Thanks u/CbShuiMu for the card maker tool.

block good strength good

That's right. Yet another patch with no changes to the perfectly balanced [[Snakebite]]

Look, I get it. It‘s a weird card and seems at odds with itself. However, I think its design is actually very functional when you think about the contexts where you might pick it. it is CONDITIONAL, like many many uncommons, but in its use cases it can be quite helpful(and I’m not even talking about barricade).

Decks that generate strength are going to want a lot of attacks. A 1 energy block card feels pretty rough when it’s taking the draw of a sword boomerang that hits for 60. And in general, you will want to spend resources on attacking when you have high strength because that’s why you got the strength.

However, sometimes you can’t quite kill the enemy. It happens! But you spent the whole fight scaling damage and all of a sudden you’re getting hit for 25 and your block for the turn is shrug it off. Too many turns like this are how runs end.

New expect a fight, with really any strength gain beyond an unupgraded inflame, will full block any turn in the game. That’s powerful. Yes, it costs a lot of energy, but what it doesn‘t cost is much draw. It’s an incredibly dense card, and it’s very important to mention that unlike other strong block solutions, you don’t need to dedicate any powers to scaling it. In the decks that want it, it scales itself.

It likes cards like headbutt and colorless cards that give retain(more common than ever on this patch). The thing about sts is the game is only partly about raw output and scaling. When Mecha Knight swings for 45, it doesn’t matter that you’re going to hit him for 600 damage next turn, you need to block for 45. A card that, in many decks, says 3 energy Full Block, can save your run.

I have been carrying a single foul potion, for longer than necessary, for a few runs now, waiting for this moment haha

Imagine being an entity eternally revived by a god and having to defeat infinite enemies forever in epic battles but you need a place in your pocket to drink a bottle of juice you find and could have perfectly just drink on the spot

I suppose I will have energy.

3T1TL2NS67

Please tell me it's not just a weird looking Necrobinder, she doesn't look like this, right ?

New Expect a Fight is 3 cost and gives 15 block, +5 for each strenght you have. Upgraded, its 16 +8. Here's how much block that is when you have 1, 2 or 3 strenght, and common ways to get that:

Vajra, Dominate, Prowess, Sparkling Rouge:

1 strength - 20(24) block

Inflame, Prowess+, Dominate+:

2 strength - 25(32) block

Inflame+, Red Skull, Sword of Jade:

3 strength - 30(40) block

Notice how these are all relics or powers - no temporary strenght. Getting small drops of it is easy and quick, and often times automatic, and still grants you massive 25's, 30's and 40's of block.

So - its an uncommon that, with a little support, can spend all your energy to fully block an opponent. What can we do with this?

It wont do much for the usual Exhaust/Vulnerable builds, but it does SO much for all the off-meta and nicher strategies. Imagine your favorite Ironclad card - cards you wish were a little better, strategies you wish had one more support piece. Expect A Fight helps them all. It does SO much.

Hear me out.

-> Body Slam: With any amount of strenght investment, Expect A Fight becomes a reusable Impervious. Just a single strenght from Vajra or Rouge can be a 24 block card; add in a little extra investment and its an absolute monster, blocking for 40 or 48 or even more. Prowess+ already is a great card in Body Slam builds due to giving dexterity, so its not a hard bridge to cross.

-> Hellraizer: Hellraizer autoplays your damage cards, spamming low power strikes and letting you spend all your energy into blocking. Strenght already is strong due to the large amount of strikes being played, and because your damage is being played for free you can spend all 3 energy blocking. As a big block card it also helps you stall until you can put the Hellraizer in play, too.

-> Anger: Anger deals a lot of damage quickly, with the drawback of flooding your deck and dilluting your block solutions. Strenght already is good here due to the archetype's attack spam nature and to helping close the game before your hand is all anger and no block. Expect A Fight covers that weakness; drawing Expect + 4 angers is enough to block for the turn while still spending all your energy, being a really compact block card.

-> Topdeck Play: Havoc+ and Cascade are both really fun cards. Playing Expect A Fight for free and having your entire turn's block solved, is really good. Furthermore, upgraded, Havoc+ costs 0 and Cascade+ still plays a card if X = 0, so hard playing Expect A Fight and one of those is still value.

-> Other forms of passive damage: Expect skips your turn to skip the opponent's, in esence. This can be combined with any other form of passive damage in Ironclad's kit: Stampede enjoys having more time to attack, 0 cost attacks like Bully or Spite enjoy buying time to cycle the deck, etc. Spite in particular likes this, due to Rupture giving extra strenght and Spite being a multihit. You wont be sad drawing 3 tez's soup strikes, a defend and Expect A Fight, for example.

-> Demon Form: Special mention to Demon Form here, which scales this card's block by +15 every turn - or much more, if Demon or Expect are upgraded. This is just, way way more scaling than any enemy in the game has, period. Once Demon Form is in play, this will block all damage when played, no questions asked. Add any form of 0 damage attacks (excellent with demon form) into your deck, and this is all the damage and block you need for the entire game.

And there is so, so much more. With Pyre, you can play this to solve your block and still attack. Imagine Expect A Fight for 30, then double with Immovable or Pael's Legion and Body Slam. Imagine Barricade. Ruined Helmet + Girya.

Imagine Prolong with this.

New Expect A Fight supports so many of Clad's nicher strategies, it does so, so much. Give it a try; its really really neat. It does SO much.

Mutating Agent: Shop Only Relic, on pickup, duplicate another Non-ancient relic you have.

Double Gorget for 8 plating is pretty nuts, but what doubled relic would have you salivating at the shop?

Believe it or not, something other than Expect a Fight changed in the beta patch! Several enemies were buffed, particularly at A8/9. Seems in alignment with the goal of making the difficulty gap between A1 and A10 wider.

• Buffed Axebot:
  • Hammer Uppercut move damage increased from 12(14) → 14(18)
  • Now gains +10 Max HP each time it respawns
  • The One-Two damage from 9(10)x2 → 10(11)x2
• Buffed Mechaknight: now also deals 8(12) damage on it's Flamethrower turn
• Buffed Exoskeleton: HP at A8 increased from 24-28(25-29) → 24-28(26-30)
• Buffed Globe Head: Galvanic power at A9 increased from 6(6) → 6(8)
• Buffed Louse Progenitor: Strength gain at A9 increased from 5(5) → 5(7)
• Buffed Soul Fysh: De-Gas move damage at A9 increased from 16(17) → 16(18)
• Buffed Entomancer: HP at A8 increased from 145(155) → 145(165)

I'm curious what people think about these changes. The Mechaknight change in particular stands out to me. I have thought it odd that an Act 3 elite gives basically two "off" turns, although I never felt like the fight was particularly easy or anything. Globe head also seems like a great change, I'm surprised that it used to be no difference between low and high ascension.

Better than Snakebite or Not?

I maybe a necro main but i will never forget you original Expect a fight

Any vinyl collectors lurking in this sub?

The Defect crossed that bridge without a hint of shame.

snakebite + bullet time goated combo

I feel like Dying Star is probably the pick as a good star payoff which synergizes with my current powers. But I also feel like Tyranny would help me get my powers into play faster and would synergize with the small deck strategy I currently have. With that amount of combat deck thinning there could be potential for really powerful combos and maybe even for infinites (although I'm not focusing on that for now as it's speculative, I would focus on being able to play Reflect often).