some extra ideas
golems can play dark stone
the only good non-spells played by mages are legendary actions
the backfire of settlement is the guild swap (if you are not nehant/mercenary), and still they can play cards normally with the other characters
boss characters are braindead, only bad players keep playing for a long time with them/using them in co-op events, you can do some test in level room, but farm crystals in lvl room with them... i will see you in the doom, from the heaven
theres a difference between dissidence and this card, you have to play dissidence with the correct timing (sometimes round 2 or 3) to use it 2 fights or more
this is the situation (dissidence played like 1 first card with initiative in round 2 or 3, mage vs warriors/marauders)
by a pure mage that plays dissidence = 0-6 damage done (first fight), full damage (second fight)
by a warrior/marauder = 5 or more damage done (some new cards can play dissidence and chain a card), full damage second fight
then a mage could take 5 or more dmg when he do 0 or up to 6 (playing dissidence or being countered by it)
a marauder/warrior deal normal damage, 5 or more (playing dissidence or being countered by it)
now settlement
ignores spells 0-5 dmg*2 rounds vs 5 or more in the first round+5 to X full damage in the next round
thats all
a lot of people get mad because of -100 hp of a thunderstroke when in times of academic lesson, and now the new 1 round game menacing sky combo, right?
now, why people have to shut up when a "silence" per 2 rounds skills card is released?
mages win games playing spells, then, mages played spells, then, mages wins games
now
mages win games playing spells, then, forbidding to mage decks to play spells, then, they cant win
we need to understand why this deck is op
1° this deck is subject to an otk with ease, you dont need a lot of luck in the chain of thunder spells, that is because the reduced amount of thunder spells in the deck (3 sky, 3 spark, 1 lightning bolts) its easier to get the desired combo
2° setup: (izandra's debuff/maquis's bonus damage) having to draw less cards to win (because they activate at the start of the game) its like playing more cards right? we have a spiritual guide and a vendetta in game, and they cant be discarded
maybe in the last true trio of pirate characters (with old deck) the damage of this decks would be increased in 24 (with the current pirate noz storm cards) points but with the -6 max spirit to the enemy team increase the total damage is up 50
3° the screw the rules smart idea:
you HAVE to play that combo, you need to play like 12-14 (+ izandra+marquis) more or less cards in that combo (guess what, there is no thunderstroke anymore, they finish you with aoe faster and just with a little less of overall dmg)
that is an issue, you cant release some cards with a fixed damage, like pocket shooter, then you have a card that makes X damage + 1 to 2 per thunder spell in play without a limit (lightning blade [i know nobody use this card in the aoe version, and the aoe card has a limit]) because lightning blade is balanced only to a 2 lightning spells played per fight, when you stretch a rule (like the laws), and 1 or 2 decks do what they want with that rules, they f*ck the whole universe of decks(real world) that cant protect themself
and that's why settlement was released, because 1 mage deck became op, every single mage deck must pay for this, there is no way to beat this deck
then if we have a deck which can win in round 1, what we can do?
1° slow down it: classic control decks (balanced decks)
those kind of decks are slow (at least for now, they need set up) and boring, at least for room games.
its like uber ourenos era, he could win 3 games against another 3 different strategies, and the deck who can beat him is a classic corruption (slow deck), with low % rate at that time very unpopular, also corruption deck have a nemesis in that deck, eltarite heritage+dissidence/clumsiness
2° create another deck with the same capabilities
wrong idea. we dont need to speed up another deck, even if that deck is a mirror force only against thunder, people get mad about that, thunder players and balanced/slow decks players
3° create a faster deck
this is not the case, because we reached the fastest possible win
if you dont/cant remember my last post about nerfs, some decks playing 4 cards in 3-4 rounds were nerfed, so its not the answer
4° create counters against that deck
looks like this doesnt works, because we have a lot of unbalanced counters to be used, counters against mages are getting worse
support strategy (fire spells/counters against dark stone heart, etc) not a big deal (for now)
main strategy (thunder) can 1 shot almost everything
here is the pic of 1 of the first played games of the deck in elo, i dont know if he is the first author of the deck, but NO ONE USED THIS CHARACTERS before maybe he was 1 of a couple of guys that have the idea, maybe at the same time

there is 1 argument used
always by the owner of a deck, "this deck cant win amnezy"
thats because your deck, the "best" of all decks is easy to counter
a deck full of counters and a small but powerful strategy can be the winner of amnezy
human centorium deck, full of counters, won like 5-6 times in a row amnezy (the same player)