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10KB

10,000 Bullets is a Shadowfist expansion that consists of 8 individual faction starters in a display box.  The set is a replacement for Year of the Dragon, and is primarily intended as a starting point for new Shadowfist players, but the set does contain some new cards that will be of interest to old-time players.
Assault Squad
Very middle-of-the-road.  Having to intercept turns these guys often into a minor speed bump.  And once your opponents know you are playing them, they will try to avoid triggering them.  Note that the timing doesn't allow you to use Training Camp to return Assault Squad to your hand and play it once an attack has been declared -- you have to have done it in advance, giving away any chance of surprise.  Maze of Stairs seems to be a pretty obvious combo.
Blood Reaver
This abomination is one of the stars of 10KB, and just screams to have decks built around him (not to mention revitalizing some of the old Abomination/Reinvigoration Process decks) . The Reaver's ability is a lot like Ambush, but with a twist.  They can chew down larger fighting characters and not get hit back, but they whacked on by interceptors, so some other damage prevention/redirection cards (like Turtle Beach) are going to go well in a deck with this card.  States put on the Reaver get some extra mileage, and I think ArcanoTank is going to shine.  Not to mention this is a decent anti-Temple card.
Magog
Well, he's better than the new Thing With 1000 Tongues, but that isn't saying much.  This guy is basically an 11 Guts thug, with an ability that can hinder or sometimes help opponents.  Don't expect Magog to be taking any 2 body sites that turn.  His ability is similar to Earth Poisoner, which in my experience has been shown to be inconsequential.

Bleys Fontaine
Bleys stinks in the 10KB format -- you really don't want to be getting pounded and draw this guy and not be able to attack with him.  Outside of 10KB he's okay, and his Shaking the Mountain ability can be quite powerful -- remember he can proactively remove potential interceptors and/or annoying sites that turn.  Family Estates and lots of 1-cost foundations will help get around his can't attack alone restriction, and ye olde Killdeer will let him use his ability more than once.
Captain Liu
This card is pretty cookie-cutter.  You put it in your cop deck, and go to town.  His cost-to-power ratio isn't the best, but with a Police Station he's okay-ish.  Giving all your cops Toughness:1 is also okay, but you need a lot of cops in play to get some mileage out of it.  I don't really see him as essential.
Jaded Cop
I'm not sure about this guy -- at 3 cost for only 3 fighting, you are going to have to rely on other cards to help out the Jaded Cop if he is going to do anything at all.  Since he is unaffected by all players' 0 and 1 cost events, the obvious deck to build is the Dra/Asc Cop Final Brawl deck, but I don't think that will be exceptional.  I'm still thinking that Undercover Cop is just as good or better, since he can get through to sites, and benefits almost as much from Police Station.
SWAT Team
It's the same old SWAT Team, but with the addition of Tactics, which only makes them marginally better, and you're still never playing outside of a cop deck, and even then they aren't too good.

Bag Full of Guns vNew
This card is a lot better than the original Bag, but it still has it's problems.  If you are paying full cost, this card is probably below the power curve.  But, if you are using some form of cost reduction (Kar Fai's Crib, Johnny Tso, Ice Commandos, Slo Mo Vengeance), this card moves to the strong side of the fence.  The Bag is one of those cards that lets you cement a game -- when you are ahead, Bag can give you a soft lock, but when you are behind, it is often a card you don't want to be drawing.
Karate Cop
This card is mildly interesting and in that mid-range slot battling with cards like Netherworld Vet.  I'm not sure how good he'll be in the long run, but two cards that can combo with are it are Police Station (turning it into a potential 7 damage 3-cost supercop) and Bronze Sentinel to make sure he triggers when you need him to (not to mention Who's the Big Man Now, but stay away from Who Wants Some).  
Steven Wu
I'm sure this card is exciting lots of people, but I'm just not one of them.  This card is half Ting Ting and half CHAR, and doesn't do much of anything new.  I still think Ting Ting is better for anti-Mentor, and for 1 less cost you often as much fighting (if not more).  And while not getting damage redirected/reduced is really good, being immune from Events is just that much better, so the Zen Gunman just doesn't quite offer much that the Dragons don't already have.  I'm not saying this card is bad -- in another faction it would really stick out, but in the Dragons, it's very muddled.

Poison Thorns
Bleech...  These guys just aren't very exciting.  They have that real limited Toughness, which seems to be primarily anti-Police Station, but we've known for a long time that a Hood vs. Police matchup is the makings for a real bad game.  The gain power ability only works when your behind, which makes it all the harder to make it work unless you are Glimpsing like mad.  Even then, this guy only gets about as good as Walking Corpses, so why go through all the hassle when you can start with the Corpses? 
Tommy Hsu
This hood sorcerer is not great, but he's not bad, either.  He's got the failsafe Mentor protection of being able to eat himself, and he's got some resistance to Events, even though it hurts.  You can play Vassals with him, but you will be reducing your access to Magic or passing up the really amazing Palace Guards to do so.  I don't think the Lotus Hood deck is really where it wants to be yet.

Bulletproof Monk
This is another card that I think will be better in 10KB than in constructed.  Blue Monk is probably as good at getting to damage sites, so this card's Toughness will be best as an anti-character ability.  And not having Toughness on defense makes the Bulletproof Monk pretty wussy.
Derek Han
Derek just doesn't quite do it for me.  Yeah, he's big, and he can get through or live through some serious Event stoppage, but he's just too costly.  9 Power is just a little bit too much to pay in one turn in my play environment, but might work in more turtley places like Finchley.  I'm gonna be dropping Billy Chow from BCL in decks before Derek Han.
Yellow Geomancer
I really like 1-cost non-Foundation with strong abilities and/or talent provisions.  This guy does both.  I try to throw a Gardener or two in most Guiding Hand decks, but this guy is going to give him a lot of competition.  Your opponents are going to have to waste their tempo taking him out if they have any foundations around.  Don't overlook the recon ability of this card to ping unrevealed sites.

Bomb Factory
This card makes me mad -- this is the perfect example of a card that should not be a fixed-rarity one-of per $10 starter.  This is the type of card that people are going to want to put two of in every Jammer deck.  This is one of the better foundation sites, and it provides Tech to a faction that needs it desperately.  In the 2-cost slot, I'd pick Bomb Factory over Resistance Squad and Dump Warrior almost every time.  Not only does this site provide Tech, but it also has a decent ability in +1 damage against sites, which can make the difference some times.  Expect opponents to seize this baby -- not only will it deny you that Tech resource, they will be pounding your sites with the extra damage. 
Furious George vNew
This is an interesting take on George.  The old one wasn't bad, but he seemed to get worse and worse with every expansion as he got more competition (still, I would have rather seen an OrangoTank upgrade, which is a card in sore need of some juicing).  He's got a build in Hosed! ability that also works on defense, which is nice, but mostly he's just a big stick with Guts.  
Professional Killer
This is another card that just doesn't turn me on.  3 cost sometimes-Stealth 4 fighting is below the curve -- this is what you get for having an out of faction ability.  The guy does have two ok designators though (Mercenary and Hood), so he might inspire some multi-faction decks.
Street Riot
This looks to be a real decent card, especially for the Jammer horde deck and early game.  Attack with your army, and splat anything in your way.  Notice that you can't hose anyone who joins in, only interceptors and other non-attacking characters at the location.  And at 0 cost, you can drop these as fast as you draw them so they wont clog your hand if you need card flow.

Fire Mystic
I sort of like this guy, but I have a penchant for non-Unique characters that can fit into new deck archetype.  If you get a couple out, you can rule the board Event-wise, but you will become a big target.  They will give a boost to those of you trying to build Fire designator based decks, and Inner Fire stops your opponents from using your Fire Mystics against you.  Remember that this is a triggered ability, so zap those Pocket Demons.
Lord Hawksmoore
There's not a lot to say about this card -- everything about it is so good it speaks for itself.  5 cost for 8 fighting is very average, but add in Guts and this starts to look decent.  Then add in the 2 power rebate when an opponent smokes him, and he's turbo.  I expect to see him making some Golden Comebacks, and Lord Hawksmoore is likely to be a chase card for 10KB if Siksada didn't completely blow the art like he has on other cards.
Lord Shi vNew
Well, it's an improvement at least.  +1 Fighting might just make enough of a difference to consider him for more decks.  And surprisingly, Tactics is okay, since you can use his ability to pump up a bunch of foundations, and if you opponents make an effort to take out Lord Shi with interceptors, you can pull him out and retain the fighting bonus on other characters.  Don't overlook stupid Kinoshita House tricks or Back for Seconds to pump up Lord Shi a second time.
The Legacy
The Monarchs are now the only faction without a foundation site, and this looks to be a variation on providing a somewhat similar card.  If you are uber-lucky, this card can generate 1 power a turn, but honestly, if you get 1 power every two turns, you are doing well.  This is the anti-Fanaticism card, and it's best friend might just be the Fire and Darkness Pavilion, since it triggers twice.
Thunder Bishop
More Thunder jank for the King to rue.  This card's ability is worse than some abilities that you find on 2-cost foundation characters.  If you are really trying to build the all-Thunder deck, it does give you some more Magic, but I would recommend playing five Thunder Initiates before resorting to the Bishop.

Cognitive Spirit
This guy is real solid in the 3-cost slot.  4 fighting is expected, and he has a stealth like ability, only it effects all attackers.  Something giant like the Demon Queen in your way?  Not a problem.  The ability is cumulative, so attacking with two Coggy's can eliminate most of the interception that you are worried about.  And these guys supply Magic, so you can fuel your Amulets or use Quantum Sorcery in a pinch.
Father of Chaos
This guy is the biggest/most-expensive Purist character to date, but I'm not sure that is saying much.  The Father's ability is sort of a weird Toughness, and I think you can expect him to be ignoring Foundation characters all day.  Note that sneaky opponents will try to dump their hands mid-attack.  Double note that Father of Chaos is not a combo with Curtain of Fullness.   Who knows, maybe there is some janky Purist/Hand deck with Dragon Boat Festivals that kicks...
Isomorphic Spirit
The Isomorph is at the middle-upper end of the power curve, mostly being a 4 cost 8 Fighting machine with no ability.  Don't confuse this card with Adrienne, who often costs only 3 power and has a solid ability (anti-Mentor).
Kallisti
There is a basic design problem with coin-flip cards -- you have to make them underpowered, or they are just too good if someone gets lucky and makes a few coin flips in a row.  Kallisti is a prime example of this.  Healing 3 points of damage half of the time when she smokes a character in combat is not very reliable, and requires some planning and luck.  Maybe if this card worked all the time it would be good, but I am going to find it hard not to put multiple Rhys in a deck before I get to Kallisti.
Mathemagician
This is another Sinister Priest in disguise, and you are going to want plenty of these if you are building Purist decks.
Pain Feedback
It's 0 cost and has low resource conditions, so this card can't be too bad.  Think of it as a Helix Chewer that sends some pain back to the source, and wont be clogging up your hand all day.  Seems like this will be best early game to clear out your opponents' resource characters, or at least keep them at bay if you fall behind.
Paradox Garden
See Fireworks Factory for my rant on inappropriate fixed cards.  This is another card that you really want to drop one or two of in most Purist decks.  Generates power, gives you a resource, and gives you a strong deck manipulation ability.  Like Bomb Factory, watch out, because your opponents will want to seize this card and use it against you.
Purist Aspirant
This card is only of note because it is mis-printed -- it provides a Magic resource when it should not.  There has been no official word whether is card is play-as-printed or will be given errata.

Unaligned
Sports Car vNew
Here we have another Really Big Gun variant... yawn.  This card doesn't really belong in 10KB, and seems that it would go a lot better with all the vehicle related jank in BCL.  I'm not a huge fan of Mobility, as it often makes you the chump interceptor.
Sub-Machine Gun
If you can get past the art on this card, it okay in certain situations.  On defense, you are likely to spray your own characters with stray bullets, which is not ideal.  But, on offense, you might just get lucky and hose down a horde of your opponents' characters.  Remember that you can change locations in response to using SMG, so expect to see lots of characters running.

Bird Sanctuary
This card looks to be a half-hearted attempt to address the imbalance of 1-cost foundations (they are too good).  While it sort of works in the 10KB environment, I don't think this site will have much effect on the metagame -- it's limited, so cant really build a deck around it, and will be unreliable.  Generally, I am always preferring a Gambling House or Nine Dragons Temple to it. 
City Hospital
As a generic site this is pretty iffy, and I think it will always fall victim to a better site for deck selection (say the top-notch City Park, or a Nine Dragons Temple).  This is another card that is trying to make 2-cost foundations more playable -- you are hoping to heal in-between fighting a pair of 1-cost characters.  The unturn ability of City Hospital is interesting, but in the long run, I think Sacred Heart is always going to do the job better (if not even Floating Restaurant).
Golden Mile
I think this will be one of the sought-after 10KB cards.  Golden Mile looks to be able to generate you 2 power a turn pretty steady after about your third turn.  I'm going to guess it's on par with Gambling House, with the additional bonus of two more body.  Generating power has never been so easy...
Night Club
While this is okay early game when playing in the 10KB environment, I don't think it makes the cut in constructed.  There are just too many other FSS that get you a little bit more than a couple damage to intercepting characters over a game.
Temple of Celestial Mercy
Yikes... people are going to love this card.  Throw it in a deck, and get more cards.  Sure there are combos like Fatty Cho and Tong Su Jin, but just holding  two extra cards is huge in any deck.  Like that other Temple, expect to see this one a lot.  Did I mention that you should expect to see this card a lot?

 

 

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