when to remove cards?

[The Wrinkled Dinkler]

i finally got my first win after 20 hours. i was playing as the silent. by the end of my run i had removed all of my starting attack cards from my deck. this was my first run where i took advantage of the card removal service and i think it payed off. my strategy was basically to apply tons of poison using envenom and noxious fumes. when do you guys remove cards? i figure that with a smaller deck, i have a higher chance to get the cards i need. none of my runs where i had a big deck worked out.

[The Wrinkled Dinkler]

i should add i also had a number of blade dances in my deck which made envenom especially effective

[FawnZ]

Congrats on the win.

I typically don't remove strikes early in act 1 since damage is key for the act 1 elites. I'll remove them later in act 1 and beyond, especially if I don't have lots of card draw.

Just keep in mind that small decks are more easily affected by status and curse cards. Fights where enemies give you status cards can cripple a small deck that doesn't have a way to deal with those cards.

Big deck is less affected by extra cards, but is slow to get through. If you are relying on getting certain powers in play, a big deck would make that more difficult without card draw, or being able to access your draw pile.

[mldb88]

It really depends on the run. Sometimes you just don’t get the opportunity to remove all of your starting cards and have to make due with what you can.
Personally I tend to drift towards mid-size decks (35ish give or take). While a hyper focused super thin deck might sound great in theory, there are enemies that can counter almost any general mechanic. Have a super thin poison deck? Enemies that stack artifact will slow down your start. Infinite combo or throwing hundreds of shivs? Time Eater ends your turn every 12 cards you play. Super thin combo deck? Statuses will flood that up making it harder and harder to keep things consistent. Usually I end up working towards a theme after act 1, and then making a few situational picks to cover weaknesses of the deck

[Banzai]

Non upgraded basic defends tend to be dead wood in any deck after the first act although as always it depends on the rest of your build but its often worth getting rid of at least some of them. Gratz on the win!

[curry124242]

Remove cards everytime you got the opportunity, if you think about it, every single attack card will be better than your strike, and every defense card will be better than your defend.

If you visit a shop and you have enough money, just go for removal!

[LHGreen]

It's not just the timing that's important, but also the order. It's often best to remove strikes first, then start removing defends. This is due to how the first act is designed to influence you.

[onomastikon]

Ironclad can arguably deal with status floods better if lucky, but all characters need some sort of contingency plan. I tend to focus on card removal (typically strikes) very early with the defect, since I tend to enjoy playing orbs more - that works less well with the others who need strikes to get through act 1 more.

[Nibbie]

I pretty much always remove if I have the money to (and there isn't something else high priority). As others said though, you have to pay attention to what you remove. On the first few floors damage is the highest priority, so my decks tend to get overloaded with attacks after a few floors, so I tend to remove strikes to balance the deck. On the occasions I get more defense than offense though, I remove defends instead. The more bad cards you remove, the more good cards you can add without the deck getting bloated.

[trial_by_fire]

When I remove a card, here is usually what I consider:
1. Curses - always remove if I can.
2. In my current deck, do I have a card that is better than a starter card? For example, let's say that I am playing the Defect and I have a Glacier defense card. In that case I'll probably get rid of one of my Defend starter cards.
3. Do I have a balanced deck? For example if I find that for some reason I have way too many attack cards, and not enough defense cards, then I might get rid of my weakest attack if it makes sense to do so.
4. Is a card that I thought was going to be useful to me during the beginning of my run no longer useful to my current deck? For example, as the Silent, let's say that I picked up a poison card early on, but as I progressed through the run I wasn't getting any relics or other cards that had synergy with it. I would probably get rid of it if I didn't have a worse card to get rid of.

Aside from card removal, I also consider whether I should pick up a card at all. After a battle if the card choices really aren't that great for me, then I won't pick any of them.

[LHGreen]

Yup, everything they said.

[BarryOgg]

One more note: it also depends on the character. Out of the four, the Watcher wants the thinnest deck to be able to reliably draw the stance change cards often, and the Defect is best suited to handle a 30+ card deck the best due to a lot of his cards being essentially passive abilities.

Still, the answer is probably: most of the times you have the ability to do so, unless you're fishing for a specific card or relic and want to have the money to spare for the next store.

[Cress]

Also to note, removing defends instead of strikes in act 1 for Watcher is very powerful. She can basically play full aggro until act 2 boss, at which point you hopefully picked up some strong mitigation options.

[The Wrinkled Dinkler]

another question: What is a good strategy for fighting the bronze automaton? the boss from the second act. the only time i beat him, i had a lot of extra health. his hyper beam kills me almost every time

[Cress]

Originally posted by The Wrinkled Dinkler:

another question: What is a good strategy for fighting the bronze automaton? the boss from the second act. the only time i beat him, i had a lot of extra health. his hyper beam kills me almost every time

If you have enough damage to kill it before the end of turn 6 (hyperbeam turn), definitely focus it down and completely ignore his sentries. This requires an average of 50 damage per turn, which isn't easily achievable with all decks.

Otherwise, your options are to block what you can and finish him, or have buffer/intangible for the hyperbeam. Keep in mind that health is a resource and you should be willing to trade it out on a boss, even to 1 health if necessary.

Automaton isn't even that bad... Champ is the truest stomper of failed act 2 decks.

[mldb88]

Originally posted by Cress:

Originally posted by The Wrinkled Dinkler:

another question: What is a good strategy for fighting the bronze automaton? the boss from the second act. the only time i beat him, i had a lot of extra health. his hyper beam kills me almost every time

If you have enough damage to kill it before the end of turn 6 (hyperbeam turn), definitely focus it down and completely ignore his sentries. This requires an average of 50 damage per turn, which isn't easily achievable with all decks.

Otherwise, your options are to block what you can and finish him, or have buffer/intangible for the hyperbeam. Keep in mind that health is a resource and you should be willing to trade it out on a boss, even to 1 health if necessary.

Automaton isn't even that bad... Champ is the truest stomper of failed act 2 decks.

Pretty much. Either you kill him before turn 7, or play defensively and whittle it down to kill range with enough health to survive the beam. If you have enough AoE or if they steal key cards you need I would recommend killing the sentries if necessary if you can do it early and while still hitting the main boss, since the added block and damage can add up.