Thoughts on v1.3.1 quick battles.

raidan

The big changes to v1.3.1 quick battles are:
5 potions down to 3, ribbons based on planeswalker levels, 300 runes for all quick battle wins (with new unknown rune sinks).

Initially I thought leveling all Planeswalkers to 50 would be most efficient, but as I thought more I came up with a different strategy:

Some Planestalkers get arguably weaker at higher levels, due to abilities costing either significantly more and/or having undesired effects (Lillian's 2nd ability at level 3) (Gideon's 1st ability at level 3), (Chandra's 2nd ability at level 3), (Jace's 2nd ability at level 3).

Here are my thoughts:

Nissa: [Level Recommended: 50]
Her abilities only get stronger as she levels, she is the best candidate to level to 50. She has powerful creatures and great mana gain creating potentially fast games at even high levels of HP.

Chandra: [Recommended Level: 30 or 40]
Her greatest ability (2nd ability) (imo) is weakened by a 50% greater cost and an often unused utility at level 44. Her mana gains after level 30 are marginal, and shes all about fast burn games so leaving her at 30 will give her a more efficient first ability and lower enemy HP pools at the expense of 1 ribbon per game. Alternatevely, level 40 she might be a bit better or worse, it increases ribbons by 33% per win from lv 30, but is only worth it if games take less than 33% additional less time.

Lilliana: [Recommended Level 30 or 37]
At level 38 her discard card spell becomes much less efficient, so many argue she is not worth leveling past 37. Normally I would suggest to stay at 30, however at level 34 and 37 she gains additional mana bonuses. Both level 30 and 37 will award 3 ribbons per win, however level 37 will have a much higher mana gain at the expense of higher planeswalker HP levels.

Jace: [Recommended Level 40 or 50]
At level 44 Jace's second ability at level 3 costs 33% more and often provides little to no benefit to some of his major spells that cost 7 or less (Talent of the Telepath, Aether, Days Undoing), additionally he only gains 1 extra mana bonus from lv 40 to 50, so it could be argued that it's more efficient to keep him at level 40 with lower HP pools and a better 2nd ability. Alternatevely level 50 could work as well as his 2nd ability isn't used as often as his first and the extra ribbon might be more time efficient.

Gideon: [Recommended Level 2, 8, 33, 50]
Because of the 3 potion limit, it will be efficient to switch between planeswalkers while other decks regen HP. Having Gideon at level 2 or 8 provides 2 benefits: First he would have little to no HP loss per game, which could be used when low on potions and higher Planeswalkers are low on HP (to prevent downtime), second it would be the most efficient way to gain 300 runes per game (delicious 's), which may be highly desirable depending on what the new rune spenders are. (Jace at level 3 could accomplish a similiar role). Gideon's most used ability gets significantly worse at lv 38, because of this level 33 (which provides an extra mana bonus) is a good place to consider. Alternatevely because of his powerful cards, leveling to 50 could also be effective as well.

I think the most important things to consider with all Planeswalkers is don't level in between multiples of 10 unless there are mana bonuses or more powerful abilities, otherwise you gain no additional power or ribbons, but deal with longer games becsuse of higher HP pools.

Having diverse level ranges will serve to give you a better idea of what is more efficient in quick battle, while also providing a more diverse group of decks to play.(diversity=more fun?).

Remember, you can always level your Planeswalker, but you cannot remove levels, it might be worth trying a lower level first before deciding to go straight to level 50.

These are just my ideas, having all level 50 Planeswalkers may be more efficient.

I hope these suggestions don't empower my event competition enough to bump me from first place!

Unknown

Really good overview. That's almost exactly what I will do. I'm still thinking about leveling my Lilliana to 50.
Also I'm thinking about keeping my Nissa at 8, just to keep one of my PWs at low level for future updates (my Gideon is already too high). As you said, you can't level backwards.

Unknown

Gideon at 50 will lose to gideon at 33 hands down.

It blowwwwwwwwws.

I'd also much rather have it dependent on the level of the enemy than on my level.

Level 8 gideon could wipe the floor with most level 50 people.

And I prefer it to level 33, even with lowered mana and hp.

You should be able to select the level of your opponent (in 10 level increments) for higher rewards.

raidan

Level 33 may be faster than 50, but you get 66% more ribbons at level 50, so I wouldn't be too upset for leveling Gideon.

EDUSAN

my lvl 50 liliana's matches take forever, and my lvl 20 chandra's matches take 7 minutes. I think ill keep playing her

raidan

EDUSAN wrote:

my lvl 50 liliana's matches take forever, and my lvl 20 chandra's matches take 7 minutes. I think ill keep playing her

I would recommend leveling her from 20 to 30. You will gain 2 additional mana bonuses, access to her 3rd spell (maybe useful for a final burn) and 50% more ribbons.

raidan

pandabear wrote:

Gideon at 50 will lose to gideon at 33 hands down.

It blowwwwwwwwws.

I'd also much rather have it dependent on the level of the enemy than on my level.

Level 8 gideon could wipe the floor with most level 50 people.

And I prefer it to level 33, even with lowered mana and hp.

You should be able to select the level of your opponent (in 10 level increments) for higher rewards.

If the points were based on the enemy level, that would change the desired level. 25, 35, and 45 would be more desired, be cause they could potentially give you 1 additional ribbon if your opponent is +5 levels, but they would never give one less ribbon if the opponent was -5 levels.

One nice thing to note: all Planeswalkers between level 6-45 can encounter opponents between 5 levels higher or lower (which no longer gives a rune/ribbon benefit). Because of this, level 50 has the advantage of never fighting stronger opponents, but occasionally facing weaker opponents (lv45-49), for the same ribbons/runes. It's not a game changing advantage, but it is a noteable benefit.

If you could select your opponent levels (and be rewarded more ribbons) then lower leveled Planeswalkers would again have an unmatched advantage against max leveled planeswalkers.

fruithead

i want this to matter more, but until they improve the ai you could leave your PW at lvl 1 and win consistently. for time spent however, nissa at 50 for 6 ribbons really does seem like a great time/ribbon payoff

Unknown

fruithead wrote:

i want this to matter more, but until they improve the ai you could leave your PW at lvl 1 and win consistently. for time spent however, nissa at 50 for 6 ribbons really does seem like a great time/ribbon payoff

You will get 5 ribbons with a level 50 PW

Unknown

I'm not exactly happy with the past 2 updates which have effectively ruined my chosen plains walker and deck/strategy.

It's also interesting (bad interesting) to me that we can only summon 3 creatures/tokens however we can steal a 4th creature for a turn with some abilities, so I know the ability to have more creatures on my side of the board is there.

Why even have summon multiple token cards available if we can only have 3 creatures at once... Especially at the cost of some of those cards/abilities which are simply destroyed/nullified if 3 creatures exist in my side already.

Also the change to the white support card which disables the first enemy creature (I'm blanking on the card name, something with chains) , now it only has 1 charge before destruction seems a little broken it happens very often that I don't even get to see the card effect as the opponent will frequently destroy it immediately following it coming in to play, preventing it from ever having done anything.

I don't understand why people don't see value in Gideon casting flying onto a creature as none of the cards I prefer for his deck have flying except for the one rare avian which permanently gives 1/1 to all creatures in play including itself.

However, I agree that the matches have become noticeably longer and more difficult since I reached around level 38 and I'm not sure these new changes recognize that difficulty...

I will definitely miss buying card packs with runes from QB that was a large part of my enjoyment , hopefully something nice comes in its place to use runes on aside from leveling up

Unknown

raidan wrote:

EDUSAN wrote:

my lvl 50 liliana's matches take forever, and my lvl 20 chandra's matches take 7 minutes. I think ill keep playing her

I would recommend leveling her from 20 to 30. You will gain 2 additional mana bonuses, access to her 3rd spell (maybe useful for a final burn) and 50% more ribbons.

At the cost of longer games.
If I can't play a game during a work brake, or between my kids needing something, I am far less likely to play.

raidan

cheveedodd wrote:

raidan wrote:

EDUSAN wrote:

my lvl 50 liliana's matches take forever, and my lvl 20 chandra's matches take 7 minutes. I think ill keep playing her

I would recommend leveling her from 20 to 30. You will gain 2 additional mana bonuses, access to her 3rd spell (maybe useful for a final burn) and 50% more ribbons.

At the cost of longer games.
If I can't play a game during a work brake, or between my kids needing something, I am far less likely to play.

10 additional planeswalker levels is only about 8-12 extra HP, however because you gain a new spell, and 2 additional mana bonuses, the match time should not increase by much and in some instances may be faster. Bringing out cards faster (due to higher mana bonuses) and having a powerful burn for those lucky cascade moments can often outweigh the additional 8-12 HP you have to burn through. It's likely going to be more efficient, considering you get 50% more ribbons and the matches should never take 50% longer when their HP has only gone up 20-25%.

Rootbreaker

SJwaxKing wrote:

I'm not exactly happy with the past 2 updates which have effectively ruined my chosen plains walker and deck/strategy.

One of the fun things about collectible games like magic is coming up with new decks and strategies with game updates.

Unknown

I fail to see how allowing you to choose your opponent level favors lower level players.

Unless, gasp, being higher level isn't all that great and they have to artificially incentivize you to level

raidan

pandabear wrote:

I fail to see how allowing you to choose your opponent level favors lower level players.

Unless, gasp, being higher level isn't all that great and they have to artificially incentivize you to level

That is exactly why.

The only thing they would need to do to fix that it allow you to select the rank of each ability before you start each match. (It could default each time to whatever you set it to last).

Then there would be no negative side to leveling up to 50, except for grinding runes.

The_Leftist

In MPQ, each character has 3 abilities. I don't see why they don't integrate the ability to choose which level power we want to use. 3 powers at 3 different levels is the same as 3 characters with 3 powers (well, similar in nature).

Unknown

raidan wrote:

pandabear wrote:

I fail to see how allowing you to choose your opponent level favors lower level players.

Unless, gasp, being higher level isn't all that great and they have to artificially incentivize you to level

That is exactly why.

The only thing they would need to do to fix that it allow you to select the rank of each ability before you start each match. (It could default each time to whatever you set it to last).

Then there would be no negative side to leveling up to 50, except for grinding runes.

Yes I know I was backhandedly agreeing with you.

Hint hint devs, please make more incentive to level other than "we punish you for not doing it".

nexus13

Maybe time to rethink those strategies. My level 2 Gideon just got paired with a level 50 Nissa.

raidan

nexus13 wrote:

Maybe time to rethink those strategies. My level 2 Gideon just got paired with a level 50 Nissa.

I also heard someone at lv 50 go paired with a level 1. Sounds like it may be a bug that effects max level players and players level 5 and below.

Keegan

raidan wrote:

nexus13 wrote:

Maybe time to rethink those strategies. My level 2 Gideon just got paired with a level 50 Nissa.

I also heard someone at lv 50 go paired with a level 1. Sounds like it may be a bug that effects max level players and players level 5 and below.

I can confirm this bug. My Gideon 50 was matched with a Liliana 1. The match took about 90 seconds.

Then I got matched with a Liliana 50, and I quit after nine minutes because the time sink wasn't worth it

The_Leftist

Perhaps ranking has something to do with it? I'll have to keep an eye on the leaderboards as well as who I'm drawing. Would make sense since they are pushing so hard for people to use runes on walkers......not that we can do anything else with them for the time being.