Maul in beta: count the swings before building around it

Maul gets better when you play it again. The drafting mistake is to count the third or fourth play before checking whether the fight, the deck, and the available draw will ever get you there.

The beta buff makes repeated uses more rewarding. It does not make a large deck cycle faster or guarantee a long fight.

The first three plays

The v0.110 notes increased Maul's damage growth to two per play, or three upgraded. Maul costs one Energy. Its starting attack remains two hits of five, or two hits of six upgraded.

For one copy played repeatedly, with no other damage modifiers or Maul plays between uses, the arithmetic is:

These are damage totals before enemy defenses, Strength, Weak, Vulnerable, or other effects. The larger totals are not delivered in a single ordinary play. See the Maul reference for the card identity and main-branch baseline.

Find the second play before valuing the fourth

Look through the draw and discard piles. If Maul has to wait through a large remaining pile and then another shuffle, a short encounter may end before its next appearance.

That makes access a real part of the cost. Adding another card to support Maul can slow access if it does not actually draw, retrieve, or otherwise improve the line. Do not label a deck a scaling deck solely because one card has growing numbers.

The small-versus-large-deck guide helps frame this as a consistency question rather than a rule that every deck must be tiny.

Multiple copies still need useful draws

Maul's increase applies to all Mauls for the combat. That gives multiple copies a reason to work together, but it does not remove their Energy costs or replace defensive cards.

Before adding another copy, inspect the hands where you take damage. If those hands already contain attacks you cannot afford to play, another Maul may worsen the problem. If you have spare Energy and repeatedly need more accessible damage, the additional copy has a more plausible role.

Use the printed text and current card values when mixing upgraded and unupgraded copies. The simple table above assumes the same upgrade state throughout; it is not a universal mixed-copy sequence.

Upgrade value grows with actual use

The upgrade improves the starting hit and the growth per play. Across the three-play example it adds twelve total damage, compared with only two extra damage on the first use.

That is a reason to upgrade when repeated play is dependable, not permission to assume it. A boss fight may offer time to scale, but only if you can survive the turns spent getting there.

Keep combat scaling separate from run scaling

Maul's growth ends with the combat. Playing it extra times against a nearly defeated enemy does not bank damage for the next room.

That differs from the permanent-growth decisions in The Scythe guide. With Maul, end a won fight when it is safe to do so. Taking another attack merely to make the current card number bigger has no carryover reward.