[Ysharros]

Hubs is doing the LN newbie diplo line, which I haven't touched since beta and the subsequent changes to diplo. His current quandary is that he has to complete 4 parleys with the Arcanists in the Arcane Sanctum, using whatever conversation type prohibits Reason - which is the High Elf primary.

He's tried a few times and his technique seems good - the opponents feed almost no points, so he has to rely on comments and the occasional other card.

Seems to me that with these new "adaptive" decks, the opponents know what colour you *don't* have in your deck the moment you pick it, and feed you those points accordingly. He had a demand card in his deck until just now and was fed flattery - put his flattery card in there instead for his next attempt, and suddenly he's being fed demand points.

This is what has put ME off diplomacy for the time being. That's not adaptive, that's cheating, and requires more luck than skill to get around.

Point of all of which is, have people won those recently? How? Is there some tactic that can be employed now, or is it just a matter of battering the brick wall till you get luckier than they do with timers?