Yes, a few times, some because I wasn't paying attention, or building up a strategy that paid off too late, and most memorably, the first time the NPC chose the Orgnum deck, which I wasn't familiar with. I learned the hard way to be careful about it next time

Jaimeh wrote: »

Yes, a few times, some because I wasn't paying attention, or building up a strategy that paid off too late, and most memorably, the first time the NPC chose the Orgnum deck, which I wasn't familiar with. I learned the hard way to be careful about it next time

The NPC with Orgnum deck is closest I've gotten to lose. Not gonna lie, last time I faced it I got lucky in the tavern at my last chance. Beat it by like 1 point lol. Too close. It's gonna get me eventually 😜

When I was new to the game. I don't play NPCs any more but will when the new deck is live to practice using it.

generally i have about a 90% win rate against npcs, sometimes the tavern is not favorable to me with what is available, or i grab a good card, only to have it replaced with another equal or higher value good card that the npc grabs the next turn

Of course. I had no clue in the beginning, losing was how I learned.

I lost trying to beat Orgnum spam without touching it myself.

I would guess that I win more than 80% of my PvE matches-- perhaps more than 95% of them-- but every once in a while I get soundly thrashed by whatever NPC I'm up against.

I can't say for sure, but it seems like the various Expert-level NPCs have different personalities and AI as far as their typical strategies. In particular, there are two or three who sesm to be particularly skilled, daring, and-- dare I say it-- vicious in their strategies. Sometimes I'll lose two matches in a row to them before I finally win and can move to the next zone for the next match in the daily.

Other Expert NPCs seem to be almost inept in their decision-making skills, and it's usually an easy matter to win against them regardless of how much of an advantage they seem to have in terms of the cards they're abke to buy, because it's almost like they're programmed to squandor their numerous opportunities to win the match.


It would be interesting to have everyone post which particular Expert NPCs they are losing to, to see whether there are any observable patterns.

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

It would be interesting to have everyone post which particular Expert NPCs they are losing to, to see whether there are any observable patterns.

I've been wondering about this. I haven't extensively played against all of the expert NPCs, but I tend to find Bumphalarg in Greenshade really challenging... Not counting games when I'm distracted or the decks just hate me, she's pretty much the only one who still occasionally beats me, Sorcerer-King or not. She's the one I go to when I want to test out new strategies. If I can consistently beat her, I can usually beat any of them.

I've never won any after the tutorial

I win against Orgnum a lot in Expert NPC matches. Sure, if the NPC has much better luck in which cards are available for them to buy from the tavern then it's difficult to win. But if you're able to buy some good cards, and are willing to stop mindlessly spamming Orgnum yourself just to try to counter the NPC, you can use your turns to build up your deck and call on the other patrons to your benefit. You can still go back to counterspamming Orgnum for a few turns if that's the best option available to you during those turns, but in many cases it can be better to stop counterspamming Orgnum so you can use your move to do something else.

Muizer wrote: »

Yeah I've been leveling rank and trying out different strategies, but against the "expert" NPC I have not found a counter (where the NPC uses it and I try something else) against Orgnum's deck.

I hear it's even worse in PvP.

Sorry, this got long.

I can beat NPCs fairly consistently with Duke of Crows and either Saint Pelin or Hunding, unless I'm exceptionally unlucky or just not paying attention. The NPCs will generally make such stupid moves that it's pretty easy to build up a nice collection of crows, especially early on, when they tend to go to the treasury first no matter what cards are out. Crows, plus one or two good Pelin/Hunding cards, is usually enough for a win. If I'm feeling really grumpy about Orgnum, I'll go with Rajhin. That's a bit harder, as it can take a while to build up an effective deck, but ending the game with scores like 75-0 is so satisfying. (I hated Rajhin as much as Orgnum when I first started, but I've grown rather fond of it as I've gotten used to it. Brings back memories of playing the blue "permission decks" in MTG back in the day.)

As for other decks, that depends on what they choose as their second deck. Psiijic Loremaster and Hlaalu are really useful for helping to make sure I draw the cards I need, as is Red Eagle, since it allows getting rid of extra cards. Really, it just depends on my mood.

I generally ignore the Orgnum patron early on unless I have no better options. It can be somewhat useful to hit it early, as they'll often ignore the tavern until they can get it back to neutral, but I usually find it a better strategy to just focus on my own deck. Later in the game, I'll hit it if they start getting too much power from it, but even then, I prefer to just collect a bunch of agent cards with "taunt." 2-3 of those will usually counter most/all of any power they get from Orgnum, even in late-game.

Other than all of that, I'd say the best strategy is just to practice. The more I've played against NPCs, the more I've gotten a feel for what strategies work the best in different circumstances for my play-style. I've spent entire evenings playing the same NPC over and over, not just against Orgnum, but against other decks as well. Sometimes I'll give myself challenges like limiting myself to only using cards from 1-2 decks so I'm forced to use cards I wouldn't normally pick, or seeing how many points I can get in my final turn. (My record, at least since I've been tracking, is 77 (final score: 108-20)).

Beating Orgnum against another player is much harder, since players who pick it are likely to be MUCH better than NPCs at strategy. Paying close attention and having some idea how to counter various strategies obviously can help, but more often than not, I find that it just comes down to luck.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.