They Love Me In That Tunnel

It's difficult to talk about Shin'hare without first talking about their two new champions, since most decks will likely utilize either one of Warmaster Fuzzuko or Bunoshi the Ruthless.  Fuzzuko puts Palamedes to shame; for only a single charge more, you get to Evolve all of your troops currently on board.  While Giles has reach beyond what you have in play, Fuzzuko not only boosts defense, but also can hit multiple types of troops instead of just your shin'hare.  Making a massive army of Battle Hoppers and other mid-range troops and just overwhelming your opponent is where Fuzzuko shines.  Bunoshi is on the opposite end.  He only needs three charges to use the power, but he also needs a willing sacrifice (usually in the form of the aforementioned Battle Hoppers) to make one of your troops massive.  This tends to work best on troops with utility abilities like Corrupt Harvester or Manti Ranger.  And with all the cards that grant extra charges, it's very possible to use this ability multiple times throughout the game to make an unstoppable troop later on.  Deciding which of these champions to use with your deck generally depends on how you plan on winning.  If you have a good chunk of evasion troops like Tormented Ritualist, you might want to consider Bunoshi since the +2/+2 can make the turns you gain a charge all the more damaging for your opponent, and also allows it to survive run-ins with removal actions like Burn and Crackling Rot.  If your deck has a good chunk of early game troops that fall off in terms of board presence later like Battle Hardened Pa, Fuzzuko is a card that will keep them relevant later in the game.

To fuel either strategy, you're going to need a front line (or a blood well), and for that, the Shin'hare have you covered with some new cards that create Battle Hoppers like Blossoming Concubunny and Wretched Wrangler.  While these cards will provide you with some early Shin'hare, it's notable that they go to your hand and not directly into play, meaning you have to play them on turns where you have spare resources available.  This interaction can be a decent "drawback" though, since the uncommon Keeper of The Wounded Petal grows permanently stronger for each Shin'hare that enters your hand, either from your deck of from effects like these.  Shin'hare also get some bunny love in the removal department with Feeding the Young Ones and Wakizashi Ambusher.  While either can be used in a non-Shin'hare blood deck to off troops of two defense of less, both can become much more powerful with a concert of rabbits to support them.  While Ambusher is underground it gets stronger for every Shin'hare that dies under your watch, giving an opposing troop -X/-X equal to its attack power when it surfaces.  Feeding the Young Ones puts two Hoppers into play before making all your Shin'hare troops nibble a troop for one damage apiece, allowing you to destroy even the most formidable of troops with enough shin'hare on the field. 

Aside from the Ambusher, there are a host of Shin'hare tunneling troops in Wild and Blood to ensure that you'll always have a play on two.  While the Dwarves typically have big effects the turn they emerge, most of the Shin'hare do their plotting while they are underground.  Grave Nibbler is a simple 2/2 for two resources, but it you choose to tunnel him instead and a troop dies (any troop) while he is burrowing, he becomes a 4/4 instead, which in this format can be difficult to deal with.*  Rune Ear Burrower is similar to Rune Ear Commander in that he gets stronger the more troops you have in play.  However, this ability only triggers the turn he enters play, so timing your plays to maximize the amount of troops you have out when this guy finally surfaces is key to using him to his full potential.  
*At the time of writing, Grave Nibbler is bugged where after he becomes a 4/4, he ignores any power or toughness changes unless he is reverted.  So Crackling Rot and Wild Growth will have no effect on him, but Fish Hands should.  This is one of the more well known bugs, and as a (good) common card it is the one most frequently encountered bugs by me so far.

One of the scarier (and in my opinion, under-drafted) Shin'hare is the Underfoot Commander, which stays underground for three turns, but permanently buffs any other troop (not just shin'hare) that goes under while he's tunneled.  I understand the downside to tunneling multiple troops; since they aren't in play you are sacrificing your board in the short-term, allowing your opponent to punish you with aggressive two-drops like Arena Regular and Field Tactician.  But I've had multiples of these guys in a couple drafts, and combined with Fuzzuko even your modest tunneling troops get ridiculous in a hurry.  In one draft I was actually able to buff a Minion of Yazukan that took a Zared activation to the chin and was in a perpetual cycle of death and retunneling due to his 0 toughness.

Cards to Build Around

Many of the Shin'hare in Shattered Destiny are good outside of a dedicated Shin'hare deck, meaning you'll probably be fighting Blood players for Tormented Ritualists and Killblade of the Milky Eye.  The shin'hare rares are all great to open and to build around.  Minion of Yazukan enjoys having a sacrifice outlet like Bunoshi or a Blood Cauldron Ritualist  so you can slowly boost his power over time.  Cottontail Recruiter turns your Battle Hoppers into Shin'hare Militia, making cards like Blossoming Concubunny much more appealing (though she still pales in comparison to Construct Foreman, which is a lot more bang for a 1-drop).  Finally there's Bucktooth Roshi, which gives an incredibly powerful +2/+2 to all of your other shin'hare.

One of the downsides to dedicated Shin'hare decks, particularly the Recruiter/Roshi variants that want lots of Hoppers is you are really rolling the dice on your Shards of Fate pack having some Concubunnies of their own, since none of the Shattered Destiny cards is capable of making a continuous stream of them turn after turn.  Its entirely possible that the two Concubunnies you hope are tabling in pack three are instead two Sorrow, which can be a devastating reserves card against Shin'hare.  The plus side is that Shin'hare--the ones that make you want to play other Shin'hare--aren't typically in high demand, so if you are drafting Shin'hare aggressively in pack one, there's a good chance Concubunny and maybe even Bucktooth Commander will make it to you late in the pack.  Hell, maybe you live the dream and get Recruiter and Ritualist of the Spring Litter.

This is also the only situation I could see playing one of the old Shin'hare champions.  Kishimoto is laughably inefficient providing only a temporary buff, and Bun'jitsu suffers from the drawback that the "materials" he uses in his Abomination creation get voided instead of sacrificed.*  Monika'shin is the only one that offers something I could reasonably see the Shinhare player wanting.  Passing on Fuzzuko or Bunoshi is just so difficult considering how much the Shin'hare want to be buffed.  Even is Fuzzuko's ability cost 6 charges, that's a free Evolve versus two 0/1s.  Maybe in some edge cases where you have Ritualist/Recruiter or you have enough buffs but not enough troops you run Monika'shin, but in a strong majority cases I think Fuzzuko/Bunoshi are the two best choices.
*In my previous Shin'hare article I incorrectly noted that Bun'jitsu sacrificed his intended targets, which would have made the champion much stronger. 

Overall the shin'hare are a much more forgiving race when it comes to drafting them.  Many of them are fine in a multitude of decks, and the new champions allow you to make use of Battle Hoppers when you have them on the field.  Most of the time you will take them because they are good on their own, but every once in a while you will get the cards that push you towards visions of a field soaked in blood, viscera, and fluffy little ears. 

Auction House & AA Numbers

Some Community News to finish off this week.  New Auction House Data and AA Numbers were released by Chark on the forums in the past week (full links above).  Counts of Alternate Art cards included Kickstarter Rewards like Replicator's Gambit and Pack Raptor, alongside VIP Tournament Rewards Xentoth's Inquisitor and Menacing Gralk.  Also included were Shattered Destiny release promos Filk Ape and Darkspire Punisher, highlighting the 1390 tournaments played over release weekend (which isn't shabby for a four day run).  The rarest of the rare cards were Ozawa and Jovial Pippit, which until now have only been given out at GenCon.

Upcoming Tournaments

The HexTechs Open (HTO-Oberon) is being held Saturday, January 17th.  This is the first third-party tournament (to my knowledge) with an entry fee attached to it at 500 Platinum, however the winner gets a guaranteed reward of 10000 Platinum, so if you are confidant in your constructed skills, it's definitely worth looking into.

HexPrimal is hosting the Budget Cup 2 on Sunday, February 1st.  Entry into the event is free, but deck constructed is limited to $10 for the maindeck and $2 for reserves based on a list aggregated Auction House Prices.  If you don't have that much money invested into the game, but still enjoy deck constructed and want to try a unique format this is definitely worth checking out.  First prize includes a primal pack and 16 boosters.

Upcoming Videos

I've been messing around with Blender and OBS, and I should have the State of the Game video coming out sometime soon.  I've been stalling a bit in the hopes the some PvE news gets released this month, though the tenor from Hex since launch seems to be focused on fixing the Shattered Destiny bugs.  I'd like to finish up my draft strategy with the last race, Orcs, but it's such a loose archetype in Shattered Destiny I might end up passing on it altogether.  I have a few articles I'd like to do, including some decks for the Budget Cup I've been working on.  In any event, enjoy your weekend!

Card images from HexTCG Browser

Drafting Dwarves II: Robo-Remix

One of the first articles I wrote for this blog was about Drafting Dwarves during the first few weeks that draft was introduced.  Dwarves was one of the first decks I heavily drafted in Hex, and in my opinion it was one of the strongest archetypes of that draft format.  Uncommons like Volcannon and Elimination Specialist were incredibly powerful if you got them early and could build around them, while champions like Bertram made assembling construction plans and triggering cards like Researcher Adept more consistent.  The inclusion of the Royal Uncommons and Sir Giles's raw power with Shattered Destiny have allowed humans to emulate a similar space to that held by Dwarves.  The underground engineers have gotten their fair share of love in Shattered Destiny too, though the design of these cards have changed the archetype from one that can simply dump a few Pterobots on the board and ride them to victory.

The first major change dwarves get in Shattered Destiny is tunneling.  Dwarves get some nice utility troops in their commons.  Launchpad Specialist requires a long time investment, but when it emerges it gives a free Sapphire Aura to one of your troops.  Mesmeric Hypnoscientist is a five-power dwarf that prevents one of your opponent's troops from blocking the turn it enters play.  Cards like this allow the Dwarf deck to plan big attacks in advance, and picking these early in the pack don't commit you to a dwarf deck.  This is particularly true of the Launchpad Specialist, which is an excellent turn two play for any Sapphire drafter.

On the other side there are tunnelers that are specifically geared for the Dwarf-Robot Archetype.  Subterrenean Saboteur stays underground for three turns, but while underground he lets you play a Robot at quick speed before emerging himself.  This can trick your opponent into making confidant attacks that wind up poorly when they run into a surprise Charge Hulk (or Slaughtergear).  Underground Overdriver can be devastating when combined with robots, allowing you to pump extra resources into a permanent buff.  This is most efficient on troops with evasion like Inductocopter Bot or Hornet Bot to finish out games, but even just having a ground troop that can slam into your opponents line turn after turn can be enough to earn you a win.

Dwarves can also play very aggressive with cards like Construct Foreman and Electroid.  Getting an early line of three power troops on the board can be very intimidating when you are bashing in with them as early as turn two!  Reactor Bot can add to the pain attacking for three (or five if you have a Crackling Bolt or Wit in your hand) while most players are still developing their board.  They can also play a very control style game where they grind out card advantage and rely on late game finishers, with cards like Augmentation Bot and Bot Shop compounding small advantages turn after turn.  Between the utility of their tunneling troops and variety of aggressive and defensive cards, dwarves require a bit more attention when drafting and deck building than they did in Shard of Fate.

What cards should I look for when considering Dwarves?

Reese the Crustcrawler and Tectonic Megahulk are the two legendary troops that have "dwarven combat" written all over them.  Invest some turns into a tunneled Reese and Bertram can be firing out Jank Bots for three charges apiece.  Ingenious Engineer gives all of your Dwarves and Robots the ability to ready the first time they exhaust each turn.  You can either use this to attack with a de facto steadfast ability or to exhaust the same bot twice for Construction Plans or another exhaust effects like Dwarven Ballistics Training.  Samson allows you to get crazy with non-combat damage done by artifacts and dwarves, making any War Machinists that are lurking in the Shards of Fate booster all the more threatening.

Odds are you won't open one of these particular cards in your rare slot (if you're like me it will be a Talisman of Vitae).  Electroid is a high potential uncommon that sends a strong signal Dwarf-Robots are open if you get it third or fourth pick.  A late Bot Shop or Underground Overdriver can signal it's open as well, and unless you open a bomb or are determined to draft Dwarf-Robots from the second you join the queue, it's often best to look in the middle and end of pack one to get a feel for how open the archetype is.  Many of the cards that are incredible in Dwarf-Robots are a little to risky to windmill slam (metaphorically) if the cards don't show up or someone else is keen on drafting it.  If I had a choice between an Electroid or a Crackling Bolt I would definitely take the removal action since it doesn't require that I build around it.  The same is true of uncommons like Cannon Volley, Mentor of the Song, or Royal Cutblood; cards that more often than not will make a Dwarf deck but won't hamstring me the way an Electroid will if I can't get support for it.

Which Champion should I run?

The easy answer is Bertram, since he's never bad, but I think a case can be made for Giles or Fahrny.  The best way to approach this is to ask yourself to imagine a scenario where you wouldn't play Bertram, a scenario that doesn't require you to have Worker Bots in play.  This should throw out any deck that have multiple Electroids or early Construction Plans, since you want to get those cards online as soon as possible.  Worker Bots also give you good targets for Construct Foreman and Flak Scrapper, so any decks where these cards play a key role should probably be also wary of shying away from Bertram.  

Fahrny used to be an exception to the rule when my draft looked more like a big artifact deck with lots of removal than a traditional Dwarf-Robot deck.  His charge power is very strong if you get some expensive artifacts on the board, but the 5-charge cost and double threshold requirement was a bit restrictive in the previous limited metagame.  In Shattered Destiny however, charges are easier to come by.  Charge Hulk and Crackling Bolt can help you ramp into you five charges by turn four fairly consistently, and the Hulk serves as a powerful resource cost on the board when you want to fire Fahrny off, dealing four damage to getting rid of fairly sizable threats.  During the release weekend the first deck I won a Filk Ape with had a full set of Reactor Bots and three Charge Hulks.  I'd often lead with a Reactor Bot on turn two or three, then on turn four play Resource-Hulk-Fahrny their blocker-Attack for 7.  War Bot Bunker is another card that works well with Fahrny, coming out on a timely turn five and will avoid nearly all removal allowing you to clear troublesome blockers like Turreted Wall or Dragon Guard Stalwart.  In many ways this is a much stronger version of Zared, but does require a bit of synergy to pull off.  If your deck just has some big artifacts and a lot of spare charges, consider Fahrny over Bertram.

Giles is the final option for this archetype, and I should note there is a bug associated with Giles at this time that causes it to give troops other than Robots +1/+0 when it's used targeting certain robots (I've never encountered it myself, but it's referenced in here).  Ignoring that, Robots can actually benefit quite a bit from the Giles pump if you have enough of them, particularly because Charge Bot and Hulk allow you to abuse the power a few times per game.  This can mean giant Pterobots and significantly scarier utility bots like Armitron and Overtime Bot.  While Bertram and Fahrny are good at supporting your deck to ensure it achieves its critical mass of artifact awesomeness, Giles can create that mid/late game pressure your deck might be lacking.  This is really more of a testament to how good Giles is in tribal decks than a criticism of the other champions; he makes good decks great and bad decks decent if enough troops share a trait.  So if your deck is tribal enough and you're feeling short on finishers, Giles might be able to create wins where none existed.

Can we get a quick run down?  I'm kind of just browsing this...

You really should read the whole... okay fine!

• Dwarves aren't as deep as humans, so try not to commit to them too early unless you get a bomb; stick to cards that are good in multiple decks like Crackling Bolt or Launchpad Specialist and commit later in pack one based on what is available.
• Consider your champion while drafting.  If you are getting a lot of cards that grant you additional charges or expensive artifacts, consider Fahrny.  If you are light on finishers and have a good chunk of robots, consider Giles.  In a majority of cases, Bertram will be the champion you should go with.
• Much of the individual card evaluations from Shards of Fate are still relevant in the 2-2-1 format.  For my thoughts on those cards please see the March article Drafting Dwarves where I discuss those cards in more detail.
• Below is a general list of Shattered Destiny cards that will make up the backbone of most Dwarf-Robot decks, or cards that I would keep an eye out for if this seems like an archetype you would like to try out.

Bombs (First Picks that prompt Dwarf-Robots)

Reese, the Crustcrawler (Finisher, Bertram)

Tectonic Megahulk (Finisher)

Ingenious Engineer (Utility)

Samson, Lead Ballistics Engineer (Utility)

Forge of Cadoc (Cha-ching!  I mean... Acceleration)

Safe Picks (You can draft these early and not commit to Dwarf-Robots)

Royal Cutblood (Evasion, Finisher)

Cannon Volley (Removal, Card Adv)

Mentor of the Flames (Removal, Card Adv)

Crackling Bolt (Removal, Charges)

Boulder Toss (Removal)

Mentor of the Song (Card Adv)

Launchpad Specialist (Evasion, Utility)

Signals (Picks that commit you, signals Dwarf-Robots is open if late in pack)

Robotic Rapture (Card Adv)

Construction Plans: Tower Hulk (Finisher)

Electroid (Aggro)

Underground Overdriver (Utility)

Construct Foreman (Aggro, Utility)

Construction Plans: Bot Shop (Card Adv)

General News

On the blog I'll be posting a general State of the Game article and video sometime within the next couple of weeks (hopefully), and another draft overview next week (most likely Shin'hare).  This weekend is also the Five Shard's Diamond Cup, presented by Technophi.  The format for the Diamond Cup is Shattered Destiny Constructed (no cards from Set 1 Boosters).  Good luck to everyone who enters, and have a great week!

Card Images from Hex TCG Browser.

Shattered Destiny Release Weekend Primer

Shattered Destiny is officially out for Hex!  Kickstarter Backers have received some free boosters to get a jump on their collections, and new items are available from Shattered Destiny chests on the Wheels of Fate, including sleeves, alternate art cards, PvE cards, and equipment!  In addition to all that, this weekend (Friday through Monday) there will be special promos given out for players who participate in Draft and Sealed queues, which will use Shattered Destiny boosters exclusively!  

If you plan on participating in a release tournament, here are some requisite links you'll want to check out to get caught up if you haven't logged in since the patch dropped Tuesday:

• Shattered Destiny Release Tournaments: Overview of the tournaments and prize payout, as well as the alternate art cards to participants and winners.
• Shattered Destiny Card List: All of the nearly 250 new cards found in Shattered Destiny, as well as five new champions available for deck construction.
• Known Issues Thread: Compiled forum post featuring all the bugs that have come up with the latest patch, including card specific bugs you should be aware of for limited play.

Even with the patch a few days old, there are already quite a few articles discussing card evaluation, strategy, and deck construction from various fan sites (Five Shards in particular has a very in-depth card review).  You can find links to these in the Hex subreddit or in the Strategy Forum on the official message boards.  Since the patch launched I've jumped into a handful of drafts utilizing the new general format (2-2-1).  Though drafts and sealed events this weekend will use only Shattered Destiny boosters, I thought I'd give returning players who maybe haven't logged in for a while an overview of some things they can expect from Shattered Destiny so as not to be at too great a disadvantage this weekend.  This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, but some general tips and early impressions I've gathered from the time I've had to test the cards first hand.

1. Removal is much different in Shattered Destiny.

In Shards of Fate, players wouldn't hold too much attachment to their troops since an Inner Conflict, Repel, or Murder could easily nullify even the bulkiest of beaters.  In Shattered Destiny, the removal is much more number focused.  Diamond in particular has much worse options than it did in Shards of Fate, having to rely on Meek as their only common removal action, which won't be able to oust anything truly threatening.  Two of the best common removal actions, Crackling Bolt and Crackling Rot, are defense based and won't easily be able to deal with anything that has a particularly sizable rump, such as Bastion of Adamanth.  When you venture into the uncommons and rares, you get more general removal like Immortal Decree and Dishonerable Death, though these come with a high resource investment though, so don't rely on them for stopping your opponent's early aggression.  

One of the keywords featured in Shattered Destiny, Lethal, makes up for this a bit.  Cards like Killblade of the Milky Eye and Lethal Weapons are common cards that use the ability, which will allow the Letahl troop to destroy any opposing troop it damages.  This can be effective for punching through damage or forcing your opponent to hold back a big troop.  This makes evasion all the more important when facing off against decks that have cards like this in their arsenal.

2. Tri-Shard decks are more viable, and sometimes encouraged.

With the lack of threshold fixing in Shards of Fate players would often have to resign themselves to choosing two shards and sticking with them.  Shattered Destiny offers much more options for splashing a third shard into your deck with the cycle of uncommon Dual-Threshold Resources and cards like Immortal Tears that can search up a standard resource from your deck.  Getting the uncommon Resources later in a draft can be tricky, particularly the Shard of Innovation since both Dwarf and Human players have reason to take it.  Humans is at the front of the line among archetypes that most encourage you to spread into a third shard.  Uncommon troops like Royal Enforcer and Royal Valkyr can be devastating if you can manage your resources, and the Vanguards of Cerulea and Gawaine are solid troops to fall back on if you aren't super confident going full tri-shard and simply want to splash the third, relying on two main shards to get you through the majority of your games.

3. Familiarize yourself with Tunneling cards and costs.

One of the general things you want to do to prep for a big limited tournament is to familiarize yourself with Quick Actions and effects.  This lets you prepare for combat tricks and removal spells your opponent can play (given the resources they have available) so you can plan your attacks and plays effectively.  In Shattered Destiny, you not only want to familiarize yourself with Quick Actions, but also with tunneling troops.  This way, when your opponent sends something under on turn two you'll go from "That could be anything!" to "Okay, that could be one of a handful of troops."  There are about two dozen tunneling troops spread across four shards (every one but Diamond) and a few artifacts.  Most of them take between one and four turns to pop out from underground, and each of them will be able to attack the turn they emerge.  Prepping an attack or defense can be even more difficult with the effects that trigger when some of these subterranean saboteurs emerge from underground.  The Launchpad Specialist can give an allied troop +1/+1 and Flight when it emerges, and the Wakizashi Ambusher, which can eighty-six a troop with less defense than its power.  Additionally, cards like the Ambusher and Grave Nibbler can get stronger that they would have been when a troop above ground dies.  What might be a reckless attack by your opponent could really be a scheme to make their underground troops more powerful when they emerge.  The effects vary from shard to shard, so knowing what your opponent could have underground is incredibly important to your overall strategy.  

One other thing to note is that you can't seem to choose the order you want troops to emerge from underground.  This was frustrating to one of my opponents who tried to time a Launchpad Specialist and Excavation Hulk.  The Specialist emerged first and failed to use its ability, followed by the much less happy 4/4. 

4. Expect to see new Champions.

One of the things that caught me off guard in my first draft was how strong some of the new champions are.  The Shin'hare in particular are truly terrifying, with the Wild-based Fuzzuko giving all your troops a +1/+1 boost for five charges and the Blood-infused Bunoshi sacrificing a lesser troop to give another a +2/+2 boost for three charges.  Both of these effects are permanent, and put the buffs from previous champs you might be familiar with (like Palamedes) to shame.  There is also a renewed focus on champion powers through the number of cards that gain you extra charges or trigger effects whenever you gain a charge.  Charge Hulk and Inductocopter Bot, as well as an entire set of Crackling cards are just a few of the cards you can use to give your champion some extra mojo.  You might need these extra charges to afford some of the more expensive, but powerful charge powers, such as Daughter of Stars, which at the steep cost of ten charges will return every opposing troop to your opponents hand, giving you an opening to attack through for the win. 

5. You might deck yourself... or your opponent.

Milling was a bit of a wonky strategy in Set 1, usually requiring you to play cards that had little impact on the board outside of their mill effect like Twisted Fate or Spawn of Othuyeg.  In Shattered Destiny, there are some sizeable troops that can help you survive while you slowly chew your opponent's deck away.  Dementia Daisies and the Neophyte of Xarlox can play defense and resist most removal actions while also taking chunks away from your opponent's deck.  Murmurs From The Void is an expensive constant that can act as hard removal for a troop by bouncing it to the top of the deck and then forcing your opponent to discard the top five cards from their deck.  All of these cards could easily find their way into a Sapphire or Blood Sealed Deck, a much slower format than draft.  Drafters can harness the power of these mill effects and build around them with Typhoon Galleon, an uncommon troop that gets stronger whenever a card enters an opposing graveyard, be it from the battlefield or the deck.  Nin the Shadow is also still available as a champion for players who want to dedicate themselves to a draft strategy.

Of course, you'll want to have some luck on your side as well.  There are 18 legendary cards hiding in Shattered Destiny boosters, and more than a few are insanely powerful, including three dragons that can quickly end the game if not dealt with.  Good luck this weekend with your drafts, sealed pools, and the Wheels of Fate spins you will inevitably pour your hard-earned gold into!

Card images from Hex TCG Browser.

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!

Snow-vember

For those that don't know, I live in western New York, and we are absolutely buried in snow right now.  Generally speaking this isn't exactly new for the area, but such a concentrated amount of snow so soon and so quickly is kinda crazy.  The bright side is I don't have a car to deal with, just a ten minute walk to work and back.  In between I'm in full hibernation mode, which means Strategy games and the new Hex Novel that was released this week.

I'm only a few chapters in, but the novel is solid so far.  It's got all the makings of the classic fantasy bildungsroman, with some Great Wolves thrown in.  The novel's apparent protagonists don't appear to be depicted on any cards as of yet, but the peripheral characters include well known humans like King Gabriel and Princess Victoria.  Prince Talysen is also name dropped, brother to King Gabriel and lord of Gawaine, an area heretofore known for its snipers and legionnaire.  I got pretty deep into the lore of Magic too, particularly during Kamigawa Block, so it's always fun to see what sort of mechanics get put to the iconic characters.  However Hex will also be releasing lore not just through flavor text and novels, but through the dungeons and overarching campaign, and with the Frost Arena coming mere weeks after the launch of Shattered Destiny (assuming it is relatively bug-free), lore freaks like me will be rejoicing!

In the mean time I've been fooling around with Civ5 Mods and have decided to give Europe Universalis IV another go, having bought it last year and not really picked it back up due to time constraints (college and LSAT prep).  Now that the controls are becoming a little more intuitive and I seem to have a grasp of the mechanics, I'm planning on an Ironman run as Castille soon (though I know they've been done to death a bit).  I'll probably end up streaming that this weekend when I get some time, as well as a weekend of Hex events during launch weekend December 5-7th.  We still only have about 150 cards from Shattered Destiny spoiled so far, and since the set has over 200, there's plenty of room for meta-changing and theorycrafting gems to emerge during the previews next week.  When the official set launches, you can view all the cards in the set in the card manager by selecting "Show All," a neat feature I might utilize to do a set review when it's patched in.

Outside of that it will be a pretty relaxing week.  Next week I will try to pre-build a few decklists I'd like to test for the upcoming Blood Cup Tournament.  Until then, stay warm!

Brood Oath

Post GenCon has been a bit of a bumpy road for Hex.  Trading and the new UI were both implemented, though not without a slew of new bugs and downed tournaments.  While the tournaments are back up and most of the card bugs have been addressed, the delays involved with and leading up to the King Gabriel Patch have in turn delayed the launch of Hex's second PvP set Shattered Destiny, initially announced for an August launch.  The good news is that interest appears to be renewed with the reveal of several Shattered Destiny spoilers on Hex stream.  Hopefully this means we are close to an actual Set 2 launch, preceded by Open Beta.

In the mean time, one of the concerns most new players (who were lucky enough to snag a beta key) have upon entering the game is the huge disparity in deck building options they have compared to Kickstarter Backers.  Many players are hesitant to invest heavily into a game still in Beta, particularly if they enter the proving grounds only to get stomped by Vampire Kings and Soul Marbles.  Booster Drafts and the Community Rock League are excellent resources for these players, but some of them are looking for a more competitive deck, or just something fun and unique to run in the proving grounds while Grinding Gold.  This is something I'm all too familiar with from my TO days.

For those of you that don't know, I come from a rather impoverished city in the rust belt.  Years ago when I was a tournament organizer for our Friendly-Local-Game-Store, I knew lots of kids that couldn't afford to run the top decks for a number of different card games like MTG, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!  I was lucky enough to have a weekend job dishwashing in addition the store credit I got from running the tournaments, so between the extra boosters and trading I had an influx of commons and uncommons, so in an attempt to keep the community going I tried to build budget decks from my own collection and let people borrow them, or brew a deck from their own cards and give them some of my cards that I wasn't using.  I tried to make them competitive enough to sneak a win against a top tier deck every now and then, but also interesting enough that the person playing them could actually appreciate the strategy behind them.  I mean, not every player is going to want to play a budget Gore Feast deck, which seems to be the go-to suggestion for budget players (though I do love me some Gore Feast).

So knowing that some of the new players were either cash-strapped or reluctant to drop the money, I decided to try building some budget decks for Hex.  I had initially set my limit for spending on a deck at 1000 platinum (or $10), taking data from the Auction House analysis over the last two months along with prices from logging on today to come up with a rough price for each card that reflects what you could probably get one at with a little patience (give or take a few platinum).  While I ended up going slightly over my target, most players will have some of these cards already from their starter decks or be able to buy them with gold earned from their starter trials.  Hell, you'd probably be able to acquire most of the commons simply by asking nicely in chat.

Brood Oath

...and bunnies... don't forget bunnies.

Champion: Dimmid

4 Adamanthian Scrivener (4p)
4 Darkspire Priestess (4p)
4 Shroomshaw (4p)
4 Righteous Paladin (11p)
4 Spearcliff Pegasus (4p)
2 Hop'hiro, Samurai (130p)

3 Incantation Righteousness (63p)
3 Oath of Valor (47p)
4 Wretched Brood (61p)
4 Solitary Exile (20p)

10 Blood Shards
10 Diamond Shards
4 Shards of Fate (5p)

Approximate Total Cost: 1022p

One of the things I like about this deck and why I would suggest it for players new to Hex is that it incorporates some of the unique things about Hex that you don't get in other CCGs (transforming cards like Hop'hiro & Incantation), along with combos that I had fun playing in the Alpha, like Righteous Paladin, which can get out of hand quickly with the life gain from Dimmid & Adamanthian Scrivener.

The main combo in the deck is using Oath of Valor to make the Battle Hoppers from Wretched Brood & Shroomshaw strong enough to overwhelm your opponent, while using the life gain to ensure you don't die from your opponent's troops (or your own Wretched Broods).  The Sentinel of Light can also help in this regard, giving all of your troops a +2/+2 boost when your life is above 20.  Oath of Valor isn't just strong on the Battle Hoppers though.  Playing it on turn 3 after a Darkspire Priestess can make an annoying 2/1 into a speedy win condition.  An early game 4/3 can be difficult to deal with, and the fact that it can replace itself makes the orc an unappealing target for removal spells.  Naming Spearcliff Pegasus will let you race in the air and give you enough power to trade with both Angel of Dawn & Vampire King if necessary.

One of the big weakness of the deck is the internal conflict it has over threshold.  Brood and Paladin, two very strong cards in the deck, require double threshold, which makes it hard to play both early without a little luck on your side.  While you would traditionally want to maximize the number of times you get to use Dimmid's power, Shards of Fate is a necessary evil for ensuring some level on consistency.

Expanding

Because the deck incorporates both a Shin'hare swarm strategy and a life gain strategy, there are lots of different options for customizing the deck and expanding upon it.  Protectorate Defender socketed with the Prime Diamond of Solidarity can permanently buff your Shin'hare and other troops.  Princess Victoria is a solid option for getting your troops Lifedrain and your Paladin growing earlier.  If you're feeling particularly experimental, you can try getting the undead abominations of Zombie Plague to take the Oath.  Sure, they don't look valorous, but when you're the only one alive to write the history books, people will believe what you order them to dammit!  And of course, I would be remiss if i failed to mention Dimmid's best friend Droo's Colossal Walker, whose eight life payment to ready him suddenly becomes much more manageable with your charge power. 

Looking Ahead

This deck will also get some love from Shattered Destiny, most notably with Shard of Retribution, which fixes your threshold a bit and lets you keep your Dimmid charges.  Paladin of the Necropolis is another strong addition and can be particularly nefarious if you have a Scrivener out, as suddenly your opponent will be the one paying for your Wretched Broods every turn!  Exalted Victory is another strong card.  While only a few of your troops will benefit from the Swiftstrike and Steadfast bonus, the +2/+0 will be more than enough if your Hoppers are numerous enough.  And these are only the cards we know about.  There's still a bunch more cards that haven't been spoiled from Shattered Destiny that could easily find a place in the deck.

I'm hoping to get into a habit of blogging a bit more about Hex.  The feature drought has hopefully ended now that the new UI is in place and with the influx of spoilers I can probably start talking a bit more about Shattered Destiny Spoilers and conjure up some possible decks (and maybe discuss some info regarding the Frost Arena if any more trickles out over the next month or so).  However, with Civilization: Beyond Earth launching next week, I'll probably switch to doing Hex bi-weekly after next week to make room for that, which may give me a workable pace to discuss feature releases.  I'll also be doing a bi-weekly Monday Board Game article, continuing my new player's guide to Agricola next week.  Until next time.

Card Links from the Hex TCG Browser & Deckbuilder