Why Don't You Remember

In the last two matches I have played, against Matt and Noah, I've found Paranoid Android being flooded out. 

At 22, cutting lands seems unwise but I've had multiple games where I drew multiple lands in a row. Despite using Deadly Dispute and Demand Answers, these cards didn't provide me with answers, but instead more lands. 

On the other hand: Goblin Engineer and Engineered Explosives have been great additions. So I'm definitely going in the right direction, but at this stage in the game I just don't know that I want to mess with things like the mana base. 

Except I think I have to. 

What to do though? Claws of Gix? Myr Servitor? Galvanic Blast? Despotic Scepter? 

The devil is in the details.

That's It Sir, You're Leaving

It was in a game against Matt that he had two fantastic suggestions.

Engineered Explosives and Goblin Welder. Those are too good to ignore and I can't believe I overlooked those for so long!

Unfortunately, my Welders are in a deck doing evil things with Entomb. But Goblin Engineer exists! 

Tests have been OK. I got hammered by Lynn's big mana deck; in the first game I kept a bad hand, so that's on me. In the second game I was doing well but ran out of gas, despite drawing an extra six cards! If five of those are lands, it's a problem. He cast Ugin in both games-in the second game twice- so I feel like I'm still on the right path.

I think I'm coming near the end of this path though. Just a little testing with these new cards and I think I can wrap it up.

Ambition Makes You Look Pretty Ugly

The games have been going remarkably well...when they work out. Paranoid Android is a game of tensions, because I want enough artifacts to trigger Weapons Manufacturing, I also need to play a game where I have things to do, even if WM doesn't appear. And I need to be able to utilize the munitions when they appear. A board state with 10 munitions doesn't help me much, if I cannot sacrifice them.

But the concept seemed to work, right? This wasn't a situation where I was tilting at windmills, this was one where I held my own against a goblins deck, against non-blue control decks, and it's been pretty great!

So obviously I want to keep going, and I don't think I'm quite done. The density of artifacts wasn't what I wanted and I kept coming to situations where I would draw Myr Retriever and just not have something to get back. Fortunately, Edge of Eternities has something just for this deck: Hullcarver.

It was a difficult decision to cut Disciple of the Vault, but Hullcarver does a lot for a one drop. Disciple of the Vault feels like a 'win more' card, where a turn one Hullcarver feels like a great way to stall the board out until I can get more set up. So this is the newest version:

4 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Cranial Ram

3 Junk Diver
3 Myr Retriever
4 Broadside Bombardiers
2 Rottenmouth Viper
2 Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
3 Hullcarver

4 Weapons Manufacturing

4 Shrapnel Blast
1 Deadly Dispute
2 Demand Answers
2 Fanatical Offering

4 Glimmervoid
3 Great Furnace
3 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Drossforge Bridge

Disingenuous

 So, I saw this article about Riftbound and I gotta say, there's a lot of meh going on here.

First; I think it's pretty misleading to tout Riftbound's lack of formats. Magic grew formats as the game got older and sets just ceased being printed. In order to keep people buying new cards, formats helped--along with allowing new players access to the game without being run over by players who'd invested on day one. 

Second; I've heard Commander as a format described as "slow motion kingmaking" and honestly: how is that any different than the description in the article that includes:

Sometimes, a player can even come back from behind by playing smartly while others are dunking it out

How does that differ from any other multiplayer card game? It certainly doesn't elaborate on how the pursuit of eight points to win is significantly different or more engaging than Commander's win condition or gets around commander's issues as a format. 

Third, there's this doozy of a line:

There’s no “tutor” or searching cards,

Which is so clearly missing the word "yet" to anyone who has played TCGs of any sort, that I'm shocked that an editor allowed it to be included. If the game continues on, I guarantee there will be those effects. 

I do like that they are trying something new with the resource system, and I'm curious about the game but...maybe someone else can demo it for me first. 

Out

 I was sick for the entire holiday weekend and that kinda sucked.

I did play some videogames, and I'll work on writing up my thoughts but for today, I'm taking a mulligan.

Free Pizza: Arachnid Anarchy season

I have not been enjoying this season of Snap: by nerfing clog decks to make sure people are encouraged to play move, there has been a real lack of deck diversity in my games. Shadow King has become what feels like the sole tech card to make an impact. 

When the meta becomes stale, and they don't want you to use a bunch of tech cards to get out of your problems, what do you do?

Get weird.

This started off as something I had to use for bounties- that the auto-generator made of all things!- and became my ride or die for the season. Ghost was my piece of tech but at this point I think I'd rather have Shang Chi or Shadow King. 

The Red Shift/Agatha tech is pretty good but what shocked me was how reliable the deck was. You always have to run the numbers when playing Corvus Glaive, and sometimes you just don't make it-but like I said: I hit free pizza with it. That's not nothing. 

I'm going to take the rest of the week of: it's Thanksgiving and I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. Cheers! 

Design Insights

 My friend Sean has posted a fantastic article on things he's learned about TCG game design over the past thirty years and I recommend giving it a read. 

Plus, he opens it up to questions at the end, so if there's anything you were curious about game design-either board games or card games, here's a great opportunity to ask!