Familiar rush too dominant, strong, and boring

[JustAnItch]

I like to think of this game to be similar to Dominion. Every match has a unique set of spells, of which the game is to figure out how to optimize and learn the best combination of them, in order to get the highest score before the game ends. If the game would be about who can learn all 7 spells faster and/or at a higher spell level, the game would be a lot less fun. Then it's just a color matching game.

I almost considered the familiar board a "feed your people" mechanic.

I love this analogy and probably would've actually quit the game already if not for this. Allow me to suggest another one that may be better. Think of it as a game clock. The familiar board even looks like one, sort of. It's similar to games like Azul, in which that game will inevitably last 5 rounds unless all players slow roll. Except this "game clock" is better, since it also works as a mechanic to help filter your token pool, making your game overall more consistent. Additionally there are ways to interact with or manipulate the "clock", using many of spells that the game is based around.

You get penalized for not doing it by losing the game.

Your "penalty" though is too harsh imo, but that may just be a personal opinion. There are niche situations where it's better to not store, if you get a high value spell 1 turn earlier or if your pool is full and not storing will enable you to get a high scoring spell. The comparison would be playing starvation strat in Stone Age.

[JustAnItch]

After almost 75 games so far, and a pretty strong WR, I want to correct my previous post. I don't take back that familiar rush is a viable strategy, nor is it necessarily unfun. It's consistent points and is an active filter to help you learn 2-3 spells before ending the game. That said, I'm fairly confident that pure familiar rush (draw 2, store, repeat) can easily be beaten with good strategy and technique. Check out any of my replays, especially against "top players", for proof of that. Altgough some spells are stronger and/or more generic than others, the 15 spells available were designed with many synergies, that if combined properly can heavily outpace familiar rush. (Except for Blaze. That spell is garbage. It's the only one that I've never seen a good use for besides raw points.) Sure, there are 4 spells that help accelerate your familiar, but they work best when learnt as part of an overall strategy and specifically built towards.