What do you consider a "Vanilla" game setup?

[Dagar]

I wanted to play Griftlands as 'normally' as possible. My intuition is that Mutators will not be available from the start in the full release, so I left them by the side for now. But I include all the card decks into each game. That leads to a (perceived) difficulty to get a well synergizing deck going. I am either refusing 90% of the card picks or I am stuck with a bloated deck that tries multiple things at once and fails to deliver reliable inter-card effects.

Do you consider switching off bonus packs "normal" play? On the other hand, I do not want to limit myself to one strategy from before a game even starts...

[pacovf]

I consider a vanilla setup to use all card packs that you have unlocked and no mutators. Arguably, I would add a prestige level of at least 5 if unlocked, but that's just me.

I think refusing most card offers past a certain point is normal though. Once your deck is strong enough, adding more cards will just make it weaker. It's a common thing in this kind of game. Plus, you still get 10 shills, and it adds up, so it's not like it's a waste either.

EDIT: that being said, play whichever way is fun for you! What is or isn't considered vanilla is not really that important.

[Dagar]

I do play the game as is fun for me. Currently, the fun is understanding what cards do, what synergies there are and how to build good decks. Using mutators seems to me a bad idea, because they shift the playing field away from how it was intended to be laid out by Klei.

I just got my second win in the Sal campaign yesterday, and it did not really feel rewarding, because my decks were pretty messy, and I felt like only having been lucky. That said, there is still experience to be had on what makes a good deck. As unhappy as I was with both my decks, both brought me through the last two days pretty easily, so maybe my perception was wrong. Currently, my standing is that Boons and Grafts help to an extent where the deck composition is not necessarily all that important any more, but time will tell.

[pacovf]

Prestige 0 is not particularly hard, but Kashio is no pushover either. If you managed to beat her, then you were playing well, one way or another. You're right that pets, grafts, boons and to a lesser extent items can allow you to brute-force the game despite bad decks, so to speak, but there are limits to what you can get away with. Your deck has to be functional, or be able to exploit your other advantages.

[Dagar]

I was playing on Prestige 1, now on 2. I consider the Prestige climb the long term goal here.

[Gr1m-]

Vanilla for me is no mutators. I like Prestige 6 with no mutators for just chilling and the game not being too easy. Prestige 7 makes everything costs 25% more Shills and it kind of sucks when you are a few Shills short to get that Rare graft that wouldve made your run a lot more awesome. When you are new to the game, I'd recommend just grinding through all Prestige levels without mutators to get a good basic understanding of the game. Then afterwards have some fun with mutators. Charisma, Veteran, Loyalty, First Impressions are some good ones.

[Snortlepig]

I find the game much more interesting with Charisma and Veteran turned on. After I played that a few times I really find the starting decks to be a bit generic and uninteresting. I've found it also forced me to try things I normally wouldn't try - some of which it turned out I loved. Twice I've had to abandon the game after the draft though. My negotiation draft didn't draw any damage cards. For me those 2 mutators have become permanent and make my vanilla game.