So I just lost a game. 6-4. could have gotten the Motely distinction. I’m heartbroken.
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Well, at least you managed to draw Motley. I haven’t caught a single glimpse of the guy.
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I’ve played enough rounds at this point to say this with my whole chest:
PAGES NEED A BUFF. And bad.
As is, pretty much the only way to reliably get the distinction of Pages is to lean heavily on the Fool of Audacities and the Page of Gambits… hoping against hope not to get Whammy’d by the latter.
Because all of the other Pages are useless. Not one of them makes enough progress or produces enough PP to be worth picking up, let alone using when drawn.
All of which is made worse the fact that the Priest of Pages is the only Priest that isn’t good. Because it doesn’t produce PP, and therefore just gets in the way 90% of the time. Especially since the Ace it gives you is consumed when you clear your hand.
Thereby forcing you to waste another turn to get that Ace back.
So… in summary? There are 2 Pages total that aren’t autoskip garbage, and one of them is only a Page by default.
That seems like it ought to be fixed.
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Counterplay was a mistake.
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Sometimes, I look at the amount of wins I earned so far in Hearts’ game and feel, well, a bit conflicted, about the amount of people I sent on the slow boat for my own enjoyment and to advance the research of an insane space bat… Is it wrong if they come back (most of them at least)? 
Also, I’m still expecting a call from the Boatman to complain about the overtime…
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Hey, they volunteered, right? No harm no foul, I say.
Well, maybe some harm.
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You may be right about most of the Pages, but Page of Roots is quite good. It only needs a maximum of 3 Poisonous Preparations to do significant damage.
I do agree that Pages are weak. But I got distinction with Roots as main force without much fuss. Some rounds were dicey, but not enough to lose a run. Other members were Teeth and Cod IIRC.
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Aw hell, the Full Motley is honestly kinda super fun and a great early-ish game build if you’re just trying to get secondary stat/late game gear for the railway. Have finally won a round with it, I’m sitting at 4/6 right now and it’s looking like getting to 5/7 is a foregone conclusion.
If you’ve got persuasive of 300+ with equipment but not great other stats, this is the build to grind with.
Not to mention the added bonus of 25 exploits just from the draft!!! Really helps you save up for some of the more expensive prizes!
I think I’ve perfected an early endgame persuasive stat wrt the Full Motley, but if anyone has strats beyond gaining prep until you clear your hand with Nought of Cod, then using any hand wipes you can until you find a Motley card and race to play it I’d appreciate it!
Definitely there’s an RNG issue with this strategy so it’s probably suboptimal for the truly late game, but with hand wipes regularly it ends up being less RNG dependent than I expected. I think having a couple of each second chance really helps, although might not be required.
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I think I’ve yet to use a single second chance in Hearts’ game, do people generally do that?
I kinda get it if you’re chasing distinctions and having a hard time, but in regular play winning and losing basically doesn’t matter at all, no?
It matters if you need wins and haven’t been able to snag them hahaha. I just am trying to get the gear, and it’s nice to have the second chances for a double preparation skill check if elusiveness is high and for the final check with Motley.
I don’t usually use Second Chances for HG, no. But right now I bet 90% of play is for Distinctions and that’s what’s on everyone’s mind. Not only does victory matter, but also the constraints on team composition and/or the Embalmer’s Mark make it harder to do a run with 90+% success on every relevant action. I was taking a lot of 85% chances, and even had to take a few 70% chances on my way to Distinction of Pages.
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It might be because I’m a worrier, but I drained my reserves REAL quick when doing my embalmer run. I’d probably be less inclined to spend now that I have the distinction, of course.
You can use the other Priests and even the Queens to get the Page’s distinction. You only need one Page and no Knights or Kings. I did use the Fool though. He does some good damage if you have one of the non Page Priests. The Fool + Briars/Smiths + Papers/Roots/Gambits sounds like a good match to me.
I used a bunch, especially with the Embalmer’s Mark. Although, at the start of it I was holding on to almost 30 of each. Felt like the right time to use them. I’ve never used them outside of distinction runs.
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Alright, let’s see if even an old gambler like me can’t find a use for some insurance. New accomplice draft and Motley is in my first draw. Here we go…
Edit: Dramatic first outing. I opted to try the “Full Motley”, played a rather chaotic game, not a lot of high-value draws and no hand resets, found myself with progress and elusiveness both at 7, fairly high poison tolerance and two worthless loser cards in hand, and on my final draw… the Three of Motley. Hail to the king, baby.
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Somehow, by dint of Gambits and Lures having more synergy than I thought with Smiths, I’ve won every Distinction bar Motley and Embalming. Now, only one question remains.
…is going for Motley unironically the best way to get Embalming too?
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Going for Kings seemed the easiest for me, but to each their own really.
I would say no. The mark makes your checks more difficult. Motley makes it difficult to focus on one attribute to limit the loss (though I saw a post mentioning a persuasive build with motley?).
My 2 cents is that it’s better to focus on normal stats (vs advanced ones) which you can boost with boons/moods and 2nd chances. Best accomplices are the usual heavy hitters, such as gambit or knuckles.
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My motley run is 3 for 4 right now. Just won my fourth in 7 actions with a single attack. Motley went from 0 to 8 in one go. 
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