Tales of the Pirate Captain (Damage vs Buff)

[4RM3D]

Tales of the Pirate Captain (Damage vs Buff)

Do you know the tales of the Pirate Captain? No? Well of course not.The War Longship has left the bay and he wasn't invited to the party.

Clan Dimun Pirate Captain (4 str): Gain 2 strength whenever you discard a unit.

War Longship (5 str): Remove 2 strength from a random opposing non-Gold unit whenever a unit on your side is destroyed or you discard a unit.

There are a few things wrong with this picture when you compare both cards. For the sake of the discussion, let's assume Longship has the same strength and doesn't trigger on a unit being destroyed. Then it all comes down to whether gaining 2 strength it worth more than dealing 2 damage?

I just used the example above to ask the question of whether damaging is better than buffing? I think that there are more counters to buffing than there are to damaging. So for the sake of balancing you cannot exchanges their values 1 to 1.

What's your take on this?

 

[RickMelethron]

depends on which type of deck you're playing... a control deck prefers to damage, an efficiency deck prefers to buff.
if you look at the dwarves, mahakam guard is much more played than mahakam skirmisher; that's because the most popular dwarf decks ATM want to buff their own units rather than damaging opponent units.

the major issue with pirate captain is that skelliga just doesn't have a deck where the card fits (and tbh, it's not an efficient card)

I think that there are more counters to buffing than there are to damaging. So for the sake of balancing you cannot exchanges their values 1 to 1.

well, that comes down to simply adding a couple of cards... the problem is that removing a buff can get rid of 30+ strength, while removing wounds will mostly get rid of ~5 (otherwise, the units will be dead rather than damaged)

quen would be the go-to counter to damage, but that card is waaaay too crappy to be of any practical use... (save for some funzies PFI decks, i guess)

 

[robwarrior]

what does damaging an enemy card do? it wasn't in witcher3 thanks!

 

[KasumiGoto]

what does damaging an enemy card do? it wasn't in witcher3 thanks!

:wondering: Are you even playing gwent? Or have you ever watched a footage of it? Because that's some real basics. You can view all cards' descriptions here http://www.gwentdb.com/cards

 

[Esclive]

it wasn't in witcher3 thanks!

Pretty sure it was actually. Weather !

 

[Tungdilboindil]

Clan Dimun Pirate Captain (4 str): Gain 2 strength whenever you discard a unit.

what if you change it to be similar to spotter? I mean it gains 1 strength every time you discard a card wherever he is (deck, battlefield, hand).

And maybe set base strength to 1 though 4 seems fine.

 

[frbfree]

There are counters to buffing for your opponents to play against you, sure.

This question (I'm assuming) presumes a Bran leader choice. But damaging would have a better synergy with Harald, if that was the way that was being played. I'm struggling to think of anything SK related that has synergy with buffing. Damaging is also the clearly better choice against ST, NG, and Monsters, where there is little resurrection capability.

 

[4RM3D]

if you look at the dwarves, mahakam guard is much more played than mahakam skirmisher; that's because the most popular dwarf decks ATM want to buff their own units rather than damaging opponent units.

That's true, but Mahakam Guard also gives a little bit more. First of all, it's weather immune and secondly, it works regardless of the enemy strength. That combined with the overall buffing synergy, makes it a winner. Still, it also depends on the deck you're using.

what if you change it to be similar to spotter? I mean it gains 1 strength every time you discard a card wherever he is (deck, battlefield, hand).

That might actually be a good fix.

 

[ArianeGrosmont]

I've been pondering the same question: buff vs damage...
the plus of damaging a unit is that you can get it off the battlefield, while the advantage to buffing a unit is making it harder to be removed. at the end of the day, it's not just about how much power a unit has, but also what it can do while it's in play.
Think about it this way: your opponent​ has 2 units on the battlefield right now: one has 7 strength, but no ability (or it's ability has already been triggered). the other is at 2 strength, but can still trigger (consume, DMG another unit, etc)
You have alzur's thunder. if you use it on the 7 strength, you get full value from your alzur's, but it may actually be better to use it on the unit with 2 strength, even though it may seem like you're 'wasting' your potential 7remove, because in a few turns, that pesky little 2strength can remove a lot more from you, or add a lot more to the other player.
so I think the answer depends on the card, deck and situation.

 

[d3vil_dant3]

basically, damage needs a condition: you need to have a unit to target, so i assume that is the payoff