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GRADES

I will be grading each card in the new Omens of the Past expansion for both ranked and draft play. I am going with a A+ to F grading scale this time out. A breakdown of the grading scale:

A’s: Straight bombs or very efficient cards, the best cards in the set.

B’s: Strong playables. Cards that push you into a given faction in draft.

C’s: Role players and cards you rarely cut from your deck in draft.

D’s: Narrow cards that usually don’t make the cut.

F’s: It would be a mistake to add this to your deck.

NEW MECHANICS

Lifeforce: Cards with Lifeforce have an effect when their owner gains health.

Revenge: When a card with Revenge dies, it is put randomly into the top ten cards of its owner’s deck. It permanently loses Revenge and gains Destiny (If this would be drawn, instead play it for free and draw a card).



Brash Shorthorn

Ranked: C+

Aggressive decks may want a higher quantity of one drops and this is a playable one. It also has some sweet Minotaur tribal upside. I like it a bit less than Knifejack because it trades poorly with value 1/1’s.

Draft: C

I like 2/1’s for 1 in draft because they trade well with opposing 2/2 or even 3/2 units and they can put pressure on stumbling opponents. There is also upside in triggering Spark early in the game.



Fallen Oni

Ranked: F

This is a cute answer to Warcry, but the effect is too weak for ranked.

Draft: F

This doesn’t do enough to be playable.



Jack’s Knife

Ranked: D

Maybe there is a hyper aggressive aggro deck that might want this, but on face value I am not interested.

Draft: D

There are some units that care about wielding weapons and this could be played in a pinch, but I would rather weapons that are a little bigger.



Swear Vengeance

Ranked: C

This was part of the Clockroaches combo deck that was recently significantly weakened by fixing an interaction with Revenge and Echo. The card might still be solid in that deck as giving an Echo unit Revenge is still pretty powerful.

Draft: D

This rarely makes the cut for me. I would want a number of units with Summon abilities or Echo before considering it.



Tock Tick

Ranked: B

This is another key part of the new Clockroach deck. This can get quite large in combination with Clockroaches and if you can grant it Echo with a Crown of Possibilities it is quite good.

Draft: D-

This is very low impact, but if you have ways of permanently buffing it, it can be a marginal playable.



Longshot Marksman

Ranked: C-

Cheap units with Quickdraw have some appeal because they wield weapons so well. This has some upside with the Ultimate ability, but it may not be enough to make the cut.

Draft: B-

This is one of the better common two drops you can have. It attacks well in the early game and becomes a problem in the late game. This card boosts the value of 1 damage effects like Snowballs, Icebow, and Amethyst Acolyte.



Piercing Grief

Ranked: B

This is another piece of the Clockroach/Crown deck as again granting Echo to a Revenge unit is a powerful thing to do. I don’t love it outside of combo and extreme aggro decks.

Draft: D

I am not a fan of pure face damage in draft, and that is largely what this does. It gets some bonus points for triggering Lifeforce, possibly twice, and for being a decent life swing when it connects. The downside of opponents having blockers that survive its attack is a big deal. And if the life swing doesn’t directly result in you winning than it was a waste of a card if you had no other synergies.



Scare

Ranked: F

Draft: F

There aren’t enough relevant zero strength units for this to be playable on defense. There are a handful of low strength/high health units you could target of your own to do some additional damage, but that is overall a weak effect not worth a card.



Threaten

Ranked: F

This doesn’t do enough.

Draft: D

This is a weak trick against high health units or a way to turn on your Brightmace Paladin or Rebel Sharpshooter. You could also play it on an evasive unit, but overall the impact is low.



Amethyst Ring

Ranked: D

This is likely too slow, but it is a way to consistently trigger Lifeforce.

Draft: C+

I like this a bit as a consistent Lifeforce trigger and as a way to close out grindy games. Like the other rings, this is very slow and dangerous to use if you haven’t stabilized the board.



Cabal Slasher

Ranked: F

This can represent a lot of damage in theory, but the rate is too weak to be a real consideration. Having only 3 health is a problem.

Draft: C

This is very bad if you don’t have life gain cards, but assuming you pick up 4-5 to go with your other Lifeforce cards, this is a fine playable but I am not overly excited. Too many things can simply block and trade with this that are of similar or less cost. This matches up quite poorly with any opposing 3/2’s for 2 for example.



Cat burglar

Ranked: B

This is a little narrow, but I’ve been asking for cheaper value answers to Relics and this qualifies. The body is decently valuable and it is a good way to interact with Relics.

Draft: C+

The body is strong enough that you will always play this, and if you happen to nab a Relic that is great upside.



Extract

Ranked: B

This is quite good against aggressive decks as a way to stabilize your life total and gain some deck manipulation. The problem is how weak it is against large units and controlling decks. You can at least go to the face with it as a way to deal with Relic Weapons and possibly to finish off a game. This also triggers Lifeforce for a sizeable amount for the cards that care about that.

Draft: B+

This is a great removal spell at common. Being able to pick off key evasive units and gain some health can swing a race in your favor. The deck manipulation is solid as well. Plays great with Lifeforce cards.



Lethrai Memory-Keeper

Ranked: F

In theory this puts a lot of pressure on decks without units, but there enough decks WITH units that trade so well with this that you should probably not bother.

Draft: C-

I like high strength, low health units as they can put pressure on stumbling opponents and trade with potentially more expensive cards. This is another reason that 1 damage effects get a bit of a bump.



Means to an End

Ranked: ?? (F)

This is obviously meant to have your entire deck built around it as the win condition. My guess is the deck is not competitive, but probably a ton of fun when you pull it off. I, for one, want to see what the spell effect is! There is the outside chance that the deck is great too, but I haven’t done this critical research yet.

Draft: D+

There is a possibility that you can pull this off in draft. The decks being 45 cards is a great start. You just need to pack your deck with as much life gain and defensive cards as possible. I am excited to try this out, but normal decks should stay far, far away.



Skeeter

Ranked: D

Lifeforce decks may want a recurring source of life gain, and this accomplishes that as being redundant copies of Vampire Bat. These units also wield weapons pretty well, but overall that is a fragile strategy. My guess is that there are better options for life gain.

Draft: D+

If you have Lifeforce cards, you should be slamming this as a repeated trigger source. Outside of that, I would avoid it as the impact is too low.



Sorrow’s Shroud

Ranked: D

This can gain a lot of life which may be relevant against aggressive decks, but the overall package is probably not good enough.

Draft: C

This is a decent weapon that gets bonus points if you have Lifeforce cards.



Spur On

Ranked: F

Draft: F

If your draft deck is filled with huge units but is lacking good ways to punch them through, this MIGHT be a weak playable. Most of the time it should be used as a side deck card that you never bring in.



Trigger-Happy

Ranked: F

Draft: D

This is a weak trick because it relies on your units being the same size or bigger to get value. The upside is that you can kill multiple units at once in some situations. The downside is that you won’t have a key situation where you can use it at times. Remember it only works during your attacks.



Cabal Bludgeoner

Ranked: F

Draft: C+

This gets pretty strong with 3-4 weapons, the only downside is that you can only play so many four drops.



Cripple

Ranked: F

Draft: D+

This is a very poor removal spell, but sometimes you are lacking interaction and will need to play it.



Hatecleaver

Ranked: C+

This can get pretty big in a focused Lifeforce deck, and Relic weapons are pretty powerful in general, so while I won’t rule this out. It pairs particularly nicely with Stronghold’s Visage.

Draft: C/B+

Without much life gain this is a C, but if you can get some life gain going this can often kill two valuable units.



Memory Dredger

Ranked: B+

The rate is quite good on this and there are plenty of sweet units to bring back.

Draft: A

This can be very hard to beat if it goes unchecked. Slam this one.



Relentless Gorehorn

Ranked: B

I have been messing around with a Minotaur Revenge deck and this is a strong playable in that deck. I am skeptical that the deck is great, but I think it’s worth exploring due to its resilience and potential for nut draws.

Draft: B-

Solid rate on a Revenge card that goes up a bit if you can play a few extra Minotaurs.



Savage Stranger

Ranked: D

I think there are better options in the Stranger deck, but this is theoretically playable.

Draft: C+

A fine rate that threatens a lot of damage if you have several other Strangers.



Xenan Fanatic

Ranked: D

This could be part of some kind of combo-y Lifeforce deck, but I am skeptical. I am not excited about playing it fairly.

Draft: C-

The rate is weak, but if you have enough life gain cards it is a marginal playable.



Minotaur Lighthoof

Ranked: F

Even in the Minotaur deck, the rate isn’t there for this one.

Draft: B

This threatens a big chunk of damage in the right deck, and the body is very solid for the cost.



Obrak, the Feaster

Ranked: B+

This was one of the first Legendaries I crafted as the rate is crazy if you can build your deck to withstand the drawback. The obvious first choice is in a Stonescar Entomb deck, and this performs reasonably well there. I have also tried it in a Argenport Revenge deck, but have had some problems with not having enough fodder there. Not having enough food really hurts this card. This is one that is worth exploring further.

Draft: A

This is a risky card, but I would go out of my way to play something like 20 units to enable it. If you can find some value Entomb units it gets a lot better. It just ends games so quickly and it has built in resilience with Revenge.



Umbren Thirster

Ranked: F

Draft: C+

Triggering this once makes it a potent threat and if you have repeated sources of life gain it gets even better.



Direwood Prowler

Ranked: D

I am not ruling this out just yet as the rate looks solid, especially if you have value units to sacrifice. The downside is that there is not a ton of room in decks for six drops.

Draft: B+

I am pretty excited to draft this as it is a great way to cash in your irrelevant two drops in the late game. It is great to have some Entomb units to sacrifice, but not necessary.



Slimespitter Slug

Ranked: B

This does a lot at a competitive rate. It gets even better if there are some decks dedicated to flying units in the meta game. I like it as a curve topper in a value Lifeforce deck as a consistent enabler.

Draft: A

This seems very hard to beat and provides an amazing answer to opposing fliers. Just remember that he kills your fliers as well. The nice part is that he can become huge and gain you a ton of life in one turn.



Cabal Rogue

Ranked: F

This is the poster boy for failing the Torch test. It also fails the Temper test. My boy just doesn’t test well.

Draft: C

This will win a bunch of games, but there are enough removal cards that trade so efficiently with this that it can be a liability. The upside is that often the opponent will have used most of those prior to this coming down. The downside is that it can make a bunch of top decks live for your opponent. This also gets owned pretty hard by Silence effects. However, if you can dodge all of that stuff you will kill opponents quickly with this.



Inspire Obedience

Ranked: F

Draft: D+

You won’t always be in the market for a 7-drop removal spell, but this is a good one.



Sleepless Night

Ranked: C

The cost is quite high, but the effect is bonkers. Just make sure to play all of your fresh cards before this Revenges! The joke is on you if this Revenges to the top of your deck. Overall this is probably too slow to be a game changer, but Shadow getting a mass card draw effect could enable some new archetypes.

Draft: B+

It will be VERY hard to lose if you resolve this on a stable board. It will also be VERY fun to do so and I plan to play this as much as possible.

Thanks for reading, and come back soon for the Praxis and Hooru cards next!

-Ben Chapman

@bchap55

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