JustAddBacon Howdy y’all! My name is Just Add Bacon, and yah, this isn’t a meta report. I know, it’s been quite a while since I’ve produced one. My editors are mad too, and are even threatening to leave the basement because of it. But, with Skyweaver’s first expansion, Clash of Inventors, rolling out, the meta has been chaotic. After the preliminary waves of nerfs, early contenders for most powerful cards of the expansion have been toned down, and the meta has yet to settle. If you want my quickest thoughts, put your money in Wisdom and Intellect, but that’s not the focus of this article.
As those who have argued with me for more than five minutes probably know, I love philosophy. Specifically, I fall into the “analytic” tradition, which is where a bunch of academics with too much free time sit around thinking really hard about what words mean. So that’s what I’m going to do today! The following is a dictionary of terms common to discourse around Skyweaver, as well as other TCGs. It was produced in collaboration with my wonderful friends in Fox Fang, and is aimed at beginner and intermediate level players. Some terms will carry over from other TCGs, while others may be distinct to Skyweaver. Whether you’re new to the game, or have been here since alpha, this dictionary is intended to be helpful to all. So, without further ado, here it is!
General Concepts
AOE
Area of Effect. AOE effects are generally distinguished by their ability to hit multiple targets. They may affect units, heroes, or both at the same time. Most aoe effects are in the form of aoe damage spells, like {{Burninate}}, {{Frigid Blizzard}}, and {{Seal of Doom}}. Other options may not involve damage, such as {{Waterline}}. Some aoe spells target allies, such as {{Full Bloom}} and {{Blaze of Glory}}. These are usually called “aoe buffs.” Other aoe effects may be on units, such as {{Allbane}} and {{Titanic}}. While aoe effects generally have greater potential for value, they tend to cost more than options that only hit a single target. They may also be less efficient for dealing with a single large target, such as {{Dracomantium}}.
Attachment
A mechanic unique to Skyweaver. Attachments come in two flavors, attached spells and enchantments. In either form, they are always “attached” to a character, either a hero or unit. Attachments are playable only while the character they are attached to is on board, and frequently provide additional cards to players. Examples include {{Xavi}}, {{Void Knight}}, {{Heavy Cavalry}}, {{Chester}}, {{Fox Familiar}}, and many others.
Balance
The actual design of the game, specifically its cards and mechanics. Balance is generally considered a synonym with fairness.
Brick
Refers to when a player’s hand has few available options, despite holding a large number of cards. Bricking is more common in the earlier stages of a game, especially when a player’s starting hand is of poor quality.
Buff (Game Balance)
A change made to a card that increases the usefulness of the card.
“Ever since {{Void Knight}} got that buff where its cost was reduced, I’ve found it a much better card.”
Buff (Gameplay)
An effect that increases the usefulness of a card for that game.
“{{Flame Sword}} grants lifesteal, fury, and +2 power to a unit, making it a unique buff option for the Strength prism.”
Burn
Damage that hits the enemy hero. Some units or spells may be called “burn” units/spells. This refers to cards whose primary function in a deck is dealing damage to the enemy hero. This is in contrast to cards whose primary function may be removing enemy units, drawing, disruption, ect. Some cards do burn damage in addition to other serving other roles, such as {{Kha’s Wrath}}. Some aggressive decks are called “Burn Decks,” where a large number of cards support a win condition of quickly dealing damage to the enemy through effects. Burn cards are frequently balanced by being poor in other areas, such as higher costs, poor stats (if it is a unit), or little ability to generate card advantage. See {{Bolt}}, {{Chomp}}, {{Zoomie}}, and {{Shockpaw}}.
Card Advantage
Refers to a numerical comparison between the number of cards two players have. A player is said to have “card advantage” when they possess more cards than their opponent.
Clear
A synonym for remove. “Clearing board” or “clearing the board” is also a common phrase, which generally only refers to the enemy board. Sometimes it may actually refer to the whole board, both player’s included.
“I’ll play {{It’s a Trap!}} and clear board.” “But you’ll still have that {{Cobalt}}?” “Yes. And?”
Combo (gameplay)
Refers to a synergistic use of cards, wherein the effects of two or more cards creates an especially powerful effect. See {{Leonitus}} + {{Drone Swarm}}, or {{Hot Dog}} + {{Fire Rune}}. Combos are a centerpiece of the design of the Intellect prism, but can be found in every prism.
Curve
Generally refers to available mana at a specific time, usually in relation to a card’s cost. For example, cards that are “higher on the curve” cost more, while cards that are “lower” cost less. The term originates from a graphical display of each card’s stat total (power + health + effects) in relation to their mana cost. Cards that are “above the curve” are said to be more powerful than the average card at their cost, while cards that are “below the curve” are said to be less powerful than the average card at their cost. For example, when played with its attachment, {{Sapphire}} is functionally a 3c 5/5, which is a few stat points higher than most other 3c units currently available.
“Curving Out” is an expression that relates to this concept, and refers to a player using most or all of their mana efficiently over multiple terms.
Face
Refers to either your hero or the enemy hero. Generally used as a stand-in, and can often be synonymous with health.
“Going Face” = Attacking the hero
“Face Damage” = Damage to a hero
Floater
A unit that replaces itself with another card, and sometimes more than one. See {{Chester}}, {{Crypto}}, {{Shade}}, {{Zapeta}}, {{Heavy Cavalry}}, {{Angler}}.
Fox Fang
The guild that I run, of which you are currently seeing an advertisement for. The oldest standing guild in Skyweaver, we have open membership, and seek to foster community for the game.
Gas
Generally refers to cards that draw more cards, especially cards that are cost-efficient. See {{Firesight}}, {{Hydrate}}, {{Treasure Chest}}, and {{Cross Reference}}. Sometimes, gas may refer to a unit, although this usage is less common.
Greed
Focused on card value, usually at great expense to tempo. See {{Arcadeum Mask}}, {{Prismata}}, {{Floodwater}}.
Highroll
Lucky. Another term, Lowroll, carries the inverse meaning, unlucky.
Inevitability
The quality of being more likely to win a game as it continues. Decks with inevitability are generally at an advantage when their opponent has poor aggression, and disadvantaged when their opponent’s aggression is strong, since they don’t get to leverage their inevitability as well.
Ladder
Refers to the queue for the leaderboard, where players are ranked. Playing “in ladder” is distinct from playing the game’s “conquest” mode, and has rewards at the end of certain periods of time called seasons.
Lethal
The act of reducing a player’s health to 0, thereby winning the game. The act of “missing lethal” involves a player, usually accidentally, overlooking a play that would allow them to win the game. See: AlphaSapphire.
Main Deck
Sometimes abbreviated as MD, Md, or md, the main deck refers to the 25 ~ 30 cards that are chosen by a player to start in their deck for games in the constructed mode of play. This is as opposed to cards that didn’t start within the original deck, which is a recurring mechanic in Skyweaver called “out of deck”.
Meta
The present state of the game, specifically what things are effective and what aren’t.
“Heatwave hasn’t been a meta build for months now, why do you keep bringing it up?”
Mill
To discard from the deck. The term originates from a card in Magic the Gathering called Millstone, which allowed the user to discard cards from the opponent’s deck directly to their discard pile.
Mulligan
Normally refers to the opening 7 ~ 8 cards chosen by players at the start of the game. It may also refer to effects that return some or all of a player’s hand to the deck before drawing cards. See {{Canny Mask}}, {{Windweave}}.
“I only had bad cards to choose from in the opening mulligan.”
“Windweave is a spell that mulligans a player’s hand.”
Nerf
A change made to a card that decreases the usefulness of the card.
“Ever since {{Trailblazer}} got that nerf where its cost was increased, I’ve found it a much worse card.”
OOD
“Out of deck.” Refers to cards that did not start within the original deck, either in a constructed or discovery mode game. These cards may appear from conjure effects such as {{Prismata}} and {{Encapsulate}}, or from drawing while there are no remaining targets within the original deck. An “ood war” refers to a situation where both players have exhausted the majority of their main decks, and the bulk of their plays involve cards that are generated from ood.
Overpowered
Stronger than the card ought to be. The term “overpowered” is generally used in a game balance sense, where players that call a card overpowered (sometimes also called “OP” or “op” for short) believe that card should be nerfed. Similar terms include “pushed” and “overtuned” which indicate roughly the same thing, but to a lesser, and more specific degree.
Pushed: A card is purposefully stronger than average to support a specific design goal.
“Yah, {{Steam Knight}} may be a bit op, but it’s pushed to help strength with controlling board.”
Overtuned: A card is slightly overpowered, generally from niche elements or interactions.
“It’s unfortunate that you can’t play {{chomp}} onto your own units for lethal anymore, but the card was slightly overtuned.”
“Damage Over the top”
Damage capable of ignoring guard. The term revolves around the analogy of guard units being “walls,” so damage that ignores them goes “over the top [of the walls].”
Ping
A small instance of damage, usually just one.
“A ping from {{Zap}} only heals me for one health, but that may become important later.”
“Punch”
Attacking with a hero.
“Punch the 2/1 to clear it, then play Waterline to remove the bigger unit.”
Ramp
An effect that raises a player’s max mana.
“{{Take Root}} ramps just me for one mana, while {{Turtor}} ramps both players.”
Smurf
A new account made by a player who is not a beginner. Players may do this for a number of reasons, such as unlock / level up bonuses, anonymity, deck testing, or others.
Spell-Searcher
A unit that immediately draws a spell onto itself on play. There’s at least one spell searcher for each element, as well as a few miscellaneous searchers. See {{Light Ranger}}, {{Earth Warden}}, {{Hot Dog}}, {{Lau Sensi}}, {{Carrion Crow}}, {{Angler}}, {{Cobalt}}, {{Enigma Golem}}, {{Inspirator}}, and {{Ghost Duster}}.
Swarm
A type of deck that focuses on playing a large number of small units. Generally a tactic of aggro decks, it is on occasion utilized successfully by other archetypes. Swarm may also refer to a card that plays multiple units at once. See {{Micro-Swarm}}, {{Flurry}}. Some decks that focus heavily on swarming the board are called “Zoo” decks.
T(x)
The turn of the game. For example, T1 means turn 1, although it can refer to either player. T1 P1 refers to Turn 1, Player 1, and is more specific. Counting turns can be a way of examining how cards interact with the mana curve, but sometimes doesn’t capture the full picture, due to effects such as ramping.
Tempo
A somewhat vague term, tempo generally refers to the “speed” of play, or cards, or turns as a whole. Similar to card strength, tempo can be thought of as “bang for your buck,” except in this case the question is “How much stuff is this card doing for its price, with price being the primary focus.” For example, cheap banner options such as {{Gus}} and {{Fire Rune}} are “high tempo” cards, given that banner is often a removal tool and they also provide other effects. Supposing a 3c unit can be removed with banner, Fire Rune allows the unit to be killed for 2 less mana than it was played for. It also grants the player card draw, and buffs a unit, all for one mana. This play is dense in effects, and very cheap. Now consider something like {{Kha’s Wrath}}. {{Kha’s Wrath}} can kill a whole enemy board of units as long as they have 3 health or less. It also dusts them, does three points of lifestealing-burn, and any units that weren’t killed will lose 3 power. Kha’s Wrath has a similar “density” of effects to Fire Rune, but costs 8 mana. Because it’s so expensive, it’s generally considered to be a “low tempo” card, even though its effect is generally stronger.
Trade
Engaging a unit in combat with another unit. Trades generally refer to instances where both units die, but the term is also used to refer to instances where one unit isn’t removed from the board. Even though it doesn’t quite make grammatical sense, the word is also frequently used with “into.” My theory for why this is is that “trade” is functionally working as a standin for “attack,” but better describes the interaction in terms of card value.
“I’ll trade my ember wolf into his, clearing the board.”
Topdeck
Drawing a card right as it is needed at the start of a player’s turn.
“I thought that {{Undergrowth}} play would be the end of me, but I topdecked {{Whelm}} and got bailed out.”
Toxic
Exceptionally bad for the game.
Value
Similar to tempo, value describes “bang for your buck,” although in this case it generally refers to numerical card advantage. Every deck focuses on value to some degree, be it through trading units, drawing cards, or even just killing the opponent before they can take advantage of relatively superior value cards (this is essentially every matchup between an aggro deck and a control deck).
Wincon
Short for Win Condition. Strictly speaking, Skyweaver has one available “win condition,” which is the rule “when your opponent reaches zero health, you win the game.” However, this isn’t what wincon usually refers to. Rather, wincon generally refers to the condition one must meet to win. Whatever this condition is it generally guarantees lethal, but it’s the condition that is far more important to understanding the deck. For some decks the wincon may be “rush down my opponent before they can act,” “kill them with direct burn damage to the face,” “control the board with superior units,” or something else. This is not an exhaustive list, as anything that reliably secures lethal can be considered a wincon.
Advanced Concepts
Archetype
An archetype is a classification for decks that groups them into a distinguishable pattern of play. Archetypes tend to hold similar themes across tcgs, but may appear different in practice from game to game. For our purposes, archetypes generally focus on a secondary wincon, such as board control. Decks following the mold of an archetype generally dedicate the majority of their cards towards executing the wincon of the archetype well, with a few cards dedicated towards answering other decks and archetypes.
The archetypes listed below are the primary archetypes, but they are not necessarily the only ones. Many times it makes sense to describe a deck as being a fusion (aggro-combo and midrange-control hybrids are not unheard of) or as a function of some primary cards ({{Etherwail}}.) Archetypes are primarily an analysis and teaching tool, not a hard rule, and the way that they interact with a game is largely determined by game balance. Despite all of this, understanding archetypes is an important step in understanding why games are won and lost, and how to deckbuild. Archetypes can also be a helpful tool in navigating a match, giving a clearer picture of how certain decks will operate when only a handful of cards are known. At the same time, archetypes only ever follow general rules at best, so it’s important to also keep the specific cards in mind when discussing interactions.
Aggro (Archetype)
Most archetypes generally exist along a tempo-value continuum, with aggro decks being the most heavily invested into tempo. They aim to beat down opponents in the early stages of the game, and win fast. Aggro decks come in many flavors, but most focus on a few similar traits.
- A majority of the units are relatively low cost.
- {{Fox Familiar}}, {{Potion Seller}}, {{Hax}}, {{Cobalt}}, {{Sidekick}}, {{Hot Dog}}, {{Sonic Jammer}}
- The deck’s removal primarily focuses on tempo, rather than value. Sometimes value efficient removal will also be employed, but only when it doesn’t compromise tempo much.
- {{Strike Down}}, {{Grim Reprisal}}, {{Impale}}, {{Hail of Arrows}}
- Additionally, 1-2 “wallbreakers” are generally ran to deal with larger units, such us {{Great Gusto}} or {{Sunder}}.
- Draw options are few in number, and mostly focused on small gains in value.
- {{Firesight}}, {{Cross Reference}}, {{Treasure Chest}} ({{Turn the Tide}} kinda blows up this definition a little but Wisdom will be Wisdom)
- Some amount of burst damage present. Some aggro decks focus heavily on burn damage, while others which are more focused on board control run a smaller set of options.
- {{Speedster}}, {{Run Wild}}, {{Chomp}}, {{Epic Eagle}}, {{Kha’s Wrath}}, {{Tiamat’s Rage}}.
Combo (Archetype)
An archetype where the wincon is successfully using a specific combination of cards. Combo decks are generally the vaguest archetype, but can be broken up into two classifications. OTK (One Turn Kill) combos utilize a set of cards that immediately guarantee lethal. All OTK decks do this through damage, be it either through massive or infinite amounts of damage. Skyweaver currently has no decks that deal infinite damage, but Zam and Lion combo can regularly do more damage than what most decks could hope to endure.
The second variation of Combo decks are the Non-OTK decks, or simply Combo decks. These decks vary wildly in shape and size, but the key difference is that their titular combo, while powerful, doesn’t end the game. Decks like Etherwail and Grover-Phoenix Turbo fall into this category, which help demonstrate the wide bandwidth of the archetype.
Generally, a Combo deck can be identified by these traits:
- Cheap targeted draw spells to find key pieces
- {{Ari’s Insight}}, {{Cast in Chrome}}, {{Eldritch Lore}}
- Removal tools teched for stopping fast aggro decks
- {{Volcanic Potion}}, {{Salvage}}
- Some combo decks forsake removal options and instead double down on speed. When this is done, the speed of the combo becomes the answer to aggro, rather than removal tools.
- Cost reduction and ramping to speed up the combo.
- {{Take Roots}}, {{Orchid}}, {{Seek}}, {{Magnanimous}}
Control (Archetype)
Control is the archetype that I specialize in the most, and it is the mirror opposite of aggro decks. While aggro decks aim to rush down the opponent and overwhelm them with tempo, control decks aim to slow down the game and accumulate superior resources to their opponent, overwhelming them with value and the strength of higher-cost cards. While aggro decks generally have lower curves, control decks are characterized by their top-end (high cost) options. Where aggro’s removal is generally focused on removing units in tempo-efficient trades, control’s removal tends to focus more on value and safety. Higher end aoe spells like {{Burninate}} and {{Kha’s Wrath}} are more common to control decks, and what they lack in speed they make up for in threat removal.
Combining these traits of long-range value generation and powerful removal, the wincon for most control decks can take a few forms. Generally, control decks aim to win by exhausting the opponent’s resources. Given enough +1 trades, a control deck can reduce its opponent to essentially no cards, giving control a win by default. Additionally, control decks can win games by locking their opponents out of their wincon. Aggro decks reliant on board control lose when control secures board control, and burn focused decks lose when the control player has healed beyond their maximum damage reach.
While control decks can vary wildly in the depth of their lategame, they can be identified by a few traits.
- Inevitability against all decks, other than otk decks and greedier control decks.
- Efficient removal for answering aggro.
- Efficient means of generating card advantage
- {{Chester}}, {{Burninate}}, {{Seal of Doom}}, {{Unfollow}}, {{Frigid Blizzard}}
- Top end threats, be they powerful units or spells
- {{Titanic}}, {{B.F.R.}}, {{Prismata}}, {{Arcadeum Mask}}, {{Floodwater}}
- Healing and ramp as enablers for the deck
- {{Take Root}}, {{Gift of Aya}}, {{Gigabloom}}, {{Old Fogey}}, {{Jakintsu}},
- Uniquely, these healing and ramp are useful both against aggro and in control mirrors, but for different reasons. Against aggro, healing gives the control player more time while ramp reduces aggro’s tempo advantage. Against control greater mana generally translates to greater value within the limited number of turns in the game, while additional healing gives the player more hp to trade for card advantage.
- {{Take Root}}, {{Gift of Aya}}, {{Gigabloom}}, {{Old Fogey}}, {{Jakintsu}},
Midrange (Archetype)
Midrange is an archetype that generally focuses on winning through board control. Curiously, the archetype generally tries to control aggro decks while playing aggressively against control decks. It achieves this through a balance of units that are strong overall, without committing too heavily to either tempo or value. To achieve this it generally runs units with above average stats for their costs, with a more limited suite of spells designed to support the units. Additionally, while the cost of units in a midrange deck tend to trend towards the middle of the curve, midrange decks frequently employ units at all stages of the mana curve.
Midrange decks can be identified by the following characteristics
- Units present the primary wincon of the deck, although it’s rarely any unit in particular.
- The bulk of the deck is units
- The units in the deck generally have higher stats than the average unit at their cost.
- Tech options to address competing archetypes, such as a weak aoe for swarm decks.
Prisms
Str
Strength. Focuses on well-statted units, simple-but-powerful effects, and above average aoe and hard removal. Suffers from low draw power, poor sustain, low tempo, simplistic options, and a weakness to strong removal.
Agi / Agy
Agility. Focuses on tempo, explosive openings, burn damage, and niche utility effects. Suffers from high recoil, poor sustain, below average durability on units, low draw power, and weakness to board swings.
Wis
Wisdom. Focuses on value, powerful removal, healing, ramping, and above average defensive units. Suffers against explosive aggro and combo decks, as well as things that can outvalue its removal + draw, such as floaters.
Hrt
Heart. Focuses on resource manipulation, especially the discard pile. It also has a number of floaters, tempo-efficient aoe, healing options, and top end threats, making it a versatile prism. It suffers from having units with below average stats, a weakness to disruption, and being outclassed by more dedicated prisms (For example, it has better value generation than most prisms, but is outclassed by Wisdom. Similarly it has helpful aggro tools like {{Blood Hunter}}, but they are generally not effective without support from a more aggressive prism.)
Int
Intellect. Focuses on synergies between cards, powerful hard removal, powerful aoe, strong top end options and consistency. Suffers from poorly statted units, limited healing, and a weakness to disruption.
Decks
Burn
A variant of aggro which places heavy emphasis on dealing damage through effects, rather than through maintaining board control.
Exhaust
A variant of control utilizing no main-decked finishers. Rather than using them, the deck’s wincon involves reducing the opponent to essentially no cards and winning in an ood war.
Hero + Archetype
Describes a deck following the mold of a specific archetype expressed using the prisms of a specific hero. For example, Titus Aggro is an aggro deck using Strength and Wisdom cards, which is distinct in playstyle from both Iris Aggro and Titus Control.
Hero + Element
A deck revolving around the specific elemental synergies within a hero’s card pool.
Axel Exhaust
A control deck using Wisdom and Heart. Utilizes greedy draw tools ({{Arcadeum Mask}}, {{Prismata}}, {{Ponderous}}) to outvalue other decks, while surviving against aggro with efficient removal, draw, ramping, and healing.
Mai Bloodletter Combo
A combo revolving around {{Bloodletter}}’s effect. {{Nakamoto}} is used to empty the deck, followed by {{Pandora}} and {{Trinketeer}} to reduce the cost of the combo pieces. {{Bloodletter}} is then played with {{Illusion}}, and the player draws as many cards as possible. Since their deck is empty, they take one damage for each, triggering {{Bloodletter}}’s effect. {{Cobalt}}
Fox Heatwave
An aggro deck in Fox using Fire and Air synergies. A favorite of Bacon’s for examples, given the simplicity of the deck and fundamentals it relies upon to be effective. It is currently not at all competitively viable, but makes a strong teaching tool.
Grover Turbo
A combo deck using {{Grover}} to quickly mill 1c units to the user’s discard pile. This can be useful in a number of instances, such as activating effects like {{Sky Channel}}, {{Sky Phoenix}}, or {{World Tree}} quickly, or setting up the player to effectively use {{Etherwail}}.
Horik Light
A midrange deck utilizing light synergies between the Strength and Heart Prisms. Previously it relied on the combination of strong heart draw with efficient strength units, but many of its key pieces have since been nerfed.
Iris Aggro
An aggro deck using Wisdom and Agility cards. Combining Agility’s burn options with Wisdom’s powerful draw and removal, this deck is potent in the early game.
Nakamask
A combo deck using {{Nakamoto}} and {{Iron Mask}} in synergy. Generally, Nakamoto dusts all the spells in the deck, while {{Cobalt}} is used to find Iron Mask from ood. This works when Nakamoto dusts every metal spell other than Iron Mask, leaving it as the only possible target for Cobalt to draw. This is not the only way to build the deck however.
Sitti Cheat
A combo deck that utilized an older version of {{Puppet Master}} to cheat out large units early, such as {{Undragon}} and {{Hydrex}}. The deck is presently non-existant, but is a favorite of Bacon’s for examples of a toxic deck with a roughly balanced win-rate.
Sitti Water
A flexible deck using Heart and Intellect cards, it utilizes a large number of floaters and powerful synergies between water cards, specifically {{Bubbles}} and {{Sapphire}}.
Titus Exhaust
The more expensive variant of Axel Exhaust, using Strength instead of Heart. Titus Exhaust has bigger threats like {{Titanic}} and {{B.F.R.}}, but isn’t quite as efficient when dealing with aggro decks.
{{Zam}}
A otk combo deck revolving around the titular card to secure lethal. Runs a great amount of ramp, cost reduction, and removal. Also frequently uses {{Electron}} with other metal spells to increase its damage reach.
Just Add Bacon is a paragon of pride within the Skyweaver community, working on projects such as Skyweaver Leagues, and his own personal guild, Fox Fang. He is also very active in the competitive scene, holding several pre-launch tournament wins and a +60% winrate in constructed conquest. His favorite decks are Horik Control and Fire Fox Aggro. “Basically, anything I can put a dragon or fox into. Or both.”
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