Narziss's Card Ratings

[Narziss]

Gosh, I'll have to agree with some but disagree with a few: (just my opinion)

Ter Adun will be powerful once weapons comes out.

Fire Snake should be higher. The only 1 cast creature in the entire game. Every point counts and so does every turn, which brings me to the next point:

Holy Shield and Rain Delay. In my opinion these cards are too good to say "1". Remember that every turn counts. If you can stall for just one turn, it could mean a game changer. It's either going to be a spell, which holy shied will block, or an attack, which rain delay will block. It's ALMOST like "Orim's Chant" if you've ever played Magic the Gathering. Borderline broken.

Other than that, interesting list!

I feel like something many people ignore but you really have to keep in mind is Card Advantage. Cards like Rain Delay and Holy Shield do not net you any sort of card advantage, in fact, they give you a card disadvantage. Same with Fire Snake (this thing just dies, giving you a -1 card advantage). At the very least you want to play with cards that trade one for one (you use one card to eliminate one of your opponent's cards, giving you a +0 card advantage). Great cards are cards that trade one for two (Lightning Strike is a great example; you can use this one card to kill two enemy allies, thus netting you a +1 card advantage. Again, cards like Fire Snake, Rain Delay, and Holy Shield are really bad because they give you a -1 card advantage (in the majority of circumstances, they don't even trade for another card).

Yeah, I know Orim's Chant, I played a ton of Magic the Gathering, but I don't even understand how you can compare them, since Orim's Chant is good and Rain Delay is bad (does rain delay prevent opponents from playing cards?--no). Hmm.... How can I put it..... How about this: let me make a list of things you want to keep in mind:

1. Card Advantage (Does the card trade 1-for-1 "okay" or 1-for-0 "bad" or 1-for-2 "excellent"; Sandra, Belladonna and Lightning Strike are two clear examples of awesome 1-for-2 trades. If you can get a card to count for two or more, then you are on the right track. Obviously, cards that let you draw give you a great advantage in that they slim down your deck and give an immediate card advantage, like Research or Blood Frenzy. However, be careful of playing cards like Bad Santa which actually can benefit your opponent more than it benefits you, since playing it when both players have empty hands actually nets you a -1 card advantage because you both gained three cards but you paid one. Unless Bazaar is part of your long term strategy, be careful in using it since it gives you both a -1 card advantage and a loss of tempo, since your opponent gets to take advantage of the extra draw before you).

2. Tempo (Sometimes cards don't give you a card advantage but they give you some tempo, letting you outpace your opponents. Examples include "Here Be Monsters" which trades 1-for-1 but grants you a tempo advantage. You might think that Rain Delay falls into this category and that it makes up for the 1-for-0 card disadvantage by granting you tempo, but in reality, Rain Delay just slows you down since it takes time and resources to cast it which could have been instead allocated toward strengthening your defenses, instead of just stalling the game and putting yourself at a card disadvantage).

3. Board Presence (This is really important since attacking allies get first strike. Portal is a great card for facilitating Board Presence since you are able to kill enemy allies before they get a chance to attack you.)

4. Damage (So in the end you win the game by dishing out enough damage to kill your opponent; nevertheless, this is your long term goal. The more important goals, your short term goals, are card advantage, tempo, and board presence. In fact, don't think of damage as a separate long term goals, just think of these short term goals (tempo, card advantage, and board presence) as indirect but highly effective means of working toward this long term goal. In other words, starting a game off by hurling a Fireball at your opponent hero is usually a bad idea since, although you are dealing 4 damage, you are putting yourself at a -1 card advantage. Cards like Fire Snake that can't survive enough to trade one-for-one are really bad. Instead, dropping a Sandra grants you the tempo to dish out more damage before you opponent is able to set up defenses and dropping a Belladonna gives you the card advantage to establish your presence in the long term).


The fascinating thing about Shadow Era is that, while in Magic the Gathering you have to strategically make a deck that either slants toward card advantage or toward tempo, in Shadow Era you can make a deck that is balanced in both and then you can tactically choose to play one or the other (and use the other's cards as your resources).