TL;DR - The leagues are high variance, but I don't really care because they're practically free. Prizes are quite generous too. I had lots of fun and lulz. Overall Review - I've played more leagues than MP ladder during the past week, and consequently enjoyed MP far more than I usually do. I don't really care about winning at all, because matches are (mostly) faster and I'll eventually win my daily 1 to 3 for ladder chests. The generous spread of epic chests also means I don't have to care about eeking out every last tie-breaker point either. It's more relaxing and fun! Graveyard Gambol - This one had really high variance, as had been noted. A first turn Good For Us + Demonic Power or Unholy Wellspring is pretty much an insta-win. Likewise, drawing Zombie Mob, Swarming Attack, Strong Chop, or the 6-damage sweep usually tipped the match. I also often ended up with 4 or 5 move cards in hand, which was slightly frustrating. However, since I didn't really care, it was a lot easier to just laugh at the antics and enjoy a much slower feeling of play. (Matches were mostly shorter, though, despite this sensation.) Death March - Likewise, this one turned into a merry-go-round of Stone Wall and whirls. I was playing a Firestorm / SPR / whirl build, so every match was a dice roll. Again, I enjoyed being able to just sit back and laugh when my opponent and I whirl characters in place (on the VP square, no less) 6 times in the same match. It was silly, and everyone knew it was silly, and we could tip the odds ever-so-slightly in our favor, but not really. And in the end, it didn't really matter. Matches were also super-fast, which was great for getting in lots of play in a short period of time.
My feedback: I totally agree that having 3 epic chests for a total of 5 players contributed to make these leagues more relaxing. This way, I really don't care too much if I end first, second or third. This adds to the fact that they are very cheap, so the result is zero stress and more fun. Graveyard Gambol: while the variance thing is true, I really felt the chess aspect of the game here, where positioning well is very important. I really missed that feeling, as all the WW/WWe around in ranked mp ruined that part of the game imo. Also, controlling a group of minions moving at the same time and having only one attack per turn was fun and innovative for multiplayer. I liked this one. Death Match: it's a good league in the context of the gold leagues. What do I mean? If this map had been part of the pizza-costed leagues, it would have been stressful as hell, as a lot is decided by luck here (specially in even-elo matches where there's not too much item advantage) and during those leagues I really wanted to finish at least 2nd to get my pizza back, as 50 pizza is a bit too much as an entry cost for a league. So, as we don't have those factors here (meaning these leagues are so cheap and more loose with the prizes), it ended up being a fun experience for me. As you said before, I was able to laugh when some WW made something ridiculous instead of cursing my luck. Also, I'm generally in for any innovative map that makes you use cards you wouldn't use normally, walls in this case. I don't know if this particular map was a great design, but at least it did that correctly.
I haven't played Graveyard Gambol, but Death March makes me think of a one-string violin. You can play different tunes, but the range is limited and you'd best be damned good on that one string. As mentioned before, the atmosphere seems much more relaxed and fun than ranked play. I would really prefer to have only the first 4 games count toward tie breaking. My position is set in the 4 games, and I can keep playing without feeling I'm doing something cheesey. I like the gold leagues, and hope they remain popular when the price increases. If some find it too high, I'll happily provide farming tips.
Yes, this is how it currently works (and has for some time) and yes, this is much better than the old system where every match increased the tie breaker score.
I've played a couple of these. And while the chests are nice, they don't excite me like the figures did. The prizes are very generous if you have gold to burn, but I'm someone who has never been able to afford a legendary from Randimar, so these are still a little too stressful for me.
