Teamster Power ?


Pathfinder Adventure Card Game General Discussion


New player here. I was a bit puzzled when I tried the game yesterday. If I'm understanding this correctly, when you Recharge a card, you take a card from your hand, and put it at the bottom of your deck. So far, so good. Then, the Teamster (core) card happens. It's a lvl 0 Ally, and his first power reads

Quote:
Recharge to draw a card or recharge a card.

The first part of this power, I get. That's the second part that puzzles me... So, I'm supposed to play this card (and Recharge it) in order to take another card from my hand and Recharge it too ? Why ? What's the point ? Wouldn't I be better actually playing the second card ?

Sorry if this is really obvious, but as a new player, there're still a few things to learn and although I can find answers for most of my questions, this one eludes me.


There are going to be times when you know/suspect an upcoming threat, but don't have the optimal chances to succeed. Alternately, there may be something that you want to do, but the card(s) necessary to do it are in your deck. Cards like the Teamster allow you to cycle through cards that you don't need right now in order to (hopefully) draw the card you need, or to at least work through your deck faster so that you might get the card you need sooner.

Lone Shark Games

Relevant Example: Seelah has a hand with no weapons and a few explore cards. She can recharge the Teamster and some other non-weapon to free up 2 (of her 4) cards to try to draw up a weapon. Alternatively, she might have _3_ weapons (of 4 cards) and want to toss 1 back in her deck for later. :)


Oh, right, so it's a way to cycle useless (at the time) cards in hope of getting better ones for the next turn ? That seems kinda usefull but on the other hand, it's pretty slow isn't it ?


Paehrin wrote:
Oh, right, so it's a way to cycle useless (at the time) cards in hope of getting better ones for the next turn ? That seems kinda usefull but on the other hand, it's pretty slow isn't it ?

Really, it depends on your party size. With 5+ players, you have 6-5 turns each and most of you probably won't even see their whole deck in a single game, so - yeah, pretty useless.

If there are only 2 players - each with 15 turns - this card might very well be a worthy mainstay in your deck.


Slightly off topic, but in my opinion Teamster is the single best level 0 ally in Core/Curse. It may well be one of the better (not 'best') allies in both boxes at any level, at least for some characters.

Further analysis:
"Recharge to draw a card", with no further cost, consequence or limitation is phenomenal. I could extrapolate on this concept in great detail, making references to other card games (such as competitive MTG deck history), but I'll summarize it as thus...

"Teamster will effectively act as a 'second copy' (sort of) of another card in my deck, as I can always 'cycle' it with something new immediately. That means at worst it's only as bad as the value of an "average" card in my deck - even as my deck gets better at later levels."

However, it can also be used for other purposes, so it's "at least as good at the average card in your deck, plus it does more", so it should always be in the top 50% 'best' boons in your deck unless you have critical need for that Ally slot.

Some other benefits it provides include...

1. The option to recharge another card (very rarely helpful, but it's an option).
2. By recharging it to draw another card, you replace unknown information with some known information (until you shuffle your deck, you know where Teamster is in the deck, therefore removing uncertainty and apparent randomness. Knowledge about deck composition/order is purely beneficial to players).
3. If you simply want/need an additional exploration, you can always choose to use it as one - in fact, it's an exploration with further upside.
4. A scenario or location power/rule might require you to have an ally - like "Banish an ally to close". If there is no such compulsion/rule/power to consider, it's freely replaceable with a new card, so this is just pure upside (whilst it wouldn't be for another Ally, where it's 'taking up space in your deck' and hindering you from drawing a card type that might otherwise be asked for).

More specifically, Teamster is pretty bad for characters highly reliant on using their Ally card slots for specific cards (like Lini and some post-role Varian's), but amazing for characters who would generally just want extra copies of other card types instead of allies, given the choice (like Ezren, Seoni, Quinn, Seelah or Valeros, who generally make better use of specific, non-ally card types).

To play Devil's Advocate against myself:
However... especially in smaller parties, PACG can sometimes demand that each player is capable of dealing with a wide variety of situations. Maybe a scenario rule, location closing requirement, or even a villain really needs you to make a high Dexterity/Acrobatics check, and nobody in the party can roll higher than 1d6 by default.

If every boon in your deck (including allies) have been picked to enhance your versatility, then you can theoretically deal with more issues - at least if you're lucky enough (or cycle your deck fast enough) to draw them at the right time. Having an ally that heals you, an ally that removes scourges, an ally that adds 2d8 to a check against a bane and an ally that adds 1d10 to a check to close is a valid strategy.

...But even then, I don't find my own Devil's Advocacy very compelling, because Teamster is great at helping you cycle to reach the "one or two" boons in your deck you really need to deal with an upcoming problem. Even if everything else in your deck is very specific and designed to enhance your flexibility, Teamster - despite offering almost nothing 'unique' - will still often be one of your better cards.

As an addendum; I fully agree with Longshot11 above. In small (1-2 player parties), using Teamster to recharge a second card becomes way better. Seelah might be really looking to draw Cure to help a fellow party member out, and there just isn't always a way to get rid of unhelpful cards from your hand (in order to draw more during reset) without discarding them.


Could I play a card that buries cards from my hand or like the teamster, that recharges a card from my hand to prevent damage when applied in a matchup?


agente_smithx wrote:
Could I play a card that buries cards from my hand or like the teamster, that recharges a card from my hand to prevent damage when applied in a matchup?

Generally, you can play cards for any power only when some condition/timing occurs, or at any time outside of an encounter when it does not specify timing.

When you suffer damage, you cannot play Cure from your hand to heal yourself a bit before you suffer the damage. You can play Cure between explorations, at the start of your turn, in another character's turn, but not during an encounter.
If you have a card that says "When you suffer any damage, bury to reduce it to 0", you can of course play (= bury) it for this effect. You should not be able to play Teamster(Core) for its "recharge this card to recharge another card" just to prevent damage. The power must be directly relevant to the situation to be used. In my opinion, there should be a "You may not use this power during an encounter." added - quite a few "draw effects" feature this wording.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Card Game / General Discussion / Teamster Power ? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in General Discussion