The idea here is that instead of having three factions from one Archon, you smush together a deck with cards from one house and three different Archons. So, say, you pull the Sanctum cards out of three of your decks, and that's your deck for this variant. On your turn, instead of declaring a house, you declare the Archon whose cards you can play that turn, and any reference to "house" on cards references one of the three Archons instead.

I expect flack from the "stop trying to build decks!" crowd, and that's ok with me. Just trying to be creative and keep things interesting.

“Stop trying to build decks!”

On a serious note...there are PLENTY of format already and I bet you guys haven’t tried to play anything different than the standard game. It’s too soon for new formats, especially if deck building is included. Try out the stuff that’s already official.

Pulling apart decks by house might give some life to otherwise unplayable decks, where at least one of those houses is being held back by the other two.

1 minute ago, Demps said:

“Stop trying to build decks!”

On a serious note...there are PLENTY of format already and I bet you guys haven’t tried to play anything different than the standard game. It’s too soon for new formats, especially if deck building is included. Try out the stuff that’s already official.

You're not my dad!

2 things.. I think it would be overly complex. I know the archon name is written on every card, but it isn't super big. I think there would be a LOT of accidental mis-plays. And some factions would become absurdly powerful. Martians come to mind. Mother Gun doing 6 damage every turn for example.

This idea limits some of the strategy of the game based around which house to play; should I keep these cards for a future turn; should I use a house that I have no cards for, but have effects that would benefit me?

I'm more interested in 3 Houses from 1-3 decks: taking all the house cards from whichever deck you fancy, but still having separate houses. It would make more consistent or themed decks.

That all said, I'll mostly play as intended: finding a deck on eBay by reading the deck lists until I find the perfect one at a preferred price to crush all of my opponents!

1 hour ago, xbeaker said:

2 things.. I think it would be overly complex. I know the archon name is written on every card, but it isn't super big. I think there would be a LOT of accidental mis-plays. And some factions would become absurdly powerful. Martians come to mind. Mother Gun doing 6 damage every turn for example.

Not really, because he claimed mentions of House would be replaced by mentions of an Archon...so it would be about the same as normal. If not I'll see your Martians and raise you a Restringuntus, gg

But yeah, I have no interest in deck-building for this game, but to each his own.

This is a pretty cool idea man. I like this idea

[THIS NEVER HAPPENED]

51 minutes ago, Palpster said:

... Restringuntus   ...

Remember, in this variant, if you play Restringuntus, you'd specify an Archon your opponent could not play from, not house.

Just now, twinstarbmc said:

YUP. K. NEVER MIND. BAD IDEA.

Well, no, Your idea wasn't that bad...you did mention Houses would be replaced by Archon's right? So Restringuntus would only apply to one of the three Archons used

Would be better to take three non-matching houses from three different archons. Keeps the balance and appeal of the game, but lets you experience house and card comboinations you might never get to see.

i.e- You pick Brobnar from one archon. Then you can’t choose Brobnar from another archon, but you pick Sanctum from the second. Now you can’t pick Brobnar or Sanctum from a third archon.

I think OP's variant is interesting on a conceptual level but I think it would be too hard to keep track of in actual play and might make some cards not as fun to play; I'm specifically thinking of cards that interact with what house is played; The Dis card that lets you choose what house your opponent plays, for example, is pretty nice card that takes skill to time and play, but it feels like it would be much more random when you have to call out an aarchon instead, especially earlier in the game when you can't possibly know which aarchon has the cards you want to avoid whereas in a normal game you can anticipate what houses might mess with your specific plans.

Hypermanjay's idea seems more balanced. and it would up the power level up the decks significantly for sure; I think the result would be very similar how other games deckbuild.

I think it would be fun to try out at a casual level, but I think it takes away from the experience the game is going for on a competitive level. If it was embraced as official, I think competitive decks would quickly become as homogeneous as other card games -- with packages like that include miasma/Bait and switch, 4 horsemen, library access, arise, etc... being sold very similarly to how other games sell individual cards.

19 hours ago, twinstarbmc said:

Remember, in this variant, if you play Restringuntus, you'd specify an Archon your opponent could not play from, not house.

And since your opponent can see the backs of your cards and know which archons you have in hand, that will be an easy choice.

20 hours ago, Palpster said:

Not really, because he claimed mentions of House would be replaced by mentions of an Archon...so it would be about the same as normal. If not I'll see your Martians and raise you a Restringuntus, gg

I get that, but the archon name is pretty small on the card. So when you are reaping, it would be really easy to accidentally reap with an our of 'house' creature or something.

Also unless you are using opaque card sleeves, you opponent will now exactly which archons you have available.