Wood Duck

[TryWhite]

When you have the wood duck in your starting hand it is a 90% chance of victory if you play it correctly as someone said above.

When I see this bird played by someone else in the first round I sigh buuut it’s still possible to win just REALLY REALLY hard

However I would not want it to be removed, it’s amazing when it’s me having it! Also some players make the mistake to play it later in the game when it has lost if value.

This is totally a made up stat. There is no such 90% win rate or even a way to track that. Against me, a R1 Wood Duck wins 10% of the time. It really depends if you are a good player or not. I don't understand why you guys are so scared of that card. It's good, but nothing OP.

[Lumin_S]

Making up statistics doesn't make them true. And it makes you look bad to say that I don't know how to play it. I have WORLD ELO #1 trophy for Wingspan. If I can reach World #1 player in Wingspan I'm pretty sure I know if the Wood Duck is strong or not. Maybe you should learn how to play the other birds better so you don't lose 90% of the time to the Wood Duck?

Making up statistics indeed does not make them true, but misrepresenting yourself as a top player is also pretty sketchy and destroys credibility. You got that trophy while the game was in Beta and you've never been above mid 300s Elo.

Regarding the Wood Duck, I'm on the side of not banning it. I do think it takes a fairly high level of skill to use it in an oppressively strong way and most players don't. If the playerbase continues to improve in skill, I might change my mind on if the card deserves to be banned or not.

[campusclimber]

When you have the wood duck in your starting hand it is a 90% chance of victory if you play it correctly as someone said above.

When I see this bird played by someone else in the first round I sigh buuut it’s still possible to win just REALLY REALLY hard

However I would not want it to be removed, it’s amazing when it’s me having it! Also some players make the mistake to play it later in the game when it has lost if value.

This is totally a made up stat. There is no such 90% win rate or even a way to track that. Against me, a R1 Wood Duck wins 10% of the time. It really depends if you are a good player or not. I don't understand why you guys are so scared of that card. It's good, but nothing OP.

Can you back up that stat of people playing Round 1 Wood Ducks against you and winning against you only 10% of the time? You'd never make up a stat after calling people out for the exact same thing would you???

[CroatianFish]

The Wood Duck is not particularly strong, at least not strong enough to warrant much consideration as being "powerful". I almost never face it when I play against players in the 300-500 ELO range and I find it hard to play with the 2 fruit and seed cost. # food is already alot for a low point bird and its ability only nets 1 card. It's good, but its tempered by its food cost.

TLDR: The Wood Duck is a completely fair bird and is often not worth the cost to play it.

Early Wood Duck, if played correctly, is a nearly guaranteed winner. I would say it wins over 90% if you have it in your starting hand (often by large margin too).
The reason you ‘almost never’ face it is because of a sheer number of cards in the deck, certainly not because strong players refuse to play it (also many 3xx players are not exactly strong…) Also if you get it after round 1 it may be too late and not worth playing it anymore.
Check out some of the top player’s games with Wood Duck to learn how to play it as you clearly underestimate its strength.

Making up statistics doesn't make them true. And it makes you look bad to say that I don't know how to play it. I have WORLD ELO #1 trophy for Wingspan. If I can reach World #1 player in Wingspan I'm pretty sure I know if the Wood Duck is strong or not. Maybe you should learn how to play the other birds better so you don't lose 90% of the time to the Wood Duck?

Looool, the funniest thing I’ve read on here.
You do realize you have only 338 Elo from 258 games?! And your average score is 83,8.
Current top rated player has almost double your rating.
You are light years away from the elite Wingspan players, let alone from being world #1.
Even I am 150 points higher rated than you and I don’t consider myself an elite player by any means.

And yes, while I haven’t done exact statistical analysis of Wood Duck I have come to the same conclusion as nearly every other top player: having it in your starting hand is almost a guaranteed win (hence my estimate of 90% since accidents can happen).
You are completely delusional both about your own strength as well as the strength of the Wood Duck.

[TryWhite]

Early Wood Duck, if played correctly, is a nearly guaranteed winner. I would say it wins over 90% if you have it in your starting hand (often by large margin too).
The reason you ‘almost never’ face it is because of a sheer number of cards in the deck, certainly not because strong players refuse to play it (also many 3xx players are not exactly strong…) Also if you get it after round 1 it may be too late and not worth playing it anymore.
Check out some of the top player’s games with Wood Duck to learn how to play it as you clearly underestimate its strength.

Making up statistics doesn't make them true. And it makes you look bad to say that I don't know how to play it. I have WORLD ELO #1 trophy for Wingspan. If I can reach World #1 player in Wingspan I'm pretty sure I know if the Wood Duck is strong or not. Maybe you should learn how to play the other birds better so you don't lose 90% of the time to the Wood Duck?

Looool, the funniest thing I’ve read on here.
You do realize you have only 338 Elo from 258 games?! And your average score is 83,8.
Current top rated player has almost double your rating.
You are light years away from the elite Wingspan players, let alone from being world #1.
Even I am 150 points higher rated than you and I don’t consider myself an elite player by any means.

And yes, while I haven’t done exact statistical analysis of Wood Duck I have come to the same conclusion as nearly every other top player: having it in your starting hand is almost a guaranteed win (hence my estimate of 90% since accidents can happen).
You are completely delusional both about your own strength as well as the strength of the Wood Duck.

What in the world are you talking about? I was the first player on BGA to hit 300 ELO was ranked #1 in the world and am currently right at the top of the biggest competitive tournament on BGA (The Long Game). Anyway, if you can't handle a card that let's you draw a single extra card to your hand that's on you. The rest of us handle it quite easily. I looked and I don't see any impressive Wingspan trophies next to your name...or good trophies for ANY game.
Perhaps up your game before complaining about fair cards and criticizing those who are stronger than you?

[detlefchef11]

The dk swinging is in full force here.

As for the issue at hand: It is certainly a very strong card. If you have it, and see a card you want in the tray, you can get the card and quite possibly the food you need to play that card in one move. That is a massive advantage. And, against a good opponent, any time you can take care of something that usually takes 2 turns with one, is huge.

And that's assuming it's not part of a vigorous forest engine that is also earning you eggs and/caching points. Then it is truly game over. Wood duck + pileated + 2 caching birds = at minimum 110 pts unless you get absolute trash cards the rest of the game. And that's just the one possible great engine. Plenty of other ways to skin that cat.

All that said, I and plenty of others here, even those of us who agree it is very strong, don't think it needs to be removed.

[CroatianFish]

Making up statistics doesn't make them true. And it makes you look bad to say that I don't know how to play it. I have WORLD ELO #1 trophy for Wingspan. If I can reach World #1 player in Wingspan I'm pretty sure I know if the Wood Duck is strong or not. Maybe you should learn how to play the other birds better so you don't lose 90% of the time to the Wood Duck?

Looool, the funniest thing I’ve read on here.
You do realize you have only 338 Elo from 258 games?! And your average score is 83,8.
Current top rated player has almost double your rating.
You are light years away from the elite Wingspan players, let alone from being world #1.
Even I am 150 points higher rated than you and I don’t consider myself an elite player by any means.

And yes, while I haven’t done exact statistical analysis of Wood Duck I have come to the same conclusion as nearly every other top player: having it in your starting hand is almost a guaranteed win (hence my estimate of 90% since accidents can happen).
You are completely delusional both about your own strength as well as the strength of the Wood Duck.

What in the world are you talking about? I was the first player on BGA to hit 300 ELO was ranked #1 in the world and am currently right at the top of the biggest competitive tournament on BGA (The Long Game). Anyway, if you can't handle a card that let's you draw a single extra card to your hand that's on you. The rest of us handle it quite easily. I looked and I don't see any impressive Wingspan trophies next to your name...or good trophies for ANY game.
Perhaps up your game before complaining about fair cards and criticizing those who are stronger than you?

Lol you apparently don’t even understand the concept of Elo (not ELO btw, it’s named after a person who invented it).
It’s by far the best, the fairest and the most objective way to measure someone’s skill or playing level. The fact that you were first to reach 300 or whatever is completely meaningless and trying to make yourself look better than you really are. What matters is your current and longterm rating and looking at your rating history you were never even close to reaching 400.
Your level in Wingspan is low 3xx while the top rated players are rated 6xx. As I said already, you’re completely delusional about your own strength in this game.

No idea what trophies you’re talking about, I am not playing any tournaments, just regular Elo rated games and I am doing fairly well if I may say so. Of course if you play tournaments all the time you’ll eventually win some, but again that tells pretty much nothing about your level of play compared to others, which is what Elo measures.

Just to put things into perspective: my current Elo rating is 506 and I am 76th player on BGA while yours is 338 and you are 1340th player. Yes, there are well over 1000 people better than you. ‘Good’ job Mr World Champion!

[AngieKou]

When you have the wood duck in your starting hand it is a 90% chance of victory if you play it correctly as someone said above.

When I see this bird played by someone else in the first round I sigh buuut it’s still possible to win just REALLY REALLY hard

However I would not want it to be removed, it’s amazing when it’s me having it! Also some players make the mistake to play it later in the game when it has lost if value.

This is totally a made up stat. There is no such 90% win rate or even a way to track that. Against me, a R1 Wood Duck wins 10% of the time. It really depends if you are a good player or not. I don't understand why you guys are so scared of that card. It's good, but nothing OP.

Of course it is a made stat. Also called an estimation…

You win against a starting wood duck 90% of the time?

Three recent wood duck games of mine, 2 of them are 100+ :
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=398063627
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=396995699
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=397051131

I have never lost with wood duck in my starting hand if memory serves right


EDIT: 116 points with wood duck - thought of this thread:
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=399330749

[Madlaine]

The highest score i've been beaten by, 124, was perform with Wood Duck, and the highest one i proudly pulled, 131, was also achieved thanks To the Duck (and a filthy Chirping Sparrow).
Wood Duck is in most case a winning card for me, except in case of very bad luck on the draw or opponent performing strong Dark magic on his own.

Then again, I'm far from good at this game and I have no idea whatsoever on how to improve, so maybe wood Duck is a noob card... (I hope I won't lose 50 reputation point because I said noob)

[GeneralIgnorance]

Wood Duck in Round 1 is game over. Get rid of it.