Duelyst Forums

Abyssal Juggernaut discussion

#12

Juggernaut is only good when playing creep abyssian, so it can only be measured by how good creep abyssian is.

There is an inherent downside to juggernaut besides dispel: you have to play a certain deck archetype. So what does this mean? Any counters to the creep abyssian deck is an indirect defense against juggernaut.

Furthermore, I think the situation you ran into was just unlucky. Accept variance and move on would be my advice. If you perpetually run into t4 juggernauts which become 10/10s, then we have a problem. Also, you do realize that running removal is a good idea, right? Because this is why removal exists.

#13

Thank you.

/15char

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#14

i dont have enough spirit/gold to make obliterate or azaleas. without juggernaught my creep deck has no win condition

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#15

Last season result doesn’t mean anything since we only had 1 day with shim’zar , I should not have ask that ,was silly :yum:

Whatever you find “good enough”, I promise to change my name to Ionwasright if shadow creep players consistently decides to play without jugger.

Maybe I didn’t choose the right word, but this is nonetheless basic logic. How can you estimate balance when you are shooting a bullet on your feet at the beginning of each game?

I did provide arguments:

This is what people responded:

What else can I say?

Every reasonable midrange/control deck has at least 6 dispels/removals, or you just play an aggro deck so then your are supposed to kill before it gets out of control. And of course you should not waste your removal/dispel on ooz or crawler when you know that Klaxon and juggernaut are coming.

Also keep in mind that the scenario you ran into was extreme and shadow creep usually doesn’t accumulate that quickly.

#16

I think the problem here is that the easiest method, dispel, is a bit irrelevant to whether a card is op or not.

It’s like saying, “nimbus is trash because it dies to (insert favorite non-damage removal here)”

A card’s value can’t be measured by what kills it. A 2/3 and a 10/10 both die to, say, entropic decay, but clearly they are very different.

This is reasonable, but removal generally falls on minions that cost more than 4, which is too cheap for a 7/7, which should be reasonably easy to get.

Maybe jugg should be 5 mana 4/4 or something?

3 Likes
#17

I think you are already familiar with the answer:

Duelyst is a game with 1 mana 2/2 + 8/8 Airdrop Frenzy Ranged Cannot be targetted by ANY spells, on turn 2.

#18

It depends on how much the card cost for example , it is quite irrelevant for fox because the card is very cheap so the pay off for dispel is not big. But in the case of jugger it is a 4 mana card as well as a big investment in terms of under powered shadow creep card, also the fact that usually you can’t drop jugger early on is a big factor.

For example forstiva is bad because it becomes worthless on very basic answers. However card like inquisitor kron have such big body and gets immediate value , so dispel even if needed won’t really answer it.

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#19

I haven’t been able to summon Mechaz0r before turn 4 yet myself.

#20

ALL for the Shadow Creep is unbalanced! I’m thinking of quitting the game …

nerf-this.jpg1366×768 330 KB

#21

No worries. Your MECHAF00 will improve with experience. Just keep putting yourself in compromising positions and you shall surrender your MECHAZ0R maidenhead soon enough.

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#22

Actually I have to admit that kill looks pretty awesome. There are obviously a few cards you have to be on the lookout for with the new creep and Ghost Azalea is definitely a huge burst threat in late game. I don’t actually see that as being radically different than being killed by successive shadow novas though. I suspect people will start to run more early removal to deal with anything generating a lot of creep and maybe we see a little more dispel.

As for the original post I think it is a bit too early to scream for nerfs until the data plays itself out a bit more. The card is highly effective if the board is set for it but it still requires setup and more resources than something like an ironcliffe with DB on it.

If you are super duper hating on it just run Vanar for a little while with all of its removal and I think you’ll feel a little better getting a few games back on creep.

#23

Let’s do a litlte compare and contrast, shall we?

Amu is a 2cc 3/3 Battle Pet.
Ooz is a 2cc 3/3 Battle Pet that creates 1 or 2 Shadow Creep tiles.

True Strike deals 2 damage to minion for 1cc.
Sphere of Darkness deals 1 damage, creates a Shadow Creep on the side, and draws a card for 1cc.

Bonereaper is a 6-cc, 11-stat Provoke with a decent special.
Klaxon is a 6-cc, 12-stat Provoke that summons a HUGE amount of Shadow Creep.

Literally the only Shadow Creep producing card that isn’t arguably superior to another card of the same cost is Shadow Nova. So get it out of your head that Shadow Creep cards are somehow inferior. In most cases, they’re not even a meaningful tempo loss, which is impressive given that they’re not tempo cards – Shadow Creep is a control archetype, so even if they did all cost tempo, that would be the expectation, not something to point out as a flaw.

6 Likes
#24

Underpowered, because they are tempo losses. Generating shadow creep doesn’t impact the board immediately (except in the case of ooz).

Ooz is, imo, the only one that isn’t a tempo loss. (But don’t compare it to Amu. Amu is a neutral faction card and is inferior to all other faction 2 drop battle pets. It would be much more fair to compare Ooz to Fiz, Gro, etc.,).

Sphere of darkness is a tempo loss. It’s 1 mana, deal one damage. Playing this early game is a pretty weak play, and is almost redundant when you have your BBS up and can curve perfectly without it, so it takes up a card in your hand. It’s a good card, but loses tempo, compared to, say, bloodtear alchemist.

Comparing the stat totals of bonereaper and klaxon is ineffective (in general, this should be done with caution. Magmar’s 6/1 is much worse than a 2/3, for example). They serve significantly different purposes. Bonereaper is a high-health, provoke-stalling, swarm-countering minion. Klaxon is meant to do a lot of damage, with relatively weak health (Yes, 6 health is low for a 6-drop. A 6/6 body is underpowered for 6 mana. Tempo loss.)

I’ll mention Abyssal Crawler, too, since others are complaining about it. I’ll admit it’s strong, but it’s undeniably a tempo loss. When kept in the back, that shadow creep tile does nothing, and its body does nothing. Cass is spending 1 mana to do nothing. Even when she uses the body to trade or to contest a mana tile, it’s still inferior to bloodtear alchemist. Heck, it’s inferior to helm of mechaz0r, too, as a body.

3 Likes
#25

This tells me instantly that you need a big, long lesson in what Control and Aggro decks are and why they don’t give a flying FIz about tempo. Under/overpowered is irrelevant to tempo. If tempo were the only important factor in over/underpowered no one would play Vetruvian ever, because their entire early game is centerd around cards that are tempo losses when played. In fact, most players would be playing some varation of Golem decks, and we can all see where those are in the meta.

The point is that they aren’t UP because they compare to other similar-costed cards well, and don’t actually sacrifice much in the way of tempo. Losing 1 damage in order to gain a card draw is a big gain in card advantage and a very small loss in tempo. Klaxon is above average for a 6-drop’s stats, because again, comparing everything to Golems is stupid.

And Abyssal Crawler is only a tempo loss if the opponent kills it with a 1-damage ping – in any other circumstance, it’s on-par with any other 1-drop, because as long as it gets it’s 2 damage in, it’s done it’s job as a 1-drop.

#26

I understand that tempo is not the only factor in how overpowered/underpowered a card is. As you said, vetruvian’s obelysks are a good example. I disagree with the point about the golems, though, because they don’t immediately impact the board, in the hypothetical situation that tempo were the only important factor.

When I said it was “Underpowered, because of tempo loss”, I was supporting the earlier poster who said “Abyssal juggernaut requires a big investment in terms of underpowered shadow creep card”. Yes, you’re right: they generate good value, so they’re not underpowered. But they are underpowered in the sense that they’re tempo losses. That’s the investment. You can’t have both “juggernaut requires little investment” and “shadow creep cards are strong because they provide value for juggernaut”. No: the moment the shadow creep cards are played, while they do provide value for later cards, they represent tempo losses that the enemy can capitalize on and control the board. By the point Cass plays the 4 mana juggernaut, the enemy already has board advantage and can dispel juggernaut for an even larger advantage, if he has it.

You’re comparing to Amu, True Strike, and Bonereaper, all of which rarely see play. Hardly a fair comparison.

Klaxon may be a strong minion for its effect, but a 6 mana 6/6 provoke isn’t a strong body. I say it’s roughly as strong as Fireblazer, which costs one less and has -1/-1. Fireblazer doesn’t see play.

I was mostly addressing the situation that others were describing, where people put their crawlers in the back to build up a lot of shadow creep. In general, though, 1 drops are pretty bad, if all they do is 2 damage. Bloodtear is much better because it impacts the board immediately when it’s played.

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#27

You call the creep cards underpowered for their bad tempo???

Creeps are an investment that pay off in the form of juggernaut, ghost azalea, and obliterate, with the added bonus of dealing damage if your opponent steps on them. The main problem I see people complaining about is how much of a return on investment juggernaut is.

#28

Right, they’re not underpowered. I was ambiguous in my earlier statement. I only meant that they were tempo losses, which imo justifies Juggernaut’s power. I don’t think it’s a huge return on investment. The usual situation I see is getting 3-4 creeps by the time Cass gets to play Juggernaut, by playing Abyssal Crawler and Ooz, with the potential to grow after it’s summoned. At that point, it’s a 6/6 or 7/7 that will do a lot of damage, if not immediately dealt with. The thing is, dispel or any sort of removal takes care of it pretty easily, and Cass will still have little board presence by the time 5 mana hits.

Abyssian could always cheat out a huge minion really early, either with darkfire sacrifice or un7 shenanigans, but the answer always was, and it still is, removal.

#29

Ok let’s compare cards that are staple in a tier deck with utter garbage that no one has ever played ever in competitive duelyst, that’s fair.

Would you play any of those shadow creep generator if they were no shadow creep pay off?

Of course not, this is what I mean by underpowered (exception for sphere of darkness). There is no need for a wall of text it is as simple as this , juggernaut is a card that cost more than 4 , it cost all the tempo and the card quality you lost for playing shadow creep generator ,this is why dispelling it is so efficient, if you cannot consider this in your evaluation I guess we can stop that discussion.

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#31

I’ll also point out that this card is very similar to Deepfire Devourer, which uses minions as its buildup. Both sacrifice earlier board presence in order to develop a huge minion (and Deepfire Devourer only needs one wraithling to be a 6/6 Frenzy. Abyssal Juggernaut needs three creep to be 6/6). Yet, Deepfire Devourer was rarely played, even before blistering skorn was introduced. Why? Because any good deck runs dispel or removal, and doing so instantly punishes the Abyssian player for sacrificing her earlier board presence. The exact same is true for Juggernaut. You lose tempo your earlier turns, play this Juggernaut, and then get punished by dispel and fall even further behind (Deepfire Devourer is a 4/4 when dispelled. Juggernaut is only a 3/3).

#32

Razorback is a 4/3 and only provides extra value for a turn.

Grimrock is a 3/4 if dispelled

Wind Shrike is a 4/3 if dispelled

etc.

The point being that a 3/3 body for 4 after dispel isn’t the worst thing, and considering it’s one of the few minions that can realistically come in as a 6/6+ for 4 it’s pretty great. Someone just screen capped two 30/30 Juggs. It’s not their base stats that make them strong, it’s the fact that they require removal or they’ll grow out of control.