So, I'm always trying to explore cards that I underuse, and so I was thinking about Savage Curse and realized that I can't really think of a great use for it. Admittedly, it's a "paper" card, but I find the card to have too much of a drawback on allies, and can often be too powerful when used on enemies. Leaving me baffled. Anyone been able to use this one well?
My initial thoughts (given that I've never owned a copy of this card): Use it on an ally when you're going for the kill at the end of a match. Who cares about discarding a few cards if you win? Use it on an enemy that you can prevent from attacking (through Encumber, walls, Whirlwind, something like that). Admittedly, these are both highly situational.
One use that comes to mind is that it could be put onto an enemy warrior when you're facing them with a couple of block cards in your hand - so that they waste additional card while they are being blocked. ... but again, that's pretty situational.
Well one of the uses I found interesting (considering the fact that we are discussing about a paper power card) is to use it in combination with chop cards. You spend a card for 8 additional dmg. Still needs proper positioning and extra risk...
Though I don't have a copy of this card it seems like the discard effect doesn't actually require you to have a card to discard. You can negate the entire penalty if you can play or get rid of the rest of your hand before making an attack. This might have some synergy with Battlefield Training or similar tactics that allow you to dump the rest of your hand.
The chop idea works, but you can take it a level or two higher with other attacks that hit multiple bad guys. Ember burst, any cone attack, etc. That's a lot of bang for discarding that wimpy block that's been cluttering up your hand. It will also buff unconventional attacks like unholy wellspring or unholy frenzy, giving a priest some unexpected range power.
It would work well with a deck that draws cards - deal damage, inspiration, deal damage, inspiration, deal damage. It would also be fine on a priest, who will rarely have more than 1 attack card. Use it at the end of a turn. As mentioned above, sticking it on an enemy to clear their hand out instead of taking 6 attacks. Put it on an enemy wizard. No more resistant hide for you.
Love that card and am using it, the thing is you need to use it with alot of judgement as it can very well wreck you. I find it mostly useful on occasions where you can stay Idle, for instance when your wizard has already settled into position and dont really mind discarding his movement card or when you capture a vp and the enemy doesnt have a wizard that can hotspot you or alternatively if you have several movement cards in your hand and just one damage card. also as was mentioned here before you dont have to discard so unlike violent swing for example you can use all the cards in your hand and play the damage one last. you need to keep in mind the order in which you play your hand much more carefully. playing the wall of fire before the spark because terrain attachments are not direct damage and wont cause you to discard. it is the highest buff to damage so the downside is understandable plus who wants to play conservative anyway?! discard and frost jolt for 8 damage I say!
I'm not going to say it's a great card as it does have a very steep cost, but one of the most powerful things I encountered (or tested) in Beta was the ability to add damage to attacks that target multiple foes. Adding 4 damage to an attack against a single target isn't that great when it costs a card, but if you're hitting 2-3 targets for 4 additional damage its a lot better. Chop is an example, but IMO this is one of the weaker options. Chop is hard to line up against good opponents, and you need to be adjacent so pitching your extra cards (armor, blocks, attacks) is often hurting you. There are better options to increase a warriors damage. Adding damage to wizard spells can be much more powerful. Cone Of Cold or even a Winds Of War allow you to hit multiple targets for 5 damage, while the inherent abilities of the spells help to protect the rest of your team. Adding damage to Firestorm is a way to do 8 damage to each opponent, plus 2 more burning damage, off of a paper quality spell. Yes it hits your team too, but you can plan for that. Unholy Wellspring is normally a better option, but it's much higher quality, and therefore on items that require more power tokens. Also, there's no reason you can't stack them allowing you to add 7 damage to each attack, making Savage Curse a usable card if you're willing to build around it.
Let's dig this one up as I realized interesting use for. Still situational. If you ever run into enemy priests using cards like Unholy Power, Accelerated Thought or Unholy Wellspring they might be less than happy with your Savage Curse ofc, as you can't know what you'll be facing in MP and there's virtually no enemies with such "attacks" in SP it's mostly useless. With occasional extra oomph for attack or two. Edit: Combining with Elvish Insight might give interesting scenarios.
i been using it. A good idea is equip it in a Wizard with alot of freeze and winds of war. HItting 2 enemys for 5 dmg each and moving then around can be nasty. oh, those cone of cold? start doing 5 dgm too
It has been a while since I posted anything and this seems be just the thread. I am Heretiick (obviously) and I am currently a 1550 player. Savage Curse is a very underused and undervalued card(by players, I don't mean as a "paper" quality card). I am currently running it in my double priest/step warrior combo and it has won me quite a few games. One thing about Savage Curse that a lot of people don't understand is that if an attack does no damage upon playing it, then you won't discard. Obviously it doesn't boost the damage of those spells (looking at you Path Of Knives), but you can play those cards first and then play your damaging cards. This also applies to step attacks used just for the movement. Another advantage of Savage Curse is that as an attachment it helps to push encumber off. In my current build I don't run any way of purging other than Holy Presence so attachments are important. Overall, it is a VERY situational card, but I think it is not as bad as everyone seems to think it is.
One reason people might not realize this is that it's not in the card text—the card just says " Each time target plays an Attack they discard their oldest card." Nothing about only triggering on damage. But if you're right, then the card's a lot better than it looks!
You're right, it should put the word "damaging" before "attack" like it does in the line before. just to avoid any confusion, it doesnt mean that if you play just a normal attack like a bash, lets say, and it ends up not doing any damage (because of blocks, armor, etc) you won't discard - you will. it means, like heretiic said, that attack cards that don't have damage on the card won't cause you to discard (and obviously wont do the extra 4 damage).
Right, like Elvish Insight—I got that. We should definitely get the devs to update the card text if possible.
