Puzzle Strike 2’s base set includes 10 characters and two different community banks decks. Each bank deck changes the feel of the game. Those decks are Grand Melee and Birthday Bash:
In this article, I’ll explain the thinking behind the Grand Melee deck. Think of Birthday Bash as a steak with a distinctive steak sauce, while Grand Melee doesn’t need the sauce; it allows the natural flavor of the meat to come through. In other words, it emphasizes all the fundamentals.
There are several fundamental things you do in Puzzle Strike 2, such as blocking, crashing, swapping, drawing cards, and spending actions. Let’s look at how Grand Melee effects all that.
Blocks
When you have incoming gems waiting to fall into your gem pile, you can negate them with blocks. Your starting deck has two basic block cards that cost 1 action and negate 3 gems. The Grand Melee deck lets you add more powerful cards to your deck such as these:
These blocks cost 0 actions which makes them a heck of a lot easier to fit into your turn. Effortless Block has even more benefit over the basic block than a 0-cost though. It also has the “top” icon which lets you put a card from the bank on top of your deck. If you have a way to draw a card, that lets you potentially play that card on the same turn, but the real thing it teaches you is about drop patterns. When you choose which card to buy from the bank, the pattern of colors you leave behind is the pattern that will fall into your next opponent’s gem pile. You can’t let them get three purples in a row or something. The “top” mechanic lets you manipulate that drop pattern which frees you to buy the card you want without it backfiring by leaving an easy drop pattern behind.
Gem Shield is able to get rid of four gems in total, rather than just three, but it only does that if you actually have incoming gems and gems in your gem pile. What you learn from this card is that the ability to delete gems already in your gem pile (not just the ones that will fall) is really useful and lets you dig for runs of one color that are buried under some garbage gems at the top.
Defensive Flourish is unique in Grand Melee in that it’s the only card in the deck that self-trashes. This is both good and bad for you. If you could have an incredible block that you could play over and over, that would be good. You can only play it once, then it’s gone, but that helps you in a different way: deck-thinning. It does way more than a block normally would (blocks SIX and also draws two cards!), then it disappears from your deck and makes you more likely to draw your cards that actually win. This is great if your plan is to win soon, but you need to survive just a little bit longer to do it.
Blocks that cost 1 action rather than 0 have to be a lot better. If you’re willing to pay 1, here’s what you can get:
Deflect lets you affect the drop pattern with the “top” mechanic and also comes with a swap to slightly fix up your gem pile. Meanwhile, Barrier Block has an even better swap: a deep swap. That lets you swap any two gems in your gem pile, not just any two that are adjacent. The -2 buy cost icon basically means you have a wider choice of cards to buy from that won’t result in you having to take incoming gems. This is a great fit for a defensive card because it’s keeping you alive by negating gems, and ensuring your buys will have better quality cards for a stronger deck later.
Crashes
Crashes are how you actually win. Your starting deck has two crash gems that cost 2 actions. Here’s what Grand Melee can offer you:
These purple cards let you crash for just 1 action, which is a huge deal, but they each have drawbacks that wear you down over time. That’s purple’s thing in general.
These pink cards have no drawbacks though. Pink is the color of engine building and it has two really solid building blocks here. Kidney Shot costs the same 2 actions as a basic crash gem, but it can crash any gem in your gem pile, not just the top one. That’s super strong. And if you are willing to spend 3 actions, you can get two crashes with One-Two Punch.
Here’s some cards that let you crash for free in tricky ways:
Actions
You can always use more actions if you can get your hands on them. You have 3 actions per turn, then 4 and 5 actions once the first and second “ante up” cards are in effect. But cards can give you more.
Notice how pink is happy to give you extra actions with Footwork, while purple tempts you with more, but with drawbacks:
Utility
Everyone needs to swap to line up the colors in their gem pile. Green often has utility cards that let you do generally useful things. See Taunt’s approach vs purple’s Monkey Step which tempts you with more, but with a drawback.
Also notice that Taunt straightforwardly gives you more swaps, while Adrenaline Rush gives you more cards.
Rushdown
The concept of rushdown is that you need enough power right now to win, and it’s ok if there are drawbacks associated, especially if you have to suffer those penalties later. There won’t be a later because your plan is to win soon. Several purple cards above fall into that category. There is another concept of drawback that is a bit more invisible though, used by these cards:
These effects are pretty strong at helping you win, but the drawback is actually what they don’t do. They don’t help you survive by lowering your gem pile. Crashes and blocks help you survive, and anything that can swap, draw, or give actions can indirectly help you survive too. But the above cards don’t at all. It’s a luxury to spare the space in your deck for them in the first place, and further luxury to spend 1 action in Sneak Attack’s case on something that doesn’t help you survive your turn. But if you can mange it, the effects are strong. Bloodlust means opponents can’t use blocks to negate the gems you send them, and Sneak Attack’s clause about the purple super meter means that opponents have to add three gems in a difficult pattern of colors to their gem piles.
Creatures
Most cards in the game are one-shot effects, but creatures stick around and give you benefits every turn. Here’s the creatures you’ll meet in Grand Melee:
Thieves’ Gambit
Finally, Thieves’ Gambit doesn’t fit into any of the categories above about enhancing the fundamentals. It’s a bit of spice added to the recipe.
It can enable potentially crazy plays, but there’s only one in the whole deck (that’s what the single star at the bottom of the card means). If it’s in the 4th or 5th slot in the bank, is it worth it to buy when you’ll have to take 2 or 3 incoming gems? Maybe. This card highlights the difficulty of that decision. Also, note that all players have access to the green super move which allows you play a card from the bank for free. So if Thieves’ Gambit is visible in the bank at all, someone might play it for free, which leads to them playing two more cards to free, which leads to who-knows-what. This thing is a miracle-maker.
There are more cards in Grand Melee, but that’s a good tour of what it has going on. Next time I’ll cover the Birthday Bash deck so you can compare its unique mechanic to the solid fundamentals here.