4Game

Okay, so just hear me out on this.

Lets dive into this story about Truzky and the "Floating provisions" in the polish final tournament. Theres been buzzing about him floating 10 provisions and still winning because Magic Compass is too powerful. But, let's break it down and see if that's really the case?

My point of focus: GN is a deck type that aims at using and creating points by using as many provisions as efficiently as possible.

Truzky's Deck: More than simply stuffing provisions.
Truzky’s deck, rocking the GN Pirate's Magic Compass, was sitting at 156 provisions. Meanwhile, Pajabol's Arachas deck had 165.

Now, I think the whole deal about floating provisions might be a bit overhyped. Truzky’s deck is solid, packed with tech options for all sorts of situations. I might argue his tech combinations were more valuable than stuffing provisions, but I know I wont win that arguement.

Endgame Math: Who Really Floated More Provisions?

So, near the end of their polish final showdown, Pajabol had 7 cards left: five 4p cards and two 5p cards. If he had played till the end, he'd probably have used Oneiromancy on a 5p Evolution for max points. That leaves (5×4) + 5 = 25 provisions unused in pajabols' deck. So, Pajabol actually used only 140 out of his 165 provisions he had available.

Truzky, on the flip side, only missed out on 5 provisions from the 1 x pirate in his deck. That's 156 – 5 = 151 provisions used. Now, sure, the Compass got him Lippy, which is like cheating 11 provisions for a 9 provision cost, netting 2 provisions cheated in this game specifically. But even if Truzky hadn't floated those 10 provisions and tweaked his deck for more point slam, he'd have played out 163-166 provisions in total depending on his compass choice.

In the end, Truzky used 153 provisions compared to Pajabol's 140. So, who's really floating more provisions here?

This is an arguement that can be made for almost all polarised decks that leave 4p cards in deck by the end of the game.

Beyond Just the Compass
I get that picking the right card is key, like Truzky's genius move with Lippy against Sabbath. But the Compass in a pure/devotion Skellige deck is extremely RNG. I think we should be eyeing Necker and the neutral cards that boost it, not just magic compass (as compass' effect was extremely minimal in this matchup vs pajabol imo).

When was the last time you saw a Compass in a devotion deck? Personally, I haven't seen one since it was 8 provisions. Just saying, maybe it's not all about the Compass.

A different deck example:
Now lets look at the other end on a GN beasts deck I designed to play compass into anything twice. This deck thins to 2 by round 2, and zero by round 3 and Im able to cheat 28 provisions from 2 compass plays, as well as 4-10 provisions with delerium depending on how lucky I am. So Im able to play 165+28+x where x is between 4-10. This is only enabled because of necker and other neutrals and normally would not even be possible in devotion skellige. The POINT OF THIS is the more neutrals you add to GN, the more you can cheat provisions with compass. In pure SK, compass is more of an RNG setback than a final say god.

Im curious to hear others arguements as for me I think compass at 10p is too expensive considering devotion, while Necker and other neutrals are too cheap.