Customize your deck before playing?

[killercactus]

I've seen a lot of people discussing which units for each faction are good in matchups vs. other factions, and it led me to a question:

Are you allowed / do you like to customize your deck when you sit down across from a certain faction?

It may be that I just have a tournament mindset, but my first reaction is "No." For example, I have a PE deck built right now with lots of Warriors and Fire Beasts. If I sit down across from a CG opponent, I'm not going to take a bunch of commons out of the deck to put in Fencers and Guardians, just because they're better against the CG - my deck is my deck and I'll live or die with the consequences.

It does give me an idea for a tournament, though. This would seem to make the sideboard, MtG-style tournament attractive, where you play best 2 out of 3 games and can sideboard in cards after each game. So, I have to play my first game against the CG with my regular deck, but can then sideboard in some Fencers and Guardians if I see fit for game two.

How many of you do this now for your home games? Is it common practice to customize your deck depending on which faction you're up against?

[darkbladecb]

I customize my deck pretty rarely, except for during the playtesting of the Reinforcements. And even then, I tend to have a lot of builds that I favor and so I'll use the decks that I like a lot.

For instance, with the VG in our local playtest games, I ran Cavalry Knights for Stalwart Archers pretty much always, no matter the matchup. And I have stock decks that I use for the Fallen Kingdom, Phoenix Elves (Spear Grounders!), and Tundra Orcs, too.

However, the vast, vast majority of my games are just using Standard Builds. Summoner Wars fits my lifestyle a lot because I can pick it up and play it. As the Standard Builds are so well balanced, it makes it pretty easy to just go and in some cases--like with the Guild Dwarves and Jungle Elf Champions--I tend to just run the Standards even when I CAN customize.

Obviously, some matchups are better than others. Baldar is a better play v. the TOs than the PE, for instance. But at the end of the day, modifying my deck based on who I'm playing seems a bad habit. Maybe it's the old sports mantra of not worrying about the other team and making them adjust to you, but in my experience, it's the player that wins games, not the deck. So you should play what you enjoy and what fits your playstyle. I hate big, expensive commons, particularly ones with a higher cost than life, but I love big, massive champs (Miti Mumway, Krung, Gror, and Kalon are some of my favorite cards). So I play decks and games that let me get down those cards I enjoy most and do best with 'em.

[KCU Master 2007]

My wife and I both pick our factions and then customize (well I do, she's content with whatever is in the deck from the last time it was played). I don't normally change my deck based on who she picks I just play whatever type of deck I've been in the mood to play.

[killercactus]

My wife and I both pick our factions and then customize (well I do, she's content with whatever is in the deck from the last time it was played). I don't normally change my deck based on who she picks I just play whatever type of deck I've been in the mood to play.

That's been my experience too (and seems to have been darkblade's). I make some decks (customized beforehand), and I pick up whatever faction I feel like playing. I then don't say "Oh, you're playing the Vanguards? Well I better put some more 2-attack commons in my deck, then. Hold on."

However, I keep reading stuff on the forum like "I like to use XXX when I'm playing against the XXX.", and I think to myself "that kind of feels like cheating...". But then I thought "maybe that's the accepted way to play, and every faction should always be the best equipped to take on an opposing faction".

[Rÿchean]

I haven't seen anyone do this yet.

I suppose players could announce factions they intend to play and build their decks according to the match up, but to know exactly which champions and commons the deck you are facing is going to use and then changing yours for the best match up seems excessively competitive.

Obviously at a tournament, deck augmentation based on match up is not allowed.

Should it be? Maybe as a variant I guess, but even then I think not.

[Phoenixio]

I haven't built decks a lot yet, but when I do, either it's done in advance (like with the playtest team), or we do it simultaneously on the table. In which case we both know which faction we play against, but then again, we both reinforce our decks, so if I think a unit might be good, my opponent will do the same and expect some of my cards.

It pretty much gives the superior hand to the better player, and not to the deck, even if Guardians might be slightly better against CG for instance. Just like darkbladecb said.

[killercactus]

I'm glad to see people taking my point of view. I really didn't think this was a "react to your opponent's faction" game, but I do think that could be a fun variant at times.

Though, in my view, Summoner Wars is fun no matter how you play it.

[Clarissimus]

When my brother and I play at home we always customize the decks for the match-up. Of course we also always roll dice to pick factions (it keeps things interesting that way) but once we know what factions will be in the game we choose our commons and champions. Sometimes we'll have a draft of the mercenaries if we both want the same mercs.

Obviously this isn't done at tournaments but I think would add another dimension of interest to the game even if it would make the tournaments take longer to conduct.

[prometheuslkr]

I always randomize factions as well. Otherwise, the second player to pick often has the upper hand, and I use die rolls to determine who gets the merc.

[Jexik]

When I play locally, we generally play with my cards.

I keep 8 differently-colored-sleeved decks ready. Right now, the GD, PE, and TO decks are all the ones I've used to win tournaments, and the rest are other experiments. I usually let people pick their faction, as well as mine, unless I'm teaching a new person, in which case I often try to stack it in their favor with what I perceive to be the worse matchup: their PE v. my CG. (It helps that PE are straightforward to play as well).

I let people swap stuff out if they know the game, but I'll often re-make the decks that I like afterwards.