Cactus Game Design Message Boards

For the past couple of sets we've been spoiling cards before they are sent to print. That means they are not always in their final form when you first see them. We greatly value community feedback. We all love this game and want it to be the best it can be. Sometimes the community catches mistakes we've overlooked. Sometimes they suggest things that are good thematically or enhance game play. We take every suggestion into consideration even though it may not always appear that way from your side of things. Thank you for your feedback thus far on the phase 2 previews. I want to update you on changes to a few cards that have come about because of your input. You'll get to see all of the updated cards when PoC is finalized and sent to the printer.

When Pagan Sailors was previewed some of you mentioned how fun it would be thematically if they had a toss ability. The sailors were tossing all kinds of things overboard after all. Here's what the elder team agreed upon.

Spoiler (hover to show)

When The First Sacrifice was spoiled on Land of Redemption some of you felt that it was too strong, especially in combination with characters that grant CBN to Enhancements (such as Isaiah and Benjamin). We've adjusted the card and most of us feel it's in a better place now.

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The last card that I'll touch on today has undergone a number of changes. It was originally one of the first cards previewed before PoC was divided into phase 1 & 2. More recently when it was previewed some suggested that Lacking Prophecy was more appropriate as a Curse than an Artifact. We've heard you and adjusted this card to make it a solid counter to some of the PoC sets strongest themes!

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Nice

Nice

Will this be the first curse without numbers that add up to 6? I propose the numbers be changed to 12/-6 to make it super tossable and cuz the numbers don't really matter otherwise since it banishes itself.

Pagan sailors brings back my idea for Ashera Pole defense

Quote from: thecoolguy on March 22, 2019, 11:12:38 AM

you know what balaam can get it out of the discard pile (laking prophecy)

Lacking Prophecy banishes itself if used as an enhancement, though. Granted, recurring a restriction from playing Dominants is fun.

Also of note, if Balaam played this, he would shuffle himself...note that it does not specify "good" prophets.

Lacking Prophecy might be a bit much with CBN. And, as much as I'd love to see it do something about STAR -currently uncountered- cards (restrict STAR abilities from activating, negate, etc), I suppose this is just as thematic.

The same way we didn't attack the Reserve when it first came out, we've chosen not to stop * abilities directly to start with. But there are counters to most of the * abilities, just not as you describe.

*UPDATE* Lost Boy LS

Gabe did extensive testing with the Lost Boy LS and although several of the playtest group shared concerns (as well as some players after the LS was previewed), Gabe's testing was showing that the concerns were unwarranted as it was easy for his opponents to "work around" the ability.

However, late in the playtest process Gabe had a couple games in a row where the Lost Boy LS pretty much had his opponent "stuck." While we want to have counters available to the most common strategies, we also want to avoid (as much as possible) negative play experiences where players can literally do nothing because of one specific card. As a result, we revisited the Lost Boy LS and came up with a similar ability that still has the "scattered sheep" type feel, but doesn't necessarily lead to a block.

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Also, John has a new nickname for the Lost Soul, I'll let him share that when he has a chance...

Did lacking prophecy get changed by chance??

Many times! 

Which one in particular do you mean?