Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Quote from: Red on December 17, 2011, 12:00:26 PM

The only thing that needs to be done is handicapping mayhem. If this rules purpose was to generate creativity it failed miserably.

The purpose was to hurt decks that just thoughtlessly stuff in 10+ and profit because Doms are so OP. If anything, this is a compromise to straight banning the majority of dominants. Realistically, if you want to balance the game, you need to ban every dominant except Harvest Time, Glory of the Lord, and Doubt. But that's not going to happen, so we have this rule which semi-balances it by forcing small decks to have less dominants.

Other than my initial thoughts and theories before this section of ROOT got started, I've kept relatively quiet about the rule. Now that ROOT has wrapped up for November/December, I'd like to share my thoughts. First off, the Dom Cap was never really proposed to hit speed (or, if it was, that was misguided, and isn't the focal point of the discussion on the rule right now). Will it reduce speed? Slightly. Guardian will see a lot less use in decks, and Falling Away might also see a bit of a hit, depending on how it goes. For the first four weeks of ROOT, I used Destruction of Nehushtan as my seventh dom, which accompanied SoG, NJ, CM, AotL, Grapes, and Mayhem. The biggest complaint I had with this set up was that, though DoN was certainly nice, I missed Falling Away more than I appreciated DoN. For the last game, I switched DoN out for FA, and it ended up netting me a 5-0 win, as opposed to the 5-1 I'd have had otherwise (not a big difference, but until Kirk won against Pol, the possibility that differential would decide the winner was a big one). All in all, that's the biggest choice I have to make, and I question the deck-building ability of anyone who isn't selecting those six, leaving that last one up for a harder decision.

As far as my actual opinion of the rule, I am all for it, for a couple reasons. First off, during an actual game, the intensity of the game from the beginning is slightly more than it would be otherwise, due to the slightly additional unknown factors. If we're down to the end of the game and I want to activate Chariot (or some other artifact) is it going to get hit by DoN? What if I bring down my Lampstand? Is one of my souls going to get hit by FA? Questions like these make the game more fun in my opinion, and they offer an additional unknown factor while reducing the degree of risk. The question is no longer "do they have them in hand?" it's "do they have them at all?" The occasional Harvest Time that I encounter, or even a Burial, is also a plus, if people think they can get away with not having Mayhem or maybe Grapes. I also love the rule because it gives slightly more freedom in deck building, and encourages the use of slightly larger defenses. I've had more fun in deck building for this rule than I've ever had before, because there's a lot more freedom involved in the selection process. Cards that take up more space but offer up an (arguably) higher reward, like Captured Ark, can finally see more play from people who might not have otherwise added it.

One thing I'd look forward to, should this rule get implemented, is the slight meta shift that will occur. I specifically used NT and Z Temple decks for three weeks (2 weeks for the former, 1 for the latter) because I wanted Lampstand so I wouldn't feel like I need to use as many evil doms. Such a decision will like resonate within the meta, and it will be nice to see a few less Sam and Genesis decks.

The Dom cap got me to put my deck to 63 (from 56)
Personally, I don't like the rule that much.

The main reason that I don't want dom cap is the same reason chronic wants it. Players should be forced to play around doms instead of having to worry if it's there or not. Dom cap would force me to alter my playing style of playing around doms and I don't want that.

Quote from: Red on December 20, 2011, 07:49:23 PM

The main reason that I don't want dom cap is the same reason chronic wants it. Players should be forced to play around doms instead of having to worry if it's there or not. Dom cap would force me to alter my playing style of playing around doms and I don't want that.

lol. Please stop complaining about Mayhem if you actually think this. Play around it.

Quote from: Red on December 23, 2011, 10:35:07 PM

Quote from: Alex_Olijar on December 20, 2011, 11:09:58 PM

Quote from: Red on December 20, 2011, 07:49:23 PM

The main reason that I don't want dom cap is the same reason chronic wants it. Players should be forced to play around doms instead of having to worry if it's there or not. Dom cap would force me to alter my playing style of playing around doms and I don't want that.

lol. Please stop complaining about Mayhem if you actually think this. Play around it.

Kind of impossible when it hits you T1 yknow. screws your deck over maybe?

Please have some consistantcy in your thoughts. "Play around doms" "You can't play around doms". Which is it?

You can play around Mayhem. Drop anything in your hand you can whenever you can.

Quote from: cookie monster on December 24, 2011, 11:03:22 AM

Mayhem does not even hurt my deck. I actually kind of like it when my opponent uses Mayhem, It mixes his hand up and that makes it easier to attack for a lost soul.

A Mayhem on the first turn will hurt any deck, regardless.  Though it's entirely possible to have a deck with a low hand size (zeb, etc) that benefits from Mayhem.  (Plus, your Abom triggers off of that)