Lightning Returns is weird. Like the previous entries in the Final Fantasy XIII saga, the game is gorgeous, but the bizarre plot and a couple frustrating design choices make it the weakest entry in the trilogy. Here's what you can expect:
The game's plot opens 13 days before the end of the world, with series protagonist Lightning on a mission from God to save as many souls as possible so He can populate the next world with them.
Yeah, that's what Lightning Returns is about.
The storyline represents a weird deviation from the previous games, and as the plot progresses, other features pop up that seem to change all the rules of the FFXIII universe. As a fan of the first two installments of the trilogy, this unexpected turn was a little offensive to my sensibilities. If you can manage to get past the initial shock and its lingering effects (or if you haven't played the other FFXIII games), the storyline is actually pretty nifty, including a number of little tendrils that connect back to the previous games in complex ways. It took me well over 20 hours to get over the initial bad taste of the unusual plot, but by the end, I was inspired to replay the earlier games to get a clearer view of how it all fits together.
One of the outstanding features of the storyline is the way it is integrated into the gameplay. Unlike most RPGs, Lightning Returns abandons the traditional leveling system, instead giving the player character stat boosts for completing quests - perfectly in line with her goal of saving souls. The plot is also highly nonlinear; while there are a handful of important "key" quests (that is, VIP souls to save), they aren't presented in any particular order. You are instead free to explore the world and redeem souls as you see fit. The only restriction on your adventuring is that you must complete the key quests before the end of the last day, otherwise you'll miss the important end-game sequences that are dependent on saving a few specific souls.
All-in-all, these gameplay features enhance the story's presentation, as it actually seems like a coherent narrative. Furthermore, random side quests are given more significant weight - rather than wasting time when you should be saving the world as is the case in many RPGs, the game's side quests are presented as an important piece of the overarching storyline. It all makes the story more engrossing.
Supporting what turns out to be a rather interesting plot is a decent combat system. Lightning goes this one alone, so the paradigm system that was in place during the previous games doesn't quite work here. Instead, Lightning can have up to three active "styles," which serve the same role as paradigms. One of the more insteresting aspects of this combat system is that each style is tied to a particular outfit, so changing styles on the fly means that Lightning's appearance will change as well. These styles come with some prepackaged skills and abilities, but they also leave room for customization, which is certainly a welcome addition to the FFXIII gameplay. This setup also means that players play a much more active role during combat, micro-managing Lightning's attacks instead of the tactical approach featured in paradigm shifts.
Combat is therefore a more dynamic affair in Lightning Returns, which also has some drawbacks; the biggest is the game's difficulty. When your success in battles is sensitive to your available skills and styles, it is possible to get yourself into a position where you simply cannot defeat a particular boss. The game's nonlinearity is nice in those moments, as you can shift your focus to a different quest line and come back when you're stronger and have more options, but monsters get more powerful as you get closer to armageddon, so you may not always be better suited for a fight when you come back to it later. I found myself struggling quite a bit with a few of the battles throughout the game, and I was barely able to scrape by even after completing a dozen other quests. It was a frustrating situation, perhaps largely because it was so different from what I expected.
The worst part of all that struggling? It's possible to reach the final boss and just not have the gear, the stats, or the skills necessary to finish him off. At that point, there's no way to run off and complete more quests or get stronger stuff, so you're effectively screwed after investing 30+ hours. In a nice gesture to help players mitigate this scenario, you have the option to start a New Game+ (keeping almost everything you'd collected up to that point) before the door that leads to the final showdown, but it's incredibly frustrating to need to run through the entire game again just to be able to see the story's conclusion. That happened to me while playing on the "Normal" difficulty setting (there is an "Easy" setting which is a lot more forgiving), and I can see it being a huge turn off for a lot of players.
Speaking of the final showdown, it's worth noting that I think the game's closing cinematics provide the epic conclusion that the FFXIII trilogy deserves, even if they run on a bit too long.
Like the rest of the FFXIII games, Lightning Returns is absolutely stunning. In-game graphics are solid, cinematics are striking, and there are a few places with really impressive vistas to show off the game's beautiful world. The soundtrack is also incredible, featuring emotional tracks from the other games alongside new ones that add a rich depth to Lightning's universe. It's an audiovisual treat to be sure.
Overall, there is a lot of content in Lightning Returns worth exploring. There are four big areas with plenty of sidequests to complete and a number of other cool features (like the ability to hunt particular monsters to extinction) that I won't discuss in an effort to keep this review relatively brief. It's unfortunately brought down by radical departures from the previous games and an occasionally brutal difficulty curve (at least for the "Normal" difficulty setting), but it's a decent way to finish the FFXIII series and a worthy excursion in its own right if you're willing to put in the time (which, to be fair, can be substantial).
My Rating: 7/10 - good.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Game Review - Foul Play (XBLA, 2013)
The beat 'em up genre is almost as old as gaming itself, usually featuring games with simple enough mechanics that you can pick it up, play for 15 minutes, and then move on - ideal for classic arcade action. Foul Play takes that successful formula and gives it a wonderful aesthetic. It's not groundbreaking, but it's a damn fine game. Here's why:
Foul Play tells the tale of dapper Baron Dashforth, expert Daemonologist, and his capable apprentice Mr. Scampwick as they travel the turn-of-the-twentieth-century world investigating strange daemonic events. While the plot isn't very complex, it gives the protagonists enough of a reason for witty banter and a variety of locales (ranging from Cairo to Atlantis) to be a great premise. The script never had any real laugh-out-loud moments, but it definitely made me chuckle a few times, so I'd say it got the job done.
The real charm of the game comes from the fact that it's all presented as a stage show. The player characters battle a variety of monsters (all of which are clearly people wearing costumes) in front of a cheering audience, giving the whole thing a rather unique ambiance. As the set changes, you'll see feet moving props, and sometimes a fallen enemy will get up and run off stage. You will occasionally see a stagehand making a mistake or goofing off, and although those moments are scripted, they make the game feel very lighthearted. It's a cute way of managing the overall art direction, and it hits the mark.
Perhaps the most fun feature of Foul Play is the fact that this play atmosphere translates into one of the gameplay's major mechanics. Rather than having a health bar, the top of the screen prominently displays a meter gauging the audience's mood. If they're enjoying the show because you're dispatching foes quickly with a variety of attacks, the meter will fill and you'll get point multipliers. On the other hand, if your enemies manage to land a hit on you, the meter will drop, ending the stage if it falls all the way to zero. This mood meter also serves as a level timer of sorts, as the audience's interest will naturally decay over time if you don't do something exciting. Combine this mechanic with cheers and boos as things happen on stage and you have a style that is surprisingly well-integrated into the gameplay itself.
Due to this consistency of aesthetic and mechanics, Foul Play is generally a blast to play.
There are, of course, other mechanics - a combo system, new abilities that unlock as you level up, and special items that you can equip for extra effects - but I found that most of those other features were not nearly as entertaining as the core gameplay. Similarly, while there are a number of nice audiovisual flourishes that pop up throughout the game, the underlying stage play and related sound effects drew my attention most of the time. It's a pretty slick game, and while it has a handful of bells and whistles, it doesn't really need them.
My biggest complaint is overall difficulty. The game itself can likely be completed by most players in 5-8 hours, which isn't terrible for a downloadable game, but I never really felt challenged by it. Most stages do have a number of special challenges you can complete (completing all the challenges for one stage will net you one of those special equipable items), and getting the full 5-star score in some of the acts can require a few attempts, but even then, nothing really stood out as genuinely challenging. As such, once you've completed the story and mastered all the challenges, there's not a whole lot of replay value.
Overall, Foul Play is a great addition to the beat 'em up genre. With a quirky atmosphere and solid gameplay, it's good for half a dozen hours of entertainment, but its lack of longevity and relatively low difficulty lead me to think it won't be changing anyone's mind about the genre. If you're interested in some classic arcade action in a beautiful package, though, Foul Play is definitely one to check out.
My Rating: 8/10 - great.
Foul Play tells the tale of dapper Baron Dashforth, expert Daemonologist, and his capable apprentice Mr. Scampwick as they travel the turn-of-the-twentieth-century world investigating strange daemonic events. While the plot isn't very complex, it gives the protagonists enough of a reason for witty banter and a variety of locales (ranging from Cairo to Atlantis) to be a great premise. The script never had any real laugh-out-loud moments, but it definitely made me chuckle a few times, so I'd say it got the job done.
The real charm of the game comes from the fact that it's all presented as a stage show. The player characters battle a variety of monsters (all of which are clearly people wearing costumes) in front of a cheering audience, giving the whole thing a rather unique ambiance. As the set changes, you'll see feet moving props, and sometimes a fallen enemy will get up and run off stage. You will occasionally see a stagehand making a mistake or goofing off, and although those moments are scripted, they make the game feel very lighthearted. It's a cute way of managing the overall art direction, and it hits the mark.
Perhaps the most fun feature of Foul Play is the fact that this play atmosphere translates into one of the gameplay's major mechanics. Rather than having a health bar, the top of the screen prominently displays a meter gauging the audience's mood. If they're enjoying the show because you're dispatching foes quickly with a variety of attacks, the meter will fill and you'll get point multipliers. On the other hand, if your enemies manage to land a hit on you, the meter will drop, ending the stage if it falls all the way to zero. This mood meter also serves as a level timer of sorts, as the audience's interest will naturally decay over time if you don't do something exciting. Combine this mechanic with cheers and boos as things happen on stage and you have a style that is surprisingly well-integrated into the gameplay itself.
Due to this consistency of aesthetic and mechanics, Foul Play is generally a blast to play.
There are, of course, other mechanics - a combo system, new abilities that unlock as you level up, and special items that you can equip for extra effects - but I found that most of those other features were not nearly as entertaining as the core gameplay. Similarly, while there are a number of nice audiovisual flourishes that pop up throughout the game, the underlying stage play and related sound effects drew my attention most of the time. It's a pretty slick game, and while it has a handful of bells and whistles, it doesn't really need them.
My biggest complaint is overall difficulty. The game itself can likely be completed by most players in 5-8 hours, which isn't terrible for a downloadable game, but I never really felt challenged by it. Most stages do have a number of special challenges you can complete (completing all the challenges for one stage will net you one of those special equipable items), and getting the full 5-star score in some of the acts can require a few attempts, but even then, nothing really stood out as genuinely challenging. As such, once you've completed the story and mastered all the challenges, there's not a whole lot of replay value.
Overall, Foul Play is a great addition to the beat 'em up genre. With a quirky atmosphere and solid gameplay, it's good for half a dozen hours of entertainment, but its lack of longevity and relatively low difficulty lead me to think it won't be changing anyone's mind about the genre. If you're interested in some classic arcade action in a beautiful package, though, Foul Play is definitely one to check out.
My Rating: 8/10 - great.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday Magic - Minotaurs!
I wasn't able to attend FNM last week, so I haven't been able to test any new changes to my standard deck. Instead, I want to run through the skeleton of a new deck I've been toying with.
With the Born of the Gods spoilers that have been trickling in, it's starting to look like minotaur tribal might be a serious competitor. With the two minotaur spoilers that we've seen (Felhide Spiritbinder and Ragemonger), the minotaur archetype is already getting some serious support.
With that in mind, I've thrown together a minotaur tribal deck with standard legal cards that I already own. After the decklist, which I think is pretty straightforward, I'll comment on big changes that I think would make the deck more competitive.
Creatures:
4 Deathbellow Raider
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Felhide Minotaur
4 Kragma Warcaller
4 Minotaur Skullcleaver
3 Rageblood Shaman
Instants:
4 Chandra's Outrage
2 Doom Blade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
Sorceries:
2 Act of Treason
Land:
2 Blood Crypt
14 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
6 Swamp
Perhaps the most obvious improvement is replacing those Guildgates with additional Blood Crypts, but as of now I only have the two. Act of Treason is also probably pretty weak, but I'm not sure what I have to replace it. Similarly, Chandra's Outrage may be a little costly; by the time I have 4 mana, I'm probably going to want to devote it to developing my board state, not removing a random creature. Again, though, I'm not sure what to stick in there instead.
Maybe the biggest addition to this deck would be Door of Destinies. Buffing all your minotaurs, which likely have trample and haste due to the Warcaller and the Shaman, seems to enable huge burst damage. If I owned any copies, I'd definitely make some room for them.
The most serious threat against this setup is clearly wrath effects, as a swift win requires having a couple creatures already on the board the turn you drop a Warcaller. I'm not totally sure how to avoid that problem other than to try to brute force your way through it. It certainly deserves some consideration, though.
To make this kind of deck competitive, there are some significant obstacles to overcome and a lot of tweaking to do. At this point, this decklist is simply meant as a basic shell for revisions once Born of the Gods is officially released and we know what new goodies this kind of deck may get. As such, I'll leave it there for now; something to think about rather than something to bust out at FNM anytime soon.
With the Born of the Gods spoilers that have been trickling in, it's starting to look like minotaur tribal might be a serious competitor. With the two minotaur spoilers that we've seen (Felhide Spiritbinder and Ragemonger), the minotaur archetype is already getting some serious support.
With that in mind, I've thrown together a minotaur tribal deck with standard legal cards that I already own. After the decklist, which I think is pretty straightforward, I'll comment on big changes that I think would make the deck more competitive.
Creatures:
4 Deathbellow Raider
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Felhide Minotaur
4 Kragma Warcaller
4 Minotaur Skullcleaver
3 Rageblood Shaman
Instants:
4 Chandra's Outrage
2 Doom Blade
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
Sorceries:
2 Act of Treason
Land:
2 Blood Crypt
14 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
6 Swamp
Perhaps the most obvious improvement is replacing those Guildgates with additional Blood Crypts, but as of now I only have the two. Act of Treason is also probably pretty weak, but I'm not sure what I have to replace it. Similarly, Chandra's Outrage may be a little costly; by the time I have 4 mana, I'm probably going to want to devote it to developing my board state, not removing a random creature. Again, though, I'm not sure what to stick in there instead.
Maybe the biggest addition to this deck would be Door of Destinies. Buffing all your minotaurs, which likely have trample and haste due to the Warcaller and the Shaman, seems to enable huge burst damage. If I owned any copies, I'd definitely make some room for them.
The most serious threat against this setup is clearly wrath effects, as a swift win requires having a couple creatures already on the board the turn you drop a Warcaller. I'm not totally sure how to avoid that problem other than to try to brute force your way through it. It certainly deserves some consideration, though.
To make this kind of deck competitive, there are some significant obstacles to overcome and a lot of tweaking to do. At this point, this decklist is simply meant as a basic shell for revisions once Born of the Gods is officially released and we know what new goodies this kind of deck may get. As such, I'll leave it there for now; something to think about rather than something to bust out at FNM anytime soon.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck Part III
After last week's standard experiences, I didn't feel like the deck list itself needed a whole lot of tweaking. Instead, it seemed like I needed to work on aggressive mulligans, smarter play, and better sideboarding.
Minor Sideboard Change
That said, I did change my deck list a little bit, removing Electrickery from the board entirely. The issue is that Electrickery serves a very specific purpose, wiping tokens and possibly clearing the board in a mirror match. I already have a set of Legion Loyalists to ignore tokens, and killing creatures in the mirror match is a defensive move, which seems like a terrible idea with this super aggressive deck. If I'm really worried about tokens, it's worth running something that has wider applicability. I decided to go with Weapon Surge - at the cost of an attack, Weapon Surge can accomplish the same goal as Electrickery, but it can also help deal with bigger blockers or be used for another 2-4 damage in a successful combat phase. It has greater utility, so I think it's a stronger choice.
Aside from that change, the list that I took to last week's Friday Night Magic was the same as before:
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Minor Sideboard Change
That said, I did change my deck list a little bit, removing Electrickery from the board entirely. The issue is that Electrickery serves a very specific purpose, wiping tokens and possibly clearing the board in a mirror match. I already have a set of Legion Loyalists to ignore tokens, and killing creatures in the mirror match is a defensive move, which seems like a terrible idea with this super aggressive deck. If I'm really worried about tokens, it's worth running something that has wider applicability. I decided to go with Weapon Surge - at the cost of an attack, Weapon Surge can accomplish the same goal as Electrickery, but it can also help deal with bigger blockers or be used for another 2-4 damage in a successful combat phase. It has greater utility, so I think it's a stronger choice.
Aside from that change, the list that I took to last week's Friday Night Magic was the same as before:
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack
2 Weapon Surge
Holy crap, life gain
Last week's FNM was an even smaller affair than the previous one, with only 8 people in attendance. As such, we only played three rounds. I finished with a disappointing 1-2 record, falling pretty spectacularly to a couple decks with significant life gain abilities. Some details:
Round one pitted me against a red white deck that dominated me 0-2. It was actually the same midrange red player I had beaten the week before, but he had made a number of important modifications. Most notably, Spark Trooper and Warleader's Helix. As soon as either of those spells resolved, the game was effectively over, as the six point life gain from the Trooper and the 4 life plus removal of the Helix each put him solidly beyond my reach.
In round two, I defeated a mono blue devotion deck 2-1. Weapon Surge really shines in this matchup (and really any matchup without much spot removal), as I was able to use it to blow him out in game three. I think his deck list was a little stronger than the mono blue deck I played a few weeks ago, but it still didn't give me a whole lot of trouble - my one loss was the result of really weak draws during the game.
The final round brought an unexpected green monster deck featuring a number of planeswalkers, which knocked me down 1-2. Post-board, Seismic Stomp and Act of Treason do a good job dealing with Sylvan Caryatid and Polukranos, but Scavenging Ooze's life gain proved too much to handle. In each of the games I lost, I was able to get my opponent down under 3 life, but the Ooze allowed him to stabilize and counter any burn I might throw at him.
Despite the frustrating loss in round three, I took the close games as a great sign: my $25 deck was still pretty competitive against a deck that cost well over $100. I think that's a good indication that you don't need to drop a ton of money to succeed in a given standard environment (at least at the FNM level), you just need to have a pretty finely-tuned deck.
Lessons
The two big concerns I had noticed in the past - mid-game life gain and Boros Reckoner - are still significant problems for this deck. I unfortunately didn't get to test any recent changes against Reckoner, so I still have some hope that more aggressive play can help mitigate the minotaur's damage. On the other hand, the deck undeniably needs better tech against life gain.
I think there are two major options for dealing with that problem. The first is to run more answers to those specific threats. Stick Skullcrack and Shock in the main deck and plan to leave mana up for the relevant spells once my opponent is able to cast their unfortunate life gain spells. A secondary benefit of such changes is that I may be more likely to win game one against Esper or Azorius control decks, but it comes with a pretty damning downside - playing like this seems like it would slow me down quite a bit, making it harder to compete with most decks. I don't think it's a great option in its entirety, but it might be worth running a couple Shocks in place of a couple Lightning Strikes in the main deck.
The second option is much more appealing but certainly not without its disadvantages as well. Running Akroan Crusader could help build a strong board state relatively quickly and cheaply; Dynacharge could push through a few extra points of damage or end the game in a hurry, if it reaches that point. Really the idea here would be to lower the average converted mana cost of the deck (which is already 1.5) to try to force more damage through earlier.
While this kind of modification might be able to deal more damage more quickly, I doubt that it would work out to be as consistent as the list I've been using (I'm too lazy to work through the math on that right now). I'm a fan of the Dynacharge bit, though, so it might be worth investigating as an alternative to something like Madcap Skills.
Basically, it seems like I need to come up with some clever way of dealing with life gain. I'll probably only get one more shot with this deck before the next expansion, Born of the Gods, hits shelves, so here's hoping I can solve this life gain problem soon!
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack
2 Weapon Surge
Holy crap, life gain
Last week's FNM was an even smaller affair than the previous one, with only 8 people in attendance. As such, we only played three rounds. I finished with a disappointing 1-2 record, falling pretty spectacularly to a couple decks with significant life gain abilities. Some details:
Round one pitted me against a red white deck that dominated me 0-2. It was actually the same midrange red player I had beaten the week before, but he had made a number of important modifications. Most notably, Spark Trooper and Warleader's Helix. As soon as either of those spells resolved, the game was effectively over, as the six point life gain from the Trooper and the 4 life plus removal of the Helix each put him solidly beyond my reach.
In round two, I defeated a mono blue devotion deck 2-1. Weapon Surge really shines in this matchup (and really any matchup without much spot removal), as I was able to use it to blow him out in game three. I think his deck list was a little stronger than the mono blue deck I played a few weeks ago, but it still didn't give me a whole lot of trouble - my one loss was the result of really weak draws during the game.
The final round brought an unexpected green monster deck featuring a number of planeswalkers, which knocked me down 1-2. Post-board, Seismic Stomp and Act of Treason do a good job dealing with Sylvan Caryatid and Polukranos, but Scavenging Ooze's life gain proved too much to handle. In each of the games I lost, I was able to get my opponent down under 3 life, but the Ooze allowed him to stabilize and counter any burn I might throw at him.
Despite the frustrating loss in round three, I took the close games as a great sign: my $25 deck was still pretty competitive against a deck that cost well over $100. I think that's a good indication that you don't need to drop a ton of money to succeed in a given standard environment (at least at the FNM level), you just need to have a pretty finely-tuned deck.
Lessons
The two big concerns I had noticed in the past - mid-game life gain and Boros Reckoner - are still significant problems for this deck. I unfortunately didn't get to test any recent changes against Reckoner, so I still have some hope that more aggressive play can help mitigate the minotaur's damage. On the other hand, the deck undeniably needs better tech against life gain.
I think there are two major options for dealing with that problem. The first is to run more answers to those specific threats. Stick Skullcrack and Shock in the main deck and plan to leave mana up for the relevant spells once my opponent is able to cast their unfortunate life gain spells. A secondary benefit of such changes is that I may be more likely to win game one against Esper or Azorius control decks, but it comes with a pretty damning downside - playing like this seems like it would slow me down quite a bit, making it harder to compete with most decks. I don't think it's a great option in its entirety, but it might be worth running a couple Shocks in place of a couple Lightning Strikes in the main deck.
The second option is much more appealing but certainly not without its disadvantages as well. Running Akroan Crusader could help build a strong board state relatively quickly and cheaply; Dynacharge could push through a few extra points of damage or end the game in a hurry, if it reaches that point. Really the idea here would be to lower the average converted mana cost of the deck (which is already 1.5) to try to force more damage through earlier.
While this kind of modification might be able to deal more damage more quickly, I doubt that it would work out to be as consistent as the list I've been using (I'm too lazy to work through the math on that right now). I'm a fan of the Dynacharge bit, though, so it might be worth investigating as an alternative to something like Madcap Skills.
Basically, it seems like I need to come up with some clever way of dealing with life gain. I'll probably only get one more shot with this deck before the next expansion, Born of the Gods, hits shelves, so here's hoping I can solve this life gain problem soon!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Game Review - The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Xbox 360, 2013)
Disclaimer: I don't follow The Walking Dead franchise, so this review comes from the perspective of someone who has never read any of the comics and has only seen the first episode of the show. I'll note ways I think the experience will differ for fans of the series, but this review will primarily judge the game on its own merits.
Drawing from the massive success of the tv series, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct gives players a chance to experience the first stage of the zombie apocalypse from a first-person perspective. While it has some exciting ideas, it's mostly a bland action game with hints of untapped potential. Here's what you can expect:
Survival Instinct puts you in the shoes of Daryl Dixon, who is on a hunting trip at the beginning of the zombie outbreak. Following the death of his father in the opening scenes of the game, Daryl sets out to find his brother Merle and reach safety. Fans of the show might think this is an interesting backstory for those characters, but from where I was sitting, the main plot was dull and Daryl and Merle were uninteresting and very poorly developed.
In fact, the secondary characters you meet along the way seem to have much more interesting concerns during the zombie apocalypse, but they get so little of the spotlight that they serve only as a hint of missed storytelling potential. Basically, for people who aren't already fans of the Walking Dead series, the storyline is really just an excuse to explore zombie-infested Georgia, and it's a pretty bad excuse.
To be fair, though, you don't really need much of an excuse for some good old fashioned zombie slaying, and the underlying mechanics are solid. You'll take on the zombie hordes using a variety of melee and ranged weaponry to clear paths to supply caches or survivors. You can also sneak quietly around, but although the zombies are generally only sensitive to direct line-of-sight or loud sounds, there tend to be so many of them that sneaking isn't terribly effective. The main components of the gameplay aren't stunning, but they certainly get the job done, and it's reasonably fun to kill tons of zombies, even if it is a little mindless at times.
One gameplay mechanic that really hits the mark, however, is what happens when a zombie grabs you. If a zombie manages to get ahold of you, your only escape is to stab it in the head; doing so requires what amounts to a frantic quick time event - you must center your view on a smallish circle on the zombie's head (which is far from trivial, as the zombie's grip causes the camera to shake wildly) and quickly pull the right trigger. If successful, you'll be treated with a gruesome close-up of the zombie's lobotomy, followed by the next-nearest zombie grappling you itself if you don't quickly push it away. While constant grappling can get a little tedious, it does an awesome job of capturing the hectic terror you might expect from a zombie attack.
Another nifty feature is that you can send your companions out to search for fuel, food, or ammo while you're off exploring a town. They'll get hurt or possibly die on their missions, but when they get back, they'll bolster your resource reserves. If these bonus goodies had been necessary for completing the game (or at least really helpful), it could have been a fun challenge in resource management, but as it stands, they merely supplement the ample collection of items you can find in the field yourself.
There's also a pretty neat transition between stages. Instead of lengthy cutscenes, you have brief voice-overs while the characters' car progresses to the next town. During each of those trips, you can choose whether to try to take highways or backroads, which will consume different amounts of fuel and have different opportunities for scavenging supplies. The differences between those choices is mostly cosmetic, as there are similar numbers of stops either way (and they're functionally identical but officially have different purposes), but they're still kind of cool.
While these mechanics are interesting ideas, the fact that grappling can get very tedious and the fact that your choices regarding companions and travel options have minimal effects on the gameplay suggest that it could have been a compelling zombie survival game. Instead, they're just a few novel gimmicks in an otherwise mechanically underwhelming game.
To make things a bit worse, along with choosing the way you travel, you occasionally get to choose between two different destinations. These options result in different stages, so it probably sounds like a plus, but those branching paths recombine almost immediately, so there's actually little variation between path choices. Furthermore, there are only 12 missions (most of which only take about 30 minutes to complete) over the course of the plot, and only 4 of those come from the branching choices, so the majority of the game is identical regardless your choices. The stages themselves are also pretty linear, usually having only minor side areas to explore. The result? A relatively short game with very low replay value; you're probably not going to get more than 6-8 hours of fun out of it.
On the more superficial side of things, Survival Instinct is decent, though nothing is really special. Zombie models are noticeably repeated and not terribly detailed, the environments are rather bland most of the time, and the graphics generally don't compare well to the best contemporary games. While the voice acting is likely very exciting for long-time Walking Dead fans (Daryl and Merle are apparently voiced by their actors in the show), it didn't do much for me. The main voice actors did an acceptable job, though their spoken lines failed to make their characters any more compelling; again, secondary characters seemed to have a bit more emotional depth than the main guys, but they didn't get much coverage. The music, on the other hand, is pretty well-designed, appropriately setting the tone for the end of days, which is a bright spot in the game's audiovisual design.
And finally, achievement hunters won't have a terrible time with this one. Two playthroughs are needed to get a couple mutually exclusive achievements that depend on choices you make along the way, and you might need to spend some time grinding out random survivor encounters, but nothing is too difficult. The only problem is tediously running through the same linear stages repeatedly, but it's certainly doable within 15 hours or so.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct doesn't deserve any awards, and there are certainly better zombie alternatives for sating your zombie game needs, but the first playthrough is entertaining enough. For the reputation that pop culture tie-in games get, Survival Instinct is surprisingly good and probably a good choice for fans of the show; as an independent game, however, I'd say it's merely average.
My Rating: 5/10 - ok.
Drawing from the massive success of the tv series, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct gives players a chance to experience the first stage of the zombie apocalypse from a first-person perspective. While it has some exciting ideas, it's mostly a bland action game with hints of untapped potential. Here's what you can expect:
Survival Instinct puts you in the shoes of Daryl Dixon, who is on a hunting trip at the beginning of the zombie outbreak. Following the death of his father in the opening scenes of the game, Daryl sets out to find his brother Merle and reach safety. Fans of the show might think this is an interesting backstory for those characters, but from where I was sitting, the main plot was dull and Daryl and Merle were uninteresting and very poorly developed.
In fact, the secondary characters you meet along the way seem to have much more interesting concerns during the zombie apocalypse, but they get so little of the spotlight that they serve only as a hint of missed storytelling potential. Basically, for people who aren't already fans of the Walking Dead series, the storyline is really just an excuse to explore zombie-infested Georgia, and it's a pretty bad excuse.
To be fair, though, you don't really need much of an excuse for some good old fashioned zombie slaying, and the underlying mechanics are solid. You'll take on the zombie hordes using a variety of melee and ranged weaponry to clear paths to supply caches or survivors. You can also sneak quietly around, but although the zombies are generally only sensitive to direct line-of-sight or loud sounds, there tend to be so many of them that sneaking isn't terribly effective. The main components of the gameplay aren't stunning, but they certainly get the job done, and it's reasonably fun to kill tons of zombies, even if it is a little mindless at times.
One gameplay mechanic that really hits the mark, however, is what happens when a zombie grabs you. If a zombie manages to get ahold of you, your only escape is to stab it in the head; doing so requires what amounts to a frantic quick time event - you must center your view on a smallish circle on the zombie's head (which is far from trivial, as the zombie's grip causes the camera to shake wildly) and quickly pull the right trigger. If successful, you'll be treated with a gruesome close-up of the zombie's lobotomy, followed by the next-nearest zombie grappling you itself if you don't quickly push it away. While constant grappling can get a little tedious, it does an awesome job of capturing the hectic terror you might expect from a zombie attack.
Another nifty feature is that you can send your companions out to search for fuel, food, or ammo while you're off exploring a town. They'll get hurt or possibly die on their missions, but when they get back, they'll bolster your resource reserves. If these bonus goodies had been necessary for completing the game (or at least really helpful), it could have been a fun challenge in resource management, but as it stands, they merely supplement the ample collection of items you can find in the field yourself.
There's also a pretty neat transition between stages. Instead of lengthy cutscenes, you have brief voice-overs while the characters' car progresses to the next town. During each of those trips, you can choose whether to try to take highways or backroads, which will consume different amounts of fuel and have different opportunities for scavenging supplies. The differences between those choices is mostly cosmetic, as there are similar numbers of stops either way (and they're functionally identical but officially have different purposes), but they're still kind of cool.
While these mechanics are interesting ideas, the fact that grappling can get very tedious and the fact that your choices regarding companions and travel options have minimal effects on the gameplay suggest that it could have been a compelling zombie survival game. Instead, they're just a few novel gimmicks in an otherwise mechanically underwhelming game.
To make things a bit worse, along with choosing the way you travel, you occasionally get to choose between two different destinations. These options result in different stages, so it probably sounds like a plus, but those branching paths recombine almost immediately, so there's actually little variation between path choices. Furthermore, there are only 12 missions (most of which only take about 30 minutes to complete) over the course of the plot, and only 4 of those come from the branching choices, so the majority of the game is identical regardless your choices. The stages themselves are also pretty linear, usually having only minor side areas to explore. The result? A relatively short game with very low replay value; you're probably not going to get more than 6-8 hours of fun out of it.
On the more superficial side of things, Survival Instinct is decent, though nothing is really special. Zombie models are noticeably repeated and not terribly detailed, the environments are rather bland most of the time, and the graphics generally don't compare well to the best contemporary games. While the voice acting is likely very exciting for long-time Walking Dead fans (Daryl and Merle are apparently voiced by their actors in the show), it didn't do much for me. The main voice actors did an acceptable job, though their spoken lines failed to make their characters any more compelling; again, secondary characters seemed to have a bit more emotional depth than the main guys, but they didn't get much coverage. The music, on the other hand, is pretty well-designed, appropriately setting the tone for the end of days, which is a bright spot in the game's audiovisual design.
And finally, achievement hunters won't have a terrible time with this one. Two playthroughs are needed to get a couple mutually exclusive achievements that depend on choices you make along the way, and you might need to spend some time grinding out random survivor encounters, but nothing is too difficult. The only problem is tediously running through the same linear stages repeatedly, but it's certainly doable within 15 hours or so.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct doesn't deserve any awards, and there are certainly better zombie alternatives for sating your zombie game needs, but the first playthrough is entertaining enough. For the reputation that pop culture tie-in games get, Survival Instinct is surprisingly good and probably a good choice for fans of the show; as an independent game, however, I'd say it's merely average.
My Rating: 5/10 - ok.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck Part II
After last week's analysis of the first iteration of a cheap red deck wins setup, I made a couple small changes and took it to another Friday Night Magic event. Here's what happened:
Deck Tweaks
The biggest problems that appeared in the first FNM experience were Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, and Fleecemane Lion, so the modifications should try to handle those types of threats a bit better. That was the main focus of my first deck revisions.
On my end, one weakness I noticed was Gore-House Chainwalker- a 3-power creature for 2 mana is pretty sweet, but he's my only 2-drop permanent that doesn't do something on turn 2. Ash Zealot swings on turn 2, Goblin Shortcutter nullifies a blocker, Burning-Tree Emissary enhances overall mana efficiency, and Madcap Skills allows for some pretty serious burst damage. Chainwalker is a scary dude to be sure, but if I'm not securely in control by the end of turn 2, I have a hard road ahead, and I don't think Chainwalker makes that ordeal any easier.
As such, I replaced my Chainwalkers with Magma Jets. The extra burn is a much more immediate benefit for my spent mana, but the Scry 2 effect is a big deal for smoothing out my play. It lets me ship extra lands to the bottom of my deck if I can't use them, and it might allow me to plan the next couple draws. I think this change makes the deck a bit more consistent, and it increases the potential damage on earlier turns.
This increased consistency may be able to avoid Reckoner altogether, as it increases the odds that I'd just be able to end the game before he can wipe my side of the board. I think it will also help against the Lion, though he could hit the table a turn earlier. To deal with the Chains, I think Peak Eruption is a solid choice as it frees the bound creature, deals some damage, and screws with my opponent's mana base (and it may be able to slow Reckoner by a turn sometimes, too). Eruption fits pretty nicely in the sideboard, then.
For the rest of the sideboard, I still see some benefit to Electrickery (wipes Elspeth and Master tokens), Shock (burn is burn), Act of Treason (which might be my best answer to Reckoner), and Seismic Stomp (helps me end the game against a stalled boardstate), and Skullcrack is absolutely necessary, so I decided to include just two copies of Eruption in place of one Electrickery and one Shock.
With those small changes, here's the complete deck I took to last week's FNM:
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Deck Tweaks
The biggest problems that appeared in the first FNM experience were Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, and Fleecemane Lion, so the modifications should try to handle those types of threats a bit better. That was the main focus of my first deck revisions.
On my end, one weakness I noticed was Gore-House Chainwalker- a 3-power creature for 2 mana is pretty sweet, but he's my only 2-drop permanent that doesn't do something on turn 2. Ash Zealot swings on turn 2, Goblin Shortcutter nullifies a blocker, Burning-Tree Emissary enhances overall mana efficiency, and Madcap Skills allows for some pretty serious burst damage. Chainwalker is a scary dude to be sure, but if I'm not securely in control by the end of turn 2, I have a hard road ahead, and I don't think Chainwalker makes that ordeal any easier.
As such, I replaced my Chainwalkers with Magma Jets. The extra burn is a much more immediate benefit for my spent mana, but the Scry 2 effect is a big deal for smoothing out my play. It lets me ship extra lands to the bottom of my deck if I can't use them, and it might allow me to plan the next couple draws. I think this change makes the deck a bit more consistent, and it increases the potential damage on earlier turns.
This increased consistency may be able to avoid Reckoner altogether, as it increases the odds that I'd just be able to end the game before he can wipe my side of the board. I think it will also help against the Lion, though he could hit the table a turn earlier. To deal with the Chains, I think Peak Eruption is a solid choice as it frees the bound creature, deals some damage, and screws with my opponent's mana base (and it may be able to slow Reckoner by a turn sometimes, too). Eruption fits pretty nicely in the sideboard, then.
For the rest of the sideboard, I still see some benefit to Electrickery (wipes Elspeth and Master tokens), Shock (burn is burn), Act of Treason (which might be my best answer to Reckoner), and Seismic Stomp (helps me end the game against a stalled boardstate), and Skullcrack is absolutely necessary, so I decided to include just two copies of Eruption in place of one Electrickery and one Shock.
With those small changes, here's the complete deck I took to last week's FNM:
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
3 Electrickery
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
3 Shock
3 Skullcrack
Trial by Fire... Again
Last week's FNM was much smaller affair than my first, with only about 10 people playing standard. I placed fifth overall with a record of only 2-2, but let's go through the individual matchups.
Round one put me against a black red minotaur deck, which I knocked down 2-0. He was running a lot of cheap removal (Shocks and Pharika's Cure), which proved to be a problem, but he ended up falling to me in two games due to troublesome mana draws. We played a couple games after the round result was officially reported, and when he wasn't starved for mana, his deck was actually pretty nasty. The removal is obviously bad for me, but he could also play his creatures and hold them back as blockers until he was able to deal lethal damage in one blow. I think my biggest problem in this matchup was deciding when to mulligan (which will be a common theme), because I need the power to rush through 12+ damage in the first few turns to be able to survive against that kind of deck. It wasn't an issue in this tournament, but it's certainly something to think about.
The second round put me up against a more midranged red deck, which fell to me 2-0. This deck seemed to revolve around burn spells and Chandra's Phoenix, though it didn't survive long enough to teach me anything important about our deck's matchups.
My deck really started having troubles in round three, where we lost to Esper control 1-2. This matchup is one of the few that I tested with friends (though my friend was running a somewhat different version of this deck), and it seemed like the two decks are reasonably balanced.
The first two games were pretty lopsided - before sideboarding, one Sphinx's Revelation is the end for me, but after sideboard Skullcrack shuts the relevant part of Revelation down pretty hard. Seeing that the Esper control win conditions are typically late-game players (Aetherling, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa in this particular deck), my strategy seems to get a little bit of leeway early on. I think that's a dangerous assessment, though, because Supreme Verdict can rob me of all momentum. Game one probably wouldn't have been such a devastating loss if I'd been more aggressive with mulligans, so super aggressive play from turn one is still essential in this matchup.
Game three, on the other hand, was incredibly close. I ended up losing after sitting on a bunch of burn and Skullcrack for several turns - enough to end the game and prevent Revelation from saving him - I unfortunately didn't have the mana to burn and hold up Skullcrack support, so he was able to build up a ton of Elspeth tokens and overwhelm me. I don't think there were any significant misplays or deck issues in that game; bad luck kept me from securing the win.
The fourth and final round stuck me up against what seemed to be a generic "good stuff" deck, which finished me off 1-2. Desecration Demon made an appearance in this deck, as did the Blood Baron, but he didn't have quite the same early game control to make those creatures too troubling. Boros Reckoner, on the other hand, ruined everything once again, and I lost each game where that minotaur wizard resolved. I still think Act of Treason is a solid response, though I never drew it at a relevant time during the post-board games. Peak Eruption definitely has some potential to slow the Reckoner down, though this opponent was casting the Reckoner off Plains; in this particular match, Eruption just delayed Anger of the Gods- relevant, but not nearly as important in the long run. In retrospect, I also think I probably should have mulliganed in game one (which I lost), though I'm not sure if it would have changed the outcome.
This Week's Lessons
The moral of the whole story sounds very similar to the last one: I need a better answer to Boros Reckoner, and I need to work on mulligans and sideboarding. For the former, I'm running our of ideas; I actually haven't played Seismic Stomp, so that might be another solution, or maybe I should replace Stomp with a couple more Acts to make the stealing effect more likely. For the latter, I may need to exchange Stomp, but I also think I should drop another Electrickery in favor of a fourth Shock. Electrickery has a much more niche use, but extra Shocks might help seal the deal when I'm running out of steam. And, of course, I need to figure out a way to practice mulligans specifically, as I figure I'll only get better at that by doing it.
Regardless, I have some more ideas for tweaks, and I hope to take it to another FNM this week. Maybe I can come up with something rather consistent before the next set, Born of the Gods, is released at the beginning of February...
3 Electrickery
2 Peak Eruption
2 Seismic Stomp
3 Shock
3 Skullcrack
Trial by Fire... Again
Last week's FNM was much smaller affair than my first, with only about 10 people playing standard. I placed fifth overall with a record of only 2-2, but let's go through the individual matchups.
Round one put me against a black red minotaur deck, which I knocked down 2-0. He was running a lot of cheap removal (Shocks and Pharika's Cure), which proved to be a problem, but he ended up falling to me in two games due to troublesome mana draws. We played a couple games after the round result was officially reported, and when he wasn't starved for mana, his deck was actually pretty nasty. The removal is obviously bad for me, but he could also play his creatures and hold them back as blockers until he was able to deal lethal damage in one blow. I think my biggest problem in this matchup was deciding when to mulligan (which will be a common theme), because I need the power to rush through 12+ damage in the first few turns to be able to survive against that kind of deck. It wasn't an issue in this tournament, but it's certainly something to think about.
The second round put me up against a more midranged red deck, which fell to me 2-0. This deck seemed to revolve around burn spells and Chandra's Phoenix, though it didn't survive long enough to teach me anything important about our deck's matchups.
My deck really started having troubles in round three, where we lost to Esper control 1-2. This matchup is one of the few that I tested with friends (though my friend was running a somewhat different version of this deck), and it seemed like the two decks are reasonably balanced.
The first two games were pretty lopsided - before sideboarding, one Sphinx's Revelation is the end for me, but after sideboard Skullcrack shuts the relevant part of Revelation down pretty hard. Seeing that the Esper control win conditions are typically late-game players (Aetherling, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa in this particular deck), my strategy seems to get a little bit of leeway early on. I think that's a dangerous assessment, though, because Supreme Verdict can rob me of all momentum. Game one probably wouldn't have been such a devastating loss if I'd been more aggressive with mulligans, so super aggressive play from turn one is still essential in this matchup.
Game three, on the other hand, was incredibly close. I ended up losing after sitting on a bunch of burn and Skullcrack for several turns - enough to end the game and prevent Revelation from saving him - I unfortunately didn't have the mana to burn and hold up Skullcrack support, so he was able to build up a ton of Elspeth tokens and overwhelm me. I don't think there were any significant misplays or deck issues in that game; bad luck kept me from securing the win.
The fourth and final round stuck me up against what seemed to be a generic "good stuff" deck, which finished me off 1-2. Desecration Demon made an appearance in this deck, as did the Blood Baron, but he didn't have quite the same early game control to make those creatures too troubling. Boros Reckoner, on the other hand, ruined everything once again, and I lost each game where that minotaur wizard resolved. I still think Act of Treason is a solid response, though I never drew it at a relevant time during the post-board games. Peak Eruption definitely has some potential to slow the Reckoner down, though this opponent was casting the Reckoner off Plains; in this particular match, Eruption just delayed Anger of the Gods- relevant, but not nearly as important in the long run. In retrospect, I also think I probably should have mulliganed in game one (which I lost), though I'm not sure if it would have changed the outcome.
This Week's Lessons
The moral of the whole story sounds very similar to the last one: I need a better answer to Boros Reckoner, and I need to work on mulligans and sideboarding. For the former, I'm running our of ideas; I actually haven't played Seismic Stomp, so that might be another solution, or maybe I should replace Stomp with a couple more Acts to make the stealing effect more likely. For the latter, I may need to exchange Stomp, but I also think I should drop another Electrickery in favor of a fourth Shock. Electrickery has a much more niche use, but extra Shocks might help seal the deal when I'm running out of steam. And, of course, I need to figure out a way to practice mulligans specifically, as I figure I'll only get better at that by doing it.
Regardless, I have some more ideas for tweaks, and I hope to take it to another FNM this week. Maybe I can come up with something rather consistent before the next set, Born of the Gods, is released at the beginning of February...
Monday, December 30, 2013
Monday Magic - Building a Standard Deck (Budget Red Deck Wins)
While traveling for the holidays, I decided to check out a Friday Night Magic event at a game shop near where I grew up. Unfortunately, when I looked into FNM venues, it seemed that none of them featured any drafts, and I had never played standard in a sanctioned event. Determined to attend an FNM at a new place, I opted to put together a cheap deck just to give it a shot.
I had wanted to build a hyper aggro deck for a while, so this setup seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make it work. As this is the first competitive deck I've really tried to put together, I thought I'd describe the design process in some detail. I'm not much of a deckbuilder, but it might be a nice jumping off point for further discussions, and it might be fun to see the evolution of a novice deck designer.
Design
The basic premise is simple: Overwhelm your opponent early in the game, forcing damage through with quick, efficient creatures, sprinkling burn spells as necessary. In line with that strategy, the deck needs to focus on mana-efficient damage. We want each mana that we spend to deal damage almost immediately, and we need to avoid drawing lands as much as possible - we want to be able to dump our hand in the first few turns and draw only spells beyond that. If we even reach the midgame, a win may already be beyond reach.
To blast through the first couple turns, we need all of our spells to be cheap - two converted mana cost or less - otherwise we run the risk of being unable to do much of anything early on. Combine that with the need for fast bursts of damage, and we have a narrow gameplan.
Since we want to burst out of the gate, we definitely need several one-costing creatures. Rakdos Cackler seems like a good choice, as it gives us two power for one mana; Firedrinker Satyr fits the bill, too. We're planning to drop a bunch of creatures in the first few turns, so Foundry Street Denizen may even deal more damage than a Cackler on turns two and three, depending on the plays we have available. Legion Loyalist is great because it can smash through on turn one, plus its Batallion effect makes for more efficient attackers later on (with the added bonus of nullifying creature tokens from Pack Rat, Master of Waves, and Elspeth, if the game goes that far).
We want to follow that up with powerful two-drops. Ash Zealot is a fantastic choice for two hasty damage. Burning-Tree Emissary can make the Denizens huge for only two mana, as you can chain them on turn two (and then have even more power on turn three). Another two-power-for-two creature, Goblin Shortcutter, can force some extra damage through an opponent's blocker, so it seems like a nice addition. A two-drop that can bring more than two power to the field is pretty important, and Gore-House Chainwalker seems like a nice fit.
With a little army of efficient one- and two-costing creatures, we need some more ways to boost their damage. Titan's Strength is a great choice, as it not only pumps but the extra Scry can help avoid unwanted land draws. As a red, offensive-only Giant Growth, Rubblebelt Maaka's Bloodrush ability is an excellent combat trick. Madcap Skills is a bit of a risk, as most Auras are, but it not only gives three extra power, but it can take a blocker out of the fight, too, so it has a pretty big payoff. And, of course, Lightning Strike is just a solid burn spell, and it can eliminate most early-game blockers in the format.
Putting all those spells together makes for a pretty solid main deck, and none of those cards are too expensive, so it's a lot cheaper to throw together than a deck with Sphinx's Revelations or Nightveil Specters.
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Sideboard
Sideboarding is another benefit of my first real excursion into standard. I had never really thought much about designing a sideboard for any constructed decks I've put together (mostly because I primarily play casual, and it's impossible to have sideboard options for every random matchup I could have), so this gave me a nice chance to think about how to prepare for specific matchups.
This deck's single biggest worry, I think, is lifegain; if our opponent is able to gain life, even if just enough to stay alive for one more turn, we may be dead in the water. Skullcrack is therefore an important part of the sideboard, as it can inhibit Revelation's ability to buy more time (while also giving a way to sneak past Master of Waves' protection in some circumstances).
The next biggest problem is blockers. Seismic Stomp seems useful, too, particularly when dealing with weenie decks, as it gets blockers out of the way of our relentless assault. Some additional burn spells give us a little less longevity, but they can clear out some of the peskier early-game creatures. Shock and Electrickery are thus useful additions, too. To round out the anti-blocker suite, Act of Treason can both open the path for our side of the board to wreak havoc and increase our damage output by stealing a powerful creature - a nice option against a deck with some really problematic creatures.
Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
4 Electrickery
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack
Trial by Fire
Last Friday, I took this deck to an FNM, where a total of 28 people registered. While it wasn't the biggest event, I know that some of the participants are pretty competitive, so I figure it was probably a decent example of your average FNM environment (which, of course, is almost purely speculation).
My overall record for the five rounds was 3-2. Here's how it performed:
In round 1, I played a blue-green flash deck, which fell to our deck 2-1. Even with Prophet of Kruphix, the only real threat in my opponent's deck was Polukranos, World Eater because a 5/5 blocker by turn four plus its Sylvan Caryatid backup stop our aggressive creatures without much trouble. Act of Treason can turn the hydra against its master, nullifying that threat, and nothing else posed much of a problem, so I think our deck was pretty well suited against this one.
Round 2 brought a red devotion deck that slaughtered ours 0-2. Boros Reckoner really ruins our day, especially when a couple hit the field on turn three thanks to Burning-Tree Emissaries and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Again I think Act of Treason is our best option, but I ended up mana flooded in game two, bringing the match to a close. He also splashed white to play Chained to the Rocks, which effectively slowed our early game to allow the Reckoner blowout. It's probably worth thinking about the mono-red matchup in some more detail and adjusting the sideboard accordingly.
I thoroughly trounced a black green deck 2-0 in round 3. Both games were incredibly quick, and I only saw a total of three nonland cards in his list. Abrupt Decay kills all our creatures, but losing a dude doesn't slow our gameplan too much, and his defensive creatures were too slow to stop once we get going. His deck may have been terrible, but whether it was or not, it didn't give enough resistance to influence deck design.
In round 4, I faced the mono-blue devotion deck and ultimately won 2-1. Lightning Strike clears Nightveil Specter and Skullcrack can handle Master of Waves, so I think we're in a good position against mono-blue post-board. We lost game two because we couldn't answer Master without losing our entire board presence, allowing our opponent to whittle us down. I probably misplayed somewhere along the line, but I still think that matchup is pretty solid.
It all came tumbling down in round 5, though, with a quick 0-2 loss. Fleecemane Lion turn two, Unflinching Courage on the Lion turn three, and Boros Charm to give him double strike on turn four is pretty much the worst possible scenario for our deck - gaining 10 life puts our opponent pretty solidly out of our range. The biggest problem here, I think, is that I just wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of deck.
Outlook
The overall future of this deck is good, though. A 3-2 record isn't bad (particularly for my first ever standard event), and I think the main deck is pretty solid. The sideboard needs some work, as Electrickery doesn't seem to be too useful (it's probably best for the mirror-match or for wiping Master tokens, so a couple copies are likely worth having), and I never even considered using Seismic Stomp except against the Reckoners, where I think Act would've been a better choice.
Basically, while the sideboard definitely needs to be tweaked, I think this performance serves as a proof-of-concept for this particular deck. It's nice to see a deck that costs less than $20 compete with some of the dominant archetypes in the current metagame, and I'm excited to see how this particular deck evolves in the future.
For now, I have some deck tweaking to do.
I had wanted to build a hyper aggro deck for a while, so this setup seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make it work. As this is the first competitive deck I've really tried to put together, I thought I'd describe the design process in some detail. I'm not much of a deckbuilder, but it might be a nice jumping off point for further discussions, and it might be fun to see the evolution of a novice deck designer.
Design
The basic premise is simple: Overwhelm your opponent early in the game, forcing damage through with quick, efficient creatures, sprinkling burn spells as necessary. In line with that strategy, the deck needs to focus on mana-efficient damage. We want each mana that we spend to deal damage almost immediately, and we need to avoid drawing lands as much as possible - we want to be able to dump our hand in the first few turns and draw only spells beyond that. If we even reach the midgame, a win may already be beyond reach.
To blast through the first couple turns, we need all of our spells to be cheap - two converted mana cost or less - otherwise we run the risk of being unable to do much of anything early on. Combine that with the need for fast bursts of damage, and we have a narrow gameplan.
Since we want to burst out of the gate, we definitely need several one-costing creatures. Rakdos Cackler seems like a good choice, as it gives us two power for one mana; Firedrinker Satyr fits the bill, too. We're planning to drop a bunch of creatures in the first few turns, so Foundry Street Denizen may even deal more damage than a Cackler on turns two and three, depending on the plays we have available. Legion Loyalist is great because it can smash through on turn one, plus its Batallion effect makes for more efficient attackers later on (with the added bonus of nullifying creature tokens from Pack Rat, Master of Waves, and Elspeth, if the game goes that far).
We want to follow that up with powerful two-drops. Ash Zealot is a fantastic choice for two hasty damage. Burning-Tree Emissary can make the Denizens huge for only two mana, as you can chain them on turn two (and then have even more power on turn three). Another two-power-for-two creature, Goblin Shortcutter, can force some extra damage through an opponent's blocker, so it seems like a nice addition. A two-drop that can bring more than two power to the field is pretty important, and Gore-House Chainwalker seems like a nice fit.
With a little army of efficient one- and two-costing creatures, we need some more ways to boost their damage. Titan's Strength is a great choice, as it not only pumps but the extra Scry can help avoid unwanted land draws. As a red, offensive-only Giant Growth, Rubblebelt Maaka's Bloodrush ability is an excellent combat trick. Madcap Skills is a bit of a risk, as most Auras are, but it not only gives three extra power, but it can take a blocker out of the fight, too, so it has a pretty big payoff. And, of course, Lightning Strike is just a solid burn spell, and it can eliminate most early-game blockers in the format.
Putting all those spells together makes for a pretty solid main deck, and none of those cards are too expensive, so it's a lot cheaper to throw together than a deck with Sphinx's Revelations or Nightveil Specters.
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
3 Goblin Shortcutter
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Rubblebelt Maaka
Instants:
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
Enchantments:
4 Madcap Skills
Lands:
18 Mountain
Sideboard
Sideboarding is another benefit of my first real excursion into standard. I had never really thought much about designing a sideboard for any constructed decks I've put together (mostly because I primarily play casual, and it's impossible to have sideboard options for every random matchup I could have), so this gave me a nice chance to think about how to prepare for specific matchups.
This deck's single biggest worry, I think, is lifegain; if our opponent is able to gain life, even if just enough to stay alive for one more turn, we may be dead in the water. Skullcrack is therefore an important part of the sideboard, as it can inhibit Revelation's ability to buy more time (while also giving a way to sneak past Master of Waves' protection in some circumstances).
The next biggest problem is blockers. Seismic Stomp seems useful, too, particularly when dealing with weenie decks, as it gets blockers out of the way of our relentless assault. Some additional burn spells give us a little less longevity, but they can clear out some of the peskier early-game creatures. Shock and Electrickery are thus useful additions, too. To round out the anti-blocker suite, Act of Treason can both open the path for our side of the board to wreak havoc and increase our damage output by stealing a powerful creature - a nice option against a deck with some really problematic creatures.
Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
4 Electrickery
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Shock
3 Skullcrack
Trial by Fire
Last Friday, I took this deck to an FNM, where a total of 28 people registered. While it wasn't the biggest event, I know that some of the participants are pretty competitive, so I figure it was probably a decent example of your average FNM environment (which, of course, is almost purely speculation).
My overall record for the five rounds was 3-2. Here's how it performed:
In round 1, I played a blue-green flash deck, which fell to our deck 2-1. Even with Prophet of Kruphix, the only real threat in my opponent's deck was Polukranos, World Eater because a 5/5 blocker by turn four plus its Sylvan Caryatid backup stop our aggressive creatures without much trouble. Act of Treason can turn the hydra against its master, nullifying that threat, and nothing else posed much of a problem, so I think our deck was pretty well suited against this one.
Round 2 brought a red devotion deck that slaughtered ours 0-2. Boros Reckoner really ruins our day, especially when a couple hit the field on turn three thanks to Burning-Tree Emissaries and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Again I think Act of Treason is our best option, but I ended up mana flooded in game two, bringing the match to a close. He also splashed white to play Chained to the Rocks, which effectively slowed our early game to allow the Reckoner blowout. It's probably worth thinking about the mono-red matchup in some more detail and adjusting the sideboard accordingly.
I thoroughly trounced a black green deck 2-0 in round 3. Both games were incredibly quick, and I only saw a total of three nonland cards in his list. Abrupt Decay kills all our creatures, but losing a dude doesn't slow our gameplan too much, and his defensive creatures were too slow to stop once we get going. His deck may have been terrible, but whether it was or not, it didn't give enough resistance to influence deck design.
In round 4, I faced the mono-blue devotion deck and ultimately won 2-1. Lightning Strike clears Nightveil Specter and Skullcrack can handle Master of Waves, so I think we're in a good position against mono-blue post-board. We lost game two because we couldn't answer Master without losing our entire board presence, allowing our opponent to whittle us down. I probably misplayed somewhere along the line, but I still think that matchup is pretty solid.
It all came tumbling down in round 5, though, with a quick 0-2 loss. Fleecemane Lion turn two, Unflinching Courage on the Lion turn three, and Boros Charm to give him double strike on turn four is pretty much the worst possible scenario for our deck - gaining 10 life puts our opponent pretty solidly out of our range. The biggest problem here, I think, is that I just wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of deck.
Outlook
The overall future of this deck is good, though. A 3-2 record isn't bad (particularly for my first ever standard event), and I think the main deck is pretty solid. The sideboard needs some work, as Electrickery doesn't seem to be too useful (it's probably best for the mirror-match or for wiping Master tokens, so a couple copies are likely worth having), and I never even considered using Seismic Stomp except against the Reckoners, where I think Act would've been a better choice.
Basically, while the sideboard definitely needs to be tweaked, I think this performance serves as a proof-of-concept for this particular deck. It's nice to see a deck that costs less than $20 compete with some of the dominant archetypes in the current metagame, and I'm excited to see how this particular deck evolves in the future.
For now, I have some deck tweaking to do.
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