Northernlion Plays Slay the Spire's New Character - Episode 8: It Begins

[@dandotvid]

NL: Has Judgment card for once. Also NL: Still calls Wrath "Judgment".

[@iami3rian394]

I told ya he's break his own brain. = )

[@Nicktals]

"We built a run that was amazing at taking out minions." In Egg means "We found judgement early."

[@iami3rian394]

He skipped almost every piece he needed to win the run, and then was super surprised when he lost. Judgement is a great card, but it's not carrying you through act 3, even on low ascensions.

[@tristanmorillo953]

> says has no damage >says has no block >uses wire heading to only remove his damage and block from his next hand

[@ilovecody7514]

Egg will never change, that is the only constant guarenteed in this existence.

[@ALittleMessi]

His name for the stances changes every episode depending on what card is on his mind

[@Trademark989]

"The Judgement State": the state where chat makes fun of you for calling it the wrong thing.

[@Kanirra]

while other people are complaining about his misplays, I'm honestly just happy to see him return to the series.

[@BrodenPlays]

That was a fun run, my man! Thank you for the years of entertainment

[@---rm8do]

J U D G E D

[@jaypham3393]

you HAVE *BEEN* *_J U J J E D_*

[@publicaccess9573]

The return of Ascension to the channel! This... might end poorly. As a meta note, I will note that Meditate finally got nerfed, so infinites are much much harder to come by on live than they are in the current patch; apart from that Eruption is also a much stronger upgrade. Upgrade that card, it's insanely good. Act 1: - Early Judgement, early power. This thing oneshots like half of the enemies in the floor. J U D G E D - I like Crush Joints over Just Lucky; takes a lot of draw to make Just Lucky work and Crush Joints is more early attack damage. - Max HP is just a low value buy, I feel. Honestly I'd take Mental Fortress here instead; the card is insane with the patch that makes leaving a stance count. - With so much early offense, a Protect is really nice to have. Extremely consistent block. - Really bad draw on the Nob first one. Honestly, I don't think that NL has the damage to stay in Wrath; a lot of his damage comes from Judgement which obviously isn't affected by it and thus he suffers. Bad fight, but not much he can do in the moment. - With a deck so reliant on Judgement, I would consider Alpha for a one card scaling solution against the act boss and potentially some of the slower elites as well. - Fairly major pathing choice being made here - going to fight the Elite after resting guarantees that NL will also fight the flaming Elite, and his deck isn't offensive enough quite yet to do so. Granted, one good attack could do that, and he has Prayer Wheel to get him there. - Minor misplays on Sentries (should play non-retaining defends instead of retaining defends, probably shouldn't have tossed the Defend on the top) but still a perfected fight. I would take a Devotion to hedge against Lagavulin, although Watcher does body Laga a bit; Empty Mind is also a decent piece even early to leave Calm/Wrath. - NL heavily disrespects Fear No Evil. That is a great card. Thick deck concerns are still more valid despite the Meditate nerfs incoming since you still can absolutely tear through decks, but I don't think they're valid enough to pass up on too many cards. - Talk to the Hand is also great and makes attacking the Guardian (which we can now see finally) less of a pain. Still would like more offense against the Elite, though, so getting an Empty Hand would also work. I don't think Worship is the right call; that is a clunker of a card without other mantra support or before the Retain buff, which I believe NL is playing before. With retain, Establishment + Worship is absolutely hilarious and a thing you should try, but before that it's a meh card. - Well named Just Lucky there. Follow up is fine but honestly I would have taken another Protect and started building towards Retain. - Think NL brain farted on Vigilance blocking again, but overall not a horrible fight. Even pressed for lethal with Judgement, which is in fact something you'd strongly need to consider at high ascensions because it might be your only out. - God, I hate seeing Wallop at Rare and at 3 cost. What a bad card. I personally would grab Blasphemy here and go absolutely ham on one turn KOs, maybe with Adaptations up the wazoo as well, but as established NL is a coward. Flow State is just like... meeeeh. Calling Bell is nice but Holy Water would enable some crazy pop-off turns and is in general really good, and Fusion Hammer isn't a slouch either. Still, he hasn't played with new calling bell in an episode yet, and all things considered Yang Peace Pipe Tea Set isn't hoooorible. Peace Pipe is definitely a trap option, though. Act 2: - Think upgraded Bowling Bash contributes more than Wireheading, considering Wrath's effect on damage numbers. Then again, Wireheading is some strong digging for Judgement. - It'll probably take NL a while to come up with this independently, but the Watcher's ability to dig for cards is pretty much unparalleled outside of a Defect with multiple Seeks. As long as the cards exhaust, I generally think it's fine to go a little thicker than 20 and still call it thin. - Unfortunate fumble with the Artifact Potion and Yang. Generally rough interaction to play around. - NL's running into a scaling issue; nothing in his deck actually can get him through the long haul. I'd like to see maybe some more scaling options, even though it's hard to get on the Watcher in a straightforward manner. Devotion is the simplest option, or maybe a lucky Deva Form. - My mans disrespects Flurry of Blows to an insane degree. It's a good card! - NL gets bodied by 2 attack rolls on Gremlin Leader in a row. Ouch. This is probably GG, since he needs to pivot still and probably will bleed out. - Fasting is scaling; Attacks into Fasting for a good chunk of Dex is nice. - NL misses a very pivotal lethal on Colloseum, round 1. Eruption hitting the back slaver into Crush Joints for 16 on the 15 HP front slaver into Judgement is a wipe. Also, his targeting was wrong in the first place since hitting the back one is almost always correct. - Flow State upgrade is trash because NL has so few stance control options. I mean, it's also just bad in general and the Rare value is baiting him more than a little. - Yep, GG. NL rode Judgement as long as he could but didn't have a backup plan for afterwards. Easiest single card fix is taking the Alpha I think, but Devotion and/or stance dancing could have also worked. Keep in mind that scaling is extremely hard to find easily as this character since it's very combo based.

[@mikoajpopieluch5719]

NL: "I mean how many enemies on the 1st floor have more than 30 HP... Not too many" Literally the first 1st floor enemy: More than 30HP

[@Cronos804]

Still i would agree that there are not many enemies with 31+HP on Floor 1

[@thatsfirat2957]

@17:00 Eruption, Strike into the backline, Miracle and Judgement to the backline No damage and you keep wrath.

[@iami3rian394]

He has a lot of trouble with wrath when he doesn't bother to run the numbers. That wasn't the only issue with it in this run either, sadly.

[@landon8952]

This might be only on high ascension, but I think that when you kill the back enemy in that fight, the front enemy starts doing insane amounts of damage.

[@Bspammer]

Except then you just made the fight way harder because the Knight starts popping off after you kill his cleric.

[@thatsfirat2957]

@@Bspammer except it isnt, because the other turn you still have double damage, remaining 3 out of 11 cards lets you exit stance. so no, you didnt made it harder. its not about whos popping off when it comes to new character.

[@iami3rian394]

@@landon8952 barely hitting for the same damage as they both do combined, with no healing is hardly "insane" damage. It's not the best idea, but when you have lethal on the _front liner_ turn two/three it's the better play almost every time..

[@VikingToRazeVillages]

Egg: I think I understand this character, therefore I must act as an authority on this character and thus play even faster than I normally do.

[@c0barsm]

"This one is for some of the marbles". Great quote!

[@OzeR171]

That Dex relic would have been so good with artifact, guaranteed at least three dex up a fight

[@andscifi]

At this point I'm pulling for him to lose in hopes that he decides to slow down and play better.

[@66Kusmu]

Bold of you to assume anything will make him slow down.

[@hbarsquared3379]

You must be new here.

[@romulusnuma116]

My dudes played over 600 episodes of this game I don't think he will ever learn it's best if you just accepted it

[@ilovecody7514]

@@romulusnuma116 My stomach dropped when you brought this up. I thought I was out of denial turns out I wasn't.

[@AthosJosue]

NL: Alpha sucks... Game: JUDGED.

[@g80gzt]

that spheric guardian was hilarious

[@ilovecody7514]

Thanks for the company.

[@IkEisawesome7]

ASCENSION ONE BABY; it begins B) Edit: *J U D G E D* Edit 2: 13:31 You really gotta love it.

[@ThatOneIrishFurry]

Nl finnally having a judgement run made him have to combat him calling wrath judgement finally

[@iami3rian394]

Told ya it would break his brain. = )

[@daftm0nk]

at 13:49 NL loses the artifact that was intended to absorb the snecko debuff, I can't figure out what consumes the artifact. Anyone?

[@para_logia]

Yang (the relic) gives you 1 temporary dex, but the way it does that is by adding 1 dex, and adding a debuff that gives -1 dex at the end of turn (like a speed pot). The artifact ate that debuff.

[@daftm0nk]

@@para_logia Oh interesting! Thanks for explaining I didnt realize the removal of the dex was functionally a debuff!

[@michaelalbert5263]

I actually am incapable of understanding NL's reluctance to take blasphemy. In no way, shape, or form is it a dangerous card, since you can simply *only play it when you have enough damage to end the fight in one turn.* In what world is getting triple damage and 3 energy for 1 energy not a good investment? It allows you to end fights way faster and take way less damage over the course of the run. The argument that it could be a consistent dead draw is a more reasonable criticism, but considering the cards NL takes in his runs, you'd think that would make him want to pick it more.

[@calebmcginnis1316]

Michael Albert are you new here? I don’t mean that in any negative way. We’re all here working towards nirvana, by slowly releasing our attachments to the mortal world. Watching his NL’s plays and choices are helping us lose our hold on this world bit by bit.

[@J33zas]

bro it's just a man playing video games relax

[@romulusnuma116]

He doesn't wanna do the math

[@landon8952]

Blasphemy is a good card if you're willing to do the math to see if you have lethal, and NL never does the math even on the most simple plays.

[@Android480]

I really like homemade pasta but 9 times out of 10 I'm cooking up that boxed shit because who has the time or the energy to handmix pasta dough every night.

[@BretonLegacy]

Must be a speed run

[@landon8952]

Huh, turns out Act 2 bosses are difficult when you skip almost every single good card you're offered out of some abstract concern for a "thin deck." NL, I don't know who told you that thin decks are the way to win StS, but they aren't. The size of your deck is basically irrelevant. What matters is the average quality of cards in your deck, which taking good cards always improves even if it "thickens" the deck. By skipping all the good cards, you put yourself in a position where judgement was the only good card in your deck, and it's basically useless against bosses (and lots of enemies past Act 2). So all you had against them was a bunch of damage/block commons. I mean, by the end you only had one stance changing card outside your basic ones, on a character where stance changing is the key to victory. You kept having issues with being stuck in Wrath, or being unable to safely enter wrath, but you kept turning down calm cards which fix that problem, like fear no evil (which you skipped twice), and the 0 cost card that retains which puts you in calm stance, which would have totally solved your problem.

[@Infinity_Hex]

you must be new here, for years many have obsessively commented (aka told him) his making thick decks was getting him killed, keep in mind i did say obsessively because they were obsessed with some overrated thin deck meta.

[@Dice-Z]

@@Infinity_Hex He's not wrong though. Skipped all the good cards and took Follow Up. But NL gonna NL and that's all fine.

[@landon8952]

@@Infinity_Hex Yeah it's funny how people get so fixated on "thick" and "thin" decks when really the most succesful strategy is the basic idea a noob would have before getting confused by bad advice--just take good cards.

[@vietanhphung5450]

sub 30 mins, must be speedrun

[@romulusnuma116]

The real reason NL loses to fast is so he doesn't have to pee on camera again

[@Janju76]

This was very clear the whole run that you will fail in A2. You didn't have any scaling at all. Even if you would have just taken a single windmill card you would have destroyed that boss with all your scrying.

[@iami3rian394]

His card selection was impressively bad. In almost all cases he picked up the worst option....

[@Cornnbreadd]

I think NL played pretty decently in this episode from what I've seen from the first floor

[@iami3rian394]

Rewatch, and look at the cards he _SKIPPED._ It'll suddenly make perfect sense why he was unable to get the win. He had almost everything he needed for a pretty powerful infinite. Instead he had judgement and a lot of scry. That's losing to every elite and boss past act 1, which is precisely what happened. He didn't misplay many turns, that's true, but he still played as poorly as ever.

[@sibanbgd100]

20:04 ?????????

[@chrisyarbrough3806]

My man is hopeless

[@LDD714]

I just started watching his early Slay the Spire episodes and even though I know playing 600 episodes will make you faster it’s amazing seeing how much faster he makes his turns now.

[@iami3rian394]

And oddly playing faster causes him to make more mistakes. Crazy, huh?

[@masterspicy5696]

You must have also noticed that a year ago he didn't play like complete ass lol.

[@benjaminolanderrasmussen3049]

That one was a bummer

[@lifelesslife2651]

I don't understand why on one hand northernlion likes judgement but on the other hand hate blasphemy. If blasphemy is used correctly it would almost always have more potential value if you just do the math correctly. they're both cards that have to be played on the turn that the an enemy needs to die and while blasphemy has to wait till damage is sufficient to kill the enemy it allows for much higher damage counts as its basically plus 2 energy and 3x damage and as long as you play 2 strikes its value is already equivalent to judgement(yes I know you need to use more cards im just trying to say that the potential damage is higher and its benefit is much higher in exchange for less cards especially since im using the example of strikes and not another cards with higher damage output). Also im not saying that blasphemy is better than judgement, I'm just saying their use cases are similar enough that I don't get why he doesn't use blasphemy just because of the death on the following turn when the only turn your using it on is the turn you will kill the enemy and then you will find that its very similar to judgement in that case. just want some appreciation for blasphemy.

[@iami3rian394]

My dude, you've GOTTA stop saying "slow play" like as if blocking is embarrassing and a dirty word.

[@iami3rian394]

Oh my, those bronze automoton misplays. The whole act was a mess, but not wishing the judgement was just an all around bad call. It's a shame, as this run had some real potential.

[@busorenkin55]

Maybe next time get better attacks in your deck and use the wraith stance more

[@nativechatter999]

Guys, I think NL likes Judgment.

[@penguindrummer252]

Feel like he's paying less attention to relics.

[@iami3rian394]

JUDGEMENT STATE!

[@Psylome]

Anybody know if you can Omamori the Calling Bell Curse?

[@iami3rian394]

You can. At least you could, it potentially possible it's been changed.

[@Dice-Z]

@@iami3rian394 You still can

[@GrimKhazi]

20:00 lose 7 hp and gain90 gold or just lose 7hp... Hmm, he takes the one with no gold. 900 games of slay and he still sucks

[@batterytoast896]

Let's gooo!!

[@riolufistofmight]

JUST LUCKY!!!!!!

[@not_myosotis813]

yang was too good for enelle

[@Htown1738]

NL I'm enjoying the series but PLEASEE do not start thinking of only playing one archetype or always picking the specific cards you know you're good with. I wanna see different types of runs

[@alexwansss]

I wanna see him take Blasphemy

[@nickcrusaire]

is he really going to die on the second floor on A1?

[@iami3rian394]

A1.... but I'm not sure why you're shocked, he misplayed like half his HP away.

[@nickcrusaire]

@@iami3rian394 not shocked, just looked at the time length and made a prediction where he died. it is usally around this time he either dies somewhere around the upper second floor or the bottom of the third floor. it is a meme from the OG StS runs he did.

[@iami3rian394]

@@nickcrusaire I was painfully present for around 400 of those episodes. I just couldn't stick with it for around the middle 200 or so. He just threw _every run._

[@BIGhappyG33]

20:05 Why tho?

[@royalz5225]

JUDGED.

[@COFFEE_WEEB]

JUDGED

[@EDoyl]

what the fuck is the judgement state

[@lostdestroyer8400]

lol