Super Magical Chests (impossibly dumb name) in Clash Royale are handed out randomly whenever you earn a loot chest, with a drop rate of 1/1000. The rest of the chests are on a set rotation. The Super chest isn’t just the best chest in the game, its BY FAR the best. At Arena 6, a magical chest gives you 78 cards, with at least 15 being rare and 2 being epic. A super magical chest gives you 468 cards, with at least 93 being rare and 15 being epic. Like I said, the difference is insane.
Recently my main account was lucky enough to get a Super chest. After waiting 24 hours to open it, the time finally arrived. And I got hosed. Hard.
Some background first. The way chests work is that you don’t actually have a random chance to get 468 unique cards. In a chest like that, you will get somewhere around ten different cards, with a large (300+) count of one common, a large (60ish?) bundle of one rare, and 10+ of one epic. In other words, basically three of the cards you get will be the focus on a Super chest, with everything else being very minor.
Back to my chest. The common bundle was goblins, which aren’t horrible, but also aren’t a ‘top’ common IMO. This made the card my first level 8 card (my commons were level 6-7 at the time, getting a common to level 8 requires 200 cards), meaning I’d use it and work my deck a bit to make it work. This was pretty easy, as I simply replaced the one-drop skeletons with the two-drop goblins.
The rare was elixir pump, which at first seems great, as elixir pump is one of (if not THE) most used rare cards and easily fits into almost any deck. The drop got the card to level 6, which is rather high for a rare (my other rares were at level 4). The problem with leveling up the pump is that it doesn’t do much, as it only gives the pump more HP, and ideally you generally don’t want the pump getting hit. It does make the pump a better distraction when needed, but almost any rare would have been more helpful to boost to level 6.
The epic I got in bunches was mirror, moving it to level 3 (from zero). Mirror isn’t terrible, but again almost any other epic to level 3 would have been better, and had it been one of the epics I already had at level 2, an epic to level 4 would have been a crazy power boost. Back to mirror, its a tricky card to use, even at level 3. It clones epics to level 3, which is good, and rares to level 5, which is ok, but only puts commons at level 7, which is a waste for a +1 elixir cost.
Cloning an epic like Pekka can win me a game (having a level 2 and level 3 pekka in the same lane is very difficult to counter), but when that does get countered, it’s almost a guaranteed loss. Plus as mentioned, cloning commons is generally a bad move, meaning some games mirror sits in my hand for large stretches of time, resulting in more limited options.
Not surprisingly, after the Super chest my trophy ranking didn’t really increase. It actually initially dropped a bit as I figured out how best to make mirror work and what cards to place around it. I’m floating around 2000 trophies now, dipping in and out of Arena 7 (account level is 7), but I fully believe this is more about learning how to get the most power out of the deck I have than the base level of the cards themselves. My alt, who is still level 6, is usually 100 trophies above my main account, simply because I’m more comfortable with that deck and the synergy works better for me.
Hopefully the next Super chest is a bit more kind, whenever it shows its 1/1000 head.
That sounds like a really shitty way to implement a ‘rare gift’ such as this, especially in a CCG-like game. The whole point of the genre is to collect stuff, getting 216 of the same card feels like opening a Christmas present only to see it’s a disfigured hand made aromatic candle from your hippie aunt. “Aww… you really shouldn’t have”.
Could you imagine if that chest would give you 20-25 different cards? Lots more deck variety, lots more experimentation, and a player that is a whole lot more invested in the game.
Getting 20-25 different cards (so small quantities of everything) initially sounds good, until you hit the point of needing 200+ of a card to level it up, and realize how slow that would be overall with your cards so spread out.
Now granted, the lump method kinda pushes you towards cards, or in this case, hurts because the lumps you get aren’t great, but I still think long-term it works out better sooner than getting little sums of everything.
I understand that how they are doing it is efficient, yes, but the emotional response when you open such a reward is different. It’s kinda like when you open a legendary you already own in a Hearthstone pack. Sure, you are getting more dust out of the pack compared to not having gotten it, but in the end you kinda feel a little bitter about RNG screwing you. Even getting a really shitty legendary you don’t own feels better in comparison, because you actually feel like you got something valueable (you didn’t), and not just some currency. Opening a super-pack and coming out with 3 cards and a bunch of currency (pretty much the equivalent of dust) feels so underwhelming I’d feel cheated. Especially when the ‘reward’ comes with a 0.1% chance attached.
“…but only puts commons at level 7, which is a waste for a +1 elixir cost.”
Mirror a Minion Horde after they arrow the original and watch their tower melt. Level 7+ MH is serious business.