Pandemic Legacy Season One - January First Gameplay (Spoiler Free)

After a long time of deliberating whether to invest in this game, I finally took the leap! I decided to go solo, as it would be quite troublesome to assemble and keep a regular group going for 12 weeks (minimally) to complete the game. I've heard nothing but good reviews for this game, so... why not?

Right out of the box, there's intrigue - a set of dossiers labelled 'Top Secret', a rulebook, a big sticker sheet, and a set of instructions to immediately follow.

One of the first instructions was to stick a sticker on Packet 8, which is a sealed, perforated box: 'Open only if you lose 4 games in a row'. Ooooh mystery. I aim to never open this!!

Board looks similar to regular Pandemic, with some extra things.

Ok I'm going to talk abit about my experience, and I'll keep it spoiler free in the sense that I won't reveal anything that is only revealed later in the game. Meaning I'll only mention things outright described in the rulebook at the start.

One of the key new mechanics is panic level - everytime an outbreak occurs, that city's panic level goes up by 1 permanently. There were some really shitty permanent effects if the panic level got too high, so I tried my best in my first game to control all outbreaks - unfortunately I still got one. Oh well.

The first game went fairly ok - I decided to go with 3 characters, Medic, Dispatcher, and Researcher, which I deem to be the most powerful. I read online that 2 was too easy, and 4 felt abit clunky due to the card passing required and I thought I would more easily lose track and mess up given I was playing solo.
I won without too much difficulty (was never close to losing), and even managed to eradicate two diseases, which net me some cool upgrades for the future (you get 2 upgrades after every game which makes things easier for you in your next game).

But I did find myself spending A LOT more time thinking about each move, as I felt that each decision was many times more important than before, since things that happen are permanent and have lasting effects on the rest of your 12-24 games. I think playing this with friends may be slightly easier, as you can bounce ideas off each other, and weigh the pros/cons of certain decisions. After this first win, I even ran to my wife (who wasn't playing, but played Pandemic before) to ask for her inputs for an upgrade decision I had to make.

One of the new mechanics is a 'Legacy deck', which you are supposed to draw cards that have instructions on them that may change how the game is played; there is a preset order to draw them, and you will know exactly when to stop and draw. The first Legacy deck effect was mindblowing - it fundamentally changed how the game was played and I was just reeling from it. I wonder how it will affect future games?!? And if this was only the first thing, how else could the game be modified? I can imagine by the time I hit November/December, the gameplay would be REALLY REALLY different from the base game. I can't wait!!

First impressions - really good. I love the creative angle of the 'Legacy' style gameplay, which adds weight to every decision. From the first 'twist' of the Legacy Deck, I'm already super stoked to see what further twists the game makers have for me. The whole feel of the game just feels amazing and fresh, the components are well made; would have loved some better compartments for the cubes instead of ziplock but I guess I'll get a Plano box to resolve that myself.

Looking forward to February!

Plica Syndrome - Day 6 - Regrets?

Day 6 after the op (counting the day of the op as Day 0) I can start to walk without a crutch but with a big limp. There's some swelling on and off, which I realised seems to happen if I remove the light compression sleeve the doctor gave. I'll ice, elevate, and put the compression sleeve back on and the swelling subsides.


Sometimes I wonder if I should have had done the surgery. When I read online of other people who also had plica syndrome and hence went for arthroscopic surgery, their symptoms always sound a lot more severe than mine.

All I had was a persistent discomfort in the knee, the feeling that something is rubbing on the inside of the knee, and the joint gets warm and painful after I deadlift / hurts when I run. Other people have constant pain, clicking in the knee, pain when going up/down stairs. I can even play basketball/sports if I wear a knee wrap!

The problem was the discomfort didn't go away, and didn't seem to be improving after 9 months. I had 2 options:

Option A: Start seeing a new physio and try out another treatment plan (After 9 months of trying many plans) and hope it reduces and eliminates the problem eventually.

Option B: Do the surgery, then see that physio and rehab to 100%.

The problem with option A is that the recovery is not guaranteed and the problem plica is still there. Well not that option B is guaranteed recovery, but at least the problem is removed and I can actively rehab and feel progress.

My only fear now is that I don't actually return to 100%, and some lingering issue remains to haunt me. Then it will remind me of this $11+k plus 3 months of suffering (the estimated recovery timeline) wasted. oh well.

Clash Royale - Masters League!

Finally hit a new milestone today, obtaining Masters League after a pretty nailbiting final game

The deck used:

Average Elixir Cost: 3.0

The core cards I used were Hog Rider, Goblin, Zap, Musketeer - mainly because they were maxed out. I'm currently maxing out Fireball so I guess I'm stuck with that xD. Ice Wizard has saved me too much defensively, so the only 2 variations I played with were the Cannon/Ice Golem.

I've tried Inferno Tower but didn't like the lack of versatility it had - I wasn't facing Golem/LH all too often, and it usually isn't that great against Giant (due to the opponent's ability to stack other small things behind it). Cannon is all around more versatile and fits into my cyclish deck better.

The last card, Ice Golem, was a last moment of inspiration. For a long time, I was using a Level 9 Mini Pekka or a Level 6 Pekka - clearly suboptimal at the trophy levels I was playing at where most people have maxxed out cards. I thought I needed some sort of tank killer, and even considered my Level 2 Lumberjack.

Eventually I realised I needed a card that was level-neutral - i.e. performs just as well even when underlevelled. There are 3 cards that fit this bill - Ice Spirit, Skeletons (99% of the time you don't rely on their damage anyway) and Ice Golem. After a few playtests of Ice Golem, I loved how high skill cap this card was and how efficiently it trades up for things like Pekka, Prince, EBarbs, Valk, etc (basically just kite them into the opposite lane, and play a Ice Wiz/Musketeer in the middle to pick it off as it's being kited)

With the deck locked in, it was just a matter of dodging some of the deck's weaknesses - any Lava Hound deck would destroy me once they kill my Musketeer (e.g. with Lightning); Giant / Golem decks will be quite tough as I have no tank killer, and I have to rely on split pushing to win. True enough, as I advanced up, I lost most of my LH/Giant/Golem games, but thankfully I didn't face them too often in the final push.

And the one true test came in the final game just before Masters - I was 8 trophies away... and faced a Golem deck. Thankfully, my gambit-style play worked as we took each other's Princess Towers, and he couldn't really defend my quick Hog cycle pressure on his opposite lane as he tried to Golem deathball my King tower on one lane.

Yay!