Champions cost 3000. I believe it was 4000 in earlier stages of development as I have seen sites mention 4000, but I started playing 2 weeks ago, so don't quote me on this. My first expedition was a disaster. 2 trials of 0 wins. LOL. At least I got a champion I didn't have. If someone has an almost full collection, then ending an expedition with 5 wins (or even 6) is barely worth it. Of course, you also gain experience with the game and you get to play with cards you don't currently own, so there's that. Right now I am staying away from them until I become more experienced and I'll just keep hoarding tokens from the weekly vault.
While there are definitely cards that are too strong, I find that this I part of the charm of a CCG and I hope the devs don't overdo it with nerfs or every deck will end up looking bland and samey. It's fine if the first set only has 3-5 top tier decks. With more cards out when the second set is releasedt, they will have room to tweak and add more answers to problematic cards.
On Tuesday I started playing Ranked and based on the cards I have right now I settled on a Freljord-Ionia deck and I love it. Deny will need a tweak (most likely target spells that cost 5-6 or less, instead of an increased cost) but the deck performs fairly well against aggro. To be honest, I haven't encountered many aggro decks and I have been playing obsessively in the last 4 days. Perhaps they dominate the higher ranking, but on iron/bronze most decks I play against are mid-late focused. I have been trying to use a Draven deck, but I just can't figure out how to make it work efficiently.
Of the elusive cards, I think the most problematic is The Empyrean, as it is very difficult to remove, especially in a deck with Deny and Frostbite. The others, when not buffed, are destroyed by challengers, Culling Strike, and several removals.
I believe that most new players are trying to build a deck around dealing with all the possible threats they will encounter and don't build a deck that makes use of the strengths of the factions they have chosen. Playing with a single deck for a few days, instead of swapping decks every 2-3 matches, can help you identify its weaknesses and make the necessary adjustments.
I have only been playing for 10 days very casually and only since yesterday more actively so my experience is limited. But coming with a 10-year background in MtG, I can't say I am surprised that a card like Deny exists in the game.
Each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, and "Counter" is a signature spell of Ionia, so denying only spells of cost 3 or less, as some suggest, is a little ridiculous. On the other hand, a cost of 4 for the same effect will again feel too cheap when it cancels 8-9 cost spells so people will still complain. I've had Deny cancel a Warmother's Call (I don't even know how I got it in my hand) and even a cost of 5 would seem too cheap at that moment.
Since there are some units that play with 6-cost spells, that creates a nice threshold and having Deny cancel spells that cost 5 or less seems logical. The enemy has their plans thwarted and in most cases you spend 1-2 less than your opponent. It's either that or Deny could have a variable cost that is equal to the cost of the ability it wants to cancel.
Champions cost 3000. I believe it was 4000 in earlier stages of development as I have seen sites mention 4000, but I started playing 2 weeks ago, so don't quote me on this. My first expedition was a disaster. 2 trials of 0 wins. LOL. At least I got a champion I didn't have. If someone has an almost full collection, then ending an expedition with 5 wins (or even 6) is barely worth it. Of course, you also gain experience with the game and you get to play with cards you don't currently own, so there's that. Right now I am staying away from them until I become more experienced and I'll just keep hoarding tokens from the weekly vault.
While there are definitely cards that are too strong, I find that this I part of the charm of a CCG and I hope the devs don't overdo it with nerfs or every deck will end up looking bland and samey. It's fine if the first set only has 3-5 top tier decks. With more cards out when the second set is releasedt, they will have room to tweak and add more answers to problematic cards.
On Tuesday I started playing Ranked and based on the cards I have right now I settled on a Freljord-Ionia deck and I love it. Deny will need a tweak (most likely target spells that cost 5-6 or less, instead of an increased cost) but the deck performs fairly well against aggro. To be honest, I haven't encountered many aggro decks and I have been playing obsessively in the last 4 days. Perhaps they dominate the higher ranking, but on iron/bronze most decks I play against are mid-late focused. I have been trying to use a Draven deck, but I just can't figure out how to make it work efficiently.
Of the elusive cards, I think the most problematic is The Empyrean, as it is very difficult to remove, especially in a deck with Deny and Frostbite. The others, when not buffed, are destroyed by challengers, Culling Strike, and several removals.
I believe that most new players are trying to build a deck around dealing with all the possible threats they will encounter and don't build a deck that makes use of the strengths of the factions they have chosen. Playing with a single deck for a few days, instead of swapping decks every 2-3 matches, can help you identify its weaknesses and make the necessary adjustments.
I have only been playing for 10 days very casually and only since yesterday more actively so my experience is limited. But coming with a 10-year background in MtG, I can't say I am surprised that a card like Deny exists in the game.
Each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, and "Counter" is a signature spell of Ionia, so denying only spells of cost 3 or less, as some suggest, is a little ridiculous. On the other hand, a cost of 4 for the same effect will again feel too cheap when it cancels 8-9 cost spells so people will still complain. I've had Deny cancel a Warmother's Call (I don't even know how I got it in my hand) and even a cost of 5 would seem too cheap at that moment.
Since there are some units that play with 6-cost spells, that creates a nice threshold and having Deny cancel spells that cost 5 or less seems logical. The enemy has their plans thwarted and in most cases you spend 1-2 less than your opponent. It's either that or Deny could have a variable cost that is equal to the cost of the ability it wants to cancel.