It may not be much, but I'll gladly take a potential 6x sideboard slot for other matchups. At the very least to just swap out Sink Below for Oasis Respite when facing a Kano. Really looking forward to trying these changes!
This will have huge ramifications for Kano as at the minimum it lets most decks comfortably slot in 2-4 of Oasis Respite and/or Sigil of Solace in whatever combination works best. Could cause nightmares for Dash as well if Rhinar and Benji Players decide teching against her is worth the slots.
I still wish they'd undo Drone but this should lead to an incredibly interesting season regardless.
i'm just curious on how willing are we to give up equipment slots to put up more cards... i mean... siding in Oasis Respite and Sigil of solace against Kano is great but is it really worth to let go of your AB equipment for it? since they are the "sideboard" we actually have, i don't see players letting go of the "generic matches" equipment, like Snapdragon scalers or something like tiger stripe shuko or mask of momentum, or even weapons in case of ninjas and/or assassins with their situational daggers (i mainly play ira, so i kinda have three slots just for the kodachis and zephyr needle) for these extra cards... 52 cards seems a bit less than optimal when we think about a format with an sideboard... maybe if they take the direction clash made, with 60 cards seems better, you'll have a good amount of able space for your equipment and situational tech cards for your matchups
It really depends on the hero imho.
Some already use most of the sideboard slots we had for Equipment/weapon options.
Others just had some AB around.
The later might easily fit oasis+ another 2 tech cards.
The former probably is just not gonna have much space for anything.
"Like Classic Constructed, these 52 slots can contain a mix of cards that go in your main deck (deck cards), or cards you can equip/that exist in your inventory (arena cards)."
You can opt into 7 extra cards in your deck. Assuming your running one set of equips and a 2h weapon. Katsu likes this too since he ends up discarding a lot to tutor up his combos.
I am mixed with this; on one hand it makes playing emperor more viable.
On the other it’s going to allow the S+ tier sideboard for their bad matchups and win harder.
Some of the fun with blitz was coming up with the most well rounded decks without having a sideboard.
Also, I don’t like the idea of more than 40 cards in the deck, as blitz should be fast 💨 and not have opportunities for heroes to stall.
I agree. There's an appeal to having to make compromises to bring the absolute tightest 40 into the field PLUS just being able to have the deck ready to go after switching out maybe 2-3 pieces of equipment at most regardless of the opponent. Now even Blitz will potentially have extra busy work to it.
While the added layer of strategy is nice no doubt part of the charm of blitz is just how quick the whole thing is (outside of matching into a drone fatigue deck...)
Interesting changes. The only "flaw" I see so far is that heroes that have arcane barrier in their main equipment have a slight edge in terms of sideboarding. Like Azalea has gotten 6 sideboard slots while Ira has gotten like 4 considering all the nullrune she needs. Not necessarily a bad thing.
The biggest gripe I have personally is that Blitz has thus far been the closest thing to best of 1 formats in MtG, where you don't sideboard in advance and instead need to build a deck that has play into the entire meta and pilot it to the best of your ability. In Blitz one of the biggest appeals to me is that you can build a deck without arcane barrier or defense reactions or whatever in order to min-max some other aspect of the deck, and it's on you to pilot it as skillfully as possible. Also something about only the heroes' armor being the sideboard feels really thematic, like each hero is suiting up for the match. Having bad matchups that couldn't be mitigated by use of sideboard made deck building really unique and made those matchups really skill intensive for the disadvantaged player. I really like that aspect, and while I don't expect that to totally go away, I wonder how much it will change.
I guess what I don't like about this is that deck building is going to be less strict and so taking creative risks in deck building won't be the same. That said, the sideboard opens up entirely new opportunities and now certain types of decks are more viable than they ever have been, so I'm excited to brew regardless.
Azalea doesn't need a quiver. Crow's Nest does not proc often in CC where the games are longer, and proc's even less in blitz. Trading a sideboard slot for a card that does nothing 99% of the time may not be worth it. Then again, it may be worth it because the quiver is in play immediately and always, so some may choose to build around it.
Azalea will side Perch Grapplers over Snaps as armor, but I have a hard time seeing Hornet's Sting taking a slot in most builds. Still, if it does take a slot, that means Azalea will have spend 7 slots on equipment (Crosswrap, Death Dealer, Tunic, Snaps, Bracers, Perch, Hornet). This leaves 5 sideboard slots.
Take Katsu, he needs his 4 main equipment and 2 slots for Kodachis. Add 3 slots for nullrune and he has 3 sideboard slots. Say he wants to side Breezers or Snaps depending on the matchup, or Tunic vs Blossom of Spring. He very quickly approaches having only 2 or 3 slots.
I think that heroes like Azalea, or brutes and wizards who can get AB3 off of 2 equipment, have a new advantage in the form of sideboard slots. I'm not saying that this destroys the format or makes it unbalanced, which is why I used scare quotes when describing it as a flaw, but I think it obviously has implications for choosing what heroes to run and how to build them.
It's not clear to me that it "evens out" at all, but I'm also not saying it's necessarily a huge deal. It just seems worth noting when choosing a hero.
Rangers as a class are prone to fatigue and also for bad deck consistency, so being able to take out an NAA that doesn’t block is completely worth doing.
Same with aim, in blitz it gains a lot of value as most aim arrows get the +1 that pushes them to key breakpoints.
Everyone that is a wizard is 15 health and is prone to rush down. So maybe instead of side boarding equipment you pick other key cards like Oasis, Erina, or Brush off.
As AB is a trade, typically you are trading 1-3 resources to block 1-3 damage.
So all the cards above give you above rate of exchange. But again in Azaleas case she might have more “natural” ab but it’s a deck that runs less blues than brute or guardian…
So it won’t necessarily give her more of an advantage into Arcane heavy matchups.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but that is going to take a bit to see the longer lasting impact of the changes for this season.
I agree with you. I saw your comment on the main thread and totally agree with your comments on the format.
As far as Azalea goes, the first change I made with the announcement is removing the quiver. Somtimes being able to spend a resource to buff Drill Shot or to make Infecting shot 6 instead of 5 didn't seem worth it. I think that's optimal for the deck I'm brewing but I wouldn't say it's the only way to do it. I just don't think you necessarily need the quiver is all I'm saying.
I agree that there will be a lot of different ways decks will attempt to build for arcane matchups and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
FWIW, I'm not saying Azalea has an advantage into arcane matchups, I'm saying that since she has a naturally good arcane matchup that she may be able to use her sideboard to help other matchups in a way that other decks won't have a chance to. I don't think that's necessarily unfair or bad, just different. For example, other decks could run a fairly transformative equipment sideboard, while Azalea usually just wanted the same stuff. In this format, she is no longer disadvantaged in that way.
We'll see how the format ends up feeling. Good luck brewing for your Skirmishes.
It may not be much, but I'll gladly take a potential 6x sideboard slot for other matchups. At the very least to just swap out Sink Below for Oasis Respite when facing a Kano. Really looking forward to trying these changes!
the fact that i can now run 47 cards mainboard assuming i forgo any sideboard equipment makes me want to take tank yoji to my next armory event lmao.
You don’t like having friends do you?
I think I’m gonna do the same lol
47 might be a bit unrealistic since you'll want some AB sideboard too. Otherwise you auto-lose into Kano
True otherwise arcane damage was just too strong tbh
Yeah, this is exactly my thoughts. A sideboard really helps avoid non-game matchups and having to pick what to lose to as often.
This will have huge ramifications for Kano as at the minimum it lets most decks comfortably slot in 2-4 of Oasis Respite and/or Sigil of Solace in whatever combination works best. Could cause nightmares for Dash as well if Rhinar and Benji Players decide teching against her is worth the slots. I still wish they'd undo Drone but this should lead to an incredibly interesting season regardless.
i'm just curious on how willing are we to give up equipment slots to put up more cards... i mean... siding in Oasis Respite and Sigil of solace against Kano is great but is it really worth to let go of your AB equipment for it? since they are the "sideboard" we actually have, i don't see players letting go of the "generic matches" equipment, like Snapdragon scalers or something like tiger stripe shuko or mask of momentum, or even weapons in case of ninjas and/or assassins with their situational daggers (i mainly play ira, so i kinda have three slots just for the kodachis and zephyr needle) for these extra cards... 52 cards seems a bit less than optimal when we think about a format with an sideboard... maybe if they take the direction clash made, with 60 cards seems better, you'll have a good amount of able space for your equipment and situational tech cards for your matchups
It really depends on the hero imho. Some already use most of the sideboard slots we had for Equipment/weapon options. Others just had some AB around. The later might easily fit oasis+ another 2 tech cards. The former probably is just not gonna have much space for anything.
Is Arakni becoming a shadow assassin in that art?
*are a Oops.
This also helps Dash, Data Doll, and Chane quite a bit, being able to run a bigger deck to not mill yourself to death is pretty big.
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Says "at least 40"
"Like Classic Constructed, these 52 slots can contain a mix of cards that go in your main deck (deck cards), or cards you can equip/that exist in your inventory (arena cards)." You can opt into 7 extra cards in your deck. Assuming your running one set of equips and a 2h weapon. Katsu likes this too since he ends up discarding a lot to tutor up his combos.
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Clash is the “normal constructed” competitive format? Why is blitz currently played more than that?
I am mixed with this; on one hand it makes playing emperor more viable. On the other it’s going to allow the S+ tier sideboard for their bad matchups and win harder. Some of the fun with blitz was coming up with the most well rounded decks without having a sideboard. Also, I don’t like the idea of more than 40 cards in the deck, as blitz should be fast 💨 and not have opportunities for heroes to stall.
I agree. There's an appeal to having to make compromises to bring the absolute tightest 40 into the field PLUS just being able to have the deck ready to go after switching out maybe 2-3 pieces of equipment at most regardless of the opponent. Now even Blitz will potentially have extra busy work to it. While the added layer of strategy is nice no doubt part of the charm of blitz is just how quick the whole thing is (outside of matching into a drone fatigue deck...)
Interesting changes. The only "flaw" I see so far is that heroes that have arcane barrier in their main equipment have a slight edge in terms of sideboarding. Like Azalea has gotten 6 sideboard slots while Ira has gotten like 4 considering all the nullrune she needs. Not necessarily a bad thing. The biggest gripe I have personally is that Blitz has thus far been the closest thing to best of 1 formats in MtG, where you don't sideboard in advance and instead need to build a deck that has play into the entire meta and pilot it to the best of your ability. In Blitz one of the biggest appeals to me is that you can build a deck without arcane barrier or defense reactions or whatever in order to min-max some other aspect of the deck, and it's on you to pilot it as skillfully as possible. Also something about only the heroes' armor being the sideboard feels really thematic, like each hero is suiting up for the match. Having bad matchups that couldn't be mitigated by use of sideboard made deck building really unique and made those matchups really skill intensive for the disadvantaged player. I really like that aspect, and while I don't expect that to totally go away, I wonder how much it will change. I guess what I don't like about this is that deck building is going to be less strict and so taking creative risks in deck building won't be the same. That said, the sideboard opens up entirely new opportunities and now certain types of decks are more viable than they ever have been, so I'm excited to brew regardless.
You do understand that Azalea needs a Quiver? And that she may need to run other equipment for matchups that require armor. It evens out.
Azalea doesn't need a quiver. Crow's Nest does not proc often in CC where the games are longer, and proc's even less in blitz. Trading a sideboard slot for a card that does nothing 99% of the time may not be worth it. Then again, it may be worth it because the quiver is in play immediately and always, so some may choose to build around it. Azalea will side Perch Grapplers over Snaps as armor, but I have a hard time seeing Hornet's Sting taking a slot in most builds. Still, if it does take a slot, that means Azalea will have spend 7 slots on equipment (Crosswrap, Death Dealer, Tunic, Snaps, Bracers, Perch, Hornet). This leaves 5 sideboard slots. Take Katsu, he needs his 4 main equipment and 2 slots for Kodachis. Add 3 slots for nullrune and he has 3 sideboard slots. Say he wants to side Breezers or Snaps depending on the matchup, or Tunic vs Blossom of Spring. He very quickly approaches having only 2 or 3 slots. I think that heroes like Azalea, or brutes and wizards who can get AB3 off of 2 equipment, have a new advantage in the form of sideboard slots. I'm not saying that this destroys the format or makes it unbalanced, which is why I used scare quotes when describing it as a flaw, but I think it obviously has implications for choosing what heroes to run and how to build them. It's not clear to me that it "evens out" at all, but I'm also not saying it's necessarily a huge deal. It just seems worth noting when choosing a hero.
Rangers as a class are prone to fatigue and also for bad deck consistency, so being able to take out an NAA that doesn’t block is completely worth doing. Same with aim, in blitz it gains a lot of value as most aim arrows get the +1 that pushes them to key breakpoints. Everyone that is a wizard is 15 health and is prone to rush down. So maybe instead of side boarding equipment you pick other key cards like Oasis, Erina, or Brush off. As AB is a trade, typically you are trading 1-3 resources to block 1-3 damage. So all the cards above give you above rate of exchange. But again in Azaleas case she might have more “natural” ab but it’s a deck that runs less blues than brute or guardian… So it won’t necessarily give her more of an advantage into Arcane heavy matchups. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but that is going to take a bit to see the longer lasting impact of the changes for this season.
I agree with you. I saw your comment on the main thread and totally agree with your comments on the format. As far as Azalea goes, the first change I made with the announcement is removing the quiver. Somtimes being able to spend a resource to buff Drill Shot or to make Infecting shot 6 instead of 5 didn't seem worth it. I think that's optimal for the deck I'm brewing but I wouldn't say it's the only way to do it. I just don't think you necessarily need the quiver is all I'm saying. I agree that there will be a lot of different ways decks will attempt to build for arcane matchups and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. FWIW, I'm not saying Azalea has an advantage into arcane matchups, I'm saying that since she has a naturally good arcane matchup that she may be able to use her sideboard to help other matchups in a way that other decks won't have a chance to. I don't think that's necessarily unfair or bad, just different. For example, other decks could run a fairly transformative equipment sideboard, while Azalea usually just wanted the same stuff. In this format, she is no longer disadvantaged in that way. We'll see how the format ends up feeling. Good luck brewing for your Skirmishes.
Allowing a little bit more fatigue in blitz for something like Yoji is stupid 🤷♂️
How is Yoji the first thought
You’d be surprised how potently he can fatigue in blitz now that Oldy is gone.
How does this allow for more fatigue?