5 replies to this topic

[DJstormtrooper]

So as I look at new upgrade and support dice and try to rate and rank them, I often add up the value of respective die, adding and subtracting based on specials and modifiers. Then I'll divide that number by the cost of the cards. This leads me to assign a "Cost-Per-Effect" value to each. (For example, I've rated DH-17 Blaster Pistol at "4.0" and Diplomatic Immunity at "3.25")

 

These number generally bore out my personal in-game experiences and reflected meta preferences- with one exception - Disrupt. Die with disrupt just weren't as useful as the math suggested. The situations in which you can use a disrupt die are just so much more limited than all the other types. I started discounting them in my calculations which dropped substandard cards like Outpost and Speeder Bike Scout even further.

 

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that Disrupt just isn't that great?

[pantsyg]

So as I look at new upgrade and support dice and try to rate and rank them, I often add up the value of respective die, adding and subtracting based on specials and modifiers. Then I'll divide that number by the cost of the cards. This leads me to assign a "Cost-Per-Effect" value to each. (For example, I've rated DH-17 Blaster Pistol at "4.0" and Diplomatic Immunity at "3.25")

 

These number generally bore out my personal in-game experiences and reflected meta preferences- with one exception - Disrupt. Die with disrupt just weren't as useful as the math suggested. The situations in which you can use a disrupt die are just so much more limited than all the other types. I started discounting them in my calculations which dropped substandard cards like Outpost and Speeder Bike Scout even further.

 

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that Disrupt just isn't that great?

 

It's definitely more situational than other sides, and generally easiest for your opponent to play around. While I've had games blown wide open by early 2-disrupts from Han, I'd concur that in general it's the weakest side.

[ikeebear]

Some decks are vulnerable to disrupt. In particular, it can put a squeeze on the Ackbar/Hired Guns deck that seems popular lately.

 

It can also adversely affect the way your opponent plays. It certainly helps protect you from dice manipulation, often passively because they will spend the resources quickly.

[Ywingscum]

I agree disrupt to be the weakest side, due to being situational but I think it'll increase in value as more sets come out. I find playing against opponents using disrupt, to be very disruptive to my game. I rank higher than modifiers and costed sides.

[Darikgrey]

It's really great against Control-focused decks and can help against aggro decks by denying them the resources to pay for their higher cost upgrades. Also, I think it is the secret tech to survive against Crime Lord decks.

[Abyssalfury]

I think people undervalue Disrupt, myself included. With the main reason being that often, you won't be sure exactly how much of an impact you had. Sure, there's some cases it's obvious - they have a pay side and you disrupt their last resource or hold a Disrupt dice as insurance. You stop Crime Lord. The payout is obvious. But in many cases, it's hard, or impossible, to gauge exactly how much you set them back, or changed how they play. Maybe they were saving up for a 3 cost attachment next turn, and now they can't play it - but you don't see that. Maybe that resource you disrupted two turns ago is the one they needed to pay for a control card. Or maybe it's as simple as them taking a resource dice, instead of rerolling it into something 'better' - something you simply can't gauge in a lot of cases.

 

Statistically, compare the effect of disrupt to discard. Discard 1 hits 20% of their 'normal' resources (i.e. cards) for the turn - Disrupt takes out 50%. Discard 2 hits 40% of their cards, Disrupt 2 costs them an entire turn. Obviously there's a built in mechanic for getting more resources compared to cards, but still. Then you've got to consider the actual effect of Discard - yes, sometimes it'll hit the exact perfect card that you wanted to get out of their hand. But often, it's just hitting an option - the game is such that you usually can't afford to play everything in your hand each turn. You hit something good they were just about to play? Well, they still probably get to play something else anyway, even if it's worse than what they wanted to play. Hit their resources, and now maybe they don't get to play either card.

 

One big issue with disrupt is when to use it - specifically, you pretty much need to be using it as early in the turn as possible (unless you're holding it to stop them gaining resources in the turn). Even then, you're simply going to force them to use the resources as one of their first plays, which they probably want to do anyway in a lot of cases. There's definitely more times that Disupt is useless, compared to other dice. The other big issue right now, IMO, is where the Disrupt sides are. It's often on dice you probably don't really want to be using for Disrupt - damage dealers like Vader, dice with lots of focus or specials etc. And there's only a couple of cards that have more than one Disrupt face, so it's not really consistent. I think it'll probably see an increase in use if we see some cards that are more specialized towards choke, or at least Disrupt as the face you want to roll.