Almalexia Deck Guide by @PinkApple + Almalexia Discussion

PinkApple · July 2023

Hey everyone! I had previously taken some time away from the game primarily due to personal reasons, but I am really excited to be back and getting involved with the community again. At this point I have played many many games of Almalexia, and after ending rank 1 picking the deck nearly every match in June I feel comfortable giving my finalized thoughts on the deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUwNmLzxkCE

If you guys have any questions at all or disagree with any of the rankings let me know whether its in the video comments or here on the forums! I would love to have some high level discussion of the cards and see what you guys think.

rbfrgsp · July 2023

Summarise content in thread please

PinkApple · July 2023

rbfrgsp wrote: »

Summarise content in thread please

The video obviously will obviously give a little more reasoning as to why these are my rankings/thoughts, but here the TL;DW

Bardic Veneration is the go to turn 1 option, and is just a very consistent card in all situations. (S-Tier)

Mothers mercy has insane value lategame, but should typically be avoided in the first few turns. (S-Tier)

Philanthropy is the core component of Almalexia combos, but be aware it can damage your economy early on (A-Tier)

Mournhold clergy is essentially Philanthropy but in agent form (A-Tier)

Lessons of Ayem glues together your Almalexia decks (B-Tier)

Temple arbiter is good just because all agents that give 2 gold on play are high value (B-Tier)

Tribunal Sentinel is really expensive, but is an amazing pick up if you are playing a really long match (B-Tier)

And finally devotional Gaoler is pretty lackluster in general but can be good if hidden behind taunt agents. (C-Tier)

I also like have found Druid King + Crow + Psijic to be the best decks in general to combo with Almalexia.

Any questions as always feel free to ask away! But again keep in mind the video has more context and reasoning before anyone rips into the rankings too hard

RCubed1967 · July 2023

As agreed upon by several players, the deck is overpowered and not balanced compared to all other decks. At minimum, the confines need taunt. The confines also could use a maximum on the number of cards each can hold. Even better would be to break the deck into two separate ones: one for card cycling and another for control (which holds the adjusted confine cards).

I personally believe that it should be banned from all ranked play until it is adjusted. I will not use it because of its unbalanced nature.

If you used it to get to Rank one, good for you. I just don't agree with using a busted deck to win.

You are good player, you don't need a busted deck to advance.

Katheriah · July 2023

Thanks for the video and the shout out. Your video does give much more context than you can give with written text in a forum post.

RCubed1967 wrote: »

I personally believe that it should be banned from all ranked play until it is adjusted. I will not use it because of its unbalanced nature.

I think banning it from ranked play goes too far, because your opponent will have access to the exact same cards as you. Does it really matter that much if it's 'busted' if everyone in the match gets the same chances of using it? I personally don't think so, but I'd love to hear why you do believe that. I might change my mind on it.

PinkApple · July 2023

RCubed1967 wrote: »

As agreed upon by several players, the deck is overpowered and not balanced compared to all other decks. At minimum, the confines need taunt. The confines also could use a maximum on the number of cards each can hold. Even better would be to break the deck into two separate ones: one for card cycling and another for control (which holds the adjusted confine cards).

I personally believe that it should be banned from all ranked play until it is adjusted. I will not use it because of its unbalanced nature.

If you used it to get to Rank one, good for you. I just don't agree with using a busted deck to win.

You are good player, you don't need a busted deck to advance.

Personally I find the deck very balanced, especially when viewing the game from the most competitive stand point! One of the amazing balance related aspects from a higher end perspective is that the deck is very solid for both player 1 and player 2, and there is not many decks in the game that can say that.

Confine may have some crazy fringe cases that are a bit unfair, if someone can get an uncontested confine agent out from the start and just permanently keep it there this definitely makes for an awkward and bad experience. But after playing hundreds of Almalexia matches I personally have seen this only be that "problematic" once. That being said if they can come up with a good fix that sounds good to me.

Most of the other very competitive players I've spoken to that are frequently on the top 10 consistently also find the deck to be pretty well balanced. Aside from the fringe cases with a turn 1 agent defining the entire match, the only options that stand out are Double Philanthropy combos and big Mournhold clergy combos. I am not sure either of those are out of line compared to what a Ritecaller can pull off from druid king or what 2 squawking oratorys makes happen with duke of crows however.

In the end we may just disagree, but at the very least I'd say its a good thing when 2 skilled players can disagree regarding "meta" discussion. Thanks for posting your thoughts!

RCubed1967 · July 2023

Reasonable points: I fully agree that it is an awesome and well-balanced deck. But that is where the difference is.

The deck is well-balanced on its own. It is not balanced relative to other decks. This causes players to focus on strategies only for Almalexia mitigation.

If we broke Almalexia into two, I would take the card cycling in a heartbeat to work with, or in replacement of, Druids, Crows and Psijic. I would also use the mitigation deck as an alternative to Rajhin for pacing the tempo of the game.

The game is supposed to balance four decks, not being dominated by one deck.

rbfrgsp · July 2023

Thanks for the in-thread summary, very helpful.

That's a pretty accurate appraisal of the new deck.

Something I'd add is: although Philanthropy is a slow burn card, it is a "must buy" as soon as it shows up in the tavern as far as I have seen from PvP games.

Its ability to stack with its counterpart, or Druid's Forest Wraith, and build disgusting power in a single turn makes it too dangerous to leave until it's comfortable to buy.

GCJ_ · July 2023

Until the tavern's pre-deal chosen player to favor program mechanic is removed there will never be any balance, ever

spartaxoxo · July 2023

Personally I find the deck very balanced, especially when viewing the game from the most competitive stand point! One of the amazing balance related aspects from a higher end perspective is that the deck is very solid for both player 1 and player 2, and there is not many decks in the game that can say that.

I actually so far have found it pretty underwhelming thus far. But, I gotta say that the one match I had where it got to it's fringe worse, was one of the most oppressive matches I've had in all of ToT. I genuinely couldn't do anything. So, I conceded. Despite that, I've had it get lopsided much less than other decks so far.

Personofsecrets · July 2023

RCubed1967 wrote: »

It is not balanced relative to other decks..

The other decks have far more unbalanced turn 1/2 picks. So you are right, it's not balanced relative to other decks because it is balanced better than the other decks.

PinkApple · July 2023

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Personally I find the deck very balanced, especially when viewing the game from the most competitive stand point! One of the amazing balance related aspects from a higher end perspective is that the deck is very solid for both player 1 and player 2, and there is not many decks in the game that can say that.

I actually so far have found it pretty underwhelming thus far. But, I gotta say that the one match I had where it got to it's fringe worse, was one of the most oppressive matches I've had in all of ToT. I genuinely couldn't do anything. So, I conceded. Despite that, I've had it get lopsided much less than other decks so far.

Yeah I could see it feeling "underwhelming" in some ways, but is actually really refreshing to play with decks that do not have crazy game defining cards that can be picked up right away. The less a deck/cards lead to directly hitting 40 prestige very quickly, the more skill based the matches feel to me.

sekou_trayvond · July 2023

Thx for the breakdown. Helpful as I've very rarely encountered it in ranked and this gave me a better idea of what cards at least to value and/or deny.