Accelerate Time- In a vacuum, Accelerate Time is great. You get bonus bites at whatever traits, attachments, or terrains you put out so the more you run the better Accelerate Time gets. However, you can only get one copy of Accelerate Time per arcane item and the developers have wisely paired them with weaker beginning of turn effects at best. To build around Accelerate Time, you would need to dilute your wizard with cards that don't work with it or are relatively weak. That means you'll need to devote a second character to the combo leaving you in a rough spot should either one die. I wouldn't mind have one or two copies of Accelerate Time in my deck but I would be wary of building around it. Adaptable- As anyone who's played against mutants in the new modules can attest, Adaptable is fricken annoying to play against when you are focused on damage types and most builds are. Even the characters with multiple damage types will eventually draw redundant attacks and either be forced to wait until your buff wears off or switch to attacking someone else. The one thing you will need to watch out for is how heavily you rely on buffs and traits since they will likely be knocked off with Adaptable in hand. Auto Block- The most commonly played things that trigger the keep clause are burst spells and cone spells. The number one problem with that is that the wizards that play them are generally jam packed with targeted control spells to get rid of it. You will rarely block more than one attack with Auto Block and it's never going to get more than two. It is a reasonable block but not something to actively seek out. Berserk Spin- Good for singleplayer, not as likely to hit more than one target in multiplayer. Pretty much a Chop that doesn't have its own trait buff. Cooling Laser- I usually don't like attacks with secondary effects when held in hand. However, unlike all the others, Cooling Laser is itself a good attack and the secondary effect is strong. Cold wizards traditionally have a harder time dealing damage and Cooling Laser give them a slight boost. Cushioning Armor- Fantastic card. Almost everything does more than 5 damage and if you manage to combine Cushioning Armor with a Reliable Mail you will be insanely hard to kill. Keep in mind that cards resolve from left to right so any armor to the left of Cushioning Armor will take effect before it and possibly be negated. Cushioning Armor also breathes new life into heal spells. By limiting all damage to 5, heal spells can go now toe to toe against all incoming damage. Destructive Purge- Very neat card. There's always been a heavy buff priest presence in the metagame and all characters have traits from class skills so you will never lack for targets. Too bad you can only get 2 at most per character or you could build around turning nearly spent debuffs into handicaps. Dual Laser Beacon- The larger area of effect gives you much greater range than traditional damaging terrain. Not only can it effect multiple enemies but it doesn't damage your own characters either. Dual Laser Beacon is only limited by the company it keeps and a quick perusal of items shows a lot of stinkers. Flaring Laser- Flaring Laser has a neat effect but 6 damage is still on the small side when you do run into a block. I realize 6 damage isn't nothing but seriously, it may seem like your opponent always has the block but most characters only carry 3. Don't waste valuable attack slots on Flaring Laser if you don't have to. Force Field- I love this card. You either eat up your opponent's attacks and priority or your character goes unmolested for a couple turns. Win win. I don't think it's quite so good that you can stick this next to anything and the item will be playable but it doesn't need too much help. Gene Therapy- You could do worse if you're simply using Gene Therapy as a way to get rid of Handicaps but I wouldn't get my hopes up about supercharging a leper. There are way too many useless and mismatched Boosts. At the very least you get a Heal 3 out of it so while I wouldn't actively seek it out, I wouldn't shy away from Gene Therapy items either. Genetic Engineering- This card throws you at the mercy of the RNG gods. All orange traits are fair game so you will often end up with useless boosts. Even worse, with the introduction of Adaptable, there are a slew of Adapted to X cards that won't match whatever damage type you're playing against. Definitely don't seek this card out and avoid if possible. Healing Beacon- It's basically "Team Soothing Darkness". Just as slow, the limited range mimics encumber, and you have the unenviable task of keeping enemy characters away from the targeted square. Unless you are running some sort of turtling strategy where you don't care if your opponents get healed as well, I wouldn't run Healing Beacon. Hypnotic Beacon- If you don't like Whirlwind Enemies you aren't going to like Hypnotic Beacon either. I suspect affecting squares instead of enemy characters directly makes it quite a bit weaker but Duration 2 does partially make up for it. Laser Beacon- It doesn't seem like much but that 2 damage between Stone Spikes and Laser Beacon is the difference between a respectable attack and a dud. I'm not sure whether the increased area of effect and lack of self damage make up for it but I'm leaning towards no. Laser Block- Great block since you are guaranteed a 2 for 1 but I don't think Laser Block shields hold a candle to the best Defender's Block or Parry shields. It does make for a much more interesting inclusion on a weapon though. Laser Bolt- Straightforward 6 average damage spell. Fine card but nothing special. Laser Cutdown- I love the thought of using Laser Cutdown to mow down an entire field but requiring a major token limits it to modules where you're unlikely to one shot mobs and it is at most 2 free cards in a multiplayer match in very very rare cases. Sadly not a card I'd actively want. Laser Spray- Can screw you if drawn in your opener but it's free damage that allows you to maintain priority. It's perfectly reasonable to play it if you get access to juicier cards in the process. Laser Strike- Obviously not as good as a straight up 11 point attack like Powerful Bludgeon but at 10.5 average damage it's pretty close. Major Erratic Damage also brings the playability down a notch but Laser Strike is still an above average attack with double digit damage. Laser Thrust- For those of you that were around when Vicious Thrust had penetrating you already know how insane Laser Thrust is. If you love Penetrating Stab, and who doesn't, you'll love Laser Thrust. Laser Whip- I want to like it but if you've played the first level of Mauve Manticore 4 you know how much it sucks when your attacks have a specific range. I'm not saying it can't be good if you build a deck around it, with either Bashes or Stabs, but you can't stick it on any warrior without major positioning headaches. Lava Pool- Wall of Fire with the added bonus of sometimes not needing line of sight. A little over costed at emerald quality for what it does but it's a great card nonetheless. Mega Laser- Pew pew! Take 9 please. Mimetic Armor- This is sort of like Barbed Platemail light that works against magic too. The effect is small but you can get multiple copies on a character and the attacks are buffable. I'm not sure if it is actually good enough but Mimetic Armor is one of the cards I look forward to testing out the most. Mimetic Crown- Mimetic Armor but waaaaay more impactful. You can't get as many copies on a character but being able to would be too good. Pull The Trigger- While it takes two actions to use an attack from Pull the Trigger, the attacks are ranged so you generally have more time to fritter away. Giving up priority still isn't great but the drawback is subdued. The average damage isn't as straightforward since you can get stuff like Laser Beacon but there are more higher quality magic laser attacks to make up for the lack of consistency. I would still try to limit the number of copies of Pull the Trigger in your deck if possible. Push The Button- Not getting to attack right away is a huge drawback and you are only going to average around 8 damage. Almost all the attacks you can get come with Major Erratic Damage so they have a small chance of backfiring as well. Try not to get stuck with too many in your deck. Radiation Bolt- I think the acceptability line for a single target attack is around 5 for ranged attacks. Is a random Handicap worth 3 damage? My gut says yes. Radiation Bomb- Like Genetic Engineering, you must roll with whatever hand the RNG gods deal you. However, while there are many useless buffs, Handicaps are almost always going to be useful in some way. There just aren't that many benign Handicaps. Burst 2 is also a huge plus. There's almost no way to avoid it aside from heavily walled off areas. If nothing else, it is half of an Arcane Burst with over twice the area of effect. I could be horribly overrating Radiation Bomb but I really like it. Radioactive Goo- If you value a random Handicap at 4 damage, and I think that is probably reasonable, then you've got a Stone Spikes with increased area of effect. I'm a fan. Radioactive Spray- I think Radioactive Spray is similar to other damaging terrains. If your enemy needs to stay in the same spot, they are in for a world of hurt. What Radioactive Spray loses in consistency it gains in area of effect and stacking potential. As a bonus, you can now run a wizard focused solely on control spells with your priest providing the damaging terrains whereas before you had to balance the two on the wizard. Reflect Missile- Like all magic blocks, Reflect Missile is dead way too often to play blindly. It is certainly not enough better than Catch Arrow to warrant the emerald quality. Rocket Charge- Brutal Charge on steroids. I like Brutal Charge boots a bit more since they don't require a major token and you can get more than one copy but Rocket Charge is just so much more stylish. Rocket Dash- I think it's a little better than Sprint since it adds Fly and you rarely need the full 8 movement but for a major token I think you can do better. Scamper, Team!- Run, Team! is already nuts. Adding Free Move is just icing on the cake. Scatter Laser- Decent card but your opponent isn't going to be kind enough to give you 3 targets very often. Don't rate it as a 15 damage attack, but rather a 5 damage attack you sometimes get extra value out of. For singleplayer just stick with Firestorm. Spreading Laser- Now this one I like over Scatter Laser. You get a little less control over targets but it is a reasonably rated silver quality card that won't wreck the balance of an item. Telepod Jaunt- Perfectly reasonable card for running away but far too unpredictable for a melee attacker. I wouldn't use Telepod Jaunt on warriors or vamps unless you specifically need the Teleport. Warp Run- Discarding all cards means you're losing buffs too, making Warp Run the Arrogant Armor of movement cards. Sometimes you get a Purging Burst out of the deal but you would need to put your wizard in a precarious situation to pull it off on enemy characters. The effect is just not wort jumping through hoops for in my opinion. The Halted and Unblockable lines are pretty much useless. Very few cards halt anymore and I don't recommend shoving extra self handicaps like Trip in your deck just to get extra value since Halted is devastating when unanswered. Apparently, the Unblockable clause is there as a hotfix to a bug that popped up during testing and it is otherwise useless.
Does it heal enemies? I think it was changed to allies only in testing and the rule text may not have been updated. It does say "playerRelative" in the "Params" column like the other beacons but unlike Irradiated terrain. I love this card soooo much! It's really powerful and yet so silly that your opponent doesn't mind that you just teleported to the victory squares on your first turn.
Trying the Mimetic stuf right now... Won 4/4 with WAR+WAR+PRIEST build in 1400-1500 environment so far. But wow, its so much fun! I am really looking forward to your version peonprop.
As has been noted elsewhere, this pulls from the entire boost pool, not just player-accessible ones. I got Invisibility on one of my characters in SP earlier. (Of course, as you mentioned, most of the time you wind up with Adapted To Slashing or something)
