I agree the BFZ storyline challenges become super-difficult. My biggest problem isn't even the endless rain of giant Eldrazi, but the endless rain of Eldrazi spawn. Except for a few blue and white cards (and I only have the blue ones) that can permanently disable the tokens and the fact that they have defender is perpetually feeding the opponent mana unless all of my creatures have evasion (and even the spawn tends to quickly becomes huge in its own right).
What non-green mana fixing cards are actually worth playing in Puzzle Quest? The 6 cost lands seem good because they're cheap, but most of them cost 11-15 which is the same as most of my better creatures. It seems like I'm usually better of playing a powerful creature for that cost.
The AI is terrible at using some of the autocast spells, especially Reclaim. I have won multiple games where the AI played several beefy creatures then Reclaimed them before they could do anything.
Is it just me or is the Sigil of the Empty Throne match a real pain in the butt? The deck plays nothing but Flyers and cranks out a steady stream of 4/4 Angel tokens via the Loyalty ability.
4. What causes a player to draw a card (other than abilities that say so)?
Unwritten phases are Upkeep, draw, Main, Attack, pass.
So each player does draw a card every turn? It didn't seem like that was the case.
5. What, if anything, happens when I max out my planeswalker's Loyalty bar during a game?
The more loyalty you accumulate for a planeswalker, the more times you can spend it. Unlike planeswalkers in the card game, in the app all loyalty is spent. The more you accumulate, the more better abilities you can use and/or the more you can use their minor abilities... as you unlock them.
Right, but the Loyalty bar is shown as N/30. What happens if I reach 30/30? Do I simply lose any extra Loyalty I gain from gem matches or does something else happen?
New MTG Puzzle Quest player here. I signed up for the D3 Go official forums for the game, but even though I'm logged in I can't find a button or link to post to the dang forums. Thus I'll ask my questions here.
1. When using Support cards, is there any way to chose which gem is affected or is it always random like it seems?
2. When using Spells or Abilities that target gems is there any way to chose which is targeted, or is always the opponent's oldest Support?
3. What causes a player to get to make an extra match?
4. What causes a player to draw a card (other than abilities that say so)?
5. What, if anything, happens when I max out my planeswalker's Loyalty bar during a game?
6. In general, should I only go for Planeswalker gems as a last resort, unless I'm trying to get the specific PW ability?
In general, I find the amount of thinking ahead for gem matching extremely challenging. Given possible matches A, B, and C for the same number of points, which will benefit my opponent least on the next play while also benefiting me the most on my next play? (No, I'm not a very good chess player either.)
Here's what I played, going 1-0-2 (both draws were 1-1 games that couldn't finish game 3 in time). I'm not sure how much is bad play decisions and how much is the deck lacking sufficient punch.
My usual problem was having too much Heroic and not enough enablers.
Unplayed U/W were 2 Artisan of Forms, but I had trouble triggering the Heroic creatures I did have so I didn't feel confident about triggering the Artisans. Maybe I was playing the Bestow creatures too aggressively?
Black didn't seem out of the question either, although I think not playing it was correct. More quantity than quality and alot of BB cards would have been awkward as the secondary color to U or W.
I'm trying to come up with cards that either work mechanically very well with cards and mechanics from Ravnica (either Ravnica or Return To Ravnica) or have flavor that are flavor-appropriate to the Ravnica setting even though they weren't printed in one of those sets.
You're assuming this player is trying to draft 5-color well. Why assume that? If he's forcing 5-color, he already has a questionable strategy. Maybe he's not prioritizing gates and just drafting greedily, i.e. taking all of the powerful gold cards in various guilds and playing some crazy mana base like various basics in a 5/5/4/4 ratio.
I believe this is indeed the situation. Thank your for explaining this better than I did.
Essentially the problem is that no matter what Guild you pick this guy will be cutting off most of the best cards for your Guild.
Well, it's not the worst assumption because we were told that he typically finishes in the middle of the standings. If he were really going 5-5-4-4 then he would be the 0-3 in the draft more often than not, or else he's been getting crazy lucky draws.
He certainly has some luck, but keep in mind this is a small store with 8-10 people in a draft. And it's not like the store is 1 Johnny Rainbow and 7 Spikes; more like half decent drafters (no Pros; more like PTQ level guys, many of whom also MTGO draft) and half inexperienced/casual/newbies. Raw power decks with sketchy manabases can go 1-2 or 2-1 against more consistent but bad decks.
A certain player drafts at most FNMs at a small local store. He is not a total newbie and usually finishes in the middle of standings. Despite repeated advice against doing so, in RTR, GTC, and especially RTR/GTC/DGM drafts he nearly always drafts 4-5 colors rather than 2-3. The person sitting to his left nearly always does poorly, even when they are one of the better players at the store. It has become enough of an issue that some of the better players at the store refuse to draft with this person.
How do you deal with the mixed signals coming from a 4-5 color drafter in the format? Is it really a problem or is it something these players should learn to deal with it?
They're certainly having lots of fun with this "Simic loves to mix wacky creature types" theme. I'd love a reprint of Razorfin Hunter in Dragon's Maze;I know it's not Simic colors but it really seems appropriate. I feel like we should get a Coiling Oracle reprint...
chump block = throw him/her under the bus
make tokens = poop a dude
no blockers & no responses to being attack = block with my face / take it with my face
attack you when you have no blockers = beat face
attack with a 1-power creature = poke you
mass creature removal = blow up the world
unleash a creature = "Unleash the beast!"
detain = "You are under arrest!"
Any time my opponent says "I'm not sure if I should..." I always respond with an enthusiastic "Do eet!"
What non-green mana fixing cards are actually worth playing in Puzzle Quest? The 6 cost lands seem good because they're cheap, but most of them cost 11-15 which is the same as most of my better creatures. It seems like I'm usually better of playing a powerful creature for that cost.
So each player does draw a card every turn? It didn't seem like that was the case.
Right, but the Loyalty bar is shown as N/30. What happens if I reach 30/30? Do I simply lose any extra Loyalty I gain from gem matches or does something else happen?
1. When using Support cards, is there any way to chose which gem is affected or is it always random like it seems?
2. When using Spells or Abilities that target gems is there any way to chose which is targeted, or is always the opponent's oldest Support?
3. What causes a player to get to make an extra match?
4. What causes a player to draw a card (other than abilities that say so)?
5. What, if anything, happens when I max out my planeswalker's Loyalty bar during a game?
6. In general, should I only go for Planeswalker gems as a last resort, unless I'm trying to get the specific PW ability?
In general, I find the amount of thinking ahead for gem matching extremely challenging. Given possible matches A, B, and C for the same number of points, which will benefit my opponent least on the next play while also benefiting me the most on my next play? (No, I'm not a very good chess player either.)
9 Plains
8 Island
CREATURES (15)
1 Hopeful Eidolon
1 Battlewise Hoplite
2 Leonin Snarecaster
3 Nimbus Naiad
2 Triton Fortune Hunter
1 Wavecrash Triton
1 Lagonna-Band Elder
1 Heliod's Emissary
1 Ephara's Warden
1 Hundred-Handed One
1 Shipbreaker Kraken
1 Triton Tactics
1 Annul
1 Aqueous Form
1 Fate Foretold
1 Last Breath
1 Battlewise Valor
1 Griptide
1 Vanquish the Foul
My usual problem was having too much Heroic and not enough enablers.
Unplayed U/W were 2 Artisan of Forms, but I had trouble triggering the Heroic creatures I did have so I didn't feel confident about triggering the Artisans. Maybe I was playing the Bestow creatures too aggressively?
Other U/W unplayed:
I seriously considered running the 2 C-Tritons as I had 2 Unknown Shores (and 1 Traveler's Amulet), but I already had a glut of 3cc spells.
Red was a bit tempting for a splash as in addition to the Crackling Tritons I had:
Black didn't seem out of the question either, although I think not playing it was correct. More quantity than quality and alot of BB cards would have been awkward as the secondary color to U or W.
For completeness sake I will list my Green which seems pretty weak:
What would you have built?
Examples:
most of the Bloodthirst cards from M12 like Carnage Wurm
most cards related to Jace
Krenko, Mob Boss & Krenko's Command
Yeva, Nature's Herald & Yeva's Forcemage
Goblin Legionnaire
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Razorfin Hunter (looks like some kind of wacky Simic experiment to me!)
Tormented Soul (flavorful & works well with Cypher)
The Mimeoplasm
Blood Cultist (flavorful and uses +1/+1 counters like Unearth and several other block mechanics)
Impromptu Raid
Mind Funeral (the Grind mechanic)
Others?
I believe this is indeed the situation. Thank your for explaining this better than I did.
Essentially the problem is that no matter what Guild you pick this guy will be cutting off most of the best cards for your Guild.
He certainly has some luck, but keep in mind this is a small store with 8-10 people in a draft. And it's not like the store is 1 Johnny Rainbow and 7 Spikes; more like half decent drafters (no Pros; more like PTQ level guys, many of whom also MTGO draft) and half inexperienced/casual/newbies. Raw power decks with sketchy manabases can go 1-2 or 2-1 against more consistent but bad decks.
Unless of course your LGS is so small that firing off an 8-man FNM draft is often a struggle, especially with some of the player disgruntled.
How do you deal with the mixed signals coming from a 4-5 color drafter in the format? Is it really a problem or is it something these players should learn to deal with it?
Spider?CrabIt's like a seafood buffet on legs!
They're certainly having lots of fun with this "Simic loves to mix wacky creature types" theme. I'd love a reprint of Razorfin Hunter in Dragon's Maze;I know it's not Simic colors but it really seems appropriate. I feel like we should get a Coiling Oracle reprint...
make tokens = poop a dude
no blockers & no responses to being attack = block with my face / take it with my face
attack you when you have no blockers = beat face
attack with a 1-power creature = poke you
mass creature removal = blow up the world
unleash a creature = "Unleash the beast!"
detain = "You are under arrest!"
Any time my opponent says "I'm not sure if I should..." I always respond with an enthusiastic "Do eet!"
I make lots of Izzet / "is it?" jokes