We have an event that that turns cards into these types but since you're saying it's occuring on a NG+ that's very strange.
This smells of an issue with the Browser based version of the game and code not being executed correctly in it. Would that happen to be the browser based version you're trying? I'd have to look at that specifically, and if so, definitely try the downloadable game instead.
Also if you are using the Browser based version, are you doing so from your phone or on desktop?
Could be that it's an event. I guess as soon as you make a decent combo, you need to avoid all events like the plague as you can't decline these effects.
Only 2 things can currently ruin your run - cards turning into a pumpkin(napkin) and a curse decreasing crit by 3, 21->18 so you no longer can play 3 face cards.
You could make a deck consisting of face, and 11 aces though or 21 aces.
21 stone aces, each deals it's value of 16 or more(+5 from relic) to current target when drawn along with all other benefits.
Sounds like you're enjoying the game quite a bit 😄 I will note that all of the things you see can screw up a run are actually avoidable inside the event (they can be declined once you know about what choices do what during different events, it's not random).
Curses however can be cleared if you find an event that does so, but you're right that they can currently throw a big wrench into your plan unexpectedly if it's your first time learning about them or you take a risk and don't like the result.
Found the issue- when Skip Story mode is enabled, the event isn't stopping at the part that tells you your cards turned into Stone or Napkin so you're missing the clue that it occured, and learning when and what choices were made that caused it wouldn't be possible.
Thanks for pointing this out, it has to be fixed to be made way more clear in 0.37.13 when Skip Story is enabled.
One question regarding this - is this a deliberate design choice not to let used know effects of actions before you make your choice?
Have you considered showing a hover or a small text below choice buttons possible effects, so that players don't need to remember every single interaction and which should be avoided?
That's what the action preview is for, it's on the right side of the board and to the left of the action buttons. It updates in real time. I'm not sure why you're not seeing that, it's fairly obvious, you wouldn't happen to be playing on Browser on your phone would you? That tends to be highly unstable so I want to make sure that's not the case.
What I mean is, in browser on Mac - for wooden doll:
Another small request - skipping enemy animations? Since watching same animations over and over again is currently 50% of game time.
