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Author Topic: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?  (Read 2084 times)

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Cave-o-sapien

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More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« on: January 02, 2018, 01:39:20 pm »
+1

Are Hexes more reliably bad for your opponent(s) than Boons are reliably useful or good for you?

My initial impression was that Boons would be more reliable, but over the past few weeks, I have come to feel the opposite is true, at least relative to my expectations.

One reason for this perception might be that random Good Effects are hard to build around, but random Bad Effects are just as disruptive (or more disruptive) to an opponent than fixed attacks.

Thoughts?


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Gazbag

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2018, 02:43:54 pm »
+2

An observation I've had with the Boons is that their power varies with which card is giving you the Boon quite a bit. E.g. Sea's gift is usually bad to get with Sacred Grove or Bard because terminal +1 Card isn't good (Sacred Grove is especially bad because your opponent gets non-terminal +1 card), but it's one of the better ones to get with Blessed Village or Pixie.

The Hexes seem less card dependant than the Boons, with the exception of Cursed Village anyway.

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Accatitippi

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2018, 07:02:34 pm »
+4

My impression is that Hexes are both somewhat more reliably bad, and also have a much higher power ceiling, so they are still way more swingy than Boons.

A Locusts, Poverty or Envy at the right moment can make or break a game, while I don't think a single Boon draw has ever decided one of my games. I could see it happening with Earth, Forest, and maybe River and Wind I guess.

But Boons might just be less in-your-face about their long-term effects, idk.
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crj

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2018, 08:13:28 pm »
+4

So far, every time I've played with Boons I've found myself wishing I'd placed my hopes on something else, but every time I've played with Hexes I've found myself wishing I'd piled them onto my opponents as oppressively as possible.
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Chris is me

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 08:01:59 am »
+3

You have to just temper your expectations for Boons, really, and keep careful track of the contents of the deck. There’s only 12 cards, and it does not take long for you to know exactly how likely it is that you’ll get a card that gives you more money or increases your search space.

I would have liked a little more consistency out of the Boons, maybe have two that give +Buy or two that trash, or something, but it’s not the end of the world usually.

The important thing is, most cards that do Boons either give you some other benefit you’re really playing it for (Tracker, Bard), or give you several Boons so you spend more of the game knowing what you’ll get (Fool). There’s Pixie which doesn’t do a lot but it’s a $2 cantrip so you really don’t care. Finally there’s Blessed Village which has enough flexibility to be a fantastic source of Boons on Buy.

Meanwhile a lot of Hex cards just don’t do a lot other than hex, so hexes kind of need to be stronger. Skulk gives you an extra Buy, Werewolf doesn’t do anything else when Hexing, and that one card that isn’t Torturer but means the same thing as that just gives you a little money. I
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weesh

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 12:28:18 pm »
+3

Random punking is more likely to impact a game than random bonuses.
you can't really plan for the bonuses, and you sometimes end up the turn realizing you would have done something differently if you knew you would have more of whatever.
and you can't really plan against the punking either, like you could plan for a witch or a militia. 

If your deck is in the state where you MIGHT draw your deck, a boon is unlikely to tip the scales.
If your deck is in the state where you MIGHT draw your deck, a hex could wreck your turn.

Getting hexed three times is WAY worse than getting witched three times when the curses are almost out, and way worse than getting militia'd three times. The hexes get MORE reliable the more you do it, because you are more likely to find the one that messes up your opponent's plans.
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crj

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Re: More reliable: Hexes or Boons?
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2018, 06:48:14 pm »
0

So, in summary, a random thing is worse than a predictable thing.

The randomness makes both hexes and boons worse, which contributes significantly to boons being more damaging than hexes are helpful.
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