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art (c) Mike Trap

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Sixguns and Shuriken

Sixguns and Shuriken is the old west expansion for the Shadowfist CCG.  The best place to find it is at the Shadowfist Web page via mail order.

For this set, I am adding a new feature to my card reviews -- a numerical rating.  Since these are totally subjective, I always enjoy feedback from those of you who have differing opinions!

Rating Scale

0:     Total Coaster
1:     Bad, don't play this card
2:     Average, could be better
2.5:  The Benchmark for playing
3:     Solid, play this card
4:     Ba-roken!

 

I have to say that the Architect cards are definitely on the strong side, with only a few cards that have their heads clearly out of the water.  A few of the cards are a little specialized for my tastes, but they do what they do well enough. 

 

Agent Tanaka
Not a lot to say about this guy.  Low resources and two boldface ability makes this pretty useful in almost any deck.  Where Agent Tanaka will excel is in the old Midnight Whisperer BuroMil Godhammer deck, making him a bargain at 4 power for 7 Ambush damage.  While bland, this is the type of card I like because it promotes aggression.  Assassinate could be mildly amusing until you get a gun, but once you do, sites will be your primary target.  And he's Ninja Seven.

Rating: 3.0

 

ArcanoVirus
More Architect take-out....  This one is playable, and decent in a limited format, but it has the problem of competing with three of the best cards in the game -- Nerve Gas, Imprisoned and Neutron Bomb.  This can be an interesting meta-game card, especially if you have opponents who you know will be playing decks that are vulnerable to it.  But again, if you have access to , you really may want a Bomb instead.  Then again, in the right deck, you are hoping to clear all the chaff in your way as you play only beef.  This card is definitely worth trying out, but you may find your self gravitating back to the tried-and-true zaps.

Rating: 2.5

 

Blood Eagles
This card plays a lot like one of my favorite cards, the Cognitive Spirit.  While not useful on it's own, this card can be a game winner if you can get out a serious thug (CHAR) and get in an attack with both of them.  A great choice for Reinvigoration Process if you've got a hitter in play and some spare power.  The low resource condition makes it great for a multi-faction deck (you know the Blood Eagles want to Scout for T2 or G2!).  If you can get two of them in play, you can use the abilities on each other, making a nice 1-card-2-copies combo.

Rating: 2.75

 

BoneChill
Your mileage will vary on this card, depending on how early it comes out and what your opponents are playing.  The Architects have a problem in the 4-for-6 slot because of our old friend CHAR, and characters will forever come up short when measured against that stick.  Where you get some juice is when you time it right so that you stop your opponent from recurring a good character -- note that BoneChill immediately toasts, so even a Roar of the Beast is too late to cancel the Toast.  Note that while BoneChill can eat the Destroyer, he won't be coming back as the copy ability gets forgotten when BoneChill goes to the smoked pile. Notice they were smart enough not to make BoneChill and Abomination, so to recycle him, Golden Comeback is your best best (and oddly enough, can be played in response to an opponent recurring a character to toast it instead).

Rating: 2.25

 

Dan Dammer, Jammer Slammer
Despite the really cool name this a pretty average thug.  4-6 Guts isn't very exciting, but Dan Dammer has a couple of extra features -- he's a Cop, so you can do Police Station tricks (and it much better than Super-Soldier) and he also has that goofy gravy ability of p'wning Jammers. 

Rating 2.5

 

Dr. Curtis Boatman vSG
While this card is definitely got some juice, it sort of boxes itself into a few niche decks by requiring .  The opponents must pay you 1 power to attack is a killer, and is going to do a good job of discouraging attacks (much like a Temple of Angry Spirits will).  On top of that, you get a Fighting bonus for a couple of designators.  The obvious combo is with ArcanoWave Reinforcer, but you can get work some more synergy with cards like Bouncing Benjii and Johann Bonengel vSG.

Rating 2.75

 

Evacuation 2066
One of the best card in Sixguns, Evac2066 is a game winner.  This card requires skill and timing to use, but shouldn't be too much of a problem.  This card can turn your DNA Mages and other badness into Back For Seconds.  Also remember that unturning has multiple uses -- attacking again, turning to heal, turn abilities, etc.  Now, the way you are going to want to use this card is to attack, unturn, win, but don't overlook sacrificing a turned or foundation character to unturn an opponent's character if you think they will chump intercept.  Cards like Bouncing Benjii and Reinvigoration Process will ensure you have bobos to sacrifice.

Rating: 3.5

 

Gamma Beast
Like it's forerunners the Alpha and Beta Bests, the Gamma Beast is another failed abomination.  The obvious combo card is ArcanoWave Reinforcer, where you can maximize this guys bonus.  Gamma plays a lot like Big Macaque Attack and Bloody Hordes, and suffers the same fragility problems in that it can crumble like a house of cards.  You don't count on this as a foundation (like you can with BMA).  If you want a killer combo, play Gamma Beast, Vivisector and Reinvigoration Process, then turn Vivisector to sacrifice the Gamma Beast, then use the Process to replay the Gamma -- you can gain 3 power for only spending 6!

Rating:  1.5

 

Jessica Ng (Promo)
A moderately interesting card, with a permutation of an ability we've seen on a few other cards (Gnarled Marauder, King Kung).  Where this will work well is against larger site structures where you can get at one site relatively easy (say a Bandit Hideout) and put a world of hurt on the site next to it (say a FSS heavily defended with turned characters).  Like the Marauder, you will want some punched up damage, and BuroMil Godhammer might be her best friend.  Note that she was much cooler before she joined the Slumdicate.
Rating:  2.5

 

Johan Bonengel vSG
Another card that doesn't take too much effort to figure out -- play lots of 1-cost characters, and try to get some extra mileage out of them.  An easy combo to try out is play 5 each of BuroMil Grunt and Bouncing Benjii.
Rating:  2.75

 

Night Horror
While this card does three different things, it doesn't quite have the synergy to be great.  Playing and attacking out of turn is always difficult to master, and be prepared to argue the rules when you play or encounter this card (a rules-lawyer can usually cheese someone out of attack).  I'm not sure if you can use a Reinvigoration Process to play this out of turn or not -- we'll have to wait for the FAQ.

Rating: 2

 

Personality Shard
This is almost a solid card -- we all know how good Rig Dis is, but this falls short.  Not being able to copy your own characters is a huge drawback, and stops you from creating a synergistic deck -- you have to completely rely on your opponents and hope to get lucky.  Compare Personality Shard with Occult Kung Fu -- the +1 Fighting makes all the difference in the world.  Still, there are times when this card will win you a game, but not as often as you'd hope.

Rating: 1.75

 

Reinvigoration Seed
This is a powerful card, but it requires that you play it right and construct your deck to take advantage of it.  No, it's probably not the best card for a horde deck, but, if you get your resources into the smoked pile early, and then only play cards with serious muscle, you can really maximize power-to-damage output.  Still, this card is never going to lose you power, as you can expect to at least get a 1-cost character back, and in the right situation (which you are shooting for, right?), you will be netting 3-5 power (CHAR-Ice Queen).  We'll have to wait on the FAQ, but I don't think sacrificing a character will trigger this, but if it does, bonus points!

Rating: 3

 

Rise of the NeoBuro
This card could potentially be almost as good as Shield of Pure Soul.  This is a card you can use almost every turn to really tune your hand.  This will ensure you have a hand full of zaps, and that you'll be dumping those excess DNA Mages mid game.  This card can also help in a deck that is mostly Architects with a splash of another faction or two -- this card could be a real threat if we start to see Architect decks with Golden Comebacks and Shadowy Mentors!

Rating: 3.33

   
 

My analysis of the Ascended in SixGuns shows that it falls short of the mark set by the Architects.  The cards feel more like variations on existing cards over something innovative.  Also, I think the theme is somewhat over applied, and I would have seen a few cards set in different eras.

 

Corrupt Land Agent
If you're familiar with my theories of Shadowfist, you know how much I like ramp characters, and this card is a fine addition.  It fills a different role than Gruff Lieutenant (attacking) and Cabinet Minister (control) in that it's an alt-power generation card.  I don't think it's as good as the previous two for  a couple of reasons -- since you are probably playing Family Estates, this type of deck can generally hum along and doesn't go thirsty on power (although it still loves it).  And, at least in my neck of the woods, opponents just hate to let anyone else get free power, and this guy will have a huge target on him.  Also, if you get into a late game stalemate (a problem that is getting all to common), Corrupt Land Agent wont be near as useful as the two other cards I've mentioned in a similar role.

Rating: 2.5

 

Coyote Clan Scavengers
Here we have a new foundation in the Tranimal sub-theme.  Good and Bad News:  it's better than the previous 2-cost Tranimal foundation -- but, it's still not that great.  The Scavengers get a little better if you can increase their damage (say a Shotgun), but then you will find it hard to get through to any serious targets -- your opponents will use foundation characters as speedbumps.  That extra damage would have been better spent on a character with Stealth.

Rating: 2

 

Fistful of Dollars
The value of this card is going to greatly depend on how your opponents play.  You are effectively playing a mini-Bull Market, but with huge disadvantage of giving up tempo.  You opponent is going to be able to use that power first -- they have G2 in their hand but only 4 power?  Ka-ching, you've just lost a site.  And remember, losing a site is effectively -1 power generation, so you've negated any gain.  Yes, this card is good if your opponents are using that power to play bad cards, but I suspect that they are only going to activate it when there is a card in their hand that you don't want to see.

Rating:  1.5

Mr. Strange writes in:
   I think you have seriously under-estimated this card. In a four player game, this card could give each of your opponents 1 power, and net you 4. More opponents really makes this card shine. It also really helps level the playing field, as 1 extra power is decent for a leader, but REALLY GREAT for someone lagging behind. I know my games are always at their best when everyone is involved. For both those reasons, I think this card is a solid 3.0.

My Response:
   I think you just made my point -- this card helps your opponents more than it helps you!  The Ascended excel at both generating extra power.  It seems that most of the combos with this card are from your opponents, whether it's something simple stealing the power back with a Kiii-Yaaaah! or going the jank route with Mysterious Stranger et. al... 

 

Frenzy of the Shark
While this card looks kinda cool, you are going to find it just doesn't have the gas you want for 4 power.  Conditional Toughness:1 isn't as good as Tougness:1 that's always on, so there's a big strike against the Frenzy when compared to the new version of Fist of the Bear.  To compensate, Frenzy gets some conditional extra damage, but it can go away and generally can't be counted on.  The problem here is that you don't want to want to damage opponents' characters, you want to smoke them.  Yes, Frenzy counts your characters too, but then having a bunch of damaged characters leaves you vulnerable to attacks of opportunity not to mention Final Brawl.  Also note that the timing wont allow you to burn for power and turn to heal damaged characters if you want to keep the damage bonus.  Consider playing the Blue Cardinal's Guards, and you find yourself with more options, but if you are playing Frenzy, you want to be playing Gunboat Diplomacy as well.

Rating:  1.33

 

Gunboat Diplomacy
Here we have another metagame card -- do your opponents regularly play Sites, Edges or States that turn?  Against some decks, like say a Scrappy Kid + Fusion Rifle deck, the Gunboats will wreck them.  Against other decks, the effect will be not as major.  You may also need some diplomacy of your own as well -- you may find one opponent who is reluctant to turn a card to stop another opponent as they are afraid of bombardment.

Rating: 2

 

Gunslinger
This is a discount card -- it gives you two different build-in ways to make it a 2-cost 3 Fighting character -- Family Estate and nailing a 1-2 Fighting foundation after Gunslinger comes into play..  And, if you combine the two cost reducers, you have sort of got yourself a 1-for-3 (which is turned with 2 damage).  I have two problems with this card.   First, wasn't there something better to play with your Family Estate?  And, do you want to draw and spend a turn playing a card that takes out an opponent's foundation character, or a better target?  I see this pretty much relegated to a Faceoff deck (most likely Mon/Asc) where you are trying to do Bookie tricks.

Rating: 2

 

Horse Thief
This card almost makes the benchmark (it is 3-for-4 Stealth), and probably isn't as good as his cousin, Coil of the Snake.  What I like about Coil is that it encourages attacks, and lets you control the ability.  With the Horse Thief, you may find players that hold this card in reserve, in the hopes of later power gain or just a chilling effect (this is much like how Fire Mystic plays -- you are reluctant to attack since you want to use the ability).  And let's face it, how good is the Night Market ability?  I've tried to make Night Market work for years, and my experience is that it's just not that strong.  I think I would always play 1-2 Serena Chases over Horse Thief in most decks.

Rating:  2.25

 

Hydrophobia
Mildly janktastic, this card does have it's place in a heavy-designator deck.  The obvious ones are Pledged and Lodge -- you can make most of your characters non-interceptable and unable to be attacked.  Of course, you probably could have smoked that character anyway with a timely application of Operation Killdeer.  Where you might get a little extra juice out of Hydrophobia is in a Asc/Mon deck where all the sites (and the hitters) have the designator Netherworld.  Of course, you've just jumped through hoops to make Hydrophobia effectively a Nerve Gas that's vulnerable to State removal. 

Rating: 1.25

Mr. Strange writes in:
   Although not a great card, I think that you have missed the excellent diplomacy options this card opens up. This can encourage people to team-up the way you want them to, by disallowing their biggest characters to attack together. Voiding an interception with this card is just a late-game punch-through technique. I'd rate this a 1.75.

My Response:
   I don't want my opponents teaming up at all!  If I want them interacting, I'll play Dirty Tricks and get them mad at each other.

 

Moonlight Raid
Watch out turtles, their's a new shark in the swimming pool.  This is the type of card I like -- it promotes attacking, and gives you incentives for doing it.  This is a card that is somewhat hard to totally gauge -- where does it fit in an faction that has innate Stealth, good alt-power gen (Mole, Bite, Bull) and 0-cost punch-through (Killdeer).  I put this a fun and playable card -- you get do some tricks, especially when combined with characters or abilities that boost damage instead of fighting.

Rating: 2.5

 

Rainmaker Floyd
Well, if getting smacked down, this guy is just a Fist of the Bear.  But, if you get get Toughness: 2 or better, then all of a sudden Floyd becomes threatening.  This guy is sort of like Grey Mountain, but you are trying to keep sites in play instead of other characters to maximize his trick -- both of which can often be difficult to do. Again, Rainmaker Floyd would lend himself to a lot more interesting decks if he only needed two resources instead of 3. While you might be thinking BattleGround deck with this card, I don't think it's a great way to go, other than Bandit Hideouts and maybe Sliding Paper Walls.  What I think will work better is a heavy mix of non-Feng Shui Sites, hopefully from another faction, and possibly even some Trade Centers.

Rating:  2.5

 

Texas Jack Cody
While not terrible, Jack has the problem of really being a 6-for-8.  Sure, it's similar to the Blue Cardinals Guards, but they are slightly less expensive, and their abilities are more versatile.  This is a guy that definitely could have used 1 resource less to make him more splashable.  As is, I find it hard to play him over Raven Li, who never ceases to amaze.

Rating:  2.25

 

The Honorable Earl Mason
While initially glancing at the Hanging Judge you might say 'wow -- he can smoke anything!' don't let your first impression fool you -- this guy is a turkey.  The standard expected cost to smoke a character is 1 power with some limitations.  This guy removes the limitations, but at a huge cost in increased power.  Remember, it's going to cost a whopping 6 power to whack T2.  And compare with the Voice of the Unnamable -- in his case the power you spend doesn't just smoke one target, it has the potential to clear out a lot of junk.  As much as I hate to say it, Shadowy Mentor is so much of a better option than this guy it's not even funny.

Rating: 1

   
 

I can't quite say the Dragons in Sixguns are disappointing, but I can't say they are exciting.  Other than Pony Express, most of the cards seem bland and retreads of what we've seen before, with a slight little twist (Swift Eagle is an example of this).

 

Cavalry Regiment
This was almost a good card, but it's getting killed by one little thing...  it only works when you play it from your hand.  Another problem is the timing -- often you will want to unturn during an attack (for some healing) and the Regiment wont let you do that.  A straight 3-for-3 Independent is a bit below the curve, and frankly, for your power, Reluctant Hero, Wandering Swordsman, Hiro Asataka and Wu Bin are all more useful.  And you potentially get to do some cool tricks with a couple of those and Is That All You Got?!? which is what you're playing with these mid-sized Dragon characters.

Rating: 1.75

 

Fastest Gun in the West
Another card that falls sort of flat on it's face.  I am sure that we will agree that 2 power is too much to spend just for Ambush, especially on a State that can be zapped.  So, that leaves you to cards that reduce it's cost like Kar Fai's Crib or Ice Commandos (but not Johnny Tso) or cards that get a specific bonus for having a Gun State on them such as Katie Kincaid (oof, bad combo), Ex-Commando (iffy unless you have more Guns on him already) or Ranchers (wooohoo!).  This is a one-of card you'll put in your Gun deck and wind up discarding most of the time.  Honestly, I think Bag Full of Guns is a much more interesting card in that you can hope to do something more interesting with it than just gain a boldface ability.

Rating: 1

 

Gambler
Here we have another tricky combo card.  Without any added jank, you are going to get, on average, a 3-for-4 who's special ability is lose 2 fighting at then end of the turn.  To get some action out of this card you have two option -- controlling the coin flip with Aztec Pyramid (usually so-so at best) or negating the effect of filling Tails by giving Gambler Toughness (Eagle Mountain or Brick House).  This card does follow good design principles though -- any card with a random element should be underpowered, or it has the potential to turn a game into a coin-flip, replacing strategy with luck.

Rating: 1.75

 

Hoosegow Jackson
I will start off by saying this is a very innovative card.  Then I will continue by saying I think the leader of the Jackson Gang is problematic. Unless you are playing Hostile Takeover (and why aren't you?) he is a virtually free 4-fighting dude with Guts.  If your opponents are dumb enough to bid against you, he gets even better.  But, if your not playing Hostile Takeover, you have a really narrow window of opportunity for Hoosegow -- you ideally want your opponents to have 1 or less power unless you feel like spending 3 power.  I will have to check the FAQ to see if this guy triggers on a comeback/ITAYG, and if so, bummer, dude.

Rating: 2

 

Jackson Gang
The Jackson Five (ABC, easy as 1-2-3!)  is a perfectly fine card, and shows you just how dated Silver Band is.  While I don't like this card as much as I do the Stone Fox, it's got a few things going for it.  Instead of Serena Chase's Stealth, you gain +1 Fighting and lose the restriction of picking a target with 3 sites.  Not much more to say -- great combo with Back for Seconds, you get a rebate on ITAYG, and becomes a monster when the Jackson's Open a Can of Whupass.

Rating: 2.5

 

Just a Scratch
This is another card that is suffering from a flaw that keeps it from being outstanding.  If it triggered on 2 damage instead of 3, you would have a great combo with Final Brawl, but alas that it is not.  JaS is more a card for big sticks than new generation of medium Dragon heroes.  When it comes to healing, I just have too much respect for Chinese Doctor, Back For Seconds and the awesome Sacred Heart Hospital to give it up for Just a Scratch.

Rating:  1.75

 

Liquored Up
Other than its dreadful name, Liquored up functions quite similar to another card in Sixguns, Just a Scratch.  While JaS is a tad more powerful, it's a lot harder to use than the bottle.  Liquored up is going to get you that extra punch when your characters only have a few damage on them, such as after, say, a Final Brawl.  Given a choice of having to play one of these two, I would choose Liquored Up and go with usability over sheer power.

Rating:  2

 

Pony Express
I think this card has a lot of potential, and is now the Dragons 3rd (and best) playable Edge.  This might be good enough (if you can overlook the dreadful theme) to send those Thunder on Thunders back to the box.  First off, once you get this into play, you are going to want to play a little conservatively, keeping a character in play at all times.  While you can go all out and ramp up the discard (Magic for Curtain, Ascended for Covert Op and Dirty Tricks or even stay in faction for T2s Bandits), this card is still playable without all the extra juice.  For 1 power, you've played an Edge that is either going to gain you a lot of Fighting or seriously retard your opponents' card flow.

Rating:  3.25

 

Ranchers
I am a huge fan of 1-cost foundations, and here is the Dragon's third one, and with a much more narrow focus.  Part of what makes Friends and Students yummy is Dragon Dojo, a card I find hard to omit in almost every Dragon deck. You are giving up that minor synergy for an okay ability, but just very conditional.  You can have some great first turns with Ranchers -- turn to attack, get intercepted, drop a Shotgun and grind through for 4 points of damage to a site.  Of course, if you're not careful, someone else will get the easy pickin's.  This is still an okay card, but one mainly for a Gun deck, which tend to be dueling decks.

Rating: 2.25

 

Senioritas
If Silver Band wasn't a coaster before, they sure are now.  At 3-for-5 with only 2 Dra resources needed, this sets the curve.  On top of that you have a moderately interesting ability to crank out some extra damage.  While this is sub-optimal with the old standby Pump-Action Shotgun, it does work okay with some of the new guns, and you can get that extra janky flavor out of Tommy Gun.

Rating: 2.5

 

Swift Eagle
This guy is about as good as he is boring, and he's really boring.  What we have here is pretty much a conditional Gunman-lite -- for 1 less power (and one more resource) you get 7 fighting Independent - that's good.  And you get to cancel events that target him by tossing extra FSS from your hand.  I am sort of at a loss for words as to what to say as Swift Eagle is self-evident.

Rating: 3.25

 

The Seven
Well, what do you get for 7 power these days?  You don't quite get the Eastern King, but you aren't getting stuck with Kar Fai either.  The Seven are going to be either a really good card for you or an over-costed thug -- it will depend on your metagame. Our personal metagame has lots of takeout and not as much waxy character buildup as others, so for us, The Seven is going to be getting through all the denial.  If your game is more dominated by large characters, then this card is just going to be an expensive 8 Fighting.

Rating: 3

 

Yosef Halevi
This card reminds me a lot of Big Brother Tsien's Big brother. Much like Swift Eagle, there isn't a lot to say other than play Yosef and thug it up.  He does continue the Dragon / Magic sub-theme, which is cool, and if he's in your smoked pile and you have 3 power and an ITAYG, you have 10 points of sweet lovin' at your command when your opponents may not suspect it.

Rating: 3

 

It looks like we are reversing the downward trend as we see more cards.  While nowhere near as cool as the Architects, the Guiding Hand does gain a few new options, but again it seems like there could be a little bit more variety.

 

Celestials
This is a great example of modern design -- a card that is good early, middle and late game.  Early game it's a foundation (albeit 2 cost), and it provides the crucial Chi resource.  Mid-game you are hoping to get 3 Fighting for 2 cost, and late game a free play to shutdown a win.  But, this card has three problems:  Golden Candle Society, Little Grasshopper and Buddhist Monk -- all three of these are probably just a tad better, but Celestials is still very playable.

Rating:  2.5

 

Exiled Monk
This card almost makes the cusp -- his problem is that he's an anti-character card (and small characters at that).  You want to be smacking down foundations and healing, but that doesn't put damage on sites -- note that he heals after combat.  Blue Monk is still the king in the slot, being able to get through when needed. 

Rating: 2.25

 

High Noon
In general, most Faceoffs aren't that good, and going with the concept of a Faceoff deck is a one-way ticket to loserville, population you.  This is in the top tier of Faceoffs (that's not saying much) simply by the fact that is can bring you closer to victory.  The timing is someone tricky -- you don't want to do it too early as it counts against Violet Meditation, and it also limits the number of FSS you can play.  This Faceoff really wants to be used as a bushwhack -- play it at the end of the turn of the player to your right when you are at play and take (two sites from victory).  If you win High Noon, you should be at Take (one site from victory) at the cost of only 1 power and a point or two of damage -- this can be explosive in that it nets you two extra power over having to play a 4th site (which costs 3 power)

Rating: 2.5

 

Jia Baoyu
More whole-fruit goodness here.  Superleap, draw cards, reasonable resources -- what more do you need?  Much like Carmen Zhao, you can drop Jia in almost every Hand deck and not be disappointed.  Like all cheap evasion characters, they make great subjects for an extra damage state (like Pump-Action Shotgun).  If you want to go extreme combo, Fusion Rifle is great for drive-bys, and can get rid of a pesky foundation character that happens to be unturned.

Rating:  3

 

One Eye Chan
Yow, how about this card for effectively increasing your hand size?  Be prepared to defend One Eye, as your opponents will be gunning for him big-time.  The obvious card-type to choose is Event, but there may be a rare-occasion when you need to grab a different card type.  If it wasn't obvious, Chan is better late game than early.

Rating: 3

 

Railroad Workers
This is a very interesting card in what it is trying to accomplish -- free resources.  Since 1 power is generally better than 1 fighting on the board, you are almost always going to want to use the ability.  The trick is finding a deck that wants Hand but doesn't want Chi -- and that can be hard.  Often this is a Swords deck, where are stuck playing SwordsGimps as a foundation.  This seems bets in a multi-faction deck, where you are already at a disadvantage at having a high power requirement to get resources.  And before you make the deck, remember that Inauspicious Return creates zombies that can't be sacrificed, so you wont be doing tricks with Railroad Workers.  And it doesn't work with Rig Dis, either. 

Rating:  3.25

 

Redeemed Pirate
Well, this guy does share something with CHAR -- both are low-resource 4-for-6s.  His ability will really depend on the flexibility you build into your deck -- with a 40 card tight deck, forget about the Redeemed Pirate (other than possibly some crazy dueling deck).  An 80 card two-faction deck?  Yeah, that's where he belongs.  You can get him out early with the low resources, and late game, you can pitch those extra resources to heal him.

Rating:  2.5

 

Shaolin Hoedown
There are endless things to do with this card, and here's a few:  Wait for an opponent to attack a character you control and play Hoedown, choosing the character being attacked.  There are special rules for cards that change controllers during an attack -- all attacking characters are removed from the attack, but if the target changes controllers, *I think* the attack follows it (but I could be wrong here, and if I am, figure out some stupid tricks to use this to foil attacks).  And if that overly-complex example makes no sense, substitute being targeted by Nerve Gas -- you get power, the opponent gets nothing.  I guess I just can't leave you with two uses for Shaolin Hoedown -- it can also be a quasi Bull Market, and you'll have the tempo if you play it during your turn.  While nowhere a amazing at stoppage as Netherworld Return, there are a few situations where you can pass of a character to defend a site (or let someone gain power to play a zap).  If you want a simpler combo, try Hoedown with Wing of the Crane -- you can power (which you can spend on Wing), your opponent gets nada! 

Rating: 3+ ?

 

Shao the Killer
As you can see, they really tried to make this card not broken (i.e. can't copy it or play Shadowfist on it).  This has the effect of making him less interesting that Nine Cuts (which is a fine card) in that there is less you can do with him during deck construction -- put him in, play him, try to smoke characters and not get attacked.  While you could opt for Safehouse, Iron & Silk is probably going to do a better job of keeping him alive.  One of my personal problems with Shao is that that he has a huge turtle-factor (no, I don't mean he's like that guy on Entourage) -- with Shao on the table, people are going to be reluctant to attack until he's been dealt with.

Rating: 2

 

Simple Paper Fan
The first think you need to know about this card is that it's not bad.  The second thing you need to know is that it's difficult to play.  Simple Yellow Fan (it should have been titled The Yellow Principal) turns the subject into a limited Yellow Monk.  If you don't have a lot of experience with Yellow Monk, Yellow Senshei Chamber or Old Man Wu, you may have some difficulty with using this to full effect.  But, once you've master the Redirection Principle, it's really easy to outplay your opponents, who may see some of the tricks you can do.

Rating:  2.5

 

The Silent Cowboy
While I love Blood of the Valiant, this card's built in version doesn't turn me on.  If you don't have a power to spare, The Silent Cowboy is a 4-for-6 with no ability.  If you do have a power, yes, it's like having a Blood in your hand, and the odds are that you're going to get through most characters (though I suspect that most opponents would be willing to intercept with something as beefy as Big Bruiser).  When it comes to this slot, I am much more a fan of Virtuous Hood, Master Han, and the 800 lb gorilla in the room, Iron Monkey.

Rating: 2

 

The Willow Bends
When it comes to healing, The Willow Bends is not in the top tier.  Why, you ask?  Well, it's got to compete with Healing Earth (you are playing Chi, aren't you?) and Chinese Connection (which our group considers to be a game breaker). 
Rating:  2

Peter Bowman points out that Sites indeed are cards, and The Willow Bends can turn any site effectively into half of a City Park.  Urgh...  I am just about to fear this card.  The sick and twisted members of my play group will use this card with Temple of the Angry Spirits to inflict much pain. 

Simon Johnston also adds in "The Willow Bends provides a resource as well. So not only do you get to heal the the first turn ToAS your opponent ran into (which you played after the Railroad Worker which you sac'd obviously), you get a free resource out of it was well. I think this cards is crazy good."  My reply:  You must remember young grasshopper that if you are cut off from your Chi, you will wither, no matter how strong your connection to the Perfect Master!

littlemute writes in:  I would up the rating a bit on the Willow Bends. It's the very fact that you mention--not needing Chi--that puts this at least a 3 for me; you can take the chance and play the solid Hand foundations that provide Chi, Railroad Workers being one. I took the Shadowfist shaft because of this card during Gencon last weekend.

My Response:  Indeed it does sound like Julian had a deck that made use of Willow Bends.  This is at least the second time that he has used his status as a developer to build a deck in advance of the cards getting to the general public for a major event...

   
 

Sixguns gives us a pretty decent round-up of cards for the Lotus.  Nothing too bad, but nothing too over the top except for maybe the Sherriff.  Unfortunately, the flavor of the cards has a really bad feel -- I have to say that the theme really fails here trying to put ancient Chinese demons in the old west (especially as the law)

 

Agathon's Deputies
This is a pretty narrow card that will go into a deck based around it, but not much else.  Police Station is probably your best bet, which will get you a 5 Fighting regenerator.  You will have to be careful in playing cards like this, as wily opponents will try to two-for-one you by taking out the card that is keeping this around.  Underworld Tracker is another must, as they are Cops and tend to come back a lot.

Rating:  2

Mr. Strange says:
This is my favorite card of the set - I love 2-for-3's, I love regenerate, and I love adding a well-established designator to a faction which generally doesn't use it. I guess I also like the theme of the card. So this one is a big winner for me all around.

My Response:
   While I like 2-for-3s too, they have to have something going for them, and the Deputies don't got much.  My play environment has canny players that would like nothing more than to cripple your deck by causing your Deputies to smoke themselves.

 

Bloody Herd
At the start, this is a 3-for-4 Toughness:1, so it's playable out of the starting line.  Now to that, we add a crazy copy ability.  I think it falls more into the fun card category than useful.  There are a few times when there will be a small character that you copy for some extra synergy with Bloody Herd's innate Toughness: 1, but it wont be that often.  And yes, this is a really stupid card thematically.

Rating: 2.5

 

Demon Whiskey
First off, if you didn't notice it, this card also counts as a Demon Horde, so you can play them with your Bloody Hordes.  I find this an interesting card -- it's lousy as a foundation at 3 power and not even providing , but, Demon Whiskey has a chilling effect on the game -- your opponents are going to have to think twice before burning sites, especially if you have more than one of these in your smoked pile.  When considering Demon Whiskey, count it as half a resource at best, otherwise you may find your deck is too slow.  Also, this card competes with the nearly broken Underworld Tracker, but the tracker is lacking the stupid name.

Rating:  2.5

 

Detonating Corpses
While this card looks interesting on the surface, when you finally get around to playing it, you'll find that it's not that useful.  The problem with Detonating Corpses is that the opportunity to play it is very narrow (but at least much easier to play than the similar Life in the Fast Lane).  You have to have the card in hand, a power, and a character you control has to be smoked at a location with a lot of opponents' characters.  Remember, if you are trying to set this up as a combo, you have to consider the cost to play the character you are detonating as part of the total cost to play this card.  Generally, you going to be happier with a straight up zap (Shattering Fire, Shrieking Witch Heads or Discerning Fire).  The exception to this is when you have a deck with a heavy free recursion theme -- Destroyer, Underworld Tracker and Demon Whiskey.  A caveat emptor:  remember that using this card is usually going to be at the end of a failed attack, and if you clear an opponent's board, you may be leaving them vulnerable to to another opponent to scavenge an easy site.

Rating:  1.5

Mr. Strange adds:
    I think that you'll see this card played in a bunch of decks that steal characters.  I think I'd rate this significantly higher if I were planning to use and opponent's character as the corpse. Playing it on my own hitter is always a back-up plan. This card also allows a single decent hitter to defend vs. a horde of weenies.

 

Devil's Rope (Promo)
This is the retail only promo.  This plays a little like Lateral Reincarnation in that you are probably going to use it on a character that is about to be zapped.  You can also use it to make an attack against a character at this location unsuccessful.  But, where the trick in this card may lie is that it's a permanent way to sacrifice characters (or at least 1 a turn), so you can try to work out sacrifice tricks.. Probably a little expensive at 1 power, but that's what Hidden Tomb is for.

Rating:  2

 

Dust Storm
I think this card has some potential in getting through waxy character buildup.  It's kind of like giving Stealth to all attacking characters.  Unless they come back and nerf the wording, it can be played at any time during an attack, and since there is time for new scenes between combat with interceptors, you can save this for the character you really want to bypass.  And, if you have two in your hand (and the power to play them), you can play multiple Dust Storms during the same attack, bypassing multiple interceptors.

Rating:  2.5 +

 

Flesh Eater
Well, we all know what a coaster Abysmal Horror is outside of draft (and even in draft, the is tricky).  So, to make this slot/character playable, we have an added ability.  How good is Flesh Eater's return a card ability?  Well, it's kind of hard to trigger, but returning a card to hand is generally good, especially when it's something along the lines of a Tortured Memories (which makes a great follow-up). 

Rating:  2.25

 

Huichen Kan
Here is a solid offensive character.  The Dust Demon's got the standard cost-to-fighting ratio, and a boldface ability.  In addition, Huichen Kan has a synergistic ability that is going to keep the owner of the target from intercepting with characters at other locations.  This ability is only useful if your opponent has multiple columns and maintains an unturned character, but that happens often enough to make the ability useful.  Also note that it shuts down Mobility for the defender as well.

Rating:  2.5

 

Involuntary Embalming
This is a situationally useful card.  First off, it has the huge potential to hurt you, especially if you are working the recursion angle that I see in a lot of Lotus decks.  The 2-for-1 Fighting toast is kinda harsh, so you probably wont be getting much more than +4, and possibly less.  Still, this can be quite powerful on the right character, such as one with Regenerate.  Also, you have to think about the situations when you are playing this card -- I suspect it will either be to take a site, or save a character of your from being smoked in combat while smoking your opponent's character.  When you do play this, you ideally want enough resources in play so as not to cripple yourself -- an Infernal Temple or two might go a long way in this case.

Rating:  2.5

 

Midnight
A horse is a horse, of course... but, is this horse worth the ride?  Midnight's Mobility giving doesn't excite me, but it's gravy.  The real horse-meat of this card is the ability to retarget Events (much like the original Ghao Zhang, so it's in faction).  Of course, this is going to cost you a boatload of power the turn you play it, and Midnight is still vulnerable to sites and characters. 

Rating:  2.25

 

Reverend Adam Wither
Yowza, can you feel the power?  We are talking some serious smackage with the good Reverend here.  Of course you lose a lot of control over this ability when attacking -- you can darn tootin' bet that he will be intercepted by a tiny character if at all possible.  Also, remember that if you attack a character directly (which you may want to do, especially if you have enough to outright smoke your target if not intercepted) that the attack will be unsuccessful (since it wasn't combat damage).  Where that card is to be feared is on defense -- you get to pick and choose who you're gonna smack.  And, the Reverend is hard to take out, as it will require multiple characters in the first attack (or your opponent runs the risk of the aforementioned unsuccessful attack).

Rating: 3

 

Sherriff Agathon
Yowza, this card gives me a healthy fear of the law.  To start off with we have Regenerate, which is kick-ass on a character with 8 Fighting.  Add in the turbo Imprisoned, and you've just got a great rebate on your investment in the Sheriff.  And, I bet you just imprisoned the lone defender of a FSS, making it an even better deal.  Agathon is a demon, so that has a few ups and downs, but it should work to your advantage.  If you're playing a healthy 70+ card deck, his discard your hand shouldn't be too much of a drawback, although he may sit in your hand a turn or two before playing him is optimal.

Rating:  3.25

 

Two-Headed Horror
This is a pretty evil card.  2 power to smoke an opponent's character is okay, especially when out of faction in the Lotus.  Then you have a bonus copy ability, which is hit or miss.  Of course, there is often some great synergy in copying abilities.  What hampers Two-Headed Horror is that it can be difficult to set up.  You need a character in play with Fighting higher than your target (you can always suicide a resource or two to make sure this is the case) and you need 2 power -- all of which makes this difficult to pull off in a single turn.  Still, when you can do it, it's extra satisfying for the double hose on your opponent.

Rating: 2.75

 
 

The Jammers are a mixed-bag, but then again, aren't they always.  While there are a few turkeys, the general power level has rebounded and we are back to the level that we saw with the Architects (mainly fueled by a couple of overpowered cards).

 

Blasting Crew
Again, we have another card with an aggressive philosophy.  Much like Butterfly Knight, this card is pushing the limit and trying to be a 3-for-6.  While not as good as BK (whose damage bonuses get doubled), the Blasting Crew can make use of We Need Bigger Guns for a whopping 8 damage.

Rating:  2.75

 

Black Ophir
Well, whenever you see 5-cost 7 Fighting characters, you have to be wary, as this is traditionally a slot that's underpowered.  While Ophir is not great, it's not bad either.  You are going to be able to smack a site pretty hard (although it's a bad thing if they are unrevealed 8 Body sites) most of the time --Ophir will blow everything from junk up to 6 Fighting characters.  But, against anything bigger this card has no ability.  So, you want to get in a few points of targeted direct character damage to back up Ophir, such as a Nightclub or maybe Do You Feel Lucky, punk.  Of course, you opponents will be trying to do the same so they can intercept.  Probably the best way to go is a Jammer/Dragon deck where you are Brawling before you play/Comeback Black Ophir.

Rating:  2

 

Boiler Room
This site seems pretty amazing, as it can generate you 2 power a turn (Trade Center goodness), and, it only costs you 1 power net (you can use it the turn you play it).  So, a Drug Lab that gives 2 power -- are they nuts?  For extra turbo goodness, pretend this is a Family Estate that you will use every turn.  Drop this baby front row on turn 2 and start cranking.

Rating:  3.25

 

Dr. Quentin Higginsbottham
Another solid card, especially good for playing tricks.  He's both offensive and defensive if you set it up right.  Playing Temple of the Angry Spirits is a must, and maybe you can go for extra-jank with cards like Maze of Stairs.  Heck, this is good with any site you can benefit from losing -- say a Nine Dragon Temple for 3 power? 

Rating:  2.75

 

Fire Woman
I think this ramp character is going to play a lot like Consumer on the Brink, except that you have a little more control over the effect.  Yes, you can do crazy shizzle like play Killing Rains to maximize Fire Woman, but., at only 1 power, she still should be good even you have only 1 damage site.

Rating: 2.75

 

Isothermal Zodiac
Ugh.. you can try and play with A cards, but why?  C'mon, the Jammers already have Scrounging and most likely IKTV Special Report, and with the mandatory addition of Potlach, why are you playing this card that might gain you 1 power if you're lucky?

Rating:  0.5

 

Monkey Pirates
Well, they go into the Monkey deck as filler, but how good is this card overall?  I think it's makes a playable card, and makes up for some of the Jammers' weaknesses by allowing you access to a whole slew of Events.  If you are trying to work the Pirates, you will want to have a little power to back it up -- good thing the Jammers excel at alternant power generation.

Rating:  2.5

 

Netherflitter vSG
Nerf!  If you didn't realize it, they damage immunity no longer works when Intercepting.  Honestly, this card was broken before, so it needed some remedy.  Still, Netherflitter has some punch through, and a lot of the same tricks as before will still work.  What you lose is the grinding halt the game would come to once Netherflitter hit the board.

Rating:  3

 

Nitro Jack
Well, this card thematically fits the Jammers, especially if you consider there theme to be self-destructive losers.  I don't know about you, but I like opponents having damaged sites -- it draws the heat away from you.  And you know what I really dislike?  Losing a site because someone smoked my character, and hey, that fits Nitro Jack to a T.  Now, I will say that Nitro could be problematic in dueling, where an opponent can be totally locked.

Rating:  1 (better in dueling)

 

Potlach
This is one of the cards that Sixguns and Shurikens will be remembered for.  This is right up there with Never Surrender for shear annoyance.  Not only is it a mini-Dangerous Experiment, it can also be uses as a little tricky denial.  Opponent planning to burn your site for power?  Why don't you help him out and keep the power for yourself!  And, this works great for power sites that you don't want your opponent to seize, like say, Fox Pass.  As an added bonus, it help fuel the cards trigger off of an opponent's BfV pile, like, umm... Gorilla Fighter!   And Titanium Johnson and a few others.  As an extra-added bonus, you can really hose your opponent if they dependent on the comeback events -- Pocket Demon et. al. all subtract for cards in your BfV pile.  Too bad the design team didn't clue in that this card goes in every Jammer deck and make it Uncommon...

Rating:  3.5

 

Revenge of the Patent Office
It seems that the Jammers keep getting one of these funky damage events every set.  The problem with all of these cards is Genocide Lounge, which makes it really hard to balance Jammer Events.  The card can't be too good because it might wind up costing 0 power.  This one isn't too bad as it will net you an effect 4 damage against a site.. kinda like... Disco Inferno.  RotPO is nowhere near the powerhouse of the Inferno, but it's light in its resource requirement, and can be worth playing just for the occasional jank-factor.

Rating:  2

Mr. Strange writes in:
   I think there is more to be said about this card than you said. First - it deals damage to a site only if there is a character at that location - which can be a mixed bag. Second - the target character has lots of time to move around, so the site damage will often be even less directed. Unless you really like the low resources, I'd say this card won't make the cut most of the time.

 

Single-Action Devolver
I call this a strictly-fun card.  You are playing this because you want to turn your opponents' characters into Monkeys just to make fun of them.  Well, if you must try to work it, consider Big Macaque Attacks as they can get bigger in a pinch, but your real friend is going to be Eagle Mountain and characters with Toughness, so you can steam-roll all those 1 Fighting Monkeys you've Devolved.

Rating:  2.25

Mr. Strange wrote in that that this is the perfect weapon to toss to Black Ophir on occasion.  Also, there is the super-jank combo of the Devolver on Ranchers, who will crunch the newly made monkey under their newly-found toughness:1/

 

Steam-Powered Tricycle
This is a pretty strange card.  The Trike has moderate resource requirements, so you wont be busting out as fast as you would with the other 1-cost +3 damage states (Godhammer, TigerHook and Shotgun).  But, to make up for this, you get a totally random evasion ability.  This is one of those cards that can be included in a deck and held back for a surprise value -- either drop it to sneak by an interceptor, or wait until the path is clear and use the damage bonus to sneak a site.

Rating:  2.5

 
 

I'm kinda 'meh' about the Monarchs.  The good thing is that the old west theme has been lightly applied, essentially to the Thunder sub-theme.  There are a couple of strong cards, and one card that we all may learn to fear...

 

Anastasia
Hey, I think it's the Ice Shards little sister!  (except this time the cost is right).  Not a lot to say about Anastasia, other than she's really good.  She's not going to be intercepted, and makes amazing defense.  Drop an Ice Sword on her, and have have a Brain Fire in hand, and go to town.  The art preview for this card is up on eBay and it's kind of disappointed -- where is the kick-ass fu that 7 Fighting deserves?  I wanted something like Ice Shards -- now them you don't want to mess with!

Rating:  3.25

 

Avenging Darkness
This is a real oddball card -- it can be quite powerful if you get it into play, but it's darn hard, and is likely to sit in your hand.  Also, you may have to play AD at an inopportune time -- you want to play it when your opponents won't have a chance to attack it before you can get any use out of it (this is the type of card any opponent will view as a threat, and they are like to work against you to take it out).  Also note that it's going to be really hard to get a successful attack in with Avenging Darkness as it toasts both characters AND sites (and a failed attack to toast an opponent's site, or even toast a character may not be your best option for a turn) .  The direct card to compare AD to is Avenging Thunder, and that is a proven winner -- it's going to get you some power (always useful) and remove an attacker from the game (especially good with all the recursion going around).  Hands down, I'd go with at least one AT before any AD, and possibly two ATs.  Also, I'm not sure if you can Comeback/ITAYG Avenging Darkness -- we'll have to wait for the FAQ.  Oh, and I mention that Avenging Fire waaaay nastier than this?

Rating:  1.75

Schmee writes in:
     It seems to me the nice thing about AD is its surgical application compared to AF and even AT.  If you're holding AT when the underdog burns your site to get back in the game, so he can help you stop the leader, you won't be able to use it (or shouldn't, anyway). Doubly so for AF -- it stomps the offender so hard he sure better be out front or you've seriously tilted the game to the current leader (who probably isn't you as you just lost a site, unlike AT where you've traded your loss for power, and maybe retained the lead.)
     AD, though far weaker in terms of raw return/comeback, can be a much more versatile tool to bring to bear on a finely balanced table -- and even a pretty asymmetrical game state, for that matter. The fact that you can use it to smack the guy who most needs smacking, rather than the opponent that just burnt your site, is a HUGE plus, one that just might balance AD against its mightier cousins.

My Response:
That's actually an interesting point, and something that could be explored more.  The idea is comeback cards that let you nail the leader as opposed to the person who nailed you.  I will say that the down man does get an easy burn in now-and-then often to get a site off the board that is at risk for the leader taking.  I will say that while it's a brutal card, Avenging Fire has gone out of fashion because it is too punishing and doesn't necessarily give the person who played it a huge boost.  Still, I like to win, and Avenging Thunder is the card that going to get me the closest to winning more than any of the others.

 

Chain Lightning
At first, this looks to be a strong card, but, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, what's under the hood may not match the paint.  There are 4 cards to compare Chain Lighting with:  Mark of Fire, Kunlun Clan Assault, Shattering Fire and Discerning Fire.  Mark of Fire is good -- we all know that.  And it's really good of you can pull off the Blood Lust combo.  Kunlun is also good, but expensive.  For two power, Shattering Fire is going to do a lot of damage, probably 10-20 (Chain always does 10) -- but, Shattering is most likely going to smoke (or seriously damage) the biggest threat.  Finally we have Discerning Fire, which again, has proven itself to be one of the most versatile cards in the game. Sure, sometimes you just can't find a match, but other times you are totally wrecking a deck -- and you can zap non-character cards to boot.  Chain is difficult because it needs so many character targets -- remember Mark is any 4 targets.  And ideally you want the targets to be of increasing fighting -- spending 2 power to Chain for foundations is bleh.  I don't know, maybe this card will prove situationally useful, and warrant throwing one in some decks.  Oh, did I mention Thunder in the West -- I think that's much more of card to be playing with than Chain Lightning.

Rating:  2 (4 player)

 

Daughter of Flame
The Daughter is playable, even if boring.  The ability is decent, as knocking cards out of your opponents' hand has a potential to disrupt them.  So, we have a card that's kind of bland on its own, but you can combine it with the few other cards that take advantage of the discards (Paper Trail) or an opponent's hand size (Father of Chaos) for a little synergy.

Rating:  2.25

 

Dog Soldiers
This is a card with moderate possibilities -- mainly what you are looking for are sites you can turn during you turn to get an advantage.  First off, this card doesn't work with Proving Ground, so the best combo is nerfed.  I think we will see some combos with Dog Soldiers on the somewhat janky side, but a 3 cost character that has to attack to unturn a site is going to be too expensive to really get some good use out of it.  You can also unturn a site if you join an attack, but that probably has more going against it than for it.

Rating:  2

Mr. Strange writes in:
  The fact that this is yet another Soldier for the Monarchs is notable. The real question here is whether or not you can unturn sites that turn when you declare an attack, like Thunder Pagoda. Also, if anyone ever made good use of the Thunderdome, this might be a good character for that deck. I think we'll see this guy in decks with sites like:
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Cataract Gorge!

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Cave Network - could be pretty interesting. Maybe.

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City hospital

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Four Sorrows Island

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Gambling House!

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Motor Pool - (an interesting mix there)

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Opium Den (out of faction)

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Pinball Arcade

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Sacred Heart Hospital

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Stone Garden

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Blue Moon Club

My reply
   We tried to come up with a really good combo with Dog Soldiers the other day, but just kept falling short. Having to attack means that you are risking throwing away a 3 cost character just to unturn a site, which really cripples what you're hoping to do.

Expendable Unit writes in:

I've been playing a deck with some success at my local (Copenhagen) Proving Ground/casual play environment, which makes good use of unturning a Mountain Fortress coupled with Obsidian Mountain, Shields of Darkness and Mark of Fire. Some success in this case means fast wins against two or three opponents on the strength of the combos contained within.
 
The idea is to attack with a character, which is boosted by the Mountain Fortress, and, provided the attack succeeds, attack with Dog Soldiers thereafter, unturning the Mountain Fortress, then using the Fortress on the Dog Soldiers. This should be a good way of providing cheap punchthrough and take some sites.
 
Mark of Fire, in this context, seems a good bargain, as it is common to be able to pay 1 power to add 2 damage to a Mountain Fortress (one point of damage done to MF, another to Obsidian Mountain), 1 damage to the target of the attack (ideally), and 1 damage to an interceptor (typically). An effective +4 damage to the target of the attack, you could say. If you're able to reuse MF with Dog Soldiers, the total is +6 damage for 1 power.
 
As the core consists of 15 cards of a single faction and 10 out of a probable 11-13 FSS, there is still plenty of options available in order to expand the deck into more than a one trick wolf or make it a steady machine of murder (Ice Shield, Snowblind, Pocket Demon, Plots and Intrigues/Blood Lust, etc.).
 
The reliability of decks and combos varies depending on which remedies are popular in different playgroups, obviously, and there are plenty to deal with this one. The MF + Dog Soldiers combo may seem hopeless in your environment. Locally, opponents do not always have a Whirlpool of Blood in play by turn 3 or 4, nor do I.
 
By turn 3, one might well have amassed the power to play this combo - all it takes is 1 power gained from an alternate source and a good draw (foundation, 2 fss (1 being MF), Dog Soldiers, Mark of Fire, (alternate PG if not an FSS already in play)).
 
In any event, I like gaining more figting with my Dog Soldiers, in order to better the odds of their reuse, rather than being able to gain a power at the expense of three power and four damage. I'm sure they won't mind partaking in Moonlight Raids along with Butterfly Knight, though.
 

Fire Ants
The bugs are pretty much a 1 1/2 trick pony.  The first trick is get a lot in play, and attack.  Of course, your attack options are limited -- you can attack characters for mondo damage, but then all your ants will die.  The other option is to attack sites since the Ants are unlikely to be intercepted, but then you do very little damage.  And remember, all that is needed to off an Ant.  And, their damage shrinks as each one goes poof.  The 1/2 trick is trying to pump up their fighting to make them a semi-deadly Insect -- Fanaticism and Armies of the Monarchs are the first two that spring to mind, but there are a few others.  And there will be the ubiquitous Inauspicious Return Ant deck, but I think the probably the best combo with Fire Ants will be Entropy is your friend, making them deadly to both characters and sites.  Oh, did I mention that Fire Ants don't provide ?  Stick to Fire Acolytes, and you'll be much happier unless you are trying a really specialized deck.

Rating:  1.5

 

Naikute
This guy is okay, but he has to take a slight rating ding for his resource requirement -- he just doesn't deserve .  Without a weapon in your smoked pile, Naikute just a unique Silver Band, and Silver Band is going the way of the dodo.  Pretty much the deck you are putting this is is an Ice Commandos Spirit Pole deck, where it acts as your combo -- sort of.  Yes, he's really good when you pull off the Ice Sword combo, but you are really looking to do this on a regular basis with the rest of your deck, not just a Naikute one-shot.

Rating:  2.25

 

Sacred Wigwam
This is perhaps my least liked card in the set -- this shows how the design team can be off-base with the Shadowfist playing public. I am a huge fan of foundation sites -- I was a big advocate for Bomb Factory and Paradox Garden reprinted in Red Wedding.  Foundation sites are just generally good when played right, and I think they are a necessary component of the game.  So, why don't I like this card?  First, the name is, frankly, retarded.  On such an important card as this, why go over the top with theme?  Second, I think it's a big mistake to have the Thunder designator on this card -- why make a card that all the designator fans can't play?  Are we going to have to wait another 3 years to see each sub-faction get one?  Thirdly, where's the ?  Paradox Garden can get away with not having the extra talent because it's a pro-active card -- you use it every turn -- the Wigwam is reactive, and it may do nothing for you for many turns. The Four Monarchs are a magic using faction, and Thunder is especially weak in it.  Yes, providing a talent has been hit or miss on the foundation sites, but why not make this a really good card?  Finally, Sacred Wigwam has an important ability.  For the last two years at least, Shadowfist has been dominated by recursion (playing or retrieving cards from the smoked pile).  Sacred Wigwam gives a new (almost) faction-defining ability -- why is this disparately needed ability relegated to the weakest Monarch?  So many bad choices went in to this card, and I find it a great disappointment. 

Rating:  2.5

Michael Stadermann writes in:
     I just read your rant on Sacred Wigwam. While I agree that the name is retarded, I'm not quite following some of your complaints. How does the Thunder designator keep it out of other designator decks? Do you automatically include Fanaticism in those decks, or is it just a matter of style for you?
     Also, you mention that the ability is strong, and needed in Fist. So, do you think it's strong enough that a factionless site with the ability would be playable (I think it may well be, but haven't tested it enough)? If yes, the Mon resource is almost a bonus, and the Mag resource certainly wouldn't belong on the card. And if it's a faction defining ability (and a good one at that), why not give it to the weakest Monarch to make the faction more playable?
     Which other faction would you have given the ability to, had it been your choice?

My Reply:
     I'm a big fan of Fanaticism, and I think it's really shaped the way a lot of people play the Monarchs.  It really has become a (sub) Faction defining card.  Again, my judgment could be clouded by the horrible name.
     You make an interesting point -- is this card good enough to put in any deck as a counter-measure?  Probably not.  You hear rumors of Paradox Garden being in non-Pursist decs, but that's mainly is tall decks where you are pro-actively using the ability to filter your draws -- it's harder to find place for a reactive 2-cost non-FSS.  As for what faction to put this in, the Monarchs is fine, but I just wish it hadn't been assigned to one of the themes.
     If this had been a Feng Shui site...  boy, I really need to think about it.  I suspect you'd actually see it reasonably often, but not as often as Whirlpool of Blood or Waterfall Sanctuary -- maybe on par with Stone Dolmens... maybe...  it's really hard to say.  You definitely don't want to be playing it if you have a heavy recursion deck, which has become quite a theme for the Dragons, Hand and Lotus.

To which Michael Stadermann replied:
     I suppose we have diverging opinions on Fanaticism; I rarely think giving up the diversity that all four Mon factions offer is worth the benefits. I also used to play in an environment that was very edge-hate heavy (due to a Mon player and an Asc player), so I rarely got my money's worth out of it. Thus, I'm not too upset about the designator.
     I agree that the ability is reactive, and may be useless in some games, but it is still much stronger than Paradox Garden, even though the Garden is proactive. When playing in a recursion-heavy environment (or tournaments), I would probably toss a Wiggy or two in the deck. I guess I'm just that tired of seeing the same Red Bat, Big Bruiser, or GG return for the umpteenth time.
     I think it's interesting that you'd be more tempted if it was an FSS. Would you play Whirlpool if it wasn't an FSS, but a regular site instead? I find non-FSS useful enough as alt-power gen and FSS protectors in the late game even without ability. I'd be very happy if more of them came with useful abilities; there are typically more FSS with good abilities that I want to have in play than just the four or less I'm allowed to have.

To which I reply:
    You have to remember that I usually keep 40 decks built, and so I have to stretch to make a lot of themes work -- Monarch goodstuff only goes so far.  And yes, we have a tremendous amount of Edge hate -- I don't think I am going out on a limb in saying that there is too much Edge removal in the game, at least as it was originally balanced.  This hate has in turn caused Edge-cost deflation (they have to be cheaper to play because they are more vulnerable), which makes a lot of the old Edges over-costed.
    It's hard to answer the "what ifs?" about Whirlpool -- there are other cards that cancel sites, and I find I don't play them that much.  Non-FSS sites are great, and I play them in almost every deck.  But, other than Drug Lab, I really like them to have an ability that is active (even if it's only a resource).  Paradox Garden has proven itself to be solid.
     You do have a good point about a tournament environment.  Robert Stettler won KublaCon this year with a varied Monarch deck.  Next time I chat with him I'll have to ask him how much of a problem recursion was and if he'd have played Wiggy.  One thing I find with huge threat cards like Wiggy is that opponents will really try to smoke them at first opportunity -- this is the same reason that BattleGround decks don't work.  Maybe this will change the meta-game.  Who knows, Field of Tentacles could be on the upsurge!

Simon Johnston writes in:

   I pretty much agree with your rant. All of the other foundation sites show a location that somehow epitimises that foundation, ie Archies get a Lab, Jammer a Bomb Factory, Hand a Sanctuary*. And the Monarchs get a Sacred Wigwam???? Also this is the only foundation site that works against an opponent, rather than providing some benefit to it's owner. And the Thunder designator is just weird.
 
[* I have always imagined the House on the Hill to be the house in the Feng Shui intro story where a bunch of Dragons come back from a mission to find the Butler hanging upside down taped to a load of explosives. I've no idea if this means anything to you though..]

Alistair Hutton writes in:
     To give some context I'm a Monarchs player.  If Sacred Wigwam was sub-faction less or provided magic then it would turn into a complete no-brainer.  It wouldn't be broken but it would be totally ubiquitous.  There would be absolutely no reason at all not to play it.  Ascended decks don't always play Family Estate but Monarchs decks would always play the modified wigwam.
    
Thunder decks have to play non-foundations to get magic, wigwam keeps it consistent.  With a magic resource it would completely change the tone of thunder.

My Reply:
     How ubiquitous are Bomb Factory and Paradox Garden?  The former has made some penetration, but the latter has become a 'no-brainer' -- is this bad or a problem for the game?  For example, Drug Lab is stupid good, and should go in most decks -- again, is it that bad?
     And yes, it's a pain to get if you are trying to play a Thunder deck, which makes them consistently -- consistently bad.  While Thunder does have some good cards, it has yet to develop a powerful and cohesive theme (like the other sub-factions) -- get those Faceoffs out of here!
     I think you are missing a little of my point -- I was ranting about why I dislike this card.  With a little tweaking this would be a fine card -- a Thunder foundation site that provides
, or a Monarch foundation without the talent that is unaligned with one of the sub-factions -- either would have been more palatable.  And a name that wasn't just plain stupid...

 

Skin and Darkness Bats
Yawn... another sub-par foundation character with a really narrow use.  I think we all know and love Darkness Priestess, and if haven't found intersecting things to do with Darkness Warriors, you should really go back and give them a shot.  The only real reason to play the bats is if your deck is doing recursion tricks, the Priestess of ItchScratchy and Obsidian Dagger mainly -- of course, both of those are pretty bad, and heck, Darkness Warriors can be sac'd too -- this card gets the default rating because it is a 1-cost foundation without a drawback.

Rating:  2

 

Thunder Bird
Bwaaak!  The Big Bird of Shadowfist!  This is your somewhat below average +X fighting character.  First off, it has no ability other than gaining Fighting, but, at least it doesn't go poof when hit by a Larcenous Mist.  Now, the question is, how big will it get?  At you are going to want at least 8 Fighting to be decent and are really hoping for 10+ --  depending on your meta-game, that's either going to happen towards the endgame, or not. Our metagame is very aggressive, and often players will have 1 or no FSS in play.  Other times, everyone will have 2 sites -- it's really hard to predict.  This is not really a comeback card, as you want FSS in play to maximize the effect.  Also remember that Thunder Bird can shrink fairly fast if a lot of sites go boom in a rapid succession -- and you may want to seize rather than burn sites you take, which can be somewhat limited.   T-Bird is just crying out for you to play some janky sites to get some chocolate in his peanut butter -- Auspicious Termites and Turtle Island can't be burned, so you can up the sites in play count that way, and ultra-jank Ancestral Sanctuary doesn't count for victory, so you can theoretically have 9 FSS in play all on your own to pump T-Bird.

Rating:  2.5 (four player only)

 

Thunder in the West
Danger Will Robinson!  Broken Card Alert!  I am seeing a lot of potential problems with this card goofing up games.  I don't know if you've played with Cutting Loose Ends much, but it's an amazing card, and TitW has a similar function (if you time it right).  This card can be denial (especially if an opponent only has 1 character and no other cards), and it can also be used as punch through.  And this card is neither One-Shot or Toast It, so look for multiples AND possible recursion.

Rating:  3.5 +

Joey B. Ferreira writes:
I should mention that (as of the last time the question came up in playtest) Thunder in the West will not combo with your own Darkness Priestesses; your opponents choose the victims, but you are considered to be the one toasting them.  It's still a brutal card that I'm not glad to see printed, but at least it can't also be fantastic alt power gen.

My response:
I remember that being the case as well, but the current wording could be clearer (one of the sub-themes in this set!), and in their effort to up the power level after the final round of testing, I thought they had changed it back.  Still I think this card is going to be problematic.  Who knows, maybe this card will wind up like Positive Chi -- amazingly borked, but never played (although I think Thunder clearing the board may be close to a bomb-like effect to go for the win).

 

Thunder Stick
The last card for the Monarchs this set is pretty bland -- we have nothing new in a +3 damage Gun by itself, and the mini-Bag Full of Guns seems pretty iffy at best, since they have to remain at the same location AND the Thunder Stick has to stay around.  I'm not feeling the love, especially at 2 resources required.

Rating:  2

   

You probably know that I'm not a big fan of the Purists as their own faction -- I think they have done more harm to the game than good.  That said, I think they are living up to their reputation of being mostly irrelevant in this set as well, with Dr. Fermat as the standout.

 

Children of the Sharp Knives
While this card isn't quite as juicy as Walking Corpses (but hey, they are top-tier), this variation is playable.  While the Children don't provide Magic, they don't require it either, giving another option to the languishing magic-lite Purist deck.  Unlike their brethren the Walking Corpse, the Children can be healed, but it needs to be from another effect, so even something as light-weight as a City Hospital could work out for ya.

Rating: 2.5

 

Crazed Preacher
This is what I call an oddball card.  It's got kind of an interesting ability that is fun to pull off, but is the card that good?  Probably not.  Having two unturned sites shouldn't be that hard, and since the Preacher doesn't require turning, you can send him off on a suicide mission.  Of course, if you sacrifice him, his part of the attack wont be successful.  Yes,  you can hold this guy back on defense, but that's entering the janky-turtle realm.  What you want to be doing is attacking a site with a lot of non-unique characters with a big unique hitter and the Crazed Preacher -- just how often is this going to show up?  And at 2-cost, that's expensive for take-out, and you may want to try Math Bomb instead if you really need mass removal.

Rating:  1.75

 

Fermat's Last Stand
In case the bad wording on this card is baffled you, what happens is this:  On resolution, first all your characters gain +1 Fighting permanently, then all your characters take 1 damage.  So, unless your characters have toughness (Eagle Mountain here), they are going to have to turn to heal to make use of their bonus.  Bogus.  This card is a tad better than Superior Technology, but then aren't most cards?  This is a minor combo with Guts, but requiring makes it a little less splashable.  Some people have pointed out the dubious combo with Now You've Mad Us Mad, but that's bordering on jank.  Maybe Fermat's Last Stand has it's place, but first I am going to look to Stand Together (and Fanaticism) for pumping up my army.

Rating:  1.25

 

Fermat's Soldiers
This is more of a comeback card than a go for the win card -- if you are winning, you are most likely to have the most cards, making this pretty janky.  The direct comparison is with Cop on Vacation, who has shown time and time again that it is not worth playing.  Ambush is better than Guts, but still not good enough when it's this conditional.  And if you drop a gun on the Soldiers (which is kinda what you want to do with Ambush), it's one more card that's going to count against you.

Rating: 1.75

 

Joshua Norton
I really dislike this card, and that's not just because they hosed one of my childhood heroes by making him a Purist.  This card has some possibilities of generating a soft-lock, especially when combined with Event protection (Fortune of the Turtle).  The reason you are playing this card is to come up with some stupid MTG combo-deck where you essentially play solitaire until you go off.  I'll have to keep an eye on this card to see if that happens.  Otherwise, Empower Norton is a 3-cost super Safehouse for all your characters, which is going to let you get turtly by keeping all your fragile specialty characters in play.

Rating:  ?

 

Morse Code Poet
In a normal deck, this guy is going to be a 3-for-5 under optimal conditions -- 3-for-6 if you expose yourself.  Without any other ability (and the possibility of shrinking), Morse Code Poet isn't worth playing.  So, that leaves us the BattleGround deck, and while they can be fun, they are sort of like a house of cards, and if your opponents know how to play against them (i.e. smoke the sites), they don't work. 

Rating:  2

 

Math Bomb
While some people are going crazy over Math Bomb, I just can't see what they are all worked up over -- this isn't Netherflitter (the other card that uses this odd/even mechanic).  First off, the Purists already have several good single character removal cards, so it's not a weakness.  For Math Bomb to be economical, you really want to get at least 2 characters.  But, what this card lacks is versatility -- it really needs to have a combo available to make sure it works.  Now, that said, you can go super-jank-tastic and combo with Mark of Fire to make sure that, for 3 power, you have the effect of a Neutron Bomb that only nails opponents' characters, but how good is this really?  Remember it's a two-card in hand combo.  Also, Math Bomb checks on resolution, so you opponents may have an occasional way to save their characters.  As a hint, if you are trying to milk this card, you really want to play with 1-cost foundations and even fighting hitters.

Rating: 1.75

 

Nothing Happens
This card is pretty much chafe -- there are times when it will work for you, but it's going to clog your hand.  For s sure-fire cancel, you have to wait until an opponent's out of power (except in the situation where you are cancelling a gain 1 power type of card like Monkey House).  This is nowhere near the utility of Verminous Rain, and that's a card that I often have a hard time squeezing into decks.  Whirlpool of Blood still remains the best way to cancel most sites ,and at 8 Body, Field of Tentacles is not bad either for non-fss.  Even the lowly Hot Springs can often surprise you with an interesting interaction.  Play Nothing Happens and you'll that a lot of the time, nothing happens...

Rating: 1.5

Mr. Strange adds:
   This card is mostly useful for getting a 2-power swing out of your opponents when they pay you off. That's often more useful than actually cancelling their site. And since sites tend to stay on the board, getting this card back over and over is actually a good thing, unlike many forced reloads.

 

Prudence Nightingale
If you can get by the dodgy art and questionable theme (I guess she gets her fu power from whacking former students with a ruler), this card seems to be playable.  It's kind of a weird ability conditional Toughness, but only vs. good fighting ratio characters (and particularly good against the big X fighters).  Of course, if you add a little regular ol' Toughness, you have a nifty package.  And why isn't School Marm a Teacher?

Rating:  2.5

 

Strange Ore
Here we have Satellite Surveillance combined with a potential power gain, but with an added cost.  I am just going to find it hard to fit this into decks -- I like effects like this, and usually I don't mind discarding a few cards, but having your mojo dependent on your opponents having face-down (and hopefully unique) sites is a little much.  You can really try to tech out with Strange Ore and Chi Syphon, but the odds are you'll be pitching the Syphon to fuel the peeky.

Rating:  1.5

 

The Insidious Dr. Fermat
The Doctor is looking to be a moderately strong card to me.  4-for-6 Independent is is on the cusp of being above-average, and when you drop in an extra ability, it pushes the card over the top (a great example of card like this is Gorilla Fighter).  As for Dr. Fermat, he's got a built-in Larcenous Mist, and Mist is one of the most powerful cards that never seems to get played.  A card that plays along these lines is the Monarch's Skin and Darkness Zealots -- if you haven't been playing that card you should -- blanking characters never ceases to amaze me in that it keeps getting better and better.

Rating:  3.25

 

Whispers in the Dark
Here we have a mostly-improved Pain Feedback.  It's kinda nifty, and if done right can be played as a limited Operation Killdeer.  This is really going to take some time to see if it works better than the always interesting and unusual Glimpse of Brief Eternity, of which I'm a fan, just for it's weirdness.

Rating:  2.5

 

Wild Spirits
To date, almost all of the site rearranging cards have been mediocre at best.  The Wild Spirits probably fall into that category, and may only see the light of day in some crazy Spirit-designator deck.  Speaking of designators, this one is pretty bad.  Yes, there are tricks to do with rearranging sites, but that mostly involves attacking sparsely defended sites while an opponent is sits back to protect their more valuable cards -- if they see Wilds Spirits on the board, they will see the ol' switcheroo coming, and try their best to stop you -- this card lacks the surprise-factor that is needed for this effect to really work well.

Rating:  2

   
 

Hey everyone!  Be sure to let Shadowfist Games know that you want to keep on seeing more Seven Masters!

 

Bridge of Birds
This is a nice solid card, with the appropriate cost and resources.  This is pretty much a defensive turtle card, which you are threatening/bluffing an interceptor if you have some power in your pool.  And what's the best way to have power in your pool after your turn ends?  Why burning for power of course!  Speaking of extra power out of turn, the obvious combo with Bridge of Birds in the Master of the Liquid Sword, but there are lots of characters that you can get some tricks out of by playing them out of turn.  Notice there is no restriction beyond other players' Main Shot, so you can drop a bad boy (or two) during an attack.  And going back to to combos, how about some serious jankage by dropping Mr. Red and joining in!

Rating:  2.75

Joey Ferreira writes in:
    First, the real beauty of Bridge of Birds (aside from it being a new 7M card, of course) is the janky combo with the old Iala Mane. Before, you could build the Iala Mane deck: once you'd played a copy of Iala, between Back for Seconds, Chinese Doctors, Golden Comebacks and the like, you could threaten to attack at any minute. Great fun But now, you can play Bridge of Birds and you don't even need to have played Iala Mane for you to threaten surprise wins and sudden attacks! Sure, the 4 Dragon resources combined with the 2 7M resources are trouble, and sure, there are better combos out there, but it's the thought that counts!

My Reply:
     I have a couple of old Ialas -- time to dust them off and deal some blind-master-pain!

   
 

What follows is not for the faint of heart -- if you're a fan of the Syndicate, you may want to skip this section!  The Syndicate is, as the kids say, 'teh suck'  -- the lack anything really interesting or powerful, and seem to be made of leftover cards that should have been in other factions.  I hate to say it, but they are pretty much fluff only included to artificially drive sales -- Shadowfist new and improved -- now with Green Horsehoes and the Syndicate.  If you were expecting the Seven Masters part duex, you will be sorely disappointed.  Here are the top cards you're likely to see in a Syndicate deck:  Blade Palm, IKTV Special Report, Violet Meditation and Information Warfare.  Lacking any true hitters, you're going to have to resort to the Ice Queen and White Ninja, too.

 

Bait and Switch
While this is one of the best and more innovative Syndicate cards, it should have gone into another faction, probably the Lotus or Purists.  For a minimum of 2 power, you are making one of your hitters un-interceptable -- maybe.  And that's if your bait is a 1-cost foundation -- it could be more.  You know, for 2 power, you can do a lot of damage in a few other factions.  And in multiplayer, others will catch on to the Syndicate tricks really fast -- if someone who isn't the target of the attack intercepts your Bait, there are still players who can intercept your switch, essentially costing you a power for nothing (unless the character you don't want to be intercepted by is controlled by someone other than the target of the attack).

Rating:  2.25

 

Corporate Hacker
Strictly un-fun.  Who likes having all their best cards hosed?  This is also bad because it's going to slow down the game (as does anything that fiddles with decks).  Yeah, it's a ramp, but it only ramps half of what the Syndicate need.

Rating:  2.5

 

Data Theft
Pretty janktastic.  You are playing a sub-par card like Data Theft in the hopes of getting a good card from an opponent's deck.  Of course, you could have just played better cards.  So, what is the value of denying your opponent a good card?  Well, there is some to it, but you lose the opportunity of holding a card in your hand -- once you start a Data Theft, you have to go through it.  And while this is a 0-cost event, it's not really free -- you have to have a character in play to turn, and you have to have power to play it.  And again, didn't you have a card in your hand you wanted to play more?

Rating:  2

 

Echo and Silence
Here we have a card that's strong offensively against characters, but not so much sites on its own, and can be somewhat weak on defense.  Echo and Silence are going to take a big chunk out of any character then enter combat with, but anything about 8 fighting or more will leave them pretty hurt (and 11 fighting stops them cold... Ice Queen anyone?)  The odds are you are not going to get intercepted, and 5 damage won't take most sites (Ambush damage is only against characters, never sites), so you're really going to want to pump this guys damage up -- sure, Hyper-Alloy Blade is nice, but you're still 1 damage shy of the magic number, 8.  And defensively, this guy is a pud.  Every damage he takes is almost like taking 2 points of damage (sort of like Ten Thousand Agonies) -- expect Echo and Silence to be Silenced by your opponents asap.

Rating: 2.5

 

Hyper-Alloy Blade
Yawn.  Yes, it's better than Really Big Gun, but isn't almost everything?  The CHAR ability is cool, but it's still bland.  You can get a light-weight combo with Scrappy Kid, but I think we've all been there and done that.  And to top it off, this Blade is not a Sword, so no cool Syndicate/Hand Swords deck.

Rating:  2.25

 

Inconvenient Debt
This is probably my favorite Syndicate card, but I'm just not sure how useful it will be.  This will be good for breaking up a character stalemate, but it relies to heavily on an opponent having some beef available.  Still, this is nowhere the powerhouse that Information Warfare is, and it has a really insipid name to boot.  The tastiest use is going to be attacking with a Triad Punk and coercing something serious into the attack.

Rating:  2.25

 

Jessica Ng
Ugh... three resources.  That's just what you don't want to see in a new faction with limited cards.  Anyone remember Monsoon?  Seeing the future is marginal, and as for the play at +1, it's sketchy.  You will need power power power, and the Syndicate isn't juiced like the Ascended.  Yes, Nihilist can give you some, but IKTV and Violet Med are going to be your staples.  To dig deeper:  You could be playing great cards in your deck, and paying their normal cost -- is it worth a 1 power premium to deny your opponent a card?  Yes, sometimes, but again, you need power to spare, which is only likely to be when you're winning, and aren't there better cards than Jessica Ng to help you lay down the finishing move?

Rating:  1.75

Joey Ferreira writes in:
    I agree with your comments, but here's another problem we found: she's loathed by all your opponents. Everyone has cards in their deck they don't want to see used against them, and now they can see them coming. Do you think an Ascended player with Shadowy Mentor on the top of his deck is going to leave Jessica alive until your turn for you to use it? And that's assuming he doesn't decide to terminate her early, let's say something like Op Killdeer comes up and it's too late. Sadly, Jessica's ability is most useful over a long period of time, when you can wait for cards that are worth the +1 cost to play or deny your opponents. But she'll never live that long. And, of course, she's not much fun to play against. :-(

 

Mars Colonist (Promo)
It's a Golden Candle Society for the the Syndicate.  The most significant feature of this card is that it won't be readily available until Critical Shift, which is going to hamper people getting up and rolling with Syndicate decks.
Rating:  2.5

 

Nihilist
This guy has just about everything you could want in a non-unique character (except good flavor).  Nihilist has got the standard power-to-fighting ratio and two abilities that will actually trigger.  The best is the power gain for nailing a FSS.  This can give you a super power rush (beware the bite) or a BfV or seize and a mild power rush.  The second ability doubles on offense and defense -- drawing a card every now and then for offing a character can be a nice little bonus -- the problem is that the Syndicate just doesn't have a lot of cards you can take advantage of with those extra draws, so you're going to be looking to your other faction for juice.

Rating:  2.75

 

Salaryman
Lame.  Look at Agent Tanaka for about where you want to be.  And this guy doesn't provide any talents.  Yes, Ambush is good, but it's really a tool to take sites (that's how you win the game).  Spending 3 power on this guy just so you can whack characters of 4 fighting or less makes will make you sad.  And may be nullified if a large character comes out as Salaryman doesn't have Assassinate either (see Tanaka again).

Rating:  1.5

 

Song the Little Dragon
This is actually a card design I submitted years, so I can't be too harsh (it was originally called Puzzle Beast (after Puzzle Garden) and was a Purist card (at 4 it was supposed to be a CHAR rival).  What playing with this card showed is that it wound up being too defensive in nature -- the half damage becomes a lot better when you can pick your opponents.  If you do the math, Song always has toughness 1, and it only scales up -- against another 6 Fighting character he has Toughness 3 and will overcome interceptors.  He hits a wall at 7 Fighting, but still takes a nasty chunk.  One of my problems with this card is that it's too much like Echo and Silence -- both are medium hitters with anti-character abilities.  E&S are offensive only, while Song is more rounded.  Both really want a +damage effect, and as such, are just kinda meh.

Rating:  2.5

 

Street Sweepers
What the heck?  A 2-cost foundation with no real ability other than providing the Talents the faction needs?  Who designed this piece?  It's like giving us the Noodle Lady all over again.  Sure, Kunlun Clan Assault was pushing the boundary, but with only two foundation characters, the Syndicate also needs to test the limits, and this ain't it.  And what's up with the name?  Do they run around with brooms and garbage cans on wheels?

Rating:  2

 

Triad Punks
Bland as they get.  I guess you can try to go Hood crazy, but that's about as exciting as you're going to get.

Rating:  2.5

 

Wall Running
First off, this card requires , so it's probably a late game card, but that's okay.  The ability does remind me of a lot of those bad States that one one plays (like the Paths).  Here's where this card gets retarded -- it doesn't really combo with any of the Syndicate cards.  First off, the Syndicate doesn't have any characters that cost over 4, so you can't Wall Run by the big beef that's going to be your real obstacle.  The two unique hitters, Song and E&S both have anti-character abilities, so they have their own built-in interception deterrence -- anyone who'd be intercepting wont be affected by Wall Running.  That leaves you with Nihilist (who also provides ) for your one in-faction combo.  Sure, it's decent, but you're really going to have to look out of faction to maximize Wall Running.

Rating:  2.25

   
 

 

Curse of Discord
This is a surprisingly hard card to pull off.  Just how often are your attack getting intercepted by multiple characters, and then just how much damage is this really going to do?  Any faction that has access to is going to have better takeout available to them.  Yes, Discerning Fire might not clear those interceptors, but it can also take out attackers, which makes up for any versatility loss and then some.  And, as for straight damage, only the smaller of the two characters targeted by Curse is going to be outright smoked, leaving the bigger character wounded, but still intercepting (this could be really stinky if one of the intercepting characters is say, a Friend of the Dragon, and the other is... say, Mad Dog...   Shattering Fire is going to give you reliable and versatile damage when you need it.

Rating:  1.5

 
 

Unaligned

 

Hideout
I'm not so sure about this site -- it's kinda like Sliding Paper Walls, but for characters.  The basic gist of this card is that your opponents will have to attack your front row site at this location (assuming you are trying to abuse a 1-column structure.  Yes, this can be some monster site, but you're development will be crippled.  I see it much for as an attack waster, as I don't think you can set up any reliable combo to make yourself immune to your opponents.

Rating:  2

 

Lateral Reincarnation
This is pretty much some Janky D, when you don't have access to Confucian Stability.  Most of the time you are Reincarnating a character that is the target of a zap, and hoping to get something almost as good from an opponent's smoked pile.  Unfortunately, sometimes all you're gonna get is crap.  The cool turbo use for this card is as a bad Back For Seconds -- attack a site, sacrifice your guy, then attack again.

Rating:  2

 

Living Legend (Promo)
This is the new promo to replace Sword of the Master for league play, and I will say that it's a worthy replacement.  You get three great tastes on one plate -- some fighting (not a great ratio) along with CHAR(mmmm) and Mentor/Memories protection --Mmm Mmm good!

Rating: 3

 

Shurikens
At least one of the namesake cards is worthy of the honor, and this is it.  Not a lot to say about this card, other than it's generally good, especially early game when you can take advantage of a boost.  And at 0-cost, Shurikens is going to revitalize some of those old cards that trigger off of weapons being played (aaaiiiieee!  Ex-Commando with Shurikens!)

Rating: 3

 

Six-Gun
This marquee card has a few light bulbs out.  1 power should pretty much outright smoke a character, not drop extra damage on a character that is most like to die in the shootout.  If you feel like packing a pistol, I hate to say it, but you are better of with a Really Big Gun over a Six-Gun.

Rating: 1

 

The Golden Spike
Much like Secret Pact, this card is a no-brainer.  While at first you may be thinking Battleground deck, The Golden Spike's usefulness goes way beyond that limited scope.  The big problem with this card is that it's not a comeback card, but a go for the win card -- it wont help you at all if you've been beating down (like Secret Pact will).  A couple of Non-FSS will be of general assistance, as will a Bandit Hideout.  Aaargh!  Who's the retard who made this rare?

Rating: 3.25

 

Yippee-Yi-Yo Kiii-YAAAH!
Here we have a slightly less versatile (and fairly unoriginal) Secret Pact clone.  It's still a no brainer is almost every multii-faction deck.  Yeah, you can try and go crazy with Battlegrounds, but one or two Bandit Hideouts will serve you best.  This is uncommon, so be sure not to trade them lightly.

Rating:  3.25

 
 

 

Big Red Barn
Wow, this is as bad as they get.  A 7 body site that's going to be really really fragile.  Sure, it can get big, but it can get small really fast.  The best you can hope for is that it takes a lot of damage, then gets smoked as all your characters die.  Is that what you really want to hope for?  You know you want to go for the janktastic combo of Big Red Barns front row, with Hideouts behind them (and hope no one's playing Brawl or Bomb).

Rating:  1

Mr. Strange writes in:
   This card is quite good - at least a 2.25, if I understand your rating system properly.
   This card is more of the "encourage large site structures" theme of the set - in any deck packing the BRB, you can pretty safely set it at the far right slot and not worry about it for a few turns. Just 2 characters in play means this is an 11 body slogfest that will make your opponents look elsewhere. It's an Inner sanctum with a different restriction - and the potential to be crazy intimidating.

My Reply:
   It's not how well you play this card, it's how well your opponents play.  Yeah, you can do tricks returning characters but it's a house of cards that will come crumbling down all around you.  Also, this site just falls to the White Ninja, who's been seeing a lot of play for us lately.

 

Boot Hill
Here we have another variation on the gain 1 power site, but this one's got a couple of problems.  First, it only works when you are behind, and frankly, I like to win.  And 1 power is not a huge amount of you're in need of comeback.  It does have the interesting effect of being an undesirable target to seize, as it will be unlikely to work for the new owner (unlike Gambling House, which is a tasty treat).  The other drawback is that you have to discard a non-resource character.  I think this is pretty harsh, especially late game when you are going to need that hitter.  I think the discard for Monkey House is much easier to take.  I think this card is just below playable, and you're going to need 1 or more non-FSS in play to use it reliably..

Rating:  2

Mr. Strange most likely correctly adds:
   I think this card is just bad. I can't see myself playing this ever. 2 is too high a rating, in my opinion.

 

Bountiful Fields
This card is specialized, in that it really favors 0-cost States.  This is not one for every every deck, but I think it will become crucial in a few.  States have been on the decline because of all the State-hate (Waterfall being the big culprit, but there are others), and this card is much needed.  It's a must in your Ex-Commando Gun deck, but there are a bunch of others that it will find a home in.  And at 8 Body, at least it's got a little defensive value.  You can't go totally nuts because you can draw only one card per turn, but you can try Superior Mastery, even though it's pretty coastery.  Of course, there' is nothing stopping you from playing multiple Fields if you really want to try to go off.

Rating:  2.5

Simon Johnston writes in:
     I think Superior Mastery is getting better over time as the standard of zero-cost states seems to be improving, but a better way of playing States in other turns is Slo-Mo Vengeance, which you play with Ex-Commando anyway. And might as well play Dr Amanda Snow as well. Or there's always Spirit Pole.

My Reply:
     We'll have to see.  Going way back to the Daedalus era, the way to prod Jose Garcia was tell him there was a card you really liked, but found it hard to play.  That way, there was a small hope that he'd come up with another card that gave it enough of a boost to make it playable.

 

Devil's Mountain
Can you say Power Site?  I knew you could!  This is a variation on a few of the existing sites, and is going to make some power denial.  This of it as a Fox Square... wait, no... make that a City Pass.  I don't think this card will be a huge problem in itself, but it will compound the general problem with the Power Sites being too good.  Another reason to be sure to pack Whirlpools in your deck.  (At this point, I am sure you know all the tricks with redirecting damage, so I don't think I need to explain how to really abuse this card).

Rating:  3.5

 

Donner Lake
This is a funky card, trying to make the most of the cannibal theme -- I'll leave it up to you as to whether this is in good taste or not....  The timing is a little awkward -- you have to have the character at the beginning of your main shot, so you are going to have to protect your guys.  The +1 Fighting is permanent, so you are going to want a steady stream of 1-cost foundations to eat.  The super-jank combo with Donner Lake is Inauspicious Return (and other cards that can't be sac'd like Destroyer).  Since the Zombies can't be sacrificed, if you have no other characters there, you're cool.  I guess zombies don't taste good.

Rating:  1.5 

 

Mah-Jongg Parlor
This is an example of really bad card design.  This card is either going to be terrible (when it gets cancelled), or is going to be amazing as it churns out the power (such as in a draft or sealed event).  Your mileage is going to vary greatly on Mah-Jongg, and it will be a meta-game choice as to play this or not.

Rating: 3

 

The Steam Laundry Company
Healing is strong.  A site that can heal over and over is even better.  Now, we all know Stone Garden is kinda janktastic, but it is marginally playable.  This card kicks it up a notch.  Yes, it's not a combo with the totally broken Temple of Angry Spirits, but you can do some tricks the always useful City Square.  And you can make your City Park heal every turn.  This is going to add some extra beef to the large body sites (Inner Sanctum anyone?), so you may want to consider a few in a deck where you are trying to abuse the Steam Laundry.  Don't overlook the denial part of this card -- if anyone is about to take a damage a non-unique site

Rating: 3

 

University Library
Yawn.  +1 hand size, 7 body site.  Nothing new or exciting to see here.  Move along.  Cards like Temple of Celestial Mercy or Orange Sensei Chamber that straight up increase your hand-size have been shown to be winners.  Cards like Coral Reef that let you draw and filter not so as much.  Now that I think about it, this would have made a great new Sacred Ground at 9 Body -- as it is, there are just better sites to play in most decks.  Even if you get multiple libraries out, you are denying yourself other good sites.  It's not very clear what happens if University Library gets blanked -- we'll have to wait for the FAQ.

Rating:  1.5

Mr. Strange adds:
 
  I really like + hand size, but this effect is different enough that I think I'm going to like it. This makes random discard effects much more palatable.

 

 

 

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