Chandra, Torch of Defiance

2

Comments

  • qwweetrtr
    qwweetrtr Posts: 101 Tile Toppler
    I was thinking that too except look at her ability costs? Way too high. I could see something like 6, 12, 20, not 9, 15, 24
  • qwweetrtr
    qwweetrtr Posts: 101 Tile Toppler
    I mean, come on. Her first ability destroys literally for gems. That's it. That would be a 3 cost. So add an energizing for gems, okay 6 cost but not 9
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    I have to wonder why all the black love for these new planeswalkers. Given how the story went down I was expecting these mana gains but in red-green
  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    Well, she looks pretty rubbish. I especially hate the fact she is essentially tied to the block. At least I can save my money and spend it on something else!
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nitymp wrote:
    Well, she looks pretty rubbish. I especially hate the fact she is essentially tied to the block. At least I can save my money and spend it on something else!

    I can agree on the block tie. I was intending on elaborating a bit:

    The main thing that makes Liliana and Jace great are that while they play into Innistrad mechanics by discarding cards, they aren't tied to them. There will always be more supports for Jace to play and you will always draw cards every turn. Additionally while the occasional plane won't have them, there will always be more zombies for Liliana.

    Problem for Chandra is there's no reason to believe energy will exist as a mechanic anywhere but Kaladesh, so once new sets come out, there won't be much you can do to update her deck, which will mean less variety in the types of decks when you do face her. Consider also there are only eight red cards that are about energy, four or which are rare or mythic rare, and building a deck that can fully utilize her abilities if going to be tough. Also one of those cards removes energy energy turn to keep itself alive, so you may find yourself energizing the field just to feed that creature.
  • madwren
    madwren Posts: 2,260 Chairperson of the Boards
    wereotter wrote:
    Nitymp wrote:
    Well, she looks pretty rubbish. I especially hate the fact she is essentially tied to the block. At least I can save my money and spend it on something else!

    I can agree on the block tie. I was intending on elaborating a bit:

    The main thing that makes Liliana and Jace great are that while they play into Innistrad mechanics by discarding cards, they aren't tied to them. There will always be more supports for Jace to play and you will always draw cards every turn. Additionally while the occasional plane won't have them, there will always be more zombies for Liliana.

    Problem for Chandra is there's no reason to believe energy will exist as a mechanic anywhere but Kaladesh, so once new sets come out, there won't be much you can do to update her deck, which will mean less variety in the types of decks when you do face her. Consider also there are only eight red cards that are about energy, four or which are rare or mythic rare, and building a deck that can fully utilize her abilities if going to be tough. Also one of those cards removes energy energy turn to keep itself alive, so you may find yourself energizing the field just to feed that creature.

    What's curious is that Dovin Baan actually is a great example of how to create a planeswalker that is block-oriented, but also has abilities that will remain useful after this block has passed--mana generation and card draw, neither reliant on energy to be utilized. Chandra, however, has a paltry selection of energy-generating cards, some of which eat the very energy she supposedly powers her abilities with. None of the red creatures that generate energy are worth playing in a red deck when you consider the alternatives available at those cost points, and the abilities aren't strong enough to warrant a build-around strategy. You'd be better off running non-Kaladesh red creatures and basic removal like Inner Struggle or Unlicensed Disintegration than saving up for her second ability, and her third is way too pricy--you're running red. The opponent should be dead by the time you have 24 loyalty.
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,094 Chairperson of the Boards
    Way to riun her. Please revisit her design and abilities, we hate her. Should not have been so focused on energy. The only people who are a little excited are those who have harness the storm and want to play around with her ultimate. But even that will get old and they will get bored pretty fast. After that and after kaladesh she will 100% be gathering dust.
  • Zero416
    Zero416 Posts: 10 Just Dropped In
    Agreed with everything said here. Seems like the design philosophy is now about built-in obsolescence, they don't want any pws to last beyond this set and put behind gated events. This game will not last long for me anymore with this direction.
  • SpaceDuck
    SpaceDuck Posts: 85 Match Maker
    khurram wrote:
    Way to riun her. Please revisit her design and abilities, we hate her. Should not have been so focused on energy. The only people who are a little excited are those who have harness the storm and want to play around with her ultimate. But even that will get old and they will get bored pretty fast. After that and after kaladesh she will 100% be gathering dust.

    Harness will be good, but the two best cards for her are going to be the free event rewards Dynavolt Tower and Aetherworks Marvel. Unless they miscalculate the boss health again icon_e_biggrin.gif she should be a PW that everyone has great foundation cards for.

    I do agree that anchoring PW to one-off set mechanics isn't a great direction to go in, but in this case they seem to be softening the blow by making sure the key mythics are easy for everyone currently playing to get...not so good for a new player six months from now though.
  • Magog
    Magog Posts: 106 Tile Toppler
    SpaceDuck wrote:
    khurram wrote:
    Way to riun her. Please revisit her design and abilities, we hate her. Should not have been so focused on energy. The only people who are a little excited are those who have harness the storm and want to play around with her ultimate. But even that will get old and they will get bored pretty fast. After that and after kaladesh she will 100% be gathering dust.

    Harness will be good, but the two best cards for her are going to be the free event rewards Dynavolt Tower and Aetherworks Marvel. Unless they miscalculate the boss health again icon_e_biggrin.gif she should be a PW that everyone has great foundation cards for.

    I do agree that anchoring PW to one-off set mechanics isn't a great direction to go in, but in this case they seem to be softening the blow by making sure the key mythics are easy for everyone currently playing to get...not so good for a new player six months from now though.

    Except that not everyone is going to be able to get Dynavolt tower, unfortunately it's going to be a leaderboard prize:

    viewtopic.php?f=31&t=56102
  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    Zero416 wrote:
    Agreed with everything said here. Seems like the design philosophy is now about built-in obsolescence, they don't want any pws to last beyond this set and put behind gated events. This game will not last long for me anymore with this direction.

    This is my worry too. Gated events behind purchases and some poor key choices are pushing me away.

    People usually give up an addiction as a New Year's Resolution right?
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,094 Chairperson of the Boards
    SpaceDuck wrote:

    Harness will be good, but the two best cards for her are going to be the free event rewards Dynavolt Tower and Aetherworks Marvel. Unless they miscalculate the boss health again icon_e_biggrin.gif she should be a PW that everyone has great foundation cards for.

    If by everyone you mean 35 or 40 people from ALL of the players than, yes. Everyone will have the "free" dynavolt tower and aetherwork marvels. =p

    But i fear that you may not have been following the news on the Inventors Fare event more closely.
  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    SpaceDuck wrote:
    free event rewards Dynavolt Tower and Aetherworks Marvel.

    They are not progression rewards like the rare ones. They are ranking rewards and available only to top 25 in plat and top 5 in gold and silver for the event.
  • Ohboy
    Ohboy Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nitymp wrote:
    SpaceDuck wrote:
    free event rewards Dynavolt Tower and Aetherworks Marvel.

    They are not progression rewards like the rare ones. They are ranking rewards and available only to top 25 in plat and top 5 in gold and silver for the event.


    So like all exclusive mythics, they will only be available to the majority of players when the next set arrives.

    Only difference is who gets a chance to grab it during the limited time it's available. In normal exclusive mythics, it's people willing to pay money for them...something most of you have already expressed distaste for.

    Now it's an event that allows you to get there via your own efforts without paying. Somehow that's bad too.

    It's an exclusive card. It's going to be given to the players in a way that not everyone is going to get it. If you weren't going to pay for it, this is your best chance to get an exclusive mythic.

    There's a shift from paying money to getting the card with your own efforts. This is a move away from pay to play. That's what you want to see right?
  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    The reason it is bad is because tie breakers are STILL settled by time basis and being first come first served.

    I would much rather pay for the card than miss out on it because someone else finished their games before I did.
  • Ohboy
    Ohboy Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nitymp wrote:
    The reason it is bad is because tie breakers are STILL settled by time basis and being first come first served.

    I would much rather pay for the card than miss out on it because someone else finished their games before I did.

    Sure, then you belong in that select group that would have got the card anyway because you were willing to pay.

    For most others, they were never going to pay for it anyway. So this is just an extra chance to get it before new set cycles in.
  • majincob
    majincob Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
    Ohboy wrote:
    There's a shift from paying money to getting the card with your own efforts. This is a move away from pay to play. That's what you want to see right?
    Except that you have to have purchase Dovin to have a chance to get the exclusive. And yes in the balance sheet manacrystal.png = $.
  • Ohboy
    Ohboy Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    majincob wrote:
    Ohboy wrote:
    There's a shift from paying money to getting the card with your own efforts. This is a move away from pay to play. That's what you want to see right?
    Except that you have to have purchase Dovin to have a chance to get the exclusive. And yes in the balance sheet manacrystal.png = $.


    I would be very surprised to hear that people who are in the running to finish high enough to get dovin won't already have crystals to buy him by next week instead of needing to purchase those crystals.
  • orgazmo
    orgazmo Posts: 108 Tile Toppler
    Where are you guys getting stats from? I see nothing in the app yet about Chandra2 and didn't see anything specific in the forum (might be overlooking it?)
  • Morphis
    Morphis Posts: 975 Critical Contributor
    Well they made a nice job with Sorin redesign (if we exclude that none of the skill have any impact with an empty board) so there is hope.
    That said hopefully we will be free to not buy her....? Maybe?

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