No, summon an evolved sirrian.
I decided to try something just on a lark to see how badly I’d do since I’m only level 106.
I was looking at the top ranked people and I found @RiverSong up there so I decided to give it a friendly go. First thing I notice… Mercy/Maw. With Sheggra. And stats about 4x mine. What do I have? Empowered Soothsayer.
First thing I did was pop the board of the purples so Mercy’s turn would be a waste. Fed the yellows she made into Valkyrie who made a lot of blue to feed Crimson Bat and munch. Then I kept working things so that if Mercy got full, Soothsayer would strike first to minimize her effect or even set me up with a big match. Meanwhile the Bat keeps munching and my hero keeps tickling the Maw for 10 damage off skulls (while my guys could take 2 skull hits max). It ends up being Bat vs Sheggra and Mercy… Sheggra misfired… Skull skull munch game and I’m shocked I won.
Ok was a fluke. Try it again . Pretty much was a repeat of above except I finished Valkyrie and Bat (grabbed a screenshot of that on my pc)
So at the risk of sounding like @killerman3333 and his love for Tyri, damn empowered Soothsayer is a great little troop. He provides just enough to offset what the computer wants to do. And I think that’s part of the trick on how to face off against Mercy/Maw. Control the board, interrupt what the computer wants to do or even get it to do what you want it to do, and try to hit everyone as much as possible. Granted it’s not foolproof but for me it went a long way in bringing them down.
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This is the depressing truth…
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Now I feel like I have a target on my back . . . 
Seriously, the only reason I put that combo up was to try to staunch the bleeding from defense losses. Apparently it’s not working. I’ll have a different one for you next time, @Shiratori!
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Before nerfing anything, I believe that couple of fixes would come in handy:
- Hunger trait triggering multiple times
- Is 15% really 15%? A bit like dodge triggering so many times. I would prefer counting. If the maw attacks, the xth (4th? 5th?) attack is a guaranteed devour. Much much fairer. Same goes for every %. Deathmark is another one.
You are not thinking big enough. Devour let’s you take on any opponent, no matter how weak you are and how tough they are. If you crank up the difficulty level of fights all the way to Warlord IV, they actually get easier, because you scale off their strength. To give an extreme example, suppose we had some challenge boss with 10000 life and armor, how well do you think skull damage would fare against that 15% chance to Devour? It’s the rocket launcher in a game of paper/scissors/rock, it breaks the rules.
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Easily one of my favorites. He even has enough life/arbor to be a little tanky!
@Larohar Not quoting all that, but I will respond.
GoW is not a game of skill: it is a game of chance and rewards those who have spent time or money. Not sure why it would be less fun to lose to someone who was outright better than you vs someone you know you are better than but the fates chose them over you on a dice roll.
I’m only at level 42 at this time, but I have some alright cards and pretty nasty teams for not having anything fully traited or max level. I’ve had times when I just destroy the AI so hard it needs to be reprogrammed, and I’ve also had times where my matching choices won me the game, but you know what has happened more often? The AI winning when there was no reason for it to happen. I’ve been put in a position where three turns in a row I had literally no choice but to make a match that would give an edge to the AI. I’ve had my entire team defeated on the AI’s first turn. I’ve had the enemy team knocked down to it’s last troop who would die with one spell that I just got the mana for…only just to have them make the game unwinnable on their next turn. I’ve had the AI suddenly take ten extra turns back to back. I’ve had the AI make a three match that made another three match, which lead to a perfect four match of a color that wasn’t even on the board at the time only to drop a five match of skulls when there were no skulls on the board prior, then drop three more skulls to suddenly kill a troop that just got it’s ability ready…and the AI had no way to stop it prior to that crescendo.
I actually spent two and a half hours trying to beat the last questing in the Pridelands just so I could unlock Finley for my gold-harvesting team. I kept swapping between teams and getting bushwacked early or getting down to the Behemoth being by himself and suddenly have him take five turns and kill two troops. It didn’t matter who I used: it mattered when the game was going to allow me to win. Imagine how mad I was when I finally got Finley, only to find out about the gold cap and that Merchant requires you to win with that troop alive for it’s effect! 
Your team doesn’t matter, as you can have a garbage team but still beat some tough cards out there so long as the game allows you to win. Mistakes matter very little, though I’m not gonna say they don’t matter, but in the scheme of things it matters little: my roomie was in a situation that looked like he was going to lose horribly, and he had given the computer so many turns and so much of the mana it needed…yet one match cascaded so well that it took out two of the enemy troops and setup the kill for the last one. Opponent strength doesn’t matter: they could have a team full of Peasants, but if the game decides it doesn’t want you to win, you won’t. Games where the AI or the actually game itself is the only thing to beat for success (fighting games, party games, match 3 games) are solely dependent on whether the game allows you to win or not, no matter how good you are or how well you do.
Devour does not need to be removed, as the way that it has been administered into the game is very fair and frankly, it’s not an overpowered mechanic solely because of how it’s been handled thus far. Ol’ Maw is a legendary, and legendaries are supposed to be really good cards, and Ol’ Maw is no different.
There are no circles either: There are the masses crying for nerfs to either Ol’ Maw, Mercy, or both because the synergy happens to be so good and Maw has a few bugs that are making him better than he should be. Then there are a few here who are either on some sort of middle ground or see through the haze and realize that he’s in the same position as goblins are in this game: VERY good, but counterable without too much hassle.
Don’t worry ladies and gents: I’ll do the work for you, and I’ll link it here when it’s up.
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This is far from true.
Ah… now I don’t mean to put someone down for being new to the game, that doesn’t mean you can’t have valid ideas or views… but are you sure you’ve played this enough to make judgements about how Maw and Mercy play in top tier pvp?
Nonsense.
Er, the game doesn’t work that way… that’s luck and RNG… which at your tender stage of the game you’ve hardly been exposed to…
Out of interest do you own a Maw? have you played hundreds of matches against them in tier 1 pvp, where they appear in more than half of games?
I agree with this statement. Devour is however a very game-changing mechanic, so it really needs handling with care.
Er… not always… if the RNG goes against you when Mercy fires, and Maw eats your best troop… and fills up the Bone Dragon and it rolls through your next two troops before you can blink… then counters haven’t helped… the issue isn’t that Maw is unbeatable, it’s that the battle is still just a roll of the dice… At the top level, if the RNG goes against you, normally you can turn it around as the AI is rubbish, but not in that Maw situation.
I actually have no idea what you mean, but the tone does sound rather condescending… I do look forward to you enlightening us all further.
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I am still hoping for an Empowered troop that drains mana with its spell. That would attack the root cause of the Mercy/Maw combination without having to change either of those two cards.
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That’s a good idea
Me too! I’m always looking to listen to some forum wisdom!
I do not think that opinion is correct for everyone. I understand the struggle of being a newbie, more than most but not more than all, however this game is a balance of luck and knowledge. When you are new to the game you should be spending your time learning all the mechanics of it at least until level 100. between level 100 and 200 you should be polishing your skills and knowledge in preparation for pvp. The ai should not be able to do the things described above except maybe the extra turns in the lowest difficulty. This game can be won with gem matches or by using your cards. This game is not about purely luck or skill, it is a mixture of the 2. With a board of gems what do you choose for your first color, what do you choose the three skulls or the extra turn. These are not questions the ai asks but what we ask ourselves to out play the ai. [quote=“ForsakenM, post:108, topic:7531”]
the haze and realize that he’s in the same position as goblins are in this game: VERY good, but counterable without too much hassle.
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I hate goblins but i use them when i have to or in some circumstances when i need to. [quote=“Jainus, post:109, topic:7531”]
condescending
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I am condescending from a mathematical[quote=“Grundulum, post:110, topic:7531”]
Empowered troop that drains mana with its spell.
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I would love an empowered troop for all of the game mechanics.
Sounds good in theory but…
Picture if you will…
You are facing Mercy and Company. Great Maw, Infernal King, Moloch, Mercy.
You start the match and there is a skull opportunity. You have to take it or Maw may eat you. Or do we cast our Empowered troops spell against Mercy and stop her from filling up Maw? We have a real conGrundulum (lol had to do it) on our hands now.
Right now we have Sunweaver’s first trait. Two skull matches and Christmas is cancelled for Maw. We also have Gob-Chomper and that is two casts from him and Maw is dead. We also have @psychetruth 's team to combat Maw. Let’s not forget our friend Dust Devil; who would most likely be rendered useless with your suggested troop. We have enough options -->IMO<-- [All of my suggestions are at high-level]
BUT Maw’s third trait is bugged. That is the root of the problem. Maw’s mana may be too low if one cast from Mercy can fill him up and Devour has no counter. I feel, once those are addressed, we will all migrate to grumbling about something else…like why in the world is War’s health so low at Mythic and why doesn’t he have tank-like traits???
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What if the empowered mana draining troop had a limit. I would think some troops have restrictions,some more than others, such as one-shot spells. The empowered troop can mana drain but its spell is limited to its magic. This makes it weak in early game and its empowered is useless until unlocked. Why not have its spell be
cost x/x
Remove chosen color of gems from the board, steal (magic +1) mana from a troop boosted by gems removed. Boost ratio is 3:1
seems like a safe bet with the ratio and with remove as a key word you can not gain mana more than what is stolen. The cost and the boost ratio would determine in my mind the powerfulness of the spell.
War doesn’t have tank-like traits, I think that’s actually the problem. He’s a berserker build, but one that blocks too much mana and costs too much for the front line to enable support troops to keep him up.
[/derailed]
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@Lyya That was what I was trying to say. I fixed my original post. Thanks. I believe that will be the next topic for debate. Onto my favorite forum member…
Come on. Either the spell drains mana or it doesn’t. Kidding, kidding.
Empowered is a trait. It only works when it is unlocked.
Nice a idea. Would really be an annoying troop to face. There is no counter for mana drain; so this troop is automatically top tier.
Quoting is too much work after a post like that, especially since I’m working on a new post doing the work for you guys on how to destroy the Maw Meta.
@Jainus I’ve mentioned before that I’ve played all the Puzzle Quest games, and some other games that are similar in nature like Puzzles and Dragons. I have already had my share of RNG, and frankly that IS how the game works: the harder a part of the quest is supposed to be, the more likely the RNG will be in your opponent’s favor. If it was just RNG then the higher PvP battles wouldn’t be that hard, but they have to make it as close to possible as if that player was actually there making the right decisions…and frankly, that’s how difficulty has always worked in these games: the AI making better decisions, followed by having abilities that were just outright crazy, and if you managed to break through that then the board would begin to lean more and more in your opponent’s favor.
Honestly I wish Live PvP was a thing, but I understand why it isn’t. I still think it would make the game that much better though.
Oh, and I’ve also mentioned that I’m a console player multiple times…so the answer to the constant ‘Have you played against/with X card that console doesn’t have yet’ is the same. However, I love deck building and testing, and @Lyya’s site that hosts all the cards has been my playground for the past month as I pour through cards I don’t own and cards I can’t own yet to come up with team ideas in preparation.
Also, ask any of my friends, and they will tell you that I’m good at two things in a game that involves building a deck: taking something that isn’t very viable and bringing it to the best of it’s capability (not meta breaking, although I have done that once or twice, but taking something everyone views as ‘bad’ and making something decent from it), and bringing up everything that could counter your plans for your deck. Most people see the latter as a negative thing, like I’m talking them out of building or insulting them on their idea, but it’s literally me just pointing out the flaws and what they should be looking out for and what to prep for and why.
I guess that was a little bit condescending, but it’s linked to the inner irritation of seeing so many people say ‘NERF IT! IT’S BROKEN!’ but not seeing anyone try to work around it. That’s why I’m working on a post that will help peeps here go against the Maw Meta and have at least one back-burner team that will first and foremost consistently wreck Ol’ Maw N Friends, but also hopefully be a decent team to run in general. That’s my goal at the moment.
Nope, nope, nope, dear god please no! Like, Office levels of no. Why?
Even if that card did come out exactly how you wanted it and it directly countered the Maw Meta combo, it would be so strong regardless if it drained all the mana of one troop or only partial of multiple troops, it would be too good and would create another meta.
Ha…you’re joking, right? I haven’t dared to TOUCH another difficulty outside of Normal ever since it took 25 tries to finish the last part of the quest in Whitehelm. I’ve only played on Normal this entire time outside of some challenges, and I haven’t had problems with the challenges yet. So yeah, when I tell these tales, they are all on Normal difficulty.
I was not joking.
Actually we are overlooking something huge, i made mention of it in a hidden topic area but really the way to well counter maw is using traits that already exist. So playing my tyri deck and knowing her inside and out, she can not be killed by maw’s spell. Also my second in command and first in the line has a chance to not be killed by maw’s attacks either no matter how much he does it. We were looking for a spell and a buff to that spell that can counter maw when we should have been looking at traits. Like i said some time ago tyri is the best at countering big stuff.
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Just to make sure I understand what you are implying here…
Are you saying that you think the devs created an algorithm that basically cheats and pushes the player close to losing then at the very last minute, it lets the player win??