One of the things that bothers me is the fact that the deck thems not always come to full effect due to the limited access to the signature cards.

The mulligan only helps so much and even so the 1 copy cards are really hard to obtain, making the deck theme very inconsistent.

Given that the game at best only lasts 7 rounds even with a minimum of 50 cards you will not always get to see those rare cards.

Because of this I was considering if the following option is feasable.

Once per turn during the deployment phase you could exhaust your warlord to search your deck for a signature card and put it in your hand (shuffle and cut the dack afterwards).

I 'm really interested to see how others think about this option.

Is it a good option or not, and is the cost sufficient?

B.T.W. This is my first post so if someone else already mentioned it before, my apologies.

Well it'll never be tournament legal, but hey, if that's what you want to do, give it a go. I'd imagine something that allows you to be so specific might need a bit more of a cost, but that's what experimentation is for though.

You shouldn't really hinge your strategy on your Signature cards though. Yeah, they're good, but they are only one part of the plan, and you adapt your strategy depending on what cards you have with you. Really, you should build your deck first around your Warlord's ability, because you have him out from the start, and then around your chosen faction's 'theme', or strength. the signature cards will already be geared towards what the Warlord does, so it's about following on from that so you'll always have something that combos well.

I wouldn't be a fan of this because the "1 of" per deck copy number on some of the signature cards, particularly the locations and attachments, is the only thing that stops them from being ridiculously overpowered.

For example, the earlier Kith gets out her Khymera Den, the more likely she is to win. Seriously, if you are playing against Kith and Kymera Den comes out in the first Deployment phase, your odds of winning just took a steep drop - unless you have one of the rare support killer cards at hand. Similar things are true (to one degree or another) for Zogwort's Hovel, Banner of the Ashen Sky, Formosan Black Ship, Shrine of Warpflame and others. To be able to pull any of these powerhouse supports at will in the first Deploy phase potentially unbalances a lot of decks and match-ups. (And let's not forget that Starbane's signature support would effectively negate the proposed cost of this built-in signature search.)

And these are only the supports. Under this system, you ensure that every time you play Ku'gath, he will have his banner attached. Every time you play Urien, he will have his gauntlet. Every time you play Baharroth, he will have his Blade. And so on. At the very least, every player will have their 3-shield in hand when they need it.

I hear what you're saying about "signature themes" potentially getting diluted by unlucky shuffles and poor draw if you're not winning command struggles. However, I think you have to compare that to the fact that most of the non-unit signature cards have a significant power level that is balanced by the copy number. Having just one copy of certain signature cards is like having a built in "restricted list," which allows the designers to make them somewhat more powerful than the average card. If you could pull them at will by using a game rule (as opposed to some "search you deck for..." card effect), you upset that balance/built-in restriction, and I think that could have overall consequences on how well the game plays in general.

I understand the concern for the game balance. I do not play tournaments but this came up with friends and I decided to put this online to see what the general idea was on the topic.

B.T.W. Khymera Den can be strong but I have more than once gone down because area of effect damage turned my token units into a Korean BBQ prety fast.

Really? My experience is that AoE is only minimally effective against an active Khymera Den because people wait to trigger it and so don't bring all their Khymeras over to the battle until after the AoE unit's attack is over.

I don't play a lot of tournaments, either, but I don't think balance is just about competitive play. If your Plaguefather's Banner is always on Ku'gath first round, and I'm playing something with a lot of 2HP or less units, I don't have much reason to play that game out - casual or competitive.

My general feel is that the copy number - and thus the likelihood of drawing the card from a 50-card deck - is part of the card's design. Changing the way the game is played to allow me to get around the copy number every time potentially changes the card design and the game to the point where it's not fun to play the game anymore.

You have a valid point. You could also argue that cards that have to be made restricted by default (because they disturb the game balance) should not be made to begin with, but they do add spice to the game.

I really like this card game because of the setting and the rather original game mechanics (compared to MtC, VS, L5R, and many other older CCG's).

I will see how this goes and focus more on the theme of the non-signature cards (as suggested by DigitalEccentric) whilst I await the coming of the Great Devourer