The funniest thing about all this Reddit/forum NG hating is that now those guys get their boards swept to zero by Precision Strike and Mobilization like no Double Ball could do even in its prime. But they're happy with that. Because it's not NG.
Seriously, any faction with neutral control inclusions is at least equal at control to NG. And what Precision Strike can do with red coin... no NG ever could get close to this much control degeneracy. But NG is the only faction without points and a solid R1 strategy.
No one is happy about control SC, though. In fact, people call for nerfs all the time, same as with Warriors.
Your equality statement fails a simple math check - Fangs are more cost-efficient than any neutral analogue, and many faction ones, too, and so are VVM/Yen/Vilge.
Double Ball was, indeed, more toxic than PS- because it also generated decently high points while doing this. PS has to lean into handbuff heavily to achieve like 50% of that glory. And even then, it manages to be tier 1-2 somehow, despite using a questionable, flawed, cost-inefficient mechanic.
See where this is going?
I think you miss the crucial point here.
This hatefest isn't about NG per se, NG is the focal point for the real hatred behind this threat - abusive control decks that are also allowed to pointslam, WHILE running your opponent into ground.
Such archetypes are very unfun to play against, especially if you're running a less aggressive deck.
Historically, NG is the worst offender, but very few people really really think SW/PS/Warriors/Revenants retardation is okay either. None of such archetypes should ever be allowed to exist on competitive level. Your deck can be good at one thing or another, not at everything at once.
Additionally, there is an important difference between the Ball and all the other abusive stuff from this list - PS can be balanced by some tiny nerfs to Justice and carryover, stupid vikings can be balanced by a minor provision nerf here and there, but there's no way in hell to actually balance the poison spam strat.
It can be either too weak, or too strong. This is what you get with a mechanic that operates outside of numbers, on a separate uninteractive binary scale.
Think I'm being unreasonable? Remember how you feel when you get Triple Duelled.
Edit: you aren't wrong about R1 issues and trash bronzes, of course. But bringing the poison spam archetype back is definitely the wrong way to go about fixing this problem.
Edit2: This may also be reason for CDPR not giving the buffs yet. Simply because NG can't be fixed without a significant rework, simple tinkering with numbers won't get us anywhere
Well, that, or being lazy. I hope it's the former.
are you seriously suggesting that NG should be able to not only copy engines but also players special cards? LMAO I want to believe you're joking but I get the feeling you aren't. I don't even know how you come to the conclusion that any faction being able to play every card that the opponent has, is healthy in any way for a game. There's already Triss but as per usual I'm guessing NG players want a special card just for them lol
