Impossible to make a decent deck.

[Alientcp]

I have been trying the game for some decent hours now, i like it.

But im having some troubles with creating a decent deck.
The original deck doesnt scale well (upgrades), while the enemies do scale way too hard.
The best option for you is just to ditch those 10 cards as soon as you can.

And sure, i just cant hoard all the cards i get, i tend to skip bad picks and whatnot, but still, since you are limited by a lot of factors, mostly luck on the picks and specially removals (for that starting deck).

I think that the merchant should be able to remove at least 2 cards, or more, for a fee of course. I mean, you are quite limited in gold as well, you have to balance between adding cards, buying pots, relics or removals, a lot of times you can actually do 1 of them anyways. So i think that you should have a cap of transactions in total, but not limiting the kind of transaction (i know you can buy multiple cards, if you have the gold, but you can only remove 1 card).

Another option is to add a pot that allows to remove cards.

Another option that i can think of, which i dont like, however, still an option, it is to have a card that allows you to exhaust cards from your DECK (because curses and whatnot are also extremely damaging, with no real counter), maybe to gain energy next turn or something.

One other option that comes to mind is a relic that allows a secondary deck, you can create a copy of a card you already have to your secondary once per level and you can decide which deck to use once you have at least 10 cards in the secondary.

The point is, by act 3 the 5 6 dmg attacks and the 5 5 defense cards are useless (with the ironclad that is) and after who knows how many runs i have always found myself having still like 5-6. Upgrading them is just a waste and puts you on a bigger disadvantage than you already are.

I have no trouble with some luck factor involved. but there is an absolute immense amount of luck to do some decent runs. And i think that giving us a little bit more of control on building the deck is a good solution. What im suggesting is not game breaking, just more options for players. Specially to non hardcore like myself who just want to have some fun.

[Zu]

If you just want to have some fun, custom mode is your friend.

Originally posted by Alientcp:

a relic that allows a secondary deck

This sounds interesting though. Not like an actual deck because you'd just build an infinite every time, but more like an empty cage "buff" that stores 2 cards for you and allows you to swap them when combat starts.

[DJDiceZ]

Originally posted by Zu:

If you just want to have some fun, custom mode is your friend.

Originally posted by Alientcp:

a relic that allows a secondary deck

This sounds interesting though. Not like an actual deck because you'd just build an infinite every time, but more like an empty cage "buff" that stores 2 cards for you and allows you to swap them when combat starts.

I actually had an idea similar to this for a modded character, but it wouldn't be just 2 cards.

[TeePee]

I think it's just a case of learning - I wouldn't consider myself 'hardcore' at all, and I've reached Ascension 7 with the three standard characters without too many challenges. The big thing to do is to get out of the habit of thinking in single cards or even archetypes (such as Poison, strength, 0-cost etc), and thinking about synergies and patching holes in your deck - you're right, there's no way you're reasonably going to get rid of all 10 starter cards without some serious luck, but you shouldn't need to.
Really, to be successful in most runs you need to find a way to (by the end of the game):

Deal around 40 single-target damage per turn
OR
Defend for around 30 damage per turn
OR
Deal around 20 AOE damage per turn
OR
A combination of the three above

WHILST making sure that you have a way of reliably cycling your deck to avoid a bad draw killing you (IE all attack cards when the enemy's about to hit you for 40)

(Note - numbers approximate guesses, don't hold me to those figures!)

The way you do it is up to you:
You can take cards that give you more energy (such as the Defect's Turbo or Silent's Flying Knee) so you can play more cards per round, or multiple higher-cost cards
You can take multiple low-cost cards and cards that spawn additional cards (such as Silent's Shivs and Deflects, or Defect's 0-cost low-damage status cards) so you can play 7-8 cards per round rather than just 3

You'll find ways of scaling, either directly through strength (Ironclad's Demon Form) or by cards which do increasng damage over time (Silent's Noxious Fumes, or Ironclad's Rampage) or even just sheer weight of powers/skills (such as the Defect Power archetype), and that'll come naturally as you learn what roles various cards play. You're already moving in the right direction by not just taking a card every time, it's now time to start thinking about what specific role you want that card to plug - is it going to boost your damage per turn, or is it about plugging that hole in your defence?

Most of the decks I've won with tend to be in the 25-32 card range, so don't obsess too much about a small deck unless the game gives you something like Peace Pipe early, which lets you remove cards at rest sites. Learning to roll with the punches and create a working deck out of something new is part of the real joy of this game - there are SO many ways to succeed!

[Neon Black Interactive]

I think the mistake you're making is thinking of it as if it were a constructed deck builder like mtg. The way I understand it is you're thinking of how you're deck is going to look at the end of the run. Slay the Spire is not that kind of game. Rather to be successful at StS you need to build your deck in the moment. A large amount of this has to do with knowing what fights you could encounter. For example let's say you're on floor one and your headed towards a second elite which has a 50% chance to be a gremlin nob. You're given a choice between dash and noxious fumes. In the end game noxious fumes would be a stronger, however right now you need this dash to deal with the potential gremlin nob. These types of picks are present at all stages of the spire, even against normal enemies, especially on floor 2.

Also while it's beneficial to remove your strikes and defends it's often not worth the resources to do so. It's much more reliable and ultimately powerful to just build a large deck that drowns them out. Most of my successful A20 decks end up somewhere between 30 and 40 cards.

[Alientcp]

Originally posted by TeePee:

I

Deal around 40 single-target damage per turn
OR
Defend for around 30 damage per turn
OR
Deal around 20 AOE damage per turn
OR
A combination of the three above

WHILST making sure that you have a way of reliably cycling your deck to avoid a bad draw killing you (IE all attack cards when the enemy's about to hit you for 40)

Well, thats the idea, but again, relies entirely on luck. I'm not obsessed with low card decks, i would take 60 if i had good cards, but if the options i get are just as bad as the ones i already have, its just piling more garbage to a garbage deck.

The issue itself is not much the attack, though it is, is not as pronounced as the defense. If you have a reliable defense, you can spend extra turns to finish it.

But to have a balanced defense, you need, first, cards (preferably upgraded) with high defense or that give defense from another means (attacking) , you need to actually draw them (increase the possibility of that by removing cards that are just taking space, having relics that allow more draws, cards with more draws, etc), but again, all those factors rely entirely on luck,

The only factor there that you can more or less tackle is by removing garbage cards, but you can do that with the merchant, if you have the gold, but again, it is limited to 1, if you have the gold. And usually, you still have to decide between buying a pot, a card, a relic or the removal.

Getting cards is super easy (regardless of the use). so you have a lot of control there. Geting relics not that easy, but not that complicated, if you are willing to pay the price (gold, or usually hp or curses), so you also have a lot of control, but card removal is reduced to 1 per merchant, and most of the events that allow you to do so, if you are lucky to get them to begin with. are to remove random cards You have virtually no control there.

Im not asking to change values for luck, im not asking to change drop rates. Im just suggesting to give us as much control to remove cards as we have on additions on cards and relics.

[Alientcp]

Originally posted by Urilbedamned:

You're given a choice between dash and noxious fumes.

But you do have control of what you pick right? In fact you have that control every single time you clear a floor. You have the option to shape the deck with every card you add, or decide not to add. I am not against the luck factor on things i cant control, i like it, I dont want control on the next enemy, i dont want to control what i am going to find in the next ?, i dont want to control gold drop rates, i dont want control in card drop rates.

I just want control on my resources, which are basically cards and gold. If you have enough gold to buy 2-3 cards with the merchant, or 2 relics, or 3 pots, i dont see why you cant remove as many cards as you can afford.

I cannot possibly know the shape of my ending deck because everything relies on luck. Sure, i would like my deck to be as flexible and generalistic as possible, and that is kinda what you do when picking cards, i would just like to see that flexibility extended towards removing cards.

I agree that removing cards is a waste of resources, upgrading them too, having garbage in your deck is also a waste. But isnt this a game of choice? Sometimes all choices you have are bad, and you have to pick the lesser evil. If you chose to flood your deck as the solution for a bad starting deck, good for you. If you think the solution is upgrade, good for you. If i have the option for removing them good for, oh wait, i virtually have no option.

[SundownKid]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

The best option for you is just to ditch those 10 cards as soon as you can.

That's where you're wrong pal. You don't actually want to get rid of them right off the bat. You preferably want to save your cash to buy more important things like rare cards and relics.

First of all, in Act 1, I heavily suggest never removing any cards unless you find an event that lets you remove them. This is because after the Act 1 boss you have a chance of getting Pandora's Box, which replaces all base cards with new ones. This can be incredibly strong. To work around the base deck, make sure you get card draw and discard. For example, getting Battle Trance with Ironclad and Backflip with Silent.

If you didn't get Pandora's Box, you can also potentially wait for Blood Vial, which will let you replace all Strikes in the Vampire event. Or, the discount card for the store, or the smiling mask that reduces the cost of removal to 50. After that you can start getting rid of the strikes, and finally the defends.

[Neon Black Interactive]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

Originally posted by Urilbedamned:

You're given a choice between dash and noxious fumes.

But you do have control of what you pick right? In fact you have that control every single time you clear a floor. You have the option to shape the deck with every card you add, or decide not to add. I am not against the luck factor on things i cant control, i like it, I dont want control on the next enemy, i dont want to control what i am going to find in the next ?, i dont want to control gold drop rates, i dont want control in card drop rates.

I just want control on my resources, which are basically cards and gold. If you have enough gold to buy 2-3 cards with the merchant, or 2 relics, or 3 pots, i dont see why you cant remove as many cards as you can afford.

I cannot possibly know the shape of my ending deck because everything relies on luck. Sure, i would like my deck to be as flexible and generalistic as possible, and that is kinda what you do when picking cards, i would just like to see that flexibility extended towards removing cards.

I agree that removing cards is a waste of resources, upgrading them too, having garbage in your deck is also a waste. But isn't this a game of choice? Sometimes all choices you have are bad, and you have to pick the lesser evil. If you chose to flood your deck as the solution for a bad starting deck, good for you. If you think the solution is upgrade, good for you. If i have the option for removing them good for, oh wait, i virtually have no option.

The reason you can't remove as many cards as you can afford is because it's just not that kind of game. This is a game that strongly encourages you to play the game well in terms of A15. Sure removing a huge portion of your deck is fun on A0 but it simply isn't a good strategy. The devs have stated that the game is balanced around A15 (A16-20 were due to sheer demand for them and the unexpected popularity of the game) and being able to remove remove as many cards as you have gold for would condition you to use a strategy that has 0 chance of working on A10+.

The best advice I can give you is to stop worrying about how bad strikes and defends are (make no mistake they are pretty crap) and instead embrace a massive pile of cards you accumulate over a run.

Additionally It may help to think of a deck in terms of packages. This is how I learned to play the game and ultimately how I began winning on A20. In the early game you want a strong front loaded damage package to burst enemies down. In the mid game you start working on a strong defensive package then a backloaded scaling package to fight the act 2 boss. In the end game you refine your existing packages and tailor your deck towards the act 3 boss.


Also the best metaphor I can make for StS is that your deck needs to evolve to face the challenges it's currently presented with. Not only does your deck evolve but the spire evolves as well. At any given moment your deck needs to ensure that it is capable of dealing with immediate threats. If you choose to skip AoE early on and then die to the gremlin horde that's your own fault. You need to build your deck to be able to clear the fights right now and only focus on later fights if you're absolutely sure you can clear the rooms presented to you right now.

You have 50 floors (51 on A20) to clear and if you lose any one of them you lose the run so you have to make sure you win all of them.

[Alientcp]

"Sure removing a huge portion of your deck is fun on A0 but it simply isn't a good strategy" Have you tried here? Oh, you cant. I dont have an idea what A0 means, nor i care, because this is not what you are referring to.

I have no idea what A15 etc means.

" In the early game you want a strong front loaded damage package to burst enemies down"
Kinda hard to get the cards to do so. Its dumb luck to get the proper cards. Im not complaining about this anyways. Its doable with what you have early. The problem is the scaling. There is nothing to do when an enemy is doing 50 damage a turn and instead getting metallizice, barricade, shrug it off, you get 3 5 blocks. You might have strong offensive options, because the game literally trows cards at you, but you have little defensive options because you cant replace reliably the original ones. Attacking is a good defense until some one 2 shots you, and that happens quite fast. By the middle of act 3, even earlier.

" In the mid game you start working on a strong defensive package then a backloaded scaling package to fight the act 2 boss."
Again, dumb luck, you get all attacks, screwed, or little to no smith sites to upgrade your decent def cards, screwed, and not to mention the fact that you have x/x+5 chance to get that specific defensive card (if you only take into account defensive cards) because extra drops, energy, etc are also bound by luck. Not to mention that your original deck has no scaling at all, even after upgrades.

"You need to build your deck to be able to clear the fights right now and only focus on later fights if you're absolutely sure you can clear the rooms presented to you right now."

You kinda do that, until you cant.

"You have 50 floors (51 on A20) to clear and if you lose any one of them you lose the run so you have to make sure you win all of them." This is quite profound lol.

"Also the best metaphor I can make for StS is that your deck needs to evolve to face the challenges it's currently presented with."

I agree, and one of the challenges is that there are many cards that are in my deck that decreases my chances to get what i actually need. Evolution not always leads to more, sometimes involves removing something (like feet on snakes).

"The best advice I can give you is to stop worrying about how bad strikes and defends are (make no mistake they are pretty crap) and instead embrace a massive pile of cards you accumulate over a run."
Sure, until you get 3 strikes and 2 blocks in your draw against a 200hp+ enemy with 50+ attack. Then you dont have to worry, you have to start again.

The more cards you add, the slimmer the chance to get what you actually need when you need it.

There are some times where you can actually find and afford 2+ cards at the merchant that are decent. I just dont understand why is a huge deal to have the option to remove 2+ cards if i dont find a good buy or i can afford it. I want to shape my deck to face the immediate threats, just as you do, and removing bad cards is an alternate solution to just flood the deck as you do. In a game of decisions and options, its a shame that you cant decide nor have the option.

[Neon Black Interactive]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

"Sure removing a huge portion of your deck is fun on A0 but it simply isn't a good strategy" Have you tried here? Oh, you cant. I dont have an idea what A0 means, nor i care, because this is not what you are referring to.

I have no idea what A15 etc means.

" In the early game you want a strong front loaded damage package to burst enemies down"
Kinda hard to get the cards to do so. Its dumb luck to get the proper cards. Im not complaining about this anyways. Its doable with what you have early. The problem is the scaling. There is nothing to do when an enemy is doing 50 damage a turn and instead getting metallizice, barricade, shrug it off, you get 3 5 blocks. You might have strong offensive options, because the game literally trows cards at you, but you have little defensive options because you cant replace reliably the original ones. Attacking is a good defense until some one 2 shots you, and that happens quite fast. By the middle of act 3, even earlier.

" In the mid game you start working on a strong defensive package then a backloaded scaling package to fight the act 2 boss."
Again, dumb luck, you get all attacks, screwed, or little to no smith sites to upgrade your decent def cards, screwed, and not to mention the fact that you have x/x+5 chance to get that specific defensive card (if you only take into account defensive cards) because extra drops, energy, etc are also bound by luck. Not to mention that your original deck has no scaling at all, even after upgrades.

"You need to build your deck to be able to clear the fights right now and only focus on later fights if you're absolutely sure you can clear the rooms presented to you right now."

You kinda do that, until you cant.

"You have 50 floors (51 on A20) to clear and if you lose any one of them you lose the run so you have to make sure you win all of them." This is quite profound lol.

"Also the best metaphor I can make for StS is that your deck needs to evolve to face the challenges it's currently presented with."

I agree, and one of the challenges is that there are many cards that are in my deck that decreases my chances to get what i actually need. Evolution not always leads to more, sometimes involves removing something (like feet on snakes).

"The best advice I can give you is to stop worrying about how bad strikes and defends are (make no mistake they are pretty crap) and instead embrace a massive pile of cards you accumulate over a run."
Sure, until you get 3 strikes and 2 blocks in your draw against a 200hp+ enemy with 50+ attack. Then you dont have to worry, you have to start again.

The more cards you add, the slimmer the chance to get what you actually need when you need it.

There are some times where you can actually find and afford 2+ cards at the merchant that are decent. I just dont understand why is a huge deal to have the option to remove 2+ cards if i dont find a good buy or i can afford it. I want to shape my deck to face the immediate threats, just as you do, and removing bad cards is an alternate solution to just flood the deck as you do. In a game of decisions and options, its a shame that you cant decide nor have the option.

The reason you can't remove more than one card per shop is because the game is trying to teach you how to win at higher difficulty levels. A0-A20 (ascension levels) are difficulty levels with A0 being the default difficulty level and A20 being the hardest difficulty level available (the best StS players in the world can only win this difficulty about 25% of the time when playing optimally, personally I can only win A20 like 5% of the time at most).

If you would be able to remove as many cards as you want at the shop you would learn to crutch on that and would literally never be able to clear difficulties above maybe A10 without breaking the habit of removing cards this aggressively.

As for lowering the chance of drawing specific cards the deck over the course of the run is a very complex game of tug of war. You want to ensure your deck can handle the enemies immediately threatening you but you also want to make sure the overall quality of the deck is gradually improving.

[Alientcp]

Originally posted by Urilbedamned:

you also want to make sure the overall quality of the deck is gradually improving.

Removing a bad card is an improvement. Removing several bad cards is a great improvement. I am 100% certain of this.

"The reason you can't remove more than one card per shop is because the game is trying to teach you how to win at higher difficulty levels."

Sigh........ No, the reason i cant remove more than one card per shop is because i dont have the option. You will beat the game with a good deck regardless of level Obviously, the higher the difficulty, the need for a better deck arrives. The more bad cards you have, the worse your deck is. Simple as that. The only thing that is achieved by dragging bad cards is just to disrupt any actual synergy you want to build according to the cards you find. The game is not teaching me anything if i get 3 5 blocks and 2 6 strike against a act 3 boss ready to hit for over 50 dmg . If the game wants to teach something, it should give as much control on acquisitions (which it does) and removals (which doesnt). So i can test which cards can do the job and modify accordingly. The only thing that i learn from a bad draw is that i have cards that hurt my run. I virtually have no option to stop that. The less control i have over my deck, the more room you give to blind luck, and there is plenty of luck involved already.

You can improve your deck in several ways. Adding good cards. Adding more relics that allow you to cycle your deck faster, potions that allow to cycle the deck, and, ummm, REMOVING BAD CARDS, which you did not even chose to begin with.

And im not complaining about the start cards, they are fine, to start, but you shouldnt be dragging them until the end. You should be able to modify your deck as much as you can according to what you can afford. not because the game allows you multiple purchases of cards, but just 1 removal. Is not even balanced, there is no real reason to do that.

If you could only buy 1 card, 1 relic, 1 pot and 1 removal, or just 1 of anything, i could understand that you have A CHOICE, but since you can buy several of anything if you have gold, but just 1 card removal, i really dont find the logic behind that, other than artificial difficulty, which is always indication of bad design.

If you have the option between 3 bad cards and not grabbing any of them, you are probably pick the lesser evil, not getting any. If you had to pick any of the 3 bad cards by force, you would be the one suggesting to change it. Im just asking for the option to do remove more cards at the shop. You are not forced to spend your gold in removals, you can buy cards or relics, or pots. I am being forced to not to spend the gold where i feel i need to spend it. And even still, sometimes i have to skip it because there is something else in the store that i need to get.

If you have the option to buy 2+ cards that are good for your run. You should probably do it.

If i could pick a card that is better than one that i already have you bet i would replace it (as soon as i get a pit stop) but you just cant do it fast enough.

You keep telling that is a bad strategy to remove cards, yet the best runs can be achieved trough a custom deck (pick 1 out of 3 cards x 10 to get a starting deck) where you dont have any strike or blocks. Regardless if the cards are mediocre as well. It is objectively true that almost any card is better than the starting ones. No reason for not gradually changing them according to what you can afford..

And there is also not the case that the game will become easier by removing cards,, as you are sacrificing resources to remove them instead of buying a relic or a powerful card, its just an alternate method to try to synergize your deck. In some cases will make your deck bad, sure, but i can assure you that it could also improve in many situations.

The game will be as difficult as it is. This only gives you more control on your deck and how to spend your resources.

[Neon Black Interactive]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

Originally posted by Urilbedamned:

you also want to make sure the overall quality of the deck is gradually improving.

Removing a bad card is an improvement. Removing several bad cards is a great improvement. I am 100% certain of this.

"The reason you can't remove more than one card per shop is because the game is trying to teach you how to win at higher difficulty levels."

Sigh........ No, the reason i cant remove more than one card per shop is because i dont have the option. You will beat the game with a good deck regardless of level Obviously, the higher the difficulty, the need for a better deck arrives. The more bad cards you have, the worse your deck is. Simple as that. The only thing that is achieved by dragging bad cards is just to disrupt any actual synergy you want to build according to the cards you find. The game is not teaching me anything if i get 3 5 blocks and 2 6 strike against a act 3 boss ready to hit for over 50 dmg . If the game wants to teach something, it should give as much control on acquisitions (which it does) and removals (which doesnt). So i can test which cards can do the job. The only thing that i learn from a bad draw is that i have cards that hurt my run. I virtually have no option to stop that. The less control i have over my deck, the more room you give to blind luck, and there is plenty of luck involved already.

You can improve your deck in several ways. Adding good cards. Adding more relics that allow you to cycle your deck faster, potions that allow to cycle the deck, and, ummm, REMOVING BAD CARDS, which you did not even chose to begin with.

And im not complaining about the start cards, they are fine, to start, but you shouldnt be dragging them until the end. You should be able to modify your deck as much as you can according to what you can afford. not because the game allows you multiple purchases of cards, but just 1 removal. Is not even balanced, there is no real reason to do that.

If you could only buy 1 card, 1 relic, 1 pot and 1 removal, or just 1 of anything, i could understand that you have A CHOICE, but since you can buy several of anything if you have gold, but just 1 card removal, i really dont find the logic behind that, other than artificial difficulty, which is always indication of bad design.

If you have the option between 3 bad cards and not grabbing any of them, you are probably pick the lesser evil, not getting any. If you had to pick any of the 3 bad cards by force, you would be the one suggesting to change it.

If you have the option to buy 2+ cards that are good for your run. You should probably do it.

If i could pick a card that is better than one that i already have you bet ill replace it (as soon as i get a pit stop) but you cant.

You keep telling that is a bad strategy to remove cards, yet the best runs can be achieved trough a custom deck (pick 1 out of 3 cards x 10 to get a starting deck) where you dont have any strike or blocks. Regardless if the cards are mediocre as well. It is objectively true that almost any card is better than the starting ones.

And there is also not the case that the game will become easier by removing cards,, as you are sacrificing resources to remove them instead of buying a relic or a powerful card, its just an alternate method to try to synergize your deck. In some cases will make your deck bad, sure, but i can assure you that it could also improve in many situations.

The game will be as difficult as it is. This only gives you more control on your deck and how to spend your resources.

So you just have hundreds and hundreds of gold laying around for the express purpose of removing cards? I'm not arguing that the starting strikes and defends aren't atrocious, I'm simply stating that the resources are not only better spent on other options, but also much more fulfilling when spent on other options. Thin decks simply aren't viable in this game. For numerous reasons that I am no mood to point out for the ten thousandth time.

Even if you're not planning on building a thin deck and just building a thick deck that doesn't involve strikes or defends you simply have to accept that the game does not facilitate this. I could hours upon hours arguing why basic strikes and defends are important to the game (namley to prevent degenerate combos prior to A20) but I'm personally so tired of trying to explain StS to beginners that I'd rather let someone else give a different viewpoint that may resonate more with you.

The system is correct at way it is. Changing it would destroy the fundamentals of the game. Either learn it or don't.



I apologize if this post comes off as condescending however please understand that the live version of StS is a masterwork of balance the likes of which I have not seen in any other game. When you learn StS and how to play it at a fundamental level it is one of the most fulfilling games you can experience, It is a game that has revolutionized the genre and in terms of roguelikes is ultimately as important, if not more important than Tlaes of Maj'Eyal.

The mechanics are delicate and changing them in such a major way would destroy the fine balance that has been achieved.

[Gentlest Giant]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

Removing a bad card is an improvement. Removing several bad cards is a great improvement. I am 100% certain of this.
The more bad cards you have, the worse your deck is. Simple as that. The only thing that is achieved by dragging bad cards is just to disrupt any actual synergy you want to build according to the cards you find.
It is objectively true that almost any card is better than the starting ones.

An assortment of statements about removing cards. I disagree with all of them to a degree.

Consider this: would you rather have a hand with 5 slimes or a hand with 4 slimes and a strike? 4 slimes or 3 slimes and 2 strikes?
Strikes/defends are -not- the worst cards in the game. Statuses and curses are, and statuses gets thrown into your discard and draw in many important, very difficult fights. In fact, getting fat decks with many cards that are better than slimes is beneficial, maybe even crucial, in order to win against these enemies.
At higher difficulties this gets even more pronounced as you get roughly less than double the amount of status cards thrown at you, quickly diluting your deck of the good cards. The fatter the deck, the more likely you are to not be affected too bad.

So, well, if these enemies did not exist, I would agree with you - smaller decks with high quality cards are almost always best. As it is, the starting cards do serve a function which makes it a quite complicated decision about how you proceed to remove stuff.

[Alientcp]

Originally posted by Urilbedamned:

Even if you're not planning on building a thin deck and just building a thick deck that doesn't involve strikes or defends you simply have to accept that the game does not facilitate this.

Im fully aware of it, that is why im suggesting to allow such a thing

"So you just have hundreds and hundreds of gold laying around for the express purpose of removing cards?"
Nope, i need to spend it where i need, either cards, pots, relics or removals. It happens that there are plenty of times where i dont need what it is on the store or i cant afford certain relic or that my deck would improve more if i remove 2 cards instead of something else.

"The system is correct at way it is. Changing it would destroy the fundamentals of the game."
If by correct you mean having less control of your deck. Yes. But it doesnt change a thing. you would still be able to spend your gold the same way you currently do. The only thing that would actually change is my experience playing the game. I would enjoy it even more because i can control my deck.

"Either learn it or don't. "
There is nothing much to learn when most of the things rely on luck.

[Neon Black Interactive]

Originally posted by Alientcp:

"Either learn it or don't. "
There is nothing much to learn when most of the things rely on luck.

If you're achieving anything less than a 100% win rate prior to ascension levels you're just playing the game poorly. Even if you can't recognize the vast oceans of mechanics to learn and master, it doesn't mean they don't exist.