a little bit of Lilithe, the deck has no chance. Independently though, this card is great. Rating: A

Abyssian

Furosa: The effect is very interesting, but buffing 1/1s to 2/2s isn't worth that much. However, buffing 2/2s to 3/3s is worth a lot. If this survives, it becomes strong. Theoretically this could put in work in late game situations too. Otherwise, it's decent, but it's not unfair enough to devote a card slot for. I really like this card design though, so I hope I'm wrong. Rating: B-

Aphotic Drain: Kelaino wasn't nerfed? This card is pointless, then. Honestly, even without Kelaino, this card really doesn't do that much, especially compared to sundrop elixir. It's not like destroying a friendly minion is actually a gain, most of the time. Rating: E, for e-nobody

Punish: This is a disgusting removal that is so strong it looks like it belongs in Vanar, but it is not: it's in the faction whose main weakness is removing big bodies in the early game. This card slides right into most Cassy decks without trouble, making a great deck even greater. I'll wait for the meta to develop before saying more, but initial impressions of this card signal dark days, and may force an aggro resurgence simply because Abyssian is too strong for midrange and control to fight. Again.  Rating: A+

Horror Burster: One of my favorite card designs in the set. It's finally some lilithe swarm support, and allows her to do slightly more than cash in all minion for big damage. This card definitely wants to be put down while there is a minion with at least 3 health on the board however, lest AOE(tempest honestly) be too strong a punish. Rating: B+

Necrotic Sphere: Mostly garbage, because 9/10 times Sunset Paragon serves this purpose better, and the other 1/10 times dark transformation will do the same job. Rating: D

Grandmaster Variax: The coolest design. Extremely strong card. I won't say too much about it though, because it's not as good as Spectral Revenant in 9/10 situations, and there is no room to play other 7 drops along with 3 Revenants. However, it might see a little bit of play in some late game, bigboyz Lilithe deck. Rating: A

Magmar

Rancour: This is basically a 2 mana 3/3 at least. Needless to say, that's pretty sick. Combined with all the other self damaging Magmar can do, and this card can easily be disgusting. Rating: A

Entropic Gaze: This, along with Punish, make me afraid. This is too obviously favoring aggro/burn magmar, and fills in a gap in magmar: before, they could only use flameblood for efficient, unconditional face damage, and that was rarely good. This however, is both damage and draw to grab MORE damage, for just 2 mana. I don't think it's amazing in a Vacuum, but with everything else Magmar is capable of, it's doing the same thing Punish is doing: easily sliding into a strong deck, and making it stronger. The speed of this deck and the oppressiveness of Cassy may force the game into very low, aggressive curves to function. Rating: A-

Thraex: Interesting, but will ultimately just be a 3/4 that buffs one other minion by 1 in the average case. However, it would be the only solid 3 drop magmar has, so that alone may make it see play. Rating: B-

Tectonic Spikes: Alone, this card wouldn't be a big deal, but with all the other aggro options Magmar is getting, I start to worry. Overall, this card isn't amazing- playing this in an aggro matchup basically loses you the game, and playing it early in a control matchup often isn't good because a 3 mana gap may be enough for the control deck to gain enough board value to win. Likely best in the late game to pick up more burn cards to use in the same turn. A lot of people directed hate towards this card, but please direct it towards Gaze instead. Rating: B+

Drogon: This card. It does everything. This card feeds aggro Vaath, but also makes control able to punch out even more minions, along with extra finishing potential. The flexibility and strength of this card will possibly make it extremely popular in a multitude of deck types. Rating: A+

Valknu's Seal: This looks like a Timmy card. However, it could see legitimate play, if only eggmar was solid enough to use tech like this. Please buff Veteran a little. Rating: B-

Vanar

Concealing Shroud: An interesting card. Since there are no out of hand wombo combos vanar can perform, and this can be dispelled, the primary purpose seems to be using this with an artifact, namely White Asp, in slower control decks. The value of this card isn't obvious, but at least you think of it as heal on the turn you hit things. Rating: legitimately not sure, B-?

Frigid Corona: The almost the most hilarious turn 1 play in the game, second only to beamshock face + 2 drop. This card is amazing in Faie, who generally shifts from tempo-control to face damage. This card functions extremely well in both playstyles. Rating: A-

Myriad: Unfortunately, somewhat bad. Realistically it'll only ever create one wall and you can't even place it, so it might be in a useless location. The stats aren't good enough to warrant the non-effect. I like the look of it though, so if I'm wrong, good. Rating: C

Enfeeble: A great, punish level card. But it's in Vanar, the faction that already has the best removals in the game, so it doesn't really change much of Vanar's powerlevel without trading off similarly powerful cardslots. It's primary competition is Frostburn, as Chromatic Cold and Aspect of fox are mostly non-negotiable when it comes to raw single target "removal." However, I could see it replacing both if there were enough ping cards to go with it, but that's a deck that is hard to theorize. Rating: A+

Sleet Dasher: Solid beatstick, but realistically all it does is kill wraithlings extremely well. Otherwise, most people will play around it, and all you get out of it is a solid 3/6 body and the opponent with probably worse positioning than they would have had otherwise. Rating: B-

Grandmaster Embla: Seems a bit low value for an 8 drop, especially one with a decent amount of counterplay. Likely too slow to have much an impact, but even if it is played it would need a Razorback or Winter's wake to support it, (unless you get extremely lucky and get 4+ blazing spines) both of which have their deficiencies. Maybe a decent compromise is playing Aspect of mountains to combine with this instead. Rating: B-

Neutral

Cryptographer: High combo potential to go along with all these new Blood Surge Abilities. I think there will be many fun decks using this card. However, I think the deck that will enjoy this the most is simply Faie, just to push a bit more damage through, and also combo with Hearthsister for 4 damage removal. The other option that feels colorful to me is Vaath, as every attack he gains is more pressure and better removal. Plus, it can be combined with Drogon for hilarious amounts of damage. I'm rating this probably higher than it should get in a vacuum due to how interesting I think this card has the potential to be. Rating: A

Sanguinar: Unfortunately, I don't think this card will be good. Very rarely is it that pressing to develop a BBS and develop a bit body. In the optimal conditions, it's mostly just a discounted 5/4 minion for 3 mana, and you are forced to use your BBS. Perhaps it has potential combined with Cryptographer, but otherwise it fails to hold up. Rating: C

Meltdown: Ah, Ragnaros. I thought I would never see you again. This is a strong card that is extremely matchup dependant. Against Wall vanar or Swarm abyss, this card is total trash. Against most aggro decks, it's total trash. In other situations, it's actually quite good, although it faces stiff competition with other lategame 7 drops, namely Pandora (and other faction cards). Play if you intend to aggressively push to end the game as your closer, rather than out-value. Probably strongest in a Faie deck. Rating: A-

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"Rise of the Bloodborn" Spoiler Analysis, Sample Decklists, and Aggro Metas

Thunder_God / December 12, 2016

Hello everyone, my username on Reddit and in-game is tundranocaps, and I go as Thunder_God on Discord. For those who don’t know me, I’ve been playing Duelyst since June 1st, making it to S-rank every month except for my first, and have been a long-time competitive player of various TCGs and miniature wargames (including being in my country’s top 20 Magic: the Gathering player for a period of several years while I played). In Duelyst, I mostly play Vetruvian and Songhai, but I like playing all factions, and helping propagate “proper strategy” for the game.

Today I’ll be taking a look at the new cards revealed by PC Gamer from the upcoming Rise of the Bloodborn expansion set. To do so however, requires a pre-amble that discusses several design concepts and past experiences from other similar games on a higher-level than that of singular cards.

1) The Arms Race Everyone Loses:

Before the nerf of Ephemeral Shroud in the mid-October patch, some people had raised the idea of an “Anti-Dispel” mechanic, that specifically counters dispel. The problem with such a mechanic is that if dispel proves too strong, and at some point anti-dispel proves too strong, rather than just going back and forth on people not running dispel into not running anti-dispel, some bright mind would come up with the idea of introducing “Anti-Anti-Dispel”.

Though the semi-hypothetical example above might be a bit extreme, it still gives you an idea for why a counter-spiral is not really good design, because at what point do you stop? I am not arguing against counters, only against counters of a second order. If for instance Night Watcher, an anti-rush card is too prevalent, then Rush would disappear. Rush disappearing would lead to Night Watcher disappearing, which in turn would lead to Rush appearing once more. And so the cycle of the meta-game continues, without the need for adding an anti-Night Watcher, and then an anti-anti-Night Watcher card or their ilks.

2) The War Against Aggro:

Magic: the Gathering, the grandfather TCG, gives the defender the control over trades between minions, and can choose to use their health total to protect their minions (as if they had Provoke on whatever target they wished). Hearthstone, and most digital CCGs that followed instead cede this control to the active player, who is the aggressor. This has led to aggression being much stronger in Hearthstone-styled games (in this aspect, Duelyst is an HS-style game rather than an M:tG-style one) than in classic TCGs.

Designers naturally want to help all deck archetypes be viable, which requires them to try and release anti-aggro cards. The problem with most anti-aggro cards in such games is that they at the same time must be fast enough to counter aggro, strong enough to counter aggro, and somehow not so fast and strong that aggro lists will simply run them themselves to kill off the slower decks. Hearthstone’s Zombie Chow is a perfect example of a card designed to counter aggro, since you wouldn’t want to have a minion that’d let them get back up when they kill it, and is strong for its 1 mana-cost, which ended up co-opted by aggro lists to beat everyone else even harder. Every list had to run this card, and aggro lists did so better.

The meta tends to favour aggression on ladder in particular, because how many games you play is quite important during the grind up to S-rank, while in tournaments a pure win-rate is more important of a consideration. But even so, this game, by its basic core mechanic of non-interaction and player-choice favours aggression, and while we look over the card, we’ll be able to tell how some of these cards that supposedly are there to counter aggression might end up working best in aggressive lists.

3) Card Overview:

  1. Furosa:

Furosa is a playable 1-drop. This on its own is good. It’s easy to combine this card with the rest of your curve and smooth it out. You’d usually want to save it for a turn where you have your Bloodborn Spell, but with its cost, it’s still quite easy. This means that for Lilithe, her Bloodborn Spell becomes a 2 mana 1/2, and two 2/2s at the very least. That’s pretty good. It doesn’t come as early as Pax does, and an AoE can clear all three at once without requiring anything to pop the cat first, but in terms of value? That’s a very good deal.

More than that, Furosa presents another snowball and “Inevitable Doom” condition to Swarm. The army of 1/1 Wraithlings was eventually going to overwhelm an opponent anyway, but they’d usually back off and keep replacing until they got their Tempest, Plasma Storm, Skorn, or any other form of removal that cleanly dealt with an entire board’s worth of Wraithlings. Furosa on the other hand can very quickly get this board out of hand, for an encroaching win-con that doesn’t rely on a pre-buffed Deathfire Crescendo that is easily removed, or DFC/Soulshatter Pact-related burst.

I really like how this card both gives the list immediate value, additional value if they succeeded in the swarm game-plan of developing a board, and a thematic snowballing late-game value. Because I don’t really see many situations where this card isn’t good, I’d rate it quite highly.

However, note my mention above of how late-game in a topdecking situation, this card can single-handedly put your swarm out of its counters’ reach. This is an anti-counter card, and as such, I am not sure it’s a step in the right direction, design wise. All of its positives might outweigh it, but I’m still worried. But, if the game does indeed devolve into an aggro-fest as I fear, none of this will really matter anyway.

  1. Stone to Spears:

This card follows in Whispers of the Sand’s footsteps, doing away with some of Obelysks’ weaknesses. Whispers helped mitigate Obelysks’ susceptability to dispel effects, and ended up overperforming by giving you a sizeable amount of out of hand burst, and never being useless in topdeck mode due to being a cycle card as well. Stone to Spears seems to try and mitigate Obelysks’ inherent weaknesses as structures, where they can neither move nor attack.

I am not sure how good this card will end up being, because while it is a very strong tempo play, allowing an obelysk to remove most 2 drops (and yes, it takes damage, but it might as well had taken that damage anyway next turn), it’s still trading cards 1 for 1. Being a 1 cost card in a faction with lacking draw can quickly run you out of cards if you are not careful.

Using this card to reposition obelysks, especially late game, is interesting, or for a surprise lethal. 1 mana +3 attack is quite strong. The downside is the Obelysk still needs to survive a turn on board in a position where it could move and attack the relevant target. I ultimately think this card will end up average due to hand-size limits, and just not dealing with Obelysks’ biggest problem right now, which isn’t lack of burst, but Plasma Storm. I’ll definitely mess around with the card, and expect it to be a big buff to more aggressive “face-monkey” Obelysk decks, because more damage can’t hurt.

  1. Drogon:

Regardless of how good Drogon is, its mere existence will shape how people play. When playing against Vetruvian, unless you know the opponent’s decklist, you always have to respect Star’s Fury. When playing against Vanar, even if the card is unpopular, you have to consider that they just might play Avalanche. With Magmar, at 7 mana-cores, you always have to account for Vaath suddenly getting +8 attack from Bounded Lifeforce. With Drogon, at 9 mana, Drogon + Adamantite Claws + BBS is at the very least 14 damage from Vaath, and 12 from Starhorn, and likely more with Vaath. More importantly, should your opponent play Adamantite Claws on 4 mana-cores, you have to respect they might be able to hit you for 14 damage on 5 mana! That’s crazy.

Drogon is well-statted, and can get value either from its Bloodsurge effect, or simply from being a 5/4 body on 4 mana that demands attention. It also provides synergy with Grove Lion and other tools the faction might bring to bear. As if Magmar’s out of hand burst options that you had to respect weren’t enough, this card will likely push you further away from Vaath, which is how he likes it, pushing you into a corner.

  1. Scintilla:

This is a Healyonar card, presumably. More than that, this is an anti-aggro card. 3/4 for 3 is quite a good stat-line that’d allow it to clear out the 3 health 2 drops, and go toe to toe with the opposing 3 drops, while healing your general from all the damage thrown at it earlier. Right?

Well, aggro lists like using their own generals’ faces to clear minions or hit the opposing general. This can help said aggro lists from getting so low where they can get bursted (which is the razor’s edge all aggro lists must dance along in this game). Furthermore, under Argeon with Roar, this minion is quite threatening on its own (5/4 for 4 mana + 3 face heal). Finally, suppose the meta does devolve into an aggression fest, why would you not take a card that can handle itself while also healing you, which gives you the edge twice-over in the face-race?

This card in that sense reminds me of Trinity Oath, revealed over the weekend, where the card seems to be aimed not only at slower decks, but countering aggro, but might find a comfortable home in aggressive lists. Trinity Oath will find a home in Lyonar lists all across the spectrum, but this is another case where “Anti-Aggro” tools might not actually be better at opposing aggro.

The one thing holding both Scintilla and Trinity Oath from being crowned as top picks is that there are already so many good 3 and 4 drops crowding those spots in Lyonar, which these must contend with. But both are very good cards, which could find a home everywhere.

  1. Concealing Shroud:

First, the good news. This spell provides a buff to the opposing general, which can be dispelled. While discussing Ephemeral Shroud’s nerf I mentioned how aggro lists tend to not run dispel, and rather run Repulsor Beast. This would make this a good anti-aggro tool, or would slow down aggro lists as they’re forced to use tempo-losing dispel options (Ephemeral Shroud, Lightbender, and Sun Bloom, all of which are tempo-inefficient plays for their mana costs).

The less good news is, this card is the epitome of unfun. Vanar has been the “No” Faction for as long as I’ve been playing, the faction full of cheap and efficient removal. Play a cool big minion? No problem, take it back to your hand. Play it again? It’s a 3/3 now. And let us not forget Gravity Well rendering the game’s “tactical play on a board” into a bad joke as you lose your ability to actually move on and interact with said board. This card is basically saying “Nope!” for the opponent. It’s incredibly powerful, as an additional turn is a lot in this game, and not every deck out there can actually make use of that turn to remove whatever you have on board.

So, is this the anti-aggro solution we needed? Well, you know how if you deal with your pest problem with Nuclear Waste, you indeed have no pests, but also no food? And some toxic waste to deal with? That’s how I feel about this card. Furthermore, the opposing Vanar general can still hit you. Because there’s nothing like Snowpiercer, Concealing Shroud, hitting you in the face, and taking no damage, and no damage next turn either.

Very strong card, for the entire gamut of Vanar lists. But a card I’m deeply unhappy to see, even if it’s “only” a delay, in a game where games routinely end by turn 6, this is huge.

  1. Twilight Fox:

Story time. Today I lost because my opponent played Nature’s Confluence and pulled Gro. My opponent ended the game at 2 HP. Anything other than Gro (and maybe Dex?), and I’d have won that game. This is not an awesome “Story-moment” which RNG sometimes creates, this is the sort of moment that makes you feel robbed. Another small point, but when Grandmaster Zendo was revealed, I said that I hope it won’t be competitive, as losing to it would feel terrible. Zendo is indeed playable, and losing to it indeed feels much worse than losing to cards that are equally powerful. At least to me.

Twilight Fox is going to be a bit like that. If it’s good, it’d feel terrible to lose to it pulling your general, into it being backstabbed (not by Mask of Shadows, that card’s terrible, by Katara), or into a corner where you’re surrounded by minions and can no longer do anything on the board. If it’s not good, it’d feel even worse to know someone played it and got lucky and pulled this on you.

Being a 3/3 for 3 mana, Twilight Fox isn’t terrible, on stats alone, but it’s worse than most other 3 drops in Songhai, which are the faction’s already over-crowded power-spot, both in terms of minions, and in terms of spells. But it’s going to see play. And it’s going to pull the worst possible target for the non-Songhai player. And they’ll close the game and walk away for the day.

I do like that it gives Songhai something to do about people who try to protect units such as Kelaino, heartseekers, or their general away, but for a faction with Juxtaposition and Mist Dragon Seal, there are much more consistent ways of doing so, so I agree with the PC Gamer article that this will mostly be used to troll your opponents, something which I wish were to cost more mana, and not fill Songhai with yet another underwhelming legendary.

4) Deck Lists:

Note, these decklists are highly unrefined, and are mostly to give you an idea of what the “Face Race Meta” might look as. The Starhorn list in particular seems to me like it’d be exceedingly strong, and follows CrankyPanda’s logic of playing Starhorn allowing you to cut down on draw cards. Tectonic Spikes, mistake it not, isn’t a card for Visionar and Vindicator combos, but a card to keep fueling aggro while also dealing 3 unpreventable damage.

The Lyonar list might honestly be better without Scintilla, replacing it for Slo to keep the opponent locked down in place or allow you even better Holy Immolations, but I wanted to give an example showcasing a more aggressive list making use of it.