AI casts Welcome the Darkness for X=1, reducing itself to 1 life
- Dominant language
- Java
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Description
Describe the bug
The AI casts Welcome the Darkness at its first opportunity with X=1, even when it has substantially more than 1 life.
Welcome the Darkness is an instant that costs {X}{B} and has the following effects:
- Draw X cards.
- Create an X/X black Demon creature token with flying.
- Set your life total to X.
- You cannot gain life for the rest of the game.
When the AI chooses X=1, it draws only one card, creates only a 1/1 flying Demon, and sets its life total to 1. This is an extremely poor play that leaves the AI vulnerable to almost any source of damage and nearly guarantees a loss.
To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
1. Start a game against an AI opponent whose deck contains Welcome the Darkness.
2. Allow the AI to draw Welcome the Darkness.
3. Wait until the AI has at least {1}{B} available.
4. Observe the AI cast Welcome the Darkness with X=1.
5. Observe that the AI’s life total becomes 1 and it creates only a 1/1 flying Demon.
Expected behavior
The AI should account for the life-total change when deciding whether to cast Welcome the Darkness and when choosing X.
It should generally avoid casting the spell for a low value such as X=1, especially when it has more than 1 life. The AI should normally wait until it can choose a sufficiently large X to make the resulting life total, card draw, and Demon token worthwhile. Casting it for a low X may be reasonable if the AI is already at that life total or has an exceptional tactical reason.
Desktop (please complete the following information):
- OS: Windows
Contributor guide
Research direction
Search the Java AI decision logic and card implementation for Welcome the Darkness, then trace how the AI selects X and evaluates changes to its life total, draw, and token size. Reproduce the described game state and add coverage for avoiding X=1 when the AI has substantially more life, while preserving cases where a low X is tactically justified.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- java
- Domain
- ai, game-dev
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100