Board Game Arena

Is the best path to victory a big sponsor card inside the first break to get the ramp running the most effeciently?

I know getting a conservartion funded or a card or 2 flipped is really strong as well.

I am beginning to believe the most effcient and eaiest path to ramping (with excellent or better tempo) inside of the first break, is to simply have drawn a top sponsor card and play it. If your opponent manages to get one off the opening hand and you don't does it feel pretty hopeless?

If i am correct about this the luck rating of this game should be much higher than 1.

Thoughts and feedback welcome!

Yes and... No.

I've had opponent had the dream hand against me a few times, but didn't have the skill to keep the engine alive.

There is a luck component for sure but it's not that important. Compared to skill at least. Check the profile of top Arena players. They should have a 80~90% winrate which can't be obtain in a Luck based game.

But you are right on one thing : having the good sponsor does help :p.

While there are some sponsor cards that are just generally good ( Federal Grants, Technology Institute) most of them require you to build your game plan around it in some way.

There can be very strong starts, but most of them require a lot of time/turns to play them all out.
The thing I see most with weaker players is they take too many inefficient actions in the first 2 rounds given the other player all the time in the world to develop their engine.

a key skill in Ark Nova is understanding who has the most benefit of the round lasting an triggering a break accordingly.
Sometimes its just better to use sponsor action to trigger a break ( perhap even using a couple of X tokens) even when you have a sponsor card you want to play.