Genesis Druid: Elf Cleric Build (Pylades)

It's been a few weeks since the launch of the Campaign, and I'm still busy grinding out levels on characters and running dungeons to complete playsets between Property and Criminal Law readings.  The content that rolled out in the Chronicles Patch is excellent, and I can't wait for Set 4 and the following PvE updates (hopefully with Mercenaries).

For those that still haven't tried the campaign and are tentatively interested, I'm going to show off my first max level character, the Elf Cleric Pylades.  I'll be referencing the Cleric abilities without going into great detail about them, so if you're unfamiliar you can check out the Cleric Preview for a rundown (I'll have the Warrior rundown up soon as well).

Initially I thought I would want to play a Coyotle, but I was really impressed with the Elf artwork and abilities.  Elves have two strong Racial Traits.  The first is Long Life, which gives them a flat +6 Starting Health, the largest health bonus of any race in the game.  Since Clerics are all about longevity, I figured the-bigger-the-better in terms of a health buffer I could create between myself and whatever was out there for my first playthrough.  "What was out there" was fire zombies... lots of fire zombies, and I needed every point of health I could get.  The second Elf passive is Artistic, which gives you a 25% chance to receive a random stardust after clearing a dungeon.  Several of the races have traits like this that make it more efficient to grind. 

The Race-Combo Ability for Elf Clerics is Genesis Blessing, which enhances your Blessings to give you a Genesis Leaf, which functions similar to a Lotus Petal from MTG.  In dungeons, where tempo and managing your resources is incredibly important, these guys were invaluable and allowed my to ramp into 5-drops early and consistently.  Given that my racial ability already buffed by Blessing, I decided to focus on Blessing Enhancement Talents as I leveled.  Empowerment (the +1/+1 buff) is a much better talent than I had initially given it credit for.  Gaining 4 life, drawing a card, buffing you most expensive troop, and getting a free resource for a turn for free is a great deal, and each little addition really made my character feel substantially more powerful as I leveled and put points in it.  I wanted Blessings as often as possible, so I decided to work my way towards Good Karma, which moves your Blessings one space up in the deck every turn.  The Healing Aura you collect on the way is also nice, likely netting you an extra 6-8 health over the course of a game.  Unfortunately there just weren't enough points for Blessing of the Immortals if I wanted Good Karma and Empowerment (Coyotle get a bonus Talent Point, and could get Karma/Empowerment/BotI), so I decided to give the handful of Clerics in my deck Lifedrain instead for my final point, which is nothing to sneeze at.

31 starting health is an impressive number, which will buy you time until your troops reach critical mass.
515 gold is  much less impressive by comparison.

The decklist evolved over time as well, gradually moving from a Ruby-Wild affair to mono-Wild.  I put as many fighting dinosaurs as I could into the deck, since they dealt with aggressive zombies in both Devonshire Keep and Tomb of the Rose Knights (Smoldering Dead) well.  Feralroot Jaguar was the one PvE card I added to the deck, each one of which will randomly give two troops in your deck a +1/+1 bonus for that game.  Getting a 3/3 Carnasaurus in your opening hand can save you in the early game until your bigger threats can hit the field.  Both Carnasaurus and Succulent Cluckodon can gain health, which can be a saving grace while you're otherwise burning, and plays in well with the Health restoration from your Clerics and Blessings.  Here's the current list I'm running for dungeons:

Genesis Cleric

3 Carnasaurus

3 Dream Stag**

3 Lithe Lyricist*

3 Puck, the Dream Bringer*

2 Feralroot Jaguar

2 Prospero, Sylvan Enchanter*

2 Rhythmic Spiritualist

2 Wild Root Dancer

3 Genesis Hydra

2 Succulent Cluckodon

3 Crocosaur

2 Jadiim

2 Wildwood Beastcaller

2 Chlorophylia

2 Titania's Majesty (Empowerment)

22 Wild Shard

2 Crackling Vortex

Equipment

Head: Gardener's Hat (Chlorophylia)

Chest: Vest of the Ruminant (Dream Stag)

Gloves: Musky Leather Gloves (Dream Stag)

Feet: Enchanter's Footwraps (Prospero, Sylvan Enchanter)

Weapon: Lyricist Quill (Lithe Lyricist)

Trinket: Ring of the Goodfellow (Puck, the Dream Bringer)

Talents

Enhance Blessing: Life Essence
Enhance Blessing: Empowerment
Hale
Healing Aura
Aura Aspect: Good Karma
Affinity: Cleric

The general idea of the deck is to just play big stuff and keep making them bigger until you just overwhelm your opponent and win.  Dream Stag equipment will allow you to generate more shards to buff your team, as well as give you charges for more Blessings.  Max level Clerics can run 3 copies of Wild Rares, so there can be some interchange between the Wild Root Dancer (who is also a Cleric) and Spiritualist and Prospero.  Prospero is incredible with the Footwraps, since the Tempest Strikes he creates will also draw a card.  Unfortunately, this card is only available to Kickstarter Backers (I was fortunate enough to get two with this update).

While this deck has lots of rares, many of them are relatively inexpensive.  One very cheap card that is particularly effective against the Spitfire Elemental (both the penultimate fight of Devonshire and the troop-version Wiktor begins with) is Genesis Hydra, which gets stronger each time it is dealt damage.  Since the Spitfire Elemental deals damage to all troops each turn, the Hydra will just slowly grow bigger until it's big enough to start owning the field (assuming no Lethal Zombies are lurking around).  

Other rares also work better in stalemate situations so help the slow ramp up.  Wildwood Beastcaller generates a free beast every turn, which can be incredible if you get a Dream Bear or another huge troop.  It is possible to miss with Beastcaller and create a 0/0 Dangerous Beast, which is normally created with Bellow of Briggadon when you activate a charge power.  Rhythmic Spiritualist can be helpful since many cards and effects will slowly chew away at your deck, giving you the option to save important troops (preferably the dinosaurs) and shuffle them back into your deck, stronger and cheaper.  You can also manage Ravenous Zombies better by denying them the ability to feast on the troops in your crypt, baiting them to attack into your 3/4

Overall, the deck is very fun if you enjoy smashing through with gigantic troops, and seems to fit well with the unique resource ramp and empowerment blessings of the Elf Cleric, creating a psuedo-Druid feel.  It should be noted that the Keystone Race-Combo Ability, which will be unlocked when the campaign extends to Level 30 Characters, is called Born to be Wild, which one during the game will grant you 2 health for each Wild Threshold you have.  That makes me think my Elf Cleric will be clinging almost exclusively to the wild-side as the level cap rises.

Mage Preview: Spell Power

Big news this week: we got a sort-of date for PvE release.  For more information you can check out the PC Gamer Interview which goes through the new patch.  The semester just started so I won't have as much time to grind my first character as I would like, but I'm planning on getting my Twitch stream going again for the occasional Dungeon run-through.  

Launch of PvE is going to be a bit more truncated than initially assumed.  Back in August with the Warrior Talent Tree reveal, the plan was 8 races and 6 classes   While all the races will be available, only three classes will be accessible with the launch of the Chronicles patch: Cleric, Warrior, and Mage (Ranger, Rogue, and Warlock will be released later).  Additionally the number of talents have been scaled back (as mentioned in the Cleric Preview) to only the first third, and the number of racial talents halved to three, with 2 Race-Class Combo Talents.  As evidenced by the PC Gamer Interview, the Warrior Talent tree has changed somewhat since August to balance for these latent changes.  While we don't have an exhaustive list, I'll make a post later this weekend detailing the ones that can be confirmed from the PC Gamer Interview.

The Mage Class was previewed with the Human Race, so as a follow up to the previous article I'm going to go over the Class Talents.  Once again I'll refrain from discussing the Racial abilities of the Human and Race-Combo abilities, since many people who choose Mage won't necessarily have access to those.  Based on the Spell-like nature of the Combos we've seen for Mages so far, they will likely have a large impact on the sorts of decks supported by that race.  I'll also be comparing the function of these abilities to the Cleric abilities, so if you haven't read the Cleric Preview, I would suggest skimming it (even if you have your heart set on playing a Mage) just to see where the two differ, as it will inform the analysis.

Mage Starting Stats are 14 Health and 7 Card Starting Hand Size, which is significantly less health than the Cleric or the Warrior.  While there is one Talents available to mitigate the low health, it could be extremely difficult to play as a Control Mage at early levels with such low starting health, since those deck generally sacrifice early game tempo and 14 life isn't a large cushion.

The spells are labeled below based on where they appear in the picture above, from left to right.  Telekenesis is slot (1) in the upper-left hand corner, Self Knowledge slot (7) in the upper-right, and Affinity Mages slot (14) in the bottom-right.

Spell Power

Spell Power (SP) is the core mechanic of Mages, which is a separate resource from resources, threshold, and charges. Spell power is spent specifically on Spells.  Spells are learned from Talents.  As of now there is only one that you can unlock (Telekinesis), one that you all Mages start with (Soothsaying) and based on the two races we've seen one spell which is available from your Race-Class combo as well (Human Mages get Polymorph: Beast and Vennen Mages get Weaken).  Spells use a specific amount of Spell Power, and the base cost of those Spells increases by 1 each time it is used.  The starting spell Soothsaying, for example, requires 4SP the first time it is used, then 5SP the second time, and so on.  The scaling cost creates an incentive for using a diversity of spells.

Replenish Spell Power (11)
[BASIC] [3], Gain 3 to 5 SP at random.

Replenish is the Mage Charge Power and is the main way to gain Spell Power throughout the game.  It also serves as a good baseline to gauge just how valuable and scarce SP is throughout the game when determining how powerful the spells are.  While there is inherent randomness in how much Spell Power you gain from this ability, it is notably more reliable than the Cleric ability, which requires you to actually draw the Blessings you create.  While the Cleric tends to favor longer games, the Mage can use the Spell Power right away, making Aggro decks more viable in tandem with how the class functions.  Prolonged Games would of course allow for more Spell Power over the course of the game, but as the ability cost grows over time from continuous activation, their impact and cost-efficiency will also wane.

Learn Spell: Soothsaying (10)
[4SP]: Draw a card, then choose and discard a card.

Soothsaying is a Talent that grants a Spell all Mages, regardless of Race, will begin with in addition to their Passive.  It's essentially a free Tireless Researcher activation starting at 4SP.  While this doesn't net you card advantage, it does net you card quality since you can pitch unwanted additional resources or cards that are too expensive early game.  You can also use this pitch ability to create a reanimator combo, which requires discarding an expensive troop only to bring it back with effects like Rise Again at a cheaper cost.  The limited card pool in Hex has hindered this sort of deck in competitive PvP.  Mages get both Replenish and Soothsaying to start, making such combos a little more viable since the engine to get those troops in your crypt exists on your character without any additional deck support.

The difficulty comes with the possibility that Replenish might not grant you enough Spell power by itself to let you play Soothsaying if you're unlucky.  This can be mitigated with other Talents, but the combo is also contingent upon actually drawing the troop.  This isn't too great a barrier since Mages lean towards Action-heavy decks anyways, which are good at drawing cards with small cantrips like Arcane Focus or Crackling Wit.  Outside of combo decks, Soothsaying is a fine ability for Aggro or Control decks as well, allowing greater quality in cards.  While you might not use it more than once a game, it's definitely a nice perk and a solid starting spell.

Learn Spell: Telekinesis (1)
1 Point, No Prerequisites (PR)
[6SP]: Return target card to its controller's hand.

I'm going to hop to the only other Spell available for Mages from the Talent tree, Telekinesis.  This one costs a steep 6SP and gives you a free Throwback without the ATK debuff.  If you can generate a lot of Spell Power, this can be a nice way to keep the Mage alive early game if you are running a control deck.  It's also nice as a follow up in Tempo decks, and is really solid in aggro decks, particularly if a single blocker is standing between you and a full swing.  The steep cost limits repeated activations of this ability, preventing locks.  At their best bounce spells can set your opponent back a turn or ruin an attack phase, however there will likely be some dungeon bosses where this isn't particularly good.  At this point third or fourth activations of Soothsaying aren't a bad option, which is one of the benefits of having a diverse Spell Pool.  Since this can play vital roles both Defensive and Offensively, and requires no prerequisites, it's definitely one worth looking into.

Affinities

Affinity: Elementals (8)
1 Point, No PR
Elementals in your deck get "While this is in your hand (0): Transform this into a random action of the same shards."

This is a pretty fun ability, and while it doesn't seem very strong it could actually have some practical uses, particularly early on.  The PC Gamer Interview showed that players will be hampered in the rarity of cards available for their decks at early levels.  As such players could be forced to run less powerful commons and uncommons where they would prefer rares.  Being able to turn a Boulder Brute or Sandstone Rumbler into something else might make these lackluster cards more palatable placeholders.  This is also a good option for budget players (or Free-to-Play players) to get to experience different cards they might not otherwise get to play, a feature I really appreciate about Hex with their inclusion of these random creation cards.  Giant elementals like Storm Colossus and Wrathwood Colossus now carry less of a drawback to running a full playset.  Storm Colossus even has the Sword of Sapphire Weapon (an inexpensive drop from the Frost Ring Arena) which can replace it with a Sapphire shard if you start the game with it in your hand, giving them even more versatility in Sapphire control decks.

Affinity: Mages (14)
1 Point, No PR
Mages in your deck get "When this enters play, gain 1SP."

Unlike Cleric buffs, Mages don't actually get any additional Combat stats.  Instead, having an army or arcane scholars only seeks to serve your own Spell-slinging needs.  There are plenty of good mages out there where the Spell Power is just icing on the cake.  Aggressive decks can use cheap, efficient mages like Ruby Pyromancer to ramp quickly into a Telekinesis activation to bounce blockers and finish the game quickly.  Control Mage decks might be able to abuse Mages that can enter play multiple times like Cerulean High Counselor to gain a constant flow of SP.

Unlocks

Unlock: Spell Sprites (9)
1 Point, No PR
Unlock 2 Spell Sprites, or 4 for 100+ cards in your deck.
{1 cost Shardless Troop, Flight, When this troop enters play, draw a card and gain 2 SP.; 1ATK/1DEF}

Much like with the Cleric Tree, the 100 card theme carries over to the unlockable cards for Mages as well.  Spell Sprites are nice little cantrip troops similar to Ancestral Spirit, though less sturdy.  They have the added bonus of fueling your Spell Power.  This can be particularly nice in Control decks since they are very cheap chump blockers that replace themselves and get you closer to an activation of your Spells.  Though you likely won't build around them as you only get four at the most, an Air Superiority deck would definitely make them more threatening, and aggro decks would appreciate pressure in the air.  The only real criticism, as with all unlocks, is that it relies on your drawing them.  While this is definitely powerful for its efficiency, it's not prone to abuse the same way Blessing of the Ancients is.  The Sprites aren't cards you search for, but you're generally always happy when you draw them.

Unlock: Knowledge is Power (4)
2 Points [Min 4] (PR: Open Mind OR Worldly Knowledge)
Unlock 1 Knowledge is Power, or 2 for 100+ cards in your deck.
{1 cost Shardless Quick Action, Target Action in your hand gets "When you play this, copy it."}

Assuming the talent trees work like I think they do, you need a minimum of 4 points spent to unlock this, going through either Open Mind or Worldly Knowledge (see below).  Knowledge is Power is a free Chimes of the Zodiac copy effect on an action, which can be game ending on a giant Life Siphon.  One of the interesting things is that this seems to permanently alter the Action, so if you have a way to get the action back into your hand (like Cyclone Shaman) and play it, it would copy again.  Some cards like Mastery of Time void themselves to prevent these sorts of shenanigans or infinite loops, but some cards are extremely powerful just on their own.  Copying Escalation cards like Crash of Beasts will put the additional copy into your deck as well.  Decks that rely on these and other powerful Actions would make the best use of Knowledge is Power.

Others

Mental Superiority (12)
1 Point (No PR)
Increase the minimum SP granted by Replenish Spell Power by 1.

This essentially changes the ability to grant 4 or 5 SP.  This is a good Talent to guarantee Soothsaying when you first hit 3 charges, or any Race-Class Combo Spells that also cost 4SP.  It's also good in Control Decks that plan on using their Charge Power frequently throughout the game, since the average output goes from 4SP to 4.5SP per activation.  It's also valuable as the fastest way to unlock Worldly Knowledge in early leveling.

Spry (13)
1 Point (No PR)
+2 Health, +1 SP

Much like Mental Superiority, Spry allows you a Guaranteed Soothsaying when you hit 3 charges, since you start with 1SP.  However it also won't net you any additional SP throughout the game.  The additional 2 health is a nice buffer, through 16 is still pretty low.  However it's the only straight-up Health Buff in the Talent Tree.  That combined with the guaranteed Soothsaying makes it very valuable.  It's also the fastest way to get to the Secret Knowledge Talent.

Learning (2)
1 Point [Min 2] (PR Unlock: Spell Sprites OR Open Mind)
You begin the game with 0 to X SP at random, where X is the total number of spells you've learned.

This is a really dicey talent, since it could literally get you nothing.  Most Mages taking this will probably want Telekinesis, which combined with the Race-Combo Spell could let them start with +3SP.  Combined with Spry this means you could get a Soothsaying on turn 1.  It depends on how much you want to gamble.  In fairness to Learning, the Unlocks (and some other Talents) could also have no direct effect on any individual game if you never draw those cards.  The difference here is that you actually feel it since you know what the Talent did from the moment the game starts.  Spell Sprites and Knowledge is Power you get scaling odds of drawing a copy throughout the game.  Getting 0SP from Learning at the start of a really key boss fight can take the wind out of your sails quickly (like getting the Cerebral Fulmination Challenge on Xarlox in the Frost Ring Arena).  It also doesn't unlock any other Talents.  Nonetheless, this Talent is capable of netting you more starting SP than any other Talent, and is only a 1 Point investment.

Open Mind (3)
2 Points (No PR)
Passive: The first time you cast each spell each game, gain 2 SP.

This is a super nice ability.  Assuming you will only ever have a max of 3 different spells between Race-Class Combo, Soothsaying, and Telekinesis, it's capped at getting you 6SP throughout the course of the game.  That's still quite valuable, particularly with cheap Race-Combos like the Vennan Mage's Weaken, which is essentially free on the first activation since it only costs 2SP.  While ideally you would want to use all of your Spells once during the game to get the most benefit, sometimes you'll just want to use the 2 SP to help mitigate the second activation of the Spell.  This does't make it particularly more valuable than some of the other Talents, but the flexibility you get with the Talent is where it really shines.

Worldly Knowledge (5)
1 Point [Min 2] (PR Mental Superiority OR Knowledge is Power OR Secret Knowledge)
Passive: At the start of your turn, if you have four or more actions in your crypt, void all actions in your crypt and gain 2 SP.

While this talent actually hurts Cyclone Shaman-Knowledge is Power combo, it's very potent in Action-heavy decks.  Activating it twice in one game will net you 4SP for 1 Talent Point with no hard cap, compared to Open Mind's 6SP for 2 Talent Points.  Soothsaying can also be used strategically to funnel actions into your crypt and triggering it.  This will never net you any SP since Soothsaying always costs something to activate, but considering how frequently Sapphire Control decks use cantrips like Arcane Focus you likely plan on triggering this pretty frequently.  Aggro decks likely wouldn't get as much play from this since they tend to rely on a good chunk of early troops.  A mono ruby deck focused on direct damage actions like Crackling Bolt wouldn't be a bad thought, but you would generally want your opponent dead before you can activate this more than once.  Burn decks also frequently include Ragefire, which has poor synergy with Worldly Knowledge since it doesn't go to the crypt upon resolution.

Secret Knowledge (6)
2 Points [Min 3] (PR Spry OR Worldly Knowledge
At the start of the game, a random card in the top five cards of your deck gets -2.

Depending on the layout of your deck, this can be very good or very underwhelming.  A midrange or control deck that gets to slam a 4-drop like Vampire King on turn 2 is at a huge advantage in most matchups.  On the other hand your Arcane Focus could be free, which is nice but far from game-breaking.  The effective wording of this would likely only effect cards whose cost could be reduced, meaning it wouldn't pick out shards among the top 5 and try to reduce them.  Along with Midrange and Control decks that manage to hit their big troops, Kindling Skarn decks might also like this since it allows for more chances to create free actions to evolve him.  It's also effective on Inspire Troops like Jags the Blademaster, since it lowers their overall cost, allowing them to Inspire more troops.  Secret Knowledge can be really good or really underwhelming, but most people will pick it up because of what it unlocks.

Self Knowledge (7)
2 Points [Min 5] (PR Secret Knowledge)
+1 Starting and Maximum Hand Size.

This is a straight up buff to max and starting hand size, and it's the talent that requires the most investment to reach.  There's no real combos here other than just how good the extra card is, particularly if you are trying to pull off a 100 card deck with Unlocks.  The reliability of not getting Shard screwed is so paramount in games where resources are included in the deck, that the importance of an extra card cannot be understated.  While it certainly isn't the flashiest of Talents, tucked away in a corner and hard to reach, it's one you will want to seriously consider.

Final Thoughts

Early leveling with Mages will be much more difficult than other classes due to their low starting health, and may have to rely on aggressive strategies to subdue their opponents quickly until they gain some levels.  As they invest in talents, the play-style will gradually shift to support more combo and control oriented decks that will utilize Spells and manipulation of Spell Power to gain advantages against opponents.  Soothsaying and Telekinesis are important Spells in any style of deck, though the Race-Class Combo Spell available to the various mages can impact what types of decks (Control, Combo, Aggro) are best supported, as many of the Mage abilities are designed to support your Spells.  Additionally, Affinity Elementals is a fun option for budget players to try out powerful actions they otherwise wouldn't have had access to due to their rarity. 

Card Images from Hex TCG Browser & Deckbuilder

Cleric Preview: Count Your Blessings

Hey everyone.  After a five month hiatus of moving to Minnesota and getting through my first semester of law school, I think I'm ready to start blogging again.  I'm hoping to make an article at least once a week, though as the semester progresses they likely won't be nearly as long as they usually are (especially this one, which is pretty lengthy).  I've spent a good portion of my break doing flashback drafts and Armies of Myth gauntlets, so the cards are fresh in my mind for me to write about some of the things that have worked for me and some that haven't.  

I want to start with the Cleric Powers previewed in this week's update though, since with PvE hopefully nearing completion, we'll likely have information trickling out over the next couple months regarding class and race abilities as they are finalized.   While I know some people in the community are worried that the talent tree has been neutered from the Warrior preview (only the first third is available, and racial traits look to be permanently reduced), there is honestly still a lot to unpack with the amount of info given, and it's gotten my deck building wheels grinding.

Cleric Starting Stats are 22 Health and 7 Card Starting Hand Size, which is about on par with most PvP champions now.  Without the other classes, there's not much to compare this too (Warrior starting stats was 25 Health and 6 Cards).

Pray

Pray is the Cleric Charge Power, and one that prospective Clerics should be familiar with since it's all you will have at level 1.  For two charges it creates two Blessings and puts them into your deck.  If you started with 100+ cards in your deck it makes four instead.  Blessings are free cantrips that gain you two life when they are played, essentially giving you a free health boost whenever you draw one.  Starting with a 60 card deck means you will likely be shuffling two into a ~50 card deck, whereas starting with 100 means shuffling four into a ~90 card deck.  The latter gives you a slightly increased chance of drawing them, which offers an incentive to eschew a more streamlined deck size.  At early levels it's probably still more beneficial to trim your deck as low as possible so it's consistent, and that you are drawing the cards that combo well with Blessing.

Some of these cards that combo well with Blessing have abilities that trigger whenever you gain health, no matter how small.  Righteous Paladin gets +1/+1 every time you play a Blessing.  Paladin of the Necropolis will force your opponents to lose one health each time one is played.  Incantation of Righteousness has good synergy with Blessing since it on a five-instance timer before they all transform, with each Blessing played getting you 20% of the way there.  Further, because the Cleric has a naturally bulky starting life total, the Sentinel of Light ability will likely be active at the time it first evolves. 

That's only one side of the coin though.  Blessing is a free action, which means it combos with all the cards that trigger when you play an action.  If you're an Orc Cleric, or any other Ruby blooded Healer, it is much easier to get a Kindling Skarn online with a free action to play.  Along the same line, Sunsoul Phoenix can come out of your hand (and your crypt) much easier if you prove pious enough.  If you're a Sapphire shepherd you can save your Blessings for Archmage Wrenlocke, who will draw you and extra card off every Blessing, allowing you to chain them together for some serious card advantage.  And whatever shard you are inclined to run, Chimes of the Zodiac can copy both the health gain and the card draw.

Blessing Enhancements

There are three talents that solely deal with buffing your Blessings.  The first is Life Essence, which costs one point and improves the health gain of your Blessings by 2.  What's noticeably odd is that it says in parenthesis This includes blessings that don't normally gain health.  This likely means it is referring to the subtype "Blessing" (which you can see on the card line after "Basic Action") rather than the card name.  This hints that there are different kinds of Blessings beyond what we've been spoiled, possibly from Race combos or other cards that can generate different them, and that not all of them will gain health.  If there is a "Blessing Deck" possible for Clerics, this talent and the others in this section will probably be pretty important.  As far as the actual health gain buff, it's nice for more control decks keeping you out of range from annoying burn spells that could threaten a low life total, though this will likely depend on the dungeon encounters.

The second is Empowerment, which appears to require Life Essence as a prerequisite and costs two points.  This improves Blessings by giving a random troop among those you control with the highest cost a permanent +1/+1 buff.  This seems like it would be best for midrange decks buffing cost-efficient troops like Vampire Princess or Eldritch Dreamer.  Since your Blessings will be gaining you four life that's likely enough to negate the damage from one or two opposing troops while upping the clock on your opponent.  Control decks probably won't get as much mileage out of a buff and would rather put their talent points in more durability.

The last and most unique one of the bunch is Blessing of the Immortals.  This is the only talent that is completely by itself, having no prerequisites and not being a prerequisite for anything else.  It requires two talent points and buffs your charge power with a 10% chance to transform a Blessing into a Blessing of the Immortals (BotI) when it is created.  In addition to regular Blessing effects, BotI allows you to play a card in your crypt for free.  It then voids itself so you don't create an infinite loop with two to draw your entire deck.

This is one talent in which having a 100 card deck is actually beneficial, since you double your chances of creating a BotI each time you use the charge power.  The trouble then becomes having to wade through a much larger deck to find it.  You also want to have something worth playing from your crypt for free, so this talent is again more suited for a control deck.  One pretty devious option I want to toy with is using my charge power a couple of times and then playing Scheme.  If you did create a BotI, you can then up the number of copies of in your deck to at least 5, and if you draw one you have the option of playing Scheme from your crypt for free to create four more.  Enough iterations of this with the Life Essence Talent and you could easily be gaining twenty-some life a turn and bringing back all of your quality troops.

Healing Aura

The next section of the Talent Tree deals with Healing Aura.  The first point allocation in this path is Hale, which gives a straightforward +3 Starting Health.  Combined with similar talents in the final tree, Hearty and Fortitude, and you could start the game with 30 Health, which is a pretty nice buffer for control decks, especially against aggressive opponents.

The Healing Aura Talent comes next, and requires two points, allowing you to begin the game with a Healing Aura in play.  Healing Aura gains you one health whenever you play a resource.  This is solid in any control deck, since it will likely net you around eight or nine health over the course of a game (unless you get shard screwed).  It's also important since each instance of health gain will trigger effects on Incantation of Righteousness, Paladin of Necropolis, and Righteous Paladin.

There are two branches beyond this that buff your Healing Auras.  The first is Good Karma, which moves each Blessing in your deck one card closer to the top at the beginning of each of your turns.  The benefit seems pretty negligible for a Talent Point, but the more you buff the blessings the more appealing this gets, and even more so if you have the Blessing of the Immortals.

The second is Animation, which for two points gives your Healing Aura a one-shot ability to create a Soul Vessel for three resources and put it into play.  This can be a unique Talent to build around, since the Soul Vessel is stronger if you have a deck that relies on Constants and Artifacts.  Healing Aura itself is a Constant, which means the Vessel (assuming it counts itself) will be at least a 2/2 for 3.  This minimum becomes 3/3 if you start with Monument of Faith, and 4/4 if you are a Dwarf and have the Blessing Rod.  Alternately you can focus on constants like Solitary Exile, Pact of Life, or Holy Ascension, which could be the makings of a nice control deck, turning your Soul Vessels into a cheap and powerful troop to clog the ground while you gain health.  You can also use cards like Spirit Hound or Reversion to revert your Healing Aura. allowing you to create another Soul Vessel.  Unfortunately, most reusable reversion effects like Filk Ape only effect troops, so tooling the deck to continuously churn out Soul Vessels could be tricky.  

Defensive Talents

The rightmost tree includes many defensive talents designed to keep both you and your troops alive in dungeon encounters.  Hearty is exactly like Hale, giving you a quick +3 starting health for a single talent point.  This talent is also the quickest path to Fortitude, which for another talent point grants +2 starting health and an additional dungeon life.  Bonus Health in general is good for control decks, and the extra dungeon life will help mitigate instances of bad luck in your draws.  If you don't have a deck themed specifically for your Cleric, or if the Talent reset costs are low enough, bee-lining to Fortitude is a defensible way to spend your first two talent points. 

Next come the troop buff Talents.  Affinity: Cleric gives all Clerics that start the game in your deck (as opposed to ones generated by other cards) Lifedrain for one talent point.  Lifedrain is an excellent ability to tack onto troops, particularly for aggressive and midrange decks looking to race.  This ability isn't super valuable on all Clerics though.  Construct Foreman, Scrap Rummager, and Phenteo the Brood Priest and all solid Clerics, but their low attack stats don't really benefit from Lifedrain.  This talent wants Clerics that can get big, and plan on attacking consistently.  Righteous Paladin is a pretty obvious candidate, but troops with rage like Quash Ridge Tusker and Gortezuma can really help swing the life totals in your favor as the game progresses.  Wild Root Dancer can help pump your other Clerics in addition to being one himself.  Legionnaire of Adamanth can get pretty big when paired with Inspire troops, and the Helm of Revelation equipment has excellent synergy with a deck full of Clerics.

The Righteous Path costs two points and gives you a Monument of Faith at the start of the game which gives troops you control Steadfast.  Steadfast is a nice ability, particularly when paired with swiftstrike, since it allows you to maintain control of the field during both your attack and defense.  Troops like Deathless Guardian or Golden Avenger would benefit well from Steadfast as the field develops.  The Monument itself also combos nicely with Soul Vessel, granting it an additional +1/+1 by being an artifact, in addition to Steadfast.

Faith in Our Leader costs 2 talent points and buffs your Monument of Faith to grant troops your draw +1 defense while you have 25 health of more.  Assuming you have taken Hale or Hearty, this might apply to the troops in your opening hand, since your starting health would be 25 and the Monument would already be in play for your initial draw.  The bonus defense is actually pretty meager, but in aggressive decks it can be really key, particularly for saving a troop from annoying removal spells like Burn or Crackling Bolt.  While each individual talent may not be super impressive on its own, a Cleric-centric deck with the troop buff talents could give them all Lifedrain, Steadfast, and +0/+1, making them a ruby mage's worst nightmare.  Early leveling with such a deck might not be as viable since you won't have the talent points to spend right away, but if you focus your talents mostly on the right side, higher level Clerics will create very durable troops.

Divine Altar

Divine Altar is my favorite talent in the tree, and another excellent boon to Cleric decks.  It requires one Talent Point and either Fortitude, Affinity: Cleric, or Faith in Our Leader as a prerequisite.  It also appears as if you can also use it as a prerequisite for Fortitude if you want to skip Hearty.  The same could be said of Faith in Our Leader, but that Talent is pretty useless if you don't have Monument of Faith to begin with.  Divine Altar starts the game in your deck (you get 2 if you have 100+ cards).  It's a two-cost artifact that rises one spot closer to the top of your deck at the start of each turn.  While in play, it creates a copy of each Blessing and Cleric you play.  I'm not sure if the Clerics copied by the Altar will get the Lifedrain from Affinity (if the copy retains keywords then they will), but the Blessings will likely get the buffs from Life Essence and Empowerment.  The interaction with BotI is a bit more ambiguous.  It's unlikely that copying a regular Blessing is the same as "creating" a Blessing to trigger the 10% chance of transformation from the talent.  However it is likely that playing a BotI (already transformed) will trigger the copy ability, granting you two free plays from your crypt (which could end up being four Clerics).  In the end this means that Divine Altar benefits more from the Blessing Enhancement talents than from a fully fleshed out troop buff ones.

While you only get a finite amount of Altars, they're a little easier to hunt down than Blessings.  In addition to naturally rising to the top of the deck, cards like Gearsmith and Careful Rummaging can look through the top of your deck to find them quickly.  If you want a work around to the 1-2 copy restriction from the talent, Dopplegadget can also copy the Altar when it arrives on the field.  It can mimic a Soul Vessel or Blessing Rod (for Dwarf Clerics) in the interim, so even if you don't have a dedicated Artifact deck it isn't a dead card.

Final Thoughts

I'm actually a lot more excited about the Cleric class than I thought I would be.  Even with only a baker's dozen of Talents to play with there is still a ton of versatility.  While the effectiveness of the various builds will likely depend on the structure of the dungeons, there's still a load of archetypes to toy around with.  Control decks will get a good health buffer and some free cantrips.  A mid-range Cleric deck can create incredibly hardy and cost-efficient army of lifedrain troops.  Archmage Wrenlock and Righteous Paladin can abuse both sides of the Blessings created by the passive, and there could be a unique "Scheme of the Immortals" combo deck that allows Clerics to cycle through their deck and gain an absurd amount of Health each turn.

Card Images from Hex TCG Database and HexTCG
This article was edited for grammar and rules clarification regarding Cleric copies.

Tempest Hype

Lots of hype this week, not the least of which involves the fact that GenCon is only a week away.  I'm hoping to grab the Five Tribes expansion, and spend hours in the Paizo room and at the Hex Booth.  Speaking of Hex, Armies of Myth Officially Launches today (barring any last minute bugs).  All the information on this patch, which includes extended art and chest opening, is on the link above.  With the chests, we're going to get a new surge of equipment to try out in the Arena, so between the new set and equipment combos I'll have some more frequent articles coming up with my thoughts on that.  Prophecy and Shift look very fun, and getting a new array of champions is also exciting.  

The other big news was Guild Wars 2 finally started up their Elite Specialization teasers this week again with what looks like the Tempest... and oh does it look awesome.  

It looks from the picture like they'll be getting a Warhorn, which I'm perfectly fine with thematically.  Main hand swords would be awesome for people with the time to craft Bolt, but since I'm not one of those people, I'll just try to save up for the Tempest Warhorn skin instead.  Full information on this specialization, including skills and play-style, should be coming out later this week.

The last of the Big 3 games that I play, League of Legends, is also not-so-gently nudging me with the Gangplank rework, pirate skins, and the Burning Tides event, which will feature the Bilgewater Map reskin of the Howling Abyss.  ARAM is basically all I play anymore (I haven't even done my ranked matches yet this season), so any excuse to break out a specific champion makes me happy.  CLG is also doing well in the last half of the split, winning an incredibly close game against Cloud 9, while TSM seems to have inherited their second-half slump.  The last week before playoffs is this weekend, and I plan on celebrating the end of my night audit job watching CLG dismantle Dignitas and Team 8.  Don't let me down (they'll let me down).

Last little plug for an indie game I picked up last week: Guild of Dungeoneering on Steam.  It's a dungeon-explorer RPG with a card-based battle system and neat little stick-figure aesthetic.  I'm about two-thirds of the way through, having just unlocked the last tier of champions.  I rushed to the Troubador, which is really fun to play.  My personal problem with roguelikes and games with perma-death is I always grow a bit too attached to the characters, so now I'm stuck with either using my Troubador and risking him dying or sending my mid-level guys instead, which probably can't handle these stupid dwarves.

I'll have a full wrap-up of the Armies of Myth patch for Hex later in the week, along with some screens of all the awesomeness I find in my chests.  Hopefully they'll have some people data-mining the chest data for equipment and alternate art cards.  

Heart of the Wrathwood

I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of cards I will always love in Hex.  The first is cards that transform your cards into other random cards, and the second is cards that randomly create a specific type of card.  Reese was one of these cards for me, and I'm very happy I picked up my playset while they were around 400-500 platinum.  Strength aside, the reason I like these cards is that with every new set, the cards themselves actually change since there is a greater pool of cards for them to transform into or generate.  My Reese before Armies of Myth has a strong array of Robots to create, but after the set gets released I might get blessed with a Charge Colossus or Mechanized Demoloisher during my end step.  Either way, the odds of it being a 0/0 Tower Hulk are that much lower.

Maybe you're not big on the robotic side of life though.  Perhaps you view this legion of mechanical monstrosities as an affront to nature, and to correct this imbalance you want to spread the glory of the natural world as far as it will spread.  Those arrogant dwarves and their misplaced hubris!  They are treading where they ought not, and will soon feel the inexorable might of the WRATHWOOD!!!!!

Heart of the Wrathwood is a bit more expensive than Reese, and requires you to really commit to Wild Shards before you can play it.  But when you do you'll have a very formidable finisher.  Heart of the Wrathwood has Attack and Defense values equal to your permanent resources.  That means every shard you play will only cause it to grow more magnificent.  Fist of Brigadoon may be Invincible, for for the same cost you can grow your own bigger troop.

"That's all well and good," you may be thinking.  "But a simple Murder will cut the Heart at the stump, sending it to the graveyard."  This is true, but as your Heart dies, his presence lingers on the field in the Seed Pods he disperses.  Now these troops are the weakest of weak, comparable to that of an untrained Battle Hopper.  But the Seed Pods are a bit different, each one acting like a mini Plant Garden.  Over time these Seed pods will accumulate seed counters.  Once they have three, they transform into another random Plant.

This means that to get your random Plant engine online, you'll need a little patience.  Just as Reese needs to tunnel for a few turns to get the random-robot generation online, the Seed Pods need a few turns on the field to charge up before they achieve their ultimate destiny.  Unlike Reese who is safe underground, the Seed Pods are extremely vulnerable on your field.  Heat Wave or Extinction will clear them all from the field.  Though this will still be card advantage for you since they will have spent two cards on your one Heart, it's still super-frustrating.  Cards like Oath of Valor or Monsuun might offer your some counterplay to these effects, but since your Hearts won't show until mid-to-late game anyways, the Seed Pods should act more as a ticking time bomb that your opponent has to deal with before they evolve into more dangerous flora.

So what sort of plants are there that you can get?  Well the dream scenario is having one of them transform into another Heart of the Wrathwood, capable of dropping even more Seed Pods should it meet the same timely fate as the first.  Any of the Plant Garden Trio are up for grabs, like the 9/9 Vine Goliath, which can lock down opposing troops as you swing in.  Wrathwood Master Moss is a solid result as well, itself needing to effectively die twice before it is fully off the field.  Briar Legion isn't bad if you can get multiple copies (assuming transforming counts as it entering play for the +2/+2 to proc; otherwise it could die instantly if you haven't played another during the game).  There are even some off-shard plants like Dementia Daisies and Rose Lion.  

As of right now, there are only 15 distinct Plant troops, and Seed Pod can't turn into itself which leaves you with just over a dozen options.  But one of the great things about this card and cards like it is that as more Plants are introduced into the game, the number of different troops you could get from your Seed Pods increases, giving you quite a bit of mileage out of it.  

Armies of Myth was scheduled to release today (Tuesday, July 14) but was delayed due to a bug.  Hopefully it releases this week so I can do some drafts over the weekend.  Otherwise I'll have to squeeze them in while packing for GenCon.  

Gauntlet Throwdown & Limited First Impressions

A metric ton of information got dumped on us recently for the new Hex set.  Not only will the Armies of Myth patch feature Chest Opening and Extended Art, but we'll also be getting Gauntlet Tournaments, which are similar to Asynchronous Tournaments from Hearthstone.  The downside is that for Sealed Players you can't actually net any packs by going undefeated.  You play until you hit 5 wins or 3 losses, then collect prizes based on your wins.  Five victories earns you six boosters, while any other scenario nets you boosters equal to the number of wins you earned.  This means that unless you sell your packs (or the contents of the chests from those packs), you won't be able to "go infinite."  That's a small quibble compared to this patch basically giving me everything my little heart desires though.

The full card spoiler is out as well, with about 250 new cards to use and abuse.  I'd eventually like to do a full set review (obligatory eye roll), but for now I'll give my initial impressions on limited for this format, which from my understanding will be entirely done with Armies of Myth packs.  Now one larger point I think I should make is on reserves cards with the new Gauntlet Sealed, which uses one-game matches.  This means you don't get to bring your Vandalize in game 2 against your opponent's Syyn, which is a shame since there's a lot of nice situational cards that might not merit a spot on your opening forty but can be absolute blowouts against the right deck.

Quick Troops can gain prophecy buffs
while in your deck, making their surprise
appearance even more deadly.

One of the things I think will be overlooked is the number of Quick Troops in this draft format.  Quick troops can be particularly nasty since you reveal next to no information during the turn you plan to play them.  Having any resources up could make your opponent think twice about attacking with important troops they want to keep alive.  Many of the Quick Troops aren't exactly the hardiest, Snarling Ambusher being a fine example at a 3/2 for 3 resources.  But that three attack points will allow it to trade with many things early on.  And if you're fortunate enough to give a Quick Troop a Prophecy buff from a card like Nightsky Stargazer, a surprise speed bump can become a game changer.  

One of the things people are particularly worried about are the Spiderlings, due in large part to the frustrations with Xarlox int he Frost Ring Arena.  Now 1/1 troops with unblockable are undoubtedly annoying, particularly when your opponent gets them for free.  However, having played more than a few games with Booby Traps, I know how dicey relying on your opponent to draw them can be.  Sometimes your opponent will have a dozen in their deck and not draw a single one while your life is slowly chipped away by a Phoenix Guard Messenger.  Other times your opponent will draw them the instant they get put in (and if you're like me you instantly feel guilty for your fortune).  The upside to the infested player is that they won't lose their entire draw with Spiderling Eggs like they would with Booby Traps.  The bad news is that this means several eggs could trigger in a chain reaction of skittering menaces.  Now this isn't the end of the world, since a few cards can deal with these spidery threats pretty handily.  Though these cards might be too narrow to merit main deck status.

There's also a question of how deep in the infestation strategy to you go?  While a dedicated Spiderling Deck with Painbringer and Brood Baron would be interesting, it's a strategy that seems more likely to be abused in Draft than Sealed.  Many of the effects that produce Spiderling Eggs are tacked onto cards people will play based on the strength of the card outside of the Eggs they provide.  Parriphagy is expensive, but effective removal that could net you a few spiders if the game goes long.  Nazhk Webguard has decent defensive stats for a 2-drop, and becomes more valuable at messing up combat the more eggs you get into your opponent's deck.  Hatchery Priest on the otherhand has very poor stats to justify including it into the deck unless you are dedicated to the archetype, and Incubate does nothing to the board at all when it is played.

Finally we have removal, which is one of the first things I think people should look at when analyzing a new limited format.  For Blood, the most straightforward removal is the aforementioned Parriphagy, though at five resources the cost can be very prohibitive if the format is fast.  Rot Cast is solid 2-cost removal action for early drops, and doesn't discriminate Artifact Troops the way Murder did.  Taint on the other hand is all of the narrowness of Atrophy with none of the sweet, sweet card advantage.  I wouldn't be against using it if the situation called for it, but when the best case scenario is a 1-for-1, I won't feel good about it.  I suppose Merciless Culler is removal as well, though the Battle Hopper generation of past sets isn't present in Armies.  Sacrificing a Spiderling might make this guy not awful, but at the end of the day you still just have a 3/2.  Shadowblade Assassin has a lethal shift that should not be overlooked either.  This ability can be important for Necrotic decks, which will likely gravitate towards Blood-Diamond, and also provide a good chunk of Swiftstrike options to pair with.

Speaking of Diamond, they probably have the most interesting removal of any of the shards.  Pride's Fall is good (and cheap) for taking down the biggest and baddest of your opponent's troops, but will do little against a tempo rush.  Etherealize transforms a troop or constant into a 1/1 Phantom.  Unfortunately it's basic speed, so instead of being a combat trick, the best you can hope for is nullifying your opponent's strongest dude if you have aerial presence.  In dire straits it could give you a finisher if the ground is clogged, or a chump blocker for a turn if things are particularly grim.  Inflict Doubt is a dicey uncommon that acts as a cheaper Inner Conflict if you have more guys than they do.  If you have troop generation this isn't too bad, and it seems that Ruby-Diamond could be a decent shard combination to do this if you get some combination of First Blood or Veteran Raider.  Martyr (a rare) transforms a troop into a Monument of the Martyr, which will either allow you to swing through for the win or sacrifice one of your troops to have an on-board pump (I see this seeing some play in Constructed).  And finally Stinging Ambush is a decent reserves card against opposing Phantoms and Spiderlings, but not terribly effective against beefier fare.

I fully expect a Shakespearean Play
dungeon stage now.

For Ruby (and they have buffet of removal), Bombwright and Boomsmith are both four cost dwarves that can oust low defense troops, Boomsmith once for 2 when he comes into play and Bombwright every turn for 1.  Bombwright will likely be good for chewing up Spiderlings and Phantoms though potentially underwhelming against other decks.  Fiery Indignation is quality removal (with excellent artwork) that can ping something for 2 early game or roast something for five later in the game, when you have a 5-drop on the field.  Lunge is a cheaper version of Adrenaline Rush that only gives +2 Attack for the turn instead of 3, though that will likely be enough to topple whatever you're trying to kill.  Scorch is in the same boat as Taint and doesn't even have the courtesy of being a Quick Action (I wouldn't mind trying it out in my Kindling Skarn deck though).  Skewer is much better: 3-for-3 at Quick Speed that can bolt your opponent if you manage to snipe a low-defense utility troop like Windspeaker.  Staggering Blast is a reserves option against Spiders and a potential finisher for a speedy deck.  Volley of Arrows is incredibly expensive and situational, but it can be a stalemate breaker in a clogged board.  Tribal Warfare is a windmill slam, capable of gunning down every one of your opponent's troops in a single turn.  Playing with Fire is a unique pick that could really pressure your opponent on a curve or not do a single thing.  You have to draft/build around it, and in Draft that is much easier to do, but if you have a good chunk of 5+ drops in your deck it's worth considering.

For Sapphire, you have a couple options for dealing with raw damage but little for dealing with utility.  Cripple isn't bad if you plan on flying over your opponent but it doesn't deal with any toughness attached to that troop.  Incubation Webs is a quality removal card, particularly for control decks since it will serve you better the longer the game goes, providing the chance for chump blockers/win conditions every turn thereafter (if the Spider Eggs get shuffled in every turn it's even better against Prophecy).  Windspeaker is a bit like Wind Whisperer from Shards of Fate, though requires Sapphire-Diamond to start shutting opposing troops down every turn.  Suffocate is expensive for a Countermagic, and the extra eggs probably don't justify the cost, but if you have enough Quick Troops to justify passing with four resources up it might be worth considering.

Wild has more tricks than removal, but there are a few cards of note.  Predatory Prey is expensive as hell, but can remove a big troop of your opponent and give you two extra power on your attack in.  Return to the Soil is very strong if you can find a target for it, which may be a little more difficult without Construction Plans and Pterobots making the rounds, but the raw card advantage should give you strong consideration for including it in your Sealed main.  Stinkhorn Soup is a very nasty combat trick that readies and makes Lethal one of your troops for the turn, though unless you have decent defense or swiftstrike it's pure card disadvantage.  Vine Lash is good against Flight decks from the reserves, but is likely too narrow for Gauntlet Sealed.  In the rares there are some dinosaurs, Carnasaurus and Crocosaur, that can fight when they enter play, but require a heavy Wild threshold investment if you want to play them on curve.  Scorn of Oberon (another rare) can be a blowout in the right situation.  Quick Speed reversion, artifact destruction, or constant destruction is probably enough to at least justify the cost, but the ability to do two or even all three for only three resources is very enticing.

Overall I think there are some very strong removal options for many of the shards, and it will be interesting to see how they fare with the new mechanics of the set.  I'll be back next week with some card reviews, and maybe an update on Guild Wars 2 or Offworld Trading Company (which I snagged during the Steam Sale this week).  Have a great weekend!