After my first draft, I can confirm that even without any of its headline-grabbing innovations, Altered would still deserve to be a hit: the core gameplay is phenomenal.
Where Altered exceeded my expectations was in just how tense some of the decisions were. I went into the tank on several occasions as to whether this was the target I needed to spend my one removal spell on. Do I need to advance this turn, or would I be better off saving my resources to make a push later? Deciding which cards to keep in your opening hand requires extra foresight due to the reserve system.
I came away from the draft feeling like I had just scratched the surface in terms of cross-faction synergies and deck building considerations. Any of my doubts about Altered having enough strategic depth have been thoroughly quashed.
The draft
Note: this draft was run with Kickstarter boosters.
It took a while for me to find my lane in P1. I opened a fairly weak first pack from which I took a Teamwork Training (R). There wasn’t a compelling Ordis card for p2, so I followed it up with an Ouroboros Inkcaster (F).
It wasn’t until p5 when I noticed my first meaningful signal in the form of a pair of Yzmir rares, including a Sakarabru (R). Fairly late in the pack, I saw a pair of Lyra commons, where I took an Ouroboros Trickster (C) to pair with an earlier Hathor (C). I vacuumed up several fringe-playable Lyra commons at the end of P1, which solidified me into Lyra going into P2. I was also leaning towards Yzmir due to a relatively late Dorothy Gale (C). My failed foray into Ordis and Axiom left me with the impression that they would be pretty closed off from the right.
P2p1 offered no notable commons and mostly Ordis and Axiom rares. This made the choice to take Fen & Crowbar here very straightforward. I took Cloth Cocoon (C) and Hydracaena (F) very highly in P2. I speculated on a few Bravos cards later in the pack. This was fortunate, because it let me feel okay about taking a reasonable Lady of the Lake (U) for P3p1.
From here, the draft was pretty straightforward. I had a Kaibara, Asgarthan Leviathan (C) in addition to my other two top-end picks, so I mostly prioritized picking cheaper characters since Fen’s ability would be giving me a steady flow of cards.
After the draft, I learned to my surprise that the player to my right (my R2 opponent) was neither in Ordis nor Axiom, though the player to their right was playing both.
I made several draft mistakes that I’m aware of:
- In P2, before I decided I was Bravos but after I had picked Fen, I passed a Haven, Bravos Bastion (C). If I’m already playing Fen, Haven is strong enough that I should force it even if I know Bravos isn’t open.
- I picked a Tiny Jinn (C) over an Anansi (C).
- I mentally locked into Yzmir too early, which is clear based on how few Yzmir cards I ended up running. There aren’t a ton of Yzmir cards that Fen benefits from, and Axiom or Muna would have been a better support color.
Uniques
Lady of the Lake - 3/7
The understatted front side compares poorly to Bravos Vanguard (R), but the lower-costed back side comes out slightly ahead, since you prefer the flexibility in terms of what you can target with its trigger.
The deck
Double Cloth Cocoon was the highlight of this deck.
The end result was an efficient though not especially synergistic Fen tempo deck. The strongest aspect of the deck is its wealth of flexible removal options. Conveniently, the fleeting downside of all of these spells is irrelevant if they get resupplied due to Fen’s hero ability.
The three Ouroboros Tricksters provide excellent tempo if they’re resupplied. I don’t think I used a single support ability, but it was nice to have card draw (Sakarabru (R)), cost reduction (Studious Disciple (R)), and boosts (Kappa (R), Issun-bōshi (C)) at the ready if I ever felt Fen was giving me more cards than I could play with my mana.
The games
Round 1 (W): Gulrang & Tocsin permanents control (Axiom-Ordis-Yzmir)
My opponent and I traded expeditions on the first two days. They had to play their permanent-matters characters before they had drawn their permanents, while I gained a massive advantage by ramping and advancing with the Tiny Jinn (C) I resupplied on T2.
The next big swing happened on T3 when they took the whole day to get down an Aether Shard (C), allowing me to double-advance. I had a Cloth Cocoon (C) in hand for the Shard but gambled that Fen’s hero ability could keep pace with their card draw for long enough to close out the game thanks to my tempo advantage.
They dropped a Jeanne d’Arc (C) on T4. I misplayed on two fronts here: first by playing Dorothy Gale (C) on Jeanne without processing that the tokens would be boosted by Gulrang’s ability, and second by neglecting to A Cappella Training her before sending her to reserve.
My opponent also played a cool Foundry Mechanic (UF) that gave one of my characters fleeting, with an extra bonus if they controlled two permanents. As expected, it was pretty exciting the first time I ran into a unique in the middle of gameplay.
They started to put on more pressure once Gulrang’s defender handicap turned off, while a series of resupplies of cheap characters left me running out of resources just trying to move forward on a single side. Just three advances away to my two, they dropped a Grand Endeavor (C) which would have sealed up the game for them were it not for the Cloth Cocoon I had saved from earlier.
With an empty hand and reserve, I miraculously resupplied my Hydracaena (F). They were able to remove it the following turn with a Celestial Blast (C), but it had already done its damage, and I was able to secure one final advance with my remaining cards.
After the game, my opponent shared that they were holding a Kraken’s Wrath that they couldn’t find a window for since I always had plenty of cheap cards to lead with.
Round 2 (W): Teija & Nauraa anchor and boost (Bravos-Muna-Lyra)
My opponent this round had a very synergistic deck whose gameplan was to pile boosts onto critical characters with gigantic, anchored, or seasoned. I think their deck would do better than mine against the general field, but my deck happened to be heavily favored in the matchup purely due to my suite of removal.
Their T1 was to play a Tiny Jinn that immediately ramped thanks to Teija & Nauraa’s boost. Fortunately for me, they didn’t have a follow up, so I was at least able to trade expeditions.
On T3 they played a Red (R), then cast an extremely unlucky All In (C), rolling a 1, the only outcome that would fall short of the threshold to draw after the Teija boost.
The turn after, they replayed a now triple-boosted Red from reserve. I slow-rolled with an Ouroboros Trickster (C), then they anchored their boosted Red with Parvati (R). I played the Dorothy Gale (C) I had kept in my opening hand, letting me trade with Parvati and win on Dorothy’s side.
I don’t remember the exact sequence of plays, but they anchored their next character with Parvati, and I had a Cloth Cocoon (C) to discard it. I ended the game when I top-decked the second Cloth Cocoon and hit a character they played from reserve. One of the two Cloth Cocoons came down after they had dedicated a Physical Training (C) to a character, which felt gross.
We played another game afterwards for fun. They played a Tiny Jinn (R) on T1, and I misplayed by dropping Tanuki (C) into the same expedition instead of the opposite one, letting myself get blown out by a Physical Training (C). Even though I matched their ramp with a T2 Tiny Jinn (C) + Chiron (C) combo, I couldn’t pull this one out since I didn’t get as lucky with my removal. I did hit a fleeting Hydracaena (F) with the Cloth Cocoon, but I had no interaction for their Atlas (R) which they boosted with Physical Training from reserve. They used Atlas (R)’s support ability to stick an ultra-boosted Son of Yggdrasil and anchor it to close out the game.
Round 3 (L): Sigismar & Wingspan good-stuff (Axiom-Bravos-Ordis)
After trading on T1, I groaned internally when they led with a Haven, Bravos Bastion (R) on T2. I traded expeditions here by committing a Kappa (C) to their hero expedition, but I needed to do better: I had two Ouroboros Tricksters in hand and could have played one with a 50% chance threaten a win on the hero side. The second Trickster had a shot against their follow up of Ordis Cadets (C), but what I really needed was to get my Tricksters into reserve.
We traded for the third time on T3, but on their T4 as the first player, they set up a brutal Tinker Bell from reserve into a Haven Bouncer from hand, which decimated my reserve and advanced them on both sides.
My draws and resupplies were admittedly pretty rough over the next few turns, drawing Tiny Jinn (C), Issun-bōshi (C), and the third Ouroboros Trickster (C) while resupplying Dorothy Gale (C).
After losing a ton of ground, I burned most of my resources to stop one side of a Son of Yggdrasil (C) from double-advancing for the win. The following turn, just one space away, they replayed the Haven-boosted Son from reserve into my resupplied Cloth Cocoon (C) that they may not have been aware of. Afterwards, my resupplied Kraken’s Wrath (C) cleaned up their 2-drop and token to let me get within two advancements.
My next morning was about as good as I could have asked for: I led with an Anansi (C) from hand on the hero side with three cards in my reserve. My resupplied Haven Warrior (C) fit nicely into my curve and contributed to precisely the correct regions. Unfortunately, since they just needed to block me on one side to win, when I played my reserve Dorothy to the companion side, their Haven Warrior (R) edged my hero-side Anansi out, securing the game for them.
Takeaways
Sigismar & Wingspan are a premium hero for limited. The free Ordis Recruit makes it hard for the other player to do better than trade expeditions in the early turns.
With an average of four heroes per player, there were a lot of strong ones going late in P3 and P4. I P2p1’d Fen because there wasn’t a compelling alternative for me in the pack, but I also ended up with Sigismar in my sideboard without even trying. I would still err on the side of picking a hero early rather than late - it is critical to end up with a strong hero - but be aware that you can often wait and get a good one mostly for free.
Every single one of my opening hands felt awkward. Many of my best cards were removal, which I didn’t want early in the game but felt bad to put into mana. The same goes for my expensive bombs. Too many of my 3-drops were cards I didn’t actually want to play on T1. The one time I managed to draw a 1-drop with a 2-drop, I didn’t want to keep them both in fear of going too low on resources. I now have a greater appreciation for cards like Ratatoskr that allow you to play for tempo while still being sizable the second time you play them.
I ended most games empty-handed or close to it, so my mana curve didn’t feel too far off. If anything, it was too light, and I would prefer to play a few more medium-cost cards.
The lack of card selection for Fen & Crowbar is a bigger downside than I had given it credit for. I still think they’re an incredible hero, but you need to do some work to make it less likely that you get hosed by your resupplies.
Altered is ripe for sideboarding. I would have loved to have brought in my Lyra Cloth-Dancer (C), Spy Craft (C), and Kaibara, Asgarthan Leviathan (C) against my R3 opponent. That said, best-of-one absolutely makes sense for all but the more competitive events since rounds tonight already took 30+ minutes.
Overperformers
- Cloth Cocoon (C): Not only was this never dead in hand, it swung the game in my favor every time I played it.
- Anansi (C): An absolute all-star for Fen & Crowbar. Past T1, this common offers better stats than most rares.
- Ouroboros Trickster (C): Despite being awkward from hand - it was tough to pay two mana for a 50% chance to not even beat an Ordis Recruit - this felt great every time I played it from reserve. Its floor as a 1/1/1 is already better than most of what Lyra can do for 1 mana, but it’s the “After You”-like ability of a 1-drop that won me several critical days in a way that’s not immediately obvious.
- Kraken’s Wrath (C): This works well against some of the best heroes in draft: Kojo and Sigismar’s tokens and Teija’s boosts. It was functional here because Fen & Crowbar helped me slow-roll my opponents.
Underperformers
- Hathor (C): Finding windows to use its support ability was surprisingly awkward.
- Tiny Jinn (C): Even though it probably won me my first match when it got resupplied, it felt terrible every time it ended up in hand. This may be more of a Fen problem than a Tiny Jinn problem.