Founder's Playtest

Discussion in 'Castle Mitternacht Playtest' started by Founder, Oct 4, 2016.

  1. Founder

    Founder Hydra

    Testing an acid buff deck:

    3 identical dwarf wizards, with:
    1x staff of dissolution
    1x ancient linestaff
    1x poltergeist pendant
    1x frightening wand
    1x bewildering triangle
    1x blasting amulet
    1x robes of lightness
    1x gumshoe's gumshoes
    1x apprentice ferocity
    1x focused corrosion

    The deck is designed mainly to hit at about range 5 - 6, using acid and push attacks to slow opponents down, and then hitting with hex of dissolution when enough acid is down. If opponents get too close, or are hitting at range, Boo! can put them out for a round. Acid leak may dissuade Boo!'d characters from running.

    Playing vitreo2084
    (Human Wizard (x3) all with loads of telekinesis and Smoke on the Water).

    Acid eventually won, but it was a very close call. For a large part of the game, smoke bombs just totally wrecked the chance to do anything with the acid. Opening up one or two squares at a time with acid wasn't enough to break past water or to buff hexes of dissolution.

    Not sure it's a typical match, as I suspect a smoke on the water spam would get totally wrecked by anything else.

    Playing Fanturluche (Dwarf Wizard (x2) with Pipes of Hamelin / Asmod's Chain / Illusion spam combination; Dwarf Priest (x1) with general support - Stargod Raiment, Ulrich's bones, etc. -- basically Legendary spam on a massive scale).

    Acid put up a good fight, but ultimately lost. Not sure it's indicative of a typical game, given the amount and specificity of Legendaries it was up against. Worth noting that I didn't draw a single hex of dissolution until round 6, by which point it was too late. Maybe I'm being bitter.

    Acid and acid leak did a great job of mucking with Bless, which is nice. On that front (line of sight issues notwithstanding), those two face off against each other nicely.

    Thoughts so far: acid will probably lose to anything which mucks up line of sight or can replace acid on the board. Current items seem to give a sensible amount of hex of dissolution - enough that it will come up, but not so often that it can be relied upon. You actually need to think before spamming acid all over the place in anticipation of one next turn.

    Hoping to test against a slightly less ... unique ... deck next.
     
    wereviper likes this.
  2. vitreo84

    vitreo84 Goblin Champion

    Since Flax Asked to discuss about feedback i can add 1 thing.
    You played Boo! several time on my character that had Utility card in hand and there was no useful effect.
    Boo! seem to have this weak point.
     
  3. Founder

    Founder Hydra

    I did also play Boo! on myself a few times to get some extra movement when out of attacks. That's a nice touch.
     
    Flaxative likes this.
  4. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    Thanks for testing. I've got you at 2 games played (correct me if that's wrong). We have a new build coming soon (a day or two) with some changes, hopefully you'll have time to test again after that's out :)
     
  5. Founder

    Founder Hydra

    Playing vitreo2084 not in a real match per se, but as a matter of testing.

    Vitreo2084 brought a Vengeance heavy deck. I brought a Priest with loads of entangling roots, to see how they interact.

    Entangling roots doesn't attach until *after* damage has been done and any Vengeance / Sparkling Cloth Armor moves have happened. Given that entangling roots has a range of just 4, it's really easy for a Vengeance player with 2+ Vengeance/Sparkling Cloth to close the gap on a priest before the vines kick in. That player then gets a free turn to attack the priest before the priest can consider moving.

    This wasn't previously possible on a warrior (who could, at best, have a few lucky dodges or similar, and one sparkling cloth) and was only barely viable on a priest (with 2 Sparking Cloth from boots and armor). It's now possible to a ridiculous extent on both warriors and priests.

    The issues, as I see it, are:
    • Vengeance triggers all the time. Every other 'move x when y' card (apart from uncanny dodge) requires a roll one way or the other, so it couldn't be relied upon to close the gap.
    • Vengeance is available in high numbers if you have the right items. With two Final Swords and a Cedric's Vow, you get 8 Vengeance, with 3 minor tokens left to spend on dodge / Sparkling Cloth to cover even more ground. I fear that we will end up back in Vibrant Pain / Blue Destruction territory with the sheer number of these cards that can reliably be drawn.
    • Vengeance comes coupled with some other powerful cards or cards with which is synergises really well. Pulverising Hack, for instance, is powerful of itself, and step moves increase a player's already ridiculous reach further (easily letting a warrior close from an even further distance).
    • Each Vengeance essentially works like a 2-step re-usable cantrip (which isn't discarded after use) and a pretty decent one-use attack, in a single card, for gold. Bearing in mind that Quick Run is also a gold, Vengeance seems pretty undercosted.
    • It's not easily countered by control attacks (see above - a control wizard or priest will always lose ground to a Vengeance attacker except where he uses telekinesis, as every other attack will trigger it).
    Solutions could be:
    • Make it trigger only on a roll (4+, 5+, whatever);
    • Make the card be discarded on a certain roll (on a 6, discard, for instance);
    • Reconsider the cards that it's paired with.
    • Reduce the move distance to 1.
    • Make move trigger after attachments (cold, roots, etc.)
    Or any combination of the above.

    I haven't tested to see how it works with Rushing Aura, Flight Aura, etc., but if those also interact with it, maybe make them not.
     
    wereviper likes this.
  6. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    They shouldn't, because Vengeance's trigger is not a Move card you are playing, but it would be great if you could test this, thanks.
     
    wereviper likes this.
  7. Founder

    Founder Hydra

    I've tested with auras and with the new traits, and none of them is triggered by Vengeance.
     
    wereviper and Flaxative like this.
  8. Founder

    Founder Hydra

    Playing [name unknown - will check and confirm] (opponent using vampire vampires; I using Vengeance spam)

    It was a pretty even fight, which I ultimately lost. What really took its toll was Vampiric Kiss. Whilst it doesn't do much damage, it can heal about half of a priest's health in one go, which is more than most attacks can inflict, and then it causes the player to lose and replace 2 cards, which is likely to seriously thwart any plans that player had. I found it impossible to finish any of the vampire vampires, because I'd usually run out of attacks or have them taken away by Vampiric Kiss, and that one attack would usually heal most - if not all - of the damage that I had done.

    That this strategy can keep pace with Vengeance spam suggests that vampire vampires might be a bit too strong.

    The card discard is a nice touch - it's not something we've seen really (radiation did it a bit in SP). It would be a shame to see that go.

    However, I recommend that Vampiric Kiss only heals one for each point of damage inflicted.
     
  9. wereviper

    wereviper Ogre

    I feel for ya here Founder. If they do debuff Vampires Kiss, priests can still always get buffed from cards like Mass Frenzy, Frenzy Aura and Unholy Wellspring
     
  10. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    Thank you for all your help with the Castle Mitternacht playtest.

    Unless you posted more in another thread (in which case, sorry I missed it), I have you at 4 games.

    Because I appreciate your efforts & detailed feedback, I'm going to round up to 5.

    You will receive 1 Epic Mitternacht chest when this content is released.
     

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