Card AI (Improvements) Requests

[l33t3rth4nur1111]

When Æther Flash is on the battlefield, the AI will continue to play creatures with 2 or less toughness, wasting mana and sending cards to the graveyard. This happens against any opponent (not just reanimator decks and the like).

[ember hauler]

When playing Selesnya Sanctuary AI is returning another Selesnya Sanctuary to it's hand instead of returning a Forest or a Plains. Thus, there's an infinite loop of play second Selesnya Sanctuary, return the first one, then play the first one next turn and return the second one and so on.

So AI is short of mana and almost always loses if it has a couple of Selesnya Sanctuary in it's deck.

[Bundy]

Computer uses Quicksilver Amulet to put Phage the Untouchable in play. Game over

[timmermac]

Computer just used the -2 ability of Sarkhan Vol twice during this game against my creatures instead of building up loyalty counters to use the gamebreaking ultimate ability.

[fsecco]

The computer can't seem to know how to use Marath, Will of the Wild. He keeps removing 0 counters for all of his abilities. If Purphoros, God of the Forge is out, then he does the "infinite damage" combo, but in a klunky way. Marath had a recent errata, where X can't be 0. This should be implemented.

Also, recently there have been a LOT of times where the computer won't use a Wasteland or Strip Mine, even if he has enough mana to go on. In earlier builds, he would Waste or Strip every time, even if it meant he would be without mana on the following turns (that was bad). But it not using the effects at all are also bad.

EDIT: Oh, and it's impossible to play a game with the computer if his deck has any of the Pacts (Pact of Negation, Summoner's Pact). He always uses them on his first turn.

EDIT 2: remembered another two: if the computer has Homeward Path or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, he always activates them on his upkeep, regardless if they're being useful or not.

[Fizanko]

While playing a main world quest, i noticed the AI "Conan the Barbarian" (easy) played a lots of mountains to activate many times the ability of his War-Spike Changeling , giving it repeated "First Strike" despite it only needed it once.



as you see, it has 5 times "First Strike"

[meapineapple]

The AI seems to ignore the penalties associated with Painful Quandary. It keeps casting spells without any discarding and suicides enthusiastically.

Also, the AI opponent just played Forsaken Wastes despite having only 1 life left.

[Protean Scrivener]

The AI had a Platinum Angel out with -4 life and played a Winds of Rath

[jawg]

After resolving a Dack Fayden emblem, I cast a Hidden Strings targeting the opponent's land, but did not gain control. Works as it should with nonland permanents, though.

[Hanmac]

AI uses "gain control of target creature" on a God Creature where his (the AI's) devotion is not high enough, so he gain control of the God, the god is not a creature anymore, and owner gets God back where God is a creature again.

[krevett]

The AI has a bounce spell (Repulse) in hand and don't cast it on my Insectile Aberration even though he only has 1 life left (he had 6 untapped land and just sat there getting killed by the insect)
Before the AI was always using Wasteland or Tectonic Edge as soon as it had the opportunity, but now she don't use it at all! You could implement something like if AI has 3 or more lands he can use these lands and check the human player (perhaps using it more aggressively if the human is stuck on a low land count??) also priority targets should be animable lands like Mishra's Factory or Faerie Conclave, then multicolored lands...

As for Counterspell usage perhaps could you add somethink like this spell is 100% likely to be countered if AI has a Counterspell in hand and the mana to cast it. If it's a creature ans AI has a removal in hand should he counter? I don't know if adding this kind of decision tree is hard or not but it would add some deep to AI thinking...

As well should AI always tap out to cast everything he has in hand? If he has some instant in hand should he keep some mana untapped to play during human turn?

Also the AI shouyld be aware that you can boost your creature if for example it's equipped with Umezawa's Jitte with some counters on it. As well the AI should block attackers equipped with a sword of X and Y to avoid the side effects (if possible of course).

Perhaps adding some keywords to deckfiles like control, aggro, aggro-control, midrange for example to define the way AI should handle his mana? I mean by that when you create a deck you assign a keyword (a deck with no keyword would work in default AI mode) and this keyword would reflect the behavior of AI with this unique deck. For example AI could keep some low land hand being in one mode but would mulligan in another mode. We don't need 10 keywords but having at least 3 to 5 would make the AI less predictable and games could be more fun (less abuse of the AI perhaps?)

It would really be a wonderful addition

Thanks for your hard work!

Edit: Had more to say

[kestell]

Umezawa's Jitte is used very sub-optimally by the AI,

I don't know how the code works, but the algorithm should be:

1) Is my Jitte going to be destroyed by something on the stack?
If yes, gain life, else -
2) Is the equipped creature attacking?
2.1 If yes, is it unblocked?
2.1.1 If yes, can I boost it to kill the opponent?
2.1.2 If yes, boost creature.
2.2 (blocked) can I kill the blocking creature or prevent the equipped creature by boosting?
2.2.1 If yes, boost creature
3) Is the equipped creature blocking?
3.1 Can I prevent losing by gaining life? if yes, gain life.
3.2 Can I kill the attacking creature or prevent the equipped creature by boosting? if yes, boost
4) Is the equipped creature about to die due to damage?
4.1 If yes, can I prevent it from being killed by boosting? if yes, boost.
5) is there a threatening (this might have to be defined more accurately) creature that I can kill?
5.1 if yes, kill the creature.
6) Else just let the counters accumulate.

[friarsol]

I don't know how the code works, but the algorithm should be:

We don't really have card specific decision trees like that inside Forge.

[hebi-chan]

There is an issue with Soul Manipulation it should allow me to choose both counter target creature and return a creature to my hand from my grave, but when I play it I can only choose one.

[Zirbert]

Not sure if this is an AI issue or a bug, but...

When the AI has a Capricious Efreet, it never picks any of my nonland permanents to choose from for the random destroy effect, so it always winds up destroying one of its own. This happens even when I control lots of good potential targets.

Capricious Efreet seems to work fine for me - I get to choose some of the AI's stuff as possible victims.