Playtesting Like A Pro, Part 2: Feedback

My writing got sidetracked last week. I normally write my StarCity articles on Tuesday and Wednesday, mail them in Wednesday night, and Ferrett has ’em up by Friday. With Christmas on Wednesday last week, my normal rhythm got thrown off. My wife and I had a great time visiting with family and friends (who all ohhed and ahhed over my little three-month-old baby, Ryan). With all the holiday festivities, I just couldn’t find the time to write.

I apologize for the delay, but hey, it’s Christmas.

I had a lot of fun writing the first part to this article,”Playtesting Like A Pro: Can We Design A New Archetype The Way That Your Move Games Does?” (my name for it was shorter; Ferrett is the one who likes those long names). When I got the idea for the article, I was excited by its potential. As far as I know, it had not been done before.

“I’d like to work with the www.starcitygames.com readers in the same way that I work with my team: I give you guys my concept and decklist, you all test it.”

My enthusiasm was dampened a bit after I read the first few posts in the discussion group. While the posters seemed to like the concept for the article, they were suggesting changes to the deck before play-testing it. Their ideas may have been good, but the whole point was for the community to play-test the deck as it was and report on its strengths and weaknesses.

I posted a request for play-testing, but more theory followed… That is, until the Ferrett put his foot down. Who knew he could be such an iron fisted dictator?

After this, there was a dry spell, but then we started to get some very good posts. The post by Jose Emmanuel Argao was particularly good. The following is Jose’s complete post (in bold italic) with my commentary inserted (in regular text).

Welcome to playtesting in the Philippines, where acquiring four copies of intuition involves selling your soul to the devil. Cards are so expensive here that all but the richest players are forced to play Sligh (without Cursed Scrolls, since they cost an arm and a leg). Of course, these rich players are also usually the best players (meaning they win more games than most since they’re the only ones with four copies of Call of the Herd)



It’s also home to Oscar Tan, who has never written a thing I was able to use in real matches because no one here can afford Moxes anyway.



My name is Jose Emmanuel Argao. I play in every pre-release, as well as the odd Limited event or two. I spend much time helping my friends playtest for Constructed events, but do not have”constructed tourney entry fee” in my budget. I play a lot of unsanctioned Constructed events though, because they cost less to get into. I have no copies of Nantuko Shade or Call of the Herd.



I’ve tested Rob’s deck against a couple of net copied decks like Oath. Here are the results, in a card-by-card analysis fashion followed by a deck-vs.-deck analysis. First off, the cards:

This is just what I was looking for: Testing against net decks, then letting us know how the deck did and how individual cards functioned. This play-tester feedback is an essential step in deck design.

The results of the deck versus deck tell us whether the concept has any merit. If a deck in its raw initial form is performing close to 50-50 versus the field (or better) then it’s probably worth tweaking. If it has a solid losing record, then it’s probably a waste of time.

Assuming the results from the testing are adequate, the card-by-card analysis allows the deck design team to make intelligent changes to the deck.



4 Bloodstained Mire

Nice, though they made it hard to draw land after boarding Scrolls in. You need enough mana to activate Scroll and play a guy, which is hard when playing with this. I take out two for the Wastelands if I’m putting Scroll in.

My thought was that when the Scrolls came in, the Wastelands would be added without taking any other lands out. This will mean you have less action spells in your deck, but a Scroll is a whole lot of action on its own, assuming you draw enough land to power it and drop the spells you draw. Additionally, the Wastelands function as a land destruction”spell.”

4 Sulfurous Spring

What can I say? It’s an R/B deck, so these are bound to be good.



2 City of Brass

These are usually pretty good, but it’s annoying when you get the City/Port draw. Didn’t happen to me often, but it happened enough that I got annoyed with it.



1 Swamp

6 Mountain

Seems like the right amount. I cut a mountain for a swamp later in playtesting, but I didn’t get any noticeable results.



4 Rishadan Port

Amazing with Tangle Wire, not too hot otherwise. Useful for cutting the Rock off of black in the early game.



4 Goblin Lackey

I dunno; the Lackey never really worked for me. For some reason, I was never able to use it effectively. I kept drawing it late, when I could just cast my guys, or drawing it early but not having enough goblins to abuse it. I was able to get a Goblin Piledriver or two off of ’em a couple of times, but I have my own problems with those.

A lot of the playtesters had similar complaints on the Lackey and Piledriver. We’ll get back to this later.

4 Mogg Fanatic

Amazing. Don’t cut these for anything. They beat down and kill mana guys. What more could you ask for?



4 Jackal Pup

Two power for one mana with a negligible drawback. Some good.

Positive feedback on the cards that are working is important to the process. Take the time to give it even if it seems obvious. Let the group you’re testing for know”these cards are working well, leave ’em in.”

4 Veteran Brawler

Good with Port and/or Tangle Wire. Amazing whenever I drew ’em early, but I found myself dreading drawing them if the game went long (as it sometimes does when you get the all-disruption, only-lackey-for-beats hand).

This type of mixed feedback was typical for the Brawlers. This card may come down to a metagame call. If you think your tournament is going to have a lot of beatdown decks, the Brawlers should stay in the main deck (you can always tap your land and have a 4/4 wall). If a big early blocker is not good in the expected environment, it may be that the Brawlers don’t get to attack enough to make them worth while. This item needs more testing.

4 Mogg Flunkies

Very good, surprisingly, even though I played in a Sligh-heavy metagame. I loved getting them in multiples, and casting just two is usually enough to force a Pernicious Deed.



4 Goblin Piledriver

This was never too good when I got it. For some reason, like the Lackey, I kept drawing it at all the wrong times.



4 Phyrexian Negator

AWFUL AGAINST SLIGH – but amazing otherwise. You can still drop ’em against Sligh if you get two or three Tangle Wires, but it’s still a gamble.



4 Tangle Wire

Very good in all matches. Combos well with the Brawlers (duh)



3 Terminate

Once again, amazing. I’d up the count to four and cut a Reckless Charge.

Often with a deck I’m testing, I work in extra slots by dropping from four to three cards. This allows more cards to be tested for effectiveness while still leaving enough in to draw. Most playtesters seemed to agree, Terminate needs to go to four main deck.

2 Lava Dart

Very good against Sligh and the Rock. Useless against Oath and Aluren.



3 Reckless Charge

This was never very effective for me, since ideally I want to cast a guy on my first turn, another guy on my second turn, then charge the new guy and attack for big damage. The deck didn’t have enough one mana guys to do this consistently.



Sideboard:

2 Threaten

I boarded them in against The Rock and Reanimator. Good against the rock, where you can steal the Spiritmonger for an alpha strike after they Deed and they think they’re safe behind their Spiritmonger, but awful against Reanimator. You never draw it early enough to take anything useful from them – and when you do, they just Duress or Cabal Therapy it from you before playing their fatty. Even when I could steal a Verdant Force or a Phantom Nishoba, I wasn’t able to kill them with it and they just got it back and beat up on me some more. Good if you cam steal Visara, since you can make her destroy herself. I suggest upping the count to four, if you’re going to use them at all, so you can draw them consistently.



1 Terminate

I want it in the main. That’s how good this is. Amazing against the rock’s ‘Mongers and Reanimator’s Verdant Forces.



4 Cursed Scroll

Very good against Oath, The Rock, and Sligh. Useless against Aluren.

It’s especially important to know with sideboard cards what deck you found them to be useful or useless against. This will help determine if they are worth their weight or not, and help develop boarding plans.

2 Lava Dart

See my comments above.



2 “Disorder

I have no idea about this, actually, since I never had a chance to use it. No one plays white where I play. True Believers just cost too much.



1 Flaring Pain

Like disorder, I was never able to use this. Theoretically, it would be good against Circle of Protection: Reds and phantoms. I dunno, really.

Sadly, no one tested Disorder or Flaring Pain. Due to lack of feedback, I’ll take them out of the board. Just remember they exist. If you think you’ll be facing decks they would be good against, test ’em yourself and see if they’ll break your local metagame.

2 Wasteland

Great against Oath and the rock, but I found myself having mana problems of my own after boarding them in. Taking out lands for these resulted in mana screw. Taking out spells resulted in mana flood. How do you board these in effectively? They did help with the Scrolls, as advertised.

Again, if you’re bringing Wasteland in as land destruction, think of it as a spell. If you’re bringing in Scroll, you need the extra land. Either way, leave all the main deck land in.

1 Flash of Defiance

I was boarding it in a lot of the time, but never drawing it when I need to. By the time I get it, my opponent usually has a Deed ready to nullify my alpha strike. That, or I’m already dead or I’ve already won.

When drawing a sideboard card rarely helps, it’s not a good thing. Sounds like the Flash can go.

Deck-against-deck analysis:



Aluren:

I usually won against the versions using Living Wish, since Tangle Wire punished them for the turn they spent Wishing. Against the versions with Vodalian Merchants, though, Wire was less useful. I found myself wanting to Duress them while they were Wired, since I had trouble beating them down enough to kill them before they slammed the combo down on me. Usually a match where luck of the draw reigns supreme.



The Rock:

Surprisingly easy, since you have lots of ways to deal with their critters and ways to kill their mana guys. Terminate is your MVP here, killing ‘Monger and stuff. Their life gain critters generally just slow down the inevitable, and you only need two of your big guys to force them to deed. Things can get out of hand late-game, so try to kill them early. Threatens are good after sideboarding, if you can draw them.



Oath:

Tangle Wire or no? Resolve a Tangle = win game. It’s that simple.



Sligh:

Drawing more Mogg Fanatics and Lava Darts = winning more games. You can cast Negator against them if you need to, but only if you have a Fanatic ready to reduce the amount of sacrifice in case they try to burn it.

Jose left some decks out of his testing, which is never a good idea. Otherwise, his feedback on the deck-versus-deck was generally good. He let us know what made him win or lose in each match-up, which is essential. I would have liked a little more on whether he thought the Oath and Sligh match-ups were favorable or not.

In Conclusion:

The deck is good, but it needs a lot more tuning. Here are some of my suggestions:



Duress in the board. You NEED to force a wire through against Oath. I have never won a game against Oath without a wire. Therapy is also good, but Duress was also good for me.



Get rid of Lackey and Piledriver. They never worked for me, but that might just be luck. Still, I played a lot of games with this deck and they rarely performed as planned. Lackey never helped much, even with Wire in play, and the driver kept getting killed or blocked by small guys whenever he got bigger than 3/2.



Four terminates in the main. They’re amazing. You want a full set. They’re also the deck’s only way to stop Aluren from going off.

That bit was great; a solid summary of what was working, what wasn’t and what he wished he had access to. Take note: this is the kind of information you want to get from your playtesting.

Here’s what I found won more games for me, after much playtesting. It still needs more work and may not be moving in the best direction, but I wanted to show it anyway.



Star City Beats

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Sulfurous Spring

2 City of Brass

2 Swamp

5 Mountain

4 Rishadan Port

4 Goblin Cadets

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Jackal Pup

4 Veteran Brawler

4 Mogg Flunkies

4 Goblin Patrol

4 Phyrexian Negator

4 Tangle Wire

4 Terminate

3 Lava Dart



Sideboard:

4 Threaten

4 Cursed Scroll

4 Duress

3 Goblin Bombardment



Here’s why I made it this way:



I cut the Charges out because they weren’t very good with Wire in play. You wanted to play more guys, not give your existing guys haste. Taking out the Lackeys made it hard to play guys early with Wire and Charge both in the deck. I took out the Lackeys and Drivers and replaced them with Patrols and Cadets. This gave the deck twelve first-turn, two-power critters, which offset the disappearance of charges somewhat. I’m still not sure about those Patrols, but they worked well enough for me. If anyone out there can fit charges into my build, I’ve found that the amount of on- mana guys makes the Charges amazing on the second turn. Still, I dunno what to take out. Rob, any help?



For the SB, I took out the anti-white cards. If you expect a lot of Whipcorders in your area, slam ’em back in. I upped the Threaten count so I could actually draw them, then I put Duress in there as another way to force Wire through against Oath. It can also snag Aluren sometimes. Bombardments helped against Sligh, made your Negators hurt a lot less, made your opponents keep counting your critters every turn, kept Oath from activating, and gave the Cadets and Brawlers something to do late game. You bring ’em in against anything with creatures. I’d have them in the main if I could. Any help, Rob?



Jose Emmanuel Argao

All in all, a fantastic post. Thanks Jose.

A common thread in playtester’s posts was the Goblin Lackey/Goblin Piledriver issue.

It seems Lackey and Piledriver are not working out in the deck as is. This means we either need to cut them for something that works on its own, or add more Goblins to the deck. Adding Goblins brings us into well-charted territory. There are lots of Goblin decks out there, some with Tangle Wire and/or Negator. We’re trying to come up with something new, so let’s stick with the less Goblin oriented version.

Jose did another post on Dec. 30th. I won’t put up the whole thing here, but check it out. He and others suggested Carnophage and Sarcomancy as possible Goblin replacements…

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Sulfurous Spring

2 City of Brass

4 Swamp

4 Mountain

4 Rishadan Port



4 Carnophage

4 Sarcomancy

4 Mogg Fanatic

2 Jackal Pup

4 Veteran Brawler

4 Mogg Flunkies

4 Phyrexian Negator

4 Tangle Wire

4 Terminate

1 Goblin Bombardment

3 Reckless Charge



Sideboard:

2 Wasteland
2 Threaten

4 Cursed Scroll

4 Duress

2 Lava Dart

1 Goblin Bombardment

Carnophage and Sarcomancy go great with the big for cheap theme of the deck. Additionally, Sarcomancy goes great with Negator and vise versa (sack the worse-than-useless enchantment, keep the 2/2 token). The increase in good one-drops makes Reckless Charge better as well.

Goblin Bombardment was a cool idea Jose came up with. It gives you all the pinging power you need and gets around the Negators drawback. I moved one into the main deck. I’m a big fan of main-decking one of cards with a powerful but redundant effect. You’ll be hard pressed to find a matchup where drawing your one Bombardment is a bad thing, but two is never good. You only want to bring in extras for match-ups were the Mogg Fanatic effect is exceptionally powerful.

Duress was added to the board to help against decks like Oath. While Duress is incredibly powerful, it does water down you offense. Keep that in mind when deciding which match-ups to board it in.

The spells in this version are great, but the mana is going to be an issue. I’ve gone up to twenty-two. I wanted at least fourteen of each color (as you want both early) without cutting the Ports (which are mandatory with Brawlers and Tangle Wire). I was afraid to go up more on the Cities, although that may prove to be necessary with this build.

Well, there it is. Is this version better or worse than the first? Does it stand a chance in the current environment? You be the judge. Test it out and let us know how it does.

Thanks to all who responded to the first article! Like I said, this has been fun.