Idea to cut variance.

[b2ryan]

So we all know that to win any given match in this game you need both skill and luck. If you have the best deck ever but dont draw a single pillar to start you are probably going to lose. also sometimes you get the 1 card in your deck that can save you and you win and its great but the more variance there is the less skill there is so here is my idea on how we could cut this variance. Instead of starting with 8 cards I think we should start with 16 cards and choose the 8 we want to keep in our hand, the other 8 being shuffled back into the deck. and instead of drawing 1 card at the start of each turn, you get 2 cards that show up and you pick the one you want. I think this (or something like this) would make the game have less luck and more skill. If it was in a beta I would def try it out. Thoughts?

[Kuross]

Though I like you enthusiasm, I can not agree with this in any way. Picking through more than half of your deck to get the perfect hand would just be OP in an epic way. It would fundamentally change the way this game is played and decks are built. Instead of variance, you'd likely get a select few decks that can win in 3-4 turns and it would come down to who went first to determine the winner rather than any type of strategy involved.

Strategy is a huge part of the game and a large part of strategy is to figure out ways to cut down variance and cope when you can't.

[b2ryan]

Well you can change it and tweak it, I mean say you did 10 cards and picked 8, or only did the 2 cards but picked 1 at the start of every turn. As far as imba you can really be imba if both players are equally imba. Maybe it is a bad idea though idk.

[Malduk]

Manual mulligan (with possible penalty) would work.

[smuglapse]

The idea sounds good, but there are 2 main objections as I see it.

1.  It would require a major overhaul in the GUI.  I'm referring to the initial display of 16 cards and a way of selecting cards and confirming your selections.
2.  Matches would take longer because of the added step(s).

Zanzarino has continually emphasized simplicity and speed in his design, so I doubt something like this would ever be taken into consideration.

An alternative to this would be a card that creates similar mechanics, such as the Lucky Fox (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12693.0.html) card idea.  Choosing from a small set of cards requires less space and being part of the card's function it is still subjected to the normal rules and time length.

[b2ryan]

Yeah I guess it cant be done but I think it would be cool xD