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Character Trait Trends

Page history last edited by Darth Trumpetus 12 years, 10 months ago

Character Trait Trends:

Defining your custom personality with Hasbro trends

by Darth Trumpetus

 

Careful comparison and analysis of the 12 Hasbro decks has led to some interesting discoveries concerning character trait trends. By looking at some general characteristics and comparing how those characteristics are treated in the various talent cards in the decks, several trends have emerged which help define character traits. This article will attempt to dissect those trends to illustrate what attributes in the Epic Duels system are “dark side”, “light side” and “fringe” in an effort to help facilitate better custom deck design.

 

Listed directly below is the summary of characteristic trends among the Hasbro Decks. Following the summary list is a detailed breakdown of all the different deck attributes among the various character types.

 

Hasbro Character Trends in Deck Attributes

 

Dark Side:

-Either Heavy Power Attacks or Light attacks (combined with heavy Direct damage).

-Little to no Power Defense

-All have Direct Damage

-Most have Discarding

-Limited Card Draws

-Limited Movement

-Higher HP

 

Light Side:

-Wide Range of mid to high range Power Attacks

-Most have Power Defense

-Limited less frequent Direct Damage

-Limited Discarding (typically has self-inflicted discarding if at all)

-All have Card Draws

-Most have Movement

-Wide Range of HP

 

Fringe (non-force users):

-One or two High Power Attacks and several, middle-range 4-5 attacks

-No Power Defense

-All have Direct Damage

-Limited discarding

-Limited Card Draws

-All have Movement

-No healing majors

-Low HP

 

What follows is a detailed breakdown of all the major deck attributes by character type. Three character types are acknowledged: Dark Siders, Light Siders, and Fringe. Each character type is given an analysis below.

 

The Dark Side

 

What makes a dark side character “dark side” in Epic Duels? By examining four main attributes: attack strength, defend strength, special effects and hit points, we can begin to answer this question. Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Maul and Count Dooku will all be examined and compared to establish “dark side” characteristics.

 

Attack Strength:

Dooku: four A7’s, blue deck; minors have a 5-attack

Maul: three A8’s, lots of 3 and 4 non-action attacks, red deck

Vader: three A3’s, red deck

Palpatine: no power attacks, green deck; minors have a 5-attack

 

In terms of attack strength there are basically two trends, 3-4 large attacks, or virtually no power combat cards at all. So, the Dark Siders either have formidable Power Attacks, or they have either weak ones or none (and make do with something else). There’s no “middle ground” for dark siders in terms of attack strength. So, middle ground power attacks of 4-6 would be somewhat uncharacteristic of the dark side. There is no trend among basic cards, as all three melee deck colors are represented, but it should be noted that two characters have a red deck, and the one character with a Blue Deck was previously a Jedi (Dooku).

 

Defense Strength:

Dooku: Blue Deck

Maul: two D0’s, D10, Red Deck

Vader: Red Deck

Palpatine: Green Deck

 

With the exception of Maul’s one D10, Dark Siders are bereft of Power Defense. Maul does have two D0’s, so technically he has a total of three Power Defense cards, but the D0’s don’t have any defensive qualities, and Maul had a red deck which is devoid of any real defense. So, the general trend for Dark Siders is to either have no Power Defense, or at the *very* least, limited Power Defense.

 

Special Effects:

There are five main special effects in Epic Duels: direct damage, discarding, card draws, movement and healing.

 

-Direct Damage:

Dooku: 2 total points of direct damage (two DD1 cards)

Maul: 6 total points of direct damage (two DD3 cards)

Vader: 14 points to the major, 24 points to the minor (two DD4, three DD2 {major and minor}, three DD6 {minor} cards)

Palpatine: 12 points of direct damage (four DD3 cards)

 

So, here *every* dark side character has some direct damage. But, the trend is basically this: Dark Siders without massive Power Attacks have *lots* of direct damage, and those with lots of Power Attacks have limited direct damage. So, the trend is that Direct Damage appears to be a staple of the Dark Side.

 

-Discarding:

Dooku: one discard 2 at random card

Maul: (non-action attacks indirectly force opponent to use/discard more defense cards than normal)

Vader: one discard all specials card

Palpatine: four discard 1 at random, two discard 2 chosen, one discard entire hand

 

So, here *every* dark side character has some form of discarding, either random discards, opponent chooses, indirect discarding through non-action attacks, or the one game-stopper “discard your entire hand.” With the exception of Palpatine, the other dark siders have limited discarding properities. There is no trend in the type or style of discarding, but there is a trend that all dark siders typically have some sort discarding properties. However, the more combative dark-side, deck types tend to have cards that discard X amount of cards, and the less combative more direct damage oriented decks tend to have more “sweeping” style of discards, like “all specials”, “entire hand”, etc.

 

-Card Draws:

Dooku: total of 10; four draw 1 additional effects, two draw 3

Maul: total of 1; one draw 1 additional effect

Vader: no card draws

Palpatine: total of 2; two draw 1 with additional effect

 

With the exception of Dooku, Dark Siders don’t typically have very many card draws. Maul has 1, and Palpatine has his Future Foreseen which don’t function so much as a card draw as much it is a re-arranging of your top cards. If we view Dooku as an anomaly, then the trend is that Dark Siders don’t typically have card draws, or if they do, it is a very limited. However, we can’t discount Dooku’s card drawing ability completely…so I would argue that his card draws stem from his days as a Jedi (which as we’ll see below, are a staple of the Jedi).

 

-Movement:

Dooku: three move allies 4

Maul: three move 6 additional effects on Power Attacks

Vader: no movement

Palpatine: one exchange places movement

 

The basic trend with movement and Dark Siders is, the more combative the character, the more likely they are to have movement, whereas the less combative the character, the less likely they are to have movement. Palpatine and Vader feature direct damage, and they both have virtually no extra movement cards. Dooku and Maul on the other hand are strict combatants, and they both have three movement cards. So, there is no specific overall “dark side” trend to movement, but there is a deck style trend within the dark side characters.

 

-Healing:

Dooku: none

Maul: none

Vader: two heal X, where X is amount of damage dealt up to 3

Palpatine: two heal 4

 

Just like with movement, healing doesn’t really have a “dark side” trend so much as it has a deck style trend within the dark side. Combatant style decks here don’t feature healing, whereas direct damage non-combatant style decks do. It should be mentioned that Vader’s healing abilities in practice are terrible and are virtually worth nothing, whereas Palpatine’s healing is usually a game-deciding play. So, healing is not a common attribute for Dark Siders in general, but non-combative Dark Siders may have healing.

 

Hit Points:

Dooku: 18 plus two 5HP minors

Maul: 18 plus two 3HP minors

Vader: 20 plus two 4HP minors

Palpatine: 13 plus two 5HP minors

 

In terms of hit points there isn’t a discernable trend, unless you factor in Palpatine’s healing as “indirect hit points.” When do you that it gives Palpatine a total of 21. So, if and when you do that, a trend emerges that shows dark siders can have a higher range of HP hovering somewhere around 18-21. When you consider the general trend of a lack of defense among dark siders, it makes sense that they end up having more average hit points in general.

 

 

The Light Side

 

What makes a light side character “light side” in Epic Duels? By examining four main attributes: attack strength, defend strength, special effects and hit points, we can begin to answer this question. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Yoda and Luke Skywalker will all be examined and compared to establish “light side” characteristics.

 

Attack Strength:

Obi-Wan: three A6, two A7, blue deck

Anakin: two A8, one A9, one A6, red deck

Mace: two A5, four potential A9, blue deck

Yoda: two A6, green deck

Luke: two A4 (potential A10), two A7, red deck

 

Light Siders have a wide range of attack strength, but one thing remains constant, they *all* have Power Combat attacks. Some have a lot more (Obi, Mace, Anakin) than others (Luke, Yoda), but they all have some. There is no trend among Light Siders in terms of basic cards as all three melee choices are represented, but Blue and Red decks are used with the same and greater frequency than green. It should be noted however, that the two characters with red decks are Padawans (or an almost jedi in the case of Luke), whereas the Jedi Masters have either Blue or Green.

 

Defense Strength:

Obi-Wan: three D12s, blue deck

Anakin: two DAll, red deck

Mace: four potential D9, blue deck

Yoda: two D15, one DAll, green deck

Luke: red deck

 

With the exception of Luke, the general trend for Light Siders is to have Power Defense, and lots of it. Three of the five light siders have at least 3 Power Defense cards of 9 and higher. Unlike Dark Siders who are basically bereft of Power Defense, a staple of any Light Side character is to have some Power Defense. Luke is a special case, and I would argue that his I Will Not Fight You card functions as a form of indirect defense in that it forces his opponent to discard all attack cards greater than 1. So, in some sense all light side characters have power defense.

 

Special Effects:

There are five main special effects in Epic Duels: direct damage, discarding, card draws, movement and healing.

 

-Direct Damage:

Obi-Wan: none

Anakin: 2 total points to major, 21 total points to minor (two DD1 additional effect cards {major or minor}, three DD7 cards {minor})

Mace: 8 total points (two DD4 to multiple targets cards)

Yoda: 6+X total points (two DD3 cards, one redirect AX)

Luke: none

 

There is no light-side trend for direct damage. Some have it, and some don’t. In general though, it appears that direct damage balances out to an average of “limited” for light siders. Two don’t have any, two have a fair amount (though still much less than the dark side) and one has a very small amount to the major and a huge amount to the minor, thus balancing out to a more limited usage among Light Siders on average.

 

-Discarding:

Obi-Wan: one discard entire hand (also self-inflicted discarding penalty, opponent then gets to draw 3 new cards as well)

Anakin: none (self-inflicted discarding penalties)

Mace: none

Yoda: two reveal hand choose a card for opponent to discard, three opponent choose 3 to discard

Luke: three discard all attack card greater than 1 (self inflicted discarding)

 

There is no general Light Side trend in regards to discarding, but with the exception of Obi-Wan, there is a deck style trend. Mace and Anakin feature heavy combatant decks, and they have no opponent discarding properties. Yoda and Luke feature unique rather non-combatant style decks and they have several unique discarding properties. Obi-Wan’s Force Balance destroys this general deck style trend however as his is a heavily combatant deck with one of the most deadly discarding cards possible: discard entire hand. Take the discarding trend for light siders with a grain of salt, but in general the more combatant the light side deck, the less likely they are to have discarding properties. It should be noted that with the exception of Yoda, all Light Siders with discarding properties against their opponents, also have self-inflicted discarding penalties as well. So, a case could be made that while in general the Light Side is low on discarding, if a Light Sider has discarding properties, it generally comes with a self-inflicting penalty as well.

 

-Card Draws:

Obi-Wan: total of 9; six draw 1 additional effects, one draw 3 new cards (after discarding hand)

Anakin: potential total of 11; one discard a card to draw a card, two draw 5 if last card played

Mace: total of 6; six draw 1 additional effects

Yoda: total of 4; four draw 1 additional effects

Luke: total of 8; two draw 1 additional effects, three draw 2 additional effects

 

Here *all* Light Siders have the ability to potentially draw at least four additional cards during the game. This is a huge amount of card draws compared to Dark Siders. The card draws typically come as an additional effect on Power Combat cards, but they also appear occasionally on Special cards. As Dooku was once a Jedi, this might explain why he has a massive amount of card draws, which is uncharacteristic of the other Dark Siders.

 

-Movement:

Obi-Wan: three move 8, three move 6 additional effects, two move all 3 additional effects

Anakin: two move 8, three move adjacent to minor, one move minor 6 additional effect

Mace: four move 5

Yoda: no movement

Luke: three move major and minor 6

 

The trend for Light Siders and movement is different than Dark Siders. Unlike Dark Siders there really isn’t a deck style trend for movement. In general Light Siders have at least three movement cards, which don’t necessarily have to be tied to a Power Combat card. With the exception of Yoda, all Light Siders have movement.

 

-Healing:

Obi-Wan: none

Anakin: heal minor up to 4

Mace: none

Yoda: none

Luke: two heal Luke up to 3

 

Healing comes at a premium regardless of the light side/dark side connotation. Luke and Palpatine are the only major characters to have direct healing cards, and both have either limited HP, defense, or both. There is no trend among light side users, but curiously the two healing cards among the light side decks belong to the female minors Padme and Leia.

 

Hit Points:

Obi-Wan: 18, two 4HP minors

Anakin: 18, one 10HP minor

Mace: 19, two 4HP minors

Yoda: 15, two 4HP minors

Luke: 17, one 10HP minor

 

Unlike the dark side, the Light Siders don’t really have a hit point trend. Yoda and Luke break what would have been an 18-19 HP trend among the Jedi. There is a wide range of 15-19 for Light Siders (the range for all combined majors is 13-20).

 

 

The Fringe

 

What makes a Fringe character “Fringe” in Epic Duels? By examining four main attributes: attack strength, defend strength, special effects and hit points, we can begin to answer this question. Boba Fett, Jango Fett and Han Solo will all be examined and compared to establish “Fringe” characteristics.

 

Attack Strength:

Boba: one A9, two A7, three A4, yellow deck

Jango: two A7, three A3 (potential A6), three A4, yellow deck

Han: one A11, two A5, three A4, yellow+ deck and minor has 5-attack

 

There are three basic trends among the Fringe, aside from them all being the only “shooter” decks. First, all feature one or two “big” attacks. Second they all have several mid-range Power Combat attacks, and third they all feature Yellow decks.

 

Defense Strength:

Boba: yellow deck

Jango: yellow deck

Han: yellow+ deck

 

All Fringe characters have 0 Power Defends. Han has a tweaked Yellow deck with one additional defense point, so a case could be made that Fringe characters that associate with the Light Side *could* be given limited extra defense. But in general Fringe characters have no power defense, especially those associated with the Dark Side, because power defense is reserved for force users, especially those affiliated with the Light Side.

 

Special Effects:

There are five main special effects in Epic Duels, direct damage, discarding, card draws, movement and healing.

 

-Direct Damage:

Boba: 12 total DD (two DD4 multiple targets, two DD2 cards)

Jango: 6 total DD (three DD2 cards)

Han: 10 total DD (two DD2, two DD3 cards)

 

Direct Damage is a feature of Fringe Characters. On average they tend to have about as much direct damage as the Dark Siders. So, a trend of Fringe Characters is to have plenty of Direct Damage.

 

-Discarding:

Boba: none

Jango: none

Han: three discard 1 random if damage is done

 

Fringe characters do not feature discarding. Han is the only character with any discarding properties, and even then it is not a guarantee. This is a staple of force-users, specifically the Dark Siders.

 

-Card Draws:

Boba: potential total of 5 (one draw 2 additional effect, one potential draw 3 additional effect)

Jango: draw 3 (4 on Kamino Platform)

Han: total of 1 (one draw 1 additional effect, plus discard pile recycling…)

 

There really isn’t much of a trend in card draws, but what little card draws do appear among Fringe characters tends to be very limited. Fringe characters have more card draws than the dark side, but not nearly as much as the light side. So, their trend is somewhere between the two.

 

-Movement:

Boba: three move anywhere, two move minor adjacent to any character

Jango: five move anywhere (1 is a minor move)

Han: three move 5 (one is a minor move), two move opponent 3

 

Movement is a staple of Fringe. The Fetts have their Rocket Packs which give them much needed mobility, and even the heroic Han has extra movement.

 

-Healing:

Boba: none

Jango: none

Han: minor heals up to 4

 

With the exception of Han’s minor character, Fringe typically don’t have healing cards. Healing in general is not a common special effect for any of the character types, but among major Fringe characters, it is completely absent. Healing in general is reserved for force sensitive users.

 

Hit Points:

Boba: 14, one minor 10HP

Jango: 15, one minor 10 HP

Han: 13, one minor 15HP

 

There is a HP trend among Fringe characters. They all fall within a range of 13-15, which is considerably lower than any of the force sensitive characters. Combine that with the fact that they don’t have power defense either, and it becomes obvious why extra movement is a staple of the Fringe.

 

In summary, when creating any custom deck, it is helpful to know these trends. Not all light side characters will feature all of the light side trends, just like not all dark siders will feature only dark side trends. But if most of the trends are followed, it will help create a more balanced and consistent Epic Duels custom universe.

 

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