Card distribution in the starting 40 cards library

khurram
khurram Posts: 1,077 Chairperson of the Boards
edited December 2016 in MtGPQ General Discussion
So what we have been told before during previous discussions by devs is that each battle starts with you having a 40 card library with 4 copies of each card. Once you cast 4 copies of Card 1 another set of 40 cards is generated and added to the bottom of existing library and on and on. During the normal course of things, in order to cast a 5th copy of Card 1 you have to go through all of the initial 40 cards and then you'll get to the next batch with the 5th copy of Card 1 in it.

But has something change?
Because i played a game where i had Pia Nalaar in my starting hand, i cast her. During the next 6 turns i somehow drew 4 more copies of Pia Nalaar. Thats at least 5 copies of the same card in the initial 40 cards library which was supposed to just have 4 copies of it. Is this intended behavior now ,or is it a bug?

Secondly, I have just one vehicle card in my Saheeli Rai deck. I draw 2 vehicle cards before i could use her ultimate. Then i use her ultimate and it fetches just 2 vehicles instead of 4. Happened twice. Once i had cast 1 vehicle and it fetched 3 and the other time i had 2 in my hand and it fetched 2. This does not match with the description of her ability. If your answer is that i had already used up the other 2 cards and there were only 2 vehicles left in the library then it also does not match with what we have been told before. The game should have fetched 4 vehicles.... because the library is supposed to be constantly replenishing itself. After fetching the first 2 vehicles the game should have generated the next batch of 40 cards and fetched the next 2 vehicles from there. Same thing with Arlinn Kord's 2nd ability.

I would like you to please comment on this, Devs.

Comments

  • octal9
    octal9 Posts: 593 Critical Contributor
    On Saheeli:
    The other thing to note about Saheeli Rai's 3rd is that using it "thins" your deck. If you have a single vehicle in your deck, it will always play all 4 copies of it, and you won't ever draw that vehicle in the game until your deck is fully depleted (or you use an ability that fetches a creature and there are no creatures left in your deck). Using it effectively removes the draws from your following draws, which makes it more likely that you will draw something else you might want to draw.
    This means that if you play the card as well, your ult will fetch 4-(number already played).
  • AngelForge
    AngelForge Posts: 325 Mover and Shaker
    Hi,

    the same kind of happens when you play the forth Sylvan Messenger. You don't draw a new one. But if I remember correctly you can then draw the card again. So, I would guess that your deck is replenished after your turn or maybe even after a card or effect resolved but not during the process?
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,077 Chairperson of the Boards
    octal9 wrote:
    On Saheeli:
    The other thing to note about Saheeli Rai's 3rd is that using it "thins" your deck. If you have a single vehicle in your deck, it will always play all 4 copies of it, and you won't ever draw that vehicle in the game until your deck is fully depleted (or you use an ability that fetches a creature and there are no creatures left in your deck). Using it effectively removes the draws from your following draws, which makes it more likely that you will draw something else you might want to draw.
    This means that if you play the card as well, your ult will fetch 4-(number already played).

    It actually doesnt mean that. From what i see, JC's statement here further confirms what i am saying. Thinning of deck due to usage of Saheeli's 3rd is understandable and expected even. But it is not indicated that drawing that vehicle before using Saheeli's 3rd affects the number of vehicles being fetched. If you have already drawn or cast 2 or 3 copies of that vehicle, you should still be able to reliably fetch another 4 copies using the fetch mechanic and not just 2 or 1. Since fetching a specific card from the library essentially bypasses having to go through all the cards in between.

    Even JC is saying above that you can draw/access a card again even after it has been thinned from the deck if you use an ability that fetches.

    you won't ever draw that vehicle in the game until your deck is fully depleted (or you use an ability that fetches a creature and there are no creatures left in your deck).
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,077 Chairperson of the Boards
    AngelForge wrote:
    Hi,

    the same kind of happens when you play the forth Sylvan Messenger. You don't draw a new one. But if I remember correctly you can then draw the card again. So, I would guess that your deck is replenished after your turn or maybe even after a card or effect resolved but not during the process?


    It does happen with the messenger. But then it doesnt happen with Woodland Bellower..... it always fetches another copy of itself.... but only as long as it is the only creature in your deck.


    Not fetching seems like a bug when the card says that it should fetch.
  • mas_usmc
    mas_usmc Posts: 3 Just Dropped In
    This is similar to the bug with Arlinn's second ability. When I run only one werewolf in my deck, if I cast/summon too many too quickly, the ability will stop summoning them. I run a cascade deck and max out her loyalty very fast, so I should be able to cast the ability just about every turn, but it "bugs" and stop summoning them after the 4th one is summoned, whether through hand cast or ability summon, too quickly.
  • Morphis
    Morphis Posts: 975
    @khurram: are you sure that day's undoing(casted by either you or opponent) was not involved? Since it shuffles your hand and graveyard into the deck it can be totally be the reason.

    Another explanation could be the use of the saheeli ultimate(still referring to pai nalaar behavior).
    It could be(needs confirmation) that when the game queues another 40 cards at bottom of the deck it shuffles the new deck afterwards.
    This could lead to drawing more than 4 copies cause now the deck consists of 80 cards.

    For the vehicles fetch "fizzling" well it's a bug(or not...? In this game is hard to tell).
  • Gideon
    Gideon Posts: 340 Mover and Shaker
    I have only 1 vehicle in my Saheeli build. When I trigger her third ability I get 2-4 of that vehicle when the ability says fetch the next 4 vehicles from your library and put them on the battle field. It doesn't work like that though. Here is how it actually works. the ability only fetches up to 4 vehicles in your current 40 card deck depending on how many you have drawn already. If you use her third ability and you have already drawn 2 vehicles and you only have 2 more vehicles in your deck then you will only get 2 vehicles. Her ability does not trigger a new set of 40 cards to be added to the deck and fetch 2 more from that. It only uses your current deck without reshuffle.As her ability works now either the wording is wrong or its triggering improperly. JC could you explain if this is intended?
  • Ohboy
    Ohboy Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    hmm that's weird.

    I just tested it and it gave me 4 vehicles even though I had one in hand.

    This needs more testing.
  • Pestilence
    Pestilence Posts: 45 Just Dropped In
    I have also found $aheeli's ult to be wildly inconsistent while running only one vehicle. It's very similar to the HtS bug leaving you wondering what will happen and being disappointed often with result.
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,077 Chairperson of the Boards
    Morphis wrote:
    @khurram: are you sure that day's undoing(casted by either you or opponent) was not involved? Since it shuffles your hand and graveyard into the deck it can be totally be the reason.

    Another explanation could be the use of the saheeli ultimate(still referring to pai nalaar behavior).
    It could be(needs confirmation) that when the game queues another 40 cards at bottom of the deck it shuffles the new deck afterwards.
    This could lead to drawing more than 4 copies cause now the deck consists of 80 cards.

    For the vehicles fetch "fizzling" well it's a bug(or not...? In this game is hard to tell).


    No days undoing or other shenanigans. No saheeli's ult. It was just the first few turns.