Positivity rant post about the current game design and balance of STS. I assume the reader is extremely familiar with both games.
Gremlin Nob Doesn't Exist, And Both Act 1s are Awesome
Gremlin Nob is a cool enemy. This is not Gremlin Nob slander.
Gremlin Nob's existence implicitly forced every A20 draft to lean towards frontloaded damage in Act 1. There are many good Skills you would be happy to take in Act 1. But it's also true that, in most runs, your ability to path and gain power from Elite encounters was severely compromised if your deck wasn't mostly skewed toward immediate offense, primarily from non-Skill cards.
The way this impacted drafting, and thinking about the value of each card in a character's kit, was drastic.
In STS2, none of the Act 1 Elites are explicitly restrictive toward a class of card, which means that there are more ways you can use your card rewards to build winning decks. All Elites in both games implicitly ask the player to pick damaging cards which win fights. But now, there is less reason to ignore Skills due to the meta-threat of Gremlin Nob actively punishing you for these drafts. In STS2, this means that proactive Skills (Poison Cards, Doom, Orb Generation, Forge, ETC) are also able to be drafted more consistently.
I am enjoying the gameplay dynamic where picking good block Skills early feels like a viable strategy. Act 1 feels very fair in how much damage it throws at the player, and an incredible amount of chip damage can be negated by drafting block Skills with upside that are also relevant in Elite encounters.
This feels especially relevant in the Underdocks. Investing in several good Block cards when offered drastically changes how those encounters play out. It is difficult to block the Overgrowth Elites as consistently, but there's still no elites which would punish you for increasing the density of skills in your deck. Blocking the various Overgrowth hallway fights is still incredibly important for conserving HP for Elites and the Act 1 Boss.
Card Removes Being Expensive is a Good Design Choice
I think the recent increase to card removals in a shop is great for the game. Let's be clear, it's a huge nerf to the player. The ability to remove more basics encourages the player to draft more greedy/abusive cards, and avoid drafting useful but non-abusive commons.
I prefer a game environment where I'm implicitly encouraged to take more cards when offered. Some of the Act 1 early floor rewards were so godawful sometimes, where all three could feel like an active detriment to your deck, especially with Gremlin Nob potentially spawning. Of course, sometimes early STS2 card rewards can feel pretty anemic for solving hallway fights, but this feels less frequent than in STS1.
A game environment where card removals are more restrictive encourages the player to draft more cards to dilute the density of the bad Basics you start out with.