MArcomage

Now, as it stands, many cards are almost completely worthless based on your opponents deck design Retribution, for example.

If we implemented a 'side deck' option to decks, you could pick, 2 or 3 cards from common, uncommon, and rare slots that are not in your deck normally. After a challenge is accepted, and both sides have picked their decks, each player can look at the opponents deck + side deck, and swap any of the cards currently in their deck with any of the cards currently in their side deck.

This wouldn't allow major strategy changes in a deck, but would allow tweaks to ensure worthless cards aren't going to populate your hand. Most card tournaments allow for these side decks, and it adds a more refined strategic element to deck building and play.

Side deck or not, I don't think it's a good idea to allow player to look at another person's deck...after all...everyone's deck is their biggest asset and with deck content revealed, many strategy could become too obvious

I think the better solution is to make those cards with very specific condition more powerful (say make Retribution minus more stock or take away max 4)

If you play someone enough, their deck content/strategy is revealed anyway. The fact that someone could see your deck has little to do with how you play your cards (they can see your hand, which is more revealing as to what you could do 'next turn' than what cards you -might- draw), and the next time you play that person, your deck could be completely different.

"If you play someone enough, their deck content/strategy is revealed anyway."

If this is the case, you don't need the side deck to know if you need a card like Retribution before you play against that particular opponent

"The fact that someone could see your deck has little to do with how you play your cards (they can see your hand, which is more revealing as to what you could do 'next turn' than what cards you -might- draw)"

When your opponent see your whole deck, it could change a lot. Say if I have a tower building deck and I have zero card that deals any damage and my opponent sees it right away and will be able to play no cards to build his/her wall, on the other hand it was possible for him/her to waste a/few turn or resources to build on wall if my deck is hidden

Or, say I have cards like Soul Cleaver, my opponent might be careful at increasing their Magic while it was possible to take them by surprise.

It might have little to do with how I play my cards for showing my deck but can make a big different to my opponents. Of course being able to view my opponents deck would change my decision making as well.

"and the next time you play that person, your deck could be completely different."

This kinda contradicts your first statement

"If this is the case, you don't need the side deck to know if you need a card like Retribution before you play against that particular opponent"

My point not about picking a deck to beat your opponent's, but about making a deck copying your opponent.

"When your opponent see your whole deck, it could change a lot. Say if I have a tower building deck and I have zero card that deals any damage and my opponent sees it right away and will be able to play no cards to build his/her wall, on the other hand it was possible for him/her to waste a/few turn or resources to build on wall if my deck is hidden"

Perhaps, but if your opponent see that you have zero attack cards, or attack oriented cards in your opening hand, even if they haven't seen your deck, they'd be pretty stupid to build wall. That is an argument for poor strategy by bad players, not allowing for more refined strategy for more experienced players.


"Or, say I have cards like Soul Cleaver, my opponent might be careful at increasing their Magic while it was possible to take them by surprise."

A better argument, but if their deck revolves around building up Magic, they will need to build it up whether you have Soul Cleaver or not.
Your argument is the same as 'If my opponent has Jealousy, and I have a Tower Building deck, I better not let my Tower get above 60.'.


"This kinda contradicts your first statement"
The purpose of my first statement was referring to someone stealing your strategy, the second statement was about people building a deck specifically to attack the one you're using.

I agree with JimmyMethod's idea. The specific counter cards are to useless to have in you're deck permanently. This would fix that. To keep the strategic masterplan of you're deck a secret, I suggest you decide which cards to swap purely based on you're opponents first hand, before playing you're first card. This brings a risk, which is good I think.

The reason side decks are allowed in most tournaments is because in most tournaments you play the best of three games, rather than just one, and the side deck is used between games. I have never seen a card game that requires a player to completely reveal their deck to an opponent, unless there is some question of foul play. If side decks are inplemented, and I don't think they are necessary, I would agree that basing them off of starting hands would be as far as it should go.

In Magic the Gathering, there's a so-called "Sideboard". This means you've got certain cards that you've decided beforehand can be swapped out, X vs Y. So depending on what kind of deck you're meeting, you can modify it so you're not left extremely vulnerable. I thought of this in the beginning of playing here, but dismissed it quickly, because it doesn't work.

Now however, with hidden cards being a feature I enjoy, getting Ambush etc in hidden card-games is getting on my nerves.

So I suggest a hidden cards-sideboard. 3 of each, or 3 total, or 3/2/1 (C/U/R)?

Is it possible to implement?

This idea is not new, that's why I moved it to this thread. This feature is hard to implement, since it's really out of original concept. I think you should make separate decks for hidden, and non-hidden games.

Ah yeah, I forgot to check for earlier posts. My bad.

I assumed it'd be difficult to implement, so how's about getting cracking on the extra deck-slots for "pro players"? :D

Actually, I thought of that, but I don't want to do unsystematic changes. The new player rating system should cover it, so please be patient ;)

I was thinking of an active sidedeck to be used in game, but only in the the first 4 rounds (8 for hidden mode). During this time you can swap up to 5 cards (3 commons and 2 uncommons) from a previously created 12 cards sidedeck (7 commons and 5 uncommons). the changes will not apply to the cards in your hand but only to the cards you will draw.
you can swap all 5 cards in the first round or you can choose to swap differnt cards in different rounds.