Munchkin Deck Size Question

[majikfreak]

So many great ideas and info... thank you all for the input...

[Roccksteady]

So with that spreadsheet, which i find to be awesome...btw...LOL. nerdness!! i do that kind of stuff for my weight lifting progress HAHA.

but anyways...so that spreadsheet deals with door cards only. or am i missing something. are those the only ones you really need to balance? do the treasure cards not really matter for balancing?

[RevBob]

Originally Posted by Roccksteady

do the treasure cards not really matter for balancing?

I find the treasures to be vital balance tools. For instance, including the Jabberwock and Judge Fredd without including the Vorpal Blade changes the power balance. See also Squidzilla and the Sword of Slaying Everything Except Squid.

[Roccksteady]

Originally Posted by RevBob

I find the treasures to be vital balance tools. For instance, including the Jabberwock and Judge Fredd without including the Vorpal Blade changes the power balance. See also Squidzilla and the Sword of Slaying Everything Except Squid.

Ok, so besides "pairs" of cards though. its not as important to pay attention to the # of cards in your treasure deck?

in that spreadsheet there is a particular percentage per type of card. are the treasures balanced enough where you can just lump them all in the one deck?

it would be interesting to see some percentages based on the treasure cards as well.

[Trann]

Originally Posted by snarky

I've converted my spreadsheet to Google Docs, in case someone might be interested in taking a look.

It has breakdowns of all Door cards for each major Munchkin (fantasy) set 1-7, Fairy Dust, both Santa expansions, and Marked for Death.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...thkey=COyFmM4H

This needs more love.

I was looking for threads about an optimal deck size, reading lots about not throwing it all together, limiting to 1-2 expansions, and other thoughts.

This, however... this got my math geek on. Given the base deck as a starting point for balance, we have:

Base                  96
Class                 12      12.50%
Curse                 19      19.79%
Monster               37      38.54%
Monster Modifier      12      12.50%
Munchkin              7       7.29%
Race                  9       9.38%

Taking the totals of all my sets into account (M,UA,CE,MGC), I get this ratio breakdown:

TOTAL DOOR CARDS      254
Class                 25      9.84%      (-2.66%)
Curse                 38      14.96%     (-4.83%)
Monster               91      35.83%     (-2.71%)
Monster Modifier      47      18.50%     (+6.00%)
Munchkin              28      11.02%     (+3.73%)
Race                  25      9.84%      (+0.46%)

I like these numbers but I'm really new to the game so advice is welcome: any reason *not* to combine all four (M,UA,CE,MGC) of my sets?

And if snarky did have a similar chart for Treasure cards, I'd love to see it, too.

[snarky]

I agree, it needs a bit more love. It was something I put together while I was looking for a job last fall, and now that I'm employed full-time, I haven't had much chance to go back and revisit it. Always meant to do the Treasure cards, as well as Cthulhu and Booty, but just didn't get around to it.

Once a friend's wedding planning comes to fruition this weekend, I'll have some more spare time, maybe I can attack the Treasures and update to add the new sets that I've picked up since last fall.

[snarky]

Originally Posted by Trann

Taking the totals of all my sets into account (M,UA,CE,MGC), I get this ratio breakdown:

TOTAL DOOR CARDS      254
Class                 25      9.84%      (-2.66%)
Curse                 38      14.96%     (-4.83%)
Monster               91      35.83%     (-2.71%)
Monster Modifier      47      18.50%     (+6.00%)
Munchkin              28      11.02%     (+3.73%)
Race                  25      9.84%      (+0.46%)

I like these numbers but I'm really new to the game so advice is welcome: any reason *not* to combine all four (M,UA,CE,MGC) of my sets?

Looking at this, I see a couple potential issues. First, you're dramatically increasing your Monster Modifiers and Munchkin cards, while dropping out a lot of Curses. I think the Monster and Class differences aren't bad, but could affect gameplay overall. Assuming a well-shuffled deck, though, this could be a fun change - you're going to see fewer monsters overall, but when you do, people are likely to have some modifiers to attach to them.

[Trann]

I think of the changes as good since I'm playing with two kids and possibly a wifey. Were I playing with a bunch of poker buddies, the deck would be far too slack, I agree.

[quote]...maybe I

[snarky]

Originally Posted by Trann

I think of the changes as good since I'm playing with two kids and possibly a wifey. Were I playing with a bunch of poker buddies, the deck would be far too slack, I agree.

Actually, given that, I'd definitely cut the monster enhancers and try to bring the races, classes, and monsters up. I find that the more casual the game, the more important it is to get monsters out and have a variety of races and classes for people to play with. The monster enhancers are the place where the wicked and munchkinly reside...

And, FWIW, I meant love from others for it's Mathy Goodness, not from you as if you had abandoned it on the doorstep of the Church of Munchkin...

Well, the Google doc doesn't have all the source data (there were card names in the Excel, which is a no-no according to TPTB), and it's locked down pretty well, so to build on what I've already done would take some work. I don't have a problem playing around some more with it, in fact I'd like to see what CWBH in particular does, especially with MGC in the mix.

[Trann]

Originally Posted by snarky

Actually, given that, I'd definitely cut the monster enhancers and try to bring the races, classes, and monsters up. I find that the more casual the game, the more important it is to get monsters out and have a variety of races and classes for people to play with. The monster enhancers are the place where the wicked and munchkinly reside...

Hmm, interesting point. I'll look through the deck and consider removing some of the less than ideal enhancers for them and we'll see how that goes.