Duelyst Forums

Let's discuss Intensify

#1

Okay, some of you might already know that I like the new keyword. I like it to the point that I proposed something similar in spirit back then:

My keyword Hinder was designed to make multiple copies of the same cards weaker (more costly) to limit the power of problematic cards with a soft approach to nerfing, but the key idea is there.

What I like of Intensify is that it is a great way to introduce a value component in a tempo-based game like Duelyst. Intensify cards have immediate value, yet they become better over time, so you might want to draw that game longer without being sure to lose against fast decks. As such, I hope to see it treated with care by developers so as to avoid the Jade Golem effect from HS, for any of you who are aware of it.

It’s a keyword that I hope to see also in next expansions, possibly along with Hinder :slight_smile: Let’s discuss about it!

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#2

Seems cool, but one problem i spot with it is that it can limit design space on tutoring, since that can easily break the game

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#3

Tutoring can easily break any card game, isn’t it? I think it’s a strong effect which needs to be kept in check anyway, so it doesn’t seem a major problem to me

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#4

sorry, having a bit of trouble following: what is Tutoring?

It didn’t really occur to me that this is the intended strategy for using intensify, and i think this is pretty smart. I do hope it doesn’t become a dud like build though.

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#5

it can, but with a mechanic that benefits from it so much, they have to be exceptionally careful

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#6

Tutoring: Using an effect, that can draw a specific card from your deck, for example, Nekomata or Heavens eclipse

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#7

Yeah, I was thnking of loreweaver Heaven Eclipse Knuklestorm…

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#8

I too think playing 4 mana zero pressure minions that die to Natural Selection and 5 mana skip your turn draw spells are a valid response to players slamming overstatted 3 and 4 drops into your face.

Just to play a bit of devil’s advocate here :stuck_out_tongue:

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#9

From a competitive point of view, yes. But theoretically it’s hilarious. Too bad you have to draw a perfect combo, it requires 3 turns, empty hand and you can draw eclipse even if you have only it and knuckle storm in your deck

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#10

It seems the approach chosen by the developers to push Intensify is adding more cards which copy already played cards, we have seen this both for spells and minions. Do you think it’s a good choice?

Strong decks in Duelyst are already quite consistent: having 3 copies of the same card in a 40 cards deck, along with Replace, allows good players to dig into what they want. Aren’t we pushing consistency a bit too much?

Time will tell, just a speculation ahead of time

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#11

I like it, tbh, it’s streamlining things and making it easier to play the decks we want without having bricks

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#12

Yeah

Its no fun when you brick. And if you brick your first few turns you may as well concede

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#13

They already have recursion for spells and minions in the game like Alcuin Loremaster and Loreweaver for spells also for minions in Keeper of the Vale and Consuming Rebirth.You have to appreciate the extra spells and minions put in to make the keyword work. How successful was build in Duelyst? Build in Duelyst got one support minion Timekeeper. Battle pets got 3 minion Hydrax,Zukong and Calculator and while much of the failure is on Battle pets A.I. almost as much failure is on those minions not working. The big point is this you need to almost force a feature to work it is better to overshoot and scale back than miss the mark.

The specific minions/spells that I think you are talking about like Mirrormim or Meditate make decks less consistent in away if you are trying to draw hard removal then 5 extra PFs actually hurts you.It is actually pretty clever these stuff make your deck more and less consistent at the same time.

Intensify is actually cool deck building puzzle which is good for the game.I am looking forward to making a control “Jade Golem” Magmar with Mirrormim, Enraged Okadokk, Keeper of Vale,Fractal Replication.etc I don’t think there is enough support to make it work but I think it is an interesting concept making this small minion into a giant monster. So far it looks to have the right amount support so it works but enough support to where everything isn’t the build the same way. Most Golem Magmar or Arcanyst Vanar for example look the same but a Intensify Songhai might be Hiogi build, Mantra Build, Knuckstorm build,etc

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#14

Could someone please elaborate on

from HS? Seems like it’s mentioned in the negative sense, what’s wrong?

I googled what it is, but since I played HS for about a week, I’m not proficient enough to assume what was happening in HS meta when these Jade golem cards were released.

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#15

Jade Golems in HS was basically Arcanyst Vanar and old kara mixed,It is a snowball deck that progressively got more and more out of control with bigger and bigger minions. When put HS initially it was very hard to stop. The metagame evolved it was made less effective and eventually HS added a card called Skulking Giest destroy all 1-Cost spells in both hands and decks and help kill a keycard in the deck that could go infinite at times.

Intensify has some of the same snowball nature as Jade Golems but the big difference is that Druid deck had 5 or 6 cards which compound the effect while Duelyst doesn’t look to have any intensify support with that much help.Plus HS has better draw cards,a slower meta and less in cards in their deck compared to Duelyst faster game and larger deck size.If decks can consistently get their intensify cards over and over it can become a problem but think about all the games where you need one card you have 3 of in deck and even with replace you couldn’t find it

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#16

I just understood that intensify actually makes Gauntlet choices worse. A chance you get 3-of intensify card is fairly low making all of them useless.

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#17

It’ll be harder in Duelyst for it to work compared the HS Jade golems. In HS you had a variety of different cards (minions and spells) that had “summon Jade golem” on them. Which meant you didn’t need to have the same exact card to continue the Jade golem effect. In Duelyst from what we have seen so far, every intensify card has a different effect which means to continue they effects beyond the 3 card limitation you need other cards that can copy or resurrect the card. Which may create new decks which could be the new meta or just may make the intensify cards flop because of inconsistency and failure to gain the benefits of the intensify effect while the opponent just kills you with a faster deck.

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#18

I like it that Haruspex on the one side kills intensify players while feeding them their intensify cards. It could happen, that Vetruvian actually hardcounters Magmar now with Kaboom-Ka and Accu. Accu kills Haruspex and draws two cards with it, that might be another Accu… whew…

This could be balanced if there were no Alcuin Loremaster. Which is by the way quite hard to pull off. People WILL try to cast spells after enemy intensify spells to disrupt Alcuin Shenanigans.

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#19

How does Accu Nimbus counter Haru? You are taking 7 with your general to remove it with Accu? Sign me up for that. Also two Magmar generals don’t buff themselves with Overload. Vet doesn’t hard counter “Magmar”.It hard counters Vaath who will now have carry Lightbenders and Emp to silence themselves to avoid getting screwed.Just giving you heads up

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#20

Accu is the Dervish generator… You spawn 2 Wind Dervishes that will remove Haruspex just fine. I don’t see Haruspex dealing 7 anywhere…

I think you forgot that Kaboom-Ka also can interact with minions and both non-Vaath Magmar generals like to have a board. Burnhorn may be an exception but at some point Kaboom ka will also be used as ranged removal.( Also I think a good Accu list will deal much more damage than Starhorn is able to)

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