Just got finished playing at the pre-launch event and opened my two extra decks, one of which is a Dis, Brobnar and Mars deck containing the card "Sacrificial Altar."

The card is a Dis location that reads: 'Action: Purge a friendly human creature from play. If you do, play a creature from your discard pile.'

Unfortunately there isn't a single human in the entire deck. Was this a terrible stroke of bad luck or a typo on the card or something?

Thanks!

Bad card management algorithm most likely.

Question though: do you have ways of stealing creatures? I know there's a Dis card that does. That would work.

Mind you, that seems really poor luck even if you can finagle it to work.

You gain an aember when you play it. So it always help you progress to forging a key. Thats where the balance is on the card. Even if it ended up in a deck with no humans its not totally useless.

Out of interest has anyone seen it WITH humans?

I wonder if the algorithm is set totally the wrong way round...

On 11/11/2018 at 12:58 PM, Illidus said:

Unfortunately there isn't a single human in the entire deck. Was this a terrible stroke of bad luck or a typo on the card or something?

Keep an eye on your opponents creatures.

1 hour ago, Amanal said:

Keep an eye on your opponents creatures.

You can't use it on your opponent's creatures because it says "friendly human creature" unless they are in your control.

I think because of the unique game mechanic, many of not most decks will have some cards that are most less useless. Like, the deck I got at a pre-launch event has a bunch of cards that let me archive my own cards, but no other way to interact with or pull those cards back out. Which seems kind of silly. However, the deck is fun and it works well in other ways so I'm willing to accept that these decks are going to contain some "red herring" strategies until you figure out what does and doesn't work.

6 minutes ago, pkreynolds said:

I think because of the unique game mechanic, many of not most decks will have some cards that are most less useless. Like, the deck I got at a pre-launch event has a bunch of cards that let me archive my own cards, but no other way to interact with or pull those cards back out. Which seems kind of silly. However, the deck is fun and it works well in other ways so I'm willing to accept that these decks are going to contain some "red herring" strategies until you figure out what does and doesn't work.

From the Rules (found online on the game page): During step 2 of a player’s turn, after they select an active house, the active player is permitted to pick up all cards in their archives and add those cards to their hand.

edit: which is to say, you can always get at those archives on the following turn, or wait for a more opportune moment)

That’s odd, seems like an algorithm error. Worst thing I got was a card that returns niffle creatures from play and my discard pile to my hand and only one niffle creature. I’d personally contact customer support and see if it was an accidental error.

5 hours ago, TwitchyBait said:

That’s odd, seems like an algorithm error. Worst thing I got was a card that returns niffle creatures from play and my discard pile to my hand and only one niffle creature. I’d personally contact customer support and see if it was an accidental error.

Its not an error unfortunately. It made sure you at least had one to combo with.

7 hours ago, TwitchyBait said:

That’s odd, seems like an algorithm error. Worst thing I got was a card that returns niffle creatures from play and my discard pile to my hand and only one niffle creature. I’d personally contact customer support and see if it was an accidental error.

That card, too, gives an Æmber, so it isn't bad to just burn it when you draw it before your one Niffle. I have a deck with the same feature.

3 hours ago, Hyperjayman said:

Its not an error unfortunately. It made sure you at least had one to combo with.

I didnt mean mine I meant the OP not having a human.

I have sacrifical altar and 2 humans total in my deck, both of which were not of the Dis faction.

Just opened my first deck and unfortunately have the same thing...no humans or other means of creature capture. Bleh.

17 hours ago, Derrault said:

From the Rules (found online on the game page): During step 2 of a player’s turn, after they select an active house, the active player is permitted to pick up all cards in their archives and add those cards to their hand.

edit: which is to say, you can always get at those archives on the following turn, or wait for a more opportune moment)

I totally missed that. Does that mean that cards like Zookeeper that let you put opponent cards into your archive, will let you play those cards after you pick them up?

33 minutes ago, pkreynolds said:

I totally missed that. Does that mean that cards like Zookeeper that let you put opponent cards into your archive, will let you play those cards after you pick them up?

All cards that archive opponents' cards read "IF any of these creatures leave your archives, they are put into their owner's hand instead." Since the Archive rule reads "After choosing a house, the active player has the option to take all cards in their archives and add them to their hand." you cannot choose to leave some cards in your archive. So that basically means: If you have both your opponents AND your cards mixed in your archive he will get his back as soon as you choose to return yours to your hand.

16 minutes ago, Shimaaji said:

All cards that archive opponents' cards read "IF any of these creatures leave your archives, they are put into their owner's hand instead." Since the Archive rule reads "After choosing a house, the active player has the option to take all cards in their archives and add them to their hand." you cannot choose to leave some cards in your archive. So that basically means: If you have both your opponents AND your cards mixed in your archive he will get his back as soon as you choose to return yours to your hand.

That does let you use archiving opponent cards like purging them.

Or archiving your own for combos, or to speed up the rotation of more important cards. (Also a possible unintended benefit to your opponent, every time you purge a card, you speed their deck recycling)

I just got to finally play tonight. 2 out of the 3 decks I bought have Dis with this card and neither of them have any humans nor any cards for taking control of enemy creatures. I was disappointed as they advertised it as that each deck would have synergy and that things like this wouldn't happen. And saying it's worth an aember doesn't fly with me, it's just a dead card in the deck.

Any official word yet if the Altar being useless is intended or a mistake? Here's my deck with this issue: https://www.keyforgegame.com/deck-details/90ff2486-0bd0-4d6e-8ca2-e9942ed52be9

I guess it's theoretically possible versus a deck with very specific things to use it? But it would require the opponent playing an action that lets you gain control of an enemy creature, the opponent having a human, and me playing Mimicry and Sacrificial Altar. That just seems so far removed from the realm of possibility though.

In my first I got the Rare card "Selwyn the Fence" which lets you move an aember from one of your cards to your pool. AND no cards that capture aember. So she is just a power 3 creature in a battle line full of Brobnar.

My second deck has 2 copies of "Sound the Horns" and 2 Brobnar Creatures. At least I can "Sound the Horns" to empty my deck and force myself to reshuffle my discard pile into my deck.

12 hours ago, SuitSage said:

Any official word yet if the Altar being useless is intended or a mistake? Here's my deck with this issue: https://www.keyforgegame.com/deck-details/90ff2486-0bd0-4d6e-8ca2-e9942ed52be9

I guess it's theoretically possible versus a deck with very specific things to use it? But it would require the opponent playing an action that lets you gain control of an enemy creature, the opponent having a human, and me playing Mimicry and Sacrificial Altar. That just seems so far removed from the realm of possibility though.

Putting a mostly useless card in your deck is probably a way to make up for the fact, that you have 4 niffle apes and 2 niffle queen.

8 hours ago, Ancient Silverback said:

Putting a mostly useless card in your deck is probably a way to make up for the fact, that you have 4 niffle apes and 2 niffle queen.

...and 2 Grabber Jammers, Jammer Pack, and Key Charge...

This deck seems extremely strong. Your Dis and your Mars houses have the ability to increase your opponent's forging cost by 3. I think it's quite possible the algorithm gave you a "no synergy" card on purpose. The Sacrificial Altar card DOES give Aember, after all. If that's all it did, it would still be an ok card. I think @Ancient Silverback is right.

10 minutes ago, RobertK said:

...and 2 Grabber Jammers, Jammer Pack, and Key Charge...

This deck seems extremely strong. Your Dis and your Mars houses have the ability to increase your opponent's forging cost by 3. I think it's quite possible the algorithm gave you a "no synergy" card on purpose. The Sacrificial Altar card DOES give Aember, after all. If that's all it did, it would still be an ok card. I think @Ancient Silverback is right.

That could actually be a thing the algorithm does. My strongest deck that has a good bit of stun (2 Squawkers, Phosphorus Stars), Grabber Jammer, Bait and Switch, Masterplan, Keycharge (Masterplanning that away is sooo good), and 2 Hunting Witches with 5 other Untamed creatures also has Troop Call with just one Niffle Ape.

To bring up something slightly different, but still related to balance, this is one of my decks. I think it is relatively strong, overall.

The Immortal of Daki

The Mars synergy with that mass of Mars creatures can create some pretty powerful reaping series. Archiving with Logos lets you thin your deck and recycle Timetraveller along with Help from Future Self to generate cards and Aember. And then there is the Dis part of the deck which lets you wipe the board in a few ways once your Mars strategy has played out. Depends on sequencing, of course, but this deck can definitely work nicely. What's more, I think it is pretty easy to use; it doesn't require a TON of set up

The potential weakness is actually "Pitlord". Playing "Pitlord" could let your opponent lock you out if they have the right combination. For instance, if they have a way of forcing you to play a house (like "Control of the Weak" and a way to get that card back into their hand continuously), they can insure you are unable to choose a valid house to play. Now, since you can see what your opponent's deck has before you start playing, you might be able to avoid such a trap by discarding "Pitlord" when it shows up in your hand without playing it, but that has to hurt. It's a better deck with "Pitlord" available for actual play. But would you want to risk being locked out of choosing a valid house? Discretion is the better part of valor, and all that.

I also have this problem and no mechanics to gain humans :p