I opened a case of Trial by Frost and wanted to share the uniques I pulled, as well as some of the stats about the case.
If you can afford to, make sure to buy locally to support the game stores that are running Altered events!
Overview
Unique count
Total uniques: 29
Uniques per box: 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5
Missing rares
Six boxes left me just 9 rares short of a complete Trial by Frost playset (3x of each rare).
Foilers
| Rarity | Count |
|---|---|
| Unique | 4 |
| Rare | 15 |
| Common | 39 |
Faction distribution of uniques
| Faction | Count |
|---|---|
| Axiom | 5 |
| Bravos | 10 |
| Lyra | 1 |
| Muna | 5 |
| Ordis | 4 |
| Yzmir | 4 |
Rating distribution of uniques
| Score | Proportion | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.14 | Very weak |
| 2 | 0.34 | Weak |
| 3 | 0.21 | Solid |
| 4 | 0.24 | Strong |
| 5 | 0.07 | Very strong |
| 6 | 0.00 | Exceptional |
| 7 | 0.00 | Incredible |
Uniques
Axiom
Magpeng Hoarder: 3/7
This is sort of a cross between Baba Yaga (C) and Amelia Earhart (C). It’s not quite a Baba Yaga (C) on D1, which is when the card at its best, but Axiom also doesn’t mind getting the card directly into reserve. The back side being a 1-mana 2/1/2 is a solid reward.
I like that the conditions combine in a way that your reserve won’t overflow.
Magpeng Hoarder: 2/7
This never quite works out the way you want. In the early-game, this is a overcosted 3-mana 3/1/2. In order have a fleeting character to trigger the cost reduction and boost from hand, you’ll need to have had three cards in reserve at some point. To trigger the boost from reserve, this will have left reserve, so you’ll need to have had three cards in reserve this time as well. That’s not uncommon for Treyst or Subhash, but you don’t want to be putting work in for slightly above-rate stats.
Magpeng Hoarder: 3/7
Your reserve is empty on D1, so I can see this as a respectable early play for Sierra & Oddball, for whom the support ability is very relevant. If you play this and a Foundry Mechanic (C) on D1, you’ll usually at least trade and then have enough mana to play a Brassbug Hive (R) on D2.
The Little Match Girl: 3/7
This one looks it has the potential to put you ahead on resources, drawing you up to two cards and giving two of your opponent’s characters fleeting.
I think it’ll be awkward to play in practice since there are lots of timing restrictions on it: you want to play this after you opponent’s character is on board, you want to have no cards in hand, and you want to play this into a non-water region. For a 3-mana card, that’s a pretty big ask.
It’s also unlikely you’ll be able to play this on consecutive turns unless you can get rid of the card that you drew on the front side in addition to your the card you keep on the following turn.
Vishvakarma: 2/7
This is quite expensive and conditional, but I could see it working for Sierra. She has the permanent density to make this a slightly larger Foundry Armorer (R) often enough. From reserve, you can get rid of an Armored Jammer or a used-up Brassbug Hub (C), put a 3-cost permanent it into reserve to make a Brassbug, then play that permanent for free to replace the one you just sacrificed while making a Brassbug from your hero ability.
Bravos
Akhlut: 4/7
The way the arrow ability automatically fulfills both conditions of the triggered ability is very cute. With Basira’s hero ability or Arcolano Milk, this is a 5/5/8 Bravos Tracer for 4 mana that exhausts two cards in your opponent’s reserve.
Fleeting is a major downside, and you probably won’t want to run this out on D2. That said, if you do hit two cards with this, you can guarantee your opponent’s reserve will overflow, so you’ll come ahead on resources even if you don’t manage to save this with something like a Helping Hand (C).
Belasenka: 4/7
This is a pretty good rate for an arrow ability to exhaust a card from reserve. It’s nice that there’s the fringe upside of drawing this late and instead being able to use it to Charge! your other characters.
Bravos Trailblazer: 3/7
Already a slightly above-rate 2-drop on the front side, this becomes at least a 3-mana 4/4/2 that exhausts a card in reserve on the back side. It’s kind of like a Tinker Bell (R). You often can’t afford to wait on the sabotage/exhaust, but if you can, just one other Haven-boosted character (or any other character out of Basira) makes this a 3-mana 5/5/3 or larger sabotager.
Bravos Trailblazer: 4/7
The extra work to get a boost on this one means it won’t be playable on the first day or two, but Bravos wants card draw enough that it’ll often be worth waiting to combine this with a Haven or Basira boost.
Gericht, Revered Duelist: 1/7
A 2-mana 1/3/0 doesn’t cut it, and neither does a 3-mana 1/3/0 that resupplies. The repeatable back side comes the closest, but I’d still prefer Hua Mulan (C).
Haven Seiringar: 2/7
While this is probably playable in a Haven deck, a spread out 4/5/4 for 4 isn’t a great payoff for having a landmark, and it’s a disaster if you don’t draw your landmarks or if they’re removed.
The permanent discard ability is so delayed that it usually won’t remove the desired target in a timely fashion.
Haven Seiringar: 4/7
This is almost a Haven Warrior (C) on the front side, and the back is a Mighty Jinn (R) that exhausts a card in reserve. The fact that its low stat is a 1 means it’s a bit safer than Mighty Jinn if the regions turn out wrong.
I think what I like most about this one is that it curves into itself as a D1+D2 combo that has a solid chance of trading, disabling an opponent’s play, and then ramping. This is much better if you’re going first on D2.
Haven Seiringar: 1/7
This is fairly-statted on the front side despite having a 0, but the back side is very underwhelming. You don’t want to pay 3 for a 4/2/0, and Bravos usually can’t afford to be discarding cards from reserve. The character swap could be a niche benefit if you put a Tiny Jinn, Bravos Tracer, or support ability into reserve while rescuing another unique, but it’s certainly not worth what you’re giving up for this.
Mighty Simbi: 2/7
If you need permanent removal in a Haven deck, I could see this being a tolerable option. The front side can resupply a character to be Haven-boosted, and the back side can double-boost another character provided that your Haven is already out.
Still, this is woefully understatted and finicky to boot. If you need to discard a permanent and forest isn’t present, good luck getting your expedition to move forward after spending 4 mana on this.
Yeti: 2/7
The stats are bad but not unplayably so in the case that you unable to trigger the second line. Out of Bravos, it’s not unthinkable to empty your hand, then play from reserve to double-boost this multiple times.
Still, this becomes a removal magnet in the best case. What’s even more problematic is that it only gets boosted if you play to its expedition, meaning you’ll likely win this side by a landslide but lose the other anyway.
Lyra
The Snowman: 5/7
This The Snowman provides a ton of card advantage without sacrificing many stats. Fen will often have a disposable character in reserve that she’s happy to exchange for a fresh card. If not, she’s happy with the resupply too.
This unique is great on D1 since both starting regions have water, and you can resupply without overflowing.
The biggest knock against it is that it costs 4 from reserve. Tapping out isn’t great, but it at least provides you with solid stats and card advantage to make it worthwhile; compare to Flamel (C).
Muna
Ebenezer Scrooge: 2/7
This will usually just be an understatted 3-drop. Even if you are trying to make the most out of it, it’s unfortunate that getting value out of the from-hand ability requires discarding a reduced-cost card from reserve.
Flawed Prototype: 2/7
I think this will often simplify down to a scaled-up Kitsune (R), letting both players resupply. It’s too expensive for you to really be happy about the value you’re getting from it, but if you stick it into reserve as Rin and play it as your last card for the draw, I could see it being respectable.
Mighty Simbi: 5/7
On its own, this is a faction and region-shifted Mighty Jinn (R) that can ramp both times. There’s the risk of your opponent blocking you and denying your ramp but also the potential upside of playing this alongside a previously anchored/asleep character so that you move on both sides and ramp twice in one turn.
Snoozer Shroom: 1/7
This is pretty expensive for a The Sandman effect. It’s cute that the draw kicks in at the exact time you most need it, but I think you’ll rarely be happy to pay so much for such a conditional card.
Will-o’-the-Wisp: 3/7
Almost always, this will be a downgrade from the out-of-faction rare. A lot needs to go right to take advantage of the second line: You need to have a landmark out, probably Bountiful Meadow, The Spindle, Muna Bastion, or Icebound Taiga. Ideally, both regions need to have forest - either naturally or by trickery - since you want Will-o’-the-Wisp (U)’s 3 in forest to contribute, but you also want the character played in the other expedition to trigger this unique’s ability. Combine that with needing enough mana to play characters for boosts, and I think this line isn’t worth the effort you’ll put into it.
Ordis
Gibil: 3/7
The floor for this is a 5/5/5 for 4 that leaves a 1/1/1 even if it’s removed. That makes you feel okay hoping for the dream of Charge!-ing this in Sigismar landmarks, or playing this on 8+ mana out of Gulrang.
Ordis Overseer: 1/7
This unique asks you to do a lot of work for minimal payoff. The “if each of your expeditions is behind or tied” looks pretty hard to achieve unless you’re a defender deck, which I don’t love the prospects of.
You need to be playing additional bureaucrats to make this more than a 2-mana 1/1/2 from hand. It’s not an arrow trigger, so this is an unplayable 2-mana 0/0/1 from reserve.
This unique’s one redeeming quality is that there’s no behind condition on the from-hand ability, meaning Waru can potentially set up a bunch of bureaucrats, trigger this in whichever expedition he wants to create a bunch of 1/1/1s, and then Charge! them.
Snoozer Shroom: 2/7
The best case for this is a 1-mana discount on a token-generating Jeanne d’Arc (C), but I foresee it being very unreliable to get these conditions to trigger, much less at the same time.
You can plan for your hero expedition to be behind so that this becomes a slightly improved Ordis Gatekeeper (C), but one of the benefits of the Gatekeeper it that it’s a solid D1 play, where this one is not.
Getting two 1/1/1s is great, but if your hand is empty at night, you’ll be out of gas if the game goes on much longer.
Vishvakarma: 2/7
This is abysmal if you can’t empty your reserve, but the stat increase and sacrifice do make it easier for Sigismar landmarks to drop a big permanent without going 0-2. Unfortunately, you can’t line it up with a Foundry Mechanic (F) support ability to play this and The Monolith, Ordis Bastion (C) on D3.
Yzmir
Belasenka: 4/7
This is a Dorothy Gale (C) that exhausts its target and has the potential to draw a card. If you have to run this out to target a 2-drop, exhausting it so that it can’t be replayed is a meaningful difference. You need to be able to get the draw most of the time for this to be worthwhile, so you’ll want to run it alongside exhaust support abilities and/or cheap ways to exhaust.
Pamola: 2/7
I think this will be a very hard trigger to achieve past D1; even a control deck doesn’t want to fall behind on expeditions.
As a result, you’re probably overpaying for this unless it’s specifically being played in or blocking a mountain-only region.
Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign: 4/7
Discarding a permanent on an arrow ability is extremely valuable for Yzmir, enough so that I think this Sunisa could be pretty good despite the many conditions on it: you have to have an expedition that’s behind, and you need to play a defender character into that expedition, which won’t always be desirable.
It’s also awkward in that if defender is turned off, this might help you win the expedition you’re behind in, which means the arrow ability won’t be online if your opponent plays another permanent.
That said, ensuring one expedition behind is the easier of the two conditions to meet, which is fortunate because the permanent discard is the more important part of the card.
The Snow Queen: 4/7
Paying 7 mana for a 4/4/4 is always going to be rough, but this unique at least makes it interesting. The eternal condition and the from-hand condition are the same, so you can plan for your hero expedition to be lagging behind. Then you have an eternal 4/4/4 on the companion side that returns a card to your hand and sends a character to reserve.
You need to be getting value out of all parts of the card, but Akesha can do that pretty well. She can after-you to ensure there’s at least a target to send to reserve, and she’ll often have a spell in reserve that she’d like to bounce.
It’s kind of nice that even if the eternal falls off, you’ll get the removal arrow ability again, this time with more mana to use it.