Anyway, today I'm gonna go over my thoughts, opinions and observations for Standard and Premium, how we ended up here and what I would've done differently. Not sure how long this post will be, but I hope you read to the end.
 |
| Reboot |
For my evidence, I present all the other format's that Bushi "Supported":
- Extreme Format
- G Regulation (G cards only)
- Relay Fight
None of these were supported beyond a few nods and mentions, and yes, Premium is bigger, and is already guaranteed tournament support, but that's only for this year. Can you sit there and tell me that Premium will be a thing forever? Tell me that Bushi, who can barely run one format consistently, will be able to hold tournaments for two formats? Not gonna happen, I'll be shocked if Premium is a thing for more than two years.
 |
| Two of the OG's |
Anyway, now I got the controversial part out, I can give my opinions on which I prefer. To make it easier for everyone (And myself), I'll list the points, starting with Standard:
Positives:
- Somewhat cheaper: It won't be super cheap, and some cards will cost a lot, but I'm sure it won't be like some decks in G, reaching upwards of 400, 500 or even $600
- Easier to get into: This is non debatable, Standard will be easier to get into just solely for the fact that its easier to find the cards and to learn to play.
- A lot less cancerous: Trust me when I say Premium will be pretty cancerous, especially with stuff like Barcgal being free and standard cards being combo'd with Premium cards to make cancerous decks. Won't have to worry about that in Standard....not yet anyway.
- A better understanding: Bushi has had time to understand each clan, so at least they'll be a bit more....careful about not making cards like Laurel, Cat Butler, Barcgal and all that anymore...I sincerely hope.
Negatives:
- Insanely boring and repetitive: No way around it, Standard is more repetitive than Premium, especially now. Just not as many card choices and a lot less combo potential.
- Less choice: We're starting from 0, so you don't got much choice in the cards you're gonna be running, which results in...
- Less Creativity: An obvious point, less cards = less wiggle room for creative decks, combo's and everything else in the middle.
- More room for variance: As of now, the games will come down more to trigger checks than actual combo potential or plays. G, as of now, definitely relies on trigger checks, but because of how consistent decks have been, triggers have had less of an impact. Not a lot less, but enough. Standard though, they're gonna matter, a lot.
- Not as Consistent: Most G decks have a level of consistency with them that Standard just doesn't have. I'm talking getting onto your G3 of choice, striding, enough dig power, none of that is really in Standard atm, though, it can change
Now, onto Premium:
Positives:
- Much more creative: You got access to all cards, so decks become more unique and varied. Plain and simple
- More interactions: G Guards offered a lot of interactions in the game, especially compared to before they were introduced, having access to more interactions like that and the deck as a whole is definitely a good thing
- Exciting: Games are definitely more exciting in Premium with the number of combo's, plays, interactions and choice that are available to you. Standard just can't compare.
- Less Variance: Complete opposite compared to Standard, the games aren't wholly dependent on trigger checks in Premium. Don't get me wrong, they matter, always have, always will, but its more easier to come back in Premium from "Bad luck" then it is in Standard.
Negatives:
- Cancerous as fuck: Lets not beat around the bush, the end of G was pretty damn cancerous. Stuff like Balaam + Baleful (Puts DI deck away), Rinne, Mr. Free turn Heritage, Lock from my hand daddy Chaos and "How many cards in hand" Harmony are all pretty damn cancerous (Some more than others) and its only going to get worse with Barcgal base Royal decks, OTT and other such cards.
- An unfair advantage: Power-creep is one thing (Which will be discussed later) but clans who get support in Standard have a big unfair advantage in Premium. Increased trigger shields, higher unit power, quicker cards, imaginary gifts....and this will be like this until all clans get support in Standard (But then Premium may just die anyway...)
- A lot more expensive: More cards, older cards, newer cards, decks will be more expensive in Premium than Standard.
- Temporary: Premium will not last forever, I assure you. 2 years, tops (Is my guess)
Okay, got that out of the way. Overall, there's benefits and negatives to both, but if I had to choose one, it'd probably be Standard, but only slightly. For two reasons, 1) Premium won't last, so I don't want to invest into it (If I do, that story in a different post), and 2) Premium will be cancerous, insanely cancerous. Cards won't be specifically designed with Premium in mind, so some cards are gonna slip in and cause a shit-storm or be freed (Like Barcgal) and that's gonna create a pretty terrible landscape when it comes to balance....plus the whole trigger, increased unit power stuff. That's gonna be a pretty big deal as well.
 |
| Where it began |
Now, you're asking while sitting in your revolving chair, cat in hand with a nice steamy cup of Joe, how did we end up in this position in the first place?
Glad you asked, my revolving chair friend. It all started with GBT11 and the "Power-creep" it caused. First though, if you wanna know a bit more about power-creep (While also compared to BT), I made a post discussing that right here, just scroll down to "The Power-Creep effect".
Okay, previous to these sets, in the same season, the level of power-creep was relatively standard (I swear that wasn't meant to be a pun), there was no big jump...until G Set 11 hit. Here are some RRR's/GR's comparing GBT10 and GBT11 for comparison sake:
GBT10:
GBT11:
See a difference? I sure do, a huge difference. I believe 100% that this is the set where Bushi knew they were gonna reboot the game, so they decided to start ramping up power-creep. After this, we got G Set 12, and you'll see a few examples of more power-creep from G Set 11:
While the difference isn't as apparent from G Set 10-11, you can clearly see Bushi not developing things slowly and decide to just throw the everything into the kitchen sink (Especially with Still Water and Gearnext)
The next set is the LJ clan booster:
GR's are better than GBT12's, by a big margin, RRR's are also just as strong, maybe a tiny bit stronger, but that's debatable. Now, onto where the power-creep got really intense, GBT13:
Yeah, there's no comparison. Barring the Zeroth's, (Who only get stronger from here on out) the GR's are vastly stronger than GBT12's and a bit stronger than the LJ Clan Booster's, the RRR's are also insanely stronger than most from GBT12, or even GBT11. Flood Hazard was a first stride restander....
Can't forget Helios, Destiny, hell, Alex was absolutely insane when it came out. This is also the set where GR's became your main stride because nothing were as good as them. Now, onto the Zoo booster:
Zoa is the one Zeroth that wasn't as good as Drachma or Megiddo, but you can't deny that an instant win card that's practically only stopped by a PG is kind of....insane. But then you see Overwhelm and Gredora....
Which invalidated half the clan's in the game, Velh, who is the only stride Ahsha players go into and Balaurl who is the same as NN, but for GN. This is a common trend as again, these cards were better than everything else that came before. Now, onto Star Gate:
Look at that, a Zeroth who can attack 3 times, against a deleted Vanguard or even with 100K power. That's perfectly fine (Sarcastic).
You also got more hand lock me daddy, a Morphing Jar/Fiber Jar effect, an instant way to GB8 and a G3 that gives resource back en mass. This set invalidated most of Zoo, but it wasn't too surprising. Same way GBT14 invalidated this entire set, speaking of which:
Uh-huh....
The scale went from a 5 (Star Gate) and jumped to 10. This set invalidated everything in Star Gate and everything before that. You had Gyze, which is in a class of its own, Dust and Ultima, 2 of the best Zeroth's arguably, Heritage, Rinne's bullshit, Balaam's bullshit (I should know) and everything else that eclipsed everything beforehand.
Finally, lets go over the BT set, and while some of them aren't as strong, the way the skills work deserves them a spot on this list:
A very strong generic restander, a nearly unblockable VG attack, insane spreadable power, striding while opponent is at G1, and arguably the best G3 in the entire game.
Even as a BT main, I can agree that some of these cards are kinda bullshit, rightfully so.
 |
| End of an era |
As you can see from my hours of work (Minutes) of putting the list together, you can clearly see a big power-creep from GBT11 to GBT14. See, power-creep itself isn't a problem, all TCG's have them, if you're not a fan, card games aren't for you, and I suggest you stop playing them, because no matter where you go, you'll encounter power-creep.
No, the problem isn't that, its the rate at which it accels at. A steady rate of power-creep is a way to keep interest in the game, without it becoming a bore (No power-creep) or without it dying out (Too much power-creep). The latter one is interesting in this case because that's what Vanguard has been doing recently, the rate of power-creep wasn't usually this high, but recently, it was, but that's because Bushi knew they'd be rebooting, but that's not a good excuse. Bushi could've kept stride going for a little bit longer if they hadn't gone "all chips in" in the last few sets, and they wouldn't have annoyed so many people with the constant rate of power-creep.
Alas, that didn't happen, and if Bushi had continued down this road, I'm sure they would've broke the game....beyond what we've seen already. So I understand the need for a reboot, but I don't like the implications of it, nor the fact that we're starting at 0. That's not how you grow a game, mechanic wise. Keep in mind also, if Bushi rebooted once, they can reboot again.
 |
| Random pic |
Just for fun, I thought I'd give my idea for a new mechanic that Bushi could've done (Please keep in mind that this is a rough idea from one person):
My idea would be similar to stride in the sense that you call a unit from your G-zone, though it has a few differences, one being that you call it to R. I got this idea this card when it was unveiled, shame Bushi never went anywhere with it, anyway, the difference is that these "Rear Strides" (Shit name, I know) don't have grades, but levels.
These levels determine how many grades you need to discard from your hand to call. Ex: If you want to call a "Rear Stride" of level 4, you need to discard a total of grade 4 from your hand, whether that's a G1 + G3, 2 G2's, etc, but you can't discard card's that have a higher grade than your Vanguard. Another difference is that you can do this early game, and that the higher the level, the stronger the card is in practice. Example:
Level 4 RP: [Auto] [CB1] When this unit attacks a Vanguard, you may pay the cost, if you do, search your deck for a G2 and a G1, call them to R in the same column and they get +5K until end of turn.
Level 4 RP: [Auto] [CB1] When this unit attacks a Vanguard, you may pay the cost, if you do, search your deck for a G2 and a G1, call them to R in the same column and they get +5K until end of turn.
Level 5 RP: [Auto] [CB1] When this unit is placed on R, you may pay cost, if you do, search your deck for 2 G1's or G2's, call them to R and they get +10K until end of turn and at the end of the turn, return them to your hand.
Level 6 RP: [Auto] [CB1] At the end of the battle that this unit attacked a Vanguard, you may pay cost, if you do, search your deck for 3 cards, call them to R, they get +10K, Crit +1 and Drive +1 (They may drive check on R) until end of turn.
Of course, these are literally made up on the spot, so don't judge base on those effects alone. Another huge difference to make the mechanic a bit more balanced is that you can't stride and call a "Rear Stride" in the same turn, unless an effect allows you too. You have to decide between either/or. To make up for that fact, I would create new G3's that are stronger than the current striders now, but make the actual "Rear Stride's" not as powerful as Strides currently to create a power-balance so power-creep doesn't go out of control right away.
Basic rules of this mechanic:
- "Rear Stride's" have level's, not grade's
- Levels start from 4 and go up to 6.
- Powers are 15K, 20K and 25K. Higher the level, stronger the skill
- Can be used at any point in the game, but you can't discard cards with grades higher than your Vanguard
- Takes place in the stride step, so you have decide between striding or "Rear Stride" calling
- Card's go into the G-zone (G-zone gets expanded to 20)
- They don't stay on board and go back to the G-zone (Counts towards GB)
Its definitely not ironed out and won't happen, but I created this as a way to evolve the game, instead of going back to 0, kinda similar to Yugioh in a way. I'm probably gonna get called a little shit for this mechanic (Come at me).
Anyway, I think that's enough, I feel I got my point across, and my opinions as well. I see why Bushi did what they did, but it wasn't the best option at all, there were other options they could've gone through, but alas, that didn't happen.
Now the wait is on for Standard BT and....Pacifica....
Oh boy. Also will post my opinions and stuff for the BT set soon, I promise...I swear....don't look at me like that...
See ya guys and gals later.
No comments:
Post a Comment