Hex: Cosmic Echoes

Well, it's finally happened.  As of last Friday's patch, we have the entirety of Set 1 PvP available in the Alpha!  The final numbers as I've calculated them (so as much as you trust my math) is 40 Artifacts, 60 cards of each shard, and Shards of Fate.   With the full set out, we'll have a clearer view of exactly what Competitive Constructed play will look like.  Hex TCG Pro recently held a tournament on the 827 patch, so all but the last four cards of the set were able to be played, none of which save perhaps Darkspire Priestess would have impacted the tournament much (though I have seen some nutty Reginald decks).  The results of the tournament, rife with Xentoth's Inquisitors, Vampire Kings, and Eye of Creations, will likely serve as a watershed for early metagame formation, as for the previous tournament the latter two cards weren't patched into the client yet, and Xentoth's was banned due to a bug.  

Needless to say, the top 8 decks are relatively homogeneous.  This should be expected, but it's a symptom of competitive constructed, and one of the effects is it kind of mutes some of the more interesting card interactions (and cards in general) that Hex has to offer.  I'm reminded of when Shrine of Prosperity was previewed, I was listening to a podcast where someone mentioned that as cool as it was, they just ended up cutting it for more proactive cards.  There are many cards in Hex that seem to suffer from this syndrome, as 60 card decks (which are really 34-38 card decks when you account for the shards) drive out unnecessary features.  It is ultimately up to Design & Development about how aggressive they want to feature the unique aspects of Hex in competitive play.  Xentoth's Inquisitor is very powerful, but also unique in terms of its interaction with gems and the digital medium keeping it the same as it goes from the field to the hand multiple times, so as much division as its power has caused in the community, it makes a good poster boy (or poster-arachnid) for Cryptozoic to demonstrate the potential of this design.

Some of most fun I've had in Hex has come from Booster Drafts and from Highlander, a 100-card Singleton format I talked about last week.  One of the benefits of Highlander is that instead of playing with 34-38 cards, only maybe 10-12 of which are unique among the non-shard cards, Highlander you usually get to play upwards of 60 unique cards.  The same is true of Booster Draft, where a majority of the cards in your deck will be common or uncommon.  Highlander lets you go kind of wild with throwing in whatever crazy card you want.  While Xentoth's Inquisitor and Vampire King are still very strong in Highlander, you can't really rely on seeing them.  As such, in the games I've been playing, it's not only difficult to plan around what your opponent has (since they could feasibly have anything), but decisions regarding which troop to use a removal spell on are much more important.  The games are also much slower, since your curve is more unstable.

While some have derided Highlander due to the limited card pool as of now, the games I've played have generated some crazy game states, and combos I would never be able to reliably pull of in random proving grounds matches.  Since any Highlander deck at this point will be so haphazard that an overall "strategy" is likely just dictated by whatever you draw at the time, it's kind of hard to name them.  Based on this past week however, I'm naming this deck after a few of the cards that were instrumental in my recent crazy-games.  So without further ado, my first Highlander deck list: Cosmic Echoes!

Cosmic Echoes
Champion: Running Deer
1x Adaptable Infusion Device
1x Bottled Vitae
1x Droo's Colossal Walker
1x Eternal Guardian
1x Runic Monolith
1x Secret Laboratory
1x Shrine of Prosperity
1x Adamantian Scriviner
1x Angel of Dawn
1x Ascetic Aspirant
1x Blinding Light
1x Diamond Aura
1x His Majesty, King Gabriel
1x Inner Conflict
1x Kraken Guard Mariner
1x Living Totem
1x Lixil, the Deathless Gem
1x Princess Victoria
1x Protectorate Clergyman
1x Protectorate Defender
1x Repel
1x Shield Trainer
1x Soul Marble
1x Wind Whisperer
1x Archmage Wrenlocke
1x Bird o' Plenty
1x Buccaneer
1x Cerulean Grand Strategist
1x Cerulean Mentalist
1x Cerulean Mirror Knight
1x Cosmic Transmorgifier
1x Devoted Emissary
1x Dream Dance
1x Eldritch Dreamer (Prime Wild Orb of Dominance)
1x Incarnation of Ascendance
1x Mesmerize
1x Mimic
1x Mutate
1x Oracle Song
1x Phoenix Guard Trainer
1x Prophet of Lodegan
1x Replicator's Gambit
1x Servant of Shathak
1x The Ancestor's Chosen
1x Time Ripple
1x Wizard of the Silver Talon
1x Battle Beetle (Prime Sapphire of Mind)
1x Boulder Brute (Diamond of Lifedrain)
1x Eye of Creation
1x Giant Caterpillar
1x Glimmerglen Witch
1x Howling Brave
1x Moon'ariu Sensei
1x Nature Reigns
1x Nelebrin Skirmisher (Sapphire of Flight)
1x Oakhenge Ceremony
1x Spirit Dance
1x Stargazer
1x Succulent Roostasaur
1x Wild Aura
1x Wild Root Dancer
1x Shard of Fate
13x Diamond Shard
13x Sapphire Shard
12x Wild Shard

General strategy is tricky, since this is basically a pile of my favorite Wild, Diamond, and Sapphire cards.  One of the cards that motivated me to try this color combination is Stargazer, who is really strong if you get him out early and can activate his abilities.  The Sapphire one in particular is an extra Secret Laboratory effect, which is very good in Highlander.  Wild-Sapphire also gives you access to Spirit Dance-Dream Dance, which like Shrine of Prosperity makes your next draws that much better, particularly if you've shuffled in any Ancestral Spirits.  One note of caution: as of the current game state, if you have Ancestor's Chosen and Shrine of Prosperity in play, the card you reveal from Shrine will get instantly shuffled back into your deck when the Specters are created, making Shrine much worse.  I'm also operating under the rule that only one copy of each gem can be used in deck creation.  I initially made this change since I wanted as much diversity in gem choice as I did in card choice, and while some are still effects like returning a troop from the graveyard to the hand and drawing a card are still very strong, the Major Gem Slot troops now have a little more flavor.  My Eldritch Dreamer now has the nickname "Rhino Ambassador" in games, spreading the good word of the elder gods to the indigenous horned jungle mammals.

My absolute favorite card in the deck is Cosmic Transmorgifier, since it takes a random game and shuffles it around even more.  It was also instrumental in two of the Highlander Games I played this past week.  The first I was playing against Brodtenheim, who was running a Ruby-Sapphire-Blood control deck.  I got out to a strong start with a turn one Ancestor's Chosen, clogging the ground the following few turns with other random troops.  All he had to answer was an Incubation Slave.  I promptly played Mimic on the Slave, and thus a great game of Spider chicken commenced.  He blinked first, putting seven Spiders into play.  Unfortunately for him, his life was low enough that he couldn't swing with them, and the Specters I eventually drew would have flying to trump his groundlings, prompting an Extinction earlier than I imagine he wanted to.

I recovered well with an Angel of Dawn and a Specter I had held back, but Brodtenheim plopped Bird O Plenty to stymie my attack.  When I gathered three Specters and a Lightning Armada to compliment the Angel, I swung with the team into the Bird, putting him at four and giving him eight fresh cards in the process.  At this point he had a Chimes of the Zodiac on the board, and twelve resources.  Fearing the Escalation madness that could ensue (he had played both Chronic Madness and Relentless Corruption earlier) I played Time Ripple on the Chimes after this attack.  With 17 cards in his hand, he was forced to use the majority of his resources to play the Chimes again for eight, but unfortunately followed it up with Heat Wave and Burn, both doubling from the Chimes and clearing the field of everything but his Bird.  I tried to claw back with more troops, but was concerned I wouldn't have enough power before he decked me, since Chronic Madness was now at 12, and with Chimes that could spell game over as I was only at about forty cards left.  I assembled a meager assortment of men and a Cosmic Transmorgifier, and passed with 6 resources up, his Ivory Pawn putting him at six life.  During his turn, he indeed played Chronic Madness clearing out all but a few cards of my deck, following it up with a Relentless Corruption, stealing the two or three cards left in my deck.  However, all he had on the field was a Wizard of the Silver Talon and the Bird O Plenty.  "If only I had one more attack," I thought, seeing the now paltry six life points that stood between me and victory.  Curious to see what my field would have been had I been graced with another turn, I activated the Cosmic Transmorgifier with the remaining resources.  As luck would have it, I randomly got a Malice Demon and a pair of Pterobots while transforming his Bird O Plenty into the most pathetic Ozawa I've ever seen.  Though he did get a single flier, I had enough to deal the remaining damage during my attack phase... if I had a next attack phase.  But it didn't matter now, with no cards in my deck, it was all over... ... ...BUT WAIT!  My Adaptable Infusion Device!  The little rascal that I played ages ago and neglected to cash in for the extra card was transformed as well into... Cosmic Totem!  Never in my life had I been so excited to see this card, much less have it be important!!!  I snapped it immediately to shuffle the massive pile of cards in my graveyard back into my deck during the end step and was able to bash in for victory!!!

The second game of the weekend wasn't as thrillingly close, but it did involve some absurdity.  This time it was against Steelwall, who was running Sapphire-Blood.  Most of the annoying cards were there: Bird O Plenty, Storm Colossus, Xentoth's Inquisitor, Flock of Seagulls.  One game, with a near full grip from the bounce I played Ascetic Aspirant, another card I've yet to find success with in the Proving Grounds, but is scary-dangerous in Highlander.  I evolved him to The Transcended with ease, pumping the resources from the down-turn into Living Totem to blunt the assault.  After the transformation I searched up Prophet of Lodegan.  He responded by playing Yesterday.  I replayed The Transcended, and the following turn I searched up Replicator's Gambit.  I replayed Prophet of Lodegan, and immediately cast Replicator's Gambit on it.  With the card draw from Gambit, I searched for the very Prophet I shuffled back in!  I searched for Phoenix Guard Trainer, so when I replayed him the following turn, the six Prophets (and all the Echoes) would have flying.  The result was... well, a picture is worth a thousand words...

The following turn I tutored up Cosmic Transmorgifier with my final action.  I popped it, and was surprised to see how many Gigantasaurs, Malice Demons, Pterobots, and Storm Colossus were gifted to me by my army of ECHOESECHOESECHOESECHOESECHOES (Sorry, I had to).  I inquired on the board why this was, and was told the Cosmic Transmorgifier takes the cards original resource cost into effect when determining what it gets transformed to.  So the Adaptable Infusion Device actually had a better chance of turning into Cosmic Totem then I realized, and Echoes of Lodegan, themselves set to seven, will net you some beefy fliers more often than not.  While I hope this is addressed at some point to make Cosmic Transmorgifier truly random, some people might like the power you get combining it with Lodegan to reroll some men with more heft to them.

I hope as we move into beta (hopefully in the next few weeks) and people eventually reap the rewards of their Kickstarter boosters, we'll see this format emerge, since I've had a blast playing it already.  Patch v828 also gave us three new gems and fixed the two champions that were bugged: Bun'jitsu and Tetzot.  Tetzot has interested me since launch, and with the number of resources in Highlander he could make a strong champion, so this weekend I'm going to try to brew up some Rock Elementals with him.  If you're itching to try your hand at Highlander, but need an opponent to play against, add me in game.  My keep name is Kyrstrava.

Until next week, may your echoes soar!

Hex: Highlander

Confession time: I'm pretty poor when it comes to money that I can spend on recreational activities, so despite the fun I'm having with a full playset of Set 1, I'm pragmatic on what I'll be able to afford with limited resources.  Many of the cards I'd like to build decks around are rare or legendary, so grinding my way to a tier 1 constructed playable deck will quickly drain my wallet.  So maybe it's too soon to be having this discussion with only one set out, but among the options I have for playing PvP on a budget, Highlander is always a fun option.

The long, swingy games of Highlander can
benefit from the boosts the Shrine provides.

For those unacquainted with Highlander formats, the decks have to be at least 100 cards, and can only have one copy of every card, excluding basic resources.  This makes it particularly attractive for cards that aren't quite powerful enough to be playable in competitive constructed.  Magic has an Elder-Dragon Highlander (also known as Commander), where a General is chosen from the deck and can be played at any time, also dictating the colors that can be included in deck construction.  Since Hex already has a Champion mechanic, I'm not sure if we'll see an EDH format per se, but an option for Highlander would appease many cash strapped players with a modest collection assembled mostly from booster drafts.  I also think this would make an interesting Heroic Difficulty for beating certain dungeons in PvE, but I'll talk about that more once they begin implementing PvE. 

So with a limited card pool, what sort of cool Highlander deck can you make?  Inspire seems like a good start!  Any Inspire troop will automatically buff your troops, so while Protectorate Clergyman is likely too weak to make the cut in constructed decks, the boost to your bigger creatures matter more when you stick him on the field.  Lord Benjamin is also pretty solid in a deck with all the Inspire Humans, despite the number of cards in your deck being greater.  One out of every twenty or so games you might also get lucky enough to assemble the Triumvirate and get to make one of the most satisfying attacks in the game at this stage.

While shard-fixing is minimal at this stage, a domain deck (runs all five shards) that runs Lixil and Midnight Shepherd is also intriguing, since the latter's ability is very powerful if you hit domain, and the former becomes near unkillable.  Shin'hare and Robot-Dwarf decks have the advantage of champions which allow them to play consistent chump blockers every few turns, and with Induction Coil, perhaps at an accelerated rate.

Some cards that are great in competitive Constructed are also strong in Highlander. Living Totem and Xentoth's Inquisitor are cards that can have a presence on the board by themselves.  But the lengthy nature of highlander also allows more... kitschy cards so see the light of day.  The Kraken is a behemoth (and game-ender) in Highlander, and just plain cool.  Giant Caterpillar is often too clunky to build a deck around, or even include in a deck, but Highlander might give him the time to evolve into a beastial powerhouse.  Ascetic Aspirant might actually reach his ultimate transcended form in Highlander also, allowing you to tutor up the single copy Escalation card, or anything else you managed to squeeze into your hundred card deck.

Some cards, namely artifacts, will be staples of a nascent Highlander format.  Bottled Vitae and Adaptable Infusion Device are colorless cards that cycle through your deck, the latter fixing the two or three shard colors you are probably using as well.  Shrine of Prosperity is another solid addition: while it often gets cut in place of a more efficient card when you're playing with sixty, the long, swingy games of Highlander can benefit from the boosts the Shrine provides.  Secret Laboratory is also very strong, giving you the advantage of card quality turn after turn.

The first preview card from Set 2 could easily
find a home in niche formats like Highlander.

Cryptozoic has also been keen to make cards with specific deck building criteria, or cards that might find strength outside of traditional constructed formats.  Servant of Shathak offers a deckbuilding challenge for constructed, but is an easy, efficient addition to Highlander decks. Jank Bot, the Set 2 preview card from Cory's most recent blog post is much more powerful in Highlander, where you only need to increase the deck size by 50 cards than by 90 in order to find a home.  His effect is also much more interesting when you do attack with him, since it's really just throw three random cards out there.

One problem that has the potential to arise for Hex is if a particular Gem becomes powerful to the point where it is worth it to run every socketable just to have this troop: all the Minor Gem troops get Spellshield in a Nature deck, or Flying in a Sapphire deck.  While this is generally how constructed will work, it seems out of flavor a bit for Highlander.  Even though the troops won't be quite the same, I think the zany one-copy-only quality of Highlander should be preserved in this aspect, so that each Gem can only be used once.  This restriction could force innovation: instead of an Eldritch Dreamer and a Battle Beetle with the card draw gem, the Dreamer might get to make an army of Rhinos instead.

Since the rules of a game are imposed upon the players, Cryptozoic would have to support the format in some way.  Two major considerations regarding Highlander would be starting life total and mulligan rules.  Mulligan rules in Highlander and EDH vary: official Commander rules start life at 40, though I've played at 30 and even 20 life before--this could make cards like Sentinel of Light more effective since you are more likely to be above 20 life when you trigger your Incantation of Righteousness.  They also have a special mulligan rule, a debate I don't want to get into with regards for standard constructed play (which I think is fine as is), but I should remark at least that the rule is changed when dealing with a large deck and the larger variance involved.

No crazy Highlander deck list or anything this week.  There's another Developer Draft this Sunday, March 30th at 3:00pm Eastern Time, which I'll hopefully get the chance to participate in.   Also hoping to log in some time on GW2 this Thursday and watch Seven Samurai over the weekend, among the mounting piles of schoolwork I have as the semester wraps up.  Next week I'll hopefully have a draft deck, or at least some opinions on some of the cards that have come out in the most recent patches.  In the mean time, I'd love to know what you guys think about Highlander.  Would you like to see it implemented?  Is it the card pool too limited right now to really consider it?  Are there any other cards you feel would be absolutely amazing in this format?  Comments and likes are appreciated.

Until next time...

Hex: Drafting Dwarves

Patch v826 brought the much sought after Booster Draft format, and with it, a glut of drafting strategy articles that will quickly be flooding out onto message boards.  I was initially going to write such an article, but instead of redundantly going over why Te'Talca is a first pick or why Rot Caster is good at curbing aggressive draws, I elected instead to do a few drafts and talk about one of the decks I had the most fun with.

Normally when I draft, I never get a string of cards with synergy.  If you're facing Kyrstrava in Hex, I'm likely not going to have The Inspire Deck or The Shin'hare Deck, if those are even archetypes.  Legendary Bombs and a metric ass ton of fliers is about as much of an overarching strategy as I usually dare to venture when I'm relying on what's inside a booster pack.  However I found myself in my third or fourth draft of the weekend with an interesting Dwarf-Artifact deck that just sort of connected together in the middle of pack one.

His convoluted firearm is capable of gunning
down an entire squad of Battle Hoppers.

So what cards push you into the Dwarf/Artifact if you open them?  The one that got me in there was one of the new cards added into the patch which I was keen to try out: Elimination Specialist.  A 3/2 for 4 is solid body, and every artifact you have on the field gives him a charge that allows him to ping one of your opponent's troops that turn.  Even without a deck around him, this guy should be able to shoot down a Flock of Seagulls.  But at his strongest, he is capable of blasting an Uruunaz or gatling down on an entire squad of Battle Hoppers. 

One of the benefits of drafting this deck is that decent cards in other decks are very good in yours, allowing you to priority pick them out of packs much later than would be expected. Rocket Ranger was a sixth or seventh pick in pack two.  Outside of an artifact deck he could be a Phoenix Guard Scout, but with a few more on the field he evolves into a late game monster.  Scrap Welder is relatively poor unless you have the artifacts to support him, and are often still hanging around until the last few picks.  If your direct damage spells and bounce can control the skies, he can quickly start clocking your opponent down. Construction Plans also tend to go relatively late, but are obviously very strong in a deck with a core of Dwarves and Robots.

In terms of removal, Ruby and Sapphire are rife with strong options in forms of Burn, Mesmerize, and Mortar Strike, all at common.  Buccaneer, though not sporting the most dwarvish of beards, is nonetheless a strong tempo card in the deck, and fills out the somewhat vacant area for solid 3-drops.  The deck also makes good use of naturally strong artifacts like Turreted Wall and Runic Monolith, which tend to stay on the board and can trigger your Scrap Welders and Researcher Adepts.

The big-bad-rare dwarves, Eurig the Robomancer and Master Theorycrafter, are excellent cards on their own, and make a fine addition to your deck, but lack the mass you might need to seal the deal.  Since Rocket Ranger is a rare, it not exactly a reliable dude either, and since your army is mostly in the middle range as far as power and toughness goes, you might need some heft to cross the finish line.  One of your more common options is Heavy Welding Bot, a 4/5 body that shrugs off Murder and can fish a Sapper's Charge or Bottled Vitae from your bin to boot.  Hellhound is also an excellent card to have in the deck, since the Sapphire Gem of Flying essentially makes him a Shivan Dragon.

So for the most part, dwarf drafting is pretty easy: Dwarves + Artifacts = Boom!  However there should be a few things to keep in mind while you're drafting this deck in particular is unique to this deck.  The first point, and probably the deepest of the three I will list, is whether you plan on running Bertram Cragraven or Fahrny as your champion.  The second is the number of Artifacts you should plan on running.  The third is the number of Dwarves/Robots you should plan on running.  Following in the footsteps of the famous Canadian lyricist Aubrey Graham, I'll start from the bottom.

Your Dwarf/Robot count being high is something the deck will naturally gear you towards, but you may find yourself in a situation where you have a lot of Buccaneers and Turreted Walls and no way to work on your Construction Plans, or with a bunch of non-Dwarf dorks and a clunky 7-cost Pterobot.  Robots also make up the core of the Artifact Troops, and since you want to run a good chunk of artifacts while not skimping on the troops, it's good to keep int he back of your head how many of them have legs.  If you're relying Pterobots and CP:War Hulks as your big hitters, you want these numbers higher than normal, 8-12 being a decent range.  If your number is on the lower end of this scale, you'll either need to have a lot of removal to survive the early game, or you'll need to run Bertram to power these cards out.

Bertram's ability is a good fit for artifact decks
that have multiple War Machinists or Pterobots. 

The artifact numbers are a more general principle.  Most draft decks will have about 17 resources and 23 other cards, and most of those non-resource cards should be troops or removal.  Artifacts that pull double duty in these roles like Sapper's Charge and Effigy of Nulzann will be key for your deck in keeping your artifact numbers high while maintaining the general balance of troops and removal you are looking for--so it's not just important how many artifacts you have, but what their purpose is.  If you have War Machinsts and Gearsmiths in high abundance, you generally want your Artifact numbers to be higher to ensure these early game drops are more relevant since 1/1 troops are outclassed relatively quickly.  These cards two guys get stronger from just having a large quantity of artifacts in your deck.  Dwarves that simply need an artifact in play to "turn on," like Scrap Welder and Researcher Adept, so they're less demanding in the number of artifacts you are playing, so long as you managed to get one of them into play.  Research Librarian and Rocket Ranger fall into yet another category where the need multiple artifacts in play to get better.  This has a huge impact on how your dwarves are going to interact with the artifacts you have in play. While Gearsmith just benefits from you having a Sapper's Charge in the deck an Adept might make you think twice about when you should sacrifice the charge if it's the only artifact milling about on your field, and actually using the charge doesn't really help Rocket Ranger.

This brings me to the biggest question: which Champion?  I will start off by dismissing Poca Nin and Lionel, since neither of these effects are really as strong in the deck.  Wyatt's card draw is solid in draft, but Fahrny is a guaranteed burn spell for the same cost, allowing you to punch through damage or eliminate an on-board threat.  FDD's  flying is normally pretty good, but most of your guys are too small to make the ability very strong.  Any minor socket guy will have flying, as will Rocket Ranger, Scrap Welder (for a turn) and Pterobot.  It might be worthwhile with some Heavy Welding Bots or bulkier artifact ground troops, but Bertram and Fahrny have more synergy in a majority of these decks.

Bertram's ability is one you will likely use a few times during the game.  The robo-dork isn't particularly game breaking, but can trigger War Machinist, work on CPs, power out a Pterobot, and aid Ranger and Librarian.  If you have Command Tower, their ground-clogging capabilities become even better, and with Volcannon the extra man could double your damage output.

The flip-side is Fahrny, who with a charge power at five, you may only get to use once. The difference here is that while Bertram won't win you the game, Fahrny's ability is a very solid removal spell, capable of turning the game on its own. With a Turreted Wall or a Heavy Welding Bot, he can oust your opponent's strongest troop from the field. The drawback is he requires you to have a hefty Artifact on board to get the most out of him. However, the potential is chilling.  There was one game I played, among a one or two drop I can't recall, Effigy into Turreted Wall into Elimination Specialist-Fahrny. My opponent's entire field was decimated and I still had a Mortar Strike and Mesmerize in hand.

Overall, I think Fahrny is the stronger choice in most versions of this deck.  Bertram may be stronger in a more tempo based deck that combines multiple War Machinists, Construction Plans, Scrap Welders, and Pterobots.  Elimination Specialist also doesn't shun the little Worker Bots.  Since I'm sure some of you just want to scroll down and check out the decklist that inspired the article, I've included it:  

Champion: Fahrny
2 Buccaneer
1 Charge Bot
1 Effigy of Nulzann [Sapphire Gem of Flight]
2 Elimination Specialist
1 Gearsmith
1 Hellhound [Sapphire Gem of Flight]
1 Phoenix Cloud Trainer
1 Researcher Adept
1 Rocket Ranger
2 Scrap Welder
2 Turreted Wall
1 Bottled Vitae
1 Construction Plans: War Hulk
1 Doppelgadget
2 Mesmerize
2 Mortar Strike
1 Runic Monolith
9 Ruby Shard
8 Sapphire Shard

Since the last two decks I've featured have been Ruby-Sapphire, I'll try to branch off into other shards next week.  I'm also hoping that Cory will be back with a blog post this week, and that the follow up Patch v827 will have details about what remaining cards we are waiting on for a complete set and possibly an ETA on Beta, now that a majority of the PvP features are live, though admittedly buggy. 

Until next week, I'll see you in the drafting queues.

Having Fun While Breaking Friendships

Recently in my deep sea venture into the uncertainty of  Kickstarter's multitude of projects, I found a gem-among many others-that caught my eye.  The game in question is Peasant's Buffet, by Wargi Studios LLC (a link to the Kickstarter page will be at the bottom of the article).

The project which has 8 days left to go has already funded 16,350 dollars (the original goal being 10,000 dollars), and the game itself looks promising.  The art style looks as if someone mashed together Chez Geek and Penny Arcade.  However, the comical appearance of many of the game's cards is not too overbearing, and in fact is cast aside when we see the examples of boss monsters that may be faced in the game.  Some of them even feel as though they could fit into a Lovecraft tale.  

Your role in the game is a member of a small village, enjoying your peaceful life until one day monsters appear from the woods and attack the village.  You decide that perhaps there is better property elsewhere, not to mention life expectancy and monster-less woods.  However, you doubt that anyone will buy your former property for the very reasons you are leaving, and so you decide to hoard as much treasure as you can carry before getting out of town.  However, your fellow players are doing the same thing.  Its a race against time... and your opponents!

Over the course of the game you will have the opportunity to gather loot, hinder your opponents, and even fight monsters (though you will mostly want to avoid monsters).  While the game seems like it will devolve into a gladiators pit of betrayal and backstabbing-which it will, don't fret.  Over the course of the game boss monsters will come out of the wood-works and threaten everyone, forcing you and your opponents to band together to face this immediate threat.

Peasant's Buffet takes an interesting approach to what feels like a half co-op game, half lone survivor game. Overall, I think that the game has a lot of potential, creating a competitive atmosphere with a still uncertain air of necessary cooperation.  The cooperation being uncertain because like any game that requires trust among opponents, that trust will be fleeting and even false.  After all, only you know what cards you may be holding back, waiting to screw your former monster fighting friends.  

The game also presents ample opportunity for expansion making, by simply introducing more cards, or even adding different settings beyond the initial games setting of a village beset by monsters.

So check it out, and if you think its worth it, back it.  Remember, you can have fun and break friendships. Although it may be wise to bring some food to win them back, but that depends upon what kind of person you are.              

Link to the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083771375/peasant-buffet-the-card-game

Hex: Skald Tempo

Patch v825 brought some pretty strong cards into the mix.  One that caught my eye is the adorable Kindling Skarn, which can quickly turn games in your favor if played right.  While I think this little guy can easily find a home in mono-Ruby decks, the idea of abusing him in a deck that can run him out quick and plays tons of action cards before your opponent can adequately respond tempted me. 

Skald Tempo

Champion: Wyatt the Sapper

3 Archmage Wrenlocke

4 Buccaneer

4 Eldritch Dreamer (Prime Ruby Gem of Intensity)

4 Kindling Skarn

4 Ruby Pyromancer

4 Burn

2 Countermagic

4 Peek

4 Ragefire

4 Time Ripple

9 Ruby Shard

10 Sapphire Shard

4 Shards of Fate

Strategy

As of patch v825, Skarn's transformed
versions deal more damage than listed.

This is a tempo deck, meaning your general strategy involves making the most of your resources every turn and keeping up with your attacks to swiftly run your opponent's life total down to zero.  However, unlike the speedy mono-Ruby decks which throw card advantage to the wind, Skald Tempo actually has some ways to create massive amount of card advantage in the form of seven bulky 4-drops.

Archmage Wrenlocke has natural synergy in a deck that runs lots of actions, so he and Skald pair up quite nicely.  However the true shining power of the deck is the Eldritch Dreamer. After you bounce or kill all of your opponent's early plays, you can reset the board with a single, unblockable attack, dealing three and equalizing each player's hand.  In decks where you already have card advantage on board, this is devastating.  

Weaknesses

Your biggest weakness is a Ruby-Gemmed Xentoth's Inquisitor.  The three damage kills any of your creatures, meaning you'll be unlikely to stick Wrenlocke or Dreamer unless you have another dude to soak up the blow, or you plan on hitting seven resources and protecting it with Countermagic.  Your bounce spells are also notably weaker with that gem since returning them will re-trigger their ability when they cast it again.

The giant creatures of Wild Magic can also reach critical mass much sooner than you.  Where you have evasion, they have brute force.  Bounce effects will be your friend to ensure your crew can punch through, but its important to conscious of how resilient some of the wild guys are, particularly the Spellshield Sprite and possibly Bramble Legion. 

Archmage Wrenlocke, combined with your
eighteen actions, can generate massive
card advantage in the late game.

Modifications

While most of these cards I feel justify their place quite well, the two weakest cards are Ruby Pyromancer and Countermagic.  Arena Brawler and Gem-Crazed Berserker were both options in my initial version, and the latter actually made it into the first version of the deck, but having a 2-drop to curve out is important since, sparing a Skarn into double Burn, you are going to want to establish your board until you hit Wrenlocke or Dreamer.  I opted for Pyromancer since she buffs Dreamer into a Kenny Loggins-esque "Danger Zone," where a couple connections actually puts your opponent in burn range.  Arena Brawler is fine, but can be stymied very easily whereas the Pyromancer will continue to have a presence on the board--occasionally she will boost a Skarn that was Rippled or Buccaneered itself.  Thunderbird is also a live option, but getting to two sapphire threshold on turn two is impossible if you also plan on playing Skarn turn one, and you would like to each game ideally.  Savage Raider is also an possible addition if you want to have multiple one-drops, 

As for Countermagic, it seems like a necessary evil in the maindeck for dealing with board-sweepers.  Arcane Shield might be better for protecting the lads you really need to, but Countermagic actually stops Xentoth's and Extinction, and it is an excellent card to draw after an Eldritch beatdown since you can run it a bit indiscriminately due to the hand resets.

There's also a chance you may want to run a different Champion.  Poca gives you extra damage on the turns you're able to clear the field, and Feather Drifting Downriver can actually turn your Skarn into a Dragon (or Charizard if you prefer).  Wyatt seems to make the deck more consistent in getting Skarn to max-level and in your transition from tempo into your late game card advantage machine, but for competitive play one of these other champions may be a better option for damage (if you change the Ruby Pyromancers to Arena Brawlers, I'd probably switch to Poca).

That's it for the tempo deck.  Cory posted an expanded look at the development of the Shin'hare, which is worth a look if you like bunny samurai.  Leave a comment if you get the opportunity to try the deck out and what modifications, if any, you make. 

State of Game: March 2014

A few of my friends (and I imagine many Hex backers) have been passive in their involvement in the Alpha.  The game has been updated on a weekly basis, and it is sometimes difficult to keep up with everything.  So I'm going to give everyone who has been watching from the sidelines an idea of where the state of the game is as of now.

How often do we get updates?

The two main venues of information HEX fans have come from Cory Jones's blog (which updates roughly every Wednesday) and from the main site which patches every Thursday/Friday.  Links to Cory's Blog and HEX main page provided here.

Should I invest into Slacker Backer?

If you haven't backed Hex and you want Alpha/Closed-Beta access, then the simple answer is yes.  Slacker Backer will be going away on April 1st, and Alpha/Beta will be one of your only opportunities to play with four copies of every card in the first set.  If you plan on getting into PvP and want to test out some decks, now is a decent time to back since nearly every card from Set 1 is in the game.  Though many bugs still exist, it's worthwhile testing if you plan on getting into PvP.  If you plan on foregoing PvP and just playing PvE, I would not recommend investing in the Slacker Backer for reasons I will state later in the article.

How is Constructed PvP?

Alternate art cards like Hex Engine will
be available in Treasure Chests,
which are acquired with boosters.

Decent, but buggy.  The first set has almost been fully implemented in the Alpha (a little over thirty cards remain if everything from the initial set list stays).  One of the difficulties is that though every patch releases a handful of cards, the coding often breaks a portion of the game that causes a handful of already released cards to not work properly.  Zombie Plague was released functional in Patch 824, but after last week's patch it no longer functions.  Other cards like Spirit Dance hasn't worked properly in several patches.  PVP seems to be what Cryptozoic is focused on as far as moving from Alpha to Closed Beta and eventually a monetized Open Beta.

How is Limited PvP?

There isn't draft yet, but there are Sealed tournaments available once a queue reaches eight people.  Once a card is patched into the game, it's immediately available for Sealed, even if it's bugged.  This may seem discouraging, but many cards will be much more effective in limited, so it's good to see them in their "natural habitat."  The tournaments themselves are somewhat hit or miss.  I've tried a Sealed tournament about once a week and have yet to complete one.  It's difficult to justify spending the time waiting in queue for a tournament that will likely not finish if you are looking for the tournament experience, but even without playing every game, you do get the chance to test your deckbuilding skills, which again is free until the game goes Open Beta.

How is PvE?

Non-existent, and there's a growing chance that when the game enters Open Beta and the collections are wiped that there will be limited PvE content, if any.  Cryptozoic's basic argument for moving ahead without it is that if the monetized version can support drafts and sealed and PvP, then there is no reason to withhold those from the people that just want to do that.  This makes sense from a business standpoint, since most of the reason for buying in game currency will be for tournaments, specifically limited.  PvE content also requires that the core gameplay to function as it should, so a standard PvP mode acts as a prerequisite.

The main problem is that a lot of people want to play HEX specifically for the PvE content.  It's what sets it apart from Hearthstone and MTGO (the pricepoint also sets it apart from the latter).  If the PvP is released in full before any dungeon is released, it will seem as if the PvE portion of the game is superfluous. 

Any other major features implemented?

The inclusion of deck sleeves and the card layout change have been the major changes since February.  The new layout in particular have suggested the Doubleback/Modification features of individual cards will be available soon, along with the extended-artwork versions of cards.  What's encouraging is that most of these additions are very recent, and have not effected the number of card additions patched in each week.

Hex: Patch v825 Review

Patch v825 has been released.  You can read the full patchnotes here.  As with the last patches, I will be doing a first impressions review of the new cards and features

Left unchecked, Te'talca and her
High Cleric form can quick end the game.

The big addition to this patch outside of new cards was the introduction of deck sleeves.  This is one of the features of Hex I didn't think I would enjoy as much as I do.  In cardboard TCGs I almost exclusively buy solid colored sleeves, but the ones available in Alpha look very sleek, and I suddenly find myself very excited for the Kickstarter rewards.  King Tier backers (like myself) get Spectral Lotus sleeves, which I can't wait to see in all their glory.  There is also a new visual effect for socketed cards in this patch, which makes good use of the new card layout.  This shows off all the things they want a single card to be able to do, particularly with the Doubleback and Card Modification options.  While the gems do look nice, it is sometimes difficult to see them on the new cards frames, however in the few Proving Grounds games I've played, I can generally tell at a glance.

Gameplay changes saw this patch break Zombie Plague, but fixes a bug with Xenototh's Inquisitor that caused its resource cost to not increase when it returned to your hand.  This kept it from being played in the most recent HexTCGPro tournament, leading to a swarm of Mono-Ruby Aggro decks taking down the field.  Zombie Plague being down for the time being is disappointing.  The patch had a rewording on the card, where the original creature was voided and replaced with a zombie instead of being reverted and transformed into a zombie.

On to cards though.  There's five new ones this time:

Bird O' Plenty

The Bird will probably find some home in a combo deck, if it does at all.  Its cost is too prohibitive for it to be a reliable counter for aggressive decks, and Crush troops should ignore most of this troop's effectiveness.  I imagine it could see play in a Ruby-Sapphire deck, where you Ragefire it constantly to cycle through your deck and find more Ragefires, which is cute, but I imagine most decks want a decisive finisher.  In limited he's a pretty annoying blocker if you get to him.  He's still as easy to shut down since Murder/Atrophy/Inner Conflict are all active at common, and he's a lot to invest in for a card that won't actively win you the game.  He is a glorious tropical bird though.

Te'Talca, Orc Gladiator / Te'Talca, High Cleric

Ruby has been panned for having a subpar selection of cards.  Patch v825 might change that, particularly with the inclusion of Te'Talca.  Not only is she an efficient finisher in the Mono-Ruby decks, she's also a good, beefy point removal character for the aggressive decks.  4/4 stats allows her to pick of a lot of popular troops like Xentoth, Root Leaf Dancer, Wrenlocke, and Xarlox.  Her flipped form will end games: Removing the strongest blocker, transforming her, and beating with an army of lower cost troops.  Wild-Ruby might enjoy her as well, the only problem being how threshold intensive most of the Wild cards have been.  In draft she's a bomb, and possibly on the top ten list of cards you want to open.

Spawn of Othuyeg

The deck destruction strategy has never been particularly savory for constructed.  Spawn will likely be a backbone of this in early attempts to build it.  The phrase "if this guy connects X times" is the calculation most people do when determining how effective he is.  The truth is, if you can protect Spawn for five or six turns, you might as well protect a 2/2 flier and pressure your opponent's life total.  Limited however is a different story, where the 40-card decks can let Spawn can get out of hand quickly.  He's a live draw in late games, where one or two attacks can finish off someone's deck when you're getting the full five.

Kindling Skarn /Burning Skarn / Hellfire Skarn

If Kindling Skarn didn't transform, it would still be a perfectly fine card for an aggressive deck.  The 1/1 early drop combined with Quick Actions like Burn make the Skarn very difficult to block.  Transforming him into the 2/2 version is probably as far as you can reliably go in the Mono-Ruby decks, at which point he can dominate the battle field and end games.  One of the reasons you should like Skarn is that he lets you maintain pressure on the board with overcommitting into an Extinction.  He also encourages decks that run a small number of early, high-impact troops and burn spells, which is how traditional Sligh/Red-Deck-Wins operates.  The early men drop the opponent down into single digits, with burn to close the gap to zero.  If anything Kindling Skarn is hindered from the limited card pool for Actions in Ruby.  Trying to combo around him probably isn't the greatest idea since he is very fragile, but a Sapphire-Ruby tempo deck with Peek, Ragefire, and Time Ripple can definitely abuse him.  Wrenlocke also fits into this model of deck that wants to play a lot of actions, so it's something to watch in the upcoming weeks.

Puck, Dream Bringer

The mono green decks that ran rampant in the early meta have subsided a bit.  The most explosive draws you could get involved Howling Brave into Chlorophyllia into Fist of Briggadon.  Puck doesn't allow you to trick a Fist into play on turn 3, but just about any other 6 drop is fair game with him.  Battle Beetle and Jadiim are definitely fair game, and even Wrathwood's cost doesn't look as prohibitive with the extra bit of mana ramp that Wild now has.  Puck's also a 2/2, so he can even lay a beatdown when he needs to.  Threshold is again the most prohibitive feature of Puck.  Te'Talca would be an excellent addition to decks with Puck if it wasn't for competing Threshold costs.  As is, Puck only really makes a relatively weak deck more consistent.

One lats note on the patch is that Trial of Faith was included in the visual Card Files.  It seems to have Ancient Sentinel's old portrait though, so it might just be a placeholder.