New Mode - Between a Rock and... Eldain

[Cyncynat88]

So, we have recently been given a new mode - Between a Rock and a Hard Place. I enjoy it and appreciate that new things are added to the game on a regular basis. But seriously, did anyone test it before the launch? How is it possible that Eldain, a 10-provision card, plays for 30 points on Deploy? Not only that, it literally makes the mode opposite of what it should be. This mode was supposed to be about the smart use of the limited space we are given. Instead, we have got Traps on steroids. Out of my last 20 games, 15 were against Scoia'tael and almost every one of them included that card.

Do we always need to have that one card/combo in seasonal modes that makes the game so unfun and tedious? Idarran in Plus One, Tibor/Vilgefortz/Shilard in Banished, now Eldain. Is Patience is a Virtue the only time when a seasonal mode is to be entertaining?

 

[meow_e_mau]

A good test to see if the seasonal event has what it takes, is to see how the top of the ladder decks play within them.
If the top of the ladder decks are NOT the top of the decks in seasonal. Success!

Where else have you played Eldain? Personally, I think this is a good seasonal. Sure, Eldain is the top card in the event, but so what. Someone usually is.
Use Quax to pull him out in R1. Or bleed him out in R2. It is a challenge and you may lose most games, but isn't that part of the fun, trying to find the way to win against the top deck.

 

[Gimme_a_break]

Eldain is supposed to transform face-up traps only. The rocks appear as artifacts, but they don't have "Trap" keyword in description, so I also think Eldain shouldn't be able to make use of them. In case I'm wrong on that, then the rocks need proper wording so that there are no doubts/confusions left behind. Either way, it feels like there was some negligence and/or not enough testing made before release.

 

[saodhar]

Eldain is supposed to transform face-up traps only. The rocks appear as artifacts, but they don't have "Trap" keyword in description, so I also think Eldain shouldn't be able to make use of them. In case I'm wrong on that, then the rocks need proper wording so that there are no doubts/confusions left behind. Either way, it feels like there was some negligence and/or not enough testing made before release.

Devotion Eldain transforms all artifacts.
And testing? In current Gwent? Funny.

 

[DRK3]

I think its just another case of the dev team's shortsight... and if it isnt, if this Eldain interaction was deliberate, it would be even worse.

There were originally 12 seasonal modes, and a few of them had this sort of problems where a card or faction had an unplanned advantage.
We had to endure these for years, without change.
Now that they re finally being replaced for brand new seasonals, they immediately come with the same issues that were supposed to be fixed (or removed) in the first place

 

[Gimme_a_break]

Devotion Eldain transforms all artifacts.

Good point, somehow I missed the devotion part.
But anyway, probably everyone agrees, that the idea for the mode is fine, just that instead of making rocks artifacts, the devs should have either:
- created a separate category for the rocks objects, or
- make them stratagems.
Now that I think of it, the second option makes more sense. The rocks disappear when you use them, which is exactly how the stratagem work, as opposed to artifacts, that remain on the board after being used. Additionally it would prevent Eldain from taking advantage of the rock-artifacts.
The "side effect" of the rock-stratagem would be Radeyah offering a potentially totally useless stratagem.
But then it could have been a starting point for buffing Radeyah slightly.

 

[Brippe]

But seriously, did anyone test it before the launch?

Cero test before release, all these changes look like last-minute ideas.