Spectromancer Forum

wiggin

2010-06-24 07:12:30

By Richard Garfield.

"I wanted to make a few comments on deck construction since it is such a hot topic. I might be regarded as the father of deck construction, so I appreciate and understand the appeal of that concept. However, before Magic, there were no 'deck construction' card games, and yet there were many very good games. As a rule, those games would not be better with deck construction, because they were not designed for it.

This game LOOKS like a game where you construct a deck. But that is not how it was designed. It was designed to be as good as it can be where you are dealt a hand. Yes, that means it is sometimes frustrating - in poker, bridge and hearts you sometimes get bad hands. The best players will leverage what strengths they do have, and will win far more often than worse players. They will still lose sometimes, and then they will play another hand.

There are many benefits to having no deck construction, which may not be immediately apparent. You don't have to worry about running into the same degenerate deck again and again. You don't have to refrain playing with the 'fun' cards because they don't win. You have to learn to use the tools you are given rather than use the same tools again and again.

If you don't believe there is enough skill in the game play someone who is high ranked and try to get a better than 50% result over 10 games. If you can do that, then play a newbie and check out your win percentage!

If you must have deck construction - this is simply not the game for you. If Alexey and I collaborate again, maybe the next project WILL be for you. Until then there are many fine deck construction games - Spectromancer would be a mediocre deck construction game anyway. But there is no game like spectromancer as it stands.

Thanks for trying Spectromancer!"

Modified by wiggin on 2010-06-24 10:41:33

wiggin

2010-06-24 07:13:46

"I admit, it is not obvious at first an dit won't be for everyone, but the MAIN problem I think is that the game looks superficially like a TCG and therefore the TCG players are naturally thrown off when the standards aren't adhered to, and it is much easier to see the costs to the game form they know and appreciate than the benefits to this game.

Alexey's idea with this limited card pool is that the game be much more scientific and balanced than you can get with the typical endless array of cards. There is a real elegance in his idea that every mana cost has exactly one spell - 5 fire, 10 water, 6 chaos all correspond to exactly one spell. This means that as you learn the game you can play with far more precision as you anticipate what the opponent >might< have. The best players will quickly anticipate thier opponents cards and play around them even without seeing them, and correspondingly they will >bluff< their own cards to mislead their savvier opponents. This sort of play is more and more difficult to achieve the more cards you add to the mix.

This deduction about what the opponent has is further helped by the fact the opponent never has cards that you have (in multiplayer duels - campaign they might)."

Modified by wiggin on 2010-06-24 10:42:07

garcia1000

2010-06-24 09:06:23

Where is this from?

Also it is in tiny font.

Floofy

2010-06-24 14:43:26

i am curious about one thing

Let's say alexey managed to "solve" spectromancer, and created an AI who plays perfectly

What % of the time do you think that AI would beat the best spectromancer player?

Anyways, i can confirm its possible to have crazy win rates against low ranked players, my new alt account is now 43-0 :P

Ayayayay

2010-07-07 04:20:08

"If you must have deck construction - this is simply not the game for you. If Alexey and I collaborate again, maybe the next project WILL be for you. Until then there are many fine deck construction games - Spectromancer would be a mediocre deck construction game anyway. But there is no game like spectromancer as it stands."

Amen to that!!!

victorvndoom

2010-07-08 16:34:53

love the game, hope there come more houses in the game, like a counter/control house (see my idea ) =)

Johnny Smash

2010-08-31 11:54:42

Yeah I was thinking about it and if Spectromancer had deck construction you would probably see the same four cards used in any particular spell class 90% of the time, and the same five spell classes chosen 90% of the time (assuming you could mix and match those too.) The metagame would devolve into two or three optimal setups and the game would get old fast.

This is why I much prefer drafting to Type II in MTG, you get to use the "bad" cards but it still requires a ton of skill.

ImDoneItsOver

2010-09-06 02:42:13

Im new and with that being the case I must say it is def a breath of fresh air. I hate Meta gaming not to mention Net Decking...

hatredshadows

2010-12-15 07:23:00

ImDoneItsOver

I know you from eojmanager forum XD
my ID was aletheian

wiggin

I played an another TCG online before and I did stop because the game was very unfair, everyone had rare cards and I had none.
Spectromancer is fair, because no one can have a deck better than the others, and the best player always win.

Modified by hatredshadows on 2010-12-15 07:55:26

Angryonion

2010-12-16 05:54:11

While we are somewhat on this topic, what does everything think the perfect mixed special mana hand would be?

I would say something like:

Control 1

Chaos 2

Demon 3

Sorc 4

Demon 5

Mech 6

Beast 7

Sorc 8

But since you can only have 4 cards out of those:

Chaos2

Sorc4

Demon5

Sorc8