Today’s the day I’ve been waiting for since January! It’s been seven months since the Altered Kickstarter launched, and it felt amazing to finally hold the pledge rewards in my hands.
I ordered the Master Pack and the Adventure Package. The Master Pack came with the four display boxes and my choice of two starter decks, Lyra and Yzmir. The Adventure Package included the Gamegenic playmat, deck wallet, and art sleeves, along with acrylic tokens, hero standees, and adventure track to be shipped later this year.
The vibrant colors of Taras Susak’s Ada Lovelace & Coppelia art lend a gorgeous shimmering quality to the playmat. With cards on it, it actually verges on being too distracting. I appreciate that the playmat itself feels thick and substantial.
The deck wallet strikes the perfect balance of holding just enough while still remaining compact. The magnetic snap of the cover makes opening and closing this thing a breeze.
I decided to open three of my four displays and keep the other one sealed.
The highlights from the first box were a full-art Waru & Mack promo and a Lyra Mighty Jinn with a removal effect tacked on.
The second box had fewer uniques, but there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. I was especially happy about a dice-rolling Lyra Navigator for Nevenka & Blotch and a Lyra Thespian with a nice support ability for Fen & Crowbar.
I was incredibly lucky to open my second golden booster in the third box. The bottom ten uniques were all from the golden booster, while the ones from the top row were from the rest of the box.
As with the previous displays, I’m going to do a review of the uniques I opened across all three boxes. This is the first time I’ll be using my updated rating scale.
Parvati - 3/7
I think this will be too expensive most of the time, but two anchors on one card does have potential. The landmark restriction on the from-hand ability isn’t nothing, but a lot of the decks that could use this will be running The Spindle, Muna Bastion or Bountiful Meadow anyway. You can theoretically get a ton of value if you set it up so that you can anchor this and a character from the previous day, then get a massive Ganesha turn, but this kind of play is vulnerable on so many axes.
Bravos Tracer - 2/7
The resupply sort of cancels out the fleeting downside, but this unique’s stats are uncharacteristically disappointing for a Bravos Tracer. I don’t see the robot-boost trigger being relevant most of the time.
Three Little Pigs - 4/7
This is close to just being an average-statted character, but if you draw it late in a Haven, Bravos Bastion deck, it’s not hard to make it a 5/6/4 for 3 mana. Bravos currently doesn’t have much access to cards that create tokens, which would make these Three Little Pigs a decent amount better.
Dracaena - 3/7
This Dracaena doesn’t self-boost, and its noon trigger is a non-ability, but its anchored stats just make it a fine play by the numbers. It’s a 12 stats over two turns on a 3-drop, or 18 out of Teija & Nauraa.
Mighty Jinn - 4/7
I like that the removal ability keeps this Jinn relevant into the late-game. It won’t happen often, but it’s such a blowout if you manage to hit an opponent’s 4-cost character while ramping on your 4 or 5-mana turn.
Foundry Armorer - 4/7
This could find a home in a Treyst & Rossum deck, where in the late-game, it’s not unreasonable to generate three Brassbugs in a turn if you line up cards with support abilities and cheap reserve costs.
Edit (2025-01-08): 5/7
When paired specifically with an Ouroboros Inkcaster (U) that can put a card from hand into reserve to return a card from reserve to hand, this unique can go infinite generating Brassbugs.
Mighty Jinn - 4/7
The trigger to give an opponent’s character fleeting is a nice bonus on top of an already great turn 4 ramp play.
Lyra Thespian - 4/7
Good stats on the front, and a very disruptive support ability on the back. It doesn’t need anything extra, but sometimes you’ll get a card back from reserve if you line this up with an Ouroboros Trickster or draw this late in the game.
Lyra Navigator - 5/7
This provides at least 10 stats, and when it’s 13, it’s well above rate for a 3-drop. It’s at its best alongside some dice-rolling synergy, but it’s nice that you can just run it out alone. I really like the imbalance towards water, where you can play it knowing you’ll advance, and the die roll may only determine whether you also block your opponent.
Sun Wukong - 4/7
The landmark restriction is pretty easy to fulfill when most Bravos decks will be running a playset of Haven, Bravos Bastion. I’d be thrilled if this boosts itself and and a Bravos Bladedancer on 5 or Red on 6. It’s weaker from reserve but respectable as a 4/5/4. The only thing holding this card back is that it does nothing if your opponent has removal for your landmark.
Haven Warrior - 4/7
This isn’t a flashy unique, but you’re effectively getting 8 stats for 2 mana on both sides, which is never bad.
Baku: 2/7
In a Sierra & Oddball deck, there’s a dream scenario where this Baku draws you a card and nabs two cards from your opponent, all while providing respectable stats. Realistically, the fact that this triggers at dusk makes the discard effect much less powerful, since your opponent can plan to either dump their hand or keep an expendable card. Plus, waiting for your landmarks to come online in order to get the draw makes it less likely you’ll find the time when the discard hurts your opponent the most.
Parvati: 1/7
Rare Parvati is already pretty niche due to her poor stats. Taxing a card from reserve on the anchor ability makes this one very weak, even with the desirable support ability.
Yong-Su, Verdant Weaver: 3/7
This Yong-Su’s abilities are so minor that I’d view it it as a slightly overstatted 3-drop, one point behind the rare Cernunnos.
The Sandman - 5/7
In a spell-heavy deck, this is a significant improvement over the rare Sandman. What pushes this one over the edge for me is the ability to give himself asleep to get an extra dusk trigger; lining things up correctly can let you cast the front side of a single Off You Go! or A Cappella Training as many as four times.
Mowgli - 3/7
The stats are solid, and I can imagine paying for the ability in a low-cost Muna deck as a late-game refill when you need the cards more than your opponent.
Kitsune - 4/7
Your deck has to want the card draw more than your opponent, but landing the double-boost from reserve on an anchored character is a lot of value for just 2 mana.
Cernunnos - 5/7
This is very nicely costed double-removal, as long as it can find a target. I love that it spots you a resupply on the front end.
Edit (2024-12-03): 4/7
There aren’t enough expensive characters that see play for this to be generically useful.
Daughter of Yggdrasil - 4/7
This seems solid in Subhash & Marmo, or in a permanents deck as a play to secure the early-game while you get your late-game engine online. Even if you do have to play it out from hand, the delayed card draw makes this a tad better than the Muna common Daughter of Yggdrasil.
Aloe Vera - 4/7
This fits nicely into Arjun & Spike, who can go down on resources to anchor it with their ability, then recoup the card and then some with the passive and triggered card draw. I’d usually prefer to anchor a target with more impressive stats, but this does the job if you can line up two water regions in a row.
Muna Merchant - 1/7
The stats are bad, the support ability conflicts with the lowered reserve cost, and the resupply trigger moves stuff around but usually won’t put you ahead on cards.
Edit (2024-12-24): 6/7
It turns out that this line of text is amazing for Treyst at every point in the game. Early on, it lets him turbo out scrap counters by putting two cards into reserve at once. In the late-game, getting two characters into reserve means they can be boosted by Haven, Bravos Bastion (F). This ability especially shines against cards that prevent your characters from going to reserve, like A Cappella Training and Monolith Legate.
The only thing holding this one back is that the combination of its hand cost and stat imbalance sometimes make it tricky to play. It costing 3 means you can’t run it out on T1 (and usually T2) without your reserve overflowing. Its low mountain and water stats make this unplayable into a non-forest region if you don’t have your Havens out.
Spindle Harvesters - 4/7
There are better Yzmir Spindle Harvesters, but this one will do just fine for Afanas. It’s a great boost target on the front side, and there are many Yzmir spells that are cheaper to play from hand.
Edit (2024-12-03): 5/7
Although it only anchors in one direction and the leaves trigger is much worse than an at-dusk trigger, the spell return ability has proven to be very valuable for Afanas.
Inari - 3/7
So long as you can make use of the flood of card draw, there will be opportunities to play this in a region with no mountain. This is especially efficient from reserve.
Muna Caregiver - 2/7
Currently, I don’t see an Yzmir deck that plays landmarks and has a premium target to anchor with this.
Edit (2024-11-21): 4/7
This could have a home specifically in a Lindiwe & Maw deck that runs the landmarks package of Baba’s Isba and/or Ordis Carrier. Returning an Off You Go! or Magical Training is great, and the support ability can anchor Maw if it dodges your opponent’s removal.
Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast - 3/7
You’re playing this one purely for its stats, in particular the 5/4/4 for 3 from reserve.
Asmodeus - 3/7
This Asmodeus occupies a weird space where you’re not thrilled about a 4/6/6 for 5, but you’d also prefer not to put a card from your hand in reserve to trigger the die roll. Still, I feel alright about this one thanks to the best-case scenario of anchoring this with its improved base stats, then using the support ability on a premium 3-drop the following turn.
Shenlong - 3/7
This is a ton of stats on a tough character, even if you miss on the die roll. Still, playing this at most points in the game will guarantee that you lose the other expedition. The fleeting support ability is convenient in case you don’t want to be playing a large character two turns in a row.