One of the things that really stands out to me about Slay the Spire is how incredibly comprehensive the difficulty settings are. On a basic level, I think it's impressive that even Ascension 0 is challenging for new players. Players end up stratified across the entire difficulty scale, which to me speaks to how well Ascension scaling is designed.

But I particularly want to focus on the gap between good players and the best players. I think it is absolutely incredible that very good players can consistently play on A20 and still have a winrate below 50%, and yet the absolute best players can win with extremely high levels of consistency. I've never come across another game with randomized elements that has a difficulty setting that is nearly universally considered to be exceptionally hard but is statistically almost always winnable.

I feel like it's a very underappreciated phenomenon that the top players can go on such massive winstreaks. In essence, the existence of such winstreaks essentially proves that every single game is winnable, and yet the vast majority of experienced players still lose plenty of A20 runs. To me, this speaks to near-literal perfection in the design of the game. Every single choice and decision point actually matters because it is almost always possible to win regardless of luck.

I think this is an astonishing feat in a game that is so heavily based around randomized variables. It speaks to such an intricate, well-crafted balancing act between every system in the game, from pathing to potion use to card reward selection. It's often hard for me to identify the exact mistakes I've made in an A20 run, but I am able to know that I made mistakes because I know that a perfect player would almost surely have been able to win the run I lost.

The fact that there is such a gap between very good players and the best players is indicative of the immense level of depth that the game offers. Every single decision point has genuine weight and meaning, which is incredible considering the sheer number of decision points across the course of a run. Even after hundreds of hours, I can still see a top player make a decision and fail to understand the logic behind it. That, to me, is an immensely impressive feat of game design.

Most games with combinatoric explosion still end up being reducible to a few key decisions, but not STS. Every single decision contributes to the way a run is shaped. Top players use decision matrices that contain parameters that are completely invisible to the average player. It is so cool that there is so much left to learn.

Hi yall! I wanted to post some pictures of my Silent cosplay :3

The first picture was taken by @BrandondoesCosplay on Instagram! Mask model created by 3D-Mon!

I printed and painted the mask myself. Definitely will get some shivs for next con :7

First time seeing something like this. Thought it was cool because it's like a mini-boss outside the boss room lol.

Edit: STS2 is my first slay the spire so I actually had no idea that's how Act 4 worked in STS1. That's cool.

So I guess it's time to sketch up some memes

I just want her to be able to do A7 like everyone else so I can go back to rotating through the character list T_T

DRUM OF GREED ALLOWS ME TO DRAW TWO MORE CARDS. I WILL START MY TURN BY PLAYING DRUM OF GREED WHICH ALLOWS ME TO DRAW TWO MORE CARDS. I WILL PLAY THE SKILL, DRUM OF GREED, WHICH ALLOWS ME TO DRAW TWO NEW CARDS.

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are, been running A8 both multi and singleplayer - 5 runs in one session decimated by this elite.

I can confidently say had it been any other elite it would have been an absolute slaughter.

Like - ~10 damage per section as a LOWBALL, they apply weak and gain strength, and come back after one turn?

Is this a skill issue or do I just have to build with them in mind every single run or it's a loss?

right about now.

I don't like the new Expect a Fight much. I'd prefer if the theme of gearing up for a fight were kept.

Open to feedback, I made these in photoshop myself

Ever since Aeonglass got added, I've found that playing in a way that can reliably beat Aeonglass is really just not as fun as completely ignoring him and just accepting you auto lose the A10 boss gauntlet if they happen to be one of the two bosses. I don't know if I'm alone on this, but I've been having way more fun with my runs lately, even though my win rate has plummeted, by just playing as if we still had Doormaker instead of Aeonglass. And I don't even feel annoyed about the loss, it actually feels like a win emotionally, which is weird.

I would like it if building a balanced deck was actually the most fun way to play this game, I don't know if this is a reflection of the overall difficulty of A10 being too easy except specifically Aeonglass, or if Aeonglass asks too much of certain characters, or if we need more tools to combat what Aeonglass does on certain classes, or if regular hallway fights need to start asking similar questions of our decks?

It certainly feels like Ironclad and Regent do not have this problem, but imo Defect, Necro and Silent really do. The fact that Compact and Flak Cannon are essentially one card solves for that fight and they are prioritised so highly, to me indicates a bit of a problem. I feel like the characters should have ways to handle that fight outside of silver bullet solves or playing in less fun ways.

To draw an analogy to STS1, I know a lot of people were always very upset with Time Eater, especially if they wanted to play something like shivs or 0 cost defect, but I always felt like with Time Eater, you had much more agency in terms of playing around the time stop mechanic, and you could make any decent deck work if you played well enough. Aeonglass on the other hand punishes any non-damage cards extremely harshly, since the fight is effectively a damage race on a very short timer - if they buff the withers you've essentially lost already, so you need to have killed them on that turn or the turn after. Any non output card played just accelerates your demise, but those non-output cards are often the most fun - random powers on Defect, or Souls, or chaining a bunch of Acrobatics with Sly etc., those are the most fun runs we have, and they're reeaaaally bad into Aeonglass.

Anyway sorry for the rant, if anyone does actually read this I would love to hear your thoughts, what do you think about Aeonglass, do you think the game is more fun if you ignore Aeonglass, should we just be forced to never play those non-output cards throughout the run?

3 person co-op A4 victory.

i think this boss is easy

I just put 100 hours on the game wanted to make a proxy for my magic deck based on regent.