Too many good options to choose from ...

[Yellow_Snow]

In challengers, I am usually forced to pick the least bad option. For a change, in a game yesterday, I was presented with multiple great options, and would like this opportunity to share my logic and compare it with others.

The attached screenshot contains my choice before match #6, in a 4-player game. I am the underdog only winning games 2 & 3

https://imgur.com/a/l8EtEEv

The options I see (redraw does not seem worth it)
A) pick 2 dogs
B) pick 1 mascot + 1 dogs
C) pick 2 UFO

A) gives me +6 total power to the deck
B) gives me +7 total power (mascot is about 4 on average with 4 types of cards already in the deck)
C) UFO is great, I'd value the first one at ~6, but the second one is just 3, as I am not using the extra cards anyway. 6+3 in value, plus 1-2 extra because of band, minus 3 because I have to cut dog from the deck. Total 7-8 power boost

I ended up with option (D) - one mascot and one ufo, cutting dog. Would love to hear your opinion and debate the logic I used.

[superginger]

yeah with your deck a mascot and ufo was the best

but two ufos is better than you are giving it credit for. 4 extra A cards per round, you might find AIs, shapeshifters, ponies, vendors. a lot of things that could improve your deck. and sometimes they just have a big card at the end and you actually use all 4 cards to win.

[gpope]

It's round 6 and the only As left in the deck are already paired and have limited synergy. The odds of UFO providing any permanent improvement are low and have to compete with the odds of mascot getting better next round from adding other colors.

I still think it's a toss-up between 2xUFO and Mascot+UFO, if only because UFO benefits from the double Bands making it almost as strong as Mascot on average even before the extra cards. Being behind on trophies I think I might actually favor 2xUFO and hope for the highroll draws, since I will be putting a big premium on Fan Bus next round which will not improve Mascot.

[khoinm]

I would go with 2 UFO following with the rationale as:

3 UFO pair well with 3 bands, gave more values than the other options and you can try to hunt for the Scifi Geek in Round 7 to immersely improve the deck with more C Cards. Even if you don't it still give you more values.

UFO can spawn some more red for you to replace with the Sci fi Geek, overall it would give the deck more stable and also potential in Round 7 imo.

[superginger]

It's round 6 and the only As left in the deck are already paired and have limited synergy

two shapeshifters would be better than the champion. it's not that hard to improve that spot. not to mention adding to any card you already have. the original post suggested that a second ufo isn't that much better than the first. getting to see 8 more A cards could actually be pretty good.

[gpope]

There are plenty of A pairs that would be better than champion but they might wind up on the chopping block for a C card anyhow. Having the chance is better than not, so I still think 2xUFO is the best call, but I'm not sure the difference over a 3rd mascot is huge.

[cutecumber21]

nice… As one of the designers of Challengers, I am in favor of your D-choice and I hope it went well.

[Yellow_Snow]

nice… As one of the designers of Challengers, I am in favor of your D-choice and I hope it went well.

Won game 6, lost game 7 to one of the esteemed colleagues in this thread, and missed the finals. But I am not disappointed with my choice.

And I am thoroughly hooked on this game