Duelyst Forums

Trial/Destiny has taken the fun/unpredictability away

#1

Been playing Duelyst since before Shimzar. For me, the main reason I loved this game is the vast range of deck types, & seeing the creativity of players trying new, unorthodox combos.

Naturally, with each expansion, you get some meme overloading w/certain OP cards. But nothing like the consistent advantage Trial/Destiny offers. This past month, the vast majority of games I’ve played in Gold & Diamond have been against opponents running Trial/Destiny. It’s boring, and takes the joy out of experimenting with different deck types when you know you’ll just end up against 3 Wanderer Ragnoras in a row, followed by 2 Maehv Underlords, then 2 Brome Strategos. I’ve taken to playing Gauntlet exclusively, 'cause at least there you can trust in some unpredictability. I get that some people just want to win all the time vs. trying to be, y’know, original w/their strategy, but Trial/Destiny has taken the fun out of ranked match-ups. (Vet & Mag’s Destiny get played rarely, & Vanar + Songhai’s are tougher to fulfill, so they don’t feel annoying on the same level.)

Really hoping that if Counterplay ever does another update on the game, they remove Trial/Destiny. The frequency & OP blandness of it makes me want to put down Duelyst for good. What’s the point in playing when you know you’re almost always facing off against the same 3-4 deck types?

How do folks feel on this?

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#2

That you’re generally wrong least this comes to certain very specific trials AND that this was the case even before them.

Before trials it was Horntruvian. Before that it was magmoval and Faiecanyst. Even now there is space for mixups in trial decks if you’re aware enough or you may simply not take them in order to not gimp oneself with the clogged hand. Meta will always float towards something in particular getting spammed ad nauseum.

#3

Yeah, at very least, I think bringing Underlord’s req to 8-10 minion-killing spells, making Strategos require 12-13 1 attack summons, and raising Wanderer’s cost to 7 or 8 would soften their use in the meta.

But again, I’ve been playing the game since it started. I remember other memes flooding the meta, but not like the above three deck types. The only other build that approached a similar OP level of specificity to counter was Fault/Kha. Faie Arcanyst and those other types were never too OP to beat, whereas these three require such specific strategies to counter (transform spells/Panddos for Underlord, constant early AoE removal for Strategos, and just tougher cards for Wanderer), that if you don’t have those on-hand, you’re screwed.

#4

The only problematic mythron card is wanderer because the trial is immediately complete, while other mythrons need good plays and draws. Brome strategos is a tipical swarm deck: you have aoe? You win. You dont? You loose. And against xorxull you just have to put constant pressure on your opponent, maehv loose a lot of life due to her bbs, use it against her.

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#5

Wanderer isn’t like any trial deck, it’s the most interactive deck that has been seen for awhile.

I don’t know what alien world you live in but Stratagetos and Underlord aren’t that common, Underlord isn’t even that good.

Plus: Your point on that there is no varience on the ladder: Few games have managed to create a format like that and those formats aren’t that competitive. It’s apart of a conpetitives games nature to have a meta and there will always be one a wide open meta still has dominating decks so even then it doesn’t take long for them to close.

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#6

There is actually some validity to these claims, since Wanderer in particular is quite punishing to all memes which don’t win the game by 7 mana. In previous metas, like the mentioned Arcanyst meta at least my builds were more successful in a larger variety. That still doesn’t mean that this meta is unhealthy, just more rock-paper-scissors than many previous ones.

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#7

What?

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#8

Yes, my builds were more successful in a larger variety back then (meaning that about half of them worked ok, where now that’s something like 1 out of 4). I may have phrased that badly, I’m no native speaker.

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#9

Underlord is actually VERY popular in Gold and Silver.

On topic, I don’t want Trials to go. What I want is them being inferior to regular decks. Meme tier, but playable, all of them.

I think all Trials should be as effective as Ox/Furnace - a nice gimmick if you pull it off, and you pull it off if the opponent is too slow. That said, Memeton should probably be buffed somehow, while Wanderer and maybe, just maybe Strategos and Underlord too, should receive different amounts of nerf.

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#10

Yes, it is very popular but not really that good. It may win you the game against unexperienced players because they don’t realise how to counter the deck though.

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#11

That meta had a grand total of 2 top decks, every other performing deck where designed to beat them.

I have no idea what you’re on so can I have some?

#12

Depends on the meme in my experience. Greedy silly decks tend to do better against wanderer in my opinion since their hard removal for backlined minions is inconsistent.

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#13

But they were both decks that any deck could tech to beat both at the same time. As long you teched versus those you could play anything and do well.

The early portions of AB were problematic due to Meltdown and friends, the latter portions were a balanced control meta with a surprising amount of variety despite there being two clear main decks. But when the main decks are neither polarizing, don’t cause a rock spear scissors effect, or rely on RNG, and there is reasonable counterplay/tech that is a good time in my book, and the complete opposite of today’s meta.

RegardIng Trials: Other then wanderer they do not bother me to much.

#14

Why would you want to remove Mythrons entirely if their fundamental mechanic isn’t the issue? Just nerf Wanderer, and you’ll see less of it. Wanderer isn’t popular just because it’s a Mythron, it’s popular because it’s strong.

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#15

I personally find there’s a lot more viable decks today than during rise of the bloodborne and ancient bonds put together. Hell, magmar alone has at least a dozen archetypes viable in the top 50, let alone ladder in general.

The same could not be said for either of the previous metas.

Also- AB was quite polarizing if my memory serves me. You had arcanyst faie/kara and midrange mag (burnhorn or vaath) as top dogs, and teching to beat one generally meant being outmatched against the other unless you ran one of the few decks capable of both.

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#16

I meant that a larger variety of my meme builds were working then, compared to now.

#17

Yes and I agree, it’s just too bad that most memes cost too much mana or tempo to have a good chance against Wanderer. It doesn’t matter if they can’t answer a Stygian Observer or Grailmaster etc., most times there isn’t just enough time to deliver the finishing blow even when the opponent misplays. All I’m saying is that meming used to be a little easier before trials (not talking about competitive/extremely high-skill level playing obviously).

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#18

Perhaps the memes just got so good they’re no constructed? That’s what happened to buildmar XD

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#19

Lol xD yep I guess now I need to find some god-level Abyss player who will do that to some of my decks to brighten up the meta

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#20

Easing up the condition to trigger it (either reducing the number of tokens or decoupling from them all being up at the same time), depower the Destiny a little, by -1/-1, to compensate?

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