Nice.

Having just talked about artifacts, I thought I'd go back to ac1 and see what a heart run looks like again.

Been butting heads with silent on ac16 so thought I'd go ironclad.

Holy cow ac1 is easy now.

Mega strength build. Lucked out on artifact relic.

Lucked out on choosing power card to start with. (Iimit break)

Then lucked out with jax relic. So was rocking minimum 6 strength to begin every battle. Got exhume as well, and had an upgraded armaments too. Basically had a whole bunch of strength and exhaust buffs happening.

Normal bosses all got spanked.

Time eater in 4 turns.

Was going great against the pair, then I miscounted energy and left a big hit getting me because I was facing wrong way like a dumbass.

Recovered from that and still made it to heart, but only with quarter health. Still got him down to 50 health and would have had him on next turn.

The relic that makes all damage under 5 is amazing against heart. His first 2 x12 attacks do 12 only.

So went Silent and swapped out relic. Black star means chasing elites from the getgo which makes you powerful enough to chase them on all 3 maps.

Noice - I had a few runs swapping out the Silent's relic and generally did ok.

My best Silent run (not my highest, but definitely my best). Reasonably controlled deck, good synergy of relics and played more tactically than I have ever done. Previously I’ve gone on instinct. I’ve watched one of Jorbs over explained videos and while I feel his concepts are slightly difficult for my ageing brain to fully grasp the one take away, which I’m sure Tempy has mentioned more than once, is it is incredibly difficult to actually sculpt a deck to a specific archetype. And that it isn’t really a benefit, except when it does come together (e.g. claw deck) it can be an exhilarating experience.

In general for this run I felt more in control of my hand, particularly with a number of draw and retain controlling cards that I haven’t always bothered with, except ironically when trying to build a specific deck. The only real threat coming from Nemesis, but a well time catalyst + took care of that.

What changed this time is that the first card I took informed some of my next choice, with a view of what I would next be facing on the next few floors. While I scan the whole floor at the start there’s no way I hold my whole path in my head or plan beyond the first few floors. I then react to what is happening as I fight. Overall a very satisfying run that has hopefully cemented some of the nuances of the Silent into my future play.

Man, can totally make it to heart whenever on ac1.

Died again, just need to learn some discipline through middle. Deck bloat got me this time.

Its only going back to ac1 that reminds you how punitive the game gets at higher ascension.

If you think you're getting worse, play lower for a bit.

Amongst the many things I've noticed, card stealer minions from l2 boss don't auto take best cards at ac1.

This might be in my top 3 games of all time. I lay off for a few weeks and it just pulls me back in and I'm obsessed again and just as much as the last time. The addiction never seems to wane. It's like being an alcoholic, you can stop for a few weeks but then it's back on harder than ever.

That's a big man deck SG

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Just did asc8 with silent. Swapping out starter is deffo win.

I've had success both ways. Didn't appreciate the starting relic enough until I read temps interview with jorbs. I know you don't want to pre-empt too much, but damn, there is no downside to stacking with zero cost and inate stuff.

There's a bunch of generic and then silent specific relics that do first turn stuff. 3 backstabs with first hand vulnerability and/or strength is immense.

Comboed with inate block or block card to let you spend energy on power cards and things can go well.

Have had runs where seemingly every normal battle lasts one or two turns.

Well done! It goes to show how skilled this game is. It's easy to think sometimes you're just playing it over and over until you get lucky, but dropping down a few asc levels shows how good you've really become. I was shocked how easy asc1 felt.

Upgrade or potions for me

Potions over Bash+ ? Madness, especially at the beginning.

But it's also 10 damage so early on I find its not much a hinderence, choice wise. If you need to play 2 defends the choice is often there.

I did wonder about that bit and the relic. Is that true?

Pretty sure it’s true yes, seeing a relic removes it from the pool of future relics.

*correction. did not realise the multi slash thing counts as an attack over 2 cost, so actually I'm doing 120 damage to all enemies on turn one. that was too easy. wish id gone for the heart