Thoughts on BotfT pt. 2

IM_CARLOS

Well, just 3 node and two days and yes some pauper objectives. 

But still the very close reward structure. Loose some objective or a game and max. reward is out of reach.

And what about the grinding? 
Pt. 2 take so much more time just to win the matches and if you reach node 3.3 (3.2 sucks I think...) then you need a lot: right pw, right cards and time. Well mabe I change first and second to save time next time

Nearly same rewards for so much more grinding. I thing this event is not for newer player with smaller card pool. 

Tremayne

In my experience the key card for 3.2 is The immortal sun. It gives you a little extra time for your deck to deliver the necessary damage.

Theros

The completion rewards are not reasonably within reach. Original botft was grindy but much more forgiving with loss in games/points. The objective in the original design were easier too imo.

arNero

I may have some opinions that are more for part 1, but then again, we got a Merfolk repeat, so do excuse me.

Good news:

1) Some of the reworked objectives help reduce the dullness and actually rewards you for utilizing the passive supports to full. Remember Kumena's old objectives? The passive support said you should play spells, and that objective ran counter to that.

2) Splitting it into 3 nodes per part help reduce the number of games needed to play overall, so thank you.

Bad news:

1) Back in the old 4T, the harder nodes (looking at you, Elenda and Azor) rewards a substantial amount of ribbons which, if applied to the current progression meter, would help fill it up pretty quickly. Unfortunately, they keep T4's Part 1 ribbon rewards WITHOUT changing the difficulty levels of those last two nodes. Which essentially means that Part 2 is significantly harder than Part 1 without any upgrade in rewards, making it feel very unrewarding.

2) Too many ribbons needed for full progression when there's only so few ribbons available, which, as some people have already complained about, makes mistakes and misfortune extremely intolerable.

3) Azor's Gateway is still as ridiculous as ever. Can't you drop the Speed objective now that we don't have Nissa Cycling to deal with this ****?


PS: I just realized today that the censor filter's off.... uh, ok.

LeafHedger

I’ve stopped playing the third node entirely because of Azor’s Gateway. There’s challenging, then there’s just beating your head against the wall. On node 2.2 you really need to get lucky with the draws and mana drops. The PW mana bonuses mean it’s getting 1-2 creatures out every turn, but then it also seems to spam that support that auto-resurrects it’s creatures so you can’t really kill them. Then it has a 12 cost ability to auto-kill your creatures and draw a card. So in order to beat it, you need a hefty amount of luck. Then when you do beat it you don’t really get anything.

I hate Four Tribes, part 2. I only speak for myself, but I think it’s genuinely not fun.

FindingHeart8

Not fun event at all.  Event time period too short and Game regularly glitches and freezes, costing matchs.

Should be legacy with difficulty of final 2 nodes (Azors Gateway and Azor).  

Mburn7

I'm just pissed off that the Elenda fight is still so buggy.  Every single aspect of that fight (her abilities and the node support) are bugged.  And they have been reported as such every time the event runs.

IM_CARLOS

Tremayne said:

In my experience the key card for 3.2 is The immortal sun. It gives you a little extra time for your deck to deliver the necessary damage.

Won first time with Elsbeth-Angel. 

Second time i was overrun. 

Third time I used bolas grave-abuse, because it hit very fast and can add some support remove (river rebuke) without harming the deck strategy. 

But yes, Immortal Sun could help also, because it reduce casting cost even more. 

Next time! 

Tremayne

@IM_CARLOS - If the opponent can’t use the kill effect, then I am rarely tasked on this node, but I forgot it the first match, so I lost that first attempt.

 I was actually set to win the match, but then a cascade threw a bunch of bounce spells, ruining my win.

LeafHedger

What’re people doing for node 2.2? I’ve heard that Bolas graveyard strategies are working, but I don’t know if I have the right cards for that

Serakiel

This event sucks!!! 

ertaii

This time I did it to the 300 pts target... I didn't have issues with node 2.2. 2.1 was more stressful to me. The worst was 2.2.

I really dislike the fact that you can only achieve 315 points. A single loss and you're toast. And there is node 3.2 out there... Hopefully for node 3.2 we played as a coalition and shared some good decks.

I like the fact that you don't get all the rewards at 40% of the event. But having a poor reward for winning all your matches, well it just doesn't feel right. Maybe completion should be around 250. Still challenging but not that tight.

Tremayne

@LeafHedger  - I play one of my standard rising tides deck.

PW - Bolas 2 lvl 60

Creatures
Skaab Goliath (M)
Despoiler of souls (R)
Yargle, Gluttom of Urborg (U)

Spells 
infinite obliteration(M)
Spell swindle (M)
Murder (U)
Gravitic punch (C)

supports
Storm the vault (R)
In Bolas clutches (U)
The eldest reborn (U)

the idea is basically to prevent anything getting down on table, but if it does, the remove it instantly (possibly stealing what comes down).

The Skaab is technically not needed, but a safeguard against stupid behaviour from Greg.

- IO can be substituted with other discard card, but it is the best version
- SS is to quick flip on STV (both must cast in the same turn to maximise combo), but if you do not have IO I would substitute SS with a discard more.
- ensure DoS is always have mana to return to the battlefield.
- Gravitic Punch is used to do double damage for a small price.
- Get Bolas flipped ASAP and then the priority is to get the flipped 3rd ability on table and keep it there. Once established use other abilities as needed.

mrixl2520

Not enough ribbons and node recharges are way too long. It's the weekend, let us play the damn game!

Also, Azor is zero fun to play against. Literal fun police! Want to cast a spell? Nope. Need a creature out? Bounced. Use a PW ability? LOL Golden Sun... GG?

Tremayne

I agree that this is much to tight, but a few hints to clearing Azor is four supports, sadly two of them are Mythic
The immortal sun (M)
Starfield of Nyx (M)
sphinx decree (U)
seal away (C)
A few legendary creatures and Rivers Rebuke.

I had much success with these cards and Teferi.

LeafHedger

@Tremayne

Thank you! It’s really helpful to see how high end decks are made! 

Unfortunately though I don’t have a level 60 Bolas and I only have 2 of the cards you mentioned (murder and gravitic punch). I just reached Gold Tier and this was my first event at the higher level. I’m beginning to worry that at this new level I’ll need to get a bunch of level 60 PWs and/or triple the number of mythic cards I have just to get past the second node in events. 

At the moment my highest PWs are Angrath (60), Kiora (47), Huatli1 (38), Bolas1 (36), and Sarkhan (36). Additionally, I have 26 mythic cards and 61 rares. Am I just kinda screwed in events now?

IM_CARLOS

mrixl2520 said:

Not enough ribbons and node recharges are way too long. It's the weekend, let us play the damn game!

Also, Azor is zero fun to play against. Literal fun police! Want to cast a spell? Nope. Need a creature out? Bounced. Use a PW ability? LOL Golden Sun... GG?

Had a half hour match on the first run (H2-angel). Switched to bolas2-garve-abuse... not a problem. 

But need BFZ-explosion combo and undlich king to work and time twich and glimpe unthinkable help. StV and spell swindle too. 
Finisher: beacon bolt. 

Tremayne

@LeafHedger - thank you and you are welcome, though I do not think I’m that good at creating decks compared to some of the other regulars on this forum and what I meet in game. But I try as best I can.

First, it is always difficult to go up a tier, though I have not done so in a long while. So you will always have a bit of learning to do. However, I imagine that PvE are identical for each tier, but I can’t remember.

second, what you need to take with you is the strategy behind the deck I listed above. Denial of opponent’s ability to get anything on the battlefield. Look at your cards and see what you have that achieves the same as I listed.

Angrath is strong for some denial strategies, so maybe you can find some cards that have similar effects to what I have build. So cards that discard cards from opponents hand, cards that destroy/exile opponents creatures, cards that generate a sizeable amount of mana or steal opponents creatures. Also remember to look at cards horizontally, I.e. if you lack damage spells, see if you have a cheap creature that has death touch and kill with that instead. (Will help you achieve the secondary on losing creatures).

Kiora is not good at killing stuff, but she can bounce and steal creatures and generate lots of mana (if you have the right green cards).

It is difficult to make a good denial deck, but once you try, you will begin to see the possibilities in your library.

BATMAN1

Let’s be clear for the Devs sake. BOFT (og) has always been a hard event. I believe cutting the event in to two was a great idea. I think the beginning and end time is also perfect. With that said the vamp stages and azor stages need to be take down a pinch. I also believe the awards for the BOFT need to be increased to match the difficulty of the event. Personally I did very well in this event, but only because my overwhelming collection and access to all the walkers. (Although you only need three walkers for this event). BOFT (pt1. Pt2) is now and has always been a hard fought event even for those top tier folks I can only imagine how difficult it would be to have a lesser collection or be a lower tiered player. 

Unknown

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madwren

starfall said:

It's not a 'puzzle', as it's been represented to us in the Event blurb many times; everything just doesn't work 33% of the time.

You're right, that isn't a puzzle. It's Puzzle Quest.