Starter Up

Wednesday saw the launch of Beta.... kinda.... some things don't work.  In many ways it's a step back from Alpha: tournaments are disabled, some AI games won't launch (or finish), and you don't have a full playset of every card in the game anymore.  While these are a pretty big deal for a game on Beta launch day, Hex fans should be used to patience by this point.  The subreddit forums already have people trying to snag late Kickstarter Rewards packages, and the mothership has been very active about when servers will be down and the features they are focusing on fixing.  Since Alpha saw tournaments and everything functioning normally, we know it's possible, but only a matter of time now.  

However it's not all gloom and doom: the premier Beta Patch actually saw some improvements from the previous patch.  One of which was the polishing of the Wheel of Fate and the Chests that come from Boosters, and the second was the application of Kickstarter rewards.

I'll begin with the Wheels of Fate and the Chests.  First: what the hell are they?  Well every booster you open contains fourteen cards: eleven common, three uncommon, and one rare/legendary.  They also come with a Chest that varies in rarity along the same lines as the cards: common, uncommon, rare, and legendary.  Normally, these chests can be opened (this is not operational yet), but you can also pay Gold, an in-game currency earned currently through playing PvP tournaments, to spin a slot machine like device called the Wheels of Fate.  This allows you to upgrade the chest you are rolling for and/or receive special rewards like alternate art cards, deck sleeves, and PvE equipment.  Now obviously some of this stuff like the PvE equipment you won't be able to use until PvE launches, but the Wheels definitely give you incentive to play the game so you can collect some awesome stuff.  

The alternate art cards are very sexy looking, and will
likely be in high demand among collectors.

The amount of Gold it takes to spin the Wheels varies based on the rarity of the Chest, which also determines what can get leveled up.  Common Chests require 1200 Gold to spin while Legendary Chests require 30,000, so grinding gold can be a daunting task, but also make your rewards that much more special.  I'd mentioned earlier that gold is only earned through PvP tournaments like Draft and Sealed, and since these tournaments require an entry fee, you need cash to grind.  This is true, but it's only a temporary measure by Cryptozoic to supply the players with an outlet to earn Gold and actually test out the Wheels of Fate.  Gold was intended to be earned without any cash investment, through the PvE content.  Since the PvE content is not currently out, and appears to not be implemented for some months yet, attaching Gold to tournaments ensures it will be flowing... once tournaments are working again, that is.  The Gold flow is probably something they should keep a close eye on to make sure the amount given out is where they want it to be.  After all, what's the point of having the Wheels if they are rarely used?  They might also want to attach minuscule gold rewards for Proving Grounds matches, possibly scaling based on game time, with a bonus for the first win(s) of the day.  I've spent more than my fair share of evening just testing out decks in the Proving Grounds, though with over one-hundred unopened boosters, I'm eagerly awaiting my chance to draft for keeps and have no qualms about paying for them either, especially with gold rewards attached.

That brings me to the Kickstarter Rewards that were given out during the beta invites.  I've heard some stories of people getting short-changed on codes or not receiving some items. My personal experience was very smooth by comparison, so I don't have anything outrageous to report.  I entered my King backer code and got a detailed list of my rewards (which you can check out at the link).  The only hiccup was I had to relog to have access to the alternate art cards.  In addition to the Primal Pack I received from the Kickstarter Rewards I received 4 additional Primal Packs with the 155 that came with my reward tier. Primal Packs are like Super Boosters: you randomly have a chance to get them when you purchase a booster, and the packs themselves contain 2 Legendary Cards, 12 Rares, and a guaranteed Legendary Chest.  I opened the Primals after five regular Boosters, and my first rare was..... drumroooooooollllllllll........

Replicator's Gambit!

A fitting pull to compliment the two alternate art versions, and one of the cards that made me want to back Hex when I first saw it on Kickstarter.  The rest of the boosters I'm setting aside until the tournaments are up, and they are patiently biding their time until they can be used for Booster Drafts and Sealed Tournaments.  Sealed requires 6 Boosters and Drafts require 3 Boosters, in addition to a 100 Platinum charge for entry.  $1.00 equal 100 Platinum, and with boosters priced at 200 Platinum, Drafts works out to be about $7 and Sealed at $15.  For a few of my friends who are just looking at Hex for the first time, I can say that the Draft format is very good for just the first set, with many different archetypes and a lot of customization and color combinations with the gem system.  You also keep any chests you open from boosters; they have no impact on the tournament, and are just sent to your stash (inventory for all non-card items) where you can open/spin on them later.  The  rare-laden Primal Packs aren't used in Draft or Sealed either, so don't worry about that skewing play at all.  One caveat is that while it is something they want to do in future, Asynchronous Sealed is not an option yet.  Booster Drafts also have a Single Elimination (8-4) and Swiss (Pack per win) tournament structure with complimenting prize payout, including scaling gold rewards.

The last thing I want to talk about is the starter decks.  Everyone who makes a Hex account gets to choose one starter deck completely free to start off their collection.  The starter decks normally cost 1000 platinum if you want multiple copies of one or want to collect multiples, though several of the reward tiers come with additional starters (I received one copy of all four for backing at the King level).  You can find full lists at the link above, but the four decks consist of:

• Orcs, a Blood-Ruby Aggro Deck
• Humans, a Diamond-Sapphire Midrange Deck
• Shin'hare, a Wild-Blood Swarm Deck
• Dwarves, a Sapphire-Ruby Artifact Deck 

If you're like me and waiting to draft but still want to play in the interim, and without the ability to trade cards or get singles through the Auction house, the starter you choose is actually a pretty important decision, since they provide you with a good skeleton of cards to form your deck around.  Even those who got one copy of every starter deck get double the rares and uncommons from the one they choose.  So which one should you choose?

As far as strategy goes, the fastest deck is probably the Orc deck, which features 2 power troops that hit the field on the first turn, and can only become more enraged down the road.  It also features two of the more powerful (and constructed playable) rares that the starters have to offer: Gore Feast of Kog'Tepetl and Te'Talca, Orc Gladiator.  Since I am at heart a Red Deck Wins player (I'm looking to trade for alternate art Ragefires) I chose the Orc deck for my Starter.  Constructed Play for me will probably be limited to Highlander, but I do want to have at least a tier two constructed deck to play, and Orcs seems like a fine choice.  I opened a Zoltog from one of my Primal Packs also, so I'm more than content with some face-smashing Orc goodness.

Don't get mad.... well okay, get mad!

The Shin'hare was a popular choice among a lot of my friends.  I mean, samurai bunnies are pretty kick-ass, right?  The problem is that a lot of the key cards for Shin'hare like Ritualist of the Spring Litter are missing, so the deck seems very clunky.  This means that while your support engine exists with cards like Moon'airu Sensei and Bucktooth Commander, you're missing a healthy cards that can outright win the game on their own, like the single copy of Onslaught that lurks within.  If you end up going the way of the rabbit, your deck will likely look much different after a few drafts, since many of the clunky cards like Gigantisaur will eventually be phased out for a more straightforward bunny army.

Humans were somewhat hindered by the loss of Living Totem from the Alpha version of the Human deck, which is an excellent card in Diamond control decks and would definitely give this deck a nod above the others for providing a competitive quality rare.  As is, the deck does have incredible late game potential if you can assemble an Inspire engine or a gigantic Hero of Adamanth, but too often your guys will be subpar to your opponent's dudes, and a bulk of your engine will be changed as you collect more cards to add to the deck: of the four archetypes, a dedicated Inspire is probably the weakest overall for constructed.  

Dwarves are in a weird place, since the deck certainly has the potential to explode into it's nutty artifact-craziness combo, but like Shin'hare is missing some of the stronger Dwarf cards: no Volcannon causes the deck to lose a lot of reach.  One of the benefits of Dwarves is that the first set is chock full of options for customization: you can craft a very swift Ruby based deck that revolves about War Machinists and speedy War Hulks, or you can play for the long game with Research Librarian to churn out card advantage, and there's a vast array of options in between!  This makes the components in the starter well suited to let you tool around with different builds after a draft or two... and Dwarves are certainly nothing to sneeze at in Booster Draft.

In the end the choice is up to you.  Look around through the deck lists for a few moments if you don't plan on unloading your last paycheck in the online store though.  I'm super excited about the Closed Beta, even considering how bug-laden the past couple days have been.  As fun as Alpha was and despite the lack of PvE, the game feels more like a TCG and an MMO with a collection-grinding aspect to it.  It's reminiscent of when I first started Magic or Pokémon, and I had to scrounge my deck together card by card, squeezing whatever strategic advantage I could gain from my meager collection.  One of the most enjoyable things I will get from drafting will be watching my actual collection grow card by card, snagging extra copies of cards I need for a deck I want to finish over one that might help my draft deck a little more.  Tinkering with the Wheels of Fate is also intriguing, and I can't wait for screenshots of people showing off the sleeves and loot that get from it, and in general the data compilation of yet-to-be-added game elements like hereto unforeseen equipment and PvE cards.

Last on the agenda: some of my friends have asked me where they can sign up for Beta.  The answer is here. 

Until next time, enjoy the Beta!