Hi guys.
I was thinking about NG a lot lately, but my thoughts are quite complex, so I appologize for a bit (over)extensive post.
First, I wanna point out, I'm not a NG hater. In fact it's my second most played faction (because I started with MO) and it's probably the most interesting faction in the game - most demanding as well as most rewarding if playd correctly. And thats fine. So, here are my thoughts.
The most OP deck now is probably the Lined Pockets. And that's why it's probably correct to assume it's gonna be nerfed. Than the NG metabreaker will probably become the strongest and that's why I suppose CDPR is (should be) considering nerfing it as well. But what to nerf exactly?
I can see, many people consider the quad Joachim combo the most problematic. But I have to say, I tried to run it in many decks without the Masquerade Ball (like various Assimilate, Enslave, Imprisonment or Imposter) last and this season and I have to claim, these decks are interesting, but not strong enough by any means. And by strong I mean being widely known (so your opponent knows it and can foresee whats comming) and still be strong enough to be in like tier 1 or 2 at least.
And this leads me to a "heretic" conclusion, that MASQUERADE BALL is actually the card TO BE NERFED - or better say - REWORKED. AND THE REST OF THE FACTION SHOULD BE BUFFED in fact at the same time.
Think about it this way. Putting aside that OP Lockdown / Kolgrim / Mentors "little mistake", literally every competitive NG deck in recent history did have to have the MB included. Seems like it's kinda impossible to build a competitive NG deck without MB. And that's a problem. Because it's not just about including this one card. If you run MB, you kinda autoinclude aristocratic + poison packages as well and these cards also quite determine some other cards. Which means that really competitive NG decks lack variability and thats bad. You don't want the meta to be poor in plurality, because that makes the game boring (like Viy + Lockdown and choose what suits you better). Instead CDPR should aim for more variability, I believe.
The main problem I see with MB is, you can get two instances of poison in one turn. No other faction has a scenario that gives you two same cards, no need to say you are pretty much unable (not totaly - but in most of normal circumstances) to trigger it twice in one turn in other factions as well. I don't want to suggest how to rework this card exactly, or what should be buffed in the rest of the NG faction. I just wanna point out, I believe the MB should be reworked in a way that results in a shift from a state, where there is either a Ball deck or no NG deck in the meta to a state, where there will be like 2 - 3 different ways at least how to build a solid competitive NG deck - with or without the MB. I mean change it in some slightly nerfing way (making it work more similarly to other scenarios), make it cheaper and transform it from a necessary autoinclude into just one of more suitable options.
Also I believe there is no sense in just making MB more expensive as this can end up only in one of these outcomes: either the MB is still affordable to be played, which changes nothing or it's so pricy it's unplayable and than you have just another pointless card in the game.
Also the second part of my suggestion is very important. Competitve NG deck nowadays = MB deck. Nerfing MB = nerfing NG (probably expeling it from meta mostly). And thus it's important to buff the NG faction on the other hand as well. Just make some underrated archetypes in this faction more viable.
What do you guys think? How should be the MB reworked (if actually)? And what NG archetypes would you love to see being treated with some helping hand?
I was thinking about NG a lot lately, but my thoughts are quite complex, so I appologize for a bit (over)extensive post.
First, I wanna point out, I'm not a NG hater. In fact it's my second most played faction (because I started with MO) and it's probably the most interesting faction in the game - most demanding as well as most rewarding if playd correctly. And thats fine. So, here are my thoughts.
The most OP deck now is probably the Lined Pockets. And that's why it's probably correct to assume it's gonna be nerfed. Than the NG metabreaker will probably become the strongest and that's why I suppose CDPR is (should be) considering nerfing it as well. But what to nerf exactly?
I can see, many people consider the quad Joachim combo the most problematic. But I have to say, I tried to run it in many decks without the Masquerade Ball (like various Assimilate, Enslave, Imprisonment or Imposter) last and this season and I have to claim, these decks are interesting, but not strong enough by any means. And by strong I mean being widely known (so your opponent knows it and can foresee whats comming) and still be strong enough to be in like tier 1 or 2 at least.
And this leads me to a "heretic" conclusion, that MASQUERADE BALL is actually the card TO BE NERFED - or better say - REWORKED. AND THE REST OF THE FACTION SHOULD BE BUFFED in fact at the same time.
Think about it this way. Putting aside that OP Lockdown / Kolgrim / Mentors "little mistake", literally every competitive NG deck in recent history did have to have the MB included. Seems like it's kinda impossible to build a competitive NG deck without MB. And that's a problem. Because it's not just about including this one card. If you run MB, you kinda autoinclude aristocratic + poison packages as well and these cards also quite determine some other cards. Which means that really competitive NG decks lack variability and thats bad. You don't want the meta to be poor in plurality, because that makes the game boring (like Viy + Lockdown and choose what suits you better). Instead CDPR should aim for more variability, I believe.
The main problem I see with MB is, you can get two instances of poison in one turn. No other faction has a scenario that gives you two same cards, no need to say you are pretty much unable (not totaly - but in most of normal circumstances) to trigger it twice in one turn in other factions as well. I don't want to suggest how to rework this card exactly, or what should be buffed in the rest of the NG faction. I just wanna point out, I believe the MB should be reworked in a way that results in a shift from a state, where there is either a Ball deck or no NG deck in the meta to a state, where there will be like 2 - 3 different ways at least how to build a solid competitive NG deck - with or without the MB. I mean change it in some slightly nerfing way (making it work more similarly to other scenarios), make it cheaper and transform it from a necessary autoinclude into just one of more suitable options.
Also I believe there is no sense in just making MB more expensive as this can end up only in one of these outcomes: either the MB is still affordable to be played, which changes nothing or it's so pricy it's unplayable and than you have just another pointless card in the game.
Also the second part of my suggestion is very important. Competitve NG deck nowadays = MB deck. Nerfing MB = nerfing NG (probably expeling it from meta mostly). And thus it's important to buff the NG faction on the other hand as well. Just make some underrated archetypes in this faction more viable.
What do you guys think? How should be the MB reworked (if actually)? And what NG archetypes would you love to see being treated with some helping hand?
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