Some thoughts on the Saheeli Rai event

Barrelrolla

I will not talk about OP cards, infinite loops, freezes and other bugs and issues.
Those things aside, what I thought about the event:
First, 3 days is very long, tiring, engaging. Not to mention, with such a prize I was afraid to click on the nodes every time. A lot can go wrong in 3 days. I lost 3 games day one and after that. 2 consecutive days I knew if I lose another I'm out and each fight was crazy, the decks in Platinum... no words. It was my first event in Platinum and I was kinda prepared, but not enough. Actually, it was my second, but the first was Terrors in the Shadows and that has some pretty **** decks.
On the other side, a 3 day event allowed me to recover from my awful start. I rebuild my decks to have a better answer for RC, I totally rebuild my Sarkhan deck to have any answer to RC at all and to be able to complete the objective more consistently and with less stalling, because that cost me one game.
But overall, 3 days are too much. In the end for me it was worth it, because I did get Saheeli, but I think I got lucky, because some people just couldn't keep the tempo for so long. I guess that was the idea, making it kinda like a Marathon, but it was so exhausting, I have not touched the game since then, other than opening the free packs, and I'm not gonna touch it again until NoP, I need a rest.
I really prefer not being able to switch your opponent, even though some matchmaking would be good, because just picking a random opponent is not cool, but being able to see who you're up against and then switch some cards in your deck accordingly is awesome, I would not be able to win some of the games if I didn't have that option.
Overall I liked the event, because it felt more like a real tournament where you compete with real players and adjust accordingly, but I didn't like how long and exhausting it was. Most decks were slow, because they were made for objectives (including mine) and add to that, I'm putting more thought behind my moves, because I cannot afford a loss and most fights were 10+ minutes.
Please, don't make any events longer than 2 days unless they allow for faster (and probably less) games. And please remove changing opponents from all events, but add some matchmaking, so level 20 players are not matched with 60!
And of course, if you ever again give us a planeswalker for an event, allows to built his deck to some extend, give us a deck builder with 30-40 cards, but don't make it fixed, especially one that has no answer to the most played card on Gideon1.

Anyone else wanna share thoughts beside bugs and issues?

PS: Now that I have Saheeli, I'm sad I don't have any good thopter cards, because I see no other way to build her. There is a stronger variant of everything else I came up with the cards I own

speakupaskanswer

I agree, I found the event really exhausting too. The games often went on forever and for some reason I found it harder to win. I didn't really expect to get to Saheeli (and I didn't by a long shot), but my motivation sank pretty quickly anyway. I'm glad to go back to the NoP event but I really can't wait for another Terror in the Shadows. Oh, and it didn't help that my coalition missed the rare by one spot in the ranking...

shteev

Barrelrolla wrote:

First, 3 days is very long, tiring, engaging.
...
Most decks were slow, because they were made for objectives (including mine) and add to that, I'm putting more thought behind my moves, because I cannot afford a loss and most fights were 10+ minutes.
...
Please, don't make any events longer than 2 days unless they allow for faster (and probably less) games. And please remove changing opponents from all events, but add some matchmaking, so level 20 players are not matched with 60!
...
Overall I liked the event

Hear, hear!

Barrelrolla wrote:

I really prefer not being able to switch your opponent

Me too. There was no challenge in changing your opponent to a less powerful one. Also, under the current system, you can swap cards in and out of your deck to play against specific planeswalkers and players, which allows extra levels of strategy.

It seemed to me like the issue I've notice before with all your opponents coming from a very limited pool (viewtopic.php?f=31&t=50183), has been fixed, but it's hard to tell, as the brackets were larger than normal, and of course we couldn't repick out opponents.

Barrelrolla

shteev wrote:

It seemed to me like the issue I've notice before with all your opponents coming from a very limited pool (viewtopic.php?f=31&t=50183), has been fixed, but it's hard to tell, as the brackets were larger than normal, and of course we couldn't repick out opponents.

Many times I got the same opponent. The pool was a bit larger, but not totally fixed. Also, I think when I had some games collected and played more games in short time, I was seeing repeating opponents and when I waited a few hours I had new opponents. Could be just my imagination, since as I said, I did saw a larger pool, but still, not more than 20 players.
For example, I had to play your Gideon2 twice, but I never saw another of your decks. But I had to play more than 20 games against different planeswalkers of FARTFACTORY or something

btw, that "Overall I liked the event" is because despite anything I said, it felt truly competitive, it might've been exhausting, but I did put a lot of thought behind each of my decks and I really cared about each fight. And probably because I got the walker in the end

shteev

I prefered these objectives to the ones in ****, as they were much more generalised, and allowed you to build your decks towards them without sacrificing power. For example, I played Ruinous Path and From Under The Floorboards in Ob Nixilis to gain the 8 creature objective, 2 really strong cards.

Playing dedicated werewolf decks, and especially dedicated spirit decks, in ****, produced a deck of much lower power levels that could cost you games.

Barrelrolla

For sure, yeah, as I said in the other thread, that was my second event in Platinum, but the first was Shadows and the decks are **** there.
Objectives like the ones in the Saheeli event allow for a lot stronger decks, but the high count needed for the objective still made the decks slow and I had to stall some games, especially for the spells challenge.
Of course, if the objectives are such that they just complete themselves without much thought, then everyone will complete them, so that is definitely not a solution, so I agree with you.
I just wish games were a bit faster because 4 10+ minute games every 4 hours for 3 days.... man, it's too much.

jimilinho_

Think the event showcased a few decks that you wouldn't see normally, some with impressive strategies. Certainly was a number of different mono black control decks, I personally ran lilly in the spells node and she was awesome.

3 days for an event like that however was brutal, I've had a bit of a break since it finished, maybe 2 would have been enough. At least they've given a couple days till the next pvp, I appreciate that!

Not sure about other tiers but in platinum I didn't see carriage ever really being an issue (obviously it was an issue for the fixed deck if you got unlucky) you could tell most platinum players were prepared for it. Whether it was crush of tentacles, languish, smothering apparition or eldrazi spawn. There were answers everywhere.

There were 2 main issues I had with the event, one was the time it took to win matches, Ob and Tezz could both slow you down massively whilst never looking like you were going to lose.

The other issue is with cards which are clearly badly designed.

Harness the storm, Seasons past and Ulvenwald Hydra. The first 2 create long long turns, sometimes 5 minutes+ and from what others have said, even infinite. I doubt anyone wants to see this and it really needs to be sorted. It's not an issue in QB fortunately but it's still not good to see.

Ulvenwald Hydra on the other hand seriously needs looking at, the card is just utterly busted. It's far more overpowered than Carriage and if that's getting amended than this should to. It's a one card combo that's far to cheap, it probably needs its mans cost doubled, it really is that good.

To put it into context the original Harbinger of tides was a 6/6 for 10 which could bounce any creature regardless of hand size, that card got nerfed quickly as it was too strong for the game, you could argue Hydra is even more powerful.

Pqmtg-

Event was definitely too long. I lost most of my games on day 3, and like the OP, have not had much interest in playing after the event due to sheer exhaustion. If not for the prize, I might have just given up.

Hydra was the mirror of Runaway carriage. It's instant death if you happen not to have spot removal. RC was a slow death even if you had one.

RC is already being looked at, but I think this event means the hydra and seasons past need a closer look too.

Other than that, I found the event extremely fun, and hope to have similar but shorter ones in future.

A more prominent notice, preferably in game about the node objectives would be nice though. And that's for all events.

I hope the devs understand that we don't need new cards to be entertained. Giving us nice events does the same thing. Take the time now to fix some bugs and do rebalancing.

Theros

that event was too long and tiring. the reward was not worth all that grind once you completed all them objectives. coalitions rewards were not high enough imo. when events are too long, once you realise it is mathematically impossible to earn top prizes and when reward for ranking a bit lower are abissimal, there is no motivation or incentive to continue the grind or keep playing.
It would have been beneficial for events to award the same amount of runes as QB, so that playing the events are worth the time and grind after all objectives are completed

Mockingbird

I blew out the Bronze Tier with a twenty point lead to second place.

Runaway Carriage had not infected the bronze tier like I hear it has the higher tiers, but there was enough presence that by the end of Day two Gideon, Chandra, and Kiora all had either defenders or creatures with vigilance. The biggest issue for me was actually Archangel Avacyn, and even then I only lost to her twice. Fortunately for me, Kozilek, the Great Distortion was a better exclusive investment because Menace (on top of everything else) put in a lot of mileage.

Fun thoughts:

• I was once on the verge of losing with Chandra against a Nissa when the Computer made a critical error. Rather than swing out, it summoned a Gladehart Calvary, giving all its creatures Berserk instead of swing to KO my last like 3 life. I survived the should have been fatal swing and used Chandra's Scorching Strike to turn clear the board and eventually win a few turns later.
• I am super glad I avoided the Seasons Past loop.
• Seriously, Archangel Avacyn and Runaway Carriage were the most annoying cards I came across. Not that they blew me out consistently, but they stick in my mind as the creatures that took the most work to beat.
• I was a little annoyed I didn't know what the secondary node objectives were ahead of time (and I didn't bother to check the internet), but fortunately the three I did put in there had flexible enough cards to rebuild the decks. Two of them I think even came out better than when I went in.
• Man I wish I could have kept the cards that came with Saheeli Rai's event deck. The deck wasn't perfect, but I really wanted to keep Hangarback Walker at least.
• For me, keeping up the grind was pretty easy. I just set an alarm on my phone that went off every hour and a half until I let matches accumulate overnight.
• I'm not sure whether the fact I did so well and mastered enough cards to bump me to the Silver Tier is something I look forward to or that I'll dread. I hear the payout's better in higher tiers though...

pacha

Mockingbird wrote:

I blew out the Bronze Tier with a twenty point lead to second place.

Runaway Carriage had not infected the bronze tier like I hear it has the higher tiers, but there was enough presence that by the end of Day two Gideon, Chandra, and Kiora all had either defenders or creatures with vigilance. The biggest issue for me was actually Archangel Avacyn, and even then I only lost to her twice. Fortunately for me, Kozilek, the Great Distortion was a better exclusive investment because Menace (on top of everything else) put in a lot of mileage.

Fun thoughts:

• I was once on the verge of losing with Chandra against a Nissa when the Computer made a critical error. Rather than swing out, it summoned a Gladehart Calvary, giving all its creatures Berserk instead of swing to KO my last like 3 life. I survived the should have been fatal swing and used Chandra's Scorching Strike to turn clear the board and eventually win a few turns later.
• I am super glad I avoided the Seasons Past loop.
• Seriously, Archangel Avacyn and Runaway Carriage were the most annoying cards I came across. Not that they blew me out consistently, but they stick in my mind as the creatures that took the most work to beat.
• I was a little annoyed I didn't know what the secondary node objectives were ahead of time (and I didn't bother to check the internet), but fortunately the three I did put in there had flexible enough cards to rebuild the decks. Two of them I think even came out better than when I went in.
• Man I wish I could have kept the cards that came with Saheeli Rai's event deck. The deck wasn't perfect, but I really wanted to keep Hangarback Walker at least.
• For me, keeping up the grind was pretty easy. I just set an alarm on my phone that went off every hour and a half until I let matches accumulate overnight.
• I'm not sure whether the fact I did so well and mastered enough cards to bump me to the Silver Tier is something I look forward to or that I'll dread. I hear the payout's better in higher tiers though...

I'm in silver Tier and I can tell you not to be afraid of the overall level in this Tier. You may encounter Ulvenwald Hydra or Archangel Avacyn or... But I've never faced a deck full of OP mythics.
In silver tier, you'll earn more crystals and you'll get different boosters (Origin => Zendikar).

If you are a casual player with a large collection, maybe you should go in silver tier for better rewards.

Barrelrolla

I saw just one Avacyn in Platinum.
Could it be because platinum players play frequently and are used to getting rewards and they don't spend much money, but bronze players, that cannot win prizes, buy more Mythics?
Or I just got lucky?

span_argoman

Barrelrolla wrote:

I saw just one Avacyn in Platinum.
Could it be because platinum players play frequently and are used to getting rewards and they don't spend much money, but bronze players, that cannot win prizes, buy more Mythics?
Or I just got lucky?

I think it's more the matter of what White decks were being played.

Origins Gideon decks were primarily concerned with throwing out a Flying, Vigilant Runaway Carriage and didn't need such an expensive defender. Prevent Damage is something Carriage already has. Ally Gideon decks want Allies and so are unlikely to use Avacyn.

My thoughts on the event are also that it's too long. 4 planeswalker nodes for three days was 88 games in three days. That's enough games to hit top 10 in QB and QB matches take much shorter than the average Saheeli event match cause of the secondary objectives and the different planeswalkers used.

And I missed out on Saheeli thanks to a game freeze and two losses from playing Saheeli vs Mantle of Webs Runaway Carriage and vs a Kiora where Saheeli was totally outclassed. Had two genuine losses on top of that to kick me out of the top 25. So all I got for all that time and effort invested was a cruddy few crystals and a 5-pack booster excluding coalition rewards.

Another thing is the developers could have done a much much better job of designing Saheeli's deck. Designing the deck with no counter to one of the most vocally complained about card in the game (Runaway Carriage) is a ridiculous oversight. The deck composition was also such that play was unwieldy and inconsistent at best.

I suggest that should there be a next time where we will get to play a new planeswalker in an event that the developers source for decklists from the community. Interested people can submit their decklist ideas and the developers can decide how to design the deck from there. There doesn't even need to be a reward because playing with an ungimped planeswalker in the event will be a reward in itself.

alextfish

pacha wrote:

I'm in silver Tier and I can tell you not to be afraid of the overall level in this Tier. You may encounter Ulvenwald Hydra or Archangel Avacyn or... But I've never faced a deck full of OP mythics.
In silver tier, you'll earn more crystals and you'll get different boosters (Origin => Zendikar).

If you are a casual player with a large collection, maybe you should go in silver tier for better rewards.

I've faced a horrible mythic-stuffed deck in silver once or twice. Kiora, of course. UChampion, DUndoing, and... not SPast, thankfully, but some other horrific thing. Crush, maybe.
I have Kiora and like her a lot, but the mythics in those colours are just absurd.

Nonetheless, silver feels like the right place for me. I'll make it to gold eventually, but I'm in no hurry.

Agree with everyone else that 3 days was far too long for an event. I gave up after a day and a half when I realised how much time investment it'd be, and I didn't have much shot of making the top 5 to get Saheeli after I'd already lost one game to Kiora and another with Saheeli's deck to Gideon+Carriage.

Bonus objectives = good (especially since they weren't colour-specific)
Try out a planeswalker = good (but please give 'em an answer to the metagame-defining cards next time)
3 days = baaad (far too exhausting).