Dealing with point-slam monsters...

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Guest 4344268

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I won't bother laying out the argument for why auto-pilot point-slam monster decks are (1) garbage to play against, and (2) probably bad for the game (see point 1): most rational people will probably not need convincing.

Frankly, I don't understand how people above rank 10 can even bear playing this essentially mindless deck (play thrive units, play larger units, play even larger units, then consume, rinse, and repeat - truly some Bobby Fischer-level stuff right there). Don't get me wrong: I understand if you're new to the game and trying to hold your own, accumulate some scraps for cards that are actually interesting, etc., or even if you're just doing it to troll the game for a little bit purely for the "lulz." But seriously: is anyone out there actually fooling themselves that this deck requires any skill to play?

It seems to me that the real reason this type of deck exists is simple economics. CDPR is not running a charity; they obviously need to provide enough entry-level, low-skill, and zero-learning-curve options to keep a good-sized portion of their player base playing. I don't blame them, but it would unfortunately seem that the number of players leaving the game or playing less of it due to this poisonous type of deck is smaller/less economically significant than the number of people playing it...

And yes, I understand that there are literally over a dozen simple and surefire ways to tech against point slam, from scorch and resets to banishing and other forms of "graveyard hate" to fighting fire with fire with equally mindnumbing point-slam variants like Mourntart and immune slyzzard. Believe me, nothing gives me greater joy than setting off Schirru on a bunch of synchronized thrive units or scorching for 35+ points in round three. The problem is that tech'ing for point-slam garbage decks tends to leave you vulnerable to other decks that actually require half a brain to play and to counter...

Anyway, this concludes the salty rant portion of the post. I'd like now to propose a few potential work-arounds to alleviate the boredom of queuing into more point slam. (I literally now look forward to Usurper.)

1. Give all players 1 to 3 "flex spots" in their decks (maybe standardized, maybe leader-dependent, like provisions). Basically, players would have 15 to 20 seconds to swap up to three cards for cards of equal value at the beginning of each match-up. The obvious drawback here is the (additional) delay before the match, hence option #2...

2. Allow the player who lost the previous match to optionally substitute their current deck for an alternate, already built and saved deck at the beginning of the match-up (i.e., after the winning player's leader is revealed). This obviously wouldn't work if both players lost their previous match, so maybe it could be MMR based. I don't know, maybe it's insane to give one player this kind of an advantage, hence option 3...

3. Just increase the provision costs on Ozzy and ghouls already. Counters notwithstanding, these cards are just not expensive enough given the value they achieve. As a point-slammer you'd be foolish not to run them...

4. Just insta forfeit whenever you see Woodland or Gernie in casual until people get the message. (That's a joke, but I've actually done this due more to boredom than frustration...)
 
It sounds like you play Scoia'Tael. That is the weakest faction right now, and your problem is compounded by the fact that Scoia'Tael is more a control archetype, which big monsters is supposed to counter. Naturally, you're going to have a difficult time against big monsters.

I've played big woodlands, and while Scoia'Tael is a pushover, the other 3 factions are not. Any NR engine deck or even Foltest control can beat big monsters. I lose a lot more than I win against NR. Skellige vs monsters is well balanced. I win/lose about 50/50 against Crach, Harald, etc. Nilfgaard is also a tough matchup, when they play Leo Bonhart, Peter, Vanhemar, etc.

I think big monsters is fairly well balanced against Skellige and Nilfgaard. NR is the tough matchup, while Scoia'Tael is the easy matchup. The solution would seem to be to improve Scoia'Tael rather than nerf another faction like monsters. Maybe traps should be a different category not easily removed by artifact removal cards.

One time I faced a Brouver who played a trap. I wasn't even expecting a trap from Brouver, but luckily I had a Nithral(An OP card with same power/provision as elder bear, that can also remove artifacts and do up to 4 damage) in my hand for buffing my thrive units. I removed his trap from the game, and he forfeited. I felt sorry for him.
 
Scoiatel is actually the faction that worked extremely well for me against Woodland and Eredin. It's build specific but here's why it works so well:

1) Dol Blathanna Archer is the card to completely counter the 4P Nekkers
2) Monsters have alot of mid sized units that makes it easier to line up a devastating Schirru
3) The big bodies means that you can use your damaging elves/Eithne to line up a devastating Scorch as well
4) A lot of the MO decks (specifically Big Woodland) don't have many ways to interact with the opponent which is very good for an elf based deck that is particularly vulnerable to removal

With all this being said, I don't know if Schirru destroying himself is a deal breaker for this to work as consistently as it did for me before the patch but my bet is that it still will work pretty well. I haven't been playing Elves post patch yet but I can assure you that I was almost always combo-ing off big against them. MO was my most favourable match up.
 
If your rivals often play this kind of monster deck, it would better that you change your build a little bit
Blue Dream is a good choice when giants deck rush you in round 2
Geralt and Professional would make you successful into a long round 3
As to those small thrive units, I've been playing Skellige so it's not a problem
 
You are right, that is basicly just a salty rant.
"Pure" Points > Control > Engines > "Pure" Points.
Almost noone runs just one of those and if your opponent use only "Pure" Points play an engine and watch them rage or just adapt, if you play a Control based deck just add cards like Geralt Yrden, which allows you to still play 9 cards, while punishing multiple cards of a playstyle that counters yours.
Why do people have such issues adapting ?
In old Gwent you would have propably started raging against decks like Viper Witchers, while counters for other playstyles are now easily accessible and techable, you are not going to win every matchup, if you could that in itself would be unhealthy and usually a tier 0 deck nothing can compete with, or the game would straight up on an auto-play level.
 
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