I’m going to talk a little about Mill. With the new cards and decks that have been made possible because of them, I think it highlights one of the issues people have with mill. The card effects are too common, and they’re too cheap.
I understand Mill as an archetype isn’t that strong or overpowered, but people hate it, just like clog. It creates an unfun way of playing by means outside of just playing strong cards. Like Clog, it prevents you from playing your deck. Your strategy and deck are meaningless because you can’t play your cards. Either because you’re drawing filler, or you have nothing to draw at all. It’s not the same as playing against a control deck (though some might say it feels the same).
I feel Mill effects should be reserved for Gold cards, or priced higher on bronze cards since they’re easier to abuse. In my opinion, none of the gold cards that Mill has are overpowered. While Tibor, Vilgefortz, and Cantarella can highroll, I think they’re fair for what they do as they can also backfire. Traheaern is fair too. He’s costed cheap, but has low power and is very slow to play. But most importantly, all these cards are gold. They’re limited in use. You can’t duplicate them or reuse them for the most part.
The problem I believe lies with Kingslayer, and the many ways it can be reused and exploited. With Teleportation, Vigo, and Necromancy, they can use it 6 times. Even if you run a deck with no thinning, they can still get rid of your entire deck. The problem mill often had is they couldn’t win round 1 with their slow cards, and then would lose to a 2-0. But with Ring of Favor in the game, they don’t have that issue anymore.
I don’t think the issue is with Golden Nekker, Ring of Favor, or other cards that enable this strategy. I don’t even think it’s necessarily broken or unbeatable, but I do find it miserable to play against. Above all I hate the randomness factor with Kingslayer. I understand he is priced above what he plays for considering his effect, being a 4 for 6, but seeing them banish all your good cards because by luck they happened to be at the top of your deck just hurts. There’s no skill or agency in just opening bad and having them get lucky hits. I don’t even have an idea of how to make Mill “fair” or balanced. I don’t even know if there is a good fix, or if one is even needed. But I know that I’m not alone in finding Mill and Clog extremely unfun to play against.
Maybe I’m just frustrated that it’s much better because of the new cards that came this patch. But seeing Kingslayer being nerfed to 7 provision would make me feel better since that’s much pricier. Or being changed so that it targets something specific instead of something random like “Banish a random bronze card from your opponent’s deck/Banish the lowest cost card from your opponent’s deck” might be better. Maybe even send it to the graveyard instead of banishing it. And then it could be much cheaper and have higher power (but then maybe it wouldn’t be played anymore). I don’t even know if Kingslayer is the real problem, but seeing it played 5 or 6 times makes me feel like it is.
I don’t have a fix for it. I don’t know how you can balance an archetype that wins by default if the strategy works (but I guess you could say that about lots of decks). There’s nothing fun to me about losing round 1, being bled round 2, and then come round 3 you have no cards left in your hand and nothing in your deck to draw. Seeing round 2 end with nothing left just sucks. Anyways, thanks for listening to my ramble.
I understand Mill as an archetype isn’t that strong or overpowered, but people hate it, just like clog. It creates an unfun way of playing by means outside of just playing strong cards. Like Clog, it prevents you from playing your deck. Your strategy and deck are meaningless because you can’t play your cards. Either because you’re drawing filler, or you have nothing to draw at all. It’s not the same as playing against a control deck (though some might say it feels the same).
I feel Mill effects should be reserved for Gold cards, or priced higher on bronze cards since they’re easier to abuse. In my opinion, none of the gold cards that Mill has are overpowered. While Tibor, Vilgefortz, and Cantarella can highroll, I think they’re fair for what they do as they can also backfire. Traheaern is fair too. He’s costed cheap, but has low power and is very slow to play. But most importantly, all these cards are gold. They’re limited in use. You can’t duplicate them or reuse them for the most part.
The problem I believe lies with Kingslayer, and the many ways it can be reused and exploited. With Teleportation, Vigo, and Necromancy, they can use it 6 times. Even if you run a deck with no thinning, they can still get rid of your entire deck. The problem mill often had is they couldn’t win round 1 with their slow cards, and then would lose to a 2-0. But with Ring of Favor in the game, they don’t have that issue anymore.
I don’t think the issue is with Golden Nekker, Ring of Favor, or other cards that enable this strategy. I don’t even think it’s necessarily broken or unbeatable, but I do find it miserable to play against. Above all I hate the randomness factor with Kingslayer. I understand he is priced above what he plays for considering his effect, being a 4 for 6, but seeing them banish all your good cards because by luck they happened to be at the top of your deck just hurts. There’s no skill or agency in just opening bad and having them get lucky hits. I don’t even have an idea of how to make Mill “fair” or balanced. I don’t even know if there is a good fix, or if one is even needed. But I know that I’m not alone in finding Mill and Clog extremely unfun to play against.
Maybe I’m just frustrated that it’s much better because of the new cards that came this patch. But seeing Kingslayer being nerfed to 7 provision would make me feel better since that’s much pricier. Or being changed so that it targets something specific instead of something random like “Banish a random bronze card from your opponent’s deck/Banish the lowest cost card from your opponent’s deck” might be better. Maybe even send it to the graveyard instead of banishing it. And then it could be much cheaper and have higher power (but then maybe it wouldn’t be played anymore). I don’t even know if Kingslayer is the real problem, but seeing it played 5 or 6 times makes me feel like it is.
I don’t have a fix for it. I don’t know how you can balance an archetype that wins by default if the strategy works (but I guess you could say that about lots of decks). There’s nothing fun to me about losing round 1, being bled round 2, and then come round 3 you have no cards left in your hand and nothing in your deck to draw. Seeing round 2 end with nothing left just sucks. Anyways, thanks for listening to my ramble.
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