I'm struggling to beat roguelike/deckbuilder hybrid Slay the Spire, even with a well-balanced deck packed with powerful skills. All streamer RiskyCB needs is two cards, apparently. On a recent run he discovered the perfectly formula for a guaranteed win, getting rid of all but two cards in his deck to create an infinitely-looping combo of damage.

In the run, which you can watch above, he starts by pruning his deck at every opportunity. The cards fall in his favour, and the game gives him a Peace Pipe (which lets you remove a card at rest spots) and a relic that reduces the costs of removing cards at merchants.

He reaches the first boss with just five cards, and defeats it with an infinite combo featuring Bash—which applies the 'vulnerable' status to your enemy—and Dropkick, which deals damage, draws a card and adds energy (which is what you spend to play cards) if an enemy is vulnerable. By using Dual Wield to duplicate Dropkick, RiskyCB creates an endless loop whereby he's able to play an infinite number of attacks and never run out of energy.

But that's not the impressive part. By removing more cards, and stumbling across Flash of Steel, which deals damage for no energy cost and draws a card, he's eventually able to beat the game with a two-card deck, using Dual Wield to clone Flash of Steel first. 

It's more than just entertaining, too. It's made me rethink how I approach the game. As somebody that doesn't play many deckbuilders, it's easy to get carried away and grab every shiny card you come across. But, clearly, limiting your deck to a few select cards can pay dividends. I'm going to show some restraint next time, and save up gold to remove cards at merchants.

Cheers, RPS.

Card game roguelike Slay the Spire is hot on Steam and Twitch right now, and for good reason. It's a brilliant genre mash-up despite some late-game issues, and even in its current, truncated, Early Access state, it's a pretty absorbing experience. So players are understandably keen to know what content is coming up, which we found a little more about in a recent interview with developer Mega Crit Games over at RockPaperShotgun. 

There are currently two character decks in Slay the Spire—The Ironclad and The Silent—with a third on the way. According to Mega Crit's Anthony Giovannetti, the game "will almost certainly have more than three characters" given a little time. "We just want three characters initially, during Early Access," he explained. Adding new characters makes more sense than adding new cards and diluting strategies, he explained. 

Giovannetti also said Mega Crit is looking to add more events, which introduce unique mechanics and cards that can totally change the way you play. In particular, they're targeting more "transformative" events like the game's vampires, which come with special healing cards. 

Slay the Spire is expected to officially release in mid-2018.