Hi guys,

I FINALLY have the COMPLETE set of the normal Descent (original + WoD + AoD + ToI )

I foresee a lot of questions to pop up in the coming days, and look to you all for guidance. Anyways, the very first question came up already:

All the expansions add around 4 normal Overlord Cards to the Overlord deck each. (Exclude the treachery types)

For example, WoD adds about 3 spawn cards and AoD adds about 4 to the normal deck.

It is vital to know exactly how thick an Overlord deck should be per game, because this also affects how quickly the deck cycles.

The rules are very clear, and they state to REPLACE a normal card with a treachery card if an OL so chooses. Also, there are REPLACEMENT cards to replace older ones due to updated rules. The question here is:

Each expansion adds around 4 more OL cards to the normal deck, and this should be the limit per deck, due to FFG's policy of allowing individual expansions to play alone with the original set. Now if I wish to put EVERYTHING together for one epic game (from WoD all the way to ToI), does the OL deck become:

1) [normal OL cards] + [3 WoD OL cards] + [4 AoD OL cards] + [4 ToI cards] = XXX?

2) Or does the OL have to choose [normal OL cards] + [any 4 expansion cards] = XXX?

I feel that FFG meant for the OL deck to be a max of normal cards + 4 expansion cards. Anything else should be swapped or replaced, not added on. This way it will be fair for the OL as he will not take so long to cycle his deck through.

is anyone else out there playing the same way as I intend to? (playing original set plus all expansions) If so, the deck is going to be at least 10+ cards more than the normal size, and do you guys play any house rules to balance this out for the OL to make it fair for him again? (Eg: When playing with all expansions, the OL draws 5 or 6 cards at the start without spending treachery for it etc)

Wanderer999 said:

Each expansion used simply adds its cards to the deck.
Yes, treachery is a replacement mechanic, but no, that mechanics does not translate to non-treachery cards.
No, original+4 is not an upper limit. The policy allows each expansion to be independent, it does not force independence. Each expanion ruleset specifically tells you to add certain cards to the deck. If you use that expansion, you add those cards, all of them, or you are not following teh rules. If you use multiple expansions you add multiple sets of new cards
AoD pg4
Six of the new overlord cards are intended to be added to the overlord deck (1 copy each of “Danger,” “Dark Balm,” “Crushing Block,” “Paralyzing Gas,” “Blood Ape Tribe,” and “Black Order”).
WoD pg3
Three of the new overlord cards are intended to be added to the overlord deck from the base game (2 copies of “Kobold Swarm” and 1 copy of “Ferrox Tribe”).
ToI pg4
Four of the new Overlord cards are intended to be added to the Overlord deck from the base game (one copy each of “Lava Beetle Scouts,” “Shade Spooks,” “Lone Medusa,” and “Lone Wendigo”).
(Actually it's three new cards since Lone Wendigo got removed late, but they didn't edit the rulebook.)

Yes, the OL deck becomes 12 cards larger (48 in total). Yes this is in some way a small disadvantage for the OL since it takes him more turns to earn the 3CT for deck cycling - at least on the face of it!

No, house rules for this are not needed.
Adding these cards on average actually makes the OL's deck stronger. Dark Balm and Razor Beetles are the only weak cards added. The spawn card proportion increases, which is a good thing considering it is entirely possible to play a spawn every turn in vanilla and several of the spawns are very strong indeed (Dark Priests, Blood Apes, Ferrox).
Most importantly, if you add these cards in you are also adding the treachery mechanic in. The Treachery mechanic radically increases the deck-strength of the OL as he is able to replace his weakest cards with extremely strong cards.

I believe that probably most players on this board play with all expansions, as fast as they can.
I've not heard many complaints from people who have actually played a bit with adding all the cards in. The OL is definitely stronger rather than weaker (hence feats, to provide some counterbalance). Most complaints or questions about this are from people who haven't played with expansion much.

Play a bit. You'll find out the truth.

Yes the deck will be larger if you play with all the expansions, but Treachery will increase the overall strength of your deck plus if you want to cycle faster, there are a couple of cards you can add in which will help.

I concur with the others, the added deck size it not a huge imbalance for the OL. In fact, the way my heroes play I'm lucky to cycle the deck more than once in a vanilla dungeon anyway, extra cards or no. It's definitely not a source of CT I count on to win - it's a bonus source if it happens to come up.

TeufelHund said:

Indeed I have long heard of the legendary Evil Genius-Urgency combo....