Hex Vault » Card Strategy

Socketed Card Primer

funktion — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 01:00:35 +0000

So the other day I was riding the bus, and the bus driver asks me “Hey Funktion, what’s so sweet about Hex?” Then I’m like, “EVERYTHING… DUH!”

Ok, so maybe that’s not a true story (it happened on the train), but there are some pretty exciting things about Hex. One of these things happens to be my topic for today… SOCKETED CARDS (the crowd goes wild). I’m gonna give you my two cents about each of the cards and the options which I think will be particularly powerful. So lets start off by putting everything out on the table and working our way down the list.

Battle Beetle
Boulder Brute
Grim Skull Sorcerer
Lady Cassandra
Master Theorycrafter
Nelebrin Scout
Shamed Gladiator
Warlock Inquisitor

Before I get into the nitty-gritty you might have a few questions on how sockets work. Hopefully this will at least cover the basics:

Cards with a major socket may utilize any gem, while those with a minor socket may only use the minor gems (as depicted above).
The color of the gem does not need to match the color of the card.
Gems do not add a threshold but instead their power will only take effect if you currently have access to that color. If you play a card with the “when this troop enters play draw a card” effect, but you do not have a sapphire threshold then the enters play effect will not take place. Furthermore if you play a card with the “steadfast” gem and don’t have access to the diamond threshold it can still turn on if you’re able to play a diamond resource later.

Alright, if you have any other questions just post them down below in the comments and I will be sure to answer them for you. I really love how sockets make each card extremely flexible, there are just so many options for each card (and that’s not even counting equipment either). With that said, let’s look at some of the outstanding options for each socketed card.

Attaching a gem to a large body makes all the options that much more viable, and Battle Beetle is HUGE. The crush keyword and the potential for him to gain flight for a turn are both pretty scary on their own. My favorite options are outside of the wild threshold, the fact that it’s a six cost card keep the enters play gems viable, but there are not many “terrible” choices for this guy:

Major Blood: Enters play to deal damage equal to its ATK to each opponent. Even if the card gets removed before it can attack it will still hit your opponent for a large amount of damage!
Major Ruby: Upon champ damage to destroy a resource point. Once the beetle starts swinging your opponent is going to have a very hard time recovering.
Major Diamond: Enters play to give target troop you control PERMANENT +DEF equal to this troop’s DEF. Even if you don’t have any other troops the beetle becomes a 6/8, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

With a common rarity you can expect to see quite a bit of Boulder Brute in limited play, but how can you make the best use of him? For me this rock beast is probably the least exciting of the bunch, but if slam dunking huge rocks is your thing there’s still some hope to be had:

Minor Diamond: Steadfast. Being able to play a Boulder Brute knowing that you’ll be able to rely on him for both offense and defense definitely helps his cause.
Minor Sapphire: May be played as a Quick Action. If your opponent is hold back a large number of resources in your turn don’t be surprised to see this guy come down and ruin your day. There’s a few similarities here between the brute and Angelic Ascension.
Minor Sapphire: Flight. Yo dawg I heard you like Cloud Titan. If you’re splashing sapphire and running Boulder Brute, I have a feeling you’re going to have a tough choice between these two gems.

If it weren’t for the socket this Vincent Price wannabe might be pretty unassuming; however, add in a minor socket and all the sudden that story changes pretty quickly.

~~Minor Wild: Cost -1.~~ If it weren’t for the threshold conflict this would be an incredible option. Since you’re not actually able to play the Sorcerer on turn 1 this way it’s kinda a non-bo.
Minor Diamond: Cost +1. +1 / +2. This gem makes an absolute mockery of Zodiac Shaman. Being able to block just about any ground troop starting on turn 3 is pretty brutal
Minor Sapphire: Flight. If your opponent comes out of their corner swinging with a Thunderbird, they’ll be crying pretty quickly when you counter it with a 1/3 flyswatter.

This massive sword wielding madame is the only PvE socketed card which we’ve seen so far. I’d be lying if I said the combination of her socket and ability didn’t make me scratch my head. Definitely seems interesting though in a dedicated lifegain deck running Adamanthian Scrivener & Righteous Paladin. So the big question is what do we have access to?

Major Diamond: Enters play, gain life equal to this troop’s cost. If life gain spam is the route you’re planning to take this might help you push yourself out of reach. It is kinda funny that it makes Cassandra trigger her own ability.
Major Wild: Enters play, this troop battles target troop. Having 4 defense means that Cassandra can probably survive a fight and smash on any small troops that might be a thorn in your side.

Wall of text incoming…

What’s crazy about the Theorycrafter is that each gem dramatically changes how he fits into your deck. Each gem requires a bit more of an explanation, and many more of them are viable than with other cards so I’m gonna cut to the chase:

Major Blood: When this troop enters play, it deals damage to each opposing champion equal to it’s ATK. As if this guy didn’t have enough going on in on his text box already, now you’re adding at least 3 damage to the opponents face as well as another 3/3 artifact. This might be a strong “value” play but I don’t think it’s his best option by any means, let’s dig deeper…
Minor Ruby: Speed. You still get the warbot just like the blood gem (and have the benefit of not having to play blood), but now you’re going to be able to exhaust him and probably do a lot more than just 3 damage. We might not be living the dream quite yet though…
Major Ruby: When this troop deals damage to a champion, that champion loses a resource point. This could really turn into quite the late game win condition, once he starts connecting they are going to have a rough time coming back. With that said though I’d qualify this as a “win more” situation. If you’re exhausting this dwarf you’re probably already winning regardless of them losing resources. Still in combination with some ramp & Demolition you might be able to lock them out pretty early on.
Major Blood: When this troop deals damage to a champion, they choose and discard a card. Being able to use this at the end of your opponent’s draw step means that you could probably lock them out of the game even fast than you could with the resource destruction. Just need to make sure he survives long enough for you to put him to use… or just give him speed from another source!

I could probably list another 5 gems and explain why that particular gem is better than any of the others, but that’s all just theory…

This is the handsome man previously known as Master Beast Rider. He received a little update when we saw him at GenCon, and he was downgraded to only having a minor socket. The tool kit he brings to the table might have gotten a little bit smaller but this uncommon isn’t to be underestimated:

Wild Minor: +1 / +1. Being able to give your turn 2 Feral Ogre another 3 attack is going to really put some pressure onto your opponent. Likewise being able to ensure that one of your early rage troops is able to safely attack could help you keep another big threat on the table.
Ruby Minor: Speed. Since you’re going to need to be in Ruby to activate this anyways, being able to play a turn 2 Pyromancer and follow that up with a 6 / 4 that’s swinging for the fences is pretty outrageous (he can target himself).
Sapphire Minor: May be played as a Quick Action. I don’t see myself using this combination all that often, I’m going to want to use the scout to force through attacks of my own, but the versatility is there that you could turn him into a pretty nasty combat trick. You could even play him if you’ve got no defenders and now suddenly you have a 4/4 roadblock in their way.

On the home stretch now which brings us to our third socketed card in the common slot. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a cycle of commons with minor sockets. The gladiator is pretty much about one linear thing, attacking, so what gems make him more threatening?

Minor Blood: +2/+0 This troop can’t block. This makes our gladiator into a 4/2 the first time he swings and he just gets scarier from there. I expect that this will be the most common configuration for him, he’s very fragile so why not make sure that he’s going to trade with whatever blocks him.
Minor Wild: +1/+1. He might not be quite as aggressive as with the previous gem, but now he can block, is himself harder to block, and doesn’t die to cards like Burn.
Minor Sapphire: Flight. If you’re drafting Sapphire and looking for a color to splash the gladiator quickly becomes a pretty solid choice. Many people already consider Thunderbird to be quite a high pick, and the gladiator shouldn’t be so ashamed to have such lofty dreams.

It’s a complete coincidence that I’m doing this in alphabetical order and ending with what I believe to be the strongest of all the socketed cards (they are all strong). The fact that Warlock Inquisitor can keep coming back to trigger an enters play gem over and over is pretty outstanding.

Major Wild: When this troop enters play, it may battle target troop. If it wasn’t a may ability it wouldn’t be quite as powerful, but by moving into wild we gain access to recurring removal. The Inquisitor is likely to die each time he battles, but so long as he takes something down with him you’re going to definitely be building some incremental advantage over the course of the game.
Major Blood: When this troop enters play, it deals damage to each opposing champion equal to it’s ATK. If you live in Florida or Costa Rica you might already be pretty frightened of massive orb-weaver spiders, if you don’t live in one of those locations you’re about to develop a new phobia. This guy is going to definitely be a boogey-man of Hex, he just keeps coming back for more and more quickly whittling away at the opponent’s health each time. Combos quite nicely with Hideous Conversion.
Major Sapphire: When this troop enters play, draw a card. This version isn’t nearly as in-your-face-scary as the others and is unlikely to initially be the best plan of action. A year from now though I wouldn’t be too surprised if this angle of recurring card draw hasn’t at least made some sort of impact.

That about wraps everything up for today. I’m betting that we have yet to see a couple more socketed cards, if you enjoyed my analysis be sure to let me know in the comments and I’ll do a part 2 once I have access to a complete spoiler. In case you’re not already aware I’m on a quest right now to release one piece of content each and every day until Alpha (this is day 3). Hopefully, I will manage to pull it off… and hopefully Alpha doesn’t getting delayed at the last minute, then I’d really be in trouble.

Until next time,
Less Fail More Funktion!

Threshold & Resources in HexTCG – Exclusive Card Spoiler!

HexVault — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 21:11:58 +0000

Exciting news! The HexTCG folks have given me a couple of cards to spoil exclusively on Hex Vault! I’ll spoil the first card today in this article, and follow up with another article tomorrow with the second card. First up, threshold fixing and resource acceleration!!!

#HexTCG cards to spoil!!! New resource fixing! Thank you @HexTCG @Cryptozoic

— Hex Vault (@HexVault) October 1, 2013

Before I spoil the card, let’s spend a little time talking about threshold and resources in HexTCG. It’s probably obvious to most people following the development of HexTCG that the resource system is based on five basic shards: Wild, Blood, Diamond, Sapphire, and Ruby. When you play a basic shard resource card it actually provides 2 distinct things: a threshold of the appropriate type AND a resource. This is key to understanding the resource system in HexTCG – although threshold and resource are frequently given as a package deal (i.e. basic shard resource cards), they are technically completely separate. What does that mean to me? That means that cards can potentially provide threshold but no resource, resource but no threshold, or both. In the UI, the display on the two mechanics (threshold and resources) is actually separate — two numbers that are displayed independently and can be changed independently. Time to get out of the habit of checking the numbers in the threshold symbols to calculate how many resources I have available!

Adaptable Infusion Device is an example of card that provides a permanent threshold of your choosing without increasing your available resource count. Notably, for now anyway (and definitely in Set 1), anything that provides threshold is permanent.

On the other hand, when we look at resource acceleration, cards (or actions) can provide temporary resources that are only available on the turn they are played/used [X/0] (e.g. Spectral Lotus), resources on the turn that they are played and on each subsequent turn [X/X], or permanent resources only on subsequent turns [0/X] (e.g. Surge Mechanism). Chlorophyllia is even more nuanced – you essentially get 2 Wild threshold, and a resource effect that is essentially [0/2] (no temporary resources the turn you cast Chlorophyllia, but 2 resources each turn thereafter).

OK, now that you understand threshold and resources in HexTCG, let’s look at the card! Crimson Clarity – threshold fixing and resource acceleration for Ruby:

Crimson Clarity

As an aside, and like most of the cards spoiled so far, I love the flavor text for this card…

Basically the card text says “Gain 1 Ruby threshold” (a permanent change) and “Gain 3 resources this turn” (and only this turn!), i.e. playing this card results in a net gain of 1 Ruby threshold and 1 resource. Threshold fixing and (albeit modest) resource acceleration on the same card! As an example, on Turn 2 with 1 Ruby and 1 Wild threshold and 2 resources in play, you could play Crimson Clarity and then play another troop for 3 resources. At the very start of Turn 3 you’d have 2 Ruby and 1 Wild threshold but only 2 resources available to you.

Crimson Clarity’s resource and threshold fixing obviously allows you to play cards with 2 or more Ruby threshold earlier than normal, even if you’ve only been able to play 1 Ruby basic shard resource card, e.g. Mancubus or Zoltog on Turn 3, Ash Harpy on Turn 4, Inferno on Turn 3 (assuming you’ve had 2 Ruby basic shard resources), etc. You could even get a Turn 4 Te’talca, Orc Gladiator, ahead of the curve, and likely with your opponent only having weaker troops and potentially being resource constrained! It can also smooth out bad basic shard resource draws when using Poca, The Conflagrator – after all, her charge power (Blaze Elemental) requires 2 Ruby threshold.

Crimson Clarity will probably have utility in PVP in constructed formats, especially in very aggressive decks and also decks that stray away from mono-Ruby. It’ll see even more use in limited formats, especially in decks where 2 other shards are prominent but you need to add a splash of Ruby to play a bomb and/or removal, e.g. Ragefire. Another thing – Crimson Clarity is common ensuring that we’ll see it in drafts pretty frequently.

What about Crimson Clarity in PVE? Insane resource acceleration! Let’s look at the equipment:

Crimson Clarity – PVE Gear

Crimson Copperhead (Common) reduces the cost of Crimson Clarity by 1 thereby giving you a Ruby threshold and a net gain of 2 resources the turn you play the card. Now you’re potentially getting all of the cards I described previously a turn earlier!

Lucid Gloves (Uncommon) take the temporary resource gains and make them permanent – 3 extra resources every turn, including the turn you play Crimson Clarity. Using these gloves in combination with the Crimson Copperhead, and having multiple Crimson Clarity cards in hand on Turn 1 could result in a very large and angry dragon (well, in Set 2) beating on your AI opponent by Turn 2!

I’m excited to see more threshold and resource acceleration in the game. What do you think of Crimson Clarity? Leave your comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.

That’s all for today, but tomorrow I’ll be spoiling a Coyotle Mage who has embraced the Diamond and Sapphire magic brought to Entrath by Hex… Check back soon!

Spectral Lotus Update // PVE Tournaments

HexVault — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:20:45 +0000

We got a chance to talk to Cory yesterday about Spectral Lotus, and its use in PVE “tournaments”.

Spectral Lotus

Cory confirmed yesterday that when you take a deck into a PVE “tournament” you won’t get to change your deck until the tournament is over. That leads to lots of interesting decisions around when to use your lotuses – once used they become Black Tigers, and you won’t have the opportunity to sideboard more lotuses in. The term “Lotus Screw” was also coined – getting 3 or 4 lotuses in an opening hand of an early round of a PVE tournament when you’d prefer to keep them for later in the day. If you use them too early, you could live to regret that decision! Of course, they still have utility as zero cost cantrips that allow you to draw a card, and the equipment can further enhance that utility.

Pre-Launch Announcement: Hex Vault

HexVault — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 18:09:57 +0000

Welcome to Hex Vault!

Things will be a little spartan around here for the next week or so, but expect a big launch (with some incredible giveaways!) in the very near future.

I’m in the midst of putting together Hex Vault, a Hex: Shards of Fate information/fan site: blogs, articles, YouTube videos, convention reports, tournament coverage, etc. It will be a week or so before the final logos, website art, etc. are finished and the various sites launch officially, however, these are all the places you’ll eventually be able to interact with Hex Vault:

Website: http://www.hexvault.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HexVault

Twitter: @HexVault http://www.twitter.com/HexVault

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/HexVault

Twitch.TV: http://www.twitch.tv/HexVault

EDIT: Thank you, Hexizens! All of the booster-granting “Likes” have been claimed! Check out the thread on the Hex Forums to see who picked up extra boosters and/or a Slacker Backer pledge.

More to come… Stay tuned!