Original Post — Direct link

[deleted]

over 1 year ago - /u/Dan_Felder - Direct link

Originally posted by NWStormraider

Then how else do you define a Good card?

While one could say there are no good or bad cards, only good or bad decks, it's generally possible to say that a card is good if the deck is built around enabling it or taking advantage of what it enables rather than being one of the supporting pieces.

For example, if a card says "All [subtybe] have +3/+3 and overwhelm" you're likely to end up playing some weaker cards of that subtype to take advantage of the powerful build-around card. It'd be odd to argue that units you're only playing because they happen to match the subtype are "good cards" in this case.

The famous Sligh deck that Paul Sligh piloted in MTH is a classic example; the deck was full of terrible cards but they were the only options available to support its overall strategy of playing cheap aggressive cards to maximize the use of early mana and get damage in to make finishing off with the opponent with the incredibly powerful burn spells of the time possible.

So good cards are usually those that warp the rest of the deck around their power rather than filling holes to support more powerful cards. There are edgecases of course, but this is why we can generally say Champion cards tend to be extremely powerful; whole decks are built to deliver on the promise of their power.

over 1 year ago - /u/Dan_Felder - Direct link

Originally posted by Lareyt

While I generally agree with you, I think there are two types of good cards: cornerstones and workhorses.

Cornerstones are the type of pay-off cards you just described, and they are often champions or build-around epics in LoR.

Workhorses are the good stuff cards that often make the region viable, are meta staples, and thus end up in most decks of that region. In LoR these are often combat tricks, e.g. unnerfed Sharpsight, Hush in various iterations, Momentous Choice, but don't have to be, e.g. unnerfed Brightsteel Protector, unnerfed Merciless Hunter, Mystic Shot, to name a few cards that are easily identifiable as such good stuff cards.

I agree, those are the two common types of good cards. I think of both types as cards that are powerful enough that you build the deck partly to play them.

For example, Lightning Bolt in MTG is rarely the card you're building the deck around; but it's so generically powerful hat it's often a reason you're delighted to play Red and any deck with red is happy to include it because why not? So it's more of a "workhorse" but it's a workhorse you look for an excuse to fit into your deck due to its raw power.

If you'll include a card because of it's power, regardless of its synergies, it's usually a good card. Lightning Bolt in MTG is a great example of this. People will actively splash red just to work in some Lightning Bolts and similar tools in certian decks. While Lightning Bolt will be even stronger in decks built around instants, it'll get added to nearly any red deck it's legal in even without synergies.