Merciless is a BAD BAD card

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Merciless is a BAD BAD card

I think this is first we see a card, especially a gold card, from one faction to specifically target another faction's mechnic, and it's crap if it can't be used, and it wins the game if it is ever used.

Swim concluded it quite right in my opinion "Ppl won't run this, but no one will ever play ambush again"

Ambush is the most fun mechnic for ST in my opinion but it's far from getting it's own archetype deck, at time like this (when we desperately need to show each faction is unique), a card that will destroy such mechnic, and is exclusive to another faction, is uncalled for. (Geralt:professional is also a very weird card, but I guess I have to wait for arena to tell if it needs to change)

Can't really tell the design purpose of Merciless except for lore-friendly reason, but really lore need to give way to gameplay.
(Couldn't imagine ambush cards shines in arena mode neither so I really don't understand why this card is designed this way)
 
Clearly in play-testing they felt ambush was too strong in Arena, and wanted to counter it somewhat. But they went too far on this one. I would like to see it more balanced: not game-losing bad if they don't have ambush, and not game-winning good in case they have.

Maybe make it more Geralt-like. 5 strength, "Destroy a Scoia'tel (or maybe elf) unit. If it is an ambush card, play a card from your hand and draw a card".

I don't have a problem making situational cards (for Arena!), but this one is way too swingy.
 
TrompeLaMort;n10528912 said:
Clearly in play-testing they felt ambush was too strong in Arena, and wanted to counter it somewhat. But they went too far on this one. I would like to see it more balanced: not game-losing bad if they don't have ambush, and not game-winning good in case they have.

Maybe make it more Geralt-like. 5 strength, "Destroy a Scoia'tel (or maybe elf) unit. If it is an ambush card, play a card from your hand and draw a card".

I don't have a problem making situational cards (for Arena!), but this one is way too swingy.

I would be okay with this merciless:

Lock 2 units, then choose 1 from: 1.strength self by 3 for each locked unit on the board 2.damage 3 to each locked unit on the board
Base str of 6-8 sounds reasonable but it's open for debate.

It will becomes a powerful control card (especially for ambush since they can't be damaged or removed, only locked) and perhaps even a small synergy with radovid
 
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Lyserus;n10529012 said:
I would be okay with this merciless:

Lock 3 units, then choose 1 from: 1.strength self by 2 for each locked unit on the board 2.damage 2 to each locked unit on the board

I mean, that would be alright design. But clearly they intended Roche to be a counter to ambush, and that only works as such really indirectly.
 
TrompeLaMort;n10529032 said:
I mean, that would be alright design. But clearly they intended Roche to be a counter to ambush, and that only works as such really indirectly.

Ambush card can be locked..I forget which update made it happen but lock can be a very efficient way to control ambush units

(They will be flipped over and lose their special ability)
 
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DRK3

Forum veteran
I dont know if you guys know but Cyprian Wiley had the ability to destroy ambushes not so long ago, and it's a silver, and no one used it. Why? Because no one wants a card, specially a silver, that is only useful against one of 5 factions.

Sure, now SC may happen to be on top of the popularity, which may make such a circumstancial card more appealing, but in general, its a terrible idea.
 
Lyserus;n10528862 said:
[...]
Swim concluded it quite right in my opinion "Ppl won't run this, but no one will ever play ambush again"[...]
while I agree with the first half of that statement, the second half is insane rambling, especially with that new super powered Morenn... preemptively cancel a special card? that's a day one craft, and high probability for auto-include right there. and I don't see people giving up their Toruviel's or Milena's either

 
I fully agree with Merciless being a mistake. It's potentially fine in arena, but if it sees play in constructed decks it's terrible for the game.
 
ST can manage quite well without ever including an ambush card in the deck - so even if as an NR player you come up against ST, chances are they won't have ambush units purely because of the existance of this card. And if they do and all conditions are met and Roche manages to get played, he gives immediate CA too - so your game is kinda over even before it begins.

Very poor design for a card, but if it's meant for Arena, then it should be limited to appearing in Arena mode only.
 
I would excuse the print of this card if there were Ambush Cards in other factions too, but a tech like this against only one faction in an non existent archetype... Come on, Devs, you can do better.
 
DRK3;n10529092 said:
I dont know if you guys know but Cyprian Wiley had the ability to destroy ambushes not so long ago, and it's a silver, and no one used it. Why? Because no one wants a card, specially a silver, that is only useful against one of 5 factions.

The problem lies in the fact that on top of destroying an ambush card it gives you CA and it can be created with Uma. Roche:Merciless is the type of card you don't run in your deck, but select from the create card pool to win you a game on the spot.

In my opinion to make this card healthier you have to remove the draw a card ability and give to it more flexibility in return.
For example choose one:
1) destroy an ambush card
2) give X armor to a unit in your hand (thinking of you Seltkirk!)
 
The card draw is a bit too much and it should probably have something like a boost effect instead but the ability is more than fine. It just means it won't be run outside Arena which is what the devs intended.
 

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x1Cygnus;n10529772 said:
ST can manage quite well without ever including an ambush card in the deck - so even if as an NR player you come up against ST, chances are they won't have ambush units purely because of the existance of this card. And if they do and all conditions are met and Roche manages to get played, he gives immediate CA too - so your game is kinda over even before it begins.

Very poor design for a card, but if it's meant for Arena, then it should be limited to appearing in Arena mode only.

That’s an even worse idea. Making it so it’s only available in one mode? It’s a high risk high reward card. It’s dead most of the time but when it finds value it’s strong. He becomes a very strong spy. But as others said it would be dead too often.

Plus he hasn’t been released and they change cards plenty of times before release. Everyone cries over everyone in this game. I mean even others are crying about it being so broken but then also stating no one will run it lmao
 
Just run Merciless and Sarah then add a Saskia if you want and you will win 100% of your SC matches. I like this card actually. This card is accidental genius. This card will change the way Gwent tournaments work and for the better. You will no longer just bring random piles of decks that are good you can now actively target decks that you might expect in the tournament. You can now effectively sideboard just like in a real TCG which i think is gonna be amazing. They should make more cards like this that prey on very niche but strong mechanics to increase the variety of silverbullets in tournaments.

 

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Lyserus;n10533342 said:
hmm still don't know why we don't simply give it lock ability to counter ambush...but I guess this is good enough for arena mode

Why exactly would that be better? That would make him worse than even the silvers that lock. He would be a worse version of Margarita lmao

Most golds go for about 20 points, a 6 strength unit that destroys an ambush is short of 20 value and only under specific circumstances. He’s such a terrible card, making him only lock makes him only 2 points stronger than the useless dimeritium shackles...

Everyone has such terrible ideas
 
EternalJxx;n10533452 said:
Why exactly would that be better? That would make him worse than even the silvers that lock. He would be a worse version of Margarita lmao

Most golds go for about 20 points, a 6 strength unit that destroys an ambush is short of 20 value and only under specific circumstances. He’s such a terrible card, making him only lock makes him only 2 points stronger than the useless dimeritium shackles...

Everyone has such terrible ideas

If not for forum regulation I would roast you so much... such ignorance

If you actually Read the post you will see my full suggestion on the merciless tweak.

Unlike you I am trying to tweak the card to a viable state, and you are just ranting offering only negative opinion.

As for the 20 point argument, point advantage is never the core of suggestions since it can be altered easily with patch, and the goal of suggestion is to make the card good at what it is, in this case Merciless is suppose to be a good counter strategy for ambush cards, and my suggestion works better than the original and tweaked version of merciless now
 
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