joshlytle
11-15-2007, 12:45 PM
Guys, today I've decided to post Jason's article in the forums to keep the important "Are You Invited" and 13k announcement articles at the top of the page. So, here you go!
Pit Boss
By: Jason Tian
First Edition defined the base of The Spoils™; its cards and synergies defined boundaries, set relative costs, and sketched out the general power level. As we move into Seed, each new card we see is evaluated based on those guidelines, as we come to expect a certain return for investment of resources and thresholds. Here we take a look at a cheap, crafty Rogue character, a denizen of Seed’s coliseum-like casinos.
http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/images/art/seed/PitBoss.jpg
Pit Boss is admittedly unexciting at first glance. Its rules text is simply a continuation of its stats in the upper right hand corner. Compared to 2-cost benchmarks set in First Edition, such as Pluck, Sudden Osprey, Pillaging Pirate, or Mendacious Brigand, it is easy to see why a character that can only fill the role of a small attacker/blocker can be cast aside. After all, Pit Boss requires you to control three Deception to simply be a Warrior Prodigy, and from there on it gets to Headlong Purloiner status or greater at the cost of more and more commitment in Rogue. Is Pit Boss worth the investment? Perhaps not on its own merits as a 2/2, but it may still be worth taking a look at from its synergistic value with the rest of the set.
Pit Boss represents one of Seed’s major mechanical clashes, the tension between resource matters and flip-up. Let me reveal a strategic move with this that many top players used during the prior season:
A resource trick exploited in limited from First Edition was to play resource cards face-down once you’ve met threshold needs to cast the illusion that you had a bountiful amount of non-resource cards. You’d watch an opponent try to figure out and play around the tricks in your hand while in reality your grip holds nothing but resource cards. This trick is amplified in Seed, where players must worry about tricks from the opponent’s hand as well as any surprise threats hidden face-down.
To keep resource matters cards happy, you’d have to sacrifice some of the threat potential drawn from your resource row. A mono-Rogue deck can power up Pit Boss to a potential 2/2/6 by third turn, more if cards like Treachery are in the mix. It can prove to be a cheap, pestering character if left unchecked in limited… and who wants to spend a kill spell to get rid of it? Pit Boss’s power comes at the cost of losing synergy… If there was a resource that provided Deception with flip-up, however, Pit Boss may just be an awesome force in a group attack.
The days of resources as just assets are numbered. In two weeks, they’ll be threats hidden in plain view. Until then.
Jason Tian
Osion of Strike
Pit Boss
By: Jason Tian
First Edition defined the base of The Spoils™; its cards and synergies defined boundaries, set relative costs, and sketched out the general power level. As we move into Seed, each new card we see is evaluated based on those guidelines, as we come to expect a certain return for investment of resources and thresholds. Here we take a look at a cheap, crafty Rogue character, a denizen of Seed’s coliseum-like casinos.
http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/images/art/seed/PitBoss.jpg
Pit Boss is admittedly unexciting at first glance. Its rules text is simply a continuation of its stats in the upper right hand corner. Compared to 2-cost benchmarks set in First Edition, such as Pluck, Sudden Osprey, Pillaging Pirate, or Mendacious Brigand, it is easy to see why a character that can only fill the role of a small attacker/blocker can be cast aside. After all, Pit Boss requires you to control three Deception to simply be a Warrior Prodigy, and from there on it gets to Headlong Purloiner status or greater at the cost of more and more commitment in Rogue. Is Pit Boss worth the investment? Perhaps not on its own merits as a 2/2, but it may still be worth taking a look at from its synergistic value with the rest of the set.
Pit Boss represents one of Seed’s major mechanical clashes, the tension between resource matters and flip-up. Let me reveal a strategic move with this that many top players used during the prior season:
A resource trick exploited in limited from First Edition was to play resource cards face-down once you’ve met threshold needs to cast the illusion that you had a bountiful amount of non-resource cards. You’d watch an opponent try to figure out and play around the tricks in your hand while in reality your grip holds nothing but resource cards. This trick is amplified in Seed, where players must worry about tricks from the opponent’s hand as well as any surprise threats hidden face-down.
To keep resource matters cards happy, you’d have to sacrifice some of the threat potential drawn from your resource row. A mono-Rogue deck can power up Pit Boss to a potential 2/2/6 by third turn, more if cards like Treachery are in the mix. It can prove to be a cheap, pestering character if left unchecked in limited… and who wants to spend a kill spell to get rid of it? Pit Boss’s power comes at the cost of losing synergy… If there was a resource that provided Deception with flip-up, however, Pit Boss may just be an awesome force in a group attack.
The days of resources as just assets are numbered. In two weeks, they’ll be threats hidden in plain view. Until then.
Jason Tian
Osion of Strike