I'm pleased to hear Plat players are being more creative in their decks and not spamming SoG (as I would hope from those who obviously have been playing the game a long time), however Gold and Silver seem to be littered with them.
It's not that I mind using them AGAINST arena (in the same way they're vital against false gods), but the opposite is simply too much; a theoretical +60hp per turn on top of 200hp and draw/mark bonuses is just too much of an advantage.
My main problem with it is that it actually stifles creativity in vs arena decks as you always need to pack some heavy permanent control to stand a chance... which basically limits you to Entropy (Butterfly Effect) and Earth/Gravity (Pulverizer). I disregard Explosions as they can't really cope with SoG on top of the other shields, weapons, Bonds, Mindgates etc. they will probably throw at you.
That then severely limits your element choices: of all monos, only entropy has a chance and of all duos, you have to either mix something with entropy or go earth/gravity. So people inevitably choose rainbow.
Now the other problem is that SoG cost 3
random quanta. I'll say now I think Sancturies are much better balanced as they at least require 3 quanta from a specific element. This isn't so with SoG and people pretty much throw them in with any deck. This then means that whereas certain deck matchups might have been interesting and balanced (exploiting each others weaknesses etc.), the deck with SoG now always has a clear advantage... unless you have the heavy permanent control I mentioned earlier in which case you're probably using a rainbow.
Knowing this, many decks now also pack black holes as rainbows are really the only viable choice against a reasonable deck. There's not really much you can do about this though as you might try to counter by using a light deck (or combo) and then get screwed by your lack of permanent control againsst all those shards... (perhaps except entropy/light
)
But yea, I personally refuse to use SoG in my arena decks as I feel they're nothing more than a cheap trick. Consequently my win rate hasn't been the best (still managed rank 34 in gold with mono entropy) but I'd like to think at least my matches were much more interesting for the opponeent.
Btw, I'm fine with quantum towers and supernova in the arena, but SoG are just too easy to add to any deck, and basically render the specific healing capabilities of certain elements (Life/Light/Earth/Darkness etc.) obsolete.
TL;DR SummarySoG in Arena decks are overpowered. (they already have enough draw and life advantages etc...)
SoG in decks used to fight arena decks are fine. (we need them to survive False gods and False-god-like deck advantages, )
SoG in Arena decks require massive PC to remove effectively limiting you to entropy, earth/gravity or rainbow.
Unlike Sanctuaries, SoG are not linked to a specific element and so can literally be thrown in with anything.
All this combined massively reduces the viability of all but a few deck combinations versus Arean decks.
I have no problem with quantum towers and supernova in arena decks.
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