Hi, I’m stormguard798. I’m probably best known as another TO alongside Sunsfury for the TNE tournament series, but I’m also a member of Team Eternal Journey, and I occasionally write funny things and post them on the internet. I’m super excited for some massive chonky Dinoaurs in particular, but mostly just to see how the set will shake up Expedition.
Heyo – this is Sunsfury. I TO reasonably frequently with Tuesday Night Eternal (though the “Tuesday Night” is sometimes called into question) I’m unaffiliated with any team, but sometimes I write on my blog, generally in retrospect of various tournaments – which can be found here over at https://sunsfurysforge.wordpress.com/. Going into this miniset, I was super keen to get my hands on some Elysian shenanigans, and hopefully something for Hooru to have fun with that isn’t Kira.
(Thank you to Stevercakes and EternalWarcry for uploading the images for Valley Beyond so quickly. :P)
Fire
Sunsfury: Some (probably many) won’t agree with me on this, but I quite like Fevered Dispute. 3-cost slow removal spells are not the greatest, especially with the non-Dinosaur clause, but the ability to also make your opponent’s chump blockers irrelevant for the rest of the game can be very handy. Combine this with chunky Time units, deadly Shadow ones, or buffed-up Justice ones, and you’ll be able to turn a 4-turn clock into a 2-turn one – provided you have enough buffable units.
SG: I am some. To me, this is (mostly) a worse Display of Ambition, so I’m immediately ruling this card out of FJS. Being double-influence on 3 also isn’t irrelevant, particularly in Expedition, though you don’t often want to play it on 3. While the modality is fine, being a slow spell is extremely punishing in a metagame where I consider Obstructive Flicker is reasonably strong. This is of course on top of being blown out by fast-speed removal.
I think the key issue to consider is: why would a deck want this? If you’re a deck playing a lot of well-statted units, you’d much rather have more of those units than a clunky removal spell. Even then, you probably have better ways of giving your units evasion in some capacity, such as Flying with Helena, Skyguide in Justice, or removal spells in Shadow. While I think it can serve a purpose, I personally feel there are many other cards that do Fevered Dispute’s job better.
SG: I don’t mind extra turn spells in more casual formats, but I think if DWD doesn’t want to create overly un-interactive games, they probably shouldn’t be printing any of these. On the bright side, wow is this a really bad card. You die at the end of it AND your opponent gets to pop in a free unit. Imagine if they drop a Combrei Lawmage. I suppose the unit doesn’t much matter if you’re planning on going for a spell-based kill a la Flash Fire, though those decks haven’t been good for a while in the face of Flicker, and now, Finned Herbasaur. The flexibility of Inscribe on what is a very conditional card is nice to have, but I just find it hard to envisage a deck that wants this card – and that is any good.
Sunsfury: There’s one space I see this card existing, and that’s for Praxis Rebuild when it’s popping off. This is quite possibly too bad to even see play in Rebuild, but the inscribe might save it and that makes me slightly scared. Life should be fine, but this has some real kick behind it. Secret tip with killing people during extra turns: units won’t ready from an exhausted state (which blocking does inflict) if you take an additional turn, even Endurance units! (Endurance units ready at the start and end of their controller’s turn, not the start of each turn)
SG: My gut instinct says that the 2 damage is probably too narrow to be any good, even to mow down opposing fliers, though depending on how the meta shakes out, I’m happy to be wrong. Being used in conjunction with an attack, for instance, to poke a Helena so it can’t block you profitably is 1 option, but they could always elect to…not block. 2 strength is just an awful statline for both closing out the game and actually poking through blockers. I could see this being use to ramp out a Great Kiln Titan on Turn 6, for instance (those big Sentinels are always kind of fun) but that unfortunately feels like too much of a pipe dream.
Sunsfury: Riva’s a sweet tempo play, and works incredibly well if you can buff her, but then my question is “what are you doing with the bonus power, and why does it work in a Riva deck?” Maybe you do put this in Rakano to go up to Big Svetya? But that only somewhat makes sense. Perhaps in Jennev (FTP)? I’m really unsure.
Justice
Sunsfury: I feel like I’m obligated to love this newest entry to the Paladin roster: empower, buffing multiple units, boosting up your topdecks as an added bonus, and it even inscribes! Combines very well with units like Iron Priestess, Crownwatch Paladin, and yes, Plunk. Even if it ends up not being quite fast enough to work, I know I’ll have fun slotting Scalesworn Patrol into anything and everything.
SG: I also love this card: it reminds me of a souped-up Awakened Student. My first inclination is probably jamming this in some kind of Justice-based MidGro deck with 2-cost Hojan, 2 cost Icaria, and so forth. I think the Inscribe really seals the deal for this card: the fact that the card works with itself is incredibly effective, so extra copies are always useful. My primary concern with this card is Iadria: the general presence of the card in both formats makes it very difficult to justify strategies that revolve dumping stats on your units, but we’ll see how it pans out.
SG: First thing – it’s the cleanest way that Justice decks have to answer Iadria in Expedition, so if Feln decks continue to be a thing (I mean, Plunk + removal is always good), this card is a shoo-in. Besides Iadria, it also mows down a number of other units in Expedition, most notably, Plunk, even when its strength is no longer buffed. The ‘Valkyrie Justiciar’ mode on the card I think will be similarly hit or miss, but is a solid option to protect all these unit-based Justice decks from wipes. Probably too low-powered to see too much play in Throne – the units are just bigger there, and Sabertooth Prideleader exists – but I definitely expect to see it around.
Sunsfury: Finally, a good 3-cost Relic Weapon! In Expedition, this just kills everything you need it to – Helena, Plunk, Ambassador – you name it. As an added bonus, you get to protect your board against sweepers or any other kind of trickery your opponent is holding back in reserve – in the cases where you don’t need 4 attack. In Throne, it’ll struggle against Time Fatties, but the other side is even better given the existence of Combrei Relics, and potential combo decks. Favourite card in the set, but that’s probably my armoury bias showing.
SG: Well…I guess Overwhelm isn’t really a Justice battle skill, but still. I do think that between Lunar Claw, Stormhalt Plating, and I’m sure other relic weapons that exist, there should be sufficient armor to at least make this an interesting strategy. Though the buff doesn’t stay on the unit, you don’t even need to spend power for its effect, so you’re free to develop your board in the meantime. Endurance also means you’ll have a solid blocker – just in case. RIP ground-based aggro. You may not be as versatile as Prideleader, but people are going to read this and weep. :sweat_smile:
Sunsfury: Magniventris desperately wants to be my favourite card in the set. Problem: Lunar Claw exists, so Magniventris has to be happy with second place. My goodness, what a second place though – clogs up the board as a beefy endurance blocker, stuns a unit for tempo, gives you some armour for padding/weapons and pumps himself a chunky amount if your armour is still up? Wow.
Time
Sunsfury: if you can reliably throw enough Large Units into the void to drop the cost of Valles Rex down to ~4ish, you’re looking to have a very fun time with this Big Dinosaur. There are two different Xenan decks that will be interested in fighting alongside the mighty Rex: Xenan Dredge, with the recently buffed Dawnwalker, and Xenan Katra Midrange, which was already looking to fill the void for Katra’s summon and potential Grasping at Shadows plays. Don’t play Valles Rex outside of void-based decks though; you won’t get enough 4 attack units in the void for the cost reduction to matter much.
SG: I’m actually on a different angle here – I think it could be a solid market card for midrange decks to fetch out of the market. Touvon is probably my preferred choice if your influence can support it, but there are also decks that lean heavier on the Shadow side – like the ones playing Katra. In that case, this seems like a fine alternative – surprise a flier mid-combat, or your control opponent at the end of their turn with tons of damage. By that point, you’ll likely just have a handful of 4+ attack units in your void, and 5-6 power for this effect isn’t bad at all.
I will say though: I believe building around the cost reduction effect is a huge trap. Most of the units that put stuff into your void are fairly cheap, and consequently don’t have huge stats. By having a density of these effects in your deck, it also means that very few units you put in your void will actually have the effect of reducing the cost of Valles Rex. This being a Time unit also means you can’t bring it back with Vara, Fate Touched, which either means you’re directly bringing this back…or simply playing it fairly. Which you could have done without all the accompanying void support. The reason the Xenan Dredge deck works is Clocktower Sentinel, not Valles Rex. Love the flavour and art of the card – who doesn’t love surprise Dinos – but you don’t need it to make the deck work, and I don’t think the card will nearly be as popular once the hype has died down.
Sunsfury: A 4-cost “sweeper” in a faction that doesn’t have any, and it has inscribe? Chronostorm is the one-stop shop for aggro answers for Time decks, shutting down low to the ground decks incredibly hard. This card is good as long as you’re able to go over the top of whatever your opponent’s doing, whether that be through bigger units (which Time loves to employ already), or through alternate victory paths, like with Auralian (TPS) Ruin decks. Without inscribe, I’d only put this in dedicated inscribe decks; with inscribe I’m putting this in as many Time midrange-control decks as I possibly can.
SG: I pretty much concur entirely – Inscribe is a fantastic mechanic, and gives conditional cards far more playability for when they don’t quite line up very well. The question then remains: what kind of deck will this go into? My first inclination are the TJP control decks, but those aren’t very good right now in the face of…everything else in every format. I could see the TJ (Combrei) decks playing a handful of these, however, since it doesn’t affect your Justice Sigil count for Enter the Monastery. In open decklists and/or once this card picks up in popularity, I imagine it’ll be much easier to play around, only affecting attacking units, but it nevertheless remains a solid option for the decks that know they want it.
SG: I love this card so much! Look at all those adorable little Hatchlings! Charge is by far the worst of the 3 Battle Skills, but at least Flying and Killer are both incredibly solid. It doesn’t get you immediate value, but as a 2-cost relic, it does give you plenty over time. Most importantly, being both a relic and making small creatures, you don’t necessarily need to build around Dinosaurs to make this card good. It’s a little slow, and you could end up getting super unlucky Dino-flip wise, but it’s such low-cost that I think you’ll see it plenty enough.
Sunsfury: This card is absolutely insane. It takes a moment to get moving, but overall it’s 9/9 worth of stats, with generally solid keywords, and on top of that is a double-pump for any extra dinos you’re thinking of playing. This card will decide Dinos as an archetype until it gets nerfed, and this card is going to be the part of Dinos that gets nerfed, believe me.
SG: This card reads like Ice Bolt-esque to me. Most of the time, you’re using this as Devours 5-8 on your own units to draw 2 cards, though it doesn’t work as well with Revenge units, Corrupted units, etc. So be careful. And only if you really need to, i.e. when you encounter a Rolant, do you let your opponent draw 2 cards. I think it’ll be a solid role player for those Time-based sacrifice decks, and that’s all.
Sunsfury: Time Devour? Time Devour! Like Stormguard, I’d put this in Time sacrifice decks – but who knows? Maybe this is a way to forget Shadow completely and make Jennev (FTP) Mother with Lured Away in place of Devours? Who knows?
Primal
SG: I’m not exactly sure where the synergy between Dinosaurs and spells is – maybe it’s for completely separate archetypes? ‘Sides, I imagine that most spells decks want to play at fast speed. Regardless, that 1 power discount adds up pretty quickly if this isn’t dealt with, and the option to get Faegis to protect a subsequent big threat is also nice. I definitely think this card has potential, especially being such low cost, but all the parts of the card seem very disparate to each other, so I’m not completely sure how I’d build it.
Sunsfury: There are two different places I see this fitting in – the classic Elysian Spells decks, and some kind of Elysian Dino one. Both double-dip on the reduction (spells has Wump & Mizo, dinos can play Twilight Hunt) a little bit, and cost reduction is a powerful effect. Ultimately, I think Ely Spells will really like this; making Accelerated Evolution, Strategise, etc cost an incredibly small amount means it’s easier to develop your hand and hold up any Equivocates or Protection. Definitely agree with SG that the different pieces feel a little disparate, especially the contract for face aegis – not to say that the aegis won’t be useful on occasion.
SG: No! My baby dino! Other than the tragic lore moments: we’re talking dumping in things with Malaise? Otherwise I’m unsure how you’re able to dump that many cards into your void at fast speed. Also I’m not completely confident that’s entirely worthwhile. You could line this up after your opponent’s board wipe, but if that many units are going to your void, I suspect you’d rather counter the wipe instead. If you’re not able to trigger the 8 damage clause, then 3 power for some card filtering and 2 damage is incredible underwhelming. Consequently, I suspect that the set-up cost of this card will be too high and too conditional for not too fantastic of a payoff.
Sunsfury: To even consider playing this card, you need to be able to send cards to your void reliably, and also care about dealing 8 damage. This can go to face, so I guess the only place it has right now is Feln self-mill aggro? Even then, I’m sure you’ve got better things to be doing with the deck – unless you’re desperate for things to put in the market of that specific deck, you shouldn’t be playing Tragedy.
SG: Oh my. The go-wide relics tokens decks have traditionally struggled with massive relic weapons due to the small size of their units, so this is a really nice 1 or 2-of to have around to tutor up and nerf those – or simply clean up your opponents’ board in the mirror. It is a cursed relic, so, unfortunately, there’s no way to abuse it with Deadly or otherwise, but the Inscribe is always there for when it’s not so good.
Sunsfury: Now Stormguard’s off telling you something about how Rats is a deck that wants this, and sure – perhaps, but there’s a point being missed. CURSE. One day, Hooru/Purpose Curses will have enough different potent options to properly compete, and Thicket Trap is one of those tools. You’d best watch out!
Shadow
Sunsfury: Sinister Research is a funny little thing, because it’s actually a depleted power with upside hiding as a spell – which is generally useful, but is also something Shadow has a fair amount of. Between Etchings, Vara’s Favour, Exploit (kinda), and now Sinister Research, you now have real choice in what options you’re taking, so any Shadow-focused deck has no right to complain about not reaching 5 power without at least 8 of these in their deck.
SG: My gripe with this card is…Invoke really isn’t that strong outside of Limited. :S Even if you invoke a reasonably strong card, it might not fit with your deck’s overall strategy – perhaps other than generic good-stuff midrange. I could see maybe slotting this into the Stonescar (FS) strategies in Throne, but not really anywhere else. In Expedition on the other hand…I think the floor is high enough that you’re fine including a couple of copies in any more defensive Shadow deck.
SG: Interesting. For most intents and purposes, a worse Deathwing, but one that is possibly more resilient to removal. My first inclination is to load up on this with Trickshot Ruffian, or perhaps give it some battle skills through passive unit-based draw like Dusk Raider, but that seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, especially since the Skeeter is double Shadow. I’m not seeing too many board wipes as of late, so the Skeeter has that going to for it, but even Vara’s Authority or Trials and Tribulations wipes this, which is pretty fragile. I also don’t believe there is any fast speed unit-based augmentation, so you also don’t have any way to protect it. Interesting design – I just don’t see it being any good.
Sunsfury: Skeeter’s a funny little card – being able to dodge spell-based removal for the cost of not being able to play weapons is an interesting space for other kinds of buffs, like off of units. The issue is that skeeter relies on these buffs to make anything happen, and we don’t have the density of buff tools to make the flying+lifesteal on skeeter truly shine.
Sunsfury: In general, I think Harpoon is too expensive and frail to not be doing silly stuff with battleskills – quickdraw and unblockable are likely to be the key ones you really, really want to be adding onto a weapon. In terms of potential options, the new Deleph might be good for the deck, but I don’t think Harpoon is going to be super relevant at all.
SG: I concur. 2 Armor on Harpoon is very…questionable. Obviously, the best combination is Deadly/Quickdraw, but if you already have 1 of those units…what are you doing sacrificing it to this weapon? It probably fits fine into a Nightmare at the Gates deck but I’m not really in the market for expensive, non-modal relic weapons these days anyhow.
Multifaction
Sunsfury: Something something Xenan getting a generally good card yet again grumble grumble
Huntmaster Vikrum is a solid 4-drop, acting as either a better Customs Officer or mostly-accurate impression of Cykalis, the Burning Sand depending on the state of the board. Vikrum’ll likely great in some kind of Expedition Xenan midrange, however there won’t be a Xenan deck created because of this card unless there’s something else giving you a reason to play specifically Vikrum. Sacrificing the stolen unit is a great way to not have to deal with it after Vikrum dies – and The Rat King is great at doing that, but I wouldn’t build a deck around the combo, much like how Madness + Combust has fallen out of favour.
SG: I’m a lot less high than Sunsfury is on the card. In Expedition, my biggest gripe with it is the double-influence with it in both factions, and in Throne, there is obvious stiff competition for the 4 power slot against Sandstorm Titan and Vara, Vengeance Seeker. I am also concerned that the unit is exhausted, so you can’t immediately block with it, and Vikrum themselves are very fragile to a lot of removal (barring Bullseye). I think if the Expedition meta slowly transitions to a place where Vikrum is likely to stick (read: lots of Hooru Heroes), I could see it being a strong contender, but otherwise? You are very sad to see this get removed.
Sunsfury: Carnivorous Yearling is probably a good Rakano Midrange card. With two useful keywords that make buffing it really impactful when on the aggression and on the defensive, I would almost never suggest playing the Yearling as a 3-cost 2/1 draw a card – the 4/3 lifesteal overwhelm is generally much more valuable. Yearling also works well with deck-buffs from Svetya (both Orene and Lightbringer), which might mean there’s a sneaky deck ready to be made that utilises both halves of Yearling fairly well.
SG: Having seen the Yearling/Orene 1-2 punch in Throne, I can concur it’s very strong. Autotread is still legal in Expedition, alongside Vara’s Favor, so unless your units costs 1, I concur with SF here that you’re rarely ever grabbing the extra copy here. (And of course, in Throne we have snowballs.) In terms of playing it fairly, I think 4/3 Lifesteal Overwhelm is probably a little underwhelming for Throne? Not having charge is rather awkward for your 3 drop, even if you’re going for more of a midrange build, so I’d likely confine this guy to Expedition.
Sunsfury: I like ramp and I like buffs, so I like this twice over! Triggers renown effects on Kira, etc, and empower effects like Scalesworn Patrol, and is fast so you can hold up protection on 3, and if it’s not necessary you can instead advance your gamestate through Timeless Bond. It is 3-cost ramp, though, which is not what you want unless you can make the stat buffs count.
SG: The intersection of decks that want Ramp and creature augmentation is very small, so my assessment of what decks this card will go into is pretty much the same as SF’s. Even then, I’m not sure what deck plays enough 1 drops to be able to curve out with this card on 3. However, being a multifaction card means that it’s even more restrictive on the decks it can go into. I’m positive I’ll get blown out by this at some point, and it’ll be really good in the decks that want it – there just aren’t that many decks that do.
SG: Wow this card is truly awful. It’s Daze with very minor upside. And it’s twice as expensive as Chill! Since your opponent still keeps their unit, you’re putting yourself at a card disadvantage, and you don’t even get the choice to direct the damage perhaps towards a site. I just can’t imagine any deck wanting to play this.
Sunsfury: This card has a place. Unfortunately for Lethrai Gambit, I don’t think that Feln aggro really exists in a form that wants to market for Gambit. There’s a strange, strange world where you play this in Tesseract, but Tesseract almost certainly has much better things to be doing against aggro.
Sunsfury: This is a fun payoff for decks that want to play lots of units and/or spells – things like Powercell, Sindain, etc should be pretty good in combination. One use that’s pretty fun is with Praxis Trove – play a 1-cost unit like Carver, immediately get a 2-cost unit, in FTS compared to the FPS trove deck of the past. Then I found out about the fact that this has reignited Trove Combo to become the best deck in the game. (for the short span until it gets thrown out the window like it deserves)
SG: Yerp. I don’t think that you’re ever trying to play Abundance fairly – why would you? It’s a combo piece, through and through. With the Mistveil Drake/Strategize 1-2 punch that people are finally catching onto coupled with the consistency of the market access, I think that this deck can really trip people up if they’re not prepared for it. That being said, it can be attacked on both a spell and relics axis, so the disruption is certainly there. (Though by virtue of being a combo deck it might get swiftly nerfed. 😦 ) Also, I can’t wait for this card simply to be used as a Water of Life at some point.
Sunsfury: This is one of those cards that could be decent, but will probably be just a fun card for silly decks. Getting the invoke is big, but I doubt you’re creating enough cards for the cost reduction. Very fun in Beacon of the Reach though, so those of us who like the 5f control pile will find themselves sped up a bit.
SG: Say hello to the best friend of both Knucklebones and Beacon of the Reach! I think it might still be playable in Expedition where you can just Invoke good card after card(though let’s see about the presence of Bullseye first), but it’s way too slow to try and pull off in Throne.
SG: Yes for all of my Hero and Singleton decks for Events and tournaments in the future; absolutely not otherwise. The ‘Dinosaur’ clause doesn’t make too much of a difference either way since the unit type doesn’t have additional relic support. Considering that Worldpyre has been aggressively pushed out of the meta thanks to the abundance of relic removal, I doubt a relic that costs 1 more and doesn’t have nearly the same kind of payoff is going to do particularly well.
Sunsfury: It’s a singleton card, so the deckbuilding requirements are way too strict for this to consider playing really anywhere unless you’re really determined. Even then, at 5-cost this is hard to get to, and doesn’t do much to contribute to the board.
Agree with our spicy hot takes? Any follow-up questions? You can hit up Sunsfury in the main DWD Discord, whereas you’ll find me lurking around the FE, TEJ and Misplay discords more often. Until next time. 😉
Careful Considerations - Ramblings of an Aspiring Azorius Lawmage 