Slay the Spire: B&B GOTY 2018, 2020, 2021, and Forum Pariah 2019 - The Bear and Badger

equinox_code

Was thinking last night- I like how there are cards in this which are really great when you're starting out but get steadily worse* as you improve. Maybe the most extreme example is Judgement, but it could also be said of Bullet time, Demon Form or Creative AI

*as a pick, most of the time you're offered it

voices

I hate Creative AI. I don't really enjoy defect really - I've played him once since restarting my save.

The Ironclad card that attacks and blocks is a card that starts out alright but doesn't go anywhere. The colourless card that upgrades everything as well, maybe (apotheosis?).

SpaceGazelle

equinox_code wrote:

The game is one giant exercise in probability juggling, with more factors than any human mind could ever hope to track.

Yeah, in particular the deck size is really important because it controls draw variance so much. Unlike poker it's stupid complex.

equinox_code

Just had an absolutely insane a20 heart victory with defect. Never had so many 0 cost cards working together harmoniously; ftl, beam cell, go for the eyes, 2 x claw, 2 x chill, 2 x steam barrier, zap, dual cast, turbo, recycle; all upgraded via apotheosis. I even took chrysalis- fucking chrysalis- right at the end (shuffled 5 0 cost cards into deck).

then 3 x scrape (a card I've never really felt comfortable with) for extra fast cycling through the 0 cost cards. all-for-one to bring them all back into hand. scaling with shuriken and kunai. overkill with echo form. and all with just 3 starting energy.

I recorded the last 4 fights and will put it online at some point, just in case anyone finds it interesting.

SpaceGazelle

I'd watch that.

Facewon

SpaceGazelle wrote:

I'd watch that.

equinox_code

ha, let's see. The consecutive act 3 bosses might be an interesting watch. They weren't much of a challenge so I could play with a bit more pace, and the strategy should be quite standard/obvious to any onlooker.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure slower battles- like the Heart fight on this run- make for fun viewing without any accompanying context of what the player is thinking. For me at the time it was all very exciting and tense as I tried to figure out exactly what I needed to do to get the engine up and running before I got killed. But to a viewer there are just a bunch of incredibly slow turns where not much seems to be happening, long pauses between each card that gets played, and plenty of flicking between hand and draw pile.

hunk

Multiple claw cards are awesome and can be a life saver. Works well with recycle like cards like 1 for all due to the insane damage scaling, aye.

hylian_elf

Facewon wrote:

SpaceGazelle wrote:

I'd watch that.

b0r1s

Nice Asc 15 Silent run. Awakened One again. Dead branch and shivs. Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.

equinox_code

https://youtu.be/0fNW3FARUUk

Here's the act4 battles of that run I mentioned. Skip to 7:40 for the heart fight. I tried to timestamp this but it's had trouble embedding. Note: the deck doesn't seem very 0 cost for the first few turns, because it isn't, but once the engine is up and running you get the idea.

Below are the last 2 boss battles of act 3 (I had to eat dinner in between), just in case anyone is interested but finds the heart fight too slow. Still, it remains true here that the first hands of cards aren't very fun, but it gets going eventually.

Facewon

Fucking good stuff noxy.

SpaceGazelle

Yep.

Facewon

Really struggling with ac17 for watcher.

Going for some big swings and missing.

hylian_elf

Hehe I'm struggling with Asc4 with Silent! Had a few poison / shiv runs but not managed to beat it. Last night, I exchanged relic at start and got the one that transforms all your strikes and defends! One of the cards I got was the one that does 50 damage to all if draw pile is empty. I managed to bundle my way through Act 1 and picked draw-discard-energy type cards along the way. Act 2 went well but Act 3 was challenging. I again bundled my way through and somehow managed to get Donu down and Deca down to little health before dying - one more turn would've had him!

Manipulating draw pile to try and get to use that 0 cost card was fun but didn't manage it many times. Pyramid would've helped.

b0r1s

It's not a great card imo. Far too much of an edge case to even try to plan to use it, even with pyramid.

Personally, I wouldn't be exchanging your starting relic until you are very comfortable with Silent (or any other class). I mean you can for a laugh, but if trying to win more ascensions then understanding the base character is more important. That extra card draw at the start can be quite powerful, especially if you pick up the quite common 0 cost cards like Backstab and other innate cards like After Image. It means you can usually setup powers and defend, while still being able to attack on the first turn, get Kunai or Shuriken and you are laughing.

b0r1s

@equinox_code - that was great. Proper squeaky bum time after that second hit from the Heart. Amazing stuff and makes me realise how little time I spend thinking about my draw pile.

mistercrayon

I mostly only play ironclad as I want to get to asc 20 but I find his start relic kind of binnable.

I’m also happy to lose max HP for the starter benefit.

Whenever I fuck up before the boss I usually go for 1hp for three fights.

hylian_elf

b0r1s wrote:

It's not a great card imo. Far too much of an edge case to even try to plan to use it, even with pyramid. Personally, I wouldn't be exchanging your starting relic until you are very comfortable with Silent (or any other class). I mean you can for a laugh, but if trying to win more ascensions then understanding the base character is more important. That extra card draw at the start can be quite powerful, especially if you pick up the quite common 0 cost cards like Backstab and other innate cards like After Image. It means you can usually setup powers and defend, while still being able to attack on the first turn, get Kunai or Shuriken and you are laughing.

Gotcha, thanks for the tips.

equinox_code

Ironclad has a lot of great 2 cost cards, so is probably the best character for trading starter relic. Silent is the character who stands to gain least by trading imo. I dunno, with her the best option is probably transforming cards? This might actually also be the smartest move for watcher too, on account of all of her cards being so good.

equinox_code

Best option or not, I usually trade the relic with everyone these days. Hoping for a high roll with pandora or astrolabe. If it's something I really don't like I just quit out and take neows lament instead.

Minnesänger

Protip: always trade starting relic. If you’re gonna win, might as well win with some fucking swagger.

hylian_elf

I was going to quit when I saw what I ended up with, but thought I'd stick with it and see how far I get. never expected to get to one turn from a clear!

I was playing in between my SFV matches, maybe would do better if I concentrated more.

SpaceGazelle

b0r1s wrote:

makes me realise how little time I spend thinking about my draw pile.

Your game will improve massively if you start doing this.

b0r1s

I mean I sort of consider it, but I'm not checking my draw pile all the time like Noxy was.

Facewon

Yeah, me too.

So much Fuck It in my game.

b0r1s

I guess that’s why I’m not rocking heart at asc20.

Gremill

I've started swapping out starting relic recently and it's been giving me some interesting combos, none of which I'd really been able to take advantage of until yesterday. I got cursed key and made the decision early to stock up on 2 and 3 value cards during the first act hoping I would get Snecko - which I did! Got within a few hits of killing Unawakened, but couldn't quite do it. Was fun though.

Facewon

I Should defo look at swapping relics with watcher more.

mistercrayon

Crept into ascension 17 yesterday. Got to the final boss (awakened) with plenty of health but eventually it all got whittled away and I was one hit away from dying once it resurrected. Fortunately I’d increased my strength enough that heavy blow was worth 320 murder points in a single blast so that did the fucker in.

I had some ridiculous relics in the end - singing bowl and ice cream right at the start but I think the real lynchpin of the the deck was the combo between the love box and dark embrace and occasionally it’s work with corruption.

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