Want to trade Chaor, Max e, c !
Do you recognize this quote? We saw things like this a lot on the forums, in drome chat, and irl chaotic linger; whether it was looking for(LF), trading(WTT), buying(WTB) or selling(WTS), we all have heard of a max stat. What does max stat mean?
Well, on each creature card there are 4 'disciplines', and an energy value. The four disciplines include Courage, Power, Wisdom and Speed, and these values aid in use of Attacks. One or more disciplines can be manipulated on an Attack card by means of Challenges, Checks, Fails, and the sort. All card types(locations, mugic, etc) can include Disciplines, whether it be enhancing your Creatures Disciplines, or using them for effects like Bonding Battlesong. There are even more complex effects such as Gan'trak's.
Disciplines on creatures can be anywhere from 0(Krekk) to 160(Blazvatan)*, and each of these values vary by 20 from card to card. For example: Heptadd is a pretty balanced card. Each of his 4 disciplines can range from 40 to 60. This means that his average courage, etc, is 50; however, there is one more 'stat'(or statistic) that has a range of values: energy.
*Aa'une Avatar is an exception to this rule, because each of his disciplines is a strict 200.
Energy isn't exactly the same as disciplines, because the range on energy is 10. Taking Heptadd as an example once again, he has Energy values from 45 to 55, so: his average energy is 50. Have you ever wondered why the energy has a range of 10 rather than 20? (If you haven't wondered: you are now!)
Well let's think about this. Energy takes more of a role than just being attack damage. Disciplines do nothing but give you attack damage*, and they are not necessary to do attack damage: keep this in mind. Energy, on the other hand, is always a key factor of gameplay no matter what kind of attack cards you are including in your deck. Whether your running a disciplines attack deck, elemental attack deck, bodals dagger attack deck or a combination, Energy is always going to be there! Since energy is more important, they had a smaller range on Energy than disciplines. But why, then, do we even need a range on Energy?
*Gan'trak is an exception to this rule, but he has many counters.
I can't tell you how disappointed it can be to get a card with minimum energy, sometimes its even a pretty big let down to get average Energy. We have a feeling that we NEED max energy on all creatures in our deck, unless we are trying to get our creature to have a meek value. We feel threatened by lower-than-max-e because Energy is SO important to us. Once our deck's combined Energy runs out: we lose. We could have 0 in all Disciplines and still be kicking. 5 Energy can be the deciding factor in losing a creature or keeping it(it has for me several times), and 10 Energy can definitely be a factor. Losing that creature may even effect the game! Range on Energy then feels weird to us, and honestly it was questionable that they implemented it. Especially in Dawn of Perim when attacks did not hit as hard, and therefore 5-10 Energy was even more important.
In Energy range's defense, it does add value to cards. Not that having a max c/w Tartarek Psi won't be valuable, but having a max energy card at your disposal makes that card worth THAT much more.
In opposition to Energy range, statistically only every 3rd of a card will have max Energy. This makes the majority of creature cards a disappointment, almost to a point where they are negligible. There's hope though! In real world matches, you can ask for max Energy on your creatures: this is the good thing about real matches! When the dromes come back, you won't have the same convenience, but maybe you're ok with that.
So: are you ok with Energy range? Share your stories that convince of one way or another.