In my defense, these were the answers that I was looking for! Obviously I love the stories about specifics in terms of matches or singular moments like Hayden's Snapdragon story, but you all did a great job answering the question and gave me a lot to think on!
My personal top 3: Best cards: 3 - Eloquent Eulogy: A perfect card for Vynnset, I am so hyped for when she becomes a meta contender. 2 - Cosmo, Scroll of Ancestral Tapestry: I believe the idea of a ward based illusionist is a very good solution to the problems illusionist had before. Unfortunatly Enigma just turned out to strong, but the intent was very good. 1 - Raise an Army: An amazingly flavorful card which is the perfect example of an inevitable win condition of a slow deck. Instead of aiming for boring fatigue (like CYB) you work towards a big goal. Worst cards: 3 - Levels of Enlightenment: This card just does not have to exist. It's just free power for decks that did not need it at all, but is not interesting besides that. It is, and will be, an auto include in every mystic deck, which is a bad thing I believe. 2 - Ancestral Harmony: I don't like when a card has the potential to "high roll" on its own. There is just way to much power here with very little risk. But to be honest, even if there was more risk this card would still be very annoying. 1 - Count Your Blessing: LSS said that CYB is the perfect example of a "control" card, but I very much dissagree. Control should prolong the game by interacting with and outplaying the opponent, not just create a gamestate which is unbeatable in a very boring way. The wincon of setting up items like Dash or creating an army like Kassai should be the preferred goal of a control strategy, not hard fatigue. Also, creating cards which "require" you to play silver bullet sideboard cards is not good design I think.
Kano's deck construction didn't change a whole lot with Kindle, but the gameplay pattern shifted dramatically to tunnel-visioning combo and disregarding value play a lot. It might not look like it in the decklist, but Kindle was a big shift for Kano.
The thing about cards like Cerebellum Processor and Savage Sash is that they not bannable. High Octane might have restricted the design space, and/or was used as a crutch, but it could be banned without a problem, and it hoefully will be replaced for the heroes the ban invalidated in the future. But making an onboarding product non-legal would probably create a problem on a longer timeframe (maybe even if they will be out of print?). Is it possible that Cerebellum Processor and Savage Sash is creating a long term bottleneck fo the classes that could use them? Even if both are currently ok, being overtuned and unbannable is even more limiting than Berserk and High Octane originally was?
I agree with Pankaj. Traverse is a huge reason the top 2 decks are the top 2 decks. It provides way too much. I think if it was sac and tutor a chi its still one of the top headpieces in the game. Maybe even if it was 0 block blade break tutor to provide the "counterplay" of dont attack. Card is insane. Sirens call is still more miserable though.
all my homies hate sirens call
In my defense, these were the answers that I was looking for! Obviously I love the stories about specifics in terms of matches or singular moments like Hayden's Snapdragon story, but you all did a great job answering the question and gave me a lot to think on!
My personal top 3:
Best cards:
3 - Eloquent Eulogy: A perfect card for Vynnset, I am so hyped for when she becomes a meta contender.
2 - Cosmo, Scroll of Ancestral Tapestry: I believe the idea of a ward based illusionist is a very good solution to the problems illusionist had before. Unfortunatly Enigma just turned out to strong, but the intent was very good.
1 - Raise an Army: An amazingly flavorful card which is the perfect example of an inevitable win condition of a slow deck. Instead of aiming for boring fatigue (like CYB) you work towards a big goal.
Worst cards:
3 - Levels of Enlightenment: This card just does not have to exist. It's just free power for decks that did not need it at all, but is not interesting besides that. It is, and will be, an auto include in every mystic deck, which is a bad thing I believe.
2 - Ancestral Harmony: I don't like when a card has the potential to "high roll" on its own. There is just way to much power here with very little risk. But to be honest, even if there was more risk this card would still be very annoying.
1 - Count Your Blessing: LSS said that CYB is the perfect example of a "control" card, but I very much dissagree. Control should prolong the game by interacting with and outplaying the opponent, not just create a gamestate which is unbeatable in a very boring way. The wincon of setting up items like Dash or creating an army like Kassai should be the preferred goal of a control strategy, not hard fatigue. Also, creating cards which "require" you to play silver bullet sideboard cards is not good design I think.
Kano's deck construction didn't change a whole lot with Kindle, but the gameplay pattern shifted dramatically to tunnel-visioning combo and disregarding value play a lot. It might not look like it in the decklist, but Kindle was a big shift for Kano.
The thing about cards like Cerebellum Processor and Savage Sash is that they not bannable. High Octane might have restricted the design space, and/or was used as a crutch, but it could be banned without a problem, and it hoefully will be replaced for the heroes the ban invalidated in the future. But making an onboarding product non-legal would probably create a problem on a longer timeframe (maybe even if they will be out of print?). Is it possible that Cerebellum Processor and Savage Sash is creating a long term bottleneck fo the classes that could use them? Even if both are currently ok, being overtuned and unbannable is even more limiting than Berserk and High Octane originally was?
I agree with Pankaj. Traverse is a huge reason the top 2 decks are the top 2 decks. It provides way too much. I think if it was sac and tutor a chi its still one of the top headpieces in the game. Maybe even if it was 0 block blade break tutor to provide the "counterplay" of dont attack. Card is insane. Sirens call is still more miserable though.
I miss Iyslander, wish I had the opportunity to play her more.
whats sip sip?
@christopherfitzpatrick1483 starts in play, stays in play. A design philosophy in FAB must commonly seen via equipment.
ohhh got it - thanks!