stressedoutatumc wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2022 1:52 pmThe evidence in is front of us
Is it? As Allen noted, this deck has only seen three games, worldwide, total, all against unsuspecting opponents.
everyone is now thinking about how to specifically defeat one strategy
This is normal after a new combo debuts. You should bring out the big guns (bans/errata) if everyone thinks about it
and everyone still can't find a solution to it after thinking about it.
It's not different than the Quarks/Issue of Patriotism.
I count several important differences with Issue of Patriotism/Defend Homeworld:
1. Peter's deck has a bigger payoff (Turn 1 dump) but it's a lot more fragile (the deck is shattered by a single fairly obvious and common defensive card). If you see it coming, you can reliably kill it. The Patriotism/Defend Homeworld deck was much harder to respond to, even when you saw it coming. Two of the three players who faced it on Worlds Day Two knew
exactly what they were facing (because they were Minnesotans who had faced it in test games), but they were still not able to defuse it. The player who did not see it coming got extra-stomped.
(To be clear: there
are ways around the Patriotism/DH deck, but they are a lot more complicated and iffy than "put It's Only A Game on the table").
2. The DH/Patriotism deck had quite a few games under its belt. I ran it at two tournaments. Jon Carter ran it at an event early in 2021 and just got absurdly unlucky in his opponents. I think Jon picked it from Sexecutioner or one of the Europlayers. I think MVB ran it at an online event this past May. This doesn't count the deck's run during the Decipher era (apparently it was a Michael Harrington trick from Worlds 2000).
Despite the chance to adapt, the meta couldn't
quite seem to wrap its head around the deck. You could counter it by running holograms (as Jon's tournament proved), but "just run holograms" is a much more restrictive & problematic answer than "just run It's Only A Game."
3. The DH/Patriotism deck was arguably
enhanced shortly after Worlds with the release of the The Trial Never Ended, which gave it a few more tricks and tools (not that I ever looked into them) and arguably made it more dangerous than ever. Peter's Empok Nor deck hasn't been affected by anything new coming out (and I don't think it will be in the near future).
In the long run, I still think all
should go away, which means It's Only A Game should (eventually) go away, which means (if the 1E department takes my suggestions and keeps easing out
-- by no means a sure thing), this deck will, at some point, lose its counter and become a Big Problem.
But, in the short run, I don't think we should panic about it. Let's see how the meta handles it at Nationals and go from there.
ON TOPIC:
I like dilemma enhancers like
Shades of Gray and
Regula One and even
Disrupted Continuum. In fact, by usage history, I think I MIGHT be Shades of Gray's objectively biggest fan. (I haven't counted, but I use a LOT of SoG.)
I like downloaders, too, although I don't think I want to see the Dyson Sphere become as ubiquitous as, say,
Battle Bridge Door. So I'd like to see more of it, but not TOO much more. (This was roughly how I feel about apartments in my small town several years ago, but then they built TOO MANY apartments and now I'm unhappy.)
Ironically, downloader dilemmas are both pretty popular AND they are one of the most 2E features of 1E today. Disrupted Continuum is a great card, a real players' card, a classic bit of 1E mischief...
and it's pretty obviously just
Unexpected Difficulties on a 1E template. I think people are way too fast to shout "DON'T TURN 1E INTO 2E!!!" but leaning too hard into downloaders would actually move 1E substantially in that direction.
The game needs more turns, but
shorter turns. Increasing dilemma difficulty should be avoided, because it just adds more turns of the same length (which is actually the opposite of the direction we need to go). But increasing dilemma
variety by helping binder fodder dilemmas with boosters and downloaders? That's great.
What does all this have to do with Empok Nor? Honestly not at all clear to me. I don't think having more Empok Nor related dilemmas boosts usage of Dyson Sphere Door -- at least, not without something else to sweeten the pot. Could be wrong.
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