So Maven is a break system (as opposed to a build system) that looks pretty crappy due to 2-per-sub cost.
I'm curious however if it's really that bad and since I still have my ultra-hacky code from the Flashbang review it's easy to do some comparisons.
First up barriers and a comparison with Paperclip. Paperclip costs max(number_of_subs, strength-1)
to break a barrier. Percentages are Maven in terms of Paperclip (100 * maven/paperclip
).
- Strength 0: 5 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.00, median subs 1.0
-
- Mean paperclip break cost 1.00, median paperclip break cost 1.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 2.00 (200%), median maven break cost 2.0 (200%)
- Strength 1: 7 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.00, median subs 1.0
-
- Mean paperclip break cost 1.00, median paperclip break cost 1.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 2.00 (200%), median maven break cost 2.0 (200%)
- Strength 2: 4 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.75, median subs 1.5
-
- Mean paperclip break cost 1.75, median paperclip break cost 1.5
-
- Mean maven break cost 3.50 (200%), median maven break cost 3.0 (200%)
- Strength 3: 4 cards
-
- Mean subs 2.50, median subs 1.5
-
- Mean paperclip break cost 3.00, median paperclip break cost 2.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 5.00 (150%), median maven break cost 3.0 (150%)
- Strength 4: 10 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.60, median subs 1.5
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- Mean paperclip break cost 3.00, median paperclip break cost 3.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.20 (107%), median maven break cost 3.0 (100%)
- Strength 5: 5 cards
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- Mean subs 1.80, median subs 2.0
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- Mean paperclip break cost 4.00, median paperclip break cost 4.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 3.60 (90%), median maven break cost 4.0 (100%)
- Strength 6: 3 cards
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- Mean subs 2.33, median subs 3.0
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- Mean paperclip break cost 5.00, median paperclip break cost 5.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 4.67 (93%), median maven break cost 6.0 (120%)
- Strength 7: 2 cards
-
- Mean subs 2.50, median subs 2.5
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- Mean paperclip break cost 6.00, median paperclip break cost 6.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 5.00 (83%), median maven break cost 5.0 (83%)
- Strength 8: 4 cards
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- Mean subs 3.25, median subs 3.0
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- Mean paperclip break cost 7.00, median paperclip break cost 7.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 6.50 (93%), median maven break cost 6.0 (86%)
- Strength 10: 1 cards
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- Mean subs 4.00, median subs 4.0
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- Mean paperclip break cost 9.00, median paperclip break cost 9.0
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- Mean maven break cost 8.00 (89%), median maven break cost 8.0 (89%)
For sentries I'll compare to Mongoose.
- Strength 0: 5 cards
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- Mean subs 1.40, median subs 1.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 1.00, median mongoose break cost 1.0
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- Mean maven break cost 2.80 (280%), median maven break cost 2.0 (200%)
- Strength 1: 6 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.83, median subs 2.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 1.17, median mongoose break cost 1.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 3.67 (317%), median maven break cost 4.0 (350%)
- Strength 2: 11 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.64, median subs 1.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 3.18, median mongoose break cost 3.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.27 (98%), median maven break cost 2.0 (67%)
- Strength 3: 13 cards
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- Mean subs 1.69, median subs 2.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 3.08, median mongoose break cost 3.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.38 (104%), median maven break cost 4.0 (133%)
- Strength 4: 14 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.64, median subs 1.5
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- Mean mongoose break cost 5.14, median mongoose break cost 5.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 3.29 (63%), median maven break cost 3.0 (60%)
- Strength 5: 13 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.92, median subs 2.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 5.31, median mongoose break cost 5.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.85 (70%), median maven break cost 4.0 (80%)
- Strength 6: 6 cards
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- Mean subs 2.17, median subs 2.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 7.33, median mongoose break cost 7.0
-
- Mean maven break cost 4.33 (58%), median maven break cost 4.0 (57%)
- Strength 7: 1 cards
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- Mean subs 1.00, median subs 1.0
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- Mean mongoose break cost 7.00, median mongoose break cost 7.0
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- Mean maven break cost 2.00 (29%), median maven break cost 2.0 (29%)
- Strength 8: 2 cards
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- Mean subs 3.50, median subs 3.5
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- Mean mongoose break cost 10.00, median mongoose break cost 10.0
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- Mean maven break cost 7.00 (70%), median maven break cost 7.0 (70%)
Finally let's take a look at Gordian Blade, assuming there's only one code gate in the run (no leftover strength from previous boosting).
- Strength 0: 5 cards
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- Mean subs 1.40, median subs 1.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 1.40, median gordian blade break cost 1.0
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- Mean maven break cost 2.80 (200%), median maven break cost 2.0 (200%)
- Strength 1: 6 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.83, median subs 2.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 1.83, median gordian blade break cost 2.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.67 (200%), median maven break cost 4.0 (200%)
- Strength 2: 11 cards
-
- Mean subs 1.64, median subs 1.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 1.64, median gordian blade break cost 1.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.27 (200%), median maven break cost 2.0 (200%)
- Strength 3: 13 cards
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- Mean subs 1.69, median subs 2.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 2.69, median gordian blade break cost 3.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.38 (114%), median maven break cost 4.0 (133%)
- Strength 4: 14 cards
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- Mean subs 1.64, median subs 1.5
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 3.64, median gordian blade break cost 3.5
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- Mean maven break cost 3.29 (86%), median maven break cost 3.0 (83%)
- Strength 5: 13 cards
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- Mean subs 1.92, median subs 2.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 4.92, median gordian blade break cost 5.0
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- Mean maven break cost 3.85 (73%), median maven break cost 4.0 (80%)
- Strength 6: 6 cards
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- Mean subs 2.17, median subs 2.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 6.17, median gordian blade break cost 6.0
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- Mean maven break cost 4.33 (67%), median maven break cost 4.0 (67%)
- Strength 7: 1 cards
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- Mean subs 1.00, median subs 1.0
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 6.00, median gordian blade break cost 6.0
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- Mean maven break cost 2.00 (33%), median maven break cost 2.0 (33%)
- Strength 8: 2 cards
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- Mean subs 3.50, median subs 3.5
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- Mean gordian blade break cost 9.50, median gordian blade break cost 9.5
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- Mean maven break cost 7.00 (73%), median maven break cost 7.0 (73%)
A very rough analysis is that if you can get Maven boosted to strength 5 it becomes competitive with other breakers. Of course that means 5 programs (including Maven). That's not as hard as it may sound however due to nice little helpers like Dhegdheer. Other non-memory eating programs are: Pawn, Scheherazade, Progenitor and Harbinger. Due to Harbinger being on this list Maven could potentially be interesting in a Apex: Invasive Predator deck.
If you use Maven in a typical AI way, as a fallback, in combination with a full breaker suite and if you're running a big rig with extra programs it's not all that hard to get like 7 programs installed (two Dhegdeer, 4 breakers including Maven, a support program). The gains however are still not terribly great considering the relatively low odds of encountering strength 6/7 ice.
I don't think Maven will be a card to build a deck around. Rather it's an AI that goes relatively easily into a big rig shaper deck to fill the AI role. And in such cases it's a pretty decent AI.