Season 3 Rockbrews

I don't have the most competitive collection for Constructed, but I do have a plethora of commons and uncommons from all the drafts I've done.  So the Rock League, which begins its third season this February, is perfect for when I want to scratch the constructed itch without running into a wall of Stubborn Foliage and Imperial Shogun!  This is because deck construction rules for Rock League limit you to only use commons and up to 4 uncommons.  Those four uncommon slots tend to be very key when determining what sort of deck you want to make.  Cards like Throat Cutter and Bucktooth Commander can act as miniature lords for an Orc or Shin'hare themed deck, where Cerulean Mentalist and Daring Swordsman are begging to be built around and abused.

Unlike the past two seasons of Rock League, this season will be the first where players have access to Shattered Destiny cards for their decks.  With players competing for points, alongside special achievements like the Diversity Challenge (which encourages players to play with different champions), the field is wide open for some new and innovative decks.  Here are a few uncommons from Shattered Destiny that could serve as a fun centerpiece for your Rock League deck. 

Stink Troll
While many decks still have some forms of removal, there isn't a mass-removal option like Extinction looming around in the format.  This means that massing a huge chunk of troops on the field isn't really much to fear, since the Murder your opponent has can only pick one target.  This bodes well for aggro decks, and a Ruby-Wild deck that focuses around crush Troops and Stink Troll might just overwhelm your opponent before they can mount a reasonable defense.  Wreckasaurus combos incredibly well with the troll, and if you run Fuzzuko you can mount buff after buff on your troops, making them all huge until you can quite literally crush your opponent.  Going Wild with the Troll also gives you access to the Spellshield Gem on the bulky Boulder Brute, which can become near impossible to deal with.

Support Cards: Wreckasaurus, Crackling Sprout, Crushing Blow, Feral Ogre 

Paladin of the Necropolis
Paladin has synergy with incremental health gain effects, which are actually pretty easy to find on commons.  Neophyte of Xarlox and Gozzog have very minor health gain effects that you'll activate multiple times per game.  Branching into Diamond offers more options in the form of Adamanthian Scriviner and Prophet of Wren.  The problem is gaining health doesn't bring you any closer to victory if you never play your paladin, however if you do, he is a fairly obstinate target for you opponent to deal with.  Four defense will withstand most conditional removal like Burn and Crackling Rot, and even cards like Inner Conflict won't negate the effect of Paladin.  The Paladin also has Lifedrain himself, meaning if you manage to give him a buff with something like Bunoshi or Noble Citizenry he might be able to just carry you to victory.  There are probably a few different Paladin builds that will vary depending on how much you want to rely on him, but the Blood-Diamond gives you the most health gain options to slowly bleed your opponent to death.

Support Cards: Adamanthian Scrivener, Giant Mosquito, Prophet of Wren, Blood Aura

Exalted Victory
Okay, it ain't no Gore Feast of Kog'Tepetl, but in a human deck it's pretty damn close.  This gives all your troops a +2 Attack Boost for the turn, and any of those that are humans get Swiftstrike and Steadfast as an added bonus.  It's incredibly difficult to block this on turn four, and it has even more snowball potential considering Sir Giles Rowan's ability will usually be activated around the same turn you play Victory.  Giles puts you in Ruby-Diamond, which might be all you can safely manage using just commons.  Royal Herald will help a bit with resource management while the rest of the inspire team helps stack these incremental buffs on top of each other.  Adding Sapphire gives you the incredibly efficient Buccaneer though, alongside a good array of Flight troops.

Support Cards: Human Troops like Ruby Pyromancer, Vanguard of Gawaine, Wounded War Hero

Timestep Magistrate
There's a really nice array of "enters play" abilities attached to humans, particularly at the common slot.  Buccaneer, Noble Citizenry, Bastion of Adamanth all work excellently with Timestep, and when they return to play you not only get their effect, but it will also trigger any Inspire effects.  One-Shot abilities are also tempting targets for reversion effects like Reversion and Fish Hands.  As Quick Actions these can be used in tandem with Timestep or on buffed opposing troops as a makeshift combat trick.  One of the benefits of this strategy is that while the deck runs around Timestep it doesn't need it to be effective, as many of the Diamond-Sapphire troops you will want to run are solid in their own right.

Support Cards: Buccaneer, Noble Citizenry, Bastion of Adamanth, Fish Hands  

If you want to try your hand at Rock League match I'll be prowling around the Proving Grounds in the Eastern Time Zone evenings, looking in chat for matches.  Speaking of chat, it's going to be getting an overhaul soon in an upcoming patch, alongside a mail overhaul designed to make trades via mail easier and safer.  You can check out all the details in the Friday Update, along with some PvE cards from the upcoming Frost Ring Arena!

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.

The Telltale Stark

This article contains Minor Spoilers for the First Episode of the Telltale Game of Thrones video game and for the song of Ice & Fire series.

You may have first heard of Telltale Games through The Walking Dead series.  These games are essentially visual novels, where you are asked to make decisions for characters at certain points in time, often under the pressure of a timer.  Aside from the occasional quick time event, your "success" or "failure" often comes down to the consequences of these decisions.  I was never a huge fan of The Walking Dead so I passed on picking it up, but when I heard there was a Game of Thrones version coming out earlier this month it caught my interest.  The genre had finally been meshed with subject matter I could really get behind, and after the first chapter, I wasn't disappointed.

The game is broken down into six episodes which are released periodically to form the entire story.  During the first episode you take control of three characters related to the Forrester House, bannermen to the Starks during the War of the Five Kings which occupies the majority of the second and third books of the series.  Gared Tuttle, squire to Lord Gregor Forrester is serving alongside the Stark army when he is forced back to Ironrath, the seat of House Forrester, with a grim message for his Uncle Duncan, the castellan.  Gared is a young man of humble beginnings, relatively unskilled at swordplay but knowledgeable of combat from his time as squire.  Much of the swordplay and "combat" is concentrated in his storyline.  

However fans of Game of Thrones should know the tension in the series doesn't always come at the edge of a sword, but at the tip of a tongue.  Balancing diplomacy and deceit among a cast of characters that each have their own agenda is part of the political intrigue in GoT, and to play is first-hand got my heart racing.  While Gared's decisions often revolve around loyalty and honor, the duplicitous nature of Westeros politics takes precedence in the other two characters of the first episode.  

Ethan Forrester is the third son of Lord Gregor, but is forced into the role of leading the house in his father and elder brother's absence.  He is surrounded by competent men who each have their own opinions on the best form of leadership, including the diplomatic Castellan Duncan, the stoic Maester Ortengryn, and the stubborn master-at-arms Ser Royland.  Who you choose to take council from in critical moments will shape the young leader, and there are plenty of critical moments for Ethan and House Forrester as he tries to navigate his family through a sea of shifting alliances.

Mira is called before Cersei & Tyrion in King's Landing.

Ethan's older sister Mira is handmaiden to Margeary Tyrell, the betrothed of King Joffrey Baratheon.  While Ethan has the backing of his ancestral family lineage behind his decisions, Mira is in uncharted territory at King's Landing.  There are eyes and ears everywhere, and several characters have something to offer her... if she can trust them.  Her mother writes to her hoping she can pull some strings with Margeary to benefit House Forrester in these troubled times, but from the onset of her storyline it becomes apparent that task will be nowhere near easy.  Within minutes of adopting Mira's character she is called before Queen Regeant Cersei Lannister to vouch for her family's loyalty to the crown.  Cersei hurls volley after volley at Mira in quick succession, all in the presence of Margeary and Tyrion Lannister, Master of Coin.  It's one of the most tense moments in game, and the part I most want to replay for fear I may have inadvertently pissed of the wrong person, without even being fully aware of it.  So much is said in the sideways glances and the silence between decisions that even when I'm pretty sure I emerged unscathed, I'm left with doubt.  You may know if your answers pleased Cersei from the prompts in the upper-left of the screen, but what does Margeary really think of how you handled yourself?  Or Tyrion?  And what of your fellow handmaiden Sera, is she to be trusted?

One of the criticisms I've seen in the forums of the first episode is that none of your decisions bear consequential fruit right away.  The episode's thrilling end is the same regardless of your decisions, though with five more episodes to come, it's certain the choices highlighted at the end will affect the story in the future, such as Ethan's punishment for a man accused of thievery.  Even innocuous decisions such as whether to pocket a key weigh on my mind.  What implications could this have down the road?  Will I encounter some door I can't open without it?  Will someone notice the key is gone and suspect me or treachery?

An early concern I had about the game was that it would shoehorn in popular characters from the show just for the sake of having them in there.  However the retinue in King's Landing weaves itself perfectly into the personal plot of the Forresters, without detracting from the main plot set forth in the books.  The voice acting is solid and adds to the tension if you're a fan of the television adaptation, since you know the wrong word at a particular moment could mean a beheading (or debearding).  If you're concerned that the story will be mired in King's Landing and Ironrath, worry not.  There are still two more playable characters in the overall series that haven't been introduced, including the exiled Asher Forrester in Essos, where Daenerys Targaryen is becoming a rising star in Slaver's Bay.  There's also good reason to believe we'll be seeing the Night's Watch of The Wall, though more than that I won't say.

I picked the game up on sale over Steam, and I'm really eager to play the second episode, slated to release in January, in the hopes of finally seeing some of the consequences of my decisions.  Fans of the show to consider this game, particularly if they enjoyed The Walking Dead or visual novels, though those unfamiliar with Game of Thrones might be lost a bit regarding some of the more important events in the game.  The first episode clocked in around two-and-a-half hours for me, and with five more to go that means a full playthrough will be the better part of a day.  

And We'll Never Beat Royals

A few weeks since its release, one of the dominant draft archetypes to emerge from Shattered Destiny is humans, thanks in no small part to the addition of Sir Giles Rowan, the new Ruby Champion.  If you manage to get a single Ruby threshold, you can spend four charges to target a troop.  That troop and every troop that shares a trait with it (Race, Class, Robot, Pet) gets a permanent +1 Attack boost, including troops outside of play in your hand, deck, or graveyard!  This is a strong effect to be sure, but it does force you to try to keep most of your troops within a particular race to make the most of it.  While I've seen Giles in Orc and Dwarf decks as well, he gets truly scary when combined with Humans, since their troops tend to be a little on the weak side, but excel in the utility they bring to decks.

Take an unassuming card like Shield Trainer.  Though he was the bane of Burn in triple Shards of Fate draft from his inspire ability, he was quickly outclassed by larger troops, with little ability to trade with other troops once players reached four or five resources.  With Giles power he grows to a 2/1 just by being another human, which greatly increases the number of troops he can trade with.  While this meager buff may not sound impressive, keep in mind this effect is just what is happening to your support crew.  The main hitters in your deck will get this permanent power boost, which makes them more threatening on an aggressive draw and better to trade with problematic troops in you're behind.  Daring Swordsman becomes more daring, winning fights with even the meanest of Squirrels; the Phoenix Guard Aeronaut can finally chew up the the 2/4 Flight troops that clogged the skies in Set 1; and Sword Trainer can sharpen the skill of your late game guys even more.

Aside from overall power, there are additional pros that come with drafting humans.  Unlike Dwarves, which can quickly fall apart if you don't get enough cards to support it, Humans tend to be more forgiving of dipping outside of their race.  Since you won't be assembling construction plans or firing a Volcannon, you can afford to take an Arena Regular or Goreseeker to round out your curve (if the class matches, these troops will also benefit from Rowan's ability).  Humans also have a greater pool of removal to choose from.  Diamond and Ruby both have strong removal options in Shards of Fate, and Sniper of Gawaine will often be a 3/2 when he hits the field, giving you greater range for taking down your opponent's men (sorry Wreckasaurus... not today).  

Some of the cons associated with humans is, more than the other races, you have to pay attention to your threshold when you draft it.  You'll likely be Diamond as one of your main shards, with Sapphire and Ruby as support.  This can be tricky to juggle if you don't see any fixing, so it's often good to make sure you have a core deck of two shards that can win even if the third type is absent.  Also, even though Humans are deep, it is an incredibly popular archetype, meaning you'll likely be fighting tooth and nail in the third pack for an Inner Conflict or Ruby Pyromancer while the Wild and Blood players happily scoop up their Murders and Boulder Brutes later in the pack (in my experience, good Blood and Wild cards tend to go later in 2-2-1 than they have in Triple Set 1).  My main caution would be don't try to force Humans if it doesn't look open.  How will you know if it's open?  A general rule of thumb is to look for Royals.

If you are at pick three or four and there is still a card with the word Royal in its name, that's a good sign that Humans are open.  I'll use my last draft as an example.  My first two picks were an Agent of MOLE and an Electroid, and I was perfectly happy to punch face with robotic fists for three rounds, Kismet willing.  But pick three came around and a Royal Valkyr was still in there.  Despite some solid robot support also in the pack, I scooped up the Valkyr, being a strong signal that the guy passing to me was not in Humans (the first pick was likely the rare, which could have been a Jags for all I knew, so you can't glean much from that).  Pick four was a Royal Herald, which may not be enough to get many people to abandon their first two picks, but combined with the Valkyr was enough to abandon my second pick (I could still run the Agent) and run Humans.  Herald is a perfect card for the deck: indispensable threshold fixing early game (when you need it most) and can usually poke in for a few points of damage while your opponent is tunneling, or will be traded early after you've gotten a useful ability out of her.  One of the problems with inspire troops is you are often reluctant to block with them so that you can keep abusing their effect.  After turn four, the Herald becomes a 3/1, which adds more potential to alpha strikes if she has survived that long.

Other Royal troops to look out for around this time is the Royal Enforcer (a 5/5 with steadfast in tri-shard decks), Royal Cutblood (a fragile 3-drop that is nonetheless incredibly difficult to race if your opponent cannot kill it or you can protect it), and Royal Diplomat, which might be my favorite uncommon in Shattered Destiny.  The Diplomat is just so devastating to play against, and has seemed to cause my opponents fits when it hits the field.  With Gems and Rowan's pump he is a 4/4 Steadfast-Swiftstrike-Flight, which is incredibly difficult to play around.  He resists a large chunk of conditional removal and can single-handedly stop your opponent's assault.  I managed to snag one in pack two alongside a Sword Trainer in pack three.  In one game I played Augmented Awakening on the Trainer which had died earlier in the game (now a 5/4 post Rowan/AA) and played the Diplomat on the following turn making it a 9/4!  That's the kind of diplomatic power John Kerry dreams of.

There are other beefy bodies you'll want to be on the lookout for.  Bastion of Adamanth is really good at locking down your opponent's biggest troop to push through some damage.  Wounded War Hero doesn't look all that impressive, but if you get him out on the first turn he can quikly snowball out of control.  Town Crier is a card I was dubious about initially, but the draw ability can win you the game in some situations, and his stats look much better with the extra point of attack.  Removal is somewhat limited in the first two packs.  Crackling Bolt and Meek are the most frequently seen cards, though Boulder Toss (if you can snag one) and Adrenaline Rush are equally powerful options.  After that you should focus on threshold fixing through the uncommon shards or Herald (Immortal Tears if you have to), and rounding out your curve.  Pack three can be rough depending on how you open, but between the three shards there's usually a good pick somewhere in there (the Royal rule applies here too, if you're lucky enough).  Prioritize good, cheap removal and inspire/evasion troops.  Shards of Fate and Adaptable Infusion Device can be godsends if you're feeling iffy about your fixing, though the Shards of Fate doesn't provide you with the ever important charge for Rowan, so exercise caution.  Benjamin is also a bomb in the human deck that could reasonably be passed to you within the first few picks.  Getting him online early could lead to insurmountable card advantage.

Here's the full draft deck for reference so you can see what a Human deck might look like.

Champion: Sir Giles Rowan
Shards (17)
8 Diamond Shard
5 Sapphire Shard
2 Ruby Shard
1 Shards of Fate
1 Shard of Innovation
Troops (18)
1 Royal Valkyr
1 Launchpad Specialist
1 Royal Diplomat (Flight/Swiftstrike)
1 Bastion of Adamanth
1 Phoenix Guard Aeronaut (Swiftstrike)
1 Subterranean Spy
1 Town Crier
1 Sword Trainer
1 Prophet of Wren
1 Chimera Guard Outrider
2 Royal Herald
1 Agent of MOLE
1 Imp Hoodlums
1 Phoenix Guard Trainer
1 Phoenix Guard Scout
1 Reactor Bot
1 Arena Regular
Actions (4)
1 Augmented Awakening
1 Ruby Lance
1 Meek
1 Diamond Aura*
Artifacts (1)
1 Adaptable Infusion Device
*I'm pretty sure I didn't start Diamond Aura, but I can't for the life of me remember the 40th card and I know I boarded it in frequently.

Next week I'll be doing a State of the Game article and (hopefully) video to overview the year of Hex and what we can expect from the game this winter.  If I actually get a couple days off, I'll try to stream a draft if I get a chance since it was requeste.  Also make sure you log in to the game between now and January 4th for your chance to get the Holiday Sleeves.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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.