It is one of the least played ST archetypes, at least when looking at Team Aretuza Meta Snapshots. Dwarven cards do appear in other ST decks but we see the old same package of Volunteers/Defenders/Agitators/Skirmishers/Sheldon. All dwarves deck is not in the meta.
I wonder what can be done to change this status.
Dwarven cards have three distinct mechanics:
Deploy ability that triggers while handbuffed, resilience and ability based on number of Dwarves/playing Dwarves.
They do synergise somewhat with each other (handbuff is required for resilience, resilience increases the number of Dwarves in a round), so there is some consistency among the cards.
There is only a handful of powerful finishers:
Buffed Sheldon Skaggs, Zoltan: Scoundrel (very expensive). Used to be Commander's Horn.
There are a few engines:
Mercenaries, Defenders, Gabor, Xavier Moran (tall removal magnet).
So there is the basis, but I find it lacking power overall. It is not because of Bronzes, who are mostly quite good.
Volunteers, Mercenary, Defender, Agitator, Skirmisher are the basis of many ST decks.
There are some situational ones as Guard and Marauder who could be good in certain decks and there is Pyrotechnican who needs a very dedicated deck to have good value.
I think the lack of power comes from not enough good gold cards.
The good ones are: Gabor, Cleaver, Sheldon and Paulie Dahlberg.
Yarpen Zigrin has no synergy with any deck except spell-tael, Zoltan Chivay is ok, Cranmer and Els are mediocre.
Xavier Moran is very risky – tall removal/debuff will not only counter this card but also all additional resources invested in buffing it.
Zoltan Scoundrel is very expensive provisions-wise but versatile.
What I propose is to buff some golds to be more useful for all Dwarf deck, changing ones that don’t see play altogether.
Yarpen Zigrin: Strength 5, 10 provisions, Deploy: Spawn and Play Yarpen’s Band in the same row.
Yarpen’s Band: Strength 4. Commentary: Helps with the number of Dwarves on board, gives good points without buffing or damaging. Spawn and play on Yarpen’s Band will trigger Gabor and Mercenary for added combo value.
Dennis Cranmer: Strength 4, 8 provisions, Deploy (Melee): Boost adjacent units by 2.
Deploy (Ranged): Boost self by 2 and buff a Dwarf in hand by 1. Commentary: Some additional versality added and will synergise with handbuffing strategy. EDIT: Increased the base Strength of the card and lowered the handbuff by one - it will trigger the handbuff efect of certain Dwarves but won't give a big carry-over potentional. The adjacent buff option is more efficient as it conditional (having two units in melee row). Also I thing buff only on deploy cards could get a boost in efficiency in general.
Barclay Els: Strength 4, 8 Provisions, Deploy: Boost an allied unit by 1 for each allied Dwarf (including himself). Commentary: Basically return to Els from the beginning of Homecomming, boosting him in value to Zoltan Chivay’s levels.
Xavier Moran: Strength 4, 6 Provisions, Melee: Whenever this unit receives a boost, boost a random other ally by 1. Commentary: Some high variance removed making him a Tridam Infantry variant. Even if he is removed by tall removal, the value of this card will remain as buffs on other allies. Would work well with Dryad Matron and Vitality cards.
BONUS:
Sheldon Skaggs: Strength 3, 8 Provisions, Deploy: Damage an enemy by 3. If boosted, damage that unit by 5 instead. Range 2. Commentary: I do find Sheldon balanced as he is now, but if the community outrage is too high we can remove the high variance from the card. The proposed change will make him a very reliable card that almost always will return points equal to provisions and is very good removal tool.
Final note: I do believe that Filavandrel’s ability suits all Dwarf deck better that Brouver so the cosmetic change of switching the mentioned leaders’ abilities hinted by CDPR would be nice touch.
I wonder what can be done to change this status.
Dwarven cards have three distinct mechanics:
Deploy ability that triggers while handbuffed, resilience and ability based on number of Dwarves/playing Dwarves.
They do synergise somewhat with each other (handbuff is required for resilience, resilience increases the number of Dwarves in a round), so there is some consistency among the cards.
There is only a handful of powerful finishers:
Buffed Sheldon Skaggs, Zoltan: Scoundrel (very expensive). Used to be Commander's Horn.
There are a few engines:
Mercenaries, Defenders, Gabor, Xavier Moran (tall removal magnet).
So there is the basis, but I find it lacking power overall. It is not because of Bronzes, who are mostly quite good.
Volunteers, Mercenary, Defender, Agitator, Skirmisher are the basis of many ST decks.
There are some situational ones as Guard and Marauder who could be good in certain decks and there is Pyrotechnican who needs a very dedicated deck to have good value.
I think the lack of power comes from not enough good gold cards.
The good ones are: Gabor, Cleaver, Sheldon and Paulie Dahlberg.
Yarpen Zigrin has no synergy with any deck except spell-tael, Zoltan Chivay is ok, Cranmer and Els are mediocre.
Xavier Moran is very risky – tall removal/debuff will not only counter this card but also all additional resources invested in buffing it.
Zoltan Scoundrel is very expensive provisions-wise but versatile.
What I propose is to buff some golds to be more useful for all Dwarf deck, changing ones that don’t see play altogether.
Yarpen Zigrin: Strength 5, 10 provisions, Deploy: Spawn and Play Yarpen’s Band in the same row.
Yarpen’s Band: Strength 4. Commentary: Helps with the number of Dwarves on board, gives good points without buffing or damaging. Spawn and play on Yarpen’s Band will trigger Gabor and Mercenary for added combo value.
Dennis Cranmer: Strength 4, 8 provisions, Deploy (Melee): Boost adjacent units by 2.
Deploy (Ranged): Boost self by 2 and buff a Dwarf in hand by 1. Commentary: Some additional versality added and will synergise with handbuffing strategy. EDIT: Increased the base Strength of the card and lowered the handbuff by one - it will trigger the handbuff efect of certain Dwarves but won't give a big carry-over potentional. The adjacent buff option is more efficient as it conditional (having two units in melee row). Also I thing buff only on deploy cards could get a boost in efficiency in general.
Barclay Els: Strength 4, 8 Provisions, Deploy: Boost an allied unit by 1 for each allied Dwarf (including himself). Commentary: Basically return to Els from the beginning of Homecomming, boosting him in value to Zoltan Chivay’s levels.
Xavier Moran: Strength 4, 6 Provisions, Melee: Whenever this unit receives a boost, boost a random other ally by 1. Commentary: Some high variance removed making him a Tridam Infantry variant. Even if he is removed by tall removal, the value of this card will remain as buffs on other allies. Would work well with Dryad Matron and Vitality cards.
BONUS:
Sheldon Skaggs: Strength 3, 8 Provisions, Deploy: Damage an enemy by 3. If boosted, damage that unit by 5 instead. Range 2. Commentary: I do find Sheldon balanced as he is now, but if the community outrage is too high we can remove the high variance from the card. The proposed change will make him a very reliable card that almost always will return points equal to provisions and is very good removal tool.
Final note: I do believe that Filavandrel’s ability suits all Dwarf deck better that Brouver so the cosmetic change of switching the mentioned leaders’ abilities hinted by CDPR would be nice touch.
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