Energy Management for a Stable Cycle (Grail)

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Your energy in Grail is important for playing your cards, but many players don't have stable energy. This guide will teach you how to keep your energy levels stable, and also will address the shortcomings of this system. Each card in Grail has a cost, in energy, listed at the bottom of the card. However, this does not actually represent the energy cost of the card. The calculate the cost on your cycle an energy card will have, you must first calculate the A ctual L oss I n E nergy ( N et). You must find the ALIEN of a card before you can hold it in a stable cycle. Remember that each turn, you produce one energy, so the ALIEN of a card is the energy it costs, minus one, because you will produce one. Therefore, the ALIEN of a card like Pierce: Is 1, because it is cost 2, and 2 - 1 = 1. To have a stable cycle with Pierce, you will need another card that produce energy. To produce energy, you must have a positive ALIEN. For example, most 0 cost cards have a positive ALIEN. Because Bayonet is 0 cost, and 0 - 1 = -1, a Bayonet will produce one energy per cycle. Therefore, you will have a stable cycle with Bayonet and Pierce, as 1 -1 = 0. 0 cost cards such as Mozzarella do not affect your energy cycle, although in some cases, they can hurt your opponents. 1 - 1 = 0, so this can be slotted into most decks without disturbing the energy cycle. If a card produces energy or energizes a card, the ALIEN of the card is lowered by an amount equal to the energy produced/cards energized. For example, Toxin Toxin is a 2 cost card, so normally it would have an ALIEN of 1. However 2 -1 -1(from energy produced) = 0, so Toxin is stable in most energy cycles. A card like Parmesan Parmesan is 1 cost, but since it produces one energy, it has an ALIEN of -1, because 1 -1 -1 (1 energize) = -1. Therefore, if you have Pierce and Parmesan, it'll still be stable. Cards that energize themself based on another case change the ALIEN of that other case. For example, Leyden Jar. Although Leyden Jar appears to have an ALIEN of 3, being 4 - 1, in actuality it is much easier to build stable energy with, as anything which applies shock now also energizes, losing 1 ALIEN. So, a deck with a Leyden Jar and 3 cards with 1 cost that apply Shock will be neutral, because (1 -1 -1(Leyden Jar))[shock card] + (1 -1 -1(Leyden Jar))[shock card] + (1 -1 -1(Leyden Jar))[shock card] + (4 - 1) = (-1) + (-1) + (-1) + 3 = 0 Leyden Jar can be used to create a stable cycle through reducing the ALIEN of other cards. Cards which play more cards When a card plays an additional card, like cheese grater, you do not produce an additional energy per turn when you play that card. Therefore, each additional card played in a turn is a +1 to your deck's ALIEN. Consider Cheese Grater: This card is 2 cost, so it should have 2 - 1 = 1 ALIEN. However, since it plays 2 addition cards, the ALIEN is increased by 2, up to an ALIEN of 3. However, this is not correct, as Cheese Grater reduces the cost of the cards played, so each card played has reduced ALIEN. Therefore, Cheese Grater has an ALIEN of 2 (base cost) - 1 (energy production per turn) +1*2 (2 additional cards played) - 1*2 (reduced cost for 2 additional cards played) = 1 Cheese Grater has an ALIEN of 1. This means the Play Next stickers raise the ALIEN of a card as well. Traits Traits which produce energy can lower the ALIEN of certain cards, provided the condition is fulfilled. For example, Hale (whenever you play a Heal card, energize a block card 1(2)(3)(4) times) Hale will lower the ALIEN of all heal cards, provided you have block cards, as it makes all heal cards energize a block card. With Hale level 1 and Parmesan, Parmesan would be 1(cost) -1(energy for turn) -1(cards energize) -1 (cards energized by Hale) Cards which rip themselves up have an initial burst of negative energy to your cycle, which must be buffered with your starting energy. For example, Nightshade Extract Although Nightshade Extract has no impact on your stable ALIEN, because it doesn't cycle, because it has an ALIEN of -2 itself, you need at least 2 starting energy to be able to play a Nightshade Extract. If the Nightshade Extract has a Revive Sticker, it will force you to pay the cost twice, once for each cycle, so 4 starting energy is needed to remain stable. Cards which rip up and cost energy can be mitigated by cards which rip up and give energy, such as Crumbs Because Crumbs has an ALIEN of +2, each Crumbs you have will cancel out the negative burst ALIEN from a Nightshade Extract. Although in theory, ALIEN is mathematically sound, there are many cases in which it does not work. Not enough energy case The foremost example of this is a card such as Camembert. Although Camembert has an ALIEN of +1, it can only give this energy if it can be played. If it cannot be played, such as by having only 1 energy as a result of spending energy beforehand, Camembert will not provide energy that cycle, reducing your effective ALIEN for that cycle. A way to circumvent this problem is to place Priority Stickers on your cards, to ensure that Camembert is always drawn before high cost cards such as Battleaxe, causing cards to be played in a set order that will always be able to play the cards. This problem also won't come up if you have enough burst starting energy to play all of your cards no matter the order, which can be provided through lots of Crumbs, or taking the Starting Energy Event at the Waterfall. Unreliable energize cases Because energize selects a random card in your deck instead of giving energy directly, there are many cases in which it will not provide the listed energy, causing your deck to fail, despite having stable ALIEN. No available energy slots case For example, Energize can be wasted. A deck with both Turnip and a one cost card, for example, Candle, Can draw and play it's cards in the order of Candle-Turnip (energize Candle) - Turnip, such that the Turnip has an ALIEN of -1 on the second cycle, because it cannot energize. This case is encountered in many times where all energy slots are unavailable, such as when your other cards are all 0 cost, or have all energy slots filled. An easy way to circumvent this case is to have many energy slots on your cards, or multiple cards which provide energy by energizing, as that will ensure your energy will never drop. De-energize case If your relying on energize, Mozzarella is -1 ALIEN for each cycle of your opponent. If you don't want to run out of energy because of the Mozzarella's you'll inevitably run into, overproducing energy on cycle is usually good if you're relying on energize to remain stable. Wrong order case This case falls into a similar group as the first case, where you should have enough energy to play cards but cannot, but has a different shortcoming for energize. For example, if you have a deck that has 6 Parmesans and 1 Battleaxe, you should have neutral ALIEN, because -6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 0 (imagine there's 6 of these) However, this can fail in multiple ways. Assume the Battleaxe is last in the deck, with a Latecomer Sticker. Each Parmesan is played, and it energizes. Unfortunately, they all energize the previously played Parmesan, meaning the energy bonus they've given cannot be claimed until the next cycle! You go to play the Battleaxe, and despite having stable ALIEN, only have 4 energy, and thus fail to play the Battleaxe. The solution for this is much the same as the previous, where if you have enough burst energy to maintain playing your cards despite not having energize target the right cards, your energy will maintain stable. Another potential solution is putting a Target Sticker on the cards which you need energized first, but this does not guarantee that the cards are drawn in the right order, so you may end up drawing the target Battleaxe first and being unable to play it anyways. This can be circumvented with enough priority stickers, but this is finnicky and needs a lot of stickers and rerolling. All