Okay, I lie; you've probably heard me say something to that effect in almost every article I've written about strategy. There's a reason - I really do feel, down to the bottom of my heart, that speedy play, and not in the 'chess timer' sense, is the way to go in the current meta."Well okay, Evan," you say, "you can say that, but clearly there's signs they don't want the games to be all about speed - the large numbers of expensive characters, characters getting rerolled when they get knocked out rather than going to the used pile, and so on. So if they're trying to make the game not all about speed, why do you think it is anyway?"
Well, dear reader, that's an excellent question! I'd like to share some thoughts about why speed is good, and the first of them is one word: momentum.
p = mv
Momentum in physics is one thing; momentum here, and in other games, is a little less easy to describe mathematically (and I'll spare you my flailing around trying to do so). Basically, it's the concept that as you get to do what you want more and more, you'll have an easier and easier time continuing to do what you want. In short, "the more you do well, the more you'll keep doing well."
Like in physics, though, speed contributes. The earlier you get things going, the earlier you get to dictate the tone of the game, the earlier your opponent winds up having to divert energy and actions away from doing what they need to get done for their setup to win (unless, of course, they've made that part of their plan - more on that later). This is really why I push for speed; it keeps you in control, or at least more in control, of how you get to play...assuming the dice cooperate, which they rarely do.
I harp a lot about how I'm not fond of 5s and 6s, and how the probabilities for getting them out can look severe, but the honest truth is: if you can sit down and roll for energy one turn, especially if you have a couple of dice from previous combat, they're not too dear; you just need to ensure you can do that. If you have to madly dash to buy an assassin, or some blockers, or some Power Bolts, or whatever, because that's what you need to keep your opponent from tearing huge chunks out of your life? You're not going to have that chance to merrily roll for energy, or at the very least, you're not likely to be able to dictate when it's going to happen. If you're the one fielding those fast, cheap attackers that your opponent is madly scrambling to pick up blockers for, it's likely you'll have turns where you won't mind having one less of them and shooting for that five energy you need for a Gem Keeper or Wind Rider or whatever, and if not? You're still keeping the pressure on, and you'll have an opportunity later.
Really, the core of speed as it pertains to momentum isn't so much "I can pick up eight dice in four turns" as "I can get to my win state quickly." It's neat if you can pick up so many dice so fast, but if they're not the right dice, it may not matter; it may be more important for you to get one die out in four turns...if, say, that die is If Looks Could Kill. If your strategy is to get Cyclops out and then hide behind a wall of Beasts while he decimates your opponent's team every round...hey, as long as you can manage that seven cost in a timely fashion, that's a good plan. Would it be easier if you relied on a five, or a four? Absolutely! That, in the end, is why I get down on the higher cost guys a little - they bring increasing risk to the table, and risk means maybe losing the momentum, and I don't want that.
Great Things in Small Packages
The other part of this equation I'm not going to beat around the bush about: while there's relatively fewer cheap cards, there's enough of them that are very, very good that, because they're that much easier to get out, they overshadow a lot of the also-good but more expensive cards, enabling a strong, fast game. Think about it: Mutate #666; Tsarina, or even Killer Instinct; Soaring; Ace in the Hole; Johnny Storm or Flame On!; African Priestess; Longbow and Robin Hood...the list goes on and on. We've got so many good cheap choices that it seems silly to spend one and a half to three times as much energy on something that has similar (or, in some cases, worse) abilities and slightly better stats, when you can easily get those cheap characters back out to block the beefy ones every turn.
I'm not sure if this was an oversight or something; certainly (and I'm dating myself here) there needs to be some Mogg Fanatics to go along with the Dwarven Traders in the set, but I do feel like some of the primo abilities wound up on characters who were also cheap, and that just magnified how good they were. If Mutate #666 cost four, he'd be good, but not the must-have he is now; if Johnny Storm cost five or six, he'd still be attractive, but less of a no-brainer choice for passive damage. Compare, even, American Hero Captain America to NOGG - same purchase cost, but NOGG has a much better ability (and a useful global) with similar stats, while being easier to field. Cap is almost totally overshadowed here; you can make similar arguments between McRook Punisher and Jack Deadpool, as well as various other comparisons we've brought up previously.
It's plausible we could see some rebalancing as a reaction to what happens in the OP; I actually have no experience with Wizkids as a rulemaking body so I can't say if that's the sort of thing they do often, but it'd certainly be an option. As it stands, though, unless you're looking to make house rules to modify how much the "cheap awesome" costs, there's not a lot that can be done about this, outside of favoring those cards, and looking to heed the idea that you're going to need to speed up your game to get ahead.
Practical: Tsarina FireStorm Breakdown
One of the most popular hybrid deck cores is the Tsarina FireStorm; there's some variability, but in general you're likely to see Mutate #666 Beast, Tsarina Black Widow, Johnny Storm Human Torch, and Wind Rider Storm. I'd like to take a little time to look at this deck from a speed perspective, so we can see both how its speed works for it, and how it can manage to grab momentum.
First off, consider the 'done' condition for the deck: three each of Widow and Beast, one or two Human Torches, and at least one Storm - two is great if you can manage it, but I've done fine with one. This is very easy to get going - with any luck you'll pick up two-thirds of your Beasts and Widows in the first two turns, and then can pick up the other ones as you field your characters. A four-cost die might be a little tricky to work in with so many characters you'll want to field, but it's pretty likely in those opening turns you'll have a moment where you can spare a Beast, or even a Widow, and pick one up, or just get four sidekicks and have nothing better to do. It's not likely you'll be able to get a Storm through a straight sidekick draw, but a little character help will get her out, too. All in all, nothing too complicated to field, with one or two easy-to-medium costs to fit in, and one or two medium; it's entirely likely that you'll be on cruise control by your fourth bag of dice, especially if your Beasts pay their die dividends from blocking.
Outside of not needing a lot of momentum to really get going, what really gives the deck a boost is how perfectly everything fits together. Beast is a cheap blocker who lets you draw more, letting you grind away with your other characters with less fear of being blindsided by something; Tsarina is perfect in that early grinding role, easily slipping in some early game damage with her ability and helping to keep your opponent's offensive capabilities sliding downwards without having a huge cost impact on the rest of what you're doing. Johnny Storm is fantastic artillery, especially in a deck that expects to have many of its characters get knocked out and return to the field constantly because they rarely cost anything to play; Storm fills the all-important assassin role while being an additional direct damage source; combined with Human Torch, her low defense allow you to ensure she winds up dead every round, to use that ability more and more.
Pretty much everything is covered; there's multiple plans for getting damage in, from a multi-character rush after your opponent is worn down from Tsarina damage to plinking to death with Human Torch and Storm while you hide behind your cheap blockers, to everything in between; your options explode with the other four cards you choose. Defense is easily handled - you have a swarm of expendable blockers, and your energy expenditures will likely be low enough that you can take advantage of the various useful globals on the table. Beast, plus the absurd amount of character churn, will mean you're rolling plenty of dice every turn; Storm will (hopefully) blow away anything you want to get off the table, with Human Torch pings as a backup. All the multitasking and interconnectivity means that the deck doesn't need to go nuts with extra dice to do what it needs to do; it focuses on this tiny core, gets it out, kicks ass, and calls it a day. If there problems come up, it knows what to do to try and deal with them; the only question is, as always, if the dice will comply.
Today's Meta, Gone Tomorrow?
Speedy characters seem to be an overrepresented minority right now, but that may not remain the case. We've seen a lot of the dice for Uncanny X-Men at this point, and they certainly seem to be favoring faster play based on their fielding costs, with many dice looking like they'll run cheaper to field. We'll have to wait for cards to come out for a fuller analysis (and you can bet that I'll do one as soon as I can), but hopefully a more speed-centric set will lead to more balance on the lower end, and more truly outstanding high-end cards that we will field we absolutely have to get out no matter what it takes. We'll keep you posted as details surface.
Thanks for joining me again for another strategy article; hopefully if anyone was wondering why I push speed-focused deck slants so much, they now know. I will note that I don't think speed is mandatory for winning; it just helps grease the wheels, frequently by quite a bit, so it's useful to think about. If you've got thoughts on how to work around the speed issue with the current stat set, I'd love to hear them - feel free to leave a comment. Otherwise, have a good one, and pray for good rolls!
Great article. I wonder if some sort of action card that made higher cost characters easier to purchase would help?
ReplyDeletee.g "deduct 3 from the cost of any one character" BURST "Deduct 4 instead"
The "Any ONE" character is key, as it stops you buying 2 or 3 Beasts per turn instead.
This sounds reasonably balanced, honestly - it's a decent opportunity cost buying the die, and it only gives you one or two extra energy (which you can't split up among purchases) for it. I get the feeling the cost curve of the game will change a good bit with UXM, so we'll see how necessary it'll be then, but I wouldn't mind something like that as one of the new basic actions.
DeleteI was thinking of one as well. Possibly an action or character ability that says you can get energy equal to the level of a character if you send it to the used pile. I would say KO that character but that may be to advantageous for you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think a guaranteed KO for energy might be too good with some on fielded characters, where part of the trick to using them is figuring out how to make sure they die (or don't die, if you're fighting them). NOGG can sort of work like this, in that you can KO a sidekick and then throw it at a weenie character to knock them out too, netting you two guaranteed dice next turn.
DeleteWhat about a self destruct character ability? e.g. Character text might read "sacrifice this character when active to purchase one character die at no cost." The sacrificed die would then move off the board, and out of gameplay completely, much like an "exiled" state in M:tG.
Delete