Regarding the original topic, as much fun as cycling can be at first, beyond a certain point almost anything achieved that way starts to seem a little like a silly accomplishment in a way, and the whole mechanic honestly feels like cheating half the time; it would be easy to write a novella rehashing all of the myriad insights everyone has already posted in various places about just how degenerate cycling is, but instead of 10,000 words I’ll just share a few personal highlights from decks which include neither New Perspectives nor Drake Haven, to add to the ever-growing pool of examples suggesting something must have gone terribly awry in testing the mechanic:
RSIcling: The Illustrated Picture Book
During the first cycle of Trial of Zeal, it was hard to be sure of 3.3’s appeal.
Though each point my Vizier gained at first seemed nice, it was less so when Sphinx then increased its stats thrice.
Add in a deficit of ~400 hp, and my consternation should be plain to see.
Yet endless Floodwaters created a Fog, and sooner or later everything Turned to Frog.
It seemed my position had grown slightly less dour, until ending the turn took almost a full hour.
Though cycling’s power was absurd by my rating, I’d thus begun down the long path of cycling hating.
Early on during the last turn:
End of turn:
The next game comes from a recent ToA, in which the AI suffered grievous dismay.
Creating an 8 times stacked Octopus token, barely scratches the surface of everything broken
that occurred in a game which prematurely ended, on a gem swap that wasn’t even intended.
While dragging a Lizard into the bin, I must have swiped the gem board to secure the win.
So while the stats are already enough to abhor, the theoretical limit could have been so much more.
Cycling by the numbers:
Total damage: 492
Mana spent: 476 (at least)
Damage on board: 390
Cards cycled: 303
Loyalty gained: 78+ (possibly much more)
Minutes spent on final turn: 24
GRs cast: 18
Spells cast: 1
Damage per turn: 98.4
Mana spent per turn: 95.2 (at least)
Cards cycled per turn: 60.6
GRs cast per turn: 3.6
Decks cycled per turn (assuming 40 cards): 1.515
Copies of New Perspectives and Drake Haven cast: 0
Times accidentally making a game-ending swap while attempting to drag Shefet Monitor to the exile bin: 1
The final example was a personal best, in which I was able to put the AI to rest
not only before it could make my life hard, but even before it could draw its 3rd card.
Anyone who assumes infinite cycling needs blue, can now open their mouth and insert their shoe.
For the scariest part isn’t just that one game is obscene, but that winning before turn 5 seems entirely routine.
If the AI could play decks like this and not blow it, that would surely spell the end of this game as we know it.
First-turn win with Ajani 2, aka “this isn’t even my final form*”* (as with the last game, I accidentally swapped gems while trying to exile a card, and I missed the final screenshot; when the game ended, GR was above 200 power and embalmed Oketra’s Attendants were around 120/120):
