Slay the Spire - Northernlion Plays - Episode 333 [Branch]

Slay the Spire on Steam: store.steampowe...
Slay the Spire is a roguelite with deckbuilding mechanics, similar to Darkest Dungeon meets Hearthstone. Let's go!
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About this game:
We fused card games and roguelikes together to make the best single player deckbuilder we could. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and Slay the Spire!

[@josemarques2304]

6:24 ''Without a doubt'' *Removes doubt*

[@LockpickGamer]

06:25 Without a doubt, nice one.

[@quaintninja6057]

I came to the comments to see if anyone else noticed

[@jamesrice4705]

That title makes me think you're going to once again get carried by dead branch.

[@curtisehoffman]

He should've named it [Dead]. Throw us off the trail.

[@EpicNade]

Straight up, respect for not just looking up what cards are good.

[@cheatyhotbeef2636]

looks up darkest dungeon provisions list :/

[@Merith89]

Which frustrated lots of people mad because it was sorely out of date.

[@qb4428]

He removed a basic defend over a grand finale to the purple fire spirits. Why?

[@raddestoflads7771]

YOU COULDVE REMOVED GRAND FINALE AAAAAARGH

[@kvamsern]

I was looking for you

[@dhkoster]

A solid offer to the fire spirits.

[@rwo23]

Fire spirit offering is *the* use case for Grand Finale. (Tiny combo meme decks aside)

[@Sutaraiku]

Grand finale is basically an injury

[@qaustin92]

NL, if you use an artifact potion at the same time as something like a speed or steroid potion (like you could have during the big head fight), the artifact will cancel the lose 5 str/dex debuff and you will get to keep the 5 str/dex for the whole fight.

[@matthewblough5088]

If his choosing a card that he literally can't play triggers you hard enough to come to the comments, the relic carry starts at 16:13.

[@Galaxy_018]

Thank you my kind sir.

[@jamesrice4705]

Dude, the upgrade-all strikes/defends event, you should really consider taking the upgrades. The strikes being better is negligible, but upgrading all of your defends is very clutch.

[@ellefsoneric]

people told him to remove strikes and defends so he went all in

[@Maarcus01]

@@ellefsoneric While that might be usually the case, you dont need people to tell you that upgrading 9 cards is extremly good, and since his deck was inflating with dead branch cards from exhausts anyways, one more strike did not make much of a difference. He just didnt really think about it.

[@moltenmarky5284]

@@Maarcus01 upgrading 9 cards is good if they arent strikes or defends

[@Maarcus01]

@@moltenmarky5284 I disagree. Strikes and especially Defenses are way better upgraded then not. 50% better for Strike and 60% better for Defend. So you drastically improve the quality of a lot of cards in your deck. If the choice was to get rid of 2 or even 3 Strikes, that would change that, but NL wasnt going to remove them anytime soon and his deck was not build around being small due to the whole dead branch theme. So in this particular case, upgrading would have been the better option, i am certain of that. Reducing the chance of drawing a Strike in this deck did so little, but it was luckily compensated for later when he got the card that upgraded all his other cards.

[@moltenmarky5284]

@@Maarcus01 but strikes and defends are worse then most cards you come across at a point they become annoying to draw vs most other cards also since strikes and defends dont exhaust it makes them even worse to play because you are wasting energy on a card to not get another card

[@claudiomonteverdi847]

Nice move to discard the ethereal curse

[@gavin2945]

like 16 times

[@Volcanis3D]

It pained me greatly that he didn't remove Grand Finale in the Bonfire event.

[@Tachii31]

What a great run to go with the revelation that this game's meant to be about deck strength over relic strength.

[@palumpalumful]

NL logic = Making a stupid decision while explaining how stupid said decision would be

[@Jacob-sb3su]

Bi fortnightly NL Cat Power Rankings: 1.Ruka 2.Tomo

[@bluemistary]

Yo, F that cheap ranking site, I got your back, dawg.

[@spirtjam]

Putting my head through the wall saying GIVE THEN GRAND FINALE!!!!!!!!

[@angelmander1730]

I started watching this lets play on episode 1. After watching 10-15 or so, I learned the basic mechanics and got tired of watching him fumble around to learn what i picked up in the first few playthroughs so I skipped to episode 60 or so to see him more experienced. Now i've skipped to 333 after watching just a couple more around 60 because I couldnt stand to watch his play back then, and NL's play still aggravates me to no end and he has hundreds of hours in the game. Never change NL, never change

[@gothenmosph5151]

I'm doing the same thing right now. He's one of the worst on KZbin but it's amusing

[@publicaccess9573]

An hour of Slay the Spire? Might need to split this comment... TL;DR: Run Strength 10/10, Tactics 3/10, Strategy 6/10. The rare run where NL's strategic movement carried his mediocre tactical play rather than the other way around. Also, you know, Dead Branch. > Dead Branch is extremely good. > NL's acknowledged the advice, but then immediately disregarded it on the second run. Still, though some definite progress, and hey nearly completely losing to a Nob from 4/5 HP should help teach the lesson. > Still would like to see a couple episodes where he just sits down and considers his path from the start; it'll be slower initially, but once he develops the muscle memory it'll go by much quicker and give him a much better chance at winning. > Just like you shouldn't ignore cards because they aren't 100% synergy, you should pick cards just because they synergize. Catalyst was about as useful as the Slimeds from Slime Boss. > Definitely would like less jumpy trigger fingers on the potions. Ghost in a Bottle can save upwards of 50 HP if you commit it early; don't use it on 7 damage. The first failed run was a good example, holding Thorns and Weak for the boss. Act 1: - Spirelogs isn't wholly reliable, I'd think. There's a good amount of confounding data there, and really any sort of blanket statement about cards that aren't completely outclassed (e.g. Firebreathing) is doomed to fail because there's more to drafting a deck than just picking off a tier list. Plus, you know, I like seeing NL's guts. - Really should have went to the left to hit up that shop. Ah, just a plain and simple misread, understandable. - I would have pretty strongly considered that Bouncing Flask; it does a good job against Lagavulin and decent enough into Nob, as well as obviously being great against bosses. - The first Die Die Die is pretty much always worth taking, I think. Even upgrading it over Neutralize is fine. - Whoever told him to focus on the deck more, thank you - that was one of the biggest issues with NL's play. Hopefully he doesn't overcommit to this idea and avoid Elites altogether, though. - I would definitely have liked to see that shop over the campfire to remove the curse, but it's not like hitting a campfire is ever going to be that terrible of a play. - Mummified Hand is absolutely a relic that can be built around, as long as you're careful to still have enough defense. - Infinite Blades upgrade is quite bad - it's a very low impact power without anything to back that up. Still would like to see that Neutralize upgrade... - NL saves the Thorns potion for Hexaghost. He's learning! - Not learning enough. Removing the Pain was pretty mission critical, especially if you're going to go aggressive with your HP. Act 1, part 2: - Eviscerate as a first choice is awful. It literally does nothing until you discard 3 cards. At least he understands why, though. - Those plays on the terribly chosen elite were actually pretty impressive. I thought for sure he was going to die. For this great play, he's rewarded with the best relic in the game, Dead Branch. Well, maybe not unanimously the best on Silent, but definitely one of the top tier. - Sucker Punch! Even though you took it over Dash, I'm still proud. - Don't blame NL for all those rests when he lost 50 health plus a Fairy in a Bottle to the Nob, although I still would like to see a Neutralize+ somewhere in there. With tighter play against the boss, he definitely could have gotten away with one upgrade, but it does lean a lot on Dead Branch giving useful things via slime. - Both After Image and Cursed Key are autotakes. Act 2: - NL's rusty, and it's showing - he's not minimizing damage all that great. - I really hate that NL gets this idea of what his deck is and just completely ignores everything outside of that idea. Are you just going to rely on Dead Branch to give you all the AoE tools you need and such? - Even though it effectively draws an extra card each turn, I kind of still want After Image upgraded. - Honestly, I'd hold a Defend over Eviscerate. The Eviscerate is still a dead draw pretty much outside of like 6 energy turns. - NL getting extremely sloppy in the Red Mask Gang fight. Very much not a good look for him, but Dead Branch carries. - Apparitions are extremely smart, because they are extremely busted. Also because he benefits from longer fights, has passive block from after image, had low health to begin with, etc etc. - Stalling would actually be a good plan, since NL can just scale to infinity off of Dead Branch. Also, funnily enough, the max hand cap means that he discards more cards for playing more Tools. Act 3: - Look, Dead Branch or not, why the hell are you taking a Catalyst with 0 Poison cards in your deck? - Removing Grand Finale would have been much better, since you will literally never play it. - Giant Head order... Probably could have saved the 12 damage. -There really isn't too much to talk about, since every fight is determined by his Dead Branch draws. Definitely some underprioritization on the Footworks, though. - Really should have saved that Ghost in a Jar... - "This would be a great turn for Weakness", he says a turn after not playing a Sucker Punch+. I think NL is definitely pretty bad at next turn plays, although he's getting better. (See early Cultist fights for evidence of that.)

[@joelbennett0629]

I think I would have taken a noxious over a die die die. I always draft for the boss before I draft for the hallways. I can appreciate an early die die die in act one, but for me noxious is a little bit higher of a priority. And yes, I've been spamming him on twitter about his vehement obsession with chasing elites before building a deck x). You're welcome =O Mmm the early eviscerate. I just want to put out there, so i can of course get your opinion on it. I'm not opposed to a masterful stab early on with the silent(another card NL was offered beside Eviscerate). I really like it when it shows up. I've even upgraded it before neut. O.O First of all, nothing except Tiny House is ever an auto take. That being said; glory to the blessed tiny house. This might sound nutty, but I would have taken the hammer. I also would have considered the ecto. In terms of gold loss obviously cursed key costs you significantly less to take (even if you 100% pay to remove every curse). But it also takes up your limited removals. Granted NL doesn't value removal enough so cursed key becomes a little more valuable. For me I would have ended up taking key over ecto. However! I would take hammer over both of them. This deck is very obviously going to hinge on dead branch. Consider that dead branch doesn't give you any cards permanently, therefore you cannot upgrade them. That being said you still have plenty of other chances outside of a campfire to upgrade cards that absolutely require them. I definitely would have given both the rare card choice and the relic choice some serious thought. I would have considered glass knife in this deck as well. Probably still would have taken After image. However glass knife is great if he manages to get shuriken. I don't draft based off of potential relics, but I think about it obviously...But yeah, Fusion Hammer was the way to go here I think I'd like to point out you said nothing about him taking a double back stab? Because you agree with it? Perhaps you value it more because of Dead Branch? I think expertise was worth consideration in that choice. Apparitions is quite the finicky event. In this instance I'm not so sure I would have taken it. You obviously can't predict the game, but IDEALLY you'd want to rest at a campfire and THEN take the Apparitions event. Close to ideal would be taking the apparitions and not resting at all. but NL did the exact opposite. I know 6 hp is scary but you have to play to your strengths right? The idea behind apparition is that you take no damage at all. Most likely I would have looked at my deck and taken the wager without the apparitions He also took Wraith form over burst apparition. And intends to make a pseudo-permanent intangible deck, but then skips on philo stone. You've given no thoughts on these decisions? Another thing you've possibly missed is his gluttony for footworks. Especially in a deck based around intangibility, footworks value goes down. This is a card NL literally never took before I started spamming him on twitter to take it. But I think it's worth noting that it's value goes down when you decide to take Wraith Form. Now, I'm not saying I would never take Wraith Form, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where I would ever take it. Footwork is one of few cards i'm willing to "stack" in my deck, but I just think it's important to point out that it's a LITTLE less valuable in a deck like this. Also, I usually don't put things in here if we actually agree on them. But I do want to say: Absolutely on right on the spirelogs. And to me I feel like abiding by any information not only ruins your experience, but also makes you a worse player. To me, any time you rely on something besides your own skill to pull off a win, you're hanging on a crutch. And I absolutely detest crutches in any video game. So hear hear on that one brother

[@joelbennett0629]

Oof. Real sorry but I just realized you also said nothing about him discarding an ancient potion when he had wraith form in the deck. Thoughts on that as well?

[@martinscorzayzee3699]

I feel like I learn a lot from reading these comments, thanks for doing these fellas

[@publicaccess9573]

Noxious is slow, demands an upgrade, and faces competition from other damage powers (Caltrops, Thousand Cuts) whereas Die Die Die is fast and outclasses all of the other AoE options except for maybe Corpse Explosion. Plus, Noxious has a terrible matchup into the Slime Boss, so it isn't even particularly good in that field. There's value in stripping Artifact over time, but I don't think it's going to dovetail with the best way to abuse Dead Branch (i.e. spam shiv cards). Eviscerate was 99% worse than Masterful Stab; I'd have to consider if I wanted to get rid of it or a Strike in an early removal. I do think Masterful Stab is much more viable than its previous iteration, but it's still just a little too unreliable to put too much faith in it, especially in damage race scenarios. All of the energy relics presented are extremely good, honestly, and I wouldn't complain about any of them. However, the synergy with the Darkstone Periapt he had puts Cursed Key above the other two for me. Upgrade events aren't actually that common: in acts 2 and 3 it's just the Upgrader, Simplicity for Strikes and Defends, the obnoxious Tune Up guy, and Mind Bloom, so if you need something upgraded desperately I wouldn't want to rely on getting any of those. NL definitely doesn't need that with his deck, though. Also, that Glass Knife definitely could have been good, but After Image also synergizes with what NL wants to do, which is puke out Shivs and Backstabs and then play free cards from nowhere. Double Backstab is acceptable with Dead Branch, I think. Infinite Blades is where I start to get concerned, though. Apparition is just so strong that I think you'd pretty much always take it, at least before they nerfed it to 3 Apparitions. It lets NL's deck durdle and scale into a monster while taking minimal damage, and it also procs Dead Branch. In addition, resting first gives a buffer against one super bad draw - all inning on Apparition is nice, but sometimes you brick draw and with the smaller HP pool each hit is way more important. He didn't have any mission critical upgrades if I recall, so I am mostly indifferent here. Footworks actually synergize well with the Apparitions up to a point. In longer fights, you can't kill enemies in the 5 turns apparition gives you, especially with those same apparitions taking up draws and energy. Therefore, having scaling options to ensure that after those 5 turns are over you are set up and in a good position to end the fight without taking any more damage is a good thing, and 5 Dex is a good way to do that. Burst isn't always going to hit an Apparition, and just in general bricks sometimes (less with Branch), but it's probably still a good enough pick even if it sometimes ends up duplicating a Backflip or a Defend sometimes. Wraith Form, however, is just extremely consistent in buying 3 turns where you don't need to worry at all about defending and can just wail on enemies. It's just never a really bad pick if you play it correctly. I just didn't comment on the act 2 Boss choice at all, but that would be my reasoning. Also, Philosopher's Stone is honestly just like, really bad, even in Act 2. The jump to 5 energy isn't big enough to justify taking another 5ish damage every turn (although the dreaded Byrds are gone), and Astrolabe is extremely good in its own right. Lastly, NL's potion usage has always been questionable, but also I just figured he'd win anyways, Wraith Form or not. The downside to Wraith Form is much less notable when you just randomly make a billion powers out of nowhere, including After Images and Footworks. It's definitely a powerful combo that NL should respect more. I don't think it's necessarily bad to look up stuff (or as NL would call it, resinous), but it definitely should be taken with a grain of salt. Like, I'm pretty good at the game, but I'll have bad opinions sometimes, I'll make mistakes, and I'll definitely die halfway through Act 2 a million times. If you (not necessarily Joel, but anyone happening to read these long comments) internalize anything from this or any advice, look at mindset and reasoning rather than just conclusions.

[@Martianorbit]

No mention of him not noticing his 2 stacks of well laid plans in the Awakened One fight?

[@jamesrice4705]

HE DID IT. HE ACTUALLY TOOK APPARITIONS. (even if this is before they nerfed Asc. 15 to only 3 of them)

[@santiagofreytes3178]

neutralize is usualy a good early upgrade target its the best upgrade of the starting deck

[@damon180]

Lol that opening monolog. Trust no one but yourself forever brother. It makes you you :-)

[@kehvedna7946]

NL please stop discarding Ascender's Bane. You're just kicking a problem down the road and usually don't even have the energy to play the rest of your hand.

[@Jacob-sb3su]

Hey whats up its ya boi Skinny decc

[@StupidLemonFace]

NL, my dude. They have included keybindings for the cards much like an mmorpg from 1 to 9 for your hand.

[@boomkruncher325zzshred5]

Flemman de Grote You gotta turn them on in settings. Doesn’t sound like he checks settings before every single run.

[@dogboy__]

Boomkruncher325 Zzshred it was added like 6 months ago

[@CreepingDread9027]

He drags the wrong card quite often, not sure that shortcut would help him

[@silverstrings292]

The fact that you were given the tools for a discard deck and didn't make one angers me. It's so much fun shuffling through your entire deck multiple times in the same turn

[@ElPared]

I know BM means "Bad Manners" but I'm so used to it meaning "Bowel Movement" that I often am confused when I hear NL say it.

[@DarkTailsTheFox]

Pog Several speedruns. Champ

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

Can't begin to express how angry I am you skipped that shop where you could have removed pain.

[@wyverntamer1653]

11:28

[@Xeroxias]

That fight against the champ was incredible.

[@tonyeighta8]

13:28 "So what's the value of Evicscerate right now?... None" And with that you have just answered why at least 25% of your runs fail. And on a run where he JUST talked about keeping a thin deck, he had a choice of Cloak and Dagger (his personal favorite) or Masterful Stab (which COULD work in a thin deck)... and he takes a 4 cost eviscerate that he cant even play and did not even mention wanting to run a discard deck. Just how... How... I cant believe it... no I mean I literally cant believe it. It's a defense mechanism. That did not just happen and I'm choosing to never speak of THAT moment ever again.

[@VidyeoGamerer]

The worst [Branch] of misplays are the ones that are from NL's roots

[@SilvaaFabio]

Yeah dont check the rankings, its just good at the start, also you can make any card work , depending on play style. Also it fucking has Demon Form over Offerings LUL

[@OxidisedGearz]

"Choose 2 cards to retain." picks 1 card every time. Talks strategy about not being able to hold both wraith from and catalyst. S T A H P

[@JonahForsyth]

NL said "without a doubt" in his monologue while removing doubt from his deck

[@dddeergirl]

i only watch NL to occasionally hear him interact with his cats

[@Arsenov92]

Can't wait for a rub where he gets that relic that gives him cards from other colours from the start

[@wyverntamer1653]

stop holding only 1 card even the game displays on the screen how much cards you can hold

[@bugfriendz]

he's trying to get through his draw deck faster you smelly egg boy

[@Nimareza1]

Yes Nl, ignore the ranking site. I do respect this decision. Makes me proud of watching all these episodes.

[@Jacob-sb3su]

Not reading the comments this time because I want to go on this journey with you egg

[@Riguez-yu1lj]

As I see it, flying knee is the equivalent of touching the bra.

[@unyanizedcatboys]

1:02:33 299/320 hp....

[@JudgeDeadMJ]

Shadow Spider yeah..?

[@pokekid0177]

47:55 should’ve removed grand finale with the spirits not only is it more useless it’s also a rare so you get a great reward

[@darknessdash1853]

Im just glad he atleast knows he got carried

[@MannFace51]

Good plays, but this is one of the rare occasions where saving grand finale woulda been a massive boon to ur dmg

[@GSPBJJ]

NL Your deck building is much improved, and I think your turn to turn play is getting better. I think the next thing to improve is pathing. All you need to do is slow down and think about it.

[@dedf15]

You aren't convinced caltrops is that great... Ok, that may be the case. One basic caltrops in a random deck may not be great. Then again... Your caltrops silent run was probably the literal best run I have watched you play. So there was that...

[@qb4428]

Nice to see you...branching out on your strategies. :D

[@stronkmugi8256]

1:06:40 It would definitely be too dangerous to store both of them

[@joaobatistaperinjunior953]

"We won Thanks to dead branch" i'm pretty sure it was due to intangibility.

[@lincolnnoronha4128]

Got my eyes off the screen, minute later looked back and was like: “What the fuck is eviscerate doing in this idiot’s deck?! what upside down logic made him do it?”

[@amaro6603]

47:57 grand finale would have given you full heal +max hp

[@ppPablo1]

Watching him skip 3 cloak and daggers hurts

[@DarkysLPs]

8:56 The shop was right there Egg. You really need to slow down a bit.

[@icantnotthink3282]

NO WANTON CHIPS? How disgraceful

[@TheStonedLion973]

That entire bird fight you could have retained two cards, my dude. Coulda kept catalyst and wraith form

[@undvined]

>has upgraded Apparitions >has enough block >plays Apparitions anyway on first phase why

[@MrZelnoth]

Why not give your grand finale to the fire spirits? Free hp.

[@szeplevente88]

We are 1/3 on the way to episode 1000 letsgo

[@Pixelwave88]

good thing about twitch con we can see how bad the back log is

[@RiotMakerT9]

Basically a basic defend is basically as bad as basically taking damage. #defendssuck♥

[@halfwing3306]

"we just got the best relic" well no. Dead branch is a casino. You just have the devil's own luck. Dead branch kills as many runs as it saves. you just rarely see the bad side.

[@austinvanderveer213]

What's this? A loss or two and a won run at the end?

[@SuperSet100]

Has anybody told him removing is better than upgrading all strikes and defends because the math super doesn’t check out there

[@AlekVen]

O boi, let's go.

[@h4i2tomte63]

got to say i have seen this sens day 1 and its a thing i whatc when i get home after work ande have my meal love you man:)

[@cup_im_cup935]

When you don't want to edit, so you jost record a new episode.

[@humanaku9135]

this guy can't read upgraded apparition text

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

11:25 between 'take no damage' and 'take several damage', which do you suppose this fucking dingleberry chooses?

[@bukman66]

Yeah, why would you want to take a card that helps you enable eviscerate? That's stupid. Nice shop NL.

[@Kyrox2]

NL, I'm going to down vote any game where you don't take at least half of the opportunities to discard or don't upgrade neutralize on the first floor. You really need to listen to some of the advice given...

[@curtisehoffman]

Pls, you had 2 Well-laid plans for like half the run.

[@lovofofo]

11:29 Come on what the fuck was that

[@sergeantfluffy2285]

Im pretty sure you’re not taking enough defensive Cards as you seem to have trouble blocking, don’t qoute me on that though it’s just a gut feeling

[@thattwitalex]

Hour long episode? Must be 6 runs in one

[@LockpickGamer]

Just in time for dinner. Thank you egg.

[@yaa4796]

Where do you live?

[@jackspadessenpai1883]

Skipping Cloaks? Stop NL

[@ChromeMagnum]

Lunch time!I'm

[@BeaverOfDooom]

More blue baby runs please

[@instantnoob]

*275 episodes later* Alright, let's check if he's improved enough for his StS vids to be watchable. *nl takes money for curse, but dodges all shop paths, wastes energy from flying knee, doesn't discard pain with dagger throw, doesn't heal before boss with less than half hp, dies to boss in 12 minutes* Alright, I'll check back next year. Edit: I went back to the video because a comment said he took a card he couldn't play. He took a four cost card that costs 3 after using his 1 cost card. Come on, man...

[@night4345]

Yo NL it'd be great if you actually cough to clear your throat off the mic instead of making little clearing noises into the mic that don't clear your throat every 5 minutes. Not only is it annoying but it's also bad for your voice and throat to constantly do it.

[@mastahkiter]

HE OFFERED A DEFEND INSTEAD OF GRAND FINALE

[@mastahkiter]

AND HE ALSO DOES NOT REALIZE HE HAS 2 WELL-LAID PLANS

[@tonberri]

Over an hour long..big loss and a big win??

[@Moviethemer]

ep 333 3 branch tree branch

[@Trent8086]

48:00 Not giving the Grand Finale to the purple spirits. Un-sub, dislike, Learn-to-play.

[@andrewmorgan5347]

This contained so many screw up it triggered me HARD. Lay off the legal marijuana egg.

[@tieuucanh8958]

Why. Does. NL. Keep. Discarding. Ascender's Bane. It. Is. Such. A. Bad. Play.

[@ronen7706]

HE had a steroid potion and an artifact potion and didn't use them together in an elite fight. Only you NL. Only you