Author Topic: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.  (Read 8947 times)

Offline Minister Polarius

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An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« on: August 25, 2009, 04:17:12 AM »
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Rob, playtesters, bravo! Bravissimo, even! This latest set, the smallest one ever, is by FAR the best! There is exponentially more strategy to this game now than in all the previous eras combined. Keep up the good work! I wouldn't mind the next set being 10 cards if they were all like the Fortresses in this set.
I am not talking about T2 unless I am explicitly talking about T2. Also Mayhem is fine now somehow!

Offline BubbleBoy

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2009, 10:45:37 AM »
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Please have more than ten cards in the next set! Other than that, I agree with the above.
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The Schaef

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2009, 10:51:10 AM »
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Rob, playtesters, bravo! Bravissimo, even! This latest set, the smallest one ever, is by FAR the best worst! There is exponentially more strategy brokenness to this game now than in all the previous eras combined. Keep up the good complete lack of work! I wouldn't mind the next set being 10 less than zero cards if they were all like the Fortresses everything in this set.

Fixed.  ;)

And yes, for those of you who have been stalking my posts this morning, today is a goofball day.

Offline TimMierz

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2009, 11:08:11 AM »
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I'm sorry I or someone else hurt your feelings.
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The Schaef

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2009, 11:12:33 AM »
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... um.... wink?

Offline TimMierz

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2009, 11:29:59 AM »
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You just seem sore all of a sudden about people that criticized the set and the direction Redemption has taken, in that and other recent posts. Since I'm one of those people, I apologize for making you upset.
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Lamborghini_diablo

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2009, 11:32:44 AM »
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today is a goofball day.

I don't see any upsetness.

The Schaef

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2009, 11:47:16 AM »
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You just seem sore all of a sudden about people that criticized the set and the direction Redemption has taken, in that and other recent posts.

... um.... wink?

Offline Bryon

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2009, 12:20:03 PM »
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Schaef winked with a smile.  Get it?  :)

Anyway, as one of the playtesters who helped to create/edit/playtest the new cards, thank you, Daniel and Jeremiah.

The set was not perfect.  But it did turn out some fun cards.  We didn't want too many foils sitting in binders, and we knew we were pushing the extreme line on a handful of these cards, but I am hopeful that they will all work out OK.

Offline Minister Polarius

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2009, 02:55:55 PM »
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I feel like going into detail now, these cards are so game changing. The overall theme of why these cards are so good is versatility. The really really good TxP cards can be used for any number of things. I shall now go into detail:

-Grapes of Wrath
I don't think I even need to say anything about how fantastic this card is. It can be used in so many different ways with so many different outcomes, and it's never useless. I staple it in every deck. First use: another AotL; if your opponent has two buff EC's you can't really do much about, AotL one and Wrath the other. Second use: double-rescue; I'm a defensive player, so most of the time I'm going to have the fewest Souls rescued, which means when I do decide to start coming after your souls, you have to block me twice! Third use: defense!; this is probably my favorite use, as what other card will allow you to totally block a RA by playing a Good card? Fourth use: getting rid of Destructive Sin; sure, you have to shuffle your Hero in, but your junk's not being Negated anymore and it works for all placed cards. Fifth use: stalling; last night I played GoW when all of my opponent's heroes were in battle, and he wasn't able to Rescue again for a few turns. Fantastic card!

-Mayhem
Another huge addition to the game. I can't even scratch the surface of all the potential uses for this card, but I'll try. First use: drawing; if you can get your hand down to just Mayhem or Mayhem and a couple of others, you just earned yourself a free 5 card draw. Second use: hand management; if your opponent just attacked you with Hur/Gifts, save Mayhem and his hand of 16 (or whatever the new limit is) goes down to a hand of six, and you can even just do it when he draws up to 11 and knock him down five cards. Third use: blocking; when your opponent puts some initiative character out into battle, block with your KoT or PotW and then make him hope he'll get his ITB/CBN battle-winner back. Fourth use: getting around U&T; it doesn't matter if they know what's in your hand if there are another six cards waiting in the wings. Fifth use: disrupting milling combos; with the extreme popularity of GoH, a way to shuffle decks on-demand is crucial, and it's one of the few ways to stop a WS+TD+HoH+CoT combo. Sixth use: Mulligan; sometimes you just have a lame hand, and Mayhem will let you try again for a cost.

-Philistine Outpost
This is another one of the most ingenious cards in the set. While it's in play, any time you have a Philistine anywhere, you have a blocker. You can combine it with Amon/Manasseh for even more recursion. You can use it to get Garrison back over and over again. It makes your site locking more secure. It's SO much more useful than a Protection fortress. Play with it and you will not be sorry.

-Gates of Hell
The coolest card from this set. You can either make a GoH deck and draw out as soon as you get it, or just add it into a Demon or Demon/Magician defense and make it significantly better. There are many specific combos that rely on GoH to work, and it's also an answer to a battle-winner. You can mill faster with Bronze Laver or Susanna. It's impossible to kill (only ANB will even get rid of it for a while). Whoever had this idea is the best card creator of all time.

-High Places
Enables 100+ decks to be not only viable, but fearsome. I played a Deck Discard monstrosity, and while I won, I could have lost at any time. Seemingly Insignificant, the site guarders, Defiant, all the SitC type stuff just became awesome in T1 as well as nearly OP in T2. Abomination of the Desolation is now actually able to get into territories, and Orange placing junk is actually possible to execute well.

These are the main ones I have my knickers in a bunch over, but there are a ton of other extremely useful cards in this set as well.
I am not talking about T2 unless I am explicitly talking about T2. Also Mayhem is fine now somehow!

Offline Master KChief

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2009, 03:01:59 PM »
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bronze laver/susanna mill? i think you mean tutor...
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Offline Minister Polarius

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2009, 03:07:04 PM »
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Why? Neither one of them search. Well, Susanna does kind of, but each of them put cards on the bottom of your deck to draw. With Susanna, you can just put all Demons you inspect on bottom and then GoH them out, and Bronze Laver is obvious.
I am not talking about T2 unless I am explicitly talking about T2. Also Mayhem is fine now somehow!

Offline Master KChief

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2009, 03:12:56 PM »
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right, but thats not milling, thats tutoring. mill cards are cards like huge egyptian, salome, egyptian horseman, given over to egypt, etc. i suppose goh is technically a mill card, but as you're searching for demons in return, i would classify it mostly as a tutor card.
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Offline lightningninja

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2009, 03:15:22 PM »
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I agree... I was actually going to make a post similar to this... the cards are amazing. I'm not even sure if I'll use mayhem as I'm using lampstand more and more since I get so many more awesome arts in each set... but every single card I would put in almost every single deck that uses that brigade. Well done!
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Offline Minister Polarius

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #14 on: August 25, 2009, 03:19:28 PM »
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right, but thats not milling, thats tutoring. mill cards are cards like huge egyptian, salome, egyptian horseman, given over to egypt, etc. i suppose goh is technically a mill card, but as you're searching for demons in return, i would classify it mostly as a tutor card.
Oh, ok. I had the wrong idea of what mill meant. Yeah, I mean tutoring.
I am not talking about T2 unless I am explicitly talking about T2. Also Mayhem is fine now somehow!

Offline Master KChief

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2009, 03:26:01 PM »
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goh is a great card, and i love the implications behind it. i just dont see myself using this card much unless an uber-cool combo is found, as it requires a deck to pretty much be tailored specifically around it, or else it would be too risky. i do like how its immune to practically every fort negator/discarder out there, and how it can add a demon to battle. powerful card if used right, but pretty balanced as well.
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Offline Captain Kirk

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #16 on: August 25, 2009, 03:33:52 PM »
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goh is a great card, and i love the implications behind it. i just dont see myself using this card much unless an uber-cool combo is found, as it requires a deck to pretty much be tailored specifically around it, or else it would be too risky. i do like how its immune to practically every fort negator/discarder out there, and how it can add a demon to battle. powerful card if used right, but pretty balanced as well.

But the best use is to discard your entire deck in multi-player and give away all your lost souls for free, legally as you cannot make an honest attempt to block a rescue...  8)  Oh wait, JDS already does this....

Kirk
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Offline Master KChief

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #17 on: August 25, 2009, 03:39:12 PM »
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haha, yeah jds was probably the lead designer behind goh... :D
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Lamborghini_diablo

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #18 on: August 25, 2009, 06:15:18 PM »
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With Susanna, you can just put all Demons you inspect on bottom

And lost souls.  :D

Definately the biggest thing that surprised me in this set was the amount of sitelock cards.

Well Reopened, Angel of Warning, Kir, Herods Dungeon (which is like, rediculous in T2), Axe, Large Tree, and Land Dispute are just the ones that obviously mention sites.

Overall though, I love how this set is definately heavier on the defensive stuff, yet offenses get some fun new tools as well.

Offline adamfincher

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #19 on: August 25, 2009, 06:41:30 PM »
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unfortunately i cannot agree with you polarius. i do not like the set much. the two staple doms are nice. and high places, but other than that i got nothing for my favorite strategy. that is syrians and angels. i'm sorry, but the angels pretty much stink! i wish they had more cards in this set. i am glad that other people like it though. i guess i will play more garden tomb now :/

Thanks for listening to my negativetylranting.

Adam.

Offline NWJosh

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #20 on: August 25, 2009, 06:41:51 PM »
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Forget the special abilities I just love the foil!!!!!

Well okay I love the SA's also.  I've always loved black and now that Philistines are stronger I feel an over whelming urge to play them in every deck.  ;D  This set was small but effective so I'm really excited to start using the cards on a regular basis.
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Lamborghini_diablo

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #21 on: August 25, 2009, 06:55:59 PM »
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syrians
... got boosted majorly in the past two sets.

Quote
and angels

Attending Angel - No more waiting for that enhancement you need. Also, gets rid of obnoxious placed enhs.
Angel of Warning - Peek at their hand or help your offense/defense by grabbing a fort or site.
Consuming Fire - This card is epic if used right. Pre-rescue semi-FBTN.

I agree its not as epic as some of the other stuff,  but it helps if used right.

Offline Minister Polarius

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #22 on: August 25, 2009, 08:07:09 PM »
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Silver hasn't gotten much the past few sets because it's already pretty canonized. The crux of a Silver offense still dates back to Warriors, and since AW and Kings it hasn't really needed much. Even still, Cactus gives silver users cards like Angel of the Harvest and Striking Herod from time to time.
I am not talking about T2 unless I am explicitly talking about T2. Also Mayhem is fine now somehow!

Lamborghini_diablo

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #23 on: August 25, 2009, 08:15:02 PM »
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Silver hasn't gotten much the past few sets because it's already pretty canonized. The crux of a Silver offense still dates back to Warriors, and since AW and Kings it hasn't really needed much. Even still, Cactus gives silver users cards like Angel of the Harvest and Striking Herod from time to time.

That and Silver was pretty much the ONLY offense found in Angel Wars.

The Schaef

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Re: An Open Letter to Cactus et. al.
« Reply #24 on: August 25, 2009, 08:34:36 PM »
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i'm sorry, but the angels pretty much stink!

So in a set with High Places, an angel that discards placed evil cards is not of benefit to you?

 


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