Ironfist Pass is such a garbage map and it really needs to be taken out of the rotation. I say this having just won a pair of games where my deck had flying units and my opponent did not. Even restoring it back to the original could work but right now there is such a massive advantage to certain decks that it really has no business being in the game.
In general: map with an even number of font are a turtling feast. 3 or 5 fonts are usually better for my tastes. About the new rotation: I'm quite positive on it. The only two map I don't like are the Ironfist Pass and the current Shore, while I have some doubts on the balance of the current Underdepth one. Ironfist pass (Original): probably the former one (with the shrines on the opposite sides of the chasm) was less of an autowin for flying/teleport themes, maybe revert it to that (2 fonts)? Or keep it the same, but with only three fonts: one in the middle and two at the end of each large bridge. Shore: nothing special on this, but the fact that the two font and the shrines are so far away each other make it perfect for turtling. Underdepth: fonts and shrines on the side of the lava pit favor fliers and lavawalker. The former one (used in campaings) is a bit better from this point of view, but it structure made it hard to balance I guess.
i hate playing 2nd on Shores of Maljara. Player one if clued up usually deploys a decent champion to the front of font nearest the right font (which is player 2's default font) and can move to it in x turns and contest, you never get that font. their second deploy always goes to their nearest left font. ballballer just done so with a crusader, even with all my champs going right i couldnt kill it. works with other champs too. waiting for the git gud responses.
I will review Shores. That said, it's consistently rated as one of the maps people tend to like, so I am surprised to hear you having so much trouble with it. (In general tho, P2 is disadvantaged on all symmetrical lay out maps to SOME extent.)
That one is pretty new and some people like it, some don't. It's a bit cramped and favors ranged, so that's where the negative reviews tend to come in.
tbh i prefer odd number of font maps, i know what i should be doing there.. my tactics suck with even fonts and stand offs. and yea i can get rushed with even fonts.
I do like the new shores but the cluttering of walls makes it very ranged friendly and very 2x2 unfriendly.
No it's a really bad map player 1 advantage is huge. The new shores is only disliked because their are so many damn bushes and impassable spots, makes playing with large units even more annoying. Also I dislike this map rotation a lot, last one was much better.
Best case scenario for P1 is getting a runner/7spd to their side font on turn 1. That's not exactly huge. Or do you mean old shores?
