Mulligans

[Macintosh]

That's pretty much what I meant. For mulligans to work at this point in the game's development, they'd have to be somehow limited, and the only limitation that seems viable to me is only being able to once. Later on, as new gameplay options and comboes appear, this limitation might have to be lifted. That'd be a little bit painful.

The mechanics I proposed would be good because they also help with other in-game situations, such as being stuck in a lock, or recovering from earthquakes, or being otherwise crippled.

There isn't much difference between a starting hand of 6 cards versus 7. I think that you should be able to mulligan until you only have 1 card left in your starting hand. Even if there are decks that only depend on one card to win, it would still take some luck to get it. Also when comparing a hand of 7 versus a hand of 1, I'd say the hand with 7 cards has the advantage.

[Mathaos]

Maybe it could be done that you could select one or two cards from your deck, and they will always be in your hand at the start of the game? And make it that you could only select cards below a certain cost (like 1 or 2), since most of those type of cards that players would want right away cost 3 or more.

[Pugmeister]

Or maybe the first-turn mulligan could block the first quantum gain but keep the number of cards.

[shinji(100,110,101,111)]

completely agree with the topic. in my early times in elements ive found myself getting crappy first hands. and that isnt a very good way to start out. so yes do the mulligan thing. it would be uber helpfull

[Wirt]

I agree there should be a counter-bad-draw mechanic, but I don't like mulligan. For decks relying on one card, as already noted with the lobotomizer example, mulligans can be abused to get that one card early. At least until there's more cards, that doesn't seem like a very good idea.

I'd rather see new mechanics that can be used for the whole game. For example:

Pillars only: when you posess no pillars, you can discard one from your hand to draw a card. This'd work only on your first turn, or when all your pillars are destroyed or stolen, obviously.
No pillars: each turn you do not play a card (including a pillar), you get two quanta from your mark instead of one. Again, works on your first turn or when you're locked and can't do anything.

[Wirt]

That's pretty much what I meant. For mulligans to work at this point in the game's development, they'd have to be somehow limited, and the only limitation that seems viable to me is only being able to once. Later on, as new gameplay options and comboes appear, this limitation might have to be lifted. That'd be a little bit painful.

The mechanics I proposed would be good because they also help with other in-game situations, such as being stuck in a lock, or recovering from earthquakes, or being otherwise crippled.

[wolfy67]

I like the idea of mulligans. We've all had those games where you don't get a pillar for the first few rounds. If you still don't have one on turn 4 it's pretty much game over.

To stop folks from abusing it just put a limit or cost on it. Only one mulligan allowed during turn 1, and/or only if no pillars are drawn, and/or once the deck is reshuffled only 6 cards are drawn instead of 7.

[Forfeit]

i agree with this idea too. (Registered on the forum finally just to agree with it actually)

[Site Administrator]

I heard (on flashkit, I think) of a suggestion that it cost, say, 5 hp to do, but you still got all 7 cards. If you do it too much....you die.

[surrki]

this is a great idea.. its really annoying when you get your first hand, and its nothing but creatures and abilities.. then the next 5 draws are the same. and by the time you do get a pillar down, its to late. being able to click mulligan, putting your hand back in the deck, shuffling it, then drawing a new hand with 1 card would be great. might still end up with crap, but atleast you have a chance to not suck.

[Wirt]

Paying for a mulligan with hitpoints is actually a clever idea. I like it.

[brain9h]

I say leave it. This wouldn't be a card game without randomness. If you want to remove randomness from your opening hand you should pay the price --> have more cards of that type on your deck.