beyond-the-gates

Today I opened my Kickstarter display from the Gamers Guild event last weekend. There weren’t any standout uniques in terms of power level, but a foil, alt-art Shenlong is always a treat. As always, I’ll give my first impressions of them below. My rating system Kitsune: 2/7 While it’s cute that this card meets all the conditions for its trigger when played from reserve with a Haven, Bravos Bastion on board, this will usually be on par with a textless 2-mana 0/4/1 in practice, which is acceptable. 4 mountain on a 2-drop does mean that this can sometimes perform well if lined up correctly. ...

This weekend, I got to be part of a four-player draft. I expected slightly less synergy than in a pod of eight due to seeing fewer cards overall. With fewer drafters, finding an open faction would have an even greater payoff. The draft P1p1 was a tough choice between Kojo & Booda and a Brassbug Hive (R). Kojo & Booda is probably the stronger pick, but I thought the Brassbug Hive (R) would be a more fun card to build around, and it can absolutely win the game on its own if it’s not answered. ...

The deck While Subhash & Marmo don’t have the late-game inevitability of Treyst & Rossum, the 2/2/2 each turn can put on consistent early-game pressure. Once your Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) is online, you can close out the game with boosted characters before you run out of steam. This deck prioritizes cards that are better from reserve to incentivize you to use Subhash & Marmo’s hero ability as often as possible. Card advantage from Ouroboros Inkcaster (F) and Ada Lovelace (R) help recoup the loss of resources from doing so. ...

The deck By offering passive card draw to a go-big deck, Atsadi & Surge allow you to liberally play characters and spells that ramp you but put you at a card disadvantage. Where Mana Channeling (C) can leave other heroes out of steam if their large characters are dealt with, Atsadi & Surge can continue deploying threat after threat once they accumulate enough mana. Since Atsadi’s characters are expensive and his hero ability will draw him into plenty of them, he can afford to shore up his ramp-heavy starts with high-tempo but low-value plays. I’ve included full playset of Bravos Tracer (C) for a boost of fleeting stats and Issun-bōshi (C) to make your first gigantic character an even stronger play. ...

I was very impressed when I took Arjun & Spike for a spin in constructed. Being aware of their key synergies made me more receptive to the idea of pivoting into a 3-drop-centric deck when I saw them late in P1. The end result far surpassed my expectations and has me wondering if they’re a stronger hero than Sigismar & Wingspan, albeit less generically powerful. The draft A P1p1 The Sandman (F) made it very easy to start in Ordis, and a P1p2 Baba Yaga (F) did nothing to change my course. I took a P1p3 Anubis (C) despite it not being the strongest card in the pack because I wanted to cut Ordis and build towards Sigismar & Wingspan. There wasn’t a compelling Ordis pick for P1p4, so I followed the rares with a Thoth (F) and continued into Yzmir with a Kadigiran Alchemist (C). Kuwat, the Dissenter (R) looked nice if I did end up in an Yzmir Sigismar, and another Thoth (C) had me considering whether I could go bureaucrats. ...

I’ve been tinkering with this Fen & Crowbar list since Altered’s release, so I was thrilled to be able to take Lyra into the top cut with it at Gamers Guild Arizona’s Altered Grand Tournament. The deck The last time I played this deck. This build positions Fen & Crowbar as a midrange tempo deck. The goal is for your well-statted characters to fight for early advances while using efficient removal to trade up and close out the game. Fen & Crowbar’s hero ability offers staying power against late-game decks while being able to flexibly convert value into tempo by spending resources from reserve. ...

I was planning to build another deck before today’s event, but I forgot my Axiom uniques at home, so I ended up bringing out Fen & Crowbar again. This ended up working out, since the games I played over the weekend had me reconsidering my anti-Small Step, Giant Leap stance, and I was curious to test it out as a 1-of. Previously, I had written off the card for being useless until the final turn of the game, like a burn spell in Magic: The Gathering. What I had missed is that Small Step ends the game before progression at dusk. I’d liken it more to a free spell where just having it in hand reduces the number of progressions you need to achieve by one. At its best, it invalidates your opponent’s plays on the final turn and substantially changes your win condition. ...

The deck This is my first stab at an Arjun & Spike list. The deck’s goal is straightforward: to tempo out beefy characters and effectively double their stats and/or abilities with Arjun & Spike’s hero ability. Harvest (C) is the card that makes this deck work. It spots you two hero ability activations that you’re able to use immediately. I was happiest to spend my rare slots on premium 3-drops and effects that put cards into your reserve. ...

The deck The last time I played this deck. I’m pretty happy with the build overall, but I’m considering whether my crusade against situational cards may have caused me to overlook strong spells for the deck. In particular, I wanted to test one copy of Twinkle Twinkle (C). Cost reduction abilities are deceptively powerful, so I’m not unhappy if this gets resupplied. Even if it can’t win me a critical expedition, playing it to sleep my own character in a losing expedition gives it enough utility that I’m happy including it. ...

The deck This is a midrange dice-rolling deck that aims to line up multiple rolls for mid-game tempo turns with cards like Kadigiran Mage-Dancer (F). To close out the game, it attempts to go All In! (C) on either an anchored character or an already large character to make an expedition difficult to contest. Martengale (R) feels like the most important card in the deck. Preventing the failure case of Nevenka & Blotch’s hero ability enables you to use it on turns you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. It’s great as an unsuspecting All In! target. ...