Craft or Dust – Revelations

Hi, it’s stormguard798, and welcome to the Craft or Dust for the new Eternal Set: Revelations. Now, the only time we did this previously, it got a little weird. What can I say, I like shipping. In any case, here’s how we’re going to do things this time round: I’ll assign each card (or cycle of cards) a verdict – Hold, Craft or Dust. Of course, don’t just read the verdict – it’s absolutely worthwhile to read how I came to that conclusion. I think. >.<

• Hold means that I think the card certainly has some potential and has a couple of more niche archetypes that it could fit into, but at the same time it’s not be going to be format defining or a major player, so just hold onto the copies you’ve got. 
• Craft means I think the card is very good and expect it to be fairly meta-warping, either in Expedition or Throne. If you want to be building competitive, Tier 1 decks in these formats, you’ll be well-served with a playset of these. 
• Dust means that I don’t think the card is particularly good at all. It might fight into some incredibly niche archetypes or might be a strong card in Limited, but at least in Constructed, it’s too slow or is too conditional to be any good. 

*Disclaimer: That being said, please craft and dust responsibly. Don’t make any decisions you might regret down the line. Also, who knows, there might be some very powerful combos involving some terribly niche cards; these are just my first impressions. 😛 I’m unfortunately not the supreme overseer of all Eternal, otherwise I’d be way better at this game. 

(Thank you very much to the team over at Eternal Warcry for uploading all these card images in a timely manner. ‘Tis very helpful. :DDD)

(This is also not an exhaustive list – just cards that I thought would be worthwhile to mention. If anyone would like my thoughts on any other card, I’m more than happy to share those too. :})

Sketches – Hold

Similar to the Runes at common, instead of providing one-of spells, you can instead pick up some relics that you can use repeatedly on turns to come. Unlike the Heirlooms, however, you need to pay a steep Amplify cost to pick up the relic and pay even more power for what is usually an overcosted effect. The cost of including these cards is relatively low – after all, you just need to play Sigils – which is why I can certainly see these popping up in Expedition decks, but realistically I can’t see people not having anything better to do with their power in what appears to be a relatively proactive format. After all, Vines, Wind and Elding are all legal in Expedition. (More on that in a bit.) 

As such, I think this may be one of the very few rare power cycles that I’m not crafting immediately. Ideally, the deck should want power sinks and have an effective way of utilising these expensive relics – Temporal Distortion/Abyssal Scrying Relic control comes to mind – but I don’t see these being extremely popular. 

EDIT: It has come to my attention that Research Lab permanently buffs the stats of a unit, much like Unbreakable Tradition. For some reason, I thought that these Sketches would be balanced with each other, and thought it only temporary. I am delighted to be wrong. There are plenty of ways to augment your units in Justice to take advantage of the boosted stats – Fearless Crescendo, anyone? – and by branching out into other factions, you can do some truly terrifying things with the likes of Moldermuck and Purveyor. It’s surprisingly fairly costed for its effect, which tacked onto a power, is ridiculous. Other than that, the Primal and Time Sketches also seem solid, but are certainly far more conditional in the decks they fit into.

Whilst we’re here: let’s also talk about Runes! I think that once again, whilst the costs for the spells the Runes generate are very niche and overcosted, there are decks that will want them. For instance, Mono Fire might want the Fire rune to provide a little extra burn when you’re flooded, or the a Midrange Shadow deck might want Ghostform to break through a board stall. Much like the Sketches, there will be decks that want these – I just think that you do still have to be incredibly selective in which decks want them. 

D’Angolo Houndmaster – Craft

It may look a little anemic, but pumping out cheap 4/4s is no joke. It’s incredibly easy to dump your hand out right now, particularly with all the support from the new Discard outlets, and going extremely aggressive is certainly one way to close out the game against the rest of the field. before they get the opportunity to get set-up. Your opponent can’t play cards if they’re dead. I am a little unsure about how exactly I want to build around this card, balancing dumping out one’s hand against it being profitable to only attack with exactly 2 units, but the potential is certainly there. I expect this to be a shoo-in in Expedition Fire Aggro decks, at least, and possibly even Throne. 

Raging Jackal – Hold

A 2/1 for Valor is an aggressive beat down unit that is difficult to block in the early game. That being said, like all other X/1s, it’s easily plucked off by Autotread. Or Snowball, and doesn’t bring much to the table other than stats, and doesn’t have much of a leg over the slew of other 2/1s available if your opponent wasn’t planning on blocking it anyways. Its one saving grace is that it is a Grenadin, and although there isn’t a ‘lord’ effect available in Expedition, I could certainly see an aggressive Grenadins deck coming together there. I’m not thrilled with the card, but I’m optimistic. 

Recycle – Craft

Oh my Grenadin producing spell child, how I love you so. It sacrifice things and produces a bunch of bodies, which is what you’re looking for Shrine decks. It also converts your Gleaming Grenadin into enough bodies for a 0-cost Tesseract Prime: it’s not going to happen often, but when it does, it’s going to be wicked. You can get value out of your unit or relic at instant speed in response to removal, and with the new Heirloom Cycle, this is a great way to make use of the relic you get out from that. The effect might be a little narrow, but there are going to be plenty of decks that want this card, and I can certainly see this card making a huge splash. 

Rocketblaster – Dust

Paying 1, exhausting the unit and sacrificing a relic requires a lot of different pieces to come together, but being able to lob 3 damage around repeatedly is an incredibly powerful effect. My biggest concern with this card is being able to generate relics incidentally on a consistent enough basis – if you’re spending actual cards out of your hand to pay for this effect, then this becomes significantly worse. The effect certainly has potential – I’m just not sure where to fit it, and the set-up cost is probably too high to justify the effect. 

Hellfire Valkyrie – Hold 

Now I traditionally don’t like big, expensive units that don’t have a relevant summon effect. Having said that, this is Expedition, and the removal is…pitiful, to say the least, particularly for larger units. At least give a bro an Annihilate, c’mon! As a result, with its 4 health, the odds that Hellfire Valkyrie sticks around for a turn or 2 are pretty good, in which case it can dish out some serious damage – as mentioned just previously, tossing out Torches every turn is no joke – the effect even hits Speaking Circles to boot. Being a Valkyrie, it has already seen some play in the Ambition Valkyrie Warp decks in Expedition as some hefty top-end. However, I don’t expect this card to make any waves in Throne at all, which is why I’m hesitant to craft any copies. 

Sanity Scorcher – Craft

First off, I think Stealth as a mechanic is going to lead to some pretty interesting gameplay, and it’s one that rewards good knowledge of the format, which I can always appreciate. In other news, I really like Sanity Scorcher as a card. Double-damage works really well with aggressive Fire strategies – slap some pump spells or a weapon on this bad-boy and you’re good to go, and you’re always able to dump some excess power into its Intrigue. Certainly don’t underestimate the power of a solid Mindfire – that card has won me plenty of games against an opposing Lifesteal blocker. Whilst it doesn’t fit into the lowest-to-the-ground aggro decks, I expect it to show up in a lot of Expedition Fire Aggro decks, and possibly some bigger Fire Midrange decks in Throne. 

Callous Triggerman – Dust

One way I like to consider Stealth Cards is how happy am I if their cover gets blown before it rocks round to your next turn, perhaps through a ping, a sweeper, or some other negative effect, but doesn’t actually finish it off. For instance, even if I don’t get the Mindfire part, a 5-cost Sanity Scorcher simply being a 4/4 Double Damage is fine, if not terribly exciting. On the other hand, a 4/3 Quickdraw is definitely underpar for 5 power – all of the power of this card comes from the reveal. When the Triggerman reveals its ultimate, it’s pretty good – being modal certainly helps in that regard – but at the same time, I don’t know of any deck that particularly wants this, and the effect is just raw value that I don’t see as being as particularly broken. I don’t think it’ll end up seeing a lot of play nor be particularly good – pluckable by a Flash Fry is not a good look. 

Open Way Supplier – Dust 

Giving a huge chonker killer is nice. Giving it to your 1/1 dork is decidedly not. Besides, there are plenty other options for power dorks that giving killer to a random unit just isn’t enough upside – in Throne, there are plenty of more versatile options, and in Expedition, I can’t imagine playing this over Logistics Expert. There might be some decks that you want 8 power dorks, but those don’t tend to be the decks with particularly potent units to give Killer to – I’m thinking typically go-wide ‘Token’ strategies in those cases. If you’re an incredible lucksack like myself, I could see considering it, but expect to be disappointed most of the time. 

Thunderfist Striker – Dust

To kick things off, it’s a just a 2/2 Valor, which isn’t really exciting, but after you’ve got the first combat trick to push it through, it then just starts fuelling itself. The question then becomes if this card is worth that upside of being a 4/4 Valor with set-up – it’s not as if the card snowballs uncontrollably unlike something like a W&M. A 4/4 Valor is a solid unit, but with no other evasion, it’s still not a ridiculous threat. The card definitely needs support to consistently work, and I just don’t think that the payoff is quite there for you to put in the effort to make it good. 

Frontline Healer – Craft

A slimmed down Lumen Defender, it’s a reasonable deadly blocker that also gains you back some life after taking some damage. It’s exactly the kind of Time Midrange card that I’d want to shore up my aggro matchups, and although I’m not terribly concerned about aggro in the Throne meta at the moment and even less concerned about Time Midrange, I could certainly see it slotting in following some meta changes, and if a Time Midrange deck emerges – think Ayur – then I think this slots in nicely. It’s never going to be particularly splashy or powerful, but it’s always going to be a solid roleplayer. 

Dashing Scoundrel – Dust

I am not impressed by this card at all. The charge battle skill and ‘attacking units’ ability lean towards it being aggressive, but the stat line on this as a 3 cost 2/2 is just so poor. Giving all your 1/1s deadly is nice, but in those types of decks, it’s much more about pushing damage through anthem-esque effects like Obelisk. Giving Deadly is fine defensively, but with the clause being attacking units, isn’t great for the strategy that a bunch of Deadly units really support. I just can’t see this card fitting into any deck. 

Kanya, Ironthorn Envoy – Dust

Now that is an incredibly pricey activated ability. Powerful, but incredibly pricey. Her whole set-up wants you to go as wide as possible, though I’m not sure how many other outlets you’ll have to pour your power into. Now, if you’re not on a particularly go-wide plan, then this is essentially a 4/4 that will ramp you 1, maybe 2 power in most situations, which is fine, but not terribly excited especially compared to other options since it doesn’t do anything else. Even if the power does come in undepleted, that’s only helpful if you can take advantage of the power that turn – since in most cases you’re probably only picking up a single Sigil, that’s not fantastic because you’ll rarely be able to spend that power on.  The deckbuilding cost isn’t particularly high – I mean, it just requires you to play units and attack with them – I just can’t imagine any deck wanting this. 

The Last Carnosaur – Hold

Even if it gets revealed, a 6/5 for 5 is still a decently large body. If it doesn’t, the floor on the card is already a 6/5 killer, which is fantastic; being able to give your whole team killer is a truly ridiculous effect. If you’ve ever played with Striking Snake Formation, the card completely stomps people. That being said, we once again harken back to the fact I simply don’t think Time Midrange is in a fantastic place right now – it’s a little too fair in a world of doing unfair things. Carnosaur is still a powerful card, and if there’s a card that would exist to be the glue to hold together a deck with a bunch of chonkers, it’s this card. I don’t know where it fits, but I’m ready to be surprised. 

Supply Lines – Dust

First things first, I don’t think this is a card you can play in Throne, period, thanks to the existence of Send An Agent. Expensive Mono-Faction relics are generally a massive liability, especially those that don’t have a summon effect or have an immediate board impact. In terms of Expedition, I could see it fit into some kind of go-wide shell with ‘token’ makers, but those decks again typically don’t reach 6 power very easily, and if they do, they’re certainly not going to invest so much of it into a potentially do nothing relic. If you try and play this in a more-midrangey strategy as a ‘fair’ card, then it’s just too slow. The effect is certainly splashy – I just don’t think it’ll be consistently powerful enough. 

Valiant Guardian – Hold

Let me just be very clear – I don’t ever plan on fair-casting this card. I will make a copy of it with NPI or bring the OG back onto the board with A Life for A Life, but this is quite a steep cost to pay retail for. That being said, whilst its spells tax isn’t as hard as a Scourge of Frosthome per se, it’s still going to be a giant pain to remove, and is a strong beater and advantage engine to boot, making it a perfect target to cheat into play. I don’t think this is powerful enoughright now to replace the build-a-board in the form of Vara/Azindel, but being a Sentinel could also allow it to be brought back with Stirring Sands. It’s a little narrow, but there’s no denying it’s an incredibly powerful effect. Now to see just  how to play it. 

Reset The Day – Dust

Wrath of Caiphus this is not – at least that card can be exchanged for power early game, and even then it doesn’t see a lot of play. It doesn’t even dump the cards into your void to cheat out. I can see maybe wanting a copy of this in the 4F Ruin decks as an extra Draw 7 spell, but even then it’s so clunky and conditional. I can’t imagine wanting to play this card outside of that. 

Awakening – Hold

Don’t think about what cards it plays for you. Just think of it as a 1 power Discard outlet that enables you to Discard a card and that gives you 2 units to fiddle around with Elding, Devour, and all those other great sacrifice outlets. That’s it. It might not be fantastic in Limited because you don’t have the way to enable the shenanigans you want to, but in Constructed, I think you certainly have the support. I expect this to be a major roleplayer in Discard Aggro as well as Reanimator decks since it dumps the card you want in your void whilst giving you the units for A Life for a Life. Of course it doesn’t quite have the same powerful level as some of the other cards, and it still only fits in a few specific archetypes, but I suspect you’ll see more of it than you were expecting. 

Iron Priestess – Hold

Another solid roleplayer, it gives you another card to discard upon Discarding her, which is always nice. Also, you haven’t lived until you’ve given this card a Purveyor buff and swung in before plopping the weapon onto something else. I could also see the card come up in other contexts particularly in aggressive decks with ways to make use of the weapon she produces. That being said, I haven’t been particularly impressed by the Justice Discard decks at least in the early stages of the format – I might be missing something, but in terms of power and consistency, they just pale to the Feln version. Henceforth, I do think that if there is a version of a Justice Discard deck, this card will definitely slot in there – whether one exists and is good is an entirely different question. 

Custom Munitions – Hold 

Similarly to Iron Priestess, this is a repeatable Discard outlet that provides a substantial buff to any unit to really push damage – flying Shoaldredgers anyone? You can run out of cards to pitch to this pretty quickly, but that shouldn’t be a huge issue if you’re planning on closing out the game against your opponents. There is a little tension between Warcry and wanting to discard cards from your deck, but that’s a minor issue. All this being said, this card runs into the same issues as Iron Priestess where I’m just not sure if the deck this card supports is necessarily that good. We’ll see. 

Kako, the Bodyguard – Hold

I think a 3 drop with lifesteal that can grow out of control is a pretty potent threat, on top of having an ability to neutralise attackers for a turn. Unfortunately, if Kako does get revealed immediately, 3 power for a 2/2 Lifesteal is rather underwhelming, especially given the other assortment of Midrange threats available – having what is supposed to be a defensive threat be able to be plucked off by a Salvo isn’t great. Also, a large majority of the other Stealth units reveal themselves at the beginning of their turn, so if you see one just sticking around, the odds that it’s a Kako are rather high. The potential for the card is certainly there, I’m just not sure if it’ll be far too easy to play around or too slow for the pace of this format.

Manacles – Hold 

Yet another card with a lot of potential, taking out 2 units and making it even more difficult to play fair midrange decks. Poor Midrange. :} It’s also more relic-based removal, which is relevant for the decks that care about that. It is a pretty big blowout if your opponents have a way to remove the Mancles mid-combat and blow you out, but the tempo swing that this provides is incredible that is worth the risk in certain builds. Unfortunately, with Eldings dominating both formats at present, it is incredibly easy to sacrifice one of the Manacled units and free up the other, which means Mancles hasn’t been particularly effective in my experience at holding anything down for long. I could see it be more popular once the inevitable nerf to Elding hits, however. 

Experimental Forcefield – Dust

I can already imagine all the meme decks that this card will spawn, and while I think they’re going to fun to play, the clause of ‘wtihout flying’ is going to really hold back this card – there are plenty of flying threats. Since the Elding decks also tend to go wide, you might be hit with a harder power tax than you might imagine. It’s probably a solid option once you’re able to protect the relic with Face Aegis, but it’s a very precarious tightrope to balance – one removal spell and you’re just…dead. It’s certainly a fun card to play around with, and some decks will have absolutely no way to deal with it, but the breadth of answers with which to deal with this and blow you out are just too high. 

Greatblade – Dust

This feels like it’s a very powerful haymaker in Limited, but I can’t imagine running this card in Constructed – the odds that you’ll be able to get the bonus clause on the Greatblade for the smorgasbord of effects it provides is rather low, and other than that, it’s just a fancy Raildriver. Challenge By Law is a great effect, but can be rather conditional, which is why at most I stuck it in the market in previous metagames. Dropping a 5 cost Weapon on a unit in Constructed just seems like the best opportunity to get blown out. 

Ky, Awakened Master – Hold

I think Ky is a really solid Justice Midrange unit that has a very low deck-building cost – it simply requires you to play units. It has a relevant summon effect for the cards in your hand – it is possible that you end up with no units left in hand by the time you drop this, but you can play around that with your known information – and it could give a pretty substantial buff to the rest of your deck once you drop your skill-augmented unit. It’s not quite the ‘I’ll take over the game if you don’t deal with me’ of 6-cost Svetya, but it does provide a solid amount of upfront value. It’s probably not making massive waves in Throne – when has Justice midrange ever been a thing in THAT format – but it could certainly have some potential in Expedition. As with Hellfire Valkyrie, the odds you can stick an expensive threat are pretty good. 

Guardian Angel – Dust

This reminds me very much of a card in Magic: The Gathering that was in all the intro decks for about a gajillion years – Aegis Angel. It’s a great Limited card – I mean, it’s a massive flier, of course it is – but saw zero play in Constructed. I believe that’s what we’re also going to get with Guardian Angel. Tacking on Endurance is a fantastic bonus, and the summon effect is not negligible, but again, they simply remove the expensive monofaction threat before moving on with their lives, and unfortunately, it doesn’t leave behind value once it’s gone. This card is going to destroy games of Limited, but is too expensive to consider for Constructed. 

Bottled Insight – Craft

Don’t be fooled by this innocuous little common – there is no effect in the game at present that replace itself with such efficiency, and is a crucial card to dig for combo pieces for the decks that want it. The discard from the amplify also helps provide an outlet for various card strategies – Exhibit A: Elding. It’s certainly not going to fit in all Primal decks, but the decks that want it know that they do, and it’s going to be quite the potent card there. 

Cyber Skimmer – Craft

It may just be a 1/1 for 1, but it’s a fantastic card. It’s a great early attacker, and later in the game when the body is underwhelming, you can convert it for more cards and more dorks! It’s a Grenadin so it slots into Grenadin synergies, it’s a flier for the Majestic Skies decks, and its evasive nature slots into the Throne Room/Tormented Crown decks very nicely. It’ll be a fantastic roleplayer in a lot of aggressive Primal decks, and if cheap aggro becomes popular again (Turn 2 4/4s RIP Aggro) I could certainly see this card playing a huge part in the meta. 

Obstructive Flicker – Hold

The so-called ‘strictly’ better Swift Refusal, it’s an obvious replacement there for any deck with sufficient Primal in order to support it. The 1 damage to each attacking creature is incredibly conditional – I’ve never seen Warning Jolt played – but the 1 time you play it to blowout low-to-the-ground aggro, you’ll be glad to have it. And your opponent will probably be flipping the table. Since both modes of the effect are fairly conditional, I can’t see playing this card maindeck, only market, but I can certainly see it slotting into a lot of markets moving forward

Tormented Crown – Dust

The most recent example of a person trying to do cute things with this card is Systiem in the most recent Expedition TNE with a sweet Jennev Autotread Combo list, and the deck has destroyed me on ladder a couple of times. Despite getting my butt handed to me, I still believe all the parts of it just feel a little too fragile – the relic just sits there doing nothing until you’ve gotten in all your hits, and the combo is incredibly easy to disrupt as we’ve seen. There are definitely comparisons between this card and The Throne Room – the difference is that it’s much easier for your opponent to remove the Crown, and then all your hard work is for naught. The card is a spicy build-around – just not something I believe is consistent enough to ever be competitive. 

Hidden Crusader – Hold 

A card is nice, and a 2/2 is also nice. However, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to get this card revealed since the underwhelming ⅔ body means that it won’t be able to connect particularly well, so I feel that most of the onus will be on the opponent to reveal Hidden Crusader, and a la the Kako situation, I expect that the Crusader will be fairly obvious, and therefore straightforward to play around. That being said, it’s still providing a solid amount of value either way – I’m just not sure what deck it fits into. The obvious-at-first-glance home for it is Soldiers, but I don’t think Soldiers wants such a reactive 3 drop, even if the value is great. Let’s see where this goes. 

Jufi, Sprite Seer – Hold

In a world where it’s very easy to pick up extra cards, Jufi is going to grow out of hand very quickly. I’m not a massive fan of the Intrigue ability since it just scatters random cards throughout your deck, so I’m mostly just ignoring that ability. Unfortunately, Jufi has no inherent evasion, which means even if they get some ridiculous stats, your opponent can just chump them for days. As such, I do think the raw power is certainly there – raw stats are still raw stats – but the card definitely needs some help to really make it shine. 

Velise, Bear Rider – Craft

This card is fantastic. It’s a Soldier, which is a relevant unit type. In aggressive archetypes, the 2-3-Velise curve provides some additional damage on top of being able to filter away excess power. In decks that care about Discard, it provides a Discard outlet, and also provides Overwhelm to those cheap, aggressively statted units that the deck can generate in a jiffy – Overwhelm Shoaldredger or Purveyor buffed-unit anyone? This card isn’t broken in the same way as others are in the set, but it provides a consistency that a lot of decks are looking for, and even though not everyone is playing this card yet, frankly they should. It’s great. 

Davia, Azurebreaker – Craft

Unlike our previous entry, Davia is begging to be broken. Snapped in half. What have you. The obvious haymaker is to stuff this in a deck with Aid of the Hoorus, Discard them, and then watch your opponent weep. Another route is to go the copying route a la Mirror Image/End of Hostilities to simply flood your board with far too many Davias and then simply whack your opponent to death the next turn. There might be some kind of sweet combo involving Davia that I haven’t unearthed yet, but I’m down to figure it out. It’s a little pricey at 7 power, but the effect and board impact it can have is ridiculous, and I’m expecting to see at least some number of Davia decks down the line. 

Relicfeaster – Dust 

It spits out a bonus big beater, which is nice for a card that you are forced to overcommit into in order to be good, but the fact that it nor the Slime has any inherent evasion once again raises the chump blocking issue. When you sacrifice all your Amber Locks to this and your opponent proceeds to Permafrost it, you are going to be very sad. The power is certainly there for a card that only costs 2 power, but I think it’s just requires too high of a set-up cost to be worthwhile and the pay-off isn’t quite where I want it to be. 

Twisted Farmer – Dust

I’m not sure what this card is exactly trying to do. You have the option of making a bunch of sacrifice fodder, but since they all die at the end of turn, the odds that you have the power to also do the sacrificing in the same turn isn’t particularly likely. The Ambush on the card also allows you to flood your board with a bunch of surprise blockers, which is cute, but still isn’t particularly power efficient, and the ⅓ doesn’t do much by itself. It’s sort of cute, and it’ll certainly catch me and I imagine some other people off-guard, I just don’t believe the effect is that powerful nor worthwhile to build around. 

Waxing Moon – Hold

The most recent iteration of this archetype was piloted by colacoma in the Throne TNE in its Menacing version, but what you’re trying to do is get a relic out like Vara’s Sanctum that grants Deadly to your units, and then mow down your opponent’s board with a pinging effect like Blitrok or Yetipult. Obviously, this strategy isn’t great if your opponent doesn’t have units for you to mow down, which is where the card draw side of Waning Moon comes into play. My biggest problem with the card is that you won’t ever get to control which side of the moon you want, which means I suspect you’ll often run into situations where you’ll wind up with the wrong mode at the wrong time. Not requiring you to only have 1 unit to have it online and costing 2 power cheaper certainly helps though. It could also be a solid roleplayer in more defensive Shadow Midrange decks, particularly in Expedition where Moldermuck is delightfully popular, but I probably wouldn’t want the 4-of in those types of decks – could still see it as a market option, however. 

Subversion Slug – Hold

The odds of this just sitting there and doing nothing are pretty high – if you ever want to start cracking in with this, then it’ll reveal itself, and a vanilla 6/4 is just sad. However, at 5 cost, there are plenty of powerful cards with strong reveal abilities at that cost, particularly in Constructed, which means your opponent might be hard-pressed to remove it, in which case there’ll be a delightful blowout. If you’ve ever played Corrupt against an opponent, the feeling is quite sublime. The card does unfortunately get significantly worse in open decklists, but I imagine you’ll be able to catch people off-guard often enough. The question then becomes if the fact that it’s a clunky midrange unit that doesn’t have a relevant summon effect makes it worthwhile to craft. I think not for now, but I could see picking it up later down the line. 

Elding of the Final Hour – Craft

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or a pile of work for the past week or so, this card has been literally all over the place in both formats, and is comfortably sitting in Tier 1 in both formats, and rightly so. It does require a bit of set-up, preferring you to play cheap units and being able to discard it, but the payoff is certainly there – being able to turn a 1/1 dork into a 4/4 with a relevant battle skill is quite the upgrade. And if it ever is allowed to stick on board to start converting all of your ‘tokens’ into reasonable beaters, the game will be over in a jiffy. Krull was certainly powerful, and whilst I do think this requires a little more set-up, the fact that over the course of a game it’s much easier to play this card just for face-value means that I think it’s probably even more broken. (Doc, don’t hurt me. Please.) If you’re a Shadow deck, there’s really no reason not to be running this right now. Craft your playset now and be confident that you’ll use them – a lot. 

Fall to Ruin – Hold

The board wipe mode is a little pricey at 6 power, and Triple Shadow influence is also kind of difficult to hit particularly in a 3+ Faction deck. That being said, it’s still an unconditional wipe in Expedition, which means it probably sees at least some play out of the market, if not maindeck. On the other hand, if you are able to get the 12+ unit clause online in decks like Discard or Reanimator, then oh boy is your opponent about to be in for quite the ride. A one-sided board wipe is nothing to scoff at, and if you’ve seen how quickly people can still get Kato online despite the nerf, then you just know that target won’t be too far out of reach. I do think that it’ll end up in much more markets than maindecks, which means you really only need to pick up the 1 copy, but it still remains an unbelievably potent option to have. 

Searing Strike – Dust

As part of one of the first few cards that were spoiled from the set, there was a lot of hype on the card initially. I’m delighted to be proven right as the card has barely seen any play. Firstly, the fact that this can only hit units really restricts it as removal. It’s also multifaction, which means it’s very narrow in the decks it fits into. Finally, it’s only worthwhile to play over the assortment of 2 cost Fire damage spells if you have a good way to take advantage of the power you generate in the same turn, which requires you to have a lot of things come together. All in all, the card is just too conditional in too many spots that I don’t think it’s worthwhile to play at all in Constructed. 

Malaga Amphitheater – Hold

My initial thought was playing this in some kind of Praxis Aggro or Tokens list to push damage and enable you to dump your hand. Then the combo list with this, Autotread and the Tormented Crown emerged from the depths of brewing, and that seems like a much more fun way to use this. Compared to Crown, I do like that there is a fair use to this card, which means that overall I think it’ll probably see a pinch more play, though honestly I’m probably just a sucker for Diogo. Side note: I really like the direction DWD has taken with these new sites – they seem much more fun, balanced and nuanced as opposed to just an easy shoo-in to every deck that can play them. 

Marshal Izia – Dust

I just want it noted that your 6 drop can be taken out by a Blazing Salvo, and potentially negatively affecting your board even more once it’s taken out. It’s multifaction, which helps, but the 2/2 body is just far too small. 

Blueprints – Craft

I expect these to be making a huge splash, particularly in Expedition thanks to the overall lack of fixing in that format. Seek Power has always been great, and possibly getting some additional value on top of hitting consistent power drops in a 2 faction deck is fantastic. Even if you don’t have a good way to take advantage of the relic, just having an outlet to dump your power into late game for some value is still fantastic. There will always be 2F decks, which means these are probably a safe craft no matter what. 

Sanguine Reaper – Dust 

I have seen this card in Valkyries deck particularly in the past Expedition TNE, and I’m honestly not terribly impressed. You’ve got a whole bevy of battle skills, but the key thing to note here is that it still has 3 health, which means it’s very cleanly taken out by Flash Fry. Or Vicious Overgrowth. And so forth. In additional, most of the relic weapons from Silver Slicer to Heavy Artillery get taken out by the Sanguine Reaper ping, which means that you’re leaning very heavily on Watchwing Support to trigger the clause on this. On top of that, it’s a symmetrical effect, so you might be giving cards to your opponent as well. Do you know what makes relics super easily in this format? Blueprints! In conclusion, this card just flops on so many fronts that it probably isn’t worth including, at least in Valkyries. Prior to the set release, I remember there being talk of trying to put together a ‘Suicide’ SS deck with ways to take advantage of the fact that you’re damaging yourself, but that also seems incredibly niche at best. 

Ring of Glamour – Dust 

In the early days of things, I have seen some Elysian Stealth decks floating around, primarily with this as your pay-off. The obvious issue with the deck is that you’re typically forced to play cards incredibly off-curve, much like the Even decks, with all the Stealth units being on 3 and 5. The difference, of course, with the Even decks is that the immediate payoff of drawing 2 cards is there, and you have access to the entire suite of Even cards throughout Eternal’s history, which contains a lot of powerful options. Here, with Stealth being a new mechanic that’s only supported in Revelations, you really don’t have many options to choose from. Drawing a card whenever you play the majority of your units is an incredibly powerful effect – I just don’t think that the archetype this supports will be anything more than a meme. 

Gavel’s Insight – Hold

A combat trick that can also double as relic removal when you need to get rid of something problematic? Color me impressed. This trick might finally be the push to get Combrei Aggro decks back into the spotlight. I have seen quite a few Combrei ‘hatebear’ style decks chock full of creatures that limit what you and your opponent can do to combat all the Discard and Reanimation nonsense happening at present, but the deck still certainly has some spots where playing a fair game doesn’t line up very well against all the unfair nonsense. I haven’t seen it played in any other decks, and being a multifaction card, I’d be tempted to hold off on crafting the card for now since it’s still fairly niche. 

Mandatory Retirement  – Dust

This card is missing a super important word – fast. Part of the reason something like Formbend still barely sees any play is because you’re still giving them a unit to play with – granted, a 2/1 will be less impactful in the vast majority of cases compared to the X/X that Formbend spits out in more spots, but it’s still a unit that can be sacrificed and manipulated. And with one of the most problematic relics of the Throne format packing a ‘No Transform’ clause, this really isn’t that potent in getting rid of that. (If you too have been traumatised by Sling, call 1-800-IMPOUND.) If it was at least fast speed, then you have the opportunity to get particularly tricksy in combat and blow out your opponent that way, but without that, there are just plenty better options for interacting with opposing threats. 

Aymar, Dark Summoner – Craft

Anyone remember when this was still called Avara, and there were plenty of jokes to be had with their name? No? In any case, whilst the dream of a Vara-themed deck might be one step further away, this card is absolutely no joke. If you haven’t seen the various Twitch clips yet of people comboing off on Turn 3 yet, you should. Because it’s hilarious. And unbelievably potent. This card was not designed with fair things in mind, and I have already seen multiple builds that use this card to just draw and dump out your entire deck. The meta is still converging on what the best build of that deck is, but a combo deck with this card is certainly going to be right there moving forward. 

Collapse – Hold

I really like this card – I don’t expect it to have quite the ubiquity of something like Send An Agent (R.I.P Send An Agent) since Discarding a card can be a real cost for decks that aren’t built around it or prepared to take advantage of the ‘cost’, but the versatility of the removal itself is certainly there. On top of that, in decks where you’re actively looking to discard things into your void, the card is fantastic. It is multifaction and it does have a pretty steep deckbuilding cost – actively 2-for-1-ing yourself in a build that isn’t prepared for it is no joke, which is why I don’t expect to see it everywhere, but the card is extremely potent. 

Side rant: There have been a lot of Feln Discard decks floating around in the Throne meta lately, and I feel one of the biggest issues with that deck is its general complete inability to interact with any hate pieces or threats whatsoever – Send a Message, but is hardly targeted interaction. As the format progresses and more and more people start to pack appropriate interaction for Feln Discard, I could certainly see those decks pivot to perhaps a Purpose build, if only so you don’t horribly die to a Grand Suppressor or what not. There are some ridiculously powerful things that you can do in Throne right now, which is why it’s even more important to be packing appropriate interaction. :DDD 

A Life for A Life – Craft

The traditional weakness of a deck like Reanimator, at least in Throne, is that it sometimes takes a little while to get going – all your early plays are spent fueling the void, and you might never get to Turn 5 to play Grasping at Shadows because you’ve been run over. Speeding that clock up a turn and having A Life for A Life costing only 4 power is huge – most of the time, you’re using creature-based self-discard like Darkwater Vines or Sporefolk to fuel your void, so you often have at least 1 piece of fodder that you’re able to sacrifice – and get back once you’ve built back your board with Vara and Azindel. Reanimator decks are going to play a huge part in both formats, and the efficiency of this card is exactly why. 

General Draft Format Observations:

Ok, so just to be clear: I am a very inexperienced Limited player and I’m certainly expecting a lot of these hypotheses to be wrong. That being said, after listening to Watchwolf92 talk about the way he approached Limited and Constructed formats in his interview, I’m super excited to try out his approach in making theories about the Limited format before even playing a game. Let’s do this! 

• Hidden units at 5 will lead to stalled-out board states a la Morph in Magic The Gathering, out of trepidation for a potentially bad attack. There’s also a lot of defensive buffing tricks that have been added to the draft packs, for instance Divebomb, Gruanform, and so forth. They also lean on the more expensive side compared to the tricks available in Empire of Glass. All these defensive tricks inform me that combat tricks aren’t often going to be used to push damage.
• This is further cemented by the fact that there’s a lot of units that are geared towards blocking that have been added into the Draft Packs: Archive Curator, Campfire Watchman, Illumination Wisp, etc. all scream to me I’m trying to play as defensively as possible.
• Once again, the key berth to breaking through seems to be 4 health, so as expected, Basher is still going to be great, and the various 0/6s should do a great job at blocking things.
• The Discard for value that a lot of cards have to support a major theme of the set will lead to less flooding in the late-game, which also means more power-heavy decks. The general lack of Plunder in the format probably means that people should be running more raw power in their decks. Runes and Heirlooms also give you ways of dumping your power in the late-game. The Monuments as an incentive for going late in the game further support this.
• The larger amplify costs on cards also indicate that more games are going to go long, thus allowing for greater decision points with various amplify cards.
• Despite that, you still need to commit to the board early. A lot of units have the clause ‘ attack with exactly 2 units’, which means the tempo of 2 drop, 3 drop could lead to you being run over quickly if not careful. There are also plenty of common 2 drop Valor units, which means people will be getting on the board quickly – this will lead to a lot of trading damage early. Though there isn’t much cheap removal in Revelations – we have Rule the Skies and not much else at common – so it’s super important to pick up removal in the Draft Packs – and there’s plenty of it.
• Every faction is packing some solid finishers from mass-buffs in Behold the Truth (Time) or direct damage in Lava Burst (Fire) or just units going bananas with Distilled Rage (Primal) so pay very close attention to your life total to avoid dying from a comfortable position.
• Well-Laid Trap is going to destroy people. Namely me.
• Aggressive fliers are going to once again be at a premium just to break through these board stalls, which is why there are plenty of ways to disrupt these evasive units through Silence effects alongside flier-specific interactions.
• The fixing is significantly worse in this format, losing out on the Tokens, and with only the non-Painting faction pairs picking up Banners in addition to Seats. Hence, I expect most decks to stick to 2 factions, particularly to utilize Blueprints more effectively.

Now, I’m going to go watch some Limited streams and see just how horrendously wrong all these hypotheses are. 😛 

Disagree with my assessments of all these cards? Is there any card that I missed that you’d like my opinion on? Hit me up on Twitter @stormguard798, find me lurking in the FE, TEJ or The Misplay Discords, or simply reply to this post on Reddit – I always have reply notifications on. 😛 Until next time, and happy brewing! 😉