#prodecktorate

[wbcannibalgf]

have you noticed that endbringer documentaries never spare even a single thought for those of us who had our life savings ruined by the prodecktorate speculation market

[estavionpira]

Prodecktorate: An Honest Critique

So the Prodecktorate: Slaughterhouse card pack has been out for a couple weeks now, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the current state of the game.

Gameplay:

The gameplay has always been top-of-the-line in its genre. The rock-paper-scissors dynamic between brutes, blasters and breakers is executed really well, and having most thinkers and shakers act as buffing and debuffers was pulled off, which I didn't expect them to pull off when they announced the game. Masters can be really useful and fun to play as when you use them right; stealing enemy cards or getting to draw from the deck for free is great fun, but pretty unbalanced to play against. Tinkers are conceptually great as a jack-of-all-trades class, but their execution is horribly unbalanced. I'll get to that in Meta though. Strangers having massive evasion and giving intel buffs to their team is useful in concept, but they underperform horrifically in gameplay. I feel like an across-the-board stat buff to most stranger cards could help alleviate this, but there'd need to be a proper look-over for the category to properly solve it.

Meta:

By far the biggest issue with the meta is the absolute dominance of Tinkers. It's been a major problem since the game release, but with the release of Prodecktorate: Slaughterhouse adding the ridiculously overpowered Bonesaw and Defiant cards, it's worse now than it's ever been. Tinkers are meant to be jack-of-all-trades cards, but they're far too powerful in far too many categories that there's really no reason to play anyone but tinkers in most of your deck slots. Bonesaw can summon one of either Murder Rat, Pagoda or Hack Job from the reserve pile per turn without costing a deck slot, which is a ridiculously strong major power to start off with, usually master powers either get hero units that cost deck slots or grunt units that don't; getting hero units that don't cost deck slots would make her an S-tier master by herself, but she also comes with pseudo-brute physicals, pseudo-blaster ranged abilities, and a blanket immunity to master powers, which is absolutely bullshit. You're never going to play against a deck without Bonesaw on it. Defiant is almost as bullshit as she is. The nano-thorn ability would make him an S-tier striker by himself, but he also has pseudo-brute physicals, and the combat prediction algorithms passive he has gives him B or A-tier combat thinker abilities. That's not even to mention the ridiculous boost he gets when deployed alongside Dragon (who's broken in her own way, but she's always been broken, so I won't get into it.)

Overall:

The game's really not in a good state right now. It has good fundamentals, but enough categories are broken or unfun to play against that it really draws down the overall experience, not to mention the utter dominance of tinkers severely limiting what can be played outside the most casual of matches. They'll need to take a serious look at the effect of the recent cards when balancing for the upcoming Prodecktorate: Irregulars if they want to get the game out of the slump it's in.

[acolyte-of-the-creature]

got the new Brockton booster pack and the text on the Skitter card is so small i genuinely need to use a magnifying glass. i’m sure someone can make a deck centered around this card that can win turn 3 95% of the time but that person is not me.

[eddathegreat]

Amtares

Okay, I've thought before about how weirdly similar Amber and Victoria are, and now I'm thinking about them as a ship and it's also kind of hilarious.

Because Victoria is so much more an extrovert, and Amber is so very much an introvert, and they could drive each other insane. Amber would just dissociate for days at a time playing Mario until Victoria gets sick of her shit and drags her to a social outing she won't enjoy.

They would also fight, mutually agonize, and bond over the nature of superheroics and how they served as unhealthy outlets for aggression.

Amber could meet Victoria's friend group and start asking them for their Prodecktorate stats. Victoria could meet Amber's friend group and start lightly campaigning for them to go to some group therapy sessions, since those went so well for her.

I do wonder how Victoria would take Amber being plural, though. Not really something I think we got a good frame of reference for.

[depresso36]

That video is conclusive evidence that the Prodecktorate balance team are purposefully nerfing Scion-based decks! Eidolon has been THE meta card for years, and I've never seen *him* kill an Endbringer! Scion deserves a buff!

capefic will never not be weird to me. coming up with secret identities for heroes like they’re totally your oc. casual use of PRT jargon. i’m not sure if “trigger events” are actually really how powers work or if it’s just misinformation exclusively present in fanfiction. i can’t find anything about it on PHO or in PRT documentations but most writers agree on them existing for some reason???

you can really tell the difference between actual capes writing and non-capes writing as well with tone and understanding of the PRT too.

but that just makes it weirder when you come across fanfic shipping members of new wave and it’s written by someone who obviously does understand cape stuff and it’s like. !!??? who is writing this

[wbcannibalgf]

Prodecktorate Meta Report May 2011

Endbringer attacks are always tumultuous times, especially for competitive card gamers. Let's take a look at how the meta has developed under the new banlist!

Tier 1

- Toybox: Endbringer attack? Irrelevant. The Tinker resource loop remains as reliable as ever. Of course, calling it "Toybox" instead of "Random pile of Tinkers" is a bit of a stretch at this point. However, any savvy pilot of this deck is preparing for a potentially rough couple of months ahead as Armsmaster's future remains unclear.

- Birdcage Aggro: Formerly merely lurking at the edges of the meta, the death of Bastion and Shielder was an incredibly lucky break for enjoyers of this deck, taking out two of its biggest counters while their own cards remain safe as ever.

Tier 2

- Houston: Yes, we get it, you can run Eidolon. But with the powerlevel slowly creeping upward, their one good play is starting to lose relevancy and players are starting to jump ship to more promising decks.

- Masterswarm: Some volatility is to be expected with this deck as players are exploring the new strategies Skitter brings in, but its ability to outgrind the opponent in the late game seems to be on par with previous Tier 2 contenders.

Tier 3

- Emotion Control: Having to switch from Gallant to much weaker heroes was a major hit for this deck, but the remaining Master/Thinker core is still solid enough to make it a respectable threat.

- Scion Stall: Still only a meta deck by technicality, a handful of lucky gamblers managed to place high enough in various tournaments to give this deck a place on the list once again.

Newly Untiered:

- Ward Control: Formerly solidly middle of the pack, the loss of Aegis' role compression capabilities catapulted this deck into near obscurity. Let's hope the new recruits give us some fresh options!

- Ethnostun: Kaiser dead thank you thank you thank you thuank y

[wbcannibalgf]

aw FUCK! I JUST sold all my Brockton Bay cards because my insider information told me that Leviathan was going to hit there, and it's THE LOWER ON RECORD FOR DEATHS! I sold ARMSMASTER, I repeat I sold ARMSMASTER FOR TEN FUCKING DOLLARS! Is it over for me

okay lets calm down a little. after big shakeups like this its going to take a few weeks for the meta to settle again and card values to stabilize.

you never know if something totally unknown is gonna get the chance to shine! ive heard some promising early tournament results from Skidmark Combo of all things.

maybe a random card in your collection is worth hundreds of dollars now! probably not though. THEN you can kill yourself

[wbcannibalgf]

let's see another "parahumans card game" post please

sorry i took so long to respond to this one its just really hard to get excited about the game right now. the post-gold morning precog meta is almost as bad as it was after the vikare ban. you dont even play the game half the time because you both already know whos going to win the second you start.

and glaistig uaine keeps reviving capes whose cards i already shredded!! it just seems like no one cares about us gamers anymore

[wbcannibalgf]

hey a guy at my school was saying that he had a genuine 1997 scion misprint for sale for $200, do you think it could be legit? i cant find that much info about that card on PHO

he really shouldnt be joking about that. 200 dollars is so comically undervalued its almost insulting even without a misprint.

whole villain teams have been formed for the purpose of acquiring a single copy of that card. youre not finding anything on pho because mentioning the card is banned under the rules against inciting violence.

oh and let him know i could offer 205 if hes still alive

[acolyte-of-the-creature]

can’t believe that people still hate wet tinker decks just because of the Nilbog meta. (bonesaw being broken rn doesn’t help either) like i know those were really annoying but get over it. people don’t hate regular tinker decks because of the “machine army” meta. i can barely run Blasto without getting people mad at me

[acolyte-of-the-creature]

got a brockton pack and it was just leets. why are there are 30 versions the same guy. AND WHY DID I GET ALL OF THEM

[wbcannibalgf]

me, normal person in worm city (the city worm takes place in): sure its pretty sad that hero died and all but you have to admit that retiring his card basically fixed the prodecktorate meta by itself so calling it a tragedy is maybe a bit shortsighted

my friend whose consciousness has just been forever replaced by an SI whose fic will get 7 total readers on spacebattles: door me. door me. door me.

[wbcannibalgf]

What Prodecktorate decks the undersiders would play:

Brian: Protectorate New York starter deck, unmodified

Taylor: Ward Control with one conspicuous max rarity Alexandria

Aisha: Myrddinlock strategy that works maybe 5% of the time

Alec: Triumvirate pile thats purposefully unoptimized

Rachel: C53 Beatdown with a shockingly high winrate

Lisa: There's a kill order with her name on it ready to be signed if she ever so much as touches a card again