Bridges Should Support Exactly Two Builds

Players can sometimes be creatures of comfort. They find a strategy that works for them and stick with it. Other times, they can feel overwhelmed by too many options, so they stick with what they know. Ideally, you would like them to explore lots of different approaches to your game. This is where bridges come in.

A bridge is a game element that synergizes with two or more different strategies. Slay the Spire uses these a lot. For example, consider Fiend Fire:

Exhaust all cards in your hand. Deal 7 damage for each Exhausted card. Exhaust.

Suppose you are going for a card draw build and pick up Fiend Fire as a payoff for drawing cards. Cards like Feel No Pain, which rewards you for exhausting cards, suddenly become more attractive. Similarly, if you were building an exhaust-centric deck before, Fiend Fire might encourage you to branch into card draw.

A good bridge must walk a fine line. If it synergizes well with only one type of build, it doesn't encourage exploration. But if it synergizes with too many builds, it becomes a generic staple that you always take. Magic: The Gathering has many examples of bridges banned for being too flexible.

Ideally, aim for your bridges to synergize with exactly two builds. From the perspective of balance, specialization gives you more wiggle room to make cool abilities. Two archetypes are the smallest you can make a bridge before it ceases to do its job.

You can see lots of examples of size-2 bridges in the Rift Wizard franchise:

• Items like Pyrostatic Oculus reduce enemy resistance to two damage types when hit by one of them. This lets you get around immunities to your primary damage type.
• Items like The Dynamo cast a specific spell when you deal a certain amount of damage from one type of spell. This encourages you to find damage sources or effects that trigger off that spell.
• Items like Crackledarkener re-deal damage of one type as a different type. This lets you proc certain effects with a larger variety of spells.

Bridges encourage exploration and teach players about different archetypes in any game. Just make to keep them specialized enough that they don't become staples.