Rakdos is a Virus to this Game

Endbringer

Rakdos ruins Standard, especially for newer players even though I'm a veteran with a very large collection. It forces players to have a heavy removal based deck just to deal with Rakdos and the others like him or be ran through which means testing out other non-removal cards or fun deck ideas is out of the question. Everybody has to use Rakdos and others like him just to combat the other's decks that are built the same and this makes the game very limited and restraining. Like myself, I'm sure many people would actually like to enjoy this game and all their efforts in creating interesting fun decks but we can't when everybody is using the same repetitive destruction cards like Rakdos. You might as well eliminate all the other cards in the game except for Rakdos Patron of Chaos, Cityscape Leveler, Ulamog the Defiler, Shelia Exuberant Shepherd, Assimilation Aegis, and a few cards to convert and draw because it's pointless to even build decks without all of them at this point. People would actually like to be able to use all of the other cards they spend a ton of time, energy, and money to acquire without worrying that it will all just be to lose against a deck with 1 or more of the cards I just mentioned every next time they enter a match. It's disgusting and foul.

TIMEWARP

It's powerful but a) there are [flash] answers, and disable effects are still a thing [suppression bonds] b) new players can fight fire with fire, Rakdos is available through Fblthp

FregTheGnome

I agree that Assimilation Aegis is overpowered. It should be nerfed. I say this because of how hard it is to remove a support from play. Very few cards have "crystallize target support", and cards that remove a single random support are weak because, these days, they'll usually just remove a simple token. On the other hand, planeswalker Grist might be overpowered in part because of his good support removal. Desert might also be overpowered.

I don't know if your other examples are overpowered, though. They're close, but my decks can always defend against creatures as the first priority. So when I see Rakdos I panic but almost always deal with it. When I see Assimilation Aegis or Desert I fear for my life and rage at the developers.

Edit: Also, there was a two Aegis problem. I don't know if they fixed it:
https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/90901/two-assimilation-aegises-disable-too-many-creatures?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=aegis

Janosik

@TIMEWARP said:
Rakdos is available through Fblthp

Really hard to get specific cards through Fblthp these days now there are so many alt art cards

naabaldan

We need powerful cards.

We don't need everything to be nerved only because it takes more effort to handle it.

What we really need is better support for new players as everyone starts with the same bare minimum like it was 9 years ago with the difference of almost 9000 cards that were added since than.

FindingHeart8

@naabaldan said:
We need powerful cards.

We don't need everything to be nerved only because it takes more effort to handle it.

What we really need is better support for new players as everyone starts with the same bare minimum like it was 9 years ago with the difference of almost 9000 cards that were added since than.

Agreed 100%

Janosik

@naabaldan said:
We need powerful cards.

We need overpowered cards because we have to fight overpowered cards.

Tremayne

@janosik - so you are saying “MOOOOREEEE POOOWWWEERR! ! !”?

Amadeus

I've been away for a long while and this and a few other cards make my return damn near impossible.

Janosik

@Tremayne said:
@janosik - so you are saying “MOOOOREEEE POOOWWWEERR! ! !”?

A wise man once said "You can't power creep forever"

FregTheGnome

@Amadeus said:
I've been away for a long while and this and a few other cards make my return damn near impossible.

You have a unique obstacle that I don't think the game deals with: getting matched up with equally longtime players but having far fewer cards. I wonder if it would be worth it for you to start a new account. Then you would have fair matchups.

Amadeus

starting over would be a no go Id rather deal with it as then lose 4k or so cards. I stopped playing 2 sets after m21 so I can mange to make some ok decks but I wont be competitive for a long while

Endbringer

@naabaldan said:
We need powerful cards.

We don't need everything to be nerved only because it takes more effort to handle it.

What we really need is better support for new players as everyone starts with the same bare minimum like it was 9 years ago with the difference of almost 9000 cards that were added since than.

Powerful cards, sure. Permadestroyer after permadestroyer taking up every creature, support, and spell slot in a deck, no.

naabaldan

Actually, Rakdos lost some of his power since he was introduced. We can disable him, kill him, steal him, duplicate him...

There are many more powerful cards and abilities that have a big impact on the game, and lots of people were complaining about.

We have dakkon, grist, bubbles, desert, simple loops that can't be interfered (ozelot, pm2), a black rare that halfs your life like a masterpiece angel does before (unstoppable slasher)... the list is very very long.

Learn to deal with it.

Since sleep with the Fishes rotated out of standard a tool to control your opponents creatures become unavailable for every player. There is no equivalent uncommon that replaced it. This is way more important than to nerve any card in this game.

Again:
Strengthen new players is what we need.

Tremayne

@naabaldan - this sounds awfully like more power to fix the power creep. Am I right?

I think we need a different answer on how to make the game more accessible to everyone and new players in particular.

naabaldan

It is a spiral to beat power with power and there is truly a limit.

Otherwise without earning money the developers will lose their jobs.

The game is completely add free.
(Wirh one neglectable exception)

How can this be solved?

I have some ideas ...

Tolkne

As usual, I've learned how to fight Rakdos.

I admit the fact, Rakdos is incredibly strong because of an unpleasant ability. However... against him, just like that, you take the cheapest card, 7 mana, which has a Flash status. That is, instantaneous.
This card can be quickly removed by Rakdos (returns to the player's hands).

But... Beginners should learn how to control their cards in their hands, rather than mindlessly using them. Because Rakdos will just "devour" them.
Use the strategy this way. Let's just say that the opponent has laid out a Rakdos, and I have a card in my hands to remove the creature. However, if I put up a support, Rakdos destroys the support and strengthens itself. That means stop and don't use your creatures, and choose a card to remove the creatures. Remove the Rakdos and then expose the creature, and go ahead)

Here's my way.:
If you've posted Rakdos against me. I do not use any creatures, I look for a card in my hands to remove it. If not, then all that remains is support and a creature, let's just say I have a Desert and a creature there, I put both at once.
Rakdos only kills my creatures, and Desert destroys it. And after that, I immediately start putting up a creature to sacrifice, just in case the opponent tries to put up a Rakdos again.

And so on, come up with a strategy, there are plenty of options. I was very angry at the beginning about Rakdos and Ghalta, both of which upset the balance of the game. And Ghalta was fixed, but Rakdos was left. That's why he's unique because of his ability.
But I have developed my own strategy, and Rakdos is not terrible for me)

Janosik

@naabaldan said:
It is a spiral to beat power with power and there is truly a limit.

One major problem we have at the moment is the speed of power creep. I think Webcore worry that unless newer versions of cards are significantly more powerful than older cards, by orders of magnitude, that we won't realise the cards are better. I think they should have more faith in us! We like tinkering with our decks (if no reason than for the sake of some variety in gameplay!) and we will happily incorporate much smaller increases in power into them.

naabaldan

The strategy is simple:
Bundle a powerful card and sell it for money.
All those cards will be bought from most of the top coalition members. That brings the cash.
Not every bundle is attractive though.
PM2 masterpiece bundle is a good selling example and rakdos, if i rember correctly, was, too.
I wonder why the pm2 masterpiece bundle didn't find it's way to the shop again. This is something I don't understand. Opportunities to earn money are often ignored while the game changes towards the need to invest more money.
The game is add free, there is no other way. Let us invest in VIP, let us buy bundles to get an advantage or push us towards the need to spend money to keep things going. The last one is obviously the worst
I am ok with spending money to support the game.
Others may not.
The game should be for all of us.

TIMEWARP

Powerful cards are fine and are needed, for various reasons. BUT answers should also be somewhat easily available, to all levels of players.

If the power card-du-jour is "a virus and needs ro be nerfed!!1!1!" {sic} because of an 'enters the battlefield ' ability, standard should include cards that blocks/handles that (like Authority of the Consils).
If the card du-jour generates massive conversions and mana, standard should once again have answers for that (like Lavinia). And so on.

Part of any game experience is finding out what works, and finding joy in solving the puzzle that is presented to you. Running a deck blindly into a veteran player without thinking about what they could be playing and omitting to adjust accordingly is just bad gameplay.

Remember, when pointing a finger at a certain card, there are three fingers pointing back at you