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!

Anana's Avenging Phantoms

There is one card from Armies of Myth that popped out at me the moment I saw it: Golden Avenger.  Now on the surface it's just a bulky mid-range flight troop, a hero of mysterious allegiance from another plane of existence.  But when he dies this noble hero leaves behind his Mask, which can be used to transform another troop you control into the Golden Avenger.  

Something about this card just seems right from a design standpoint.  First off, he doesn't seem ridiculously broken.  A 4/4 for 5 with solid stats isn't going to destroy the meta (at least I don't think so.... I haven't played PvP constructed much).  There's also plenty of counterplay for the Mask since it's a basic action: you can use discard effects to get rid of it from your opponent's hand, kill the troop in response to the Mask being put on it, or just straight up counter it.

And yet, there is an alluring quality about this card, that if abused properly could devastate the Vampire Kings and Angels of Dawn that your opponent relies on to carry the game.  It's clearly a limited powerhouse, and will definitely be fun in highlander/singleton/Elder-Zakiir-Highlander, or whatever version of the "fun" format Hex eventually gets.  But it's also the sort of card I'd love to take into the Proving Grounds to troll around with (if you got gold for losses....).  At the very least it's the sort of cards I'd like to play against my friends, so in the off-chance I snag four copies of it, I'd like to get a deck going.  

Now since the first half of this card is pretty straightforward, the only thing there is to "abuse" is the Mask.  To ensure your avenging days continue you need to have a troop on the field when the Avenger bites it.  Normally if you're just looking for troops to get churned out you want something along the lines of Worker Bots or Battle Hoppers.  Wretched Brood isn't bad for pumping out future Avengers, though Golden Avenger doesn't have Lifedrain, so you might risk killing yourself with Brood if you don't put in countermeasures to prevent that.  Bertram in a Sapphire-Diamond Worker Bot deck doesn't sound like too bad of an idea either.  Sapphire also has a good chunk of cagey utility troops like Phoenix Guard Messenger that don't penalize you if your opponent kills them before they can put on the mask.  Humans also have lots of Rangers that generate troops when they enter play, giving you many options for transformation.

But the deck I want to run is a bit more thematic, and uses a new champion from Armies of Myth: Madame Anana.  This Necrotic spiritualist requires Blood and Diamond threshold to work her dark magic, but for three charges she allows any troop under your control to leave behind a Phantom when it dies.  Now as of writing this Anana isn't available in the client, so I can't test her, but I assume since both effects trigger off of the Avenger dying that they will both happen when he is killed, giving you both the Mask and a 1/1 Phantom to conveniently place it onto.  You can also use Minion of Yazukan and Xentoth's Inquisitor, two difficult troops to fully eliminate from the board, and ones that can repeatedly die to Anana's ability once they are enchanted with her charge power.  Here's a sample list I'd like to tool around with:

Anana's Avenging Phantoms

Champion: Madame Anana

4 Golden Avenger

4 Minion of Yazukan

4 Xentoth's Inquisitor (Brutality)

3 Crackling Rot

4 Extinction

3 Inquisition

4 Repel

4 Solitary Exile

2 Oath of Valor

2 Zombie Plague

11 Blood Shard

11 Diamond Shard

4 Shard of Retribution

For reserves options I'd probably run a sacrifice engine to get around cards like Inner Conflict or other cards that hobble, but don't outright kill opposing cards.  Born to Die is thematic, but not particularly effective, though it could be a win condition if you get a rotation of Phantoms going strong with Minion deaths.  Hopefully in the upcoming weeks we'll get some news about an Armies of Myth release date.  In the mean time I'll be feverishly grinding Arena matches until I have one of every promo card (3 more to go).  

Card images from HexTCG Database

Skitter Along

While some of Hex's races have dedicated keywords like Inspire or Prophecy to capture their flavor, others have more loosely defined mechanics.  One of these mechanics for the Shin'hare and Dwarves was the ability to churn out Worker Bots and Battle Hoppers.  Despite their similarities, these glorified chump blockers were designed to be played in very different ways: the Dwarves used their defensive robots to construct even greater robots, while the Shin'hare was fine sacrificing their creations for the sake of power.  

Much like the Dwarves and Shin'hare, the Vennen have a particular fondness for breeding Spiderspawn.  Xartaxis, Biship of the Azure Fang was one of a handful of cards designed to abuse these web-slinging menaces.  He has a passive ability that is active when you have two Sapphire threshold, granting all of your spiders the ability to draw a card whenever they damage to an opponent.  This can be an incredibly potent ability in a control deck, to which Sapphire and Blood are a natural fit.  But until now your options for getting Spiders on the field were a bit limited.  Luckily, Armies of Myth are bringing Spiders back in a big way, and one that is sure to leave a lasting impression on your opponent.

The Vennan are cold and calculating, unlike their uncontrolled Orcish "relations."  Where the Orcs want to pound you into dust immediately, the Vennen are interested in the long game, and their way of troop reproduction is much more nefarious.  Several of the Vennen in AoM create Spider Eggs which get shuffled into their opponent's deck.  When the opponent draws one of these eggs or the egg is send to the graveyard directly from the deck, the eggs hatch, creating an unblockable Spiderling for the venerable Vennen player.  

Exarch of the Egg is one such card, shuffling two Spider Eggs into the opponent's deck whenever a Vennen comes into play (including itself).  It's also a 1/3 Lethal troop for only two, which are decent stats for the low price of two mana.  Playing multiples of the Exarch in succession sets you up for a Spider explosion in the late game.  Runeweb Infiltrator is another layer of eggs, creating two whenever it deals damage to an opponent, which shouldn't be too hard since it comes equipped with Flight as well.  If you are dedicating yourself to the egg infiltration strategy, Hatchery Cultivator will help enable you, doing the same thing for Eggs that Ritualist of the Spring Litter did for Battle Hoppers.  

These unblockable menaces make a perfect match for old Vennen like Xartaxis, but the grand-daddy of Spider Lords is Phenteo the Brood Priest.  This Legendary Vennen can exhaust to shuffle three eggs into each opponents deck.  But these aren't just any eggs.... they're Terrorantula Eggs!  If you are unfamiliar with the Terrorantula, you probably don't know the keyboard-to-forehead inducing rage that is the Xarlox fight of the Frost Ring Arena.  It can be an incredibly frustrating fight since you start the game with three Terrorantula Eggs (actually, Broodlord Eggs, but functionally similar) in your deck.  If you have the misfortune of drawing one, or of the enemy using one of the myriad of mill effects in their deck, you have to tangle not with a miniscule Spiderling, but with a 5/5 behemoth that devours one of your troops when it enters play!  

While several have complained about how overpowered the spider egg infestation strategy is and how aggravating the Xarlox fight is, the Terrorantula murdering a troop and putting you on a four-turn clock is the real threat.  While the 1/1s are nothing to sneeze at, they can at least be dealt with by the likes of Heat Wave or another mass-removal action.  Infesting a deck is setting the control player up for later on.  It allows them to sit on reactionary cards, keeping all of their resources up for quick actions while they periodically receive a stealthy attacker on their field.  I'm not a huge fan of decking strategies, and I'm certainly not a control player, but the vennen offer a fun and interesting take on both, and I'm definitely looking forward to giving them a try in sealed and draft.

Groundswell

Lots has been written about digital design space in games like Hearthstone and Hex.  Games like this not only streamline the tedium of upkeep costs that games demand (like remembering mandatory effects at the end of the turn or maintaining the game state in accordance with the rules), but they also allow cards to interact with the game in ways that they traditionally can't, adding a whole new element of strategy.  The seminal example of this can be seen in the MTG card Fauna Shaman.  It's one of a number of cards in MTG where you get to search your deck for a specific type of card (in this case a Creature card) and put it into your hand.  The benefit of a card like this is you can run a wide array of creatures and use the Shaman to search up the card that you need when the time is right.  A problem arises in a physical setting though, since there is nothing from preventing your opponent from simply picking up their deck and getting any card they want without adding the clause "reveal it" to the effect.  While this solves the problem, it adds a dimension to limited search effects like these where your opponent always has to know what you got to ensure you aren't cheating.

Digital games get around this drawback inherently since the rules are arbitrated by an independent system.  Oakhenge Ceremony in Hex has a similar restriction of only being able to select a troop from the top five cards of your deck, but doesn't require you to reveal it.  You can't choose a non-Troop card because the game won't let you.  Interestingly, there are still a few cards that  require you to reveal what card you chose (Careful Rummaging and Guardian Angel) despite there not being a need to do so.  I imagine this is a conscience decision by the design team, though there may have been mind games involved in trying to guess what card your opponent drew if they just gained four health off their Guardian Angel and passed the turn.  However this isn't the only instance present in Shattered Destiny that demonstrates the advantages that come with working in a digital design space, and each of them is a reason for skeptical MTG players to give the game a try.

One such card is Arborean Rootfather, which got an overhaul from the version we saw in August, now featuring a sort of reverse-cycle effect where it goes back into your deck at a permanent cost reduction.  Not only is this a cool mechanic (that I'd like to see repeated in the future) but cost reduction like this is impossible to replicate with physical cards.  In Limited this effect is particularly strong since having a 7-drop in your opening hand can be a bit of a drag on your tempo.  But with all the tunneling chewing up 2-cost abilities, you'll be free to shuffle this back into the deck without losing too much time or board presence on your second turn.  when you draw it again it will be at a much more reasonable 5-resources.  Archon of Nulzaan does something similar to this, but in reverse, where you can pluck a different version from your deck to abuse various gem setups.  Since the Archon is a rare, you likely won't get to play too many tricks with this ability in Limited, but in Constructed he can become a pretty unique finisher for any kind of deck.  Mimeobot is another card that plays the reshuffle game, selecting a troop in your hand and making replicas of it to shuffle back into the deck.

There are also cards that can give you information that your opponent has without them knowing.  Looking at an opponent's hand is generally something that they will know when it happens.  Cards like Inquisition have effects similar to this included in the text, so you'll know when your opponent has seen a combat trick or removal spell.  Subterranean Spy is a card where that knowledge is less apparent, though there are definitely signs (like threshold) that let you narrow down the tunneling candidates, particularly in limited where the common and uncommon cards are much more frequent.  Canyon Scout has a much more restrictive benefit of only being able to see your opponent's underground troops (which are generally hidden face-down), but uses the effect while in your hand, which means it's much more difficult to get a tell when your opponent knows not to swing into your Fissuresmith.  The covert tactics of secretive information gathering makes me incredibly hopeful that we get to see some serious spy mechanics in the future.  

That whole set feels much more dynamic than the first, perhaps because it is releasing all at once rather than in bits and pieces.  Shards of Fate was an excellent introductory set, but most of the cards were used to establish what the shards and factions typically do.  Shattered Destiny fleshes out that world even most by expanding upon existing archetypes like Humans and Dwarves.  Emergent archetypes like Dinosaurs and Zombies may see play with the addition of the enablers Savage Lord and Izydor, and decks that revolve around a specific card like Booby Trap and Briar Legion get Agent of MOLE and Briarpatch, changing the overall approach of decks the utilize those cards.

There's also plenty of cards that generate random effects as well.  Zakiir headlined my last article, but more have been added.  Reese can churn out random robots at the end of every turn, as well as fundamentally change any effect that would put a lowly Worker Bot into play, making him and Eurig an interesting team.  Teapot of Prosperity can offer a cost reduction to a random array of cards in your deck, while Jovial Pippit can turn a dead card into something else that requires the same threshold.  There are plenty of random effects in this set, but the most game changing might be Eternal Drifter, which gives you the charge power of a random champion along with compliment of charges that you had throughout the entire games. Even if you get something somewhat lackluster, you still get a 6/6 body for six resources, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Shattered Desinty launches Tuesday, August 9th.  To celebrate CZE is holding a release weekend from Friday-Sunday featuring promotional cards to players that participate in Sealed in Draft tournaments.

The Power of Zakiir

What do we want?  Dragons!  When do we want them?  BURN!

Zakiir is part of a cycle of Hex dragons.  The first set brought the Wild and Blood dragons Jadiim and Uranaaz, and Shattered Destiny looks to complete the cycle with the Diamond, Sapphire, and Ruby dragons.  An early version of the Sapphire dragon Zeedu was previewed over a year ago around the time of the Kickstarter campaign, but little information of the other two had been spoiled until this past Friday's Update, where players got their first look at the red menace.  

Like his cousins, Zakiir is a 5/5 flying troop for six resources.  Fatties like that are generally enough to end a game on their own, but Zakiir's ability allows him to generate at random one of five power cards specific to him at the start of each of your turns (similar to the Hearthstone card Ysera).  This means tricky ways of subduing the beast like Mesmerize or Inner Conflict still won't stop the power generation, which are incredibly powerful and cost efficient.  So what are these powers should you open or have to face one down in a Sealed or Draft Tournament on release weekend?

Flame Breath
Flame Breath is the cheapest of the cards you can generate with Zakiir, but it's still a free Ruby Lance that has the added option of burning your opponent directly.  This power pushes Zakiir players towards a mono-Ruby build to make the most use of this, and will likely be the largest source of raw damage among any of the cards.

Flame Servant
Flame Servant is a 4/1 troop for a single resource with both Speed and Swiftstrike.  While this means he's likely going to win most skirmishes he gets into, if he does manage to kick the bucket, or otherwise leaves play, he deals 4 damage to a champion or troop.  Since this means your opponent will likely take four damage anyways, it can be an equally effective source of damage.

Eye of Zakiir
The Eye is a more control style card that lets you draw three cards and deal 3 damage to a champion or troop.  If you're running burn spells like Ragefire or Crackling Bolt, this card can search them out for you to end the game.  In Counter-Burn decks, which may be an option with the addition of Fish Hands, or any other generic control deck, the card draw will allow you to protect Zakiir more.

Destructive Delirium
Destructive Delirium is kind of an outlier in that it nukes all artifacts, which can be particularly strong against Dwarves or Chimes-Combo (since late in the game is around the time you should be concerned about it), but it also permanently scorches four resources from your opponent, draining them from their available resources to boot.  This will most likely cripple your opponent if it resolves, and when multiplayer games are implemented it will hobble every opponent.

Glimpse of Insanity
Is it just more or is Zakiir slowly growing more insane with every power he gains?  I mean, that might have something to do with the flavor text.  Zakiir looks to be a Wild Dragon initially, before he slowly succumbed to the maddening effects of Ruby gems.  Glimpse of Insanity "purifies" the world, cleansing it of all non-dragon kind.  While Jadiim might be able to hold his own one-on-one against Zakiir, more often than not this will be a complete board wipe, save for your dragon of course.

Zakiir is one of those cards that is just fun to own so you can slam him down and spin the wheel at the start of your turn.  I also think this is a good example of randomness done right.  Most of the Powers are icing on the cake... powerful and late-game relevant cards that you earn just from having recruited a dragon to your cause.  I'm curious just how much Zakiir will open at when the set is released on (hopefully) December 9th, but his addition is one more reason to open any primal packs you manage to snag.

Underground Archetypes

The hype-train was derailed this week as the launch of Shattered Destiny was pushed back another week.  While this is unfortunate, it's also understandable considering just how important the launch of this upcoming patch will be to perceptions about how consistently and effectively Hex can implement new material.  Despite this, Shattered Destiny spoilers have been flowing consistently on the main site, as well as Twitch and Twitter.  The set plays on themes that were established in Shard of Fate, empowering strategies that revolve around the four races: humans, dwarves, orcs, and shin'hare.  But hidden among the tunneling rabbits and noble knights of Entrath are a slew of other cards that are just begging to be built around.

Izydor

If I had to do a list of my favorite cards from Shards of Fate, Zombie Plague would be up there.  I mean, who doesn't dream of overrunning their opponent with an army of slavering, brain-hungry minions?  While zombies are a popular archetype in other games, they are separated from their Necrotic cousins in Hex from being a main race.  But just because they're outside the spotlight doesn't mean you can't win games with them, and Shattered Destiny gives zombie fans some love with Izydor, a Goblin whose affinity for necromancy is deadly!  Well... deadlier than normal.  Any zombies you manage to summon from your Plague, or perhaps from a Corrupted Afterlife gain Lethal, meaning any damage they deal will be enough to take down their opponent with them.  Once per game you can use Izydor's ability to create a couple minions out of dead troops (even your opponents) to bolster your field.  The ability requires 5 resources, which can be a bit restrictive.  Add the fact that this Goblin's four-resource cost has him competing with the likes of Vampire King and Xarlox and you may find yourself omitting Izydor in favor of something else in generic Blood control decks.  But for dedicated Zombie decks, he fits right in the curve.  He's also very strong in draft, where you might actually have a use for those 13th pick Determined Zombies that would otherwise litter your reserves.

Constantina

It didn't take long for people to start crying "power creep" when this card was spoiled.  Her combat stats (3/3) were actually boosted from the version leaked at GenCon, where she had one less point of toughness.  Now for only two resources you get a 3/3 with Steadfast that prevents your troops from being bogged down from exhaust effects like Menacing Gralk and Wind Whisperer.  The double Wild Threshold means you'll likely want to only be running the green shards in your deck, but with all the other aggressive Wild cards, a mono-Wild violent beatdown deck could make a serious impact on the constructed metagame.  Constantina is a Unique troop though, which means that while an army of 3/3s might be something you want, you can never have more than a single copy of her on the field.

Archon of Nulzaan

Archon of Nulzaan is one of those cards you might have to read twice.  A 4/4 for 6 is nothing special, but the tactical use of his search ability combined with a diversity of the Gems in both Major and Minor Sockets can give you an answer for multiple situations.  In Sapphire decks you can set it up so three of the Archon's can fly, while one is equipped with the Quick Gem for a savvy combat trick.  You can also search up versions of the Archon that have effects granted from other cards, like Spirit Dance or Replicator's Gambit, for an even more explosive play.  With all the new threshold fixing Shards in Shattered Destiny, it's no longer as crazy to run three or more thresholds in your deck, increasing your Archon specialization options.  The ability isn't strong in Highlander unfortunately, but that's something I'll forgive in my quest to scoop up four copies of this guy ASAP!

Agent of M.O.L.E.

While this guy is a dwarf, he probably won't be played in your typical Volcannon style Dwarf decks.  Sabotage was a card from Shards with lots of cool design but little support.  Now with a stick that can keep on infiltrating your opponent's deck and loading it with Booby Traps, the chance their draw step will be both dead and deadly increases.  His attacks won't kill your opponent outright, but combined with deck destruction cards like Chronic Madness or gem effects like the Prime Ruby of Intensity and Prime Sapphire of Subterfuge, the traps can flow to the top and accelerate your opponent's demise.

Hope you guys had a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Firecat Blitz

Hey everyone!  This is likely going to be my last update before GenCon.  I'm looking forward to playing some Hex and earning some Jovial Pippits, along with snagging a few of those custom posters.  If you haven't seen them yet, make sure you check out last week's Friday Update on the main site or Cory's blog, because they look amazing.  There was a glut of information over the weekend from the Child's Play Stream, including promos and interviews.  There were also some new tracks from Michael Shapiro on Soundcloud.  AND I have a deck I've been tinkering around with to share this week.

Firecat Blitz

Most of the decks I have aren't really competitive... they're more fun.  I have a few decks (including the Skarn deck) that I'm trying to make competitive, but I've never really enjoyed super top tier Constructed play (I love me some limited though).  For those times when I don't have enough time to draft but I still wanna get my Hex on I've found myself tinkering around with this deck.

Champion: Poca

4x Bombsmith
4x Cerulean Mirror Knight
4x Buccaneer
2x Archmage Wrenlocke

4x Burn
4x Cerebral Fulmination
4x Ragefire
4x Peek
4x Replicator's Gambit
3x Oracle Song

11x Sapphire Shards
10x Ruby Shards
2x Shards of Fate

So the goal of this deck is to Replicator's Gambit your Blaze Elemental back into your deck to give you an instant 21 damage attack.  Ragefire is an alternate win condition, and if you draw extra Gambits you can shuffle in a Buccaneer or Bombsmith since their "enters play" abilities become much better.  Though this deck is a little kitschy I think Poca-Gambit is a solid little combo on its own since you don't lose any cards when you Gambit a Blaze Elemental (unless they kill the Elemental in response), and you have a very powerful, cheap play that you can topdeck.  This list is about as dedicated to getting the "Firecat Blitz" combo off as you can, and if you pull it off, it's a pretty enjoyable attack phase.

Without threshold fixing, the two Shards of Fate are kind of a necessary evil to ensure you can play the Fulmination and Ragefires while still getting at least a couple cards off of Peek.  This deck is strictly a combo deck: it doesn't have much in the way of generating card advantage like most control decks do, and it doesn't have a way to rush damage that most aggro decks do.  Most of what you can do with generating card advantage will be restricted to Mirror Knight and Wrenlcoke, and most players will focus on killing them on sight if they can.  There actually aren't a whole lot of troops for Mirror Knight to inspire, but if you don't have Gambit he turns Poca into a cheaper version of Wyatt since you Blaze Elementals will instantly net you a card.  The four-resource cost of Wrenlocke also makes 23 resource a bit questionable (I'm always nervous about being stuck at 3), but the rest of the deck is so inexpensive I'm usually fine.  

Wrenlcoke is also the most expensive card in the deck, though if you're having trouble affording them, he's not super necessary for the deck and could easily be replaced with something else.  He's also not a good Gambit target since he's unique, so changing him up to something like Royal Falconer may actually help some draws.

Beta Features

During the Child's Play Stream Event, Ben Stoll (head of PvP) and Cory Jones both sat down for interviews with InfamousNeo & Cirouss.  Vorsa & AswanJaguar in the official forums were kind enough to give the highlights of the interviews.  I will go over a few of the finer points that are coming down the pipeline in the coming weeks, but it's worth checking out the overviews and interviews for yourself.  You can find links to these overviews here: Jones Interview / Stoll Interview.

The next major content releases will be the tutorial, Set 2 PvP, and following that an update to PvE content.  Trading (a send-by-mail version), as well as an improved AI are currently in the works.  The Doubleback feature and Guilds have been pushed further back, likely until after Open Beta.  Regarding Set 2 (Shattered Destiny), it will feature the mechanics Lethal, Skyguard, and Tunneling, the latter of which is a mechanic that is rooted in Hex's digital design space and will have a cool visual effect and thematic tie in.  Shattered Destiny will also build upon the racial themes introduced in set 1, adding cards to Shin'hare, Human, Dwarf, and Orc strategies.  Some of these we've already seen, like Fury of the Mountain God and Cottontail Recruiter.  Shattered Destiny drafts will be mixed format: 2 Set-2, 1 Set-1 and award prizes of comparable distribution: so if you won 3 packs you'd win 2 Set-2, 1 Set-1.

New Champions and Gems will be introduced, possibly with Shattered Destiny, and if not they will be implemented during the next block of sets.  There will also likely be a champion/gem rotation for what is allowed/available in PvP at a particular time.  The "Wild West" PvE/PvP format may incorporate every Gem/Champion option though.  Set 1 (Shards of Fate) and Shattered Destiny will comprise the first block, with Set 3 & Set 4 comprising the second block.  This second block will focus on the other races it seems: Necrotic, Coyotle, Vennen, and Elves.

New Music

Some of you may remember Michael Shapiro from the Massively article back in April where he discussed composing some of the various sounds for Hex.  His Soundcloud was updated over the past month with some new tracks, including a haunting theme titled The Necrotic, which will likely be tied to their Underworld Location, or possibly a Necrotic themed Dungeon.  If you haven't had the chance to check out his page, give it a listen!

Set 2 Previews

The Child's Play Stream also featured 4 new preview cards from Shattered Destiny:

Cockatwice

Lethal was confirmed to equal "when this troop deals combat damage to another troop, it destroys that troop."  This adds a bit of complication to deciding what gems you socket on this guy, since normal evasion rules may not always be better.  Obviously giving it Flight makes sense in Sapphire-Blood, but so does slamming it on the field as a Quick Action to block and kill your opponent's gigantic attacker.  Swiftstrike is equally good, since dealing combat damage first--and in turn, killing them--will keep him immune to whoever he's brawling with, so long as they too don't have swiftstrike.  While the sockets and Lethal are this card's strength, the resource cost and toughness are definitely its weakness.  Five resources for two-toughness is a very dicey proposition, since a Heat Wave or Burn will easily incinerate him.  Despite this, he still appears to be a strong pick in draft, though this could change depending on how plentiful removal is in Set 2.

Born of the Flame 

Let me put on my Highlander hat for a minute, since this card seems designed for the potentially powerful and incredibly wonky big-stack formats.  You could get a Zoltog, Te'Talca, and an Ash Harpy... or you could whiff into a couple of Unmerciful Tormentors and a Royal Falcon (the bird, not the trainer).  This is assuming "token" troops count towards the pool of potential cards this could generate, though if this is the case, you could generate The Triumvirate too.  It probably won't see play in constructed, but it could be a slam in limited: most Ruby guys are pretty aggressive, and even if you get a couple of low-cost guys in the mix, you have a pretty good chance of at least breaking even with your resource investment.

Robotic Rapture

Returning a massive amount of cards from your yard is pretty powerful, and if you are generating a lot of Worker Bots or sacrificing Sapper's Charges and Bottled Vitaes you  will probably have some cheap cards to replenish your field after playing this.  Right now artifacts are relatively tame, but this is a card that will likely be much more powerful as time goes on and more low-cost artifacts are printed.  Charge, Vitae, and Goblin Cooking Pot are probably your best bets as far as abusing abilities.  Pterobots aren't a bad choice either since their cost scales down with the artifacts you have in play, so if you get to 7 on the board that same turn you can generate a small army of 3/4 fliers.  I'm less interested in playing a PvP deck with this than I am in trying this with Bebo in a PvE deck, since his Robot Parts can be generated fairly easily with the extra charges from Vitae and maybe Induction Coil.

Stonetusk

Cost-efficient dudes with drawbacks tend to be hit or miss, and even with Steadfast this guy is asking for a Gozzog activation or... well... anything with evasion.  One thing that does get me excited is this guy is an Iljuni, the anthropomorphic elephant people heretofore (to my knowledge) referenced only in the flavor text of Shrine of Prosperity.  The ornately fashioned Iljuni seem really cool from a design standpoint--it has an Indian/Hindu feel--so I'm happy to see them more prominently featured on a card.  Another interesting point about this card is that it has the Ardent emblem on the left-hand side, traditionally reserved only troops from the Ardent races: Humans, Orcs, Elves, and Coyotle.  This could easily be an oversight, but it might also highlight that some of the "neutral" races are more closely allied with the Ardent or Underworld thematically.  We already know the Shroomkin are closely tied to the Shin'hare (though much to their chagrin), so perhaps we will see some elephant shamans and clerics teaming up with Elves and Orcs in PvE dungeons. 

Pack/Draft Code Contest

Congratulations to Arkios for winning last week's Pack/Draft Code.  I'll add you in game and send you the code.  I'll have another pack & draft code next available after GenCon.  I'll also try to include some pictures meeting the Hex team and hopefully some of the podcasters from Threshold and 2 Turns Ahead (which if you haven't listened to, you should).

Until next time...

Mental Walls

Today I want to talk briefly about cards I value higher than I probably should in draft.  This is something I think affects every drafter: you either have a good early experience with a card, or it just fits into your style of play, or it just appeals to you in some indescribable way.  Either way, you find yourself incapable of passing that card.  You know that on every ranking list, in every cloistered scenario, it's not as powerful as that Crazed Squirrel Titan you're shipping down the line.  I imagine Reginald Lancashire is like this for people, and there are definitely cards like this for me in Set 1, but the most egregious violator is Cerulean Mentalist.  

Now I don't think I'm entirely unjustified in this since Mentalist is a solid card.  I mean, all of your expensive stuff draws you a card when you connect with it, and there are also some solid evasion guys that get Inspired by Mentalist like Wailing Banshee and Infiltrator Bot.  But in my opinion, none of these cards is more back-breaking to give the "damage = cards" effect to than Turreted Wall.

A turn-three Mentalist into a turn-four Turreted Wall is so groan-inducing for your opponent.  The 0/5 Artifact is annoying enough as is: it blocks just about everything early game and is immune to most forms of removal.  Even things like Inner Conflict that stop it's ability to block still don't neuter its ability to ping you for one every turn... and that start of turn damage will trigger your Mentalist.  Yes, for those of you unfamiliar with Mentalist, it doesn't specify combat damage.  So every turn you put your opponent one-tick closer to death you also have your very own  personal Cerebral Fulmination churning out cards.  Often times the sheer card advantage you generate off of this will be enough to put the game away, and if it doesn't the Wall still allows you to race in the air (I mean, you are dealing a point of damage every turn).

Cory also recently blogged a few more spoilers from the next set: two Shin'hare that will definitely add some power to the fledgling bunny brigade.  In trying to maintain my analysis of Shattered Destiny Cards in real time, here they are:

Cottontail Recruiter

Associated Cards: Shin'hare Militia

Recruiter is a small one-drop that turns replaces any Battle Hopper you would create into a Shin'hare Militia.  This essentially gives your Hoppers +1/+1, but since many cards put them into play on the cheap like Concubunny or Wretched Brood it's good way to capitalize on these recurring effects to create an army that does something other than chump-blocking.  I'll admit to not being the biggest Shin'hare fan, but this card seems pretty strong for a dedicated Shin'hare swarm strategy with cards like Ritualist of the Spring Litter to pump out more and more Militia to your cause.  Of course board sweepers like Heat Wave and Extinction are the bane of all swarm strategies, so until the Shin'hare get some post-apocalypse survival skills, it's unlikely they'll be topping the constructed charts anytime soon, though this is definitely a step in the right direction.  In limited this card's power will vary greatly based on what Battle Hopper creating effects are in the pool since he really wants to be drafted around: if you get him pack one and then get some Concubunnies in the next couple packs, then he's probably worth it.  Perhaps just a cautionary "Don't play him outside of Shin'hare" will suffice.

Necrophage Sensei

The "enters play" clause works a bit differently in Hex than in paper TCGs since cards retain attack and defense changes when changing zones.  If the Sensei gets killed and then brought back to life, the "+1/+1 for every troop in your graveyard" effect will happen again.  He might be a modestly sized 3/3 the first time he graces the playing field, but post-Extinction you might be able to dig him back up with a Cruelty Gemmed Xentoth's Inquisitor or a Call the Grave.  When you do, he comes back to your hand as a 3/3 (or whatever he was before), only to grow in size when you play him.  He is also annoying resilient to bounce effects, as anyone who has been in the unfortunate situation of having to Buccaneer a Honeycap or Briar Legion can attest to.  He's definitely strong in limited, though without evasion I wouldn't be surprised to see him go mid-pack.  I could also see him seeing play in Constructed, possibly as an alternate win-condition in a weird Chronic Madness deck.

Also, I'll be at Gencon this year, clawing through crowds to try to snag one of those sweet posters (and sleeves) from the Hex booth.  I missed out on getting into a Shattered Destiny draft, but hopefully they'll have some other fun stuff there for me to try out.

Finally, congratulations to Airwrecka for winning the Pack/Draft Code.  I'll friend you in game so I can message you the code.  I still have more Pack/Draft Codes to give away, so for this week to enter just reply with a card you draft earlier than you probably should and why it beckons you so much.

Until next time...

Edit: Some clarification on Necrophage Sensei