Hello friends! This is the last of the mono-faction set reviews. Next we will have multifaction + neutral, which will include some finishing thoughts. Let’s get to it!

Tombstone Review

Hot Takes for Filthy Net Deckers

Fire Set Review

Time Set Review

Justice Set Review

Primal Set Review

Part 1 of Limited Review Podcast

Part 2 of Limited Review Podcast

Reddit Thread for this article

Ranked Ratings:

★★★★★ Format defining card

Examples: Sandstorm Titan, Torch, and Harsh Rule

★★★★ Archetype staple, or multi-deck support card

Examples: Waystones, Permafrost, Rally

★★★ Role player or narrow support card

Examples: Polymorph, Rise to the Challenge, Withering Witch

★★ Long shot or meme-tier

Examples: Knucklebones, Crown of possibilities, Groundbreaker

★ Unplayable

Examples: Idol of Destran, Copperhall Recruit, Daze

Draft Ratings

★★★★★ Bomb or extremely efficient removal

Examples: Twinbrood Sauropod, Annihilate, and Slimespitter Slug

★★★★ Better than average

Examples: Feeding Time, Mortar, Archive Curator

★★★ Around average power level

Examples: Striped Araktodon, Hipshot, Highbranch Sentry

★★ Below average, but not embarrassing

Examples: Centaur Outrider, Cabal Slasher, Cirso’s Meddling

★ Unplayable

Examples: Accelerate, Helpful Doorbot, Aid of the Hooru

Amethyst Waystone

Ranked

★★★★ This is ultimately a support card still, but damn this card is good. This section of the review will clearly be talking about Nightfall a lot, but the more I play with it the more excited I am about the mechanic. It is a blast to play, and has just layers and layers of strategical implications. Nightfall is a powerful effect, and getting to trigger that off a power card is just incredibly potent. As a community we have a lot to learn still about playing with Nightfall, and building Nightfall decks, but I think in the future people are going to be asking questions like “how do I build this power base so I can fit 4 Amethyst Waystones?”

Draft

★★★ This is a step above the other Waystones in draft, since Nightfall is a more powerful effect than the other members of the cycle. Still, I think most of the stuff I have said about the Waystone cycle still applies here, so you should go back to my Fire review and read that.

Affliction

Ranked

★★ I am never going to totally discount a 1-power spell that kills Oni Ronin. If “curses matter” ends up being important enough I suppose this card could make the cut, but this card is probably too low-impact to see serious play for the time being.

Draft

★★★ Totally fine limited quality removal. I think basically every draft deck wants to have access to a few cheap ping effects if it can, and this is a pretty solid example of that, especially since “curses matter” is such a loud theme in draft. Of course some curses matter cards (like Sinister Opportunist) are only turned on when the curse is in play, so make sure to use Affliction accordingly.

Arachnophobia

Ranked

★ It is hard to imagine a world where Alu decks are good enough that you are willing to just jam any 1-power curse you can find. This doesn’t actually do anything the moment that you play it, making it very unappealing, and even after the unit dies your reward is a dorky 1/1 that could just be swept up for no value.

Draft

★ A good metric is this: how many Skywalk Enforcers do you have? That is how many stars this card has. Once you get 4 Skywalk Enforcers in my deck I will literally put the 4 of clubs in my deck, as long as someone scribbles the word “curse” on it. Since picking up even 2 Skywalk Enforcers is hard, I feel like you should avoid this all-together.

Grenamender

Ranked

★ I would be baffled if a card like this was needed in Grenadin. I suppose lifeforce is a more realistic application (possibly Means to an End) but that sounds pretty bad.

Draft

★ This sure has the word Grenadin in its type line. Beyond that there isn’t much to recommend. I guess Coalscrounger is a thing? 1/1’s for 1 with upside seems like an accidental a theme of this set, but this 1/1 is really thin on the upside.

Stonescar Sneak

Ranked

★★★ Speaking of 1/1s for 1 with upside! I have actually encountered Stonescar Sneak a number of times, and it has honestly impressed me. Not like “this should see a ton of play” kind of impressed, but more like “this seems fine” Quickdraw is such a powerful offensive ability, especially on something like Champion of Chaos, or any other deadly unit for that matter. On particular deck I want to try is Argenport Gunslingers with Rooftop Vigilante. Could be neat!

Draft

★★★★ After playing with and against this in draft, I have been taught he is quite strong. In draft if you control combat you control the game, and he allows you to take control of combat. It is hard of a Young Gun with upside to be a bomb, but this one is surprisingly close in my experience.

Trusty Revolver

Ranked

★ I really have a hard time believing that things would break such that this was the best option. Are there really no better options? You would need to really care about getting the multiple weapons, like with Quartermaster or something, but outside of that this seems like a bad Ornamental Daggers, and that has barely seen play.

Draft

★★★ Some decks just really want to have access to a lot of weapons. Shadow is a much better faction for this kind of effect than Time, meaning trusty is somehow better than ornamental daggers due to its faction identity. To be clear, this is a low 3 star card, but it is certainly fine in a lot of decks.

Vara’s Intervention

Ranked

★★★★ This card has really impressed me. 3 modes that are all great against different types of decks. Against aggro? Hit them with a -0/-1. What about midrange? Close out a stalled out game with unblockable! Control? Draw an Unseen to have another threat. I have been playing 3 in my midrangy Feln-Unseen decks, and they have been fantastic.

Draft

★★★★ As I have said with the other Interventions, this card has diminishing returns, but the first one really is great. I don’t think I need to spell out all the circumstances where each of these modes will be good. I would put a little effort into getting Unseen, as they do not feel as readily available as the other tribes, but even if you have 3-4 Unseen, this card should still be great.

Wisplight

Ranked

★ Twlight Raptor is a 2/2 flyer for 1 that barely sees play. This is much worse card on several levels. Pass.

Draft

★★ I suppose a faux 2/1 flyer for 1 can never be totally ignored, but this card is really bad. If you feel like you are getting into an extremely aggressive deck I supposed this is fine, but this card honestly looks embarrassing.

Battlefield Scavenger

Ranked

★★★ I have already seen this on the Battlefield a couple of times, and while he has certainly not taken my breath away, it is serviceable. 1/3 for 2 lines up favorably with popular 1-drops, you get a moderate offensive pressure via the warcry ability, and you have a bit of late game value. I can imagine a world where this doesn’t make it, but I like his chances if there is a Valkyries deck that becomes a thing.

Draft

★★★ I would personally say Minotaur Grunt was a middle-of-the-road 3 star card, and this is only slightly better on balance. I really don’t think you can dependably activate an ability like this, since part of your objective in the Valkyrie deck is to stop your Valkyrie from dying, since they are usually suited up with weapons. Still, this gives a little extra late game grind, and that is useful.

Corrupt

Ranked

★★ There were a lot of people that were blown away by this card when it was first previewed, but I still think the same thing now that I did back then – maybe a 1 of some of the time. This card is so narrow, and it is going to rot in your hand so often. Given the fact that one of the most popular control decks is the Temporal Distortion Control, you are at a pretty high risk of staring at your stupid Corrupt when your opponent is dropping Harsh Rules and Vanquishs. There are certainly going to be times that this is bananas in particular match ups, but I feel like that is not going to come up that often.

Draft

★ You really can’t play this. Obviously it will be a blow out under specific circumstances, but there is way too many conditions for this to be a worth while inclusion in draft.

Cowardice

Ranked

★ If “curses matter” were just not a theme at all, I would totally dismiss this as a card. Blocking is only one of the many things units do, and I would generally rather play removal spells that stop all the things a unit does. Still, this seems like the kind of card I would play in an Alu deck, or at least I would consider it. I guess there is a universe where hyper aggro decks play something like this, but I am very skeptical. Given the ubiquity of answers like Disjunction and Desert Marshall I am going to stick to the 1 star, but I suppose it is worth remembering.

Draft

★★ I am not quite at the same level as I was with Arachnophobia, but it is close. If you are really able to find yourself into an aggro deck I think this is fine, but you really need to be quite aggressive. Outside of that, go re-read my Arachnophobia review.

Dreamsnatcher

Ranked

★★★★ This card seems great! I have often considered Cabal Cutthroat for ranked, but that 2 health is just too low against things like Lightning Storm or when battling an Oni Ronin. This gives me the extra health, and some extra abilities for the low low cost of an additional Shadow influence. I will take that deal all day. This is probably not the type of card you want to play in 3F decks most of the time, but lots of 2F decks will want him. Some people get distracted by all the text after lifesteal, and begin dreaming up mill decks, but I just don’t think you need something like that. Instead I think you should see the “discard 15” ability as a control mirror breaker, and the middle line as just being gravy.

Draft

★★★★ This is a 2/3 for 2 with lifesteal with an ability that can randomly win a game. Seems good? Obviously the ability is very hard to use in draft since he will rarely survive the early-to-mid game, but if it does come up you are probably in a good position to end the game.

Flashy Duelist

Ranked

★ Pyre Adept has seen 0 high level ranked play, and having the Gunslinger type is not nearly good enough to change that.

Draft

★★★ First off, it feels like 3/1s are a lot better than they used to be. I am not really sure why, but it feels like they are more reliably trading with a card that matters, rather than just being invalidated on the board. I guess the prevalence of weapons helps? When your opponent is attacking you with a giant monster, you really want something with a lot of attack getting involved in the block. Whatever the cause, 3/1s for 2 are now fine, when before they were meh. Secondly, this is a Gunslinger, and we have a common Bond Gunslinger in Shadow, so this is great for setting him up. You can still overload on this kind of card, but it is totally fine.

Grenadin Bellower

Ranked

★★★ So far the Grenadin decks that have seen play have been heavily slanted towards the bigger size, meaning Bellower has not really made the cut. I think a more aggro approach could have potential with a card like this, but we will need to see. This card is quite powerful though, so I feel pretty safe giving him 3 stars.

Draft

★★★★ This is great for a 2-drop. He might not be exceptional as your first play of the game, but he is also not bad. Where he really shines if you top-deck him later, especially if you actually have any go-wide tools. Obviously this is great with Assembly Line, but I would also try and pair it with Humbug Swarm.

Hideout Pistol

Ranked

★★★ The only gunslinger decks that have seen play so far have been Rakano based, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible for Argenport or Stonescar to make it. This is a solid tech choice in those kinds of decks, but I doubt you can ever run 4 of a card like this, as it is so bad against control or big midrange.

Draft

★★★ You really need to get a good density of Gunslingers to play a card like this. This is very much a high ceiling/low floor card. In some game states this is going to be backbreaking, while other times it is a worse Spiked Helm. I have to start this at 3 stars, but that doesn’t really encapsulate the real grade.

Infused Strike

Ranked

★★ I actually have started to pay attention to Xenan Fanatic as a potentially powerful combo piece. Means to an End actually got some tools (like the much beloved Azurite Prixis), but Infused Strike + big idiot + pump spells seems like a way to end the game with a Xenan Fanatic. Could be total jank, but I guess that is what the 2 star rating is for right?

Draft

★★★ Not giving much extra health is rough, but the life swing can be a big deal when you are setting up a race. Given the nature of the format I feel like people will often trade their unit + a pump spell for their opponent’s unit + a weapon, and this is a great tool for that I suppose. Card is totally respectable.

Miris Nightshade

Ranked

★★★★ This is a great card. Aggressive Shadow Nightfall deck will play this, Feln Aggro or Tempo will play this, my current versions of Feln Midrange plays this, “curses matter” will play it if that is a deck…. I could go on, but why bother? Not quite a 5 Star card in my opinion, but this is the 2-drop a lot of decks were looking for.

Draft

★★★★ A 3/2 for 2 is a solid 3 star card, and this gives you 2 types of gravy to pair with your 3/2 for 2. Obviously this card is extremely beatable in draft, but he is also very clearly better than the majority of cards you will see.

Sleeping Draught

Ranked

★★ This card looks really breakable. Pseudo-protect for 2 is not that bad fail state, but doesn’t this have some busted combo we can use? Obviously the “exhausted” clause is pretty lame, and “died this turn” versus “entered the void this turn” stops a lot of our fun. Probably a long shot for now, but keep your eye on this card for sure.

Draft

★★ I guess this is an OK pseudo-Protect or combat trick, but I don’t think you are going to find that many ways to abuse this in draft. Probably best to avoid, but certainly not bad.

Unseen Agent

Ranked

★★ This is the cheapest unblockable unit in the game, so I will never totally count out a cheap card with a powerful ability. Still, you need to be up to some serious nonsense for a card like this to be interesting, and this dies to a stiff breeze, so I am not really into it.

Draft

★★ You need to put some work into a card like this, but it is OK. This is probably closer to a Gunslinger than an Unseen in some respects, as it carries weapons so well. Triggering Nightfall is also a nice ability, but not worth a card most of the time. There are going to be some games where Unseen Agent carries hard, and other games where it falls flat.

Ashara, Ruthless Assassin

Ranked

★★★ If Shadow-Gunslingers decks exist, this card goes there. I am not crazy about playing her outside of something like that, but I don’t think many people have made an honest try with Argenport or Stonescar Gunslingers. Ashara + Hideout Pistol is a combo I guess, but that is not enough to play her. It seems unlikely that she will see 0 play, but I also doubt she will be a format staple.

Draft

★★★★ Once again, 3/3 for 3 is a classic 3 star card, and this has 2 layers of delicious gravy to enjoy beyond that. Not a bomb, but certainly far above average. Now, a PSA: MAKE SURE YOU PLAY WITH HER PROPERLY AND DON’T THROW AWAY RANDOM UNITS YOU DON’T MEAN TO! This is going to happen where people will just enter combat normally and be surprised when she randomly grows to a 7/3, only to realize they threw away their 5 drop for 4 damage. It is my missions to try and prevent this as best possible.

Darkclaw Ravager

Ranked

★★ There is something going on with the Shadow Dinosaurs that I totally don’t get. I feel like DWD has some plan in mind, but it completely escapes me. This combination of stats and cost seemed tuned as well, so maybe there is something going on here I can’t see? I am fully prepared to be proven wrong.

Draft

★★ Shadow dinos is not really supported in draft, so I guess you would need to pair with Time or full 3F. That sounds pretty bad to me for a card that could ultimately be a slightly better Granite Acolyte.

Duskcaller

Ranked

★ I really don’t think that you are ever need Nightfall so badly that you will run a 3/2 for 3 in ranked. There are just much better options.

Draft

★★★ This is fine. Nightfall is good if you are the one controlling it. Unseen is a good unit type. 3/2 for 3 is a bit behind the curve, but not that bad. No exciting, but also not bad.

Maimed Watchwing

Ranked

★ Blocking is an important thing to do in ranked, and 2/3 flying for 3 is not exactly impressive in ranked either.

Draft

★★ This is very difficult to grade because it is so heavily dependant on your density of Valkyrie and how aggro you are. A 2/3 for 3 that can’t block is pretty close to 0 stars (if that were a grade). A 2/3 flyer for 3 with a relevant unit type is like a low 4 star card. You really need to put the work in here, but if you have a good curve, half a dozen Valkyrie, and a couple combat tricks I am taking all the Maimed Watchings I see.

Prickly Grenadin

Ranked

★ 1/2 for 3 better come with a wicked summon ability, and this summon does not count. Keep an eye on this in case some kind of weird prison deck shows up, but man this looks heinous against any aggressive deck.

Draft

★★ I have actually seen this in play a couple times, and when it comes down on turn 3 it is honestly fine. Even with Nightfall it feels like the games are still often decided by who either stalls on power first or runs out of gas first, and this helps in some ways. You should still avoid this, as it is an abysmal top deck in the mid-to-late game, but if you have grenadin synergies it is not totally unplayable.

Deadly Confrontation

Ranked

★★★ It seems hard to have this as a primary removal spell, but 1-2 in an Unseen heavy deck is probably correct. Just imagine shooting down Sandstorm Titan and Heart of the Vault or Tavrod +Valkyrie Enforcer with a card like this. That is such a huge swing, that I am willing to risk running a clunky removal spell for a potential tool to steal games.

Draft

★★★★★ If you had 0 Unseen in your deck this is probably still 4 stars, and the upside of hitting 2 or 3 units is INSANE in draft. I am not going to run through the details because I hope you can figure this out, but man this is busted in draft.

Devastating Setback

Ranked

★★★ This seems like a solid role player in some decks. 4 is certainly a lot for a Sabotage, so the -2/-2 has gotta be where the juice is. One of the major drawbacks to this effect is being symmetrical. When you play Lightning Storm in a Feln deck, you get to pair it with Stewards and Bloodcasters and other units with 5 health, so everything on your side survives, while everything on the opponent’s side dies. Here you don’t get that benefit, as your dorky X/5s get demoted to X/3s. My inclination right now is that you will not play Devastating Setback even in most control deck that can cast it, but might see play in big Argenport and Xenan lists specifically, since you do not get access to Lightning Storm.

Draft

★★★ For a non-tribal card I think this is really contextual. This format has generally felt more aggressive, and I have not seen a lot of good control decks. If you can set up a good board state for this it would be truly devastating, but depending on your deck and your match up, there might be no good window to cast this all game long. I will start by picking it as a high 3 star card, but this could easily shift.

Devious Drone

Ranked

★★ This is probably playable, but it is also not exciting, and has a lot of problems. There seem to be millions of silence effects everywhere, and this guy loses pretty badly to all of them. I think you probably need to come up with some abusive application for a card like this, like trying to set up some recursion loop. I don’t know how you are doing that, but I will give him a second star for good measure.

Draft

★★★★ This is certainly worth picking and playing, but it will have some serious consistency issues. Top decking him when your opponent has a couple beefy units will totally warp the game state. Playing this on turn 4 is going to be a little less impressive. Me sure to try and get some sacrifice effects.

Extinguish

Ranked

★★ I supposed it has the word Nightfall and effects the board, so I can’t totally rule it out as a role player in some deck, but I am certainly not going to be starting it in many decks.

Draft

★★★★ Hot tip: removal in limited is good. Easily the best common in shadow. I really hope I don’t need to explain more than this.

Final-Shot Rioter

Ranked

★ Take a moment to compare this to Steward of the Past and get back to me.

Draft

★★ This card is weird to me. 2/4 deadly is like the equivalent of 5/6 endurance in ranked: 1 card board stall. I am really not sure why Gunslingers would want that? To me this feels like a card that fits best into a split Gunslingers/Valkyrie deck, as this will stall the ground, while your fliers beat down in the sky. I am still not that interested, as the ceiling on the card is still only medium.

Street Leecher

Ranked

★ I am pretty sure this is basically a 3/4 warcry for 4. That seems terrible. Obviously the ultimate will matter in some games, but unless you are hitting an X/1 I don’t think this is worth a card.

Draft

★★★ Both the body and the ability are a lot better in draft, but is still at replacement level. I probably still first pick this most of the time, but I doubt I will be happy about it. Why does that ability need to be an ultimate? I wanted to go off with Emerald Ring.

Vainglory Patrol

Ranked

★ There are 3/3 flyers for 3 that barely see play.

Draft

★★★ This is fine. Flying is important, having Valkyrie is important, and the 3/1 body is not so bad. This is certainly on the low end of 3 stars, and there are a million ways to kill this guy basically for free, but we are willing to play a card like this to get our deck functional.

Cover of Darkness

Ranked

★ I think there are much better effects you can use as finishers in Shadow. Even something like an infiltrate deck doesn’t really excite me that much.

Draft

★★ This is playable as a finisher, but you really should not need to prioritize this to get your hands on it. Not every deck will even want this kind of effect, but it is tolerable.

Headsman’s Axe

Ranked

★ Weapons that see ranked play have abilities and are not vulnerable to silence. Even something like Mantle of Justice has fallen totally out of favor. There will obviously be a game where Headsman’s Axe runs away with a game, but this card is pretty abysmal.

Draft

★★★ This seems ok. A little high variance given the interaction with silence and the fact that it may be a 0/0 or 1/1 weapon on turn 5, but the upside on a card like this seems spooky. Maybe this should be viewed as a Grenadin card? This will certainly take over a game if it is on a flier going long.

Moonlit Gargoyle

Ranked

★ Really hard to imagine a world where a 5-drop that dies to torch without an impactful summon or entomb effect will see play.

Draft

★★★ This is quite strong! Bashing for 5 in the air for one turn is great, but you can obviously string together a couple of turns and really deal some damage. Not quite a premium uncommon, but you will probably play all the copies you get access to.

Shadowlands Tyrant

Ranked

★★ This is by far the least appealing of the Diesel Cycle. The body is very fragile and the attack effect is only medium. I don’t want to count this out entirely, but let’s just say I am not enthusiastic.

Draft

★★★★★ Clearly a massive bomb. It will be hard to attack with him on every board state, but if you can do something like get him airborne he will totally take over the game. The floor is blocking and trading with and opponent’s unit and you gain 6, which is totally solid.

Stonescar Scrapper

Ranked

★★★★ This card has already been extremely impactful. I am a huge fan of Grenadin deck, and I think this guy is a big part of what makes it possible. I even think it is worth considering playing Scrapper in non-Grenadin decks, like Xenan sacrifice tokens. Still just 4 stars because he is largely going to be contained in 1 archetype, but still a house.

Draft

★★★★★ This seems like a wicked source of card advantage. Just make sure you have a good win condition outside of this, and Scrapper will let you find it. 4/6 for 5 is also totally solid for draft.

Triggerman

Ranked

★★ I actually do think this card has potential. Cheap bond cards are kind of dangerous, as they allow you to chain off. For example, if you have a Jekk in play on turn 6 you can play Callous Survivalist into Triggerman into another Triggerman all in one turn. That is clearly a bit of wishful thinking, but the potential is clearly there!

Draft

★★★ The pair of this and flashy duelist is very solid in draft. Just powering out dudes ahead of schedule is a great way to seize momentum, and that attack ability makes Triggerman pretty hard to block even into the mid-game.

Umbren Coaxer

Ranked

★ Go read what I wrote for Moonlit Gargoyle.

Draft

★★ A 5/2 for 5 is never going to attack, so you need to be pretty defensive to want this card to begin with. I suppose she is OK as a blocker in Valkyrie decks, but even there I am not excited. Try to avoid, but sometimes you need another card, and this isn’t terrible.

Drifting Death

Ranked

★ It is hard for me to piece together the game state where the entomb trigger on this unit is consistently relevant, making this a 3/2 lifesteal flier for 6. Take a look at Unseen Commando and get back to me.

Draft

★★★★ I think this is actually quite solid. There are enough curses that you will get value on the entomb trigger sometimes, but not always, but that doesn’t really matter. I would just pay 6 for 3/2 flying lifesteal, especially given the density of weapons you have available.

Finback Komonat

Ranked

★ If this is what you need to play to make Night Dinos work, I am out.

Draft

★★ Meh, it is tolerable. Feels like the format is often going to punish you if you get behind early, and this will likely clog up your hand. Obviously you will sometimes have your 7th power in hand when you play this card and you can happily pitch that for Night, but that is just not a strong game plan. Playable, but certainly not good.

Gunrustler

Ranked

★ A 4/2 is an acceptable rate on a 3-drop, and that summon ability is going to be wildly inconsistent.

Draft

★★ A 4/2 is an acceptable rate on a 3-drop, and that summon ability is going to be wildly inconsistent. There are a lot of weapons in this format so sometimes this will be a blow out, but man is the fail state on this card miserable.

Malediction Reader

Ranked

★ Even if the curse deck is great, I still don’t think you play this card. Thunderstrike Dragon doesn’t see much play these days, and that let’s you draw 2 5/6 flyers for 6 for the price of 1 card.

Draft

★★★★ 3/3 flyer for 5 is a textbook 3 star card, and this gives you +2/+2 and a nice ability for one 1 more power. Obviously this card can be removed or overpowered, but I still happily put this in any shadow deck, even if I have 0 curses.

Solitude

Ranked

★★ This is about as meme-tier as you can get. 6 is a lot for a card that doesn’t actually affect the board, and you really need to cast Solitude like 2 or 3 times before you are actually doing something powerful. Still, this will certainly see tons of play in the low level master (AKA Jank league)

Draft

★ You really can’t play 6 power cards that do absolutely nothing. There is part of me that wonders if this is going to be a sick win condition in some controlling decks, but it just seems really bad 95% of the time.

Zelia, the Vain

Ranked

★★★★ I have been playing with Zelia, and I think this card is great. Not everyone who has played with her agrees, but I have seen her take over enough games that I am still putting her at 4 stars. Clearly doesn’t fit into any random Shadow deck, but when she is good she is really good.

Draft

★★★★★ This card will totally and completely warp the game around her. Even if you play her without bond I think she terrifying, but considering that she can come down a couple turns early makes her truly brutal. Easy 5 stars.

Dangerous Bargain

Ranked

★ It is really hard to imagine a world where this sees play but Touch of the Umbren isn’t. There is no way that 8 is that much more than 7 where you are willing to sacrifice the upside of permanently stealing the unit and the unit having lifesteal.

Draft

★★★★ This is probably pretty solid. Yes your opponent can get their unit back, but can they really afford the 2 turns of getting hit by their biggest guy? The way stealing units works in Eternal allows you to attack with a readied unit the turn you take it, meaning Dangerous Bargain gives you 2 hits with a readied unit. Either your opponent needed to take those hits for 2 turns, or they need to chump or something. This is expensive, and requires some set up, but I think this card will usually win the game when you cast it.

Repulsive Gorger

Ranked

★ It is hard to imagine a deck that is remotely interested in a card like this.

Draft

★★ Given the speed of the format, I really need my 7-drops to pull a lot more weight than this. Sacrificing a unit is a very real cost, and Plague is not so game breaking I am always satisfied to give up my 2/2 to get a plague. This is still an impactful 7-drop, and some decks will want that.

Encroaching Darkness

Ranked

★★★ Certainly a neat card. I have flirted with it a little bit, but not enough to come to any conclusions. Is this card a good control finisher? Maybe a sideboard card? Or is this actually just a game warping bomb? This need a lot more work before I can say, but I will confess that the card seems sweet.

Draft

★ This is probably just too expensive. 8-drops need to be so impactful that they can carry a game by themselves, and I don’t really think this is the card to do that. If you could somehow land this on turn 5 or 6 I don’t think you could ever lose, but that is just not real life.

Nametaker

Ranked

★ I talked about this pretty extensively on my podcast, but I think this card is trash. 8 drops need to take over the game, and this card doesn’t remotely achieve this. People overvalue “extraction” type effects, and this is a bad example of that kind of effect.

Draft

★ I think Improvised Rubbler is a much better card, and that card is not good. If this card cost 6 I would be interested in building around something like this, but 8 is just way too much.

Valkyrie Harvester

Ranked

★★ How many units do you need to draw off this for him to be good enough? 2? 3? After thinking about this card a lot I feel like it is hard to set up a card like in ranked. Usually by turn 8 there is either a clear board on both sides, or a huge board stall mess. The issue with hitting A+Space into a crowded board to set up Harvester is that although you will often draw 3-4 cards, you will die on the back swing.

Draft

★★★★ A 6/5 flyer for 6 would be very good, and for an extra 2 this could provide insane value. I can’t really give any 8 cost card 5 stars in good faith, but this card seems sweet enough that I want to give it a shot.

Callous Survivalist

Ranked

★★★★ This is an important partner to Jekk in a potential Stonescar Gunslingers deck. Getting this down to 2 cost is a big deal, and you can feel comfortable overextending into a board where you are able to pick their hand clean of relevant interaction. More work needs to go into this kind of deck, but it sounds interesting.

Draft

★★ I would read this largely without the rules text after bond. Is this card playable in a random Gunslinger deck? Probably, but even there he is not game breaking. The issue is that he is not playable in the average deck, making him a substantial liability.

That is it for Shadow! Lots of crazy stuff going on here that I am excited to try out. The last leg of this journey is the multifaction and neutral cards that should be complete soon. Be sure to check out the Reddit thread to share you thoughts! I also want to let people know about my Patreon that I just started for my podcast! It is helpful for covering expenses related to hosting and recording my Podcast. Until next time,

Love,

Neon

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