Buffy CCG Forum

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: Tarafan
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:01 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

Well, I can tell you that my play group and another local (in a different city but still close enough to be a local group) both love the Dream Cards and play with them quite a bit. I will agree that situations always come up where we discover that a particular card here or there needs a ruling or clarification.

I have played and judged many CCGs over the years (practically all of them that have come out in one form or another) and I can honestly say that not a single game has ever been released where there hasn't been confusion with some of the cards in terms of rulings or timing issues or any number of things. That is what the CRD and errata are for. Every game has them. No matter how well a game is playtested, there are always those cards that end up getting broken by the players once the cards are released because someone in the playing community figures out a way to abuse the card that no one ever thought of during R&D or playtesting. It's nothing to feel bad about if a particular card ends up getting errata'd. In fact, it's a good thing. It means enough people thought it was a cool card that they actually played with it and thought enough of it to make sure that everyone else plays with it the proper way.
_________________
Don Tresca
WCA Rules Committee

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Slayer on Campus

Author: Vendikarr
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:35 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 3

For the dream cards listed above, here are the dream card CRD entries for those cards:

Anya, level 2 (Anya)�Only the game text of the location is made blank by Anya�s character card power. The location still retains its name and location traits.

Example: If Sunnydale High School Auditorium were targeted by Anya, level 2, Villains and Minions count enter that location without having to fatigue due to the removal of its game text. However, the challenges A Boy and His Guillotine and The Talent Show Must Go On must still be played to that location because it retains its name and any bonuses or penalties assessed to a character as a result of being present at a School location are still in effect because the location still retains its location traits.

Basket of Goodies (week 24)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: �Crypt this item to search your Resource Deck for up to 2 items and attach them to this character. Any requirements must still be met and the items may not be swapped this turn. Limit 1 per deck.�

Bunny Suit (Anya)�If Anya is defending in a fight, her controller chooses the initial resolving talent for the fight. This is not a �change� in resolving talent, merely an alteration of the initial resolving talent. However, if you discard this item to change the resolving talent to Charm, that is considered a �change� of resolving talent. If Anya is defending against a character such as Ampata or The Gentlemen (characters who alter the initial resolving talent when they start a fight and the resolving talent cannot be further changed), then she cannot use this item�s text to alter the resolving talent again. However, if she is facing a character that alters the initial resolving talent but the resolving talent can be further changed (such as Cordelia, level 2 (AC)), then she may use the item�s text to alter the initial resolving talent (since Anya�s decision came last in the turn, it is the one that determines the actual resolving talent).

Emphatic Gesturing (week 31)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: �All players choose a character they control and place it at an adjacent location other than Sunnydale Park. This does not count as a move.�

Faith (in Buffy�s Body), level 2 (week 28 )�Gains the Slayer designation.

Harmony, level 2 (Harmony)�This character�s text is amended to read: �During the Fight-Challenge/Draw stage, look at the top 5 cards of your Resource Deck. Discard 2 of these cards and place 3 of these cards on top of your Resource Deck. When Harmony is the Main Character and in a fight or involved in a challenge, draw 2 extra cards during the Fight-Challenge/Choose stage.�

Hurt, Not Broken (week 23)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: �When you play this card, discard as many cards as you like from your hand. You gain +1 to the current resolving talent for each card you discard in this manner. Send to Crypt after use. Req. 3 Butt-Kicking.�

Hush (The Gentlemen)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: Part 1 Effect: You must have The Gentlemen in play in order to play this episode. All characters gain �1 Smarts and �1 Weirdness during challenge attempts or fights. Reduced talents cannot fall below 0. Target: Your copy of The Gentlemen wins a fight against a Human Companion or Minion. Part 2 Result: No character may start a fight with The Gentlemen unless they have 3 or more Butt-Kicking. The resolving talent for that fight cannot be changed to Charm. Cancel: Your copy of The Gentlemen leaves play for any reason.

Killing Them in Their Dreams (week 31)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: �The Primitive is considered a Villain while at this location and must be used to defeat this challenge. If The Primitive defeats this challenge alone, place a token on four of your opponent�s supporting characters. When one of the chosen character is defeated in a fight by The Primitive, it is sent to the Crypt instead of the discard pile.�

Message Board (week 26)�In a multi-player game, if you have a character at the location of a challenge attempt with this item attached, you can use this item�s effect even if you are not actively involved in either attempting or defending the challenge itself. The attached character simply needs to be present at the location of the challenge attempt.

Old Records (week 23)�This card is now limited to one per deck.

On Your Own (week 26)�Any single character attempting a challenge, regardless of which player played this event or which player controls the character attempting the challenge, gains the player the bonus cards and Destiny Points if the challenge is defeated.

Primal Fury (week 29)�This card is errata�d to read as follows: �Play on any Vampire, Demon, Monster, or Werewolf. The chosen character gains +2 Butt-Kicking until the end of the fight, and your opponent must discard one card of his choice from his talent stack. Send to Crypt after use.�

Prophetic Dreams (week 26)�Gains the text �Send to the Crypt after use.�

Roommate from Hell (Kathy)�This card allows Kathy to choose the initial resolving talent when starting a fight. This does not �change� the resolving talent for the fight.

Spellcasting Together (Tara)�While Tara and Willow are not discarded from play due to losing fights, you do lose a Destiny Point if one of them is your Main Character and loses a fight. Your opponent gains a Destiny Point for winning a fight against either of the characters since the fight does resolve and a winner determined. Any effect that takes place as a result of winning the fight still occurs even if the characters are not discarded due to this effect (such as the effects of Computer Threat or Demon Theory). This event does not prevent either or both characters from being �placed into the discard pile� from effects such as The End.

Sunday (week 23)�Both Sunday and the opposing character in a fight can use items in talent stacks to gain +2 to the resolving talent of the fight.

Superstar (week 29)�You must have Augmentation Demon available for play to play this event. If you play this event and your opponent does not have an Augmentation Demon available, you must provide one for them to use. The Augmentation Demon comes into play on the opposing side of the player playing this event even if the opposing player is playing Good. You must be able to legally place Jonathan Levensen into play in order to play this event. If opposing player is playing The Geek Trio as his Main Character, you cannot play this event. If Jonathan is already in play when this event is played, you do not search your Resource Deck for another copy of Jonathan. The Jonathan currently in play becomes the target of the event (becomes a Hero/Villain, has all of his talents become 4, gains the non-racial trait). This event only affects any copy of Jonathan played by the player of this event. It does not affect any opposing copies of Jonathan.

Tara, level 1, companion (Tara)�Tara counts herself as a �character with Spellcraft trait in their printed text that you control.� Therefore, if you control Tara and one other character with Spellcraft trait, Tara gains +1 to the appropriate talents.

Tara�s Dorm Room (Tara)�This location does not allow you to have Willow only cards in a Tara deck or vice versa. It merely allows you to play Willow only cards on Tara while she is present at this location or to play Tara only cards on Willow while she is present at this location. Any instances of a character�s name on the character only card are replaced with the appropriate character�s name.

Example: In a Willow deck, if Tara is located at Tara�s Dorm Room, you may play Gathering of Scoobies on Tara even though it is a Willow only card. In this situation, for the remainder of the turn, all supporting characters at Tara�s location gain +1 Smarts when facing challenges that require Smarts and may stunt-double for Tara even if they are fatigued.

The Footmen (The Gentlemen)�See Puppet Henchmen.

Watchers Retrieval Team (week 28 )�Gains the Watcher trait.
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Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Slayer on Campus

Author: Vendikarr
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:13 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 3

VisionaryLiz wrote:

At what week point was the Season 4 stuff divided between Slayer on Campus and The Initiative?

As I've mentioned earlier, my first inclinatin would be to turn some of those Events into Action Cards. Same perhaps with Items and Skills.

I'd suggest making Minion Versions of Kathy and Harmony as well. Maybe making a Minion version of Sunday. I know it's more Dream Cards and we're trying to clear what we have, but it'd add more Minions to the list.

Wouldn't The Primitive be more approrpriate for The Initiatve expansion? After all, we didn't see her until the Season 4 Finale Primevil.

I'm not sure what to say about the Heroes. The only one I could see cutting would be Cave Slayer Buffy. Though I think the Tara level 1 you have listed in characters is a Companion, not a Hero.

Even if we made a few more Minions, we'd only be at 113...assuming the Broken Link essences and Level 1's are already caculated into the card total. We're still lacking some stuff.

I went through all the season 4 weeks, and included stuff that I feel didn't directly impact the Initiative arc. The Primitive was seen in "Restless", the episode where the Scoobies are trying to rest after the Initiatve battle in the previous episode.

I wouldn't cut Cave Slayer Buffy since it seems every expansion gets a new Buffy card. Maybe making her a companion?

Another thing that I noticed is we need more support for Harmony. Her section in week 6 had most of her cards coming from season 5, and I didn't want to include them here. The season 5 material gives her something to grow into. I don't know if her appearances in season 4 actually warranted her getting an essense that season, but it was Score's call.
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Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Slayer on Campus

Author: VisionaryLiz
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:56 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 3

At what week point was the Season 4 stuff divided between Slayer on Campus and The Initiative?

As I've mentioned earlier, my first inclinatin would be to turn some of those Events into Action Cards. Same perhaps with Items and Skills.

I'd suggest making Minion Versions of Kathy and Harmony as well. Maybe making a Minion version of Sunday. I know it's more Dream Cards and we're trying to clear what we have, but it'd add more Minions to the list.

Wouldn't The Primitive be more approrpriate for The Initiatve expansion? After all, we didn't see her until the Season 4 Finale Primevil.

I'm not sure what to say about the Heroes. The only one I could see cutting would be Cave Slayer Buffy. Though I think the Tara level 1 you have listed in characters is a Companion, not a Hero.

Even if we made a few more Minions, we'd only be at 113...assuming the Broken Link essences and Level 1's are already caculated into the card total. We're still lacking some stuff.
_________________
"Why can't it be Vampires? Vampires I can handle."

"Carpe Diem. You told me that once."
"Fish of the day?"
"Not Carp, Carpe. It means sieze the day."

Buffy Dream Cards :: Slayer on Campus

Author: Vendikarr
Subject: Slayer on Campus
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:59 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 3

I brought up creating expansions for the dream cards in the Are we still dreamcarding? thread, and wanted put some thoughts down.

In the playable doppelganger decks, SCORE provided us with essenses for both the Slayer on Campus and the Initiative expansions, the next planned expansions.

The essences for SoC were:

Tara
Anya
Kathy
Harmony

They also gave us the following card in the virtual Broken Links release.

Tara (Hero) Level 1
Anya (Hero) Level 1
Kathy (Villain) Level 1
Harmony (Villain) Level 1
The Gentlemen (Villain) Level 1
Lowell House (Location)
Buffy's Side of Her Dorm Room (Location)
Kathy's Side of Her Dorm Room (Location)

I spent a little time looking through the Dream Cards, and I think the following cards fit in with the theme of "Slayer on Campus".

Locations
Alpha Delta Haunted Frat House Halloween
Backstage Week 31
Sunnydale Church Week 28
Tara's Dorm Room Week 2
The Pub Week 24
UC Sunnydale Clock Tower Week 12
UC Sunnydale Library Week 23
Underground Lair Week 29
Wedding Dress Shop Week 25

Challenges - Good
Break the Box Week 26
Church Rescue Week 28
Psych 105 Week 23
Something Blue Week 25
We've Got To Save Xander! Week 24

Challenges - Evil
Killing Them In Their Dreams Week 31
Laryngitis Epidemic Week 26
Living Conditions Week 5
New Moon Rising Week 29
Nightmares and Dreamscapes Week 31
Silent Night Week 12
Treasure Hunt Week 23
Turning Your Patrons Into Cavemen Week 24

Challenges - Unaligned
Slapfight! Week 25

Skills
Check Her Out Week 25
Chipmunking Week 23
Concentration Week 29
Fairy Tale Monster Week 12
Five by Five Week 28
No Solace Week 24
Price Gouging Week 26
Relaxation Week 31
Rested, Rejuvenated And Ready For Payback Week 28
Roommate From Hell Week 5
Stage Presence Week 24

Items
Basket of Goodies Week 24
Bunny Suit Week 1
Ingredient Chest Week 25
Looping Cher CD Week 5
Message Board Week 26
Miss Kitty Fantastico Week 2
Old Records Week 23
Poisoned Black Frost Beer Week 24
Regenerating Toenails Week 5
The Cheese Week 31
Voice Box Week 12

Events
A Dangerous Hobby Week 31
Fortune Favors the Brave Week 12
Knowing What to Expect Week 23
On Your Own Week 26
Perfect Little Us Week 25
She's Evil Week 5
Spellcasting Together Week 2
Superstar Week 29
Too Much Fun or Not Enough? Week 24
Wicca Meeting Group Week 26

Episodes
Fear, Itself Part 1 Week 24
Fear, Itself Part 2 Week 24
Hush Part 1 Week 12
Hush Part 2 Week 12
New Moon Rising Part 1 Week 29
New Moon Rising Part 2 Week 29

Characters (evil)
Augmentation Demon (Minon) - Level 1 Week 29
Footmen (Minion) - Level 1 Week 12
Genevieve Holt (Minion) - Level 1 Week 29
D'Hoffryn (Villian) - Level 1 Week 25
Faith (In Buffy's Body) (Villian) - Level 1 Week 28
Gachnar (Villian) - Level 1 Halloween
The Gentlemen (Villian) - Level 2 Week 12
Harmony (Villian) - Level 2 Week 6
Kathy (Villian) - Level 2 Week 5
The Primitive (Villian) - Level 1 Week 31
Sunday (Villian) - Level 1 Week 23
Veruca (Villian) - Level 2 Week 24

Characters (good)
Olivia (Companion) - Level 1 Week 26
Parker Abrams (Companion) - Level 1 Week 23
Tara (Companion) - Level 1 Week 2
Watchers Retrieval Team (Companion) - Level 1 Week 28
Angel (Hero) - Level 1 Week 25
Anya (Hero) - Level 2 Week 1
Cave Slayer Buffy (Hero) - Level 1 Week 24
Oz (Hero) Level 1 Week 29
Tara (Hero) - Level 2 Week 2

Actions
Awakening Week 28
Dream Guide Week 2
Emphatic Gesturing Week 31
Floating Week 12
Hurt, Not Broken Week 23
Inferiority Complex Week 24
Knocking on Doors Week 12
More than Me Week 6
No Friends Week 31
Primal Fury Week 29
Prophetic Dreams Week 26
Regain Focus Week 23
Share-Time Week 5
Unable To Perform Week 25
Uncomfortable Situation Week 26
You Don't See Anything Week 25

Including the dream cards, and the cards provided by Score, we have 110 cards. For a small expansion, I think we need to get up to 125 cards.

Just looking at the list, I think there are a few too many events, and too few Action cards. And the characters are too Hero/Villain heavy. Given that there are limits on the number of heros/villains that can be in play, there should always be more companions/minions.

I tried to keep this limited to cards for events in season 4, so in further expansions, we have options available for character growth.

Let's review these cards, and see what we can come up with to shape it into a viable expansion.
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Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: scullyangel
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:28 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

I'm sorry, I really need to clarify.

THERE IS NO BLAME HERE!

For those who have read my past posts, you guys know that I totally love the dream cards. None of us are professional card designers, proof readers, whatever. Overall - we rock. We've just gotten smaller, more and more is falling to a very few people. Major gaming companies let stuff slip through, of course we will. It's no one's fault and everyone's fault, but it is just a fact of creating cards and not something for people to feel bad about.

Twinfrodo - Lindsey is awesome. I wouldn't have remembered that he needed something fixed if I hadn't thought he was cool in the first place. If it would make you feel better I can pick pretty much any given week and find at least 1 or 2 cards that need something. As VisLiz pointed out, Lindsey is a quick fix - he simply needs a notation as to timing. I've made cards that needed errata. When I made them I just hadn't thought through a couple of weird situations.

If any of you have played other games, you know they all have a CRD. They all have an errata list and a current banned list.
We are in a unique position, since these card are never manufactured, since they exist solely in the virtual state, we should be able to update their text fairly easily. We will always need a CRD for situational clarifications, but it really shouldn't be too difficult to update text on cards that have already been created. I think that alone would help make the DCs a hell of a lot more user friendly.

I started my initial reply wondering if it mattered if we continued. Wondering if my group in particular was selfishly wanting more dream cards, when as far as I could tell very few outside my group actively use them. It evolved into a shopping list of past and current DC problems. Maybe that is a good thing, since it seems like quite a few players have piped up with comments and suggestions.

I like a lot of what I've read suggestion wise, but would very much still like to know if this level of effort is being expended for fewer than 10 players. Buffy&Riley - how many players from your group are in favor of DCs? How often do you guys use them?

If it is being done for a really tiny number, but players still want it, maybe a scaled down version makes more sense. Rather than kicking in 120+ cards per season, go to a pure "essentials" situation - cherry picking the characters, items, etc. and then having the design of those specific things be the contest.
Just another thought.
_________________
"Ooh, I'm so pleased! Can I trade in the children for more cash?" - Anya

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Character Design Themes

Author: VisionaryLiz
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:31 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 2

Just a few observations of my own:

Angel: Not necessarily just movement. Angel can do fights pretty well. Set Angel '99 level 1 with his PP essence and he is 5 Butt-Kicking against Vampires. Ascend him to his '99 level 2 and he becomes 7 Butt-Kicking against Vampires, 5 otherwise. Use Bizarro Blood Bottling Plant to give him 4 initial Butt-Kicking for the purposes of Compound Bow. Cut From the Same Cloth will turn 3 non-Vamps into Vampires for fight purposes and Moment of True Bliss will give him another Butt-Kicking. Alternately. use Angel's PP level 1 and '99 essence and he can pull off a possible Charm deck. Moving twice at day and night to get to challenges with 3 Charm, and an additional 2 more if he ascends to level 2 and has Buffy in play. Not as effective as Cordelia, but viable none the less.

Angelus: Fights is his forte, but one shouldn't underestimate his potential for a Smarts deck, due to his ability to gain +2 Smarts on top of his printed 1 Smarts for a total of 3.

Anyanka: Defininte opponent screwage. Mess of their search patterns or fights if you choose to ascend. And if playing against a Hero deck and you complete The Wish you limit their movement ability.

Bizarro Buffy: She does not get bonuses for fighting solo. She get bonuses for challenges. That makes her split. Either she fights on her own (disregarding her essence) or she does challenges on her own (disregarding her character card power) which is the path I've chosen for the deck I built around her that I will eventually post on the Deck and Strategy side. She could possibly use a something to balance out the two opposites she is set up for.

Maggie/Riley: One thing they need to make an effective Initiative deck is more challenges that require the Initiative Trait. There are, I think, 3 total 2 evil and 1 good. Hardly enough to go around. Perhaps something that would allow them and their support to do any challenge with an Initiative Trait requirement regardless of alignment.

Tara: As the avid Tara deck designer I would say she can do Smarts challenges as well as Weirdness as that is how my Tara deck functions. I do agree that she does not have many Spells to use to maximize her essence. Not to mention the fact most of the cards that have Weirdness requirements have a requirement of 3, which Tara can meet on her own. Only the dream card Solace makes Tara actually use that part of her essence.
_________________
"Why can't it be Vampires? Vampires I can handle."

"Carpe Diem. You told me that once."
"Fish of the day?"
"Not Carp, Carpe. It means sieze the day."

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: Twinfrodo
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:29 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

As the creator of Lindsey and probably other really messed up cards I apologize. I think we should maybe change Lindsey's text to this;

Once during the Resource Step you may fatigue a character with the Wolfram and Hart trait at Lindsey's location to move an unaligned challenge from another location to this location. If the controller of that challenge already has a challenge at this location move the challenge located here to the location vacated by the moved challenge.

My intent wasn't to create a built in I Quit it was more or less trying to get him any unaligned challenge quick at the draw. I placed it during the resource step so that if he either is brought into play as a supporting character or resurrected as your main character you can take a previously played unaligned challenge and have him face it right when he comes into play at the best location and maybe steal one on your opponents . If you decide to place existing cards or create new ones to go into sets I think that would be good. The Fullmetal Alchemist Tcg fell a similar fate to the Buffy game and they had a committee of the organized play to create dream cards into sets and I believe they are full supported at tournaments. I loved participating in the contests and I hope that we can continue doing them and see them come into fruition.
_________________
It's time to show this world a fury it's never witnessed. - Magneto
You're talking to the woman who's been killed, cloned, and kidnapped more times than even I can remember. - Jean Grey

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Character Design Themes

Author: DarthRosenberg84
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:53 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 2

My Cordelia Chase deck is very different. I made it as sort of a joke but it turned out to be somewhat fun to play. I use class of 99 Cordelia level 1 and essence. I use Chaparone skills to make people attack Cordelia and then stunt double to get a +3 butt-kicking. If I manage to get her to the other side of the board then I use Gathering Votes to prevent them from attempting challenges. Then if she gets attacked I use number one alternate to stuntdouble from another location. Then once my support characters are able to prefrom a challenge but need some much needed charm, I "Suprise" over and complete it with Cordelia.

I have acually done rather well with this deck considering it was meant to be a joke. If anyone is interested in my design theme of the deck let me know and I will post it in the deck section.
_________________
"Think your little witch buddy's gonna stop with us?You saw her she's a truck driving magic momma.And we've got maybe seconds before Darthrosenberg grinds everybody into jawa burgers,and not one of you bunch has the midi-chlorians to stop her."

Buffy Dream Cards :: Character Design Themes

Author: Tarafan
Subject: Character Design Themes
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:30 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 2

This is a post that began as an idea I had discussed in the "Are We Still Dream Carding?" forum. Please make any comments you think are appropriate.

What I have done in this document is list out what I perceive (based on the essence, character cards, and �only cards) to be each Main Character�s essential deck design theme since the purpose of each character (to my mind) should be to focus the deck on a particular win strategy and then you would build each deck to take advantage of the strategy. Some characters (as we shall see) have deeply flawed and weak design strategies built into them and have no real cards to carry the design strategy to a win condition. This is, in my opinion, why these particular characters don�t perform as well as others. These are characters that need a good deal of work to shore up their strategies (including, among other things, creation of new essences, new character cards, or new character-only cards to boost these characters into becoming truly competitive characters). Keep in mind that these design concepts are my own personal opinion and are based solely on my reading of the cards. If someone else thinks a particular character�s deck design concept should be focused on another aspect of the character, feel free to post your dissention on the forum for discussion. Keep in mind, however, the fact that there will be controversy over what constitutes a proper deck design for a character is exactly what the problem is. Each character�s deck design concept should be fairly straightforward, but it rarely is.

Classic Mains

Angel: Super-movement. Move quick into opponent�s side of board and strike fast to prevent opponent from mounting an adequate defense.

Angelus Aggressive fight deck. Isn�t afraid to attack first since he can attack and still remain at full strength even while fatigued.

Anyanka No clear deck strategy currently. Seems to focus either on use of actions with Weirdness icon to build card advantage or use of the Symbol of Anyanka to put opponents into positions that would make the game difficult for them to win.

Bizarroland Buffy Bonuses for solo fighting and discard abilities.

Buffy Summers Win condition is primarily based on version of Buffy you wish to use. The PP essence and some character versions are more in line with a challenge-based strategy while the 99 essence and some character versions are in line with a fight-based strategy. In this way, Buffy is really the most flexible character in the game in terms of the fact that you can never be sure what kind of deck design you�re going to face when facing a Buffy deck. Either deck though is a fairly straightforward deck, either going for the win through fights or through challenges (primarily Butt-Kicking challenges or possibly Charm challenges if AC Buffy is used as a Main).

Collin Vampire swarm. With a few Vampire Minions, Collin can keep the opponent slowed down. Once he has enough Minions and is able to ascend properly (Collin is just about the only character where it benefits you greatly to ascend him), you can swarm your opponent with Vampire Minions.

Cordelia Chase Challenge manipulation (uses her ability to cherry-pick the best challenges for herself and then can choose to face them in the Resource Step, allowing her to gain a timing advantage over an opponent in a close game) and Charm challenges and fights.

Drusilla Card advantage deck. Between draw abilities and discarding abilities, you can always guarantee that you will have significant card advantage over your opponent. Card advantage always gives you a significant edge over your opponent when it comes to achieving victory conditions.

Faith (hero) Faith gains significant card advantage over opponent during Fights which gives her the advantage of coming out on top in the fight. Add to this her bonuses for fighting supernatural (demons, vampires, monsters).

Faith (villain) Faith�s excellent fight skills are combined with her ability to keep opponents from gaining undue amounts of Destiny Points from their challenges to give her a significant edge in accumulating the necessary Destiny Points to win.

Kakistos Kakistos� ability to target specific characters allows you to focus your aggressive attention on those characters that are clearly the key to your opponent�s win strategy. By denying him those characters and by racking up Destiny Points through fight victories yourself, you gain the victory.

Kendra Standard fight deck but with a much more aggressive edge. You can afford to be more aggressive in your fights with Kendra because you won�t lose Destiny Points if you lose the fights. Combine this with her ability to use Mr. Pointy to suddenly alter the resolving talent to Smarts makes a Kendra deck a much trickier fight deck than Buffy or Faith.

Mr. Trick Trick uses his abilities to increase the difficulty of opposing challenges, in the hopes that the opponent will miss the goals and lose Destiny Points while you use your various characters on challenges and fights to gain victory.

Oz A tricky combo deck that uses low-powered Smarts and Weirdness based challenges to bring the Destiny Point value to the point where Oz can transform into his Werewolf form and tear up the opposing forces. Combine with lots of high Smarts and Weirdness characters and actions with 2 BK and 1 SM or WE icon values to rule the day.

Rupert Giles As was his role on the television show, Giles primary goal as a Main Character is to set-up the board for your supporting characters to carry the day. He tutors for necessary items and skills to distribute to the supporting characters and can use character abilities to give bonuses to supporting characters at adjacent locations, all without fatiguing which allows him to tutor and support all in one turn. The �only� card Hot Sheets even allows him to tutor for Events.

Spike (villain) Gains bonuses from attached items and skills. Use these bonuses to pump Spike up to a level where he is practically unstoppable in either defeating challenges or smacking down opposing characters in fights.

The Master Like Buffy, The Master is a �master� of many play styles. He can use his Minions for a variety of nefarious purposes; can use his abilities to force opposing discards; and even has a alternate park victory condition. Plant him in the Park, send out the minions, pick opposing cards out of opponent�s hands.

The Mayor The Mayor is a master of the �Millstone deck.� In Magic: the Gathering, a Millstone deck is a deck which causes the opponent to discard cards from the top of his deck in an effort to run the player out of cards. In Magic, when a player�s deck is out of cards, he loses the game. Not so in Buffy. Which is one of the reasons why The Mayor is so maligned as a Main Character. While it is good to restrict opponent�s resources by making him discard cards, since the Millstone is not a proper way to win in Buffy, The Mayor needs further card support to provide for a proper victory condition to match his deck design theme.

Vamp Willow Character theft. If used properly and everything falls in your favor, a very cool strategy to steal your opponent�s characters and use them against him. Perhaps needs a little more support to make a proper victory condition but a good solid theme.

Vamp Xander The problem with the Vamp Xander deck is that it doesn�t really have any way to win that is unique to itself. He gains a nice benefit when in play with Vamp Willow and gives a nice bonus to a supporting Vampire at his location. But his �only� card Watching Playtime is, for the most part, pretty lame. Vamp Xander makes a great supporting character. He needs a lot of work to become a competitive Main.

Willow Rosenberg Willow�s deck design focuses on winning through the defeat of challenges focusing on Smarts and Weirdness and Computer or Spellcraft trait requirements. Pretty straightforward challenge deck.

Xander Harris Xander�s deck design is a little schizophrenic because it focuses on many different themes rather than one central theme. Xander is good at Charm challenges, episodes, increasing the value of items through swapping, ability to attach items which he would normally not be able to due to higher talent requirements or trait reqirements, surrounding himself with characters with multiple traits that he can siphon off, and solo challenge attempts. While this makes Xander an excellent character seemingly to support other characters while he engages in solo challenging, it also makes a Xander deck very hard to build effectively if you try to cover all of his various design features. It would be better to examine the character and perhaps focus his design strategy down to one or two key elements and allow other characters to take the burden away from Xander. This should help to focus and strength the victory conditions of Xander decks tremendously.

Season 4 Mains/Broken Links

Adam Adam wins through a basic beatdown, non-Human swarm strategy. Since he increases the Butt-Kicking value of all non-Humans, he can use these characters to attack your opponent unmercifully or simply sit behind the lines, solve BK challenges (which becomes almost automatic with only a few non-Human Minions), and rack up the Destiny Points for victory.

Anya Anya is one of the strongest decks in the game, primarily because her deck design is so well focused. She has affinity with Events, which allow her to get more powerful the more events that are put into play or into the deck. She then uses the power she gains from the events to defeat challenges and score the victory.

Dark Willow Transforming the Destiny Points her Minions give to her through challenge and/or fight victories into Dark Magic which she can use in a variety of ways, she simply sits in the Park and waits out her three turns to Park Victory. Many Dark Willow decks win without ever scoring a single Destiny Point merely because her Dark Magic makes her so difficult to defeat even in the Park.

Harmony Harmony can manipulate her deck every turn to make sure her card draws are the best they can be to assure victory. Deck management is the key to victory with Harmony.

Kathy Kathy�s deck design focuses on denial. Making sure your opponent cannot use his items or skills or movement slows opposing decks to a halt while Kathy�s Minions continue to score Destiny Points through challenges.

Maggie Walsh Maggie uses her Initiative soldiers and the Initiative Base location to attempt to battle and pin down opposing characters, making them unable to move or solve challenges or do much of anything except lose. The strategy is very hard to pull off, especially against opponents running decks of mostly Human characters. Maggie needs many more Initiative characters and other cards to make a truly viable deck design.

Riley Finn Riley has a nice deck design strategy built in that allows you to cross-play good and evil characters in your deck as long as they have the Initiative ability. The expansion set should build on this ability by giving Riley plenty of Initiative characters on both sides of the moral fence to use in the deck. This will allow him the flexibility to solve both good and evil challenges and provide him with some good soldiers to take apart fight decks.

Spike (hero) Like his villainous counterpart, Spike seems to have a good affinity with skills based on his essence. His character card suggests that he would be a good fight deck against any player with limited or no Humans in their deck; however, the key to victory with a good Spike (hero) deck will be to be flexible enough to change to an aggressive challenge deck if the opponent is playing with Human characters against whom Spike cannot mount an effective fight game.

Tara Maclay Tara�s deck design should be focused around Spellcraft (particulary Spellcraft skills since she can attach them without fatiguing) and Weirdness challenges to gain victory. Unfortunately, there are very few Spellcraft skills to take advantage of Tara�s ability. This is a character that has benefited greatly from Dream Cards.

Thanks for reading!
_________________
Don Tresca
WCA Rules Committee

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Dream Card Contest Week 64

Author: Tarafan
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:20 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 15

I would say actual Charm since it doesn't specify printed Charm, but it can be a matter for debate. I would be fine with it either way.
_________________
Don Tresca
WCA Rules Committee

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: Buffy&Riley
Subject: Making Level 2s+ playable: just noticed
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:35 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

from Dreamcards week 61:

Guess what? - event
For the duration of this turn, you may asscend any of your characters by taking their next level from your discard pile. All characters need 1 less destiny to ascend this turn.
Buffy: I feel better!

I wonder if this should be from the game instead of the turn and maybe even an episode card/set instead of an event?
_________________
"...tell me they STILL make Flintstone chewables!?!"
-Matt Parkman

Matt Parkman for President '08
-check out the deleted dvd scenes- Matt is awesome!

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Dream Card Contest Week 64

Author: Buffy&Riley
Subject: printed vs actual
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:15 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 15

dgjedi wrote:

Cordelia Chase, level 2
Hero
0BK/1SM/0WE/5CH
DP 4
Human, Seduction. When a Male character stunt-doubles for Cordelia, you may fatigue her and add her Charm to the stunt-doubling character�s Butt-Kicking.

Question. Do you add her Charm value from before or after she fatigues? May seem like a simple, easy question, but when you run enough tournaments you realize these are the kind of questions you often get and you have to be really sure about your answer.

So you can add her total actual charm to the BK if you fatigue her OR are you adding her total printed charm?
_________________
"...tell me they STILL make Flintstone chewables!?!"
-Matt Parkman

Matt Parkman for President '08
-check out the deleted dvd scenes- Matt is awesome!

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: dgjedi
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:51 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

Not a bad thought. Still if I really wanted a level 2 or level 3 character in my deck I would make sure to use Empty Puppet Cases and Balthazar's Amulet so as not to make those cards useless if drawn early. I think the bigger issue is that by the time you can put them in play the game is one or two turns from being over anyay.

It also feels like beating on the helpless when the first person to get to 4 or 5 destiny points is the first person who can pump their characters and beat on an opponent already trailing.

Another thought would have been to make ascensions turn based. (i.e. the number on the card is not a destiny requirement but a turn requirement. so in turn two or three or four that character can ascend to that card regardless of what destiny you have)

Just another thought.

Buffy Dream Cards :: RE: Are We Still Dream Carding?

Author: Buffy&Riley
Subject: NEW SET idea
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:37 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 27

Vendikarr wrote:

I thought I'd put my two cents in here.

So for a 125 card expansion, I think we're looking at the following number of cards:

4 Essenses (Already have them from Score)
31 Action cards (Looking at converting events/skills/items into action cards is a good idea)
12 Challenges
12 Locations
11 items
11 skills
8 Episode Cards (I say more Episode Cards than Events, because the Event Concept takes two cards to play it)
4 Event Cards

and 32 Character cards, with a combination of Heroes, Villians, Companions and Minions. Traditionally, an expansion should have more minions/companions than heroes and villians.

The Initiative expansion would focus on the Initiative subplot of Season 4, and for a mechanic, the capture concept introduced in the dream cards could be fleshed out.

NEW SET idea: How about an episode or event that lets you play level 2, 3, or 4 (character ascension) cards into talent stacks as a +1 to that talent? I think thats something Score could have done (if the game wasnt canceled) to promote the use of ascending your characters in a game or atleast including the cards in a deck

Just a thought
_________________
"...tell me they STILL make Flintstone chewables!?!"
-Matt Parkman

Matt Parkman for President '08
-check out the deleted dvd scenes- Matt is awesome!