Slay the Spire: Gettin' Spired

[Problem Machine]

I know I've directly or indirectly gotten a few people on Slack to pick up Slay The Spire, but I thought it might be a good idea to also post about it here. Slay the Spire is a deck-building Roguelite currently in Early Access. There's a lot of room there for them to add new stuff, but it's already pretty solid and fun to play and I don't see it getting anything besides more awesome as it continues to be developed. Unlike most card games where synergy is a matter of getting a few key cards in your hand, Slay the Spire gives you a small deck, a full new hand every turn, and when you run out you just reshuffle your deck and start over, so odds are you're going to end up having the opportunity to play every single card in your deck several times in each combat, so every choice you get over what to add or not to add can be incredibly important. Unlike most card games, I very rarely feel like the optimal play is obvious, and choosing the wrong order of moves can have severe consequences.

 

Each run takes maybe 90-120 minutes once you get the hang of things. Right now I have one win with the ironclad (warrior class) and one with the Silent (rogue class). Right now those are the only two classes, but they're planning on adding another one which I can only imagine will probably be some sort of shitty wizard.

[osmosisch]

I've been checking this out, it's pretty good! The relic system and the lack of easily available resource generation makes it feel more constrained yet varied than the other similar games I've played.

 

For people who are into this genre, I also recommend:

 

 - http://store.steampowered.com/app/557410/Dream_Quest/ (also on iOS). The game that popularised this genre (I call them Shandalarlikes because I'm old)

 - http://store.steampowered.com/app/496620/Monster_Slayers/. For people who want a slightly less balanced and less variable Dream Quest with also a lot less bleeding eyes from awful art. Also has a more interesting meta-progression system than Dream Quest.

[cakedotavi]

Just started playing this a few days ago, and it's really fun! 

For those curious, this game is a deck builder very similar to Dominion or Star Realms in that you draft a deck gradually over time, but instead of just taking turns drafting, card selection is driven by an FTL-style map & progression system.
 

You move from room to room in a dungeon, with each room having a different type of encounter. Some rooms are just straight up fights, others have random events, others have merchants, etc.
 

I am *really* enjoying it. Worth the $15!

[graddy]

*Standard hoping-for-Switch-port post*

[Laco]

 

I really love it, but I've played enough now that I want to wait until it's done so I don't totally exhaust what's there already.

[cakedotavi]

Have they given any indication of when they expect to be out of EA?

[Gwardinen]

They said 4-8 months when it went into early access in November. Not sure whether there've been any updates to that.

[cakedotavi]

Cool - it feels pretty complete already but the extra stuff on their roadmap would be welcome of course. Sounds like they're just fleshing out what's already there at this point, as opposed to really adding any core gameplay elements (unless you count the new modes). 

[Kyir]

I wish there was some possibility of winnowing down the card pool after it's been unlocked. I feel like most of the cards for Silent have just polluted the card pool and reduced the change of getting stuff I actually enjoy playing (poisons, mostly.) Also, Ironclad is way easier to win with.

[Deadpan]

Ironclad has more straightforward win condition cards (perfected strike, heavy blade, searing blow, rampage, etc) while The Silent depends more on combo pieces, but it still feels easier to me to consistently win with The Silent because you get more defensive cards. A few dexterity boosts and you're way less reliant on racing down bosses before they kill you, sometimes you even end the game untouched.

[osmosisch]

Ironclad is way, way harder for me. My Silent streak is double my Ironclad one (only 4 vs 2, but still).

[Problem Machine]

Though the Ironclad has fewer defensive cards he actually has a few incredible ones. One run I walked all over the final boss using Barricade + Power Through + Second Wind + Entrench + Body Slam. I hit for 1498 damage. For more standard "I just need to stay alive long enough to make my deck work" scenarios, Shrug it Off is just good in almost every deck.

I think Ironclad is more consistent, but good Silent runs are incredible. I have little actual data on who's truly more consistent though, since I've been trying to do ascensions rather than going for win streaks. I usually prefer playing Ironclad though just because his runs take like half as long so it's not as big a time commitment.

[Deadpan]

Even when I get a decent deck together for Ironclad though, it feels way harder to get it to work consistently because you are far more dependent on relics or combos to get extra card draw going. I had a promising run yesterday that got to 5 energy by act 2 because of a random starting relic and good boss drop, but I ended up not being able to refresh my hand and wasted energy on most turns.

 

At the moment, I'm stuck on Ascension 2 for both characters. I really want to get a good Demon Form run going for Ironclad, and for The Silent just replicating the success of Footwork + Blur + Noxious Fumes would be nice.

[Problem Machine]

I think maybe people have trouble with the Ironclad because keeping a thin deck is a lot more important for him, and it can be hard to fight the temptation to pick up a card when presented with one. That certainly seems like it could be relating to some of the things you're saying about inconsistency and lack of defense cards.

[Deadpan]

I know what you mean, but I actually lost because I did keep a thin deck and was up against enemies that load you up with Dazed/Wound cards. There are ways to get to the cards you need, but none as straightforward as something like Acrobatics.

 

Anyway, just beat Ascension 2 with Ironclad. Getting Black Star right at the start dovetailed nicely with my self-imposed challenge of going for as many Elites as possible and I then got carried by Dual Wield + Clash and the free Strength and Dexterity from Kunai and Shuriken. Also, I think this is a new record for the most relics I ever picked up.

 

Spoiler

 

[Gerretic]

 

6 hours ago, Deadpan said:

I know what you mean, but I actually lost because I did keep a thin deck and was up against enemies that load you up with Dazed/Wound cards. There are ways to get to the cards you need, but none as straightforward as something like Acrobatics.

 

Do you grab Evolve with Ironclad? Evolve+ is my favorite card for him and I think I've never failed to take it when given the opportunity; it's a bit of a combo card in that it really starts to sing with Wild Strike & Power Through, but even on its own it thins your deck once it's upgraded and makes certain enemies much easier.

[Problem Machine]

Ah yeah statuses can be real dangerous, especially if you're going for a clash build. I wish the first aid kit wasn't such a rare pickup, I've never managed to get one on one of the runs where I needed it.

If you're NOT going for a clash build though then yeah Evolve is really good. By itself it's good and insulates you against enemies who add wounds, but you can also start using Wild Strike and Power Through to add more wounds, then Second Wind and Sever Soul to thin them back out.

[Gerretic]

On the daily this morning I got Charon's Ashes (deal 3 to everything when you exhaust a card) and especially with that relic, Fiend Fire will pretty much end the fight as soon as you play it when you've got Evolve ticking and reliably hold a 8-10 card hand. Probably my second favorite combo after Nightmare/Catalyst.

[osmosisch]

No combo beats Dead Branch/Corruption with a side of Fiend Fire

[Deadpan]

The daily challenge today is wild. You play as the silent with a random deck of 50 cards, plus 2 Ironclad cards, which gives you a ridiculous mix of everything that still ended up working for me somehow, mostly because of the relics I ended up getting:

 

Tough Bandages - 3 block when you discard a card

Dead Branch - get a random card in your hand when you exhaust a card

Ninja Scroll - start with 3 shivs in hand

Shuriken - get 1 strength every time you play 3 attacks in one turn

 

So by the end of the game I start every fight with 3 shivs plus 2 backstabs in hand and playing those gives me five new random cards. The real star of the show was Storm of Steel, discarding a full hand would give me 27 free block, a ton of free damage and extra strength.

 

I'm pretty sure this deck would have become completely unplayable if combat goes on too long due to all the extra random cards that get mixed in, but it didn't get that far for me and I tried to pick up as much card draw as possible along the way.

[osmosisch]

Ha! Thanks so much for the heads-up, that was hilarious. Ended with 1007 points, making for a respectable #263 at time of writing.

 

Dead branch with four shiv powers is amazing fun. Of course the boss had to be time eater, but the shuriken ensured that I could overpower it in time.

[Kyir]

All the daily challenges have been great lately. The last one I did gave one relic after each normal enemy encounter instead of giving you a card choice. I think I had something like 34 of them by the time I won, and some extremely amusing combinations. I've been making some progress in ascensions, but the dailies are definitely my favorite part of the game right now.

[osmosisch]

So the world record speed run is currently at...

 

 

5  minutes!?

 

[Deadpan]

I completely agree on the daily challenges, I got burned out on trying to push to higher ascension levels since there's a good deal of luck involved in getting a deck that can keep up with that difficulty. The dailies are consistently interesting and it's nice to know that whatever bad picks I am confronted with, I am not alone.

[Laco]

Thanks everyone above for mentioning the daily challenges. They brought me back to the game after I'd stopped (not wanting to burn out before the full release), and playing each one for a couple of hours after work has become a very enjoyable ritual.

 

Today's was the wildest I've ever seen. Silent, Draft (a new mod, pick your entire starting deck), Lethal Enemies (everyone starts with 3 strength), and Vintage (normal enemies drop relics) synergised perfectly. I drafted almost entirely 0-cost cards and could always play my entire opening hand, which soon reached 10 cards. After a few relics I was dealing 2 poison (plus 4 damage for each debuff, including poison) with every hit from the start, just in case anyone survived turn one. Only the final boss survived past turn two, and only because it was Time Eater. I normally play very slowly, so this was my first win under an hour.

 

That brought me to everything unlocked, so I might take another break here until more content is added. I think I'd play this game forever if enough they could design enough cards. It's everything I loved about the MTG Duels games but so much nicer to actually play, with less downtime and more interesting decisions.