Feedback needed for my (probably broken) ST trap expansion! Thanks

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First off, let me tell you that I've fucked all the links. Here is a link to the whole expansion I'll try and figure it out and edit it properly. Sorry


Hello and all that jazz. Two months ago I started fiddling around making some ST customs, looking for a way to strengthen Elven bronzes which I found to be very underwhelming. This led me down a bit of a custom card making rabbit hole and by the time I’d drawn up some ideas WotW was announced. After adding many things such as Dragons and then Spellatael, I felt that my planned expansion was becoming too diffuse, so went back to my original idea; the implementation of traps and how the bronze pool could be expanded to support this and other archetypes . Even though the main focus is trap based, there are only 2 new trap cards, as well as 1 slight reworking.

I, in no way shape or form, have the answer to all these problems. This is my first serious attempt at making customs and a couple of cards could well be broken. There are some balancing issues no doubt, which is why I’ve avoided adding armour, allowing me to fine tune balancing issues once I’ve been made aware. I have also completely ignored adding Adrenaline to these cards. Most were made before WotW and I didn’t want to add adrenaline for the sake of it. Again, if there are major issues with a card, it can be used to balance.

I have no real interest regarding lore but some changes were made thematically. There are a number of (from what Wiki tells me) secondary characters included because they fit the theme. I was hesitant about adding new characters and was convinced I would just rework old ones but found that other characters might be better suited to different archetypes (Harmony, Spellatael) so I saved reworking them any further expansion I may do.

Before I get into the trap focused part of this custom expansion, I’d just like to post a couple of proposed general changes to ST.

Firstly, as I’m sure it is for other factions, the purify choices are abysmal. Last season was hell against Shieldwall because the Elf purify is fucking useless unless you play Deadeye Ambush. The other alternative is Ida, 7 provisions for 1 purify! I can’t understand for the life of me why each faction doesn’t have a purify that functions like Gremist. It will help alleviate the need for Heatwave in every deck.

The other slight problem that I find really frustrating is the fact that the Defender is a Dwarf. I understand why, Dwarves have a lot more inter-archetypal synergies than Elves but it makes Vernossiel’s Commando useless with Defender. It’s one of the few Elf specific engines, yet it can be protected seems absurd. To this extent, I’ve mocked up 2 different alternatives, each with some Elf or Dryad flavor that players can choose for the same provision cost. These are very rough examples, mainly drawn up to highlight a point. There is a third example that synergizes with this expansion but I’ll save that until you have a chance to see other cards. I originally had Hattori earmarked as an ST Gremist but decided against it because I thought there are other spell cards that could use this ability in more interesting ways, rather than being a carbon copy Gremist or Caretaker.

Ok, now onto the traps and I’d like to start by saying I understand how boring and frustrating it is to play against un-interactive decks, and to this point completely agree with CDPR’s standpoint. There are few things as annoying as being 40 points up and losing to a last minute point swing. Even though there are many (mostly meme) decks that are guilty of this, trap decks are by far the worst proponents of no unit bullshit. In order to address what I consider to be the main failing of this archetype, I have tried to look ways to increase the number of cards that; (1), give greater round control; (2), Increase tempo; and (3), Increase thinning, giving better tools to people who want to build trap, without (hopefully) encouraging no unit nonsense.

Before I start I have to point out that some card art has been used without agreement. The purpose of the art is just to offer a visual stimulus, and not intended to breach copyright, so on and so forth. Oh, and just to be sure I was clear the first time, I’m no custom card making genius. In fact quite the opposite…

Engines

One of the fundamental failings of trap decks is the complete lack of engine support. Currently, the only bronze elf that has synergy with the trap archetype is Scout. In less powercrept times, Scout was a fairly clunky, albeit non-meta defining bronze engine but now is pretty much useless. The lack of engines available is problematic for both player and opponent; by units not being able to stick on your side of the board, you are denying your opponent interactivity but in-turn, denying yourself long round value, which is key considering traps play for zero tempo. Being able to play a number of units that can reliably stick is, in many ways, better for both you and your opponent, and the game’s state in general.

Below are engine cards that have been reworked/reintroduced.

Panther has been reworked as an engine with the ability to consume a thematic choice. Primarily an offensive engine designed to mop up any tokens or stray bodies that may deny you value. It can also be used defensively, consuming spies or denying Wild Boar value. It also synergizes with Wardancers and the new Defender.

Sapper
has been given Pyro’s old ability; a damage engine that allows you to maximize value from flipped traps/used artifacts. Elven Scout has been reworked to synergize with Sapper as well as traps, to give the player a chance to develop it quickly before being removed.

Although not an engine, a new card, Trapper, has been added, providing Sapper with targets or teasing out potential removal from opponents; with its ability to shuffle cards face down on the board. The traps it spawns are also resilient, giving increased tempo for Sapper into the next round.

(On the subject of which, I’ve mocked up some basic neutral anti-trap support. After all, the whole archetype is paradoxically supported by people running tech against it. One is predictably d-bomb, with a pretty standard 4 for 4 secondary. The other is a slight throwback to beta and is a tweak of Cyprian Wiley, giving him an option to banish by 4 or destroy a trap. )

Tempo

A similar issue to round control is the lack of tempo in trap decks. Playing zero tempo trap cards allows your opponent to force the round. Your opponent passing after you’ve laid a trap is a common occurrence and forces you a card down. Traps such as Serpent Trap and Incinerating Trap can be played around with such ease that it invalidates their inclusion in the first place. Enabling a bit more tempo in a trap deck will help avoid these situations and maybe force some better cards from your opponent, allowing Serpent or Incinerating find better value, or even not allowing them to pass a card up.

Incinerating trap has been reworked to avoid people playing around it so easily. No longer can you throw away a disposable unit without losing considerable value. Even by playing a 5p card there is a risk that you could easily set up a proc for Panther.

Wardancers have also been tempo tweaked, summoning from deck when you play a trap. They can also be put back in your deck with Bad Faith, a tactic that functions like a faction specific Decoy, adding potential thinning value to your deck if not removed from board. While Iorveth can pull any Wardancers from Graveyard for late game tempo

Another idea borrowed from beta is a reworking of Ciaran (now Coinneach Da Reo) , which functions like an anti-tempo trap, allowing you to avoid going a card down if an opponent folds when you playing a crushing trap, trying to force you out if the round. It also gets boosted with each tactic you play, allowing for some old fashioned Jedi mind trick bullshit and can be used like Ciri if you manage to tempo ahead in round 1.

Hattori has also been reworked and now functions as Gord but for trap decks potentially adding round 3 tempo, or finishing.

Thinning and anti-thinning

Another key fault of trap decks is that there is a paucity of thinning options. No one playing traps really wants to be left with a handful of zero tempo cards in round 3, and no one really wants to play against it either. Conversely, you don’t want a handful of units that are reliant on trap synergy and have no traps to play with. Traps decks need a decent tutor (shove your dumpling up yer arse, Hattori) and more thinning options to avoid these scenarios.

As mentioned, Wardancers thin from your deck when a trap is played. They can also be put back into your deck with cards such as Bad Faith and Peace Offering, allowing you to thin/anti-thin and cycle through your bronze options with greater ease. It should also give increased tempo, allowing you to lay down slow tempo traps (Trapper, Coinneach Da Reo, Web Trap) for round 2. Peace Offering also gives some form of tall removal, whether it be removing a boosted token form the battlefield and recycling a Wardancer, or a higher cost provision unit and your Aelirenn. It can also be used to put your defender (Ciaran Aep Dearbh) back into your deck but more on that in a bit.

All these cards work in tandem with Librarian of the Dead, a graveyard only gold artifact card that damages an enemy by 1 each time a card is moved from the battlefield. Sort of like an Anti-Roach that can either brick horrendously or thin, depending on luck and mulligans.

And while it doesn’t thin, Iorveth’s old ability has been tweaked and changed to Riordain and now gets +1 damage thanks to Librarian when you swap a trap.

Perhaps the most broken card in this expansion (and I realize that there is stiff completion) is Ciaran Aep Dearbh. Again, not strictly a thinning card, rather a unit that gets put back into your deck. I thought it would be interesting to have a low strength Defender like SY and moving cards back into deck developed into a bit of a theme. Perhaps a bit too strong but I really wanted it to avoid getting munched by a random shackles turn 1. Having the armour prevents against this while also giving you the option to consume it before round end with either Panther or destroyed with Ele’yas.

Tactics

In this expansion I have increase the amount of tactic cards available. I felt sorry for Waylay and felt it was something that had been left underdeveloped. Last Days’ Dawning works with a few cards in this expansion and is the only significant keyword added. To keep things short for the sake of brevity it ‘shuffles’ all units on a row. Well, technically not all units and it doesn’t really shuffle them (I went for jumble in the description). Below is a quick explanation. Please note that when writing this, I got my left and opponents’ left a bit confused:



(1), each card on a row moves over (hurdles) an adjacent card (to the left or right) only once; (2), Even though, in reality, every card on the row moves (either to the left or right), only one card will be considered to move; (3), in order to achieve this and to keep an damage as evenly spread as possible, if a card moves right (+) the next card moves left (-) along the horizontal axis; (4), the action is complete when all cards have swapped their original position in the fewest moves possible.

With 5 units on the board, we are going to move in total 3 units. Each number at the top of the grid represents a unit on the player’s row. In order for the row to be completely jumbled, using the rules above, we need to (starting on the left, which is the rightmost card on your opponents side of the board) swap the positions of 1 and 2, moving 2 to the left (considered the moving card) and 1 to the right, or as I’ll notate it, 2L-1. As stated, only one of these units is considered to be moving when in actuality they are both moving. When this action is complete (let’s call it phase one) we have to move a card to the right (or +), so we move 4R+1, switching 4 and 5 with only 4 being considered as moving. Lastly we have to move a card to the left (-) in order to have a shuffled row, so we move 3L-1. In total we have moved 3 units (actually 5) in order to achieve this, with units 2, 3, 4 being considered moved. Essentially, you are swapping a pair of numbers to left, then to the right, then one in the middle, if there are an odd number of units on the row.


I hope that makes sense and more to the point I hope it works, too.

There are a number of cards that work with this mechanic**. A Spider’s Folly** is essentially a Sentry that can’t be interacted with. It has the same provs as a Sentry but doesn’t have that sweet boosting effect; it’s intended solely as an offensive weapon. I’m not entirely sure why it would be chosen over a Sentry but have tried to offset its extra unit cost by giving it synergy with Vernossiel and is more or less immune, transforming from a Gold Bordered Elven Deadeye only on your turn**.**

Angus Bri Cri combines with A Spider’s Folly. It transforms a bronze Deadeye into a gold Deadeye (which if I’ve understood correctly from how the game works and I’ve worded it correctly, would then transform into A Spider’s Folly. Let me know, really not sure about this). It gives the player an option to use Deadeye Ambush as leader by putting a Deadeye on the board to be transformed. It also has a secondary ‘value’ ability to avoid bricking.

Iorveth: Gambit. Amazing what difference a colon can make. The old Gambit did exactly what you didn’t need from a trap card, that is playing 2 at the same time, sometimes puling 2 Incinerating traps at the same time for a whooping 5 points (at most) from a 13 provision card. This expands on the Tactics tag (poor lowly Waylay) and should play for more consistent points. It’s also nice to have a Swiss Army card, which can be played reactively, depending on board state.

Milaen has received a small change to synergize with A Spider’s Folly/Sentry. She also has a thematic secondary ability to help her avoid bricking. Originally it was destroy a beast but I thought by setting a beast to 1, you could use Panther for extra value.

Scoia’tael Commando is a bronze card that has synergy with A Spider’s Folly/Sentry and helps squeeze some extra value from that card.

And finally Eldain is the big boy of this expansion. If an opponent stacks the front row, it will play for big points, provided you have A Spider’s Folly/Sentry. Thought it was time he was given a card of his own, despite the fact that he didn’t hang with Iorveth and his crew.

Trap and trap specific cards.

Web trap is a bit of a first, an evolving trap. The ability to seize cards wasn’t an NG only thing back in beta. ST had Malena, a trap that would seize a unit. I’ve longed for a trap such as this (think Return of the Jedi) for ST as it fits so well thematically. It is also unique in the sense that the trap is only triggered when your opponent has a certain amount of units on the board, which can be triggered organically or forced through the use of removal if the opponent has gone beyond the card’s trigger threshold. Like all evolving cards it gets better it later rounds. *please note, the trap should read random enemy in all phases*

Etriel and Muirlega have had a bit of a rework. Etriel now fuctions like Hattori (but with a shield and can pull a trap from deck if conditions are met) and Muirlega now function like Beast, consuming enemy units. Perhaps Etriel is a bit over the top after all the changes I made to thinning.

And lastly Wild-Snipe Chase is fairly self-explanatory TA card that spawns a Wardancer. Was a last minute addition and haven’t given it much thought about how effective it might be.

And that concludes the expansion. I can now return to my normal life without waking up each morning thinking about provision costs. Of course, some might say I never considered this to begin with. Hope you like some ideas and they are not all too broken and of course, all feedback is encouraged.
 
some very interesting designs in there but the number of defenders made me lol a bit
 
In the huge wall of text I mention why there are so many defenders. Basically because Figgis bricks Vernossiel's Commando and scenario, making defender awkward for people playing swarm elves. Commando isn't a great card obvs but with so few elf engine options, it does make it it infuriating that there is no way to protect the only engine you might want to play. In fact, it's downright flawed card design and an issue I've wanted to mention for a long time. The problem stems from the fact that ST is, in essence, a faction made up of 3 factions and these factions each have specific conditions relating to these sub-factions. The only way (certainly the simplest) is to introduce a defender for each Dryad, Dwarf, Elf costed at the same prov. Ithlinne (was Ida) was done for some Spellatael flavour but the whole expansion was becoming too diffuse and, quite frankly a nightmare, so I removed Dragons and Spell synergy and concentrated solely on Iorveth's band of bastards, but decided to keep the defenders because, not only did I like them but it's an issue that I think should be brought to the devs attention. The last defender I also really like and is expansion specific.

Thanks for the feedback
Further discussion can be found here: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/ind...nt-part-413-artifacts.11038790/#post-12669719

I'll post any reworks (some provs are a bit off) if and when I get some more feedback.

Some corrected errors (although there are 1 or 2 more slight issues to solve):
 
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