Haltherrion
First Post
In the interests of knocking the kinks out of the system (and in the interests of full disclosure), here's my draft strategy as it stands today:
A lot is going to come down to luck (which is why we will do this several times). Your favorite figure may be sitting on a bonus card or suit card that someone else draws first and will not part with. Or vice versa: a figure you want may be on cards too important to another player for them to part with. Flexibility and reassessment will be required.
- Cards matter a lot and there are many figures I like. So, rather than setting my heart on one or two figures, I will instead make an ordered list of figures from most desirable to least desirable. Until I know what suit-bonus card is with a figure, then I might as well pick and peek in the order of most favorite to least favorite figure.
- I will go through all the bonus cards and pick out the ones that I really find interesting. These cards could cause a change in plans if I can find a figure with them. Most of the others are nice but not worth going out of the way for. Improved ECL and saint are definitely cards that would make me strongly consider playing the figure attached. Sanctified on a cool evil creature like the ogre-dragon or the erinyes may also do it (although those aren't too high on my pick list probably so I probably won't get to find out before someone else does).
- I will go through all the suit cards looking for cards I'd really like to have. At the moment, while I see lots of interesting cards, the only cards I'd really like to have are the Dragon armor, dragon ring and true blood cards in the dragon suit, and dragons only if I am tending towards a warrior.
- I will determine what suit mix I want if my pick is tending towards a human. Separately, I will determine suit mix if my pick is tending towards a non-human. I may also work up a mix for spellcaster vs non-caster. The reason I may need to work all of these up is that luck of the deal and bonus cards may send me down different racial paths or classes and different races and classes benefit from different cards. Humans would like Stars for stats whereas many non-humans have plenty good stats and might benefit more from other suits. I need to put some serious thought into this however I suspect that in the heat of the draw, this 'suit favoritism' will go out the window.
- Humans/elves: favor stars but try to get some hero cards. Also some dragon cards if a warrior.
- Non-humans: favor either dragon or hero cards depending on the luck of the draw. Try to get the other suit to round out a little.
- Special cases: do you try for 6 of a suit or best poker hand (for firstborn)? My thoughts are that it is not worth spending much time on pre-draw but if you cards start supporting either strategy, it is something to seriously consider. 6 Cards in a suit is generally quite potent. Firstborn or the bonus for declining (which I probably would do myself if I had best hand) are also a very nice benefit.
A lot is going to come down to luck (which is why we will do this several times). Your favorite figure may be sitting on a bonus card or suit card that someone else draws first and will not part with. Or vice versa: a figure you want may be on cards too important to another player for them to part with. Flexibility and reassessment will be required.