Fellow cardhunters, I like to review the new cards, so you're welcome to read the review. My opinion is not absolute, and I am always glad to discuss everything. The only thing I hate is the attempt to make me stop writing due to my mistakes, lack of experience and so on. That's absolutely uncivilized, don't even try. If you find any mistakes, please tell me, and I will fix them. If you can write a better review - nobody prevents you from doing that. Elven Maneuvers. Absolutely fantastic card in a right deck. All "move and attack" cards are considered move cards, so you can have a great chance of drawing Nimble Strike every time your warrior gets damaged! Drawing a Team Run or the new Elven Trickery would also be great. There are awesome new items with Elven Maneuvers, especially Cautious Mobility and Superb Mobility. Elven Trickery. Clearly overpowered card designed to buff the elves. When your mage stopped enemy dwarf warriors with the cold spells, and your elf warrior uses Elven Trickery to move close, the enemy can only rely on the blocks and armor. You can, however, prepare to them, and in most cases your elven warrior will just murder the helpless enemy. Remember though that Elven Trickery does NOT discard Magic attacks, so you can catch SPR and become hunted yourself. The value of SPR becomes even higher now. There are some very good elven skills with Elven Trickery. The best ones are Risky Trickery and Superb Trickery. Hot Flames. I see no sense in this card: Firestarter is better in most cases. If the enemy has just Armor 2, they are even. If he has only Officer's Harness, Firestarter is better. Hot Flames is better only if he has Resistant Hide, but this can be fixed with the armor-discarding cards. Crusher. The idea of buffing crushing attacks was right, but the implementation wasn't. A warrior rarely has extra tokens to spare on skills, and there are no tokenless skills with Crusher. This could work if we had a tokenless skill with double Crusher. Impetuous Heal. I don't like uncontrolled healing, and as long as it's present only on one weapon, we can safely ignore it. Impetuous Slash. See above (replace "healing" with "beating"). Impetuous Blast. This one is the worst Impetuous card, since you usually have LOS to your chars, but you can have no LOS to enemy chars. Pushback Parry. Blocking their Nimble Strike and pushing them on lava? With 5/6 chance? Really??? Yes, I want Twisting Shield, a tokenless shield with two Pushback Parries and Hard To Pin Down. Everybody wants it. My wife wants it, my mom wants it, even my dog wants it Bloodied Block. A nice block blocking everything at 1+ (always) if you're below full health. Unfortunately, it doesn't move you away from the danger like Hard to Pin Down and doesn't give you extra cards. Still, Bloodshield Of Xoc is very good for a warrior, if you need to spend all yellow tokens on weapons. Stone Feet. This is designed to defeat movement effects. If you think that a purely defensive card isn't going to be popular, then you've never played all 4 possible Immovables, cursing those damned wizards I really hope to use so many copies of this card to render all those WWEs/Winds of War useless. Healing Benediction. This card is the most effective mass-healing so far. Each turn you heal two your chars for 3 damage = 6 damage total. Multiply that by 3 turns, and you get 18 damage. This makes mass Firestorm armies playable and really powerful. It's a pity though that Benediction cannot target the cleric himself, as the wizards usually need healing more than him. Triple Heals. The effect is nice, but nothing ground-breaking. Wings Of Faith. This is definitely better than Flight Aura that occupies one of your precious hand slots. I guess flying is most important for the chars capable of moving far and hitting hard - elven warriors and priests. I cannot predict how important this may be, but having your elf reaching the back row wizards ignoring zones of control can be game-breaking. Purging Burst. A long-awaited card to combat encumber and mass attachments. Unfortunately, this isn't going to work at full potential after WWE, so it isn't as universal as it could be. I'd like to see a card that purges all your characters no matter where are they. Instant Burn. A very interesting card that can make Firestarter armies really playable. If you trigger all your burning cards at once, that can quickly incinerate enemies. And there is a staff with all six Instant Burns - White Flame. Do I want it? Oh yesss!
Magma Spray. Range 2 is too short, so this card is bad, despite the strong burning. Flash Of Agony. A more powerful version of Flash Of Pain. Can be good with Savage Curse or even without it, if you manage to keep your team behind the wall. Now we will dream about Searing Pain, an awesome staff with three Fireballs and three Flashes of Agony. Force Cannon. This is much worse than Winds Of War, so I'm not very impressed. Melt Armor. Again, there are much better cards to destroy armor. Arcane Burst. This is a non-burning version of Ember Burst. To compensate for burning, Arcane Burst deals more damage. There is a great staff with 6 Arcane Bursts and a great skill with two Arcane Bursts + Hover, so we will definitely see this card on the battlefield. Jumpspark. This can inflict serious damage with some electric-pumping cards, but still isn't very impressive. What it's really good is revealing enemy armor and possibly blocks from a long distance. Punishing Bolt. Very interesting card, capable of dealing 10 damage or even more. We have a staff with all six Punishing Bolts and several other good staves, so keeping a lot of cards is becoming dangerous! Punishing Strike. The same approach, but in melee flavor. Now playing the first is even more important than it was before. Illusory Barrier. A better version of illusory wall. We didn't see much of them, and I doubt that we'll see them in the future. Still, the idea is very nice: you win the time to hit enemy chars with the ranged attacks. Purging Strike. I like the idea of this card, but not its implementation. It would be great if the warriors could dispel enemy attachments, but they still cannot, as the card is restricted to priests. Why do they need a weak attack to remove enchantments if they can play Purge at range? Purge isn't going to damage your character, and it's usually too dangerous for a priest to come close to enemies, especially with the weak attacks in hand. Unnerving Strike. I like this card very much, as it tries to break the abundance of blocks. Even Hard To Pin Down becomes very unreliable and is likely to be discarded. Pressing Bash. Just another bash, but this time you can follow the enemy - or move away. Nice, but not very impressive. Plus, there are no weapons with more than two Pressing Bashes. Sundering Strike. Good and powerful attack - the upgraded Shredding Strike. There are many weapons with this card, and it's going to be popular.
Controlled Overswing. Yes, you can play this version of Violent Overswing even if you don't have any other cards in your hand. No, it wouldn't become playable because of that. Startling Strike. If I understand this card right, you will discard their block only if that block wouldn't trigger. Not very much, for sure, as this doesn't even have "Hard to Block" like Unnerving Strike. You may try to get rid of the Duck, though. Feinting Strike. Very powerful card, always welcome even at the highest levels of MP. Even Hard To Pin Down will only work at 6+. At least one weapon with two Feinting Strikes, Raxcotl's Hammer, is good enough to be popular. Brutal Charge. A great improvement over the old Charge. Potential 10 damage is good enough to play the boots with this card, especially for the dwarves. Healing Dash. Healing a few points of damage is nice, but not strong enough to hunt for this card. There are many better move cards in the game. Sparlking Cloth Armor. This card is could be good if it had "keep" for the movement effect. As a one-time effect, it's too weak to be popular. Still, it can be a nasty surprise if your warrior gets close to the enemy wizard in response to his spell. Quickness Aura. Now we finally have a permanent Rushing Aura that almost never works as armor. The quickness effect has the most impact on the dwarves, as it doubles their short move. Alternatively, you can pump the movement of your elves to 6 squares, which is really great. As long as we have the awesome Necalli's Cap with double Quickness Aura and All-Out Attack, the card is guaranteed to be popular. Mystical Wyrmhide. An extremely powerful effect for a battle of wizards. Permanent reflection is uber-powerful. Don't ask whether do I want Meztis' Wyrmhide Robes with two Mystical Wyrmhides Mystical Drakehide. The weaker version: enemy cards are just discarded, not reflected. Still, there is an interesting common robe with both Drakehide and Resistant Hide, Yellowdrake Robes. Barbed Platemail. Now this is an upgraded Spiked Mail. This may be popular if the elves really rise in power. They are fragile, and if you inflict some extra damage to them, your chances to win will increase. Otherwise, the armor isn't very impressive as it prevents 2 damage on average, but it's quite good. I like Armor Of Tlacoa very much, as it has three great cards just for a blue token. Arcane Beam. A non-burning version of Flame Jet. There are no very good items with it, so I really doubt it will become popular.
Because the new cards are not yet on the Wiki, you might want to add this link to your OP. (Credit Lord Feleran)
Hot Flames - I haven't been able to get Resistant Hide and Hot Flames at the same time, but I don't think it will negate resistant hide for the same reason a penetrating stab doesn't negate Only Bones armor. It is superior to Firestarter if a target has any combination of armor adding up to more than 2 that triggers. Varied Combustion (Level 10 common item) contains Hot Flames, Firestarter, and Kindler. Getting a mix would be nice. Crusher - Novice Crushing (Level 6 rare item) is tokenless. It contains Crusher, Bludgeon, and Simple Strike which puts it roughly on par with other tokenless martial skills. There are only 4 items with Crusher, 2 rares and 2 legendaries. Two use minor tokens, and IMO both are worth it. Impetuous Whatever - The storyline is that these are intelligent weapons, not entirely under the wielder's control. Not my faves either, but they make sense in context. Stone Feet (formerly Lockdown Blessing) is on: Divine Armor: Armor Of Tlacoa and Old Jungle Mail Divine Item: Inkstained Bone, Unyielding Charm, and Eagle Bowl Divine Weapon: Rockshaft Atlatl, White Atlatl, Feathergod Blade, and Feathergod Maul Healing Benediction is like Healing Presence, but with +1 to heal and +1 to proximity. It is not self-targetable, and does not heal the one it's attached to, so it's heal 3 to 2 allies (if in range) for 3 rounds. I like your version better. Wings Of Faith is good for anyone who needs a free move. It's great on maps with impassable (water) terrain, but not as handy for blocked terrain. Much of it's usefulness will come and go with MP map rotations. Purging Burst isn't just for your team. In a close cluster (think victory point) it will knock off all the enemy controlled attachments of anyone within the burst. This includes those pesky Frenzy and Nimbus cards attached to your enemies. See also: Purging Strike Edited: Instant Burn adds itself as an attachment to the target and triggers all caster-controlled burning attachments. The additional burnings do not decrease the attachment's duration. Quite dangerous for firestorm unless all your troops are very well armored.
The image is missing at least "Elvish Scamper". I haven't checked if anything else is missing. It also has the old version "Lockdown Blessing" instead of the updated "Stone Feet". The image is still pretty useful so thanks to the unknown creator.
Yeah, I know it's not quite up-to-date, but its the best non-text edition of the new cards that I've seen to this point.
If ennemy has armor 2 (like a Reliable Mail), with Firestarter you'll deal 0 damage and 2 with Hot Flames. I don't call that even ^^' And I can be wrong but I think that even with Hot Flames, Resistant Hide will still prevent all damages despite the penetrating. I had some inquiries about this card. I have been told that it only exists on one item, a tokenless staff. So yes it's not the best but it's the cheapest. Stop kidding us, this card is awesome. You can play a team without a priest and still have some healing. But most of all, play it with a vampire priest with Talented Healer and you have a 4 squares move with cantrip that can self heal yourself up to 6. I would add beware of Martyr Blessing. This can become a call for crime, mostly for a vampire priest.
I'm under the impression that the armor is not discarded even when it moves you. You can run across the map with it if you have Path of Knives on and can outlive the damage. We'll be hearing a lot about this one, I suspect.
This is just a trait version of Pathfinding. And you generally don't want your elves to get damaged, so I've been avoiding this card. I haven't managed to get Superb Trickery yet, so I've been relying on Cautious Trickery instead (my elves don't need to be any more Vulnerable). But yes, this is the card that makes elves playable. Resistant Hide blocks Hot Flames. Not the best card but interesting. +2 to all Crushing attacks! Including Obliterating Bludgeon! All through the campaign I used either Novice Crushing (tokenless) or Trained Crushing (includes Powerful Bludgeon). I bet a lot of people will be trading their Slippery Shield for a Twisting Shield. Great on certain maps (Koi, Garnet Portal). This is the card that will make games crazy. But it's cheap. If I have an empty item slot and no tokens left, I'll often toss in a Magma Spiral. If I've got a spare , I often throw in a Xipil Ring. True, but those cards require tokens or come with drawbacks. It will discard a block if all blocks fail. I love this card so much, even without a decent vampire build on the test server. The movement part is keep, which I think makes it too powerful. If it always reflected it would be great, but it's only a 50% chance, so I'd rather use Resistant Hide. And your list leaves out some old cards that are now available (again) to players: Fireball, Arcing Spark, and Touch Of Pain.
How often would that happen? Most people rarely have more than one Reliable Armor. Yes, it would be nice - as well as All-Out Attack with Obliterating Bludgeon Unfortunately, consistency is better than cool combos happening once a week. Really? You would include two weak attacks just to get one trait card? Good tokenless items have two traits, and the third card can be better too. Thanks for pointing it out, I will fix the review. I didn't say it's bad, I just think the version for your team would be much better. Current version is rarely better than Purge. This is a card for Firestarter character, not the old Firestorm one. The fire mage burns his own team only with occasional Firestorms; enemies get much more frying
Hot flames could be interesting but I'm not sure. I've only seen it in singletons on items, which really limits reliability. I remember the fireball decks in beta that used priests to buff their fireballs. Armor was the best defense against the decks, so hot flames would be a good fit, considering we're also getting fireball back. But I don't think the current options are worth playing.
Focused Combustion has 3 Hot Flames cards. It's Level 9 Uncommon, so it won't be very hard to get. I played it with mixed burn types from items and Instant Burns from staves, and it was very effective. I didn't try any priest buffs.
Are you sure that Firestarter increases only damage passed through armor? It isn't Vulnerable after all. Firestarter reads: "whenever a Burning card you control burns for damage...", and from my experience, I didn't even see the animation of its triggering: all burning cards just get + 2 damage. So, adding +2 vs armor 2 is the same as ignoring that armor. What's so awesome in moving 4 and healing 4? Team Run is awesome, Violent Spin can be game-breaking, Healing Dash is just nice. I've overlooked Talented Healer though: Healing Dash is really great as Cantrip with Healing 6.
No, it isn't just a trait version of Pathfinding: Pathfinding requires an action, and it's one-shot. You lose tempo with Pathfinding, and you get just one move card instead of it (zero cards net total). Elven Maneuvers is replaced instantly and don't require an action; you get one EXTRA card every time your elf gets damaged during the next three rounds. Nobody wants his elves to be damaged, but that cannot be avoided. If you have enough blocks, your opponent will be forced to play his weak attacks first, getting a lot of cards to you. Really? I don't see that on the card image. Resistant Hide prevents damage, while Mystical Wyrmhide prevents enemy card placement. Resistant Hide will save you from burning cards (if it wouldn't get discarded), Mystical Wyrmhide will attach half of these cards on the caster, which will burn him if he tries Instant Burn. Resistant Hide does nothing versus freezing cards; Mystical Wyrmhide has a chance of placing some of them onto the caster, making him vulnerable.
Yes I am. I have been running Firestarter on my three wizz that farm the SP adventures until I realised I was doing better without it (it's better to have multiple of 2 damages then only multiple of 4). As you quoted: "whenever a Burning card you control burns for damage...", if all damages are prevented, you don't burn for damages. Without talented healer, it's just a nice card that can become handy in some teams. I haven't checked what items have the card, means I don't know what it costs to have one or more in the deck. Healing cards are very often useful, especially after a melee fight where your warrior emerges victorious but is left with few HP. You don't want the opponant to easily finish your guy off letting him score 2 points. Healing is even more valuable if your guy has some armor. Also any dwarf won't spit on a 4 movements card. Finaly, you seemed pretty pessimist about the card by saying "There are many better move cards in the game." so I guess I felt like I had to be over optimistic to compensate ^^'
This isn't a full list, but my favorites are: Elf Skill Healthy Trickery (L9 R) - Elven Trickery, Healing Dash, Vulnerable Boots Skipping Boots (L8 R) - Healing Dash, Flank Move, Reliable Hide Turquoise Boots (L13 C) - Quickness Aura, Healing Dash, Sparkling Cloth Armor
