Join DblDubz, Filtrophobe, and Tuff on a two-hour-tour of what’s expected to arrive to the Hero Realms digital app in 2026! Starting with what we thought was EVERYONE’S favorite segment (spoilers, it’s not), the crew keeps the game-state analysis flowing with another entry in the Looking For Lethal series.

From there the main segment hits and covers a wide range of topics – what balance changes may be coming down the pipeline, new ancestries for the beta, and new classes for the regular version of the game. There’s no shortage of talk on the impact and analysis these changes will have on the game.

There’s a brief highlight on a class performance spreadsheet from StefP and Scorium plus Jseph’s article regarding Tavern Brawl match-making. More to come on discussing this and future Tavern Brawls in the New Year! All that’s left from here is to round up the Community Events and sign-off. Thanks for listening!

An Apology to the Community: 6:27

WWYD: 11:05

LFL: 24:13

Future of HR Digital: 32:31

Content Releases: 1:40:33

Community Round-up: 1:48:26

Taps, Scraps, and Good-byes: 2:00:43

Hero Realms is a fantasy-themed expandable deckbuilding game from Wise Wizard Games.

Hosts: Chris "DblDubz" Walberg, Cooper "Filtrophobe" Fitzpatrick, and John "Tuff" Labella

Producer: Chris Walberg

Hero Helper: https://hero-helper.com/

Realms Rising: https://www.realmsrising.com

You can find the WWYD screenshots for this episode here: https://www.realmsrising.com/podcast/sparks-and-rec-92-what-lies-ahead-in-the-new-year

Jseph’s article: https://www.realmsrising.com/community-events/tavern-brawls/exploring-weekly-matchmaking-formats-for-tavern-brawl/

StefP and Scorium’s Spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q7cRpnn_BvQhOXYHRFnzrsyH1Mp-KXPHOmronuyIP8w/edit?gid=1027498956#gid=1027498956

Patreon: https://patreon.com/sparksandrec

HyperGeometric Calculator: https://aetherhub.com/Apps/HyperGeometric

Community Tournaments & Events Primer (+ signup links): https://www.realmsrising.com/community-events/

Realms Rising Discord: https://discord.gg/8pTxKqzFDc

Contact S&R: contact@sparks-and-recreation.com

Support Sparks & Rec: https://hero-helper.com/support-us

Sparks & Recreation Website: https://www.realmsrising.com/sparks-and-recreation/

Thank you so much to Level 12 Hero Sarah T., Warden Slayer, as well as Level 7 Hero Nudeltulpe!

Specific songs used in this episode were:

Intro/Outro Music: "Uplifting Orchestra Pack" by GoodBunny. (Under the Music Standard License)

Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a month long hiatus from Hero Realms discussion, the crew of Dubz, Filtrophobe, and Tuff reunite to find out just what everyone has been up to both in and out of the realms! Discussions of Tuff's experience at Pax U includes brief coverage of both Legends tournaments that took place along with highlights of his most anticipated games from his convention haul.

Turning the spotlight over to Filtro, we get to hear a bit about how his recent wedding, reception, and honeymoon went before gearing up for the main segment -- what would happen if you could teach AI how to play Fighter mirrors in Hero Realms and then simulate millions of games under different builds and circumstances? Filtrophobe asked this very question and set his software engineering chops to vibe coding his way to the answers!

A beefy main segment supported by data from these simulations gets into what builds are favored and why, when it's worth it to actually buy a card off the market, and when one may even forgo skilling in order to purchase. (Time stamp included!) A usual stop through the community round-up and a WWYD are all also included of course. Thanks for listening!

WWYD: 4:50

Catching up with the crew: 20:13

Fighter mirror vibe coding: 1:01:07

When Filtro starts to get into which market cards to actually buy: 1:48:37

Community Round-up: 2:13:17

Taps, Scraps, and Good-byes: 2:40:00

Hero Realms is a fantasy-themed expandable deckbuilding game from Wise Wizard Games.

Hosts: Chris "DblDubz" Walberg, Cooper "Filtrophobe" Fitzpatrick, and John "Tuff" Labella

Producer: Chris Walberg

Hero Helper: https://hero-helper.com/

Realms Rising: https://www.realmsrising.com

You can find the WWYD screenshots for this episode here: https://www.realmsrising.com/podcast/episode-86-arena-updates-and-nut-draw-finale

Patreon: https://patreon.com/sparksandrec

HyperGeometric Calculator: https://aetherhub.com/Apps/HyperGeometric

Community Tournaments & Events Primer (+ signup links): https://www.realmsrising.com/community-events/

Realms Rising Discord: https://discord.gg/8pTxKqzFDc

Contact S&R: contact@sparks-and-recreation.com

Support Sparks & Rec: https://hero-helper.com/support-us

Sparks & Recreation Website: https://www.realmsrising.com/sparks-and-recreation/

Thank you so much to Level 12 Hero Sarah T., Warden Slayer, as well as Level 7 Hero Nudeltulpe!

Specific songs used in this episode were:

Intro/Outro Music: "Uplifting Orchestra Pack" by GoodBunny. (Under the Music Standard License)

Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a hot minute but while Filtrophobe is away on his honeymoon (congrats on tying the knot buddy!) Tuff decided to take the time to catch up with lead Draconis 8 Designer Carl Van Ostrand (AKA CVO) and talk about recent Draconis 8 events.

Carl Tries Hero Realms: 3:15

Next Fest: 10:27

Tournament Coverage: 22:36

New Features: 38:02

Draconis 8 Ability Summary & Roadmap: 1:06:18

Taps & Scraps: 1:38:47

BarberShop Games Discord: https://discord.gg/wVKZkMaJqw

Hero Realms is a fantasy-themed expandable deckbuilding game from Wise Wizard Games.

Hosts: John "Tuff" Labella, Carl Van Ostrand

Producer: John Labella

Tuff's Draconis 8 Deckbuilding Guide: https://www.realmsrising.com/draconis-8/tuffs-draconis-deck-construction-selection-guide/

Hero Helper: https://hero-helper.com/

Realms Rising: https://www.realmsrising.com

Patreon: https://patreon.com/sparksandrec

Anvroser's Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/anvroser

Realms Rising Discord: https://discord.gg/8pTxKqzFDc

Support Sparks & Rec: https://hero-helper.com/support-us

Sparks & Recreation Website: https://www.realmsrising.com/sparks-and-recreation/

Thank you so much to all of our amazing Patrons and community members!

Specific songs used in this episode were:

Intro/Outro Music: "Uplifting Orchestra Pack" by GoodBunny. (Under the Music Standard License)

Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.