Resource destruction: a garunteed way to suck the fun out of a game

[ChiaLike]

Sandra Trueblade and Here Be Monsters should be taken out of the game or have their effects completely overhauled. We can argue all day about how over powered they are or aren't but at the end of the day it comes down to this: any tome my opponent plays more than one of either of them in a row, the game stops being fun and instead becomes horribly frustrating.

Anyone who has played magic seriously and the last few years will tell you that land destruction/ mana denial has not been a viable strategy in quite sometime. This is not an accident. Wizards of the Coast spent a lot of money to find out what people do and do not like about their game. On thing they discovered was that people HATE having their lands (resources) destroyed and not being able to play their cards (the same is said about discard and counters which is why both of those types of cards have been scaled down sharply in production). There is nothing fun about staring at a hand of cards you can't play. There's no ammount of strategy that can get you out of it, though maybe dumb luck can if the other guy fails to draw any sort of halfway decent fallow up.

My point here is that resource destruction makes them game un-fun for at least one of they players (the one who watches his opponent throw down Aeons while he's still stuck at 3) and I think we can all agree that the point of the game. If anyone doesn't believe me or would like to argue, I'd be happy to link you to the NUMEROUS articles written by well known and successful game designers on just these topics. This is not a matter of opinion. The community has come to a consensus and the designers of this game should seriously consider reading up a bit on game design (specifically, TCG design). It can only help!

/rant.

[Drakkon]

The game will always be unfun for the losing party. Get over it.

[ChiaLike]

You are flat out wrong. If you've never had fun when losing you are what most would call a "sore loser."

Losing is fine when it's because of being outplayed or thy the opponent was better than you. It's not fine when you win cause you're a pro at drawing sandra and winning the roll to go first.

[Drakkon]

That can be said about any card in the game. You draw cards and you win. Sandra is a good card. But if you can't recover from 1-2 resources lost then you're not that good of a player.

[tangmcgame]

Or the other player is as good as him? All things being equal, the player that goes first and draws resource destruction is going to win. It's not fun, and it has very little to do with skill.

Anyway, I think resource destruction is too cheap and therefore too splashable as it is. Sandra and HBM both need a cost bump by 1. That way they'd still control the game, but at a higher and less dominant resource point. They'd also be much less attractive (read: automatically included in any and all decks) but would still be playable in a resource destruction or control deck.

[ChiaLike]

Dude, did you even read the OP? I'm not just bitching here, I have concrete evidence to back this up. And what other card in the game can you play 2 back to back and have anywhere near the advantage Sandra gives you? Don't worry, I'll wait.

I've been playing games competitively since I was 11, studying game design since I was 14 and playing professionally since I was 16. You can't tell me I dont know what I'm talking about, bud.

[Drakkon]

Resource Destruction hurts some decks, and others it doesn't. While playing Moonstalker I laugh at people who do it to me. In most cases Resource Destruction will not determain the outcome of a game. I got hit with 4 Sandra in a row, followed by Plague. Most annoying thing in the world, IMO. But I ended up winning.

[ChiaLike]

Whether or not you can beat the cards is irrelevant. The point I'm trying to make is what you just said "most annoying thing in the world"

I've bested quad sandra before too (with 3 Aeons no less) but that makes it all the worse. I WON the game and it STILL wasn't fun.

[Drakkon]

My opponent chain summoning Aeons isn't fun. I'm sure everytime you spend 4-7 resources for a weapon or armor and I spend 1 via Shriek of Vengence to destroy it is annoying. Transference in multiples is annoying. We get your point. But it's not that big of a problem.

[ChiaLike]

Well, the most profitable and well reguarded gaming company in the world would disagree :/.

Also, if you shrieked my weapon I would likely just chuckle and the card and tempo advantage you just lost. Transference is of the same ilk as the resource killing. Discard is very frustrating, as was mentioned in my OP, however it is only in one archetype and thus isn't as rampant and also requires some tempo loss. Sandra is a body that can take out small guys or bash your face AND cripples your resource progression.