Amongst the hallowed halls of the card gaming community there is an adage; Int\u00e9nde Ergo Vincere. While we understand drawing cards doesn\u2019t literally salt away a victory it does lead to more options. The more options you have means the more threats to attack your opponent. The more threats you have leads to overwhelming your opponent. Therefore, more win. So, how come that sentiment doesn\u2019t reverberate with the Ashes community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of the answer is variability beyond the first five. Unlike any other game, players begin with exactly the hand they want. Usually entailing a tight knit play line using all ten available resource dice. Even if you have left over dice you still aren\u2019t guaranteed to be able to play any extra drawn card. It can either cost too many dice OR be the wrong magic type.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both scenarios equal a waste of resources used to pay for drawing the card. It only makes sense to draw cards in one case. If you have the same amount or more of open dice equal to the average card cost of your deck. Most decks can\u2019t handle that kind of output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another issue is tied to scarcity of resources. In order to draw a card you have to spend dice. The same dice you had previously available to pay for a card. It\u2019s incredibly counter productive to earmark dice to spend on card drawing effects that are better used to pay for a card in hand. With only ten dice available a round most decks eat through those with tasty conjurations and reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also a point of pointlessness. At the end of every round you get a reload of five new cards. It even has a built-in sifting mechanic to discard unwanted leftovers. In games with a lower draw cap every turn it becomes much more valuable to double up on available cards. It feels bad to cash out using a resource for some thing that you were going to get; for FREE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, card draw gets you closer to decking yourself. That in and of itself is no big deal. However Ashes has fatigue damage and drawing into more cards may be a long term disaster. Especially if your opponent\u2019s plan is relying on mill as a win condition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why in the world would anyone even want to draw cards?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter the game, having more options to spring against your opponent is good. Greedily stockpiling cards in hand is terrible. Having a well thought out game plan is fantastic. Here\u2019s some numbers to get a sense of what we are talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An Ashes deck is 25 cards after the first five. Every remaining card represents four percent of your deck. Let\u2019s say you are digging for one of three cards. The first drawn card gives you 12 percent odds. The second card you draw (rounding up) has a 13 percent chance. Not earth shattering but a puncher’s chance of being a top deck hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Round two is where most folks count on their area of effect removal or bomb combo peices. Let\u2019s say you didn\u2019t have any extra draw round one. But, you didn\u2019t draw your trio of fancy tech. There are now 20 cards left in your deck. The first drawn card is a cool 15 percent. Followed up by a second draw of 16 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we extrapolate draw into the first five of, let\u2019s say, two cards. You are dipping into 17 percent territory on the first card and 18 percent for the second. Things are a lot more spicy in this range. So, how do we get draw to work for us?<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy is Draw Good?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Know Your Average and Lean Into It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n