Neow's Scroll Boxes vs Silken Tress: How the v0.106.0 Swap Changes Run Openings

Both Scroll Boxes and Silken Tress are Ancient-rarity relics that Neow can offer at the start of a run. In v0.106.0, Mega Crit swapped two things between them: the downside (lose all gold or no cost) and the card pool (which mix of cards you get).

Pre-patch, Scroll Boxes was the relic that cost all your gold for a choice of card packs, and Silken Tress was the no-cost option that simply enchanted your first card reward with Glam. After the swap, Silken Tress now carries the gold cost and takes on the weaker pool (one uncommon and two random commons), while Scroll Boxes inherits the cleaner side of the trade.

The relic effects themselves are unchanged in concept — Scroll Boxes still gives card packs, Silken Tress still enchants — but the surrounding economy attached to each pick has been flipped.

Before the swap, Silken Tress was the default correct answer in most Neow Ancient choices: you got a permanently enchanted card reward with Glam (granting Replay the first time the enchanted card is played each combat) at zero stated cost. That made every other Neow option look weak by comparison, especially for characters that build around a few key payoff cards.

The swap restores tension to the choice. Silken Tress now has a real, measurable cost — losing all your starting gold is a meaningful hit on shop economy through Act 1 — and the card pool you enchant is leaner. Picking Silken Tress now means committing: you believe one of those enchanted cards is going to carry the run.

Scroll Boxes goes the other direction. Without the gold tax, the trade-off becomes purely about deck dilution: you are adding cards to your deck (possibly cards you did not want) in exchange for variety and an early relic. For decks that thrive on a smaller, focused deck (Exhaust, Shiv, infinite combos), it can still be a skip — but for generalist openings, it becomes a much more reasonable pick.

Take Silken Tress when the upcoming first card reward is likely to contain a card you would build around for the entire run — Glam giving Replay on a high-impact card (Whirlwind, Sovereign Blade, Death March, Pull from Below) is still a run-defining pickup. The catch is that you cannot guarantee what the first card reward looks like, so this is partly a faith pick. Acceptable when your character has many strong scaling targets.

Take Scroll Boxes when you want early breadth — Act 1 is where deck identity is hardest to fix, and adding a curated pack early gives you more raw material to pivot from. Best for characters with deep archetype options (Necrobinder, Silent) where extra cards plug holes rather than overwriting a plan.

Skip both when you already have a clear opening plan and the other Neow options include something deterministic: a guaranteed Common/Uncommon upgrade, a specific known relic, or a starting Power. The swap means Silken Tress is no longer free upside, so the comparison is honest now — if a deterministic option is better, take it.