Scrolls...ok, wtf is going on?

[kregoth]

The are prebuilt and themed off their color, and as far as I know all the decks are the same for everyone, so they are not randomly based off the color.

[sin6il]

I'm really enjoying the game so far! The board is really really awesome!

What deck did you choose? I picked growth I always loved green decks for MtG. Though they did a really shitty job constructing that deck, none of the cards really work well with each other except wolves.

Like why the hell do I have 3 Rat walls in my deck, when I have no rats cards?

I chose Growth too. I think its mainly supposed to be focused on the kinfolk and the wolves, but the wolves seem like the main units. Its not working too well for me online, because people already know to kill the wolf spawners quickly. Growth definitely seems like its the weakest starter, unless I'm am using it wrong.

[ReaperT]

I chose Growth too. I think its mainly supposed to be focused on the kinfolk and the wolves, but the wolves seem like the main units. Its not working too well for me online, because people already know to kill the wolf spawners quickly. Growth definitely seems like its the weakest starter, unless I'm am using it wrong.

Just started a couple days ago and I chose growth as well. Contrary to what people are saying in-game, I don't think there really is a weakest starter. I used the starter for the first couple hours I played and I was doing perfectly fine. It does seem like some of the cards are out of place but the starter deck is actually pretty strong. One thing I've noticed is that growth is more about knowing when to use cards than just playing them asap. Order seems to be more about unit placement and energy looks like it's more about disrupting your opponents board. At least that's what I've been thinking.

Definitely enjoying this game though. There's a ton of depth and close games are so much fun. Last night, I played a ranked match where both my opponent and I were down to a single idol that we needed to take out and we spent several rounds just putting up defenses and taking out each others defenses. Finally I was able to get a rallying and a crimson bull and I was able to take him out completely. Unfortunately, my last 3 ranked matches were against players who were either just starting out or just plain sucked so it wasn't as much fun.

If anyone wants to trade or play with me, my name is ReaperT on there as well. Join the chat channel ReaperT's Chat to find me. (I really wish there was some kind of friend's list, player search, and private message feature.)

[FlowerChild]

A question for those playing:

Does the choice of decks that people are making seem to be balanced, or is everyone seemingly gravitating to one particular deck or the other?

The impression I'm getting is that people seem to be primarily playing energy, and if I get into this I'd prefer to use a lesser played deck seeing as how I'm such a special and unique snowflake ;)

[ReaperT]

From what I've seen most people seem to be playing growth. I've only played against a few people using energy and even less using order myself.

[Stormweaver]

You know, I'm looking at having the first disposable cash I'll have had access to in the last two years in a week or so. Kinda sad really but...meh.

If this is still a thing here then, I think I might get it.

[Sarudak]

It's really awesome IMO. I'm having a blast!

[FlowerChild]

Ok, I broke down and bought it. Playing through some trials right now and went with an energy deck given my affinity for things that go boom.

Pro-tip of ultimate cheapness: The euro conversion rate is slightly more favorable at present than Mojang's U.S. price would suggest. If you want to save 50 cents, you can buy through pay-pall, purchase the game in euros, and use converted U.S. dollars to make the payment ;)

[Gilberreke]

So, does that mean I should buy? Everyone is enjoying it right?

[Sarudak]

Ok, I broke down and bought it. Playing through some trials right now and went with an energy deck given my affinity for things that go boom.

Pro-tip of ultimate cheapness: The euro conversion rate is slightly more favorable at present than Mojang's U.S. price would suggest. If you want to save 50 cents, you can buy through pay-pall, purchase the game in euros, and use converted U.S. dollars to make the payment ;)

We'll have to play a match once you get settled. ;)

[Pucc]

I have been broken too. Picked up the Order deck, feel short changed already. Even struggling against some of the trials against energy. Nature I can fair okay against if I managed to quell their quick start but I just keep getting bushwhacked by energy, any tips? How do you guys feel about the balance?

[Sarudak]

The order prebuilt deck kinda sucks. Although for order you really need to learn the synergy between your units. Combos like crossbows + waking stones or obelisk and skirmisher + focus are your keys to victory. And if you can get a ball of units around a general you can sweep the map so easily it's ridiculous.

[Pucc]

Yeah that's what I've been doing particularly the general grouping (he's a beast) along with a vanguard to boot. Its pretty nasty against nature but I find energy has a good amount of aoe units that punish grouping. Order has a nice set of enchantments too which I'm slowly learning to use effectively, emphasis on the slowly there.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah that's what I've been doing particularly the general grouping (he's a beast) along with a vanguard to boot. Its pretty nasty against nature but I find energy has a good amount of aoe units that punish grouping. Order has a nice set of enchantments too which I'm slowly learning to use effectively, emphasis on the slowly there.

I was chatting with someone I was playing against yesterday who had a way better energy deck than my own (totally kicked my ass too) who said he was having particular problems against order players.

So far in my own MP play, I've played against decks of each type and both won and lost against them. I've never really felt like I was at a distinct advantage or disadvantage except against players that obviously knew the game way better than I do. Seems pretty balanced so far between the various colors IMO.

In the trials, I know I had a rough time against the first energy opponent in the medium trials (I think it's the very first medium trial) until I tweaked my own deck, so it might just be that you ran into. I get the impression that none of the starter decks are particularly good, at least the energy one wasn't.

I also got my ass handed to me by someone playing a mixed color deck (order + growth) yesterday, so glad to see that seems to be a viable deck design option as well. I'm not really sure if buying additional starter decks is a good deal (the cost seems rather inflated for what you get), but so far I've mainly been buying the packs of 10 random cards at a time, so hopefully I'll eventually have enough cards of other types to start experimenting with that as well.

[Wookieguy]

With my slightly altered Energy deck, I always have a really rough start: particularly when going against Order and Growth. Like, the first 10 or more turns consist of me being torturously overwhelmed and pummeled by my opponent. I frequently pull it out though, building a mass of power by the end that makes a doubtless victory. I still don't really get what lets me pull out of the doldrums. To anyone who has lost against Energy as Order or Growth: what combination of scrolls and positioning has done you in?

[sin6il]

With my slightly altered Energy deck, I always have a really rough start: particularly when going against Order and Growth. Like, the first 10 or more turns consist of me being torturously overwhelmed and pummeled by my opponent. I frequently pull it out though, building a mass of power by the end that makes a doubtless victory. I still don't really get what lets me pull out of the doldrums. To anyone who has lost against Energy as Order or Growth: what combination of scrolls and positioning has done you in?

Well when I lose against the Energy decks, its usually because they use spell cards that do damage to many units at once, like Incendiaries and Inferno Blast. My growth units don't have too much health, so those cards either kill them or bring them down to a very easy kill.

[FlowerChild]

With my slightly altered Energy deck, I always have a really rough start: particularly when going against Order and Growth. Like, the first 10 or more turns consist of me being torturously overwhelmed and pummeled by my opponent.

One thing I found myself is that the starter energy deck seems to be really short on creatures/placeable units. As I've gained more cards I've rebalanced that within my own deck and I seem to be able to go toe to toe against most opponents during the early stages or at least get defensive barricades going to blunt their attacks. That might just be my own playstyle though.

But yeah, for a long while I was just removing "useless" spells (generally stuff I found to be overly specialized) and adding creatures as fast as I got them. I think I'm currently using every single energy creature or structure card I have in my deck.

Don't forget that if you keep adding cards without removing any, it shifts the overall balance of your deck and makes it less likely you'll draw any particular card. So, if you have more than 50 at present (the minimum), I'd suggest trimming out some of your more expensive cards to shift the balance of your deck more towards being useful in the early game.

[ReaperT]

So far in my own MP play, I've played against decks of each type and both won and lost against them. I've never really felt like I was at a distinct advantage or disadvantage except against players that obviously knew the game way better than I do. Seems pretty balanced so far between the various colors IMO.

I feel the same way. Every time I've lost, it's either been because I had a horrible start, my opponent knew more than me, or their deck was just well built. Each type of deck has a way to counter the other types of decks. It's just a matter of knowing how to do so and getting the right scrolls in your hand

With my slightly altered Energy deck, I always have a really rough start: particularly when going against Order and Growth. Like, the first 10 or more turns consist of me being torturously overwhelmed and pummeled by my opponent. I frequently pull it out though, building a mass of power by the end that makes a doubtless victory. I still don't really get what lets me pull out of the doldrums. To anyone who has lost against Energy as Order or Growth: what combination of scrolls and positioning has done you in?

.

As a growth player, I can second what sin6il says about the spell cards. That and those damn copper automatons. They may be kamikazes but they're cheap and can kill most growth units in 1 hit. I usually also have a hard time against structures in front of artillery which is in front of gunners or cannon automatons.

Order is also tough to beat with growth if they get a good start and you don't. I would imagine it would be the same for energy vs order.

[FlowerChild]

Bit of a tangent, but I was just considering how in this kind of game it's rather unfortunate that who gets the first turn is determined randomly (to my knowledge anyways), as it provides a rather huge edge that has nothing to do with the player.

It occurred to me that it would be rather interesting if the first turn were given to the person with the larger deck, given that smaller decks allow you to more tightly control the odds of any given card appearing, a larger deck would then represent greater tactical diversity, giving you the initial edge in making the first move.

Anyways, just thought it would be a neat little mechanic that could potentially make deck creation a little more interesting by throwing in another variable to consider. I kinda like the element of an "arms race" I think it would provide in terms of people always wanting a deck just slightly bigger than their opponents to get the first turn, while also wanting their deck size small to control the odds.

[Sarudak]

Yeah. There is a corresponding advantage to the second player that helps even the odds a bit because thew first player doesn't get to draw a card on their first turn...

[FlowerChild]

Yeah. There is a corresponding advantage to the second player that helps even the odds a bit because thew first player doesn't get to draw a card on their first turn...

Huh. Interesting, and I hadn't noticed that.

[FlowerChild]

So, does that mean I should buy? Everyone is enjoying it right?

I didn't want to answer this yesterday until I got some more play time in, but yeah, it sucked me right back in today, and I'm having even more fun.

I think I was right about the tactical gameplay the hex grid provides. I don't think I've ever played a game of this type that required this much thought *during the game* with plenty of room for creative card use and maneuvering. I've had some very long games against some other players that go to around the 50 turn mark that are really nail biting in how close they wind up being, and I'm sure that will only get better as time goes by and people learn the game better. The last one I just played was of that variety, and I was pretty sure I was dead against an order opponent but managed to pull off a victory in the end through some creative card use (I'm finding energy excels at dealing massive damage quickly in the late game).

Anyways, color me impressed overall. Only time will tell with regards to its longevity, but given the size of Mojang's fan-base due to MC I'm pretty sure that there will be a large enough player base to sustain it in the long term.

[Gilberreke]

I didn't want to answer this yesterday until I got some more play time in, but yeah, it sucked me right back in today, and I'm having even more fun.

Thanks, I'm thinking I might buy then.

[ReaperT]

Just became one of the top 500 :D
As of this post I'm at 496. It'll probably be higher when I go back on in a few minutes though.

Something I've noticed though: When you're rating starts to get to 1400-1500, the amount of rating you get per game is only about 20-40 instead of the 60-90 you get early on. You also start to lose rating around 1300 or so but it's only about 10-15 per loss.

So anyone who is afraid playing ranked matches really shouldn't be. There's no penalties for losing until later on and winning will usually give you more gold than a non-ranked match. Losing can also give you the same amount of gold as an easy or medium level single player game.

[Pucc]

Just jumped in to a quick match won one, lost two fair to say I won't be rank 500 anytime soon with my luck but I'm having fun nonetheless.