16 Tyrants Cards (2/10/17)

This is a continuation of my ratings of all cards for Dark Draft.

A link to my full tier list may be found here. My reasoning for each card can be found here.

16 Tyrants Cards

raxxas_displeasure

Raxxa’s Displeasure Rating
Always Desirable +

Most of the time this breaks all champions on your turn, pretty nice. However, if you are able to pick up a significant amount of demon cards (Raxxa’s Curse, Reaper, Spawning Demon, Raxxa Demon Tyrant, Demon Breach, Guilt Demon, Infernal Gatekeeper, Medusa, Succubus, Thrasher Demon, Trihorror-ish, Word of Summoning, Grave Demon, Raxxa’s Enforcer, Rift Summoner, Winged Death), this can be an on-turn, one-sided board clear which is incredible. It also still works with unbreakable on your turn cards like Dark Knight. If you are drafting a demon deck, or an Evil deck in general, this is a highly desirable card.

If you believe your opponent is drafting a demon/Evil deck, counter-picking this is seriously worth considering. If they get it, it could blow you out. If you get it, you can’t rely on it as a board clear, but you can always just draw 2 with it.

reap_or_sow

Reap or Sow Rating
Situationally Desirable

I love board clears, but trading the “or draw 2” option for “put 4 zombie tokens into play” makes this significantly worse.

While board clear effects are powerful, I generally use the “or draw 2” option more frequently, unless it is a one-sided board clear like Raxxa’s Displeasure. Therefore, trading the “or draw 2” option for a non-blitz Wolf’s Call (with zombies) hurts a lot.

If I’m going wide with a lot of tokens, I might take this. Or, if I don’t have any board clears late in the draft I will take this. Not a big fan though.

reaper

Reaper Rating
Always Desirable

Great card.

9 defense on a champion that can theoretically break (almost) any champion each turn is unparalleled, especially since you are guaranteed to get the tribute -> break effect. This card has to be removed with a gold, it survives all unassisted 0-cost removal (at worst it gets bounced), and it survives most damage based removal.

Since it does leave behind demons, it effectively can’t stop a chump block. (However, if it is in play, you can trigger it with a 1-cost Evil card to break a potential ambushed in airborne blocker though). In addition, those demons can actually be a threat to you, especially if your opponent was already going wide. Further, you can’t clear those demons with Raxxa’s Displeasure. Still, I’d rather start by dealing with Kong/Thundarus/Draka and then deal with the demon later.

Another use for Reaper is to upgrade your tokens into demons. You play this and then the next time your activate it your opponent has no champions in play? Target one of your expended zombies and trade it for a prepared demon.

spawning_demon

Spawning Demon Rating
Situationally Desirable

I am a fan of this card. My favorite way to use it is to play it off-turn, when my opponent’s gold is down, and then follow it up with an Evil 1-cost draw 2. Draw 2, pay 1 health, and get 2 demon tokens, awesome. Also, if your opponent doesn’t remove it, you threaten to keep gaining demons.

If I’m not going Evil or even just don’t have sufficient 1-cost Evil draw 2s, I don’t want to draft this. Fun with Medusa too though.

Important note: Spawning Demon is not buffed by Raxxa, Demon Tyrant, but the demon tokens it spawns are buffed.

quell

Quell Rating
Situationally Desirable

I go back and forth on this card a lot, and I’m still not certain where I stand on it.

The first group of times I played with Quell, I was able to cause massive blowouts with both of its options, even in decks not built around it.

  • I only had 0-cost champions while my opponent only had 1-cost champions:
    So, it was a one-sided, on-turn board clear.
  • I only had 1-cost champions while my opponent had a bunch of tokens and other 0-cost champions:
    So, it was a one-sided, off-turn board clear and drew a card.
  • I’ve also used it as a banishing board clear while I had unbanishable champions like The People’s Champion in play.

Other people have used it quite nicely against me as well. In other words, it has had promising play results.

However, I’ve had multiple situations where I didn’t want to play it because I had both 1-cost champions and 0-cost champions I didn’t want to banish in play. In those situations, the lack of an “or draw 2” option made this largely a dead card. I could’ve drew 1 with it, but I’d have lost my Muse, Little Devil, Dark Knight, or other 0-cost champions in the process. In addition, it can’t answer an opponent’s mixed board completely.

Currently, I think it is desirable to draft if you are going wide with tokens and 0-cost champions. Otherwise, I want to just force myself to draft it more to see how it shakes out for me now.

rabble_rouser

Rabble Rouser Rating
Situationally Desirable

This is a card that must be removed or it will produce greater than exponential amounts of human tokens (since you get a free one before each doubling). If unremoved, some of these human tokens can slowly push damage through while others chump block. In addition, they can mass up for an Insurgency, Revolt, etc.

Unfortunately for this card, it has 5 defense so it breaks to a lot, including damage based board clears like Draka’s Fire that sweep up the tokens along with it. If you have multiple ways to go wide quickly, adding another one can strain your opponent’s ability to board clear you, which can be quite strong.

revolt

Revolt Rating
Situationally Desirable ++

This is by far the most important and best card for human token decks.

A 0-cost event that gives +2 offense to all Good champions can turn any human token assault into a major threat, whether those human tokens started the turn in play or you just played Insurgency/Secret Legion. It’s an all-star.

Unless you are desperate, you should not use the “or draw 2” option in a human token deck because the main effect is too valuable. Unfortunately for human token decks, the “or draw 2” option does make this incredibly easy to counter draft. Even just a 3/1 ambush chump blocker can be useful, in a desperation type of way.

Memory Spirit, Reusable Knowledge, and Citadel Raven are worth extra consideration in a human token deck with this card. Revolt is that strong.

royal_escort

Royal Escort Rating
Situationally Acceptable

5/9 Ambush means it’s never terrible. It also gives a guaranteed 3 health gain, but, since its ally trigger is Good, it probably won’t gain too much more. Making all of your other champions untargetable can be quite nice though with specific champions, particularly low-defense ones: Guilt Demon, Dark Assassin/High King/Murderous Necromancer/Reaper/Elara the Lycomaner, Necromancer Lord/Angel of Mercy, Avenging Angel/Gold Dragon, Muse/Spore Beast, Thought Plucker, Winged Death/Citadel Raven/Pyrosaur, and The Gudgeon is another fun one.

One thing to be careful about is that you can’t target your champions either. No Brave Squires, Rages, etc. for you (unless you Vanishing/bounce your Royal Escort first of course).

lesson_learned

Lesson Learned Rating
Usually Desirable

This card is as strong as your best event. If I’ve drafted Ancient Chant (to draw 4), Drain Essence, Flame Strike, and/or Erase, I would be happy to draft this. If I haven’t, or it is early in the draft, I don’t want to take this with the hope that I will. Admittedly, the odds of not getting at least a few worthwhile events is fairly low though.

At the very least, Sage draw 2.

Click here for an explanation of why Lesson Learned -> Ancient Chant draws 4 cards/how cards technically resolve in Epic.

mist_guide_herald

Mist Guide Herald Rating
Situationally Acceptable ++

This card will usually be acceptable, but in a deck with fewer champions, or only a few strong establishing champions, I wouldn’t want this. If you hit a strong establishing champion when you play this, and you used Mist Guide Herald as an establishing champion, it is better than just playing that establishing champion.

In most other situations, it is worse than just playing a champion you legitimately want to play in that situation. I play this as an establishing champion but I only turn up gold-punishers, gaining a 3/2 airborne body is not enough to offset the poor timing of the gold-punishers. Or, I am trying to dig to one specific champion, and I don’t get it, playing/drafting something else would probably have been better. Worst case scenario is you play this and reveal no champions. On-turn gold for a 3/2 airborne champion tribute -> show my opponent 5 cards in my deck, terrible.

I’d much rather have a more reliable card in most situations, but I’ll take it if there aren’t any better cards in the pack.

Mist Guide Herald does combo great with Final Task/Necromancer Lord/Resurrection and Dark Offering though. (I especially love it with Dark Offering.)

shadow_imp

Shadow Imp Rating
Situationally Desirable

Strong in a deck with a lot of 1-cost Sage cards. Works great as a free 2 damage unblockable attacker each turn. At 3 defense it survives multiple 0-cost removal cards like Wolf’s Bite and Flash Fire. In addition, it gets to hide in your hand at the end of your turn (assuming you play a 1-cost Sage card); this lets it dodge opponent’s on-turn board clears.

It also works as a free chump blocker. Your opponent attacks, you play this, assuming it isn’t removed, you block with it, then assuming it isn’t removed again, you play a 1-cost Sage card to return it to hand unscathed. The blocked champion remains blocked.

One bad thing about this card is that it can force you to use your gold before your opponent, especially when used to block. While you can block a champion that started the turn in play, if you use Shadow Imp’s free block trick, you open yourself up to an on-turn gold-punisher. At least you can always just replay and chump with Shadow Imp if needed.

temporal_enforcer

Temporal Enforcer Rating
Situationally Desirable

I haven’t been as impressed by this card as I was expecting, but I did have very high expectations. Bounce is especially strong in limited formats, the ally ability can both remove opponent’s tokens and protect your 0-cost champions, ambush is always great, and 6 unblockable offense is no joke.

However, the 4 defense is still not great. That being said, this card has performed pretty well for me on multiple occasions, particularly against demon decks. I think my primary reservation about this card is the fact that it is a 1-cost bounce card that doesn’t have a strong defensive effect with it, unlike Sea Titan and Erase. It is more of an aggressive tempo card, but 4 defense on an aggressive, 1-cost, tempo card worries me.

feeding_frenzy

Feeding Frenzy Rating
Situationally Desirable

I haven’t played this card much in draft, but it has been incredible in my World’s Pyrosaur constructed deck.

Best case scenario with this card is to use it after attacking with Draka, Dragon Tyrant or Pyrosaur as a 0-cost break anything. It can also work nicely with Fire Shaman, Fire Spirit, Flash Fire, Wolf’s Bite, Lightning Storm, Rain of Fire, Smash and Burn, etc. In theory, it can even be strong in a token deck. Attack with a token, they block it, you finish off their champion with this (hasn’t happened for me yet though).

Without any of these specific scenarios, it becomes a lot less reliable and a lot less effective. Using 2 non-recycle cards to break 1 champion isn’t ideal (Fireball into this), nor is getting your 1-cost champion broken in combat in order to finish off the champion that blocked it. Not being able to use the effect on your opponent’s turn keeps this card from being too crazy.

If I have a few of the cards mentioned above, I would prioritize this highly, if not, it’s at least an “or draw 2.”

fire_spirit

Fire Spirit Rating
Usually Desirable

Tribute -> draw a card is one of my favorite abilities. 9 or less defense is also significantly less important in limited formats than it is in constructed (Max 1 Drain Essence).

In addition, the ally trigger of Fire Spirit is pretty great. It can incidentally take out most 0-cost champions and some 1-cost champions just by being triggered. This + Rain of Fire, Smash and Burn, Feeding Frenzy, Pyrosaur, Draka’s Fire, etc. can let you semi-incidentally take out 1-cost champions too.

This card significantly overperforms my expectations.

great_horned_lizard

Great Horned Lizard Rating
Situationally Acceptable

It’s both an on-turn and off-turn gold-punisher, but I am not a huge fan of it in either of those roles.

Reverting to 8 defense after being played makes it susceptible to more removal than I like, and 7 offense isn’t amazing even with breakthrough. 10/11 is a strong off-turn blocker and 10/11 breakthrough, blitz is no slouch on-turn either, but it doesn’t give as much to me as other on-turn gold-punishers.

For example, Rampaging Wurm hits harder and leaves a 14/14 in play. Avenging Angel and Gold Dragon are airborne, gain me some health, and largely need to be removed. Draka, Dragon Tyrant is a 9/9 airborne champion that sweeps away a lot of 0-cost champions every turn it attacks. Djinn of the Sands can draw if I don’t need the airborne 8/8 blitzer. Knight of Elara and White Knight draw me a card. I would happily take any of these over Great Horned Lizard, even though Great Horned Lizard is the only one with breakthrough.

Tribute -> +3/+3 to dinosaurs could be nice, especially with Ankylosaurus and Triceratops, especially since this can be played mid-combat as a combat trick, and it has worked great for multiple people I know. But, the AoE dinosaur buff has never made a difference in any game I have played.

lightning_strike

Lightning Strike Rating
Always First Pickable

One of the best 0-cost cards in the game.

5 damage breaks:
All tokens (removing chump blockers), Little Devil, Raxxa’s Enforcer, Winged Death, Corpsemonger, Rift Summoner, Spawning Demon, The Gudgeon, Zealous Necromancer, Angel of Death, Corpse Taker, Dark Assassin, Dark Knight off-turn, Dark Leader, Drinker of Blood off-turn, Guilt Demon, Necromancer Lord, Soul Hunter, Succubus, Thrasher Demon, Vampire Lord off-turn,

Bodyguard, Village Protector unprotected, Brand Rebel Fighter, Noble Martyr, Paros Rebel Leader, Rabble Rouser, Angel of Mercy, Courageous Soul, Faithful Pegasus, High King, Priest of Kalnor, Priestess of Angeline, Standard Bearer, Watchful Gargoyle, White Dragon,

Citadel Raven, Fairy TricksterCitadel Scholar even with a draw 2, Elara the Lycomaner, Knight of Shadows, Mist Guide Herald, Shadow Imp, Temporal Enforcer, Forcemage Apprentice, Juggernaut off-turn, Keeper of Secrets, Memory Spirit, Muse, Ogre Mercenary, Thought Plucker, Time Bender, Warrior Golem, Winter Fairy, Blue Dragon,

Pyrosaur, Spore Beast, Bellowing Minotaur next turn, Cave Troll, Hunting Raptors, Wurm Hatchling if played without ally trigger, and Fire Shaman

It can also draw 2 instead.

Epic Puzzle: Loyalty X (Week 2)

The first week of the Epic Loyalty X puzzle has concluded with Greylag as the winner with all 11 VP! Greylag will get first choice of the Epic Deck Box or any promo card.

Week 1 Results

1) Greylag-59, Nathan Overvay-59, Thomas Dixon-58, Benjamin Hebert-58 [all Velden]

2) 56 Greylag [Scarros], Thomas Dixon-55 [Zannos], Nathan Overbay-55 [Scarros]

3) 56 Greylag [Zannos], Nathan Overbay-23 [Zannos], Thomas Dixon-17 [Scarros]

4) 53 Greylag, Nathan Overbay-16, Thomas Dixon-14 [all Kark]

5) 224 Greylag, Nathan Overbay-153, Thomas Dixon-144, Benjamin Hebert-58

Scores and Links to Solutions

Greylag: 11 VP
Nathan Overbay: 0 VP, 11 RP
Thomas Dixon: 0 VP, 8 RP
Benjamin Hebert: 0 VP, 2 RP

Nathan Overbay, Thomas Dixon, and Benjamin Hebert are currently all receiving at least a promo, unless they are overtaken in week 2.

Week 2 Puzzle Extension

In order to encourage more participation to claim the remaining 6 promo cards, I am adding an additional, related challenge.

How many cards can you reveal for each Loyalty X champion in a single turn (with restrictions)?
a) Zannos, Corpse Lord
b) Chamberlain Kark
c) Velden, Frost Titan
d) Scarros, Hound of Draka

  • Each solution takes place over a single turn (just your turn, not including an opponent’s turn)
    • Start with a 5 card hand
    • Start with at most 9 cards in your discard pile
    • Start with no champions in play
    • Start with a legal deck containing no more than 3 copies of any card
  • Each physical card may only be played or put into play once (no infinite looping of Frantic Digging, Teleport, etc.). In other words, you may only play a card/put a card into play a maximum of 3 times, once using each physical copy of it in your deck
  • Every card is legal
  • Each card can only be used in one of the 4 solutions (1 Ancient Chant in Kark? You can’t run any in the other 3 solutions. 3 Inspiration in Zannos? You can’t run any in the other 3 solutions)
  • Your opponent can do nothing
    • They have no cards in hand
    • They have no cards in discard pile
    • Anytime they may do something, they choose not to
    • No cards appearing in any of your solutions may appear in their deck (probably won’t matter)
  • Both you and your opponent have infinite health
  • Week 2 solutions are entirely separate from week 1 solutions. For example, if you used Ancient Chant in week 1, you may use it again in week 2.

Week 2 Rewards

1 VP will be awarded for the winning solution for each champion. Unlike week 1, the highest Zannos solution will win a VP, the highest Kark solution will win a VP, the highest Velden solution will win a VP, and the highest Scarros solution will win a VP. RP will also be awarded for each Week 2 Puzzle Extension question.

VP can also be earned by improving Week 1 solutions.

When submitting an answer be sure to denote whether it is for week 1 or week 2.

On 2/11/17 at precisely 8pm GMT, submissions will be closed. (At my discretion, I may allow small, apparent typos/mistakes to be corrected, as long as the integrity of the solution is apparent.)

Solution Submission Form

The best way to submit a solution is to put your worked out answer(s) in a Google Doc. Then, send me a link to the google doc that I can either edit or comment on in the field below.

Epic Puzzle: Loyalty X

Foreword

This article is my second puzzle contest with prize support (previous puzzle, original test puzzle). The goal is to discover the greatest possible Loyalty X reveals for each Loyalty X champion (Zannos Corpse Lord, Chamberlain Kark, Velden Frost Titan, and Scarros Hound of Draka). Each solution may use 2 turns, requires a different 60 card deck, and can’t use its gold on the same cards.

The leader at the end of the first week will receive an Epic Deck Box. The leader at the end of the second week will receive their choice of 4 Epic/WWG playmats. In addition, the top 9 participants (not including the winner(s) of the deck box and/or playmat) will receive a Kickstarter exclusive Elder God/Elder Goddess card, a Kickstarter exclusive Demigoddess/Demigod card, or an alt art promo card.

At the end of the first week, I may add another part to the puzzle depending on answers received.

Challenge

Over 2 turns (an opponent’s turn and your turn in either order), what is the greatest number of cards that can be revealed when you play:
1) Zannos, Corpse Lord
2) Chamberlain Kark
3) Velden, Frost Titan
4) Zannos, Corpse Lord
5) What is the combined total cards revealed in all 4 answers?

Conditions

  1. Each solution must have a different, 2-player-constructed-legal, exactly 60 card deck, only 3 copies of each 1-cost card may be used in all 4 decks combined, each 0-cost card may only be included in 1 deck, and most promos are legal. Inspiration is not legal for this contest
    • Decks must contain exactly 60 cards, with no more than three copies of each card.
    • For each 0-cost card of an alignment, the deck must contain at least two 1-cost cards of the same alignment. (For example, a deck with seven 0-cost Sage cards must have at least fourteen 1-cost Sage cards.) Therefore, a maximum of 20 0-cost cards may be included.
    • Across all 4 decks, only 3 of each card may be used. For example,
      • 1 deck could have all 3 Erases while the other 3 decks have none
      • 3 decks could have 1 Erase while the 4th deck has none
      • 1 deck could have 2 Erases, a second deck deck could have 1, and the other decks could have none
    • Each 1-cost card may only be played in one of the 4 answers. For example, if I played Lesson Learned in my Velden answer, I could not play Lesson Learned in my Zannos, Kark, or Scarros answers. Also, if I play Erase in my Velden answer, I could not play Lesson Learned targeting Erase in my Zannos, Kark, or Scarros answers because that would involve playing Erase in 2+ answers.
    • Each 0-cost card may only be included in a single deck. For example, if you include 1, 2, or 3 Word of Summonings in a deck, you may not include any copies of it in any other deck.
    • If you only specifically use X cards in your 60 card deck, you can just list those X cards and say “60-X irrelevant 1-cost cards.” For example, 3 Angel of Death, 3 Apocalypse, 2 Corpsetaker and 52 irrelevant 1-cost cards.
    • Inspiration is not legal for this contest, but all other Kickstarter and Year 1 Promos are legal for this puzzle (Dark Prince, Hill Giant, Hunting Pterosaur, Kalnor’s Blessing, Knight of Dawn, Necromancer Apprentice, New Dawn, Ritual Sacrifice, Scrap Golem, Searing Blast, Spite, Aftershock, Time Master, Warrior Angel, Owl Familiar, Cleansing Light, Forbidden Research, Elder Greatwurm, Teleport, Keira Wolf Caller). See below for pictures.
  2. The turn you start on (either your turn or your opponent’s turn) you may have
    • Any number of cards from your legal deck in your discard pile
    • 7 cards from your legal deck in your hand
    • No champions in play
    • If you start on your opponent’s turn, since you do not discard at the end of your opponent’s turn, you should start the next turn (“your turn”) with more than 7 cards in hand
  3. Draw a card at the start of your turn
  4. Your opponent can do nothing
    • They have no cards in their discard pile
    • No cards in hand
    • No champions in play
    • Any time they may do something, they choose not to
  5. Both you and your opponent have infinite health

Rules for Entering

  • To Enter, post a comment below with just the name of each Loyalty X champion, the number of cards revealed for each, and overall cards revealed count (example below). Then, send me the solutions through the contact field at the bottom of this post. Include the decklist for each solution. I will respond to the comment within 48 hours to verify if it is valid. If it is not valid, I will respond to the email address provided to explain why it is invalid. (If not already in some form of Google Doc/Sheets or other sharable online document, I will also add it to an unique Google Doc to make it easier to track future, improved answers.)
    1. When posting a new submission, create a new comment, do not reply to your original comment.
    2. Feel free to post general questions, cheer on participants, etc.
  • The contest starts now at 8pm GMT on 1/28/17
  • A week after the contest starts, at 8pm GMT on 2/4/17, the highest verified solution will win an Epic Deck Box. I will also reply to each participants’ highest submission in the comments with their solutions at that time.
  • New submissions (with just the Loyalty X champions, number of cards revealed for each, and overall cards revealed count) may still be posted until 2/11/17 at 8pm GMT (sending me the solution through the contact field/updating Google Doc and telling me). On 2/11/17 at precisely 8pm GMT, submissions will be closed. (At my discretion, I may allow small, apparent typos/mistakes to be corrected, as long as the integrity of the solution is apparent.)
  • After I finish reviewing any last minute entries, the participant with the current highest verified solution will win their choice of playmat. The top 9 participants to win neither the deck box nor playmat will then be given their choice of prize in order. (This will probably take some time to fully resolve.)
  • Playmat and deckbox will be shipped at the conclusion of the contest (in case 1 person wins both).

Scoring

Instead of assigning points based on who has the highest score for each Loyalty X card by name, I will be assigning points based on each player’s 1st highest answer, 2nd highest answer, 3rd highest answer, 4th highest answer, and total revealed card.

Implications

If you lead in at least 1 category at the end of at least 1 week, you are guaranteed a prize (because you are guaranteed a Victory Point as explained above).

In addition, if you can’t think of a way to get the top score, but you can think of a way to get your worst score better than everyone else, you win a prize.

Prizes

Primary Prize (Playmat)

The first person to submit the overall winning answer receives their choice of playmat pictured below.

**Unfortunately there is very slight creasing in both of the Kickstarter playmats (more visible in the Angel of Death playmat picture). These are pictures of the actual playmats that will be sent out.**

To my unofficial/unaffiliated, nonbinding, unconfirmed knowledge:

  • Kickstarter playmats can only be purchased through WWG kickstarters (maybe conventions?). I believe only 500 of each were made?
  • White Wizard Games Fair 2016 could only be purchased at that game fair?
  • Sea Hydra playmat has been available as a top 8 prize at tournaments, possibly purchasable at conventions too?

Basically, I’m seeing these on neither WWG’s store page, nor Legion Supplies WWG page. A quick search on ebay turned up these sales:

Secondary Prize (Deck Box)

The first person to submit the winning answer in the first week receives an Epic Deck Box. **Card sleeves not included**

Link to Legion Supplies product page

Tertiary Prizes (Kickstarter Exclusives or Promos)

The 9 participants with the top scores, who win neither the deck box nor the playmat, will receive a promo pictured below. The eligible participant with the best answer gets first choice on down to the 9th play finisher (not including the winner of each week).

  • The top 2 finishers may choose between an Elder God/Elder Goddess card, a Demigod/Demigoddess card, or a promo
  • The 3rd and 4th place finishers may choose a Demigod/Demigoddess card or a promo
  • The 5th-9th finishers may choose a promo
  • Exactly 2 Elder God/Elder Goddess cards, 2 Demigoddess/Demigod cards, and 5 promos will be awarded
    • Therefore, if a higher reward tier participant does not choose an Elder God/Elder Goddess, a lower reward tier participant will.
    • Similarly, if a higher reward tier participant chooses a lower reward tier item, that choice will count towards the prize distribution. For example, if 1st and 2nd place both choose a Demigoddess/Demigod, the 3rd and 4th place finishers may only choose from Elder God/Elder Goddess and promos.
    • If anyone from top 1-9 decline the reward, I will give the chance to the next eligible participant (if any)

The sleeved promo card will be sent via a standard envelope. I take no responsibility if they are damaged in transit.

Basic Example

 

While I tried to preemptively answer any question that might come up, I know the combined intellect of the community can think of questions I didn’t answer. Therefore, if you have any questions, or want me to explain anything better, let me know in the comments.

1/28/17 Epic Puzzle Announcement

Announcement

This article is to announce my second puzzle contest with prize support (previous puzzle, original test puzzle). The puzzle will be posted at 8pm GMT on 1/28/17. I will post a puzzle with multiple parts.

Whoever has the greatest amount of points by the end of the first week (2/4/17 at 8pm GMT), will win an Epic Deck Box. Whoever has the greatest amount of points at the end of the second week (2/11/17 at 8pm GMT) will receive their choice of 4 Epic/WWG playmats. In addition, the top 9 participants (not including the winner(s) of the deck box or playmat) will receive an alt art promo card, a Kickstarter exclusive Elder God/Elder Goddess card, or a Kickstarter exclusive Demigoddess/Demigod card.

At the end of the first week, I may add another part to the puzzle depending on answers received.

Non-Puzzle-Specific Rules

Below are the non-puzzle-specific rules for this specific contest. If anything is unclear please leave a comment asking for clarification, preferably before 1/28/17.

Conditions:

  1. The solution is based off of a player using a constructed Epic deck, with a few exceptions outlined below.
  2. Your deck must be a 2-player-constructed-legal, exactly 60 card deck although most promos are legal. Inspiration is not legal for this contest
    • Decks must contain exactly 60 cards, with no more than three copies of each card.
    • For each 0-cost card of an alignment, the deck must contain at least two 1-cost cards of the same alignment. (For example, a deck with seven 0-cost sage cards must have at least fourteen 1-cost sage cards.) Therefore, a maximum of 20 0-cost cards may be included.
    • If you only specifically use X cards in your 60 card deck, you can just list those X cards and say “60-X irrelevant 1-cost cards.” For example, 3 Angel of Death, 3 Apocalypse, 2 Corpsetaker and 52 irrelevant 1-cost cards.
    • Inspiration is not legal for this contest, but all other Kickstarter and Year 1 Promos are legal for this puzzle (Dark Prince, Hill Giant, Hunting Pterosaur, Kalnor’s Blessing, Knight of Dawn, Necromancer Apprentice, New Dawn, Ritual Sacrifice, Scrap Golem, Searing Blast, Spite, Aftershock, Time Master, Warrior Angel, Owl Familiar, Cleansing Light, Forbidden Research, Elder Greatwurm, Teleport, **Edit** Forgot to add Keira Wolf Caller**). See below for pictures.
  3. You may begin your first turn with:
    • Any number of cards from your legal deck in your discard pile
    • Up to 7 cards from your legal deck in your hand
    • No champions in play
  4. Draw a card at the start of your turn
  5. Your opponent can do nothing
    • They have no cards in their discard pile
    • No cards in hand
    • No champions in play
    • Any time they may do something, they choose not to
  6. Both you and your opponent have infinite health

Rules for Entering

  • To Enter, post a comment below with just the *answer*, not the solution. Then, send me the solution through the contact field at the bottom of the puzzle contest post. I will respond to the comment within 48 hours to verify if it is valid. If it is not valid, I will respond to the email address provided to explain why it is invalid. (If not already in some form of Google Doc/Sheets or other sharable online document, I will also add it to an unique Google Doc to make it easier to track future, improved answers.)
    1. When posting a new submission, create a new comment, do not reply to your original comment.
    2. Feel free to post general questions, cheer on participants, etc.
  • The contest starts at 8pm GMT on 1/28/17
  • A week after the contest starts, at 8pm GMT on 2/4/17, the highest verified solution will win an Epic Deck Box. I will also reply to each participants’ highest submission in the comments with their solutions at that time.
  • New submissions (with just the *answer*, not the solution) may still be posted until 2/11/17 at 8pm GMT (sending me the solution through the contact field/updating Google Doc and telling me). On 2/11/17 at precisely 8pm GMT, submissions will be closed. After I finish reviewing any last minute entries, the participant with the current highest verified solution will win their choice of playmat. The top 9 participants to win neither the deck box nor playmat will then be given their choice of prize in order. (This will probably take some time to fully resolve.)
  • Playmat, deckbox, and cards will be shipped at the conclusion of the contest (in case 1 person wins both playmat and deckbox to reduce shipping costs).

Prizes

Primary Prize (Playmat)

The person with the most points at the end of the 2-week period will receive their choice of playmat pictured below. (Points are awarded to the first person to submit an answer if two participants submit the same result.)

**Edit** The winner of the mat may opt for a card instead, if desired. If they do, the mat would be available first for the week 1 winner, then down the line of 1-9 place finishers. If the 1st week winner doesn’t want the deck box, the overall winner may receive the deck box if desired. **Edit**

**Unfortunately there is very slight creasing in both of the Kickstarter playmats (more visible in the Angel of Death playmat picture). These are pictures of the actual playmats that will be sent out.**

To my unofficial/unaffiliated, nonbinding, unconfirmed knowledge:

  • Kickstarter playmats can only be purchased through WWG kickstarters (maybe conventions?). I believe only 500 of each were made?
  • White Wizard Games Fair 2016 could only be purchased at that game fair?
  • Sea Hydra playmat has been available as a top 8 prize at tournaments, possibly purchasable at conventions too?

Basically, I’m seeing these on neither WWG’s store page, nor Legion Supplies WWG page. A quick search on ebay turned up these sales:

Secondary Prize (Deck Box)

The person with the most points at the end of the first week will receive an Epic Deck Box. **Card sleeves not included** (Points are awarded to the first person to submit an answer if two participants submit the same result.)

**Edit** The winner of the deck box may opt for a card instead, if desired. If they do, the deck box would be available first for the overall winner (if they do not want the playmat), then down the line of 1-9 place finishers. **Edit**

Link to Legion Supplies product page

Tertiary Prizes (Kickstarter Exclusives or Promos)

The 9 participants with the top scores at the end of the 2-week period, who win neither the deck box nor the playmat, will receive a promo pictured below. The eligible participant with the best answer gets first choice on down to the 9th place finisher (not including the winner of each week).

  • The top 2 finishers may choose between an Elder God/Elder Goddess card, a Demigoddess/Demigod card, or a promo
  • The 3rd and 4th place finishers may choose a Demigoddess/Demigod card or a promo
  • The 5th-9th place finishers may choose a promo
  • Exactly 2 Elder God/Elder Goddess cards, 2 Demigoddess/Demigod cards, and 5 promos will be awarded
    • Therefore, if a higher reward tier participant does not choose an Elder God/Elder Goddess, a lower reward tier participant will.
    • Similarly, if a higher reward tier participant chooses a lower reward tier item, that choice will count towards the prize distribution. For example, if 1st and 2nd place both choose a Demigoddess/Demigod card, the 3rd and 4th place finishers may only choose from Elder God/Elder Goddess and promos.
    • If anyone from top 1-9 decline the reward, I will give the chance to the next eligible participant (if any remain)

The sleeved promo card will be sent via a standard envelope. I take no responsibility if they are damaged in transit.

Epic: How Cards Technically Resolve

Foreword

I was writing all of this out to explain the Lesson Learned targeting Ancient Chant interaction for my rating/explanation of all cards in Dark Draft. Frequent readers won’t be surprised to hear that I went I bit overboard. Since it got a bit longer than I was expecting and I didn’t like the formatting, I decided to make it a stand alone article.

Everything that follows is precisely how cards resolve in Epic. In the vast majority of situations, you do not need to know/understand this to play Epic.

Triggers

Trigger Formatting
Triggering Condition → Trigger

When the Triggering Condition is met, the Trigger is added to a heap of Triggers waiting to resolve. As soon as the current game action finishes resolving, the heap of Triggers resolves. For example,

  1. I spend 1 gold to play White Knight from hand while I have Noble Unicorn in play.
  2. Noble Unicorn’s “Ally → Draw a card” trigger is added to a heap.
  3. White Knight enters play.
  4. Tribute → Draw a card” and “Loyalty 2 → Blitz” get added to the same heap as Noble Unicorn’s trigger.
  5. The heap containing “Ally → Draw a card,”Tribute → Draw a card,” and “Loyalty 2 → Blitz” resolves.
  6. I choose to resolve “Tribute → Draw a card” first.
  7. I draw a card: Ceasefire.
  8. Then I choose to resolve “Ally → Draw a card” next.
  9. I draw a card: Gold Dragon.
  10. Then I resolve “Loyalty 2 → Blitz” last.
  11. I reveal the Ceasefire and Gold Dragon I just drew to give White Knight blitz.

    Examples of a few triggers
  • Tribute → Draw a card.
  • Ally → Deal 4 damage to target champion. (ally-trigger)
  • When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card.
  • When you recall this card → Lose 1 health.

Playing a Card Overview + Triggers

When you play a card, any triggers that happen when that card is played, ally-triggers for instance, are added to a heap. All of these triggers resolve in the order of the controller’s choice, after the card finishes resolving.

While resolving a heap of triggers, if any additional triggers happen, these new triggers are added to a new heap. This new heap is resolved after the current heap finishes resolving. For multiple example of this, check out my Recycle Interactions article.

If both players have triggers that would resolve at the same time, either the current player or the player with the initiative resolves all of their triggers first, followed by the other player resolving all of their triggers.
(WWG was still deciding between the current player or the player with the initiative last I checked. [rare edge case])

Playing a Champion

For champions, after relevant triggers are added to the heap, you simply put the champion into play. Then, you put any of the champion’s triggers (loyalty or tribute) into the heap as well. Finally, resolve triggers in that heap in whatever order you would like.

Playing an Event

For events, after relevant triggers are added to the heap, the card enters the Supplemental Zone and fully resolves the entirety of its text. If more triggers happen during the resolution of the event, add them to the heap waiting to resolve. Once the entirety of the event’s text is resolved, the event leaves the Supplemental Zone and enters the discard pile. Finally, resolve triggers in the heap waiting to resolve in whatever order you would like.

Lesson Learned Targeting Ancient Chant

So, when Lesson Learned is played, it enters the Supplemental Zone.

  1. Resolving its text instructs the player to play an event from their discard pile without paying its cost. Ancient Chant is chosen and will resolve completely before the rest of Lesson Learned finishes resolving.
  2. Ancient Chant is therefore removed from the discard pile, causing Ancient Chant‘s “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card” trigger to be added to a new heap, and Ancient Chant enters the Supplemental Zone to resolve
  3. Ancient Chant draws 2 cards (2 cards drawn)
  4. Since Ancient Chant is finished resolving, it leaves the Supplemental Zone and enters the discard pile
  5. Lesson Learned then finishes resolving, banishing Ancient Chant first, causing a second Ancient Chant “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card” trigger to be added to the current heap waiting to resolve
  6. Then Lesson Learned banishes itself, so it can’t go to the discard pile after resolving
  7. Now that Lesson Learned is finished resolving, and no other triggers happened, the heap it created resolves. Since only one player has triggers in that heap, that player resolves their 2 triggers in an order of their choice
    Trigger 1: Ancient Chant‘s “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card.”
    Trigger 2: Ancient Chant‘s “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card.”
  8. The player chooses to resolve trigger 2 first, drawing a card (3 cards drawn), then trigger 1 second, drawing a card (4 cards drawn)

Continued with Greater Complexity

In the above example, if the Lesson Learned player had a Psionic Assault in their discard pile, expended Blue Dragon in play, and expended Keeper of Secrets in play, all of their ally triggers would be added to the heap at step 1.

For further narrative purposes, also assume the opponent is at 10 health with Guilt Demon and Thundarus in play, you (the Lesson Learned player) have 3 health with Flame Strike in your deck, only Time Bender and Knight of Shadows in hand, and only Psionic Assault and Memory Spirit in your discard pile.

Aside from adding the triggers at step 1, everything else stays the same until step 8. Below are the new steps:

  1. The heap now contains 5 triggers
    Trigger 1: Ancient Chant‘s “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card.”
    Trigger 2: Ancient Chant‘s “When this card leaves your discard pile → Draw a card.”
    Trigger 3: Psionic Assault‘s ally → Recall
    Trigger 4: Blue Dragon‘s ally → Deal 2 damage to a target
    Trigger 5: Keeper of Secrets‘ ally → Recycle
  2. Currently, you are dead on board to either your opponent’s Guilt Demon or Thundarus. Thankfully, you can use your Blue Dragon trigger to break the Guilt Demon, and you can recall your Psionic Assault to give you loyalty to bounce your opponent’s Thundarus on their turn. On the other hand, if you draw your Flame Strike, you could target your opponent with your Blue Dragon trigger making Flame Strike lethal. Therefore, before resolving your Blue Dragon trigger, you decide to resolve your Ancient Chant triggers.
  3. Resolving Trigger 1, you draw a White Knight, does not help your situation at all
  4. Resolving Trigger 2, you draw a Helion’s Fury, since you now have 2 Sage cards in hand (Knight of Shadows and Helion’s Fury) to trigger Time Bender‘s Loyalty 2 → blitz ability, you do not need to return Psionic Assault to hand
  5. Going for lethal, you decide to resolve Trigger 5 next, recycling your Memory Spirit and your no longer needed Psionic Assault. Luckily, you draw your Flame Strike
  6. Next you resolve Trigger 4, dealing 2 damage to your opponent, bringing them into Flame Strike range
  7. Finally, you resolve Trigger 3, although since Psionic Assault is no longer in your discard pile (and has become a new game object after the zone change), it is not returned to your hand

Conclusion

As I said, for the vast majority of games, knowing precisely how cards resolve isn’t important. Most of the time, triggers just happen immediately after they trigger, and usually only 1 or 2 triggers happen at the same time.

16 Tyrants Cards (1/18/17)

This is a continuation of my ratings of all cards for Dark Draft.

A link to my full tier list may be found here. My reasoning for each card can be found here.

Important Concept

Mass Discard Pile Banish: A mass discard pile banish card is the single most important card in Dark Draft and other limited formats. Its importance is so great, my top tier consists of exclusively these cards (Amnesia, Erratic Research, Grave Demon, and Heinous Feast).

As long as you have at least 1 mass discard pile banish card and recycle it as soon as possible after playing it, you should have an almost 0% chance of losing to your opponent drawing through their entire deck.

16 Tyrants Cards

heinous_feast

Heinous Feast Rating
Always First Pick –

Mass discard pile banish is the most important aspect in Dark Draft and other limited formats.

0-cost, fast discard pile banish is nice, but I’d rather the mass discard pile banish card either recycle, give me an 8/8 ambush body, or draw 2 cards than gain some health.

necrovirus

Necrovirus Rating
Frequently Desirable

Off-turn targeted removal that doesn’t put your opponent any further ahead than you is excellent. The fact that it also gives you a chump blocker for that turn is a big deal too. 3 Zombies with your next 1-Cost Evil spell is also relevant.

Unfortunately, if used on your turn, it leaves behind a chump blocker for your opponent. It also can’t draw 2 if you don’t need the removal.

raxxa_demon_tyrant

Raxxa, Demon Tyrant Rating
Always Desirable

18/18 worth of stats spread over 3 bodies without loyalty is great. The fact that if Raxxa gets bounced you can get 2 more 6/6 demons is also great. Raxxa can even buff your other demons in play, even if Raxxa is your only 1-cost Evil card in deck. (If Raxxa is removed the demons automatically revert to 4/4s.)

The loyalty effect is also excellent. 2 damage is nice for breaking all non-demon tokens, Muse, and other troublesome low defense champions. Off-turn Zombie Apocalypse/Wave of Transformation is already incredibly strong. Follow it up with Raxxa with loyalty on your turn to completely wipe their board and establish multiple threats.

Great without loyalty, potentially amazing with loyalty.

raxxas_curse

Raxxa’s Curse Rating
Always First Pickable

Draft Frequency: 9

Draft Power: 8

Raxxa’s Curse is a faction-independent powerhouse. Breaking any 0-cost champion and giving you a demon token is a strong swing in your favor. (I have put myself significantly ahead in at least one draft where I Raxxa’s Cursed a Muse that my opponent was relying on early.)

Since every faction has strong 0-cost minions (Guilt Demon/Spawning Demon, White Dragon/Paros Rebel Leader, Keeper of Secrets/Shadow Imp, Fire Shaman/Ankylosaurus) this will usually have a target to hit. In addition, even using it on a token is valuable.

Aside from breaking Muses, my favorite use of this card is to break an ambushed in 0-cost blocker. If I can draw my opponent’s gold out before mine, play a Rampaging Wurm, and break my opponent’s zombie from Plentiful Dead before blocks, I am happy.

If nothing else, you can always draw 2 with it.

insurgency

Insurgency Rating
Situationally Desirable +

By itself, this is weak. Attack for 8 over 4 unbreakable bodies is more reliable than Wolf’s Call, but no card wants to be compared to Wolf’s Call. 4 off-turn unbreakable blockers can save your life, but not a great use of a gold.

Where this card really shines is with other human token cards generally and AoE buffs specifically. Insurgency and then Revolt gives you 4 unbreakable, blitz 4/1 human tokens and 1 blitz 3/1 human token. Unless your opponent can AoE banish, Ceasefire, Ice Drake, Force Field, Surprise Attack -> Time Walker/Frost Giant/Velden Frost Titan, Blind Faith, or make a lot of blocks, they could take 19 damage from 2 cards (assuming you had no other human tokens in play).

This is one of the most important cards for a human token deck, and one of the strongest 2 card combinations in the game.

markus_watch_captain

Markus, Watch Captain Rating
Situationally Desirable +

Thought Pluckering me? How about I put a 10/10 into play instead of discarding, seems nice.

Oh yeah, and I actually drafted some other Good alignment cards, so I’ll reveal these 2 to draw a card to replace him.

You have 3 Demons in play too, not any more you don’t. At least you still get your ambushed in 1/1 unblockable champion.

10 defense is great.
Put it into play if discarded is great. Banish up to 3 tokens, particularly demons is great. Loyalty 2 -> draw a card is excellent (except that it is Good Loyalty 2). If you can trigger at least one of its abilities this is a strong card. If you get all 3 (you almost certainly won’t), it is incredible. In any other alignment, this would be really difficult to pass up, since Loyalty 2 -> draw a card is my favorite part.

It’s also a human so it can go airborne with Faithful Pegasus.

noble_martyr

Noble Martyr Rating
Situationally Acceptable

4 defense on a ground based champion that doesn’t deal 4 damage when it is played and attacks (Pyrosaur call-out), is really weak. It dies to so many champions and multiple 0-cost cards. If it survives, it can at least sneak 7 damage through (weak for an on-turn gold-punisher).

However, Unbanishable on a card with a discard pile ally trigger is a nice combination. Unless they transform it or bounce it (or banish it from your discard pile), you’ll be able to trigger the loyalty ability for 5 humans. Do this at the end of your opponent’s turn, then Insurgency on your turn and you have 9 unbreakable, blitz 2/1 champions for 18 damage. Or you can just trigger it for chump blockers.

paros_rebel_leader

Paros, Rebel Leader Rating
Situationally Desirable

Great card for Good-focused decks or human token decks. +1 offense for humans is a big deal. Human tokens now trade with non-demon tokens and bigger humans sneak a bit of extra damage through too.

In addition, being able to continually put out chump blockers either forces your opponent not to attack, or lets you attack with your champions more freely. Also, 4 defense is a nice breakpoint.

fumble

Fumble Rating
Always Desirable

Love this card.

0-cost card that shuts down most attacks completely while recycling. Also, unlike Watchful Gargoyle, it can’t be countered by an opponent’s 0-cost card (although champions can be buffed over the -10 offense). Fumble is the card that makes me feel safe.

It is also Sage and can draw 2 if needed.

helion_the_dominator

Helion, the Dominator Rating
Frequently Desirable +

8/8 ambush means it can’t be bad. It is also Sage with a loyalty 2 ability, interesting. Steal a champion for a turn and give it blitz, yeah, I like that. So many great applications for it.

One of the best case scenarios: opponent attacks with a champion (Infernal Gatekeeper for instance). You play this to steal another one of their champions (White Knight). Assuming they don’t remove their White Knight you now control, you declare it as a blocker. Before both champions break each other, you rub it in by expending White Knight to break one of their demon tokens. Pretty valuable use of a gold; break 2 champions (and a demon token) and put an 8/8 into play, off-turn.

This can also steal an ambushed in champion before it can be declared as a blocker. Once you finish your initial attack, you can then attack with your opponent’s champion.

If needed, it can also just steal an attacking champion for the turn, completely negating the attack.

Fortunately, this does not prepare a stolen champion.

Before I forget, Helion even has the ability to expend to deal 2 damage to up to 2 targets. It can push some damage to face while breaking Muse at the same time. You can even ambush Helion in and then target him with his own loyalty 2 ability to give him blitz for the turn (this can also make him an 8/8 on-turn gold-punisher instead of an off-turn gold-punisher). Great card.

When playing against a deck with Helion, it is important to attack with your most evasive champions first. If you have an unblockable champion, airborne champion, and a neither unblockable, nor airborne champion, attack with them in that order. By doing this, you prevent the possibility of your opponent stealing one of your champions and using it to block another one of your champions.

helions_fury

Helion’s Fury Rating
Always Acceptable –

I’ve never really been impressed by Helion’s Fury. It is only on-turn removal which isn’t great. In addition, it isn’t terribly common to want to bounce 2 champions on your turn instead of 1. At least it can remove a token when played. Drawing a card is nice though. It could also potentially be involved in an interesting combat situation, saving one of your attackers/blockers in a group attack/block while removing one of theirs in a group attack/block.

Essentially though, it is a Sage draw 2.

knight_of_shadows

Knight of Shadows Rating
Always Desirable

I like tribute -> draw a card, forcing my opponent to discard in limited formats is also usually great. 9 offense + unblockable is a strong combination as well. At 4 defense though, it gets removed by a decent amount of cards including Hands from Below and Spike Trap.

While I will frequently take this card happily, I do prefer my slow champions to have either an even more devastating effect or more defense.

brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus Rating
Situationally Desirable

The best way to use this is to play it while your opponent’s gold is up and pass. They will either:

  • use their gold

allowing you to play an on-turn gold-punisher, removal on their ambush champion (Kong for instance), or draw cards

  • pass out of fear of an on-turn gold-punisher/removal

essentially making this an 8/12 breakthrough dinosaur with tribute -> target opponent loses their gold. I’d play that card.

If you spend your gold immediately after playing Brachiosaurus, your opponent will have full gold information. If you played a second champion, they could just board clear you, which would make Brachiosaurus just 2 for 1 yourself. However, this can double trigger Wild ally triggers like Fire Spirit or Fire Shaman, which can be quite powerful.

draka_dragon_tyrant

Draka, Dragon Tyrant Rating
Situationally Desirable +

9/9 airborne, blitz (with Wild Loyalty) is great. An excellent, hard to block, heavy hitting, on-turn gold-punisher. It also clears out non-demon tokens, in addition to a lot of 0-cost champions like Muse.

Works great with Feeding Frenzy.

drakas_enforcer

Draka’s Enforcer Rating
Frequently Desirable +

One of the best off-turn gold-punishers. 7/7 airborne can even break a lot of airborne champions in combat and survive. Loyalty 2 -> draw a card is always appreciated.

drakas_fire

Draka’s Fire Rating
Frequently Desirable

Deal 5 damage to all opposing champions and draw a card has been surprisingly powerful more often than I was expecting. It is a great way to clear out tokens (incidental or otherwise), it sweeps up most other 0-cost champions too, and it can finish off damaged champions as well. All without affecting your champions in play. This + Lightning Strike has worked wonders for me.

5 damage to everything has won me games. It can also stop non-Insurgency surprise token assaults.

In general, this card does better than I expect it to. (I did drop it from Usually Desirable to Frequently Desirable on 1/18/17 though. I don’t think I would usually want it, and I probably just didn’t think about it when I created the Frequently Desirable column.)

9 Base Set/8 Tyrants Cards (1/12/17)

This is a continuation of my ratings of all cards for Dark Draft. We’re getting into the Tyrants cards in this one.

A link to my full tier list may be found here. My reasoning for each card can be found here.

9 Base Set Cards

word_of_summoning

Word of Summoning Rating
Always Acceptable

Off-turn 4/4 with recycle is much better than on-turn 4/3 with recycle (Ogre Mercenary). In addition, its a demon token so it has synergy with other demon synergy cards. The only downside compared to Ogre Mercenary is that it is returned to the token pile if bounced.

Generally, I like this as a way to apply a bit more pressure. Put in 2 off-turn demons with Spawning Demon, then add one more with this. It can also function as a chump blocker with recycle if needed.

zombie_apocalypse

Zombie Apocalypse Rating
Always First Pickable +

Off-turn board clears are great. This one can create chump blockers as well, if you are forced to use it on your opponent’s turn while their gold is up. In addition, you can even set up for playing this by banishing your opponent’s discard pile before with Amnesia/Heinous Feast (or Erratic Research/Grave Demon the turn before).

white_dragon

White Dragon Rating
Situationally Desirable

0-cost 5/5 airborne champion is reasonable on its own. If you can get the recycle, it is a lot better. At 5/5, it trades with a decent number of 1-cost airborne champions, and at 5 damage it is a threat in its own right too.

The best card to use before playing this is probably Banishment. Remove a threat, put an airborne threat into play, and net lose 0 cards from hand.

white_knight

White Knight Rating
Usually Desirable

One of my favorite cards.

Once again, Tribute -> draw a card is great. 9/9 blitzer can be a solid on-turn gold-punisher too. Those alone make it desirable to me, but the expend ability can be amazing too (although frequently irrelevant). Put an expended 9/9 into play, draw a card, and break a champion, yeah, pretty nice.

It’s also a human, so it can go airborne with Faithful Pegasus.

wave_of_transformation

Wave of Transformation Rating
Always First Pickable

The most reliable off-turn board clear.

No champion in the game can survive this card. Unfortunately, when you use this and are behind in quantity of champions in play, you stay behind. In addition, it doesn’t help you much against tokens hordes. That being said, the reliable off-turn board clear is so powerful that these downsides aren’t that problematic. Also, sage draw 2 too.

winter_fairy

Winter Fairy Rating
Always Acceptable

After seeing Derek Arnold’s constructed Origins deck, I appreciate the idea of slow, on-turn, “draw 2 and” champions a lot more than I once did (even though his deck didn’t have any: Winter Fairy or The Gudgeon). I wrote about it a bit in my Epic: Constructed – Origins 2016 (Part 2) article, but it does primarily deal with constructed.

When I draft/play/include this card, I never expect it to deal combat damage. It’s great when it does, but it isn’t very likely. Instead, I view it as a draw 2 card that forces my opponent to spend a card to remove it. I always think about playing this and having it immediately get Withered, for example. +1 card in hand for me, -1 card in hand for my opponent.

If played while your opponent has no airborne champions in play, their most likely answers for it are: 0-cost 3 damage removal (avoiding the recycling 0-cost answers Wolf’s Bite and Flame Spike), banishment/transform removal, or other damage/break based 1-cost removal (best case scenario for you). If either of the first 2 options are used, you just drew out an incredibly valuable card from your opponent while drawing 2, great value. “You used your Palace Guard? Okay, I only drew 1 card, but now can you deal with this Kong?”

This is definitely one of my favorite cards in the game (partially because a lot of people undervalue it, although one of those people learned to value it even more than I do in draft), but I don’t value it higher in Dark Draft because Dark Draft is a lot more tempo based than constructed. While drawing 2 and forcing an opponent to use Wither is strong, if they are still at 6 cards in hand and running me over on the board with their gold, that value I just got probably won’t save me.

Overall, I like the card, but I’d rather have a more impactful card in Dark Draft most of the time.

Also, Final Tasking this on your turn to deal 4 damage and draw 3 isn’t bad either. (Tribute, combat damage, on-break effect)

wolf_companion

Wolf Companion Rating
Practically Unplayble

Terrible.

+2/+2 can be worthwhile in certain situations, but usually isn’t. Spending a gold to get back this weak effect even with a wolf is largely a waste of a gold, but it can save you in a desperate situation. A better way to get the wolf would be to recycle this card though; that way you don’t have to return it to your hand.

wolf_s_call

Wolf’s Call Rating
Practically Unplayble +

Not a huge fan of this card because it can be easily countered by a Wither, Flash Fire, Blind Faith, etc. However, without those effects it could potentially work as an 8 damage on-turn gold-punisher, meh. 4 wolves off turn is also meh, and the lack of a draw 2 option is disappointing.

There is one situation where I might draft it though, to be cheeky. If earlier in the draft I was forced to pass my opponent Wave of Transformation (to get an Amnesia, etc.), this can be a nasty punish. They Wave of Transformation on my turn while my gold is up, I play this to attack for 8 +2 for each champion I had in play (now wolves). In a wide/token deck, that could add up quickly.

wurm_hatchling

Wurm Hatchling Rating
Situationally Desirable

Without Wild, a 0-cost 4/4 breakthrough champion is not a card I want.

With a significant amount of Wild, this can quickly grow into a real threat. Immediately jumping to 6/6 makes it so no 0-cost, damage-based removal can deal with this by itself. In addition, it can attack as an 8/8 breakthough champion on your next turn, assuming you played a second 1 cost Wild card. At 8/8, it only loses in combat to 24 of the 91 1-cost champions. At 10/10, it only loses to 11 champions. That is pretty crazy (even taking into account that a lot of those champions would never be in combat).

So, if you have a lot of 1-cost Wild cards, this can grow into a very real threat. Forcing your opponent to use a 1-cost card to answer a 0-cost card is powerful.

8 Tyrants Cards

dark_offering

Dark Offering Rating
Always Acceptable –

Spending a card and breaking your own champion is a very stiff price to pay, regardless of the effect. Potentially breaking 2 opposing champions off-turn is a powerful effect. Most of the time in Dark Draft, this price is not worth this effect. Either you aren’t willing to break your own champion or your opponent doesn’t have 2 champions in play you want to break. At least it can draw 2.

The best way to use this card is to break your Soul Hunter, Trihorror, Winter Fairy, The Gudgeon, or Mist Guide Herald. In other words, champions with valuable on-break effects or champions who provide most of their value with their Tribute/Loyalty effect and don’t generate much additional value.

If you have some of these champions, breaking your own champion isn’t much of a problem, and it can even be beneficial. The potential power-level of this card is enormous, but it isn’t likely to achieve that power-level often. (At least not in Dark Draft…I’ve built about 3 constructed decks using Dark Offering with mixed results.)

hands_from_below

Hands from Below Rating
Always Acceptable –

4 damage is enough to break all of the unblockable champions in the game (Thought Plucker, Knight of Shadows, Shadow Imp, etc.). It can also break all tokens and a lot of other 0-cost champions. If you can bait an opponent into group attacking with multiple demons, it can be really strong. (I know from experience being baited into doing just that.)

In addition, 2 zombies is a nice bonus.

Personally, it’s a bit too conditional for me, and the zombies aren’t enough of a bonus to make me desire this heavily. I know plenty of people who love this card though. I’d much rather have Spike Trap.

blind_faith

Blind Faith Rating
Usually Desirable

I’ve gone back and forth on this card, but currently I love it in Dark Draft. There are so many situations where stripping abilities off of champions can lead to massive blowouts or even just generically strong plays.

With the addition of more mass discard pile banish cards, drawing out becomes less likely. Therefore, recycling is less likely to have even a small downside.

forced_exile

Forced Exile Rating
Always Desirable

I like targeted removal and “or draw 2” cards. Banish is usually stronger than break. This is strong both on-turn and off-turn. Solid.

arcane_research

Arcane Research Rating
Situationally Acceptable

I don’t like this card in Dark Draft.

It’s never bad because you can always just play it and banish no other cards to replace it, but you do give a bit of information away for nothing in that case. You also potentially missed out on drafting something better.

In addition, I rarely find myself in a situation where I am searching for exactly 1  card, so banishing multiple cards just hurts my own ability to recycle, while also showing more cards to my opponent.

The only time I would actively want this card in Dark Draft is if I had Flame Strike/other high value burn, Drain Essence, or linchpin cards like Revolt. Devastating your discard pile to win the game has no downside, but devastating your discard pile for a defensive answer or a marginally better champion can do more harm than good sometimes.

elara_the_lycomancer

Elara, the Lycomancer Rating
Situationally Desirable +

Another card that I think is undervalued. It’s Sage so I’ll usually be able to hit the loyalty. Transform is an incredibly powerful effect. Free chump blocking wolf isn’t irrelevant. 5 defense puts it out of range of all 0-cost removal cards except Lightning Strike, so it is much more likely to get a second activation or at least force a gold to be spent on it.

6/5 blitzer that brings a wolf with her can also serve as an on-turn gold-punisher if really needed.

ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus Rating
Always Acceptable

7/7 breakthrough champion is a real threat. Playing this without spending your gold and passing is a very reasonable play because of that.

Being able to spend a gold to draw a card with it also has value when needed, but 0-cost breakthrough 7/7 is usually better.

battle_cry

Battle Cry Rating
Always Acceptable –

Since the draw 2 option can only be used off-turn, it is slightly weaker than other draw 2 cards. And, since most games won’t want its primary effect, it is primarily just a less versatile “or draw 2” card.

If you have a bunch of tokens or big untargetable champions, +offense and AoE breakthrough can potentially win games. In addition, +3 defense puts even human tokens out of range of breaking to Wither/Flash Fire, which is appreciated. However, I almost never want to commit a gold to potentially win the game, assuming my opponent has no answer, at the risk of gaining nothing.

The +3/+3 off-turn can make some otherwise chump blocking tokens into real threats though (in addition to the draw 2).

17 Base Set Cards (1/10/17)

This is a continuation of my ratings of all cards for Dark Draft.

A link to my full tier list may be found here. My reasoning for each card can be found here.

17 Base Set Cards

trihorror

Trihorror Rating
Practically Unplayable

Incredibly slow card with no immediate effect when played.

This card is not difficult to deal with before your opponent gets any value out of it. Bounce and banish completely negate its power, and a decent number of those effects get you further ahead when you use them (Erase). Playing Trihorror is usually more of a liability than a benefit.

If I were to play it all, it would be as an on-turn gold-punisher, and there are much better on-turn gold-punishers than this.

unquenchable_thirst

Unquenchable Thirst Rating
Situationally Acceptable

Reasonable card assuming you have at least 1 mass discard pile banish effect.

A 0-cost card that can remove a lot of champions, provided you have enough Evil cards in your discard pile you are willing to banish. This is generally much better against low defense champions because each card banished from your discard pile is one more you can’t use to recycle or return with cards like Final Task, Lesson Learned, Reusable Knowledge, etc.

vampire_lord

Vampire Lord Rating
Situationally Acceptable

This card isn’t as bad as I originally thought it was because it can function both as an on-turn and off-turn gold-punisher (blitz and ambush). In addition, it is fairly resilient against bounce because if you play it when their gold is down, if they bounce it with their next gold, you can just replay it.

Unbreakable on your turn can also be nice with cards like Apocalypse.

Ideally, you can ambush this in to block a smaller champion when your opponent’s gold is down on their turn. In that case, you start your turn with an unbreakable 7/7 that will probably grow to a 9/9 by the end of the turn. Unfortunately, that still leaves it in range of Drain Essence on your opponent’s turn.

wither

Wither Rating
Always Desirable

0-cost, 3 damage, targeted removal is great.

This card’s ability to clear out all of one type of non-demon token is another nice benefit perfect for slowing down/stopping human or zombie hordes. Kills Muse too.

In addition, the -3 offense has actually been relevant in multiple situations too. It is solid answer to Insurgency attacks, and it has functioned as a combat trick quite nicely too.

However, using it as a combat trick can be a bit risky, especially when your opponent’s gold is up. For example, if you use Lurking Giant to block a Kong, you could either Wither before or after damage. If you use it before damage, assuming your opponent plays nothing, you break the Kong and your Lurking Giant survives. On the other hand, if they play their own combat trick like Rage, they have 1 for 1 negated your Wither while keeping their Kong alive. They could even just remove your Lurking Giant before it can deal its finishing damage to their Kong, negating your Wither.

If you use Wither after damage, you only commit your Wither when you are certain it would break your opponent’s Kong. If you get passed initiative when Kong is 3 away from breaking, playing Wither will break it guaranteed. Both choices are viable, and either can be correct in different situations.

the_people_s_champion

The People’s Champion Rating
Situationally Desirable

I like this card, but I wouldn’t say it’s great.

It enters play as 10/9 stats over 3 bodies, one of which is unbanishable but the others are just 1/1s. As long as it stays in play, it threatens to keep producing 1/1 tokens, and most of the time that means you have a nearly limitless stream of chump blockers. This can be strong if you have another champion that can attack with impunity, such as an airborne champion. If you have cards like Revolt or Insurgency, you can also turn those chump blockers into actual threats.

The unbanishable is a nice benefit as well, especially since opponent’s occasionally forget to take that into consideration. (With the official take back rule, if an opponent plays a card like Divine Judgement and then realizes The People’s Champion wouldn’t be banished, they can return it to hand as if they didn’t play it, the only penalty being the information they have given their opponent.)

It is also a human so it can pair with Faithful Pegasus. 8/7 is great for an airborne champion.

thundarus

Thundarus Rating
Situationally Acceptable

Slow, but powerful.

No immediate effect makes this highly vulnerable to bounce effects. It also has no protection from break effects, but it is unbanishable, airborne, and survives all solitary burn removal. In addition, at 10 airborne, offense, it must be removed.

If it is removed easily, it did nothing for you and possibly put you behind. If it can’t be removed, it can win you the game in 3 attacks, especially since it is hard to efficiently chump block in the air.

I generally won’t draft this, but if it is late in the draft and I haven’t passed much targeted break and/or bounce, I would consider taking this.

vital_mission

Vital Mission Rating
Rarely Playable

Similar effect to Magic’s Swords to Plowshares, but the fact that this costs a gold makes the comparison not great. Targeted removal is strong, but in a game where damage can be difficult to deal, giving an opponent 8+ health can be pretty bad. If used on a small champion like Necromancer Lord, Thought Plucker, Angel of Mercy, Hunting Raptors, etc., the small champion probably gained significant value already. At least it does banish so it prevents discard recursion on powerful champions.

On the other hand, using this on your own champion can give you a decent amount of health and draw you to 2 fresh cards, but it requires you to take a massive tempo hit in order to do it (unless you target your own unbanishable champion). Doing this on your turn before you off-turn board clear on your opponent’s turn can be worthwhile though.

watchful_gargoyle

Watchful Gargoyle Rating
Always Acceptable

Tribute -> recycle is nice. Airborne is nice. 2 offense with 3 defense enables it to break non-demon tokens too. Not too scary on offense, but it can function fairly similarly to Fumble (which I love), assuming your opponent doesn’t have 0-cost fast removal to use on it before blockers. I’d much rather have Fumble or Spore Beast.

time_walker

Time Walker Rating
Situationally Desirable

Board clear that leaves you with a 10/10 body in Sage. Yup, pretty strong.

This can also be a great way to abuse 0-cost blitz champions. Play and attack with 0-cost blitz champion(s). Play this. Play and attack with the same 0-cost blitz champions. However, if your opponent has a lot of 0-cost ambush champions or powerful loyalty/tribute abilities, this becomes worse.

Amazing against token decks.

transform

Transform Rating
Always Desirable –

Targeted removal that transforms leaving only a wolf behind is pretty great. Only untargetable champions are immune to this card. Unfortunately, in the less likely situation where you want to use this on your turn to remove a blocker, that wolf left behind can always chump block. If nothing else, it is a Sage “or draw 2” card.

turn

Turn Rating
Usually Desirable

In a world without bounce, this would easily be one of the best cards in the game. Using this on your turn to permanently take control of a champion (+1 champion for you, -1 champion for your opponent) is incredible value. However, if your opponent is able to bounce the champion, it returns to their hand instead of yours (the owner’s not the controller’s) .

The second ability is also strong because it can let you steal a champion for a turn, give it blitz, and use it to finish off your opponent. It can also steal a champion off-turn to either negate an attacking champion, or, even better, use any one of your opponent’s other champions to block their attacking champion.

warrior_golem

Warrior Golem Rating
Situationally Desirable +

4/2 blitz with a recycle trigger attached is a great card to play to an open board while both players have their gold. It isn’t hard to remove, but your opponent needs to immediately remove it or they take damage. In addition, when they remove it, you get to recycle to replace its loss. You can even recycle itself to its own trigger because Warrior Golem is already in your discard pile when the trigger resolves.

Also, since the trigger happens regardless of how it enters your discard pile, you could even discard it to a Thought Plucker and immediately get the recycle effect.

rampaging_wurm

Rampaging Wurm Rating
Frequently Desirable

14/14 blitz is an incredibly destructive on-turn gold-punisher. Cards like Lash/Rage make it stronger because it means it can’t be effectively chump blocked by 0-cost champions. Raxxa’s Curse, Wolf’s Bite, etc. are great with it because they can break potential 0-cost ambush chump blockers.

In addition, with its permanent 14/14 stats, it remains a hard to remove threat even after the turn it possibly hits for 14. Few things are as satisfying in Epic as playing and attacking with Rampaging Wurm when your opponent’s gold is down. (If you play it while their gold is up, there are a plethora of 1-cost targeted removal answers to it. If they have one, and they frequently will, they can remove your Wurm without giving you basically any advantage from it.)

sea_hydra

Sea Hydra Rating
Always Desirable –

I like Tribute -> draw a card. 10 defense is also a great value. The ability to grow is cool, but not amazing and frequently irrelevant (great with Hurricane though).

Recall on this is also powerful, since when you recall it, you get a Tribute -> draw a card champion back. This can be a nice way to come back if you get low on cards in hand.

strafing_dragon

Strafing Dragon Rating
Situationally Desirable +

6/6 airborne, ambush, blitz is a solid group of abilities on its own: it lets this function as both an on-turn and off-turn gold-punisher. 5 targeted damage with the loyalty trigger is another big boost. 11 damage gold-punish is great, and so is a 6/6 airborne champion that removes a champion when played. I’ve been undervaluing this card.

surprise_attack

Surprise Attack Rating
Always Acceptable +

This card generally won’t do worse than at least replacing itself when you would play a champion anyway. “It’s my opponent’s turn and my hand is all ambush champions and this? Might as well use this to put one of those ambush champions in play, draw a new card, and get a card in my discard pile.”

Best case scenario, on the other hand, involves putting an incredibly powerful slow champion into play off turn like Sea Titan/Kong, Angel of Death/Time Walker, Raging T-Rex/Triceratops, Raxxa Demon Tyrant/Den Mother, etc.

Still, it is possible, with a champion light deck, to be in a situation where you have Surprise Attack in a hand full of events and 0-cost champions. In that situation you can’t even effectively cycle it.

While Surprise Attack is always acceptable, I would generally rather have the slot filled with a card that is either more versatile or can perform a specific role better, in Dark Draft (in constructed it is usually the first 3 cards I add when I want to include 0-cost Wild cards).

triceratops

Triceratops Rating
Always Desirable

Speaks for itself.

Tribute -> draw a card on a 10/10 breakthrough body with no alignment requirement. All of those things are great, regardless of what else is in your deck.

Trade Newly Banned Magic Card for Base Game Epic

Following Magic: the Gathering’s announcement of new banned cards (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/january-9-2017-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2017-01-09), White Wizard Games announced that for each person that sends them a copy of either Emrakul, the Promised End or Smuggler’s Copter, White Wizard Games will send them a copy of base game Epic! For full details, check out their announcement.

Really cool video in their announcement too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnlSLmPQ1Y0&feature=youtu.be

Epic App Incoming

In addition, their announcement says that the Epic Card Game Digital kickstarter will be starting later this month!

(I don’t generally use this many exclamation marks.)