Hey, Bubs

Deadpool's Diner as a gameplay mode has been released for Marvel Snap.

I have found myself not enjoying it much at all. There's multiple issues here for me, so I'm going to outline them.

First; It's predatory. Studies have shown that the more "currencies" you put between the real dollar amount and acquisition, the more people are likely to spend. Because the "currencies" aren't 1=1 versions of money. 

Well, the Diner introduces Bubs as a currency that you can earn ONLY in the diner and that you MUST use if you want to play...unless you want to pay some gold. How do you get gold? Funny you should ask! You get THAT by playing the regular game or by paying actual money. Playing the game gives you gold at an incredibly slow rate so hey, you want to get in on the Diner action right? 

And you just lost 20k Bubs and are broke?? They won't refill for hours so you can't keep playing the Diner? 

Well I'm sure you DO have $99 for 8,000 gold which will then get you 945,000 Bubs! How does math work?

Second, the Diner forces you to bet, automatically raising the stakes on turns 4 and 5. I've already seen comments online about how this feels like gambling and the issues it raises for people who just want to play a 3 minute game and maybe get their daily goals met. 

As a subset of this, if you want to get to the fifteen million Bubs you need to complete the sequence, you have to start betting at higher and higher and higher stakes. That's a must; there's no way to get there without it. 

Third, it uses the worst FOMO to encourage play: a new card is available. Yes, it'll become part of the shop in August but you could just earn it now, right? F2P players pretty much have to grind this out if they want the card.

And this is coming at the worst possible time because Arishem decks have taken over the meta and are not that fun to play against. Which matters because:

Fourth, holy shit this is grindy as hell. Because of the way the Diner is set up, players are encouraged to play their best decks at all time to maximize everything. Experimentation is cast aside for pure competition. 

But part of the joy of Marvel Snap is making up weird shit and playing it in the Conquest modes where your rank isn't impacted, or just changing decks up when you realize that what you have isn't facing the meta well. Yes you can change in the Diner too but the impact feels bigger. If you aren't playing the best deck, it feels like you're playing it wrong.

Fifth, they did a terrible job of explaining how things worked. And given the FOMO and betting aspects of the Diner, I'm thinking they did that on purpose. That feels incredibly shitty. 

Now, there is one thing they did right: once you hit a certain level of Bubs, you can't go below it. Every time you hit that rung on the ladder, you don't fall further, even if you lose. You just have to stop playing until your Bubs refill. 

But the downsides have been such that it's done something even worse for me. 

It's made the game unfun to play. At least for now. 

Bloomburrow Set Review

The readable link and the messy one. 

So, in the interest of not burying the lede, I think Bloomburrow is one of the most exciting sets I've seen in awhile. I can't wait to get my hands on it: I think the art direction is wonderful and the mechanics are exhibited in compelling ways. It looks like a lot of fun with cool choices to be made so let's get into it!

Mechanics. I like the ease of Offspring. It's very clear what it does and the uses are pretty obvious. Like most kicker-style mechanics, there is always that tension; should you go for the early boost, or can you wait to get something better? In this case, the something better is tangible and less vulnerable to basic  removal so that consideration becomes more complex!

Gifts are another great mechanic. It's been awhile since WotC has done a 'drawback' mechanic but I really appreciate the execution on this one. Again; what choice are you willing to make to advance your gamestate? What risks are worth it? 

Good stuff.

Forage is the one I'm most so-so about. Because it's reliant on other resources (having a food or having enough cards in the graveyard to use), the reliability of the mechanic isn't there so now we're talking about straight up power. And the power level isn't that high--but that doesn't mean this is bad, either. 

Valiant is Heroic redux. I'm not upset about that but I wish they'd made it so the trigger could happen whenever your opponent's targeted the creature, too. It's also limited to the first time you target the creature; we'll see if they boosted the power level appropriately.  

Expend is the most awkward mechanic to explain I think. Also, it's the most fiddly as you have to keep track of exactly how much mana you've spent. That part isn't fun but it does reward you for doing what you want to do in Magic: cast spells. So I'm not too down on it.

I also like that they've brought back Class enchantments. These are such elegant ways to show progress and I feel like even new players can get them easily.

White
I can't say there are any card standouts here but at the same time, everything seems useful. I do enjoy the tie to Black with things that are triggering on life gain or loss. Also, I dig the artwork on Crumb And Get It. It isn't going to be easy to really stand out in Bloomburrow--this set is packed with great art and I bet a lot of people are going to have multiple favorites. 

Blue
Dour Port-Mage is weird in a good way. I like the synergies that it can represent and the way it can push a tempo-oriented deck. I also appreciate the support for the card there. The use of the Threshold mechanic is a bit odd but I think will work OK for Limited matches. 

Black
Fell might be my favorite artwork in the set. But there are also Bat Warlocks and I mean...bat warlocks, people. The use of color throughout Black reminds me a little of Wilds of Eldraine and I like that. There's a smattering of Threshold cards but I'm not sure that's the U/B theme for this set, especially since it's so clearly about creature types. But as with White: not a lot different but all of it useful.

Red
Festival of Embers looks like a strange one. The cost probably puts it in the Commander realm but the ability is quite good. Flamecache Gecko has a little bit of Burning-Tree Emissary energy and that card is certainly better than it has any right to be. 

Green
Possibly the weakest of the colors this time around-although that isn't saying much. I consider the power level here to be pretty even amongst the colors, and while nothing is leaping out at me, there isn't anything that sucks either. Possibly most damning is that the artwork all seems to come from the same 5 color palate and it makes things look very samey. That's unfortunate, since the art is so good! But perhaps it will stand out better when mixed with the other colors, instead of when I look at all the Green cards at once. 

Multi
I love that there's a Mentor cycle, because I get to add to my Liege decks. I also would've preferred it if Mabel, Heir to Cragflame let you search for an actual card, instead of generating a token, but that's mostly because I would've liked to see art for it. Other than that, this area feels like a good spot for shoring up the themes of the other cards in the set. 

Artifacts/Lands
Again; good stuff-nothing too overpowering but with excellent synergies for players to look for and exploit. 

So all in all, I feel like Bloomburrow may be a home run of a set! Looks like a solid power level, great art, fun interactions within the set and a lot of cool things to do. I have high hopes for this set and can't wait to get it in my hands.

The Retired: Weapons of Mass Distortion

Once upon a time, I named a deck after a Crystal Method song and tried to use Defense of the Heart. 

Weapons of Mass Distortion

2 Darksteel Ingot

4 Utopia Tree
3 Varchild's War-Riders
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Viridian Zealot
1 Tornado Elemental
1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn
1 Bringer of the Red Dawn
1 Duplicant
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Avatar of Might
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Fire Ants
1 Suture Priest

4 Defense of the Heart

4 Lat-Nam's Legacy
4 Simoon

4 Forbidden Orchard
8 Forest
2 Island
5 Mountain
4 Dreamroot Cascade

As ideas go, this isn't too bad-use Forbidden Orchard to force the conditions that Defense of the Heart requires onto my opponent. Then dial up whatever cool monsters I want/need and win. Use Simoon and Fire Ants to keep the token army from getting out of control-or don't and use Suture Priest to punish them.

There are a few problems though. First, the monster selection is bad. Sure, Avatar of Might seemed rad once, but creatures have come a looooooooooong way. 

Second: the mana is all over the place. 

Third, there's no way to ensure that I'm going to get the Defense of the Heart. Lat-Lam's Legacy is a card I love and I think it's underutilized but that isn't enough to make the deck consistent. 

However, there's another reason why I'm taking this apart and it's got a little bit to do with this. (The bones of this deck went into Blackened Disease!)

The Retired: Hope Is A Passenger

Sadly this never really did what I hoped. I reworked this deck years ago and then never picked it up again.

4 Well of Lost Dreams
4 Sunbeam Spellbomb
2 Behemoth Sledge

3 Ageless Entity
3 Kavu Titan
4 Quirion Elves
2 Devout Witness
4 Essence Warden
2 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Sunscorch Regent

2 Armadillo Cloak

2 Blessed Alliance

8 Forest
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
9 Plains
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Graypelt Refuge

2 Solar Tide
1 Fumigate

After all that, it's just not engaging. Forgot my own rule: you cannot just gain life-all that does is extend the time it takes to lose. That lifegain has to mean something in the larger context of the game.

Now, the upside is that there are some good cards to mine from this deck to put to use elsewhere, and I have whittled down one more deck I do not need. But it is a bummer that I couldn't get this theme to feel more fun. 

There might be an idea worth revisiting here when Bloomburrow comes out; there are multiple Black and White cards that trigger off life gain and life loss. But for now, let's bin it.

Ashy Illness

So, first I fixed the mana. Did I cut Blue? 

.....no. Look, I'm not entirely sure why Lat-Nam's Legacy doesn't have a bigger presence but the ability to recycle cards in my hand that are redundant (because they are on the board) for answers I may need is a big deal. 

Then, I added in Hunted Bonebrute, a card Fuz stumbled on while we were brainstorming. I like this card quite a bit here, and it makes for a good substitute for Exsanguinator Calvary.

These have been pretty amazing changes: the playability of Blackened Disease has become so much better. I am kicking myself a little for not looking at the mana sooner. At the same time, the deck has been a little challenging to test, because a couple people I play with have leaned into some token decks. 

Well, it's pretty dickish to play a deck that deliberately fucks over tokens, right? I don't get a proper experience with how the deck plays and their time is miserable. So I've had to be judicious about when I got to play the deck.

Still, things have been solid and fun to play. I really need to remember that the foundation of every deck is mana, and getting that right is critical to seeing if the idea actually works. 

Also, and I'm not saying this is right, but Maha is a pretty spicy card for this deck...

Infectious Darkness

I don't know about you but I can't understand the lyrics for Blackened Disease, so I'm just going to find synonyms. 

Now I've been on a very big R/B kick, it's pretty clear. Probably going back nearly a year, when I wanted to do the Orcish Bowmasters/Burning Inquiry combo. I still love that deck, even though it doesn't quite come together as well as I would like. Still, that color combo has been the thing for me if anyone is wondering why I'm into this meme of a deck.

It is fun, I can't deny it. But it's definitely using some of the spaces needed to make the deck work like Illness in the Ranks, for cards that would be better in the game overall. There just aren't a ton of token decks to worry about, right?

And then there's the addition of Blue. Should it be there at all? 

The first test went...badly. Fuz was playing a GW deck and it just chewed through this deck. But he liked the engine of this deck so was happy to give me some suggestions. Many of those I'll be incorporating as soon as I can. Then we looked at the deck, big picture style.

One of the first problems I noticed was the manabase. This deck is a heavy Black one, and cards like Hero's Downfall need BB to get going. Well only 50% of the deck produces Black mana, in a deck that has 72% black cards!

There's a couple ways to take pressure off-running Go for the Throat was a suggestion. There was also the notion of removing Blue entirely and I really don't want to get rid of Lat-Nam's Legacy buuuuut there's a strong argument for that. 

First thing's first though: I need to fix the manabase so it properly reflects the colors it needs.

Blackened Disease

From the mad minds of YouTube, I present this:

4 Slaughter Specialist
3 Varchild's War-Riders
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
2 Clackbridge Troll
4 Exsanguinator Cavalry

4 Trespasser's Curse
4 Illness in the Ranks

4 Lat-Nam's Legacy
2 Cathartic Pyre
4 Hero's Downfall

4 Forbidden Orchard
5 Swamp
5 Mountain
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Island
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Sulfurous Springs

3 End the Festivities

Let's see where this takes me. I named this after the killer Dukatalon song, because it links so nicely with Illness in the Ranks.

3-3-4

 A few short updates to a few decks, because I had a few 'hm' moments and wanted to check 'em out.

For the Black Silence/White Noise deck, I've leaned harder into the White hand control elements and with that, decided that Spelltithe Enforcer is too expensive for the deck. The effect is very powerful, but it arrives too late. 

So swapping out the three Enforcers for Aven Interrupter. 

I took Frenzy out for a few spins and even swapped in three copies of Urabrask! I figured: why not? This deck plays spells, extra mana is good, and The Great Work could help close games.

In practice, Frenzy is already running so low to the ground that Urabrask isn't really helpful. Either I have the game already in hand, or it's far and away from me. So those come out for the current hotness: Slickshot Show-Off.

Finally, I've made a few changes to Children of the Grave, (including testing a W/B version! It did not work out. At all.) most specifically swapping out Death's Shadows for Yargle and Multani, as well as a few big Red creatures that might be useful. 

To that end, I've found that Fling, as much as I love that card, is unnecessary. If I cannot win the game by attacking with a hasted 36 power trample creature, I cannot win. Fling won't change that. 

So I'm taking out the four Flings and adding in Seasoned Pyromancer. That card deserves a home!

Are any of these things good? I don't know! But they'll be fun to try.