Gem matching unsatisfying.

DBJones

I think there is something odd about the RNG in this game. Runs of similar luck (sometimes good, sometimes bad) happen surprisingly consistently. I've started waiting to open packs until I seem to be having a run of good luck, and it's been working well for me. For instance, I got a giant pile of cascades, so I went to open packs. 3 RIX 5 packs, 3 new rares, 2 IXN packs, 1 rare. Opening packs after crafting cards might also affect things.

Anyway, I think the biggest feel bad of this game is just how extreme your luck can be. There's a good number of discussions about how opening packs follows this. However, I think cascading is a bigger issue, mostly because there's no easy fix like pity timers. In any gem-matching game, getting a cascade gives you an edge over your opponent. However, the mechanics of this game mean that advantage can easily be much bigger than in any other match-3 game I know of. There are Planeswalkers that can be stuck with only a match that gets them only 1 loyalty, after the opponent has cast their entire hand. That sort of extreme is really disheartening, especially when you're also drawing poorly. It's not that it's unfair, just that the gap between good luck and bad luck in this game is really high. For opening packs, a pity timer would reduce the worst luck without affecting the best. For gem-matching it's much harder to come up with a good fix. Shuffling the board when there's only one match would reduce the lows a bit, but the highs are the bigger feel bad issue for most.