Food For Thought #2: Ultra Rares, cont'd.
Posted 09-22-2009 at 12:12 AM by Rawiswar
Updated 09-22-2009 at 02:52 PM by Rawiswar (Listed the wrong board sweeper. NWO is good, Dawn of Time is not.)
Updated 09-22-2009 at 02:52 PM by Rawiswar (Listed the wrong board sweeper. NWO is good, Dawn of Time is not.)
We're continuing our evaluation of each ultra rare on a 1 to 5 power level scale, and a 1 to 3 "how mad am I that it's an ultra rare?" scale (abbreviated "RI" for "Righteous Indignation"). The first half of the ultra rares and more detail on the scales can be found here.
Maul
Power: 5 of 5. This card should be in every deck. Period. Almost every opponent you play will have free champions or objects that they want to keep around: Seaside Cave, Sage, Druid, Prophets/Oracles, Headless Horseman, and Tranquil Grove/Ring of Will. All of these cards are amazing in their respective decks, and cards like cave, grove, and the prophets/oracles will always draw a card to replace themselves if you try to kill them. Unless you have an instantaneous answer that also draws a card. Basically, this card turns some of your opponents' best advantages into an advantage for you.
RI: 3 of 3. Like I said above, every deck should play this. So not having ultra rares makes every deck you play worse. Ouch. Plus, this card is basically a free gift that takes up neither a free slot nor a gift slot, so people who can afford them get to play more frees and more gifts than people who can't. Now that's an advantage.
Peaceful Exile:
Power: 4.5 out of 5. The fact that this card doesn't replace itself means that it only breaks even against the cards mentioned above. And there are almost no unbreakable free cards, so banish isn't a significant advantage. But it's still trading a non-free slot for an opponent's free slot, which is pretty good. The reason this card doesn't get a 5 is that Maul is so much better, and you probably don't need six cards like this against most decks.
RI: 3 of 3. Oh, ok. Players with ultra rares get Maul, but people who don't have it get this weaker substitute so they're only a little outclassed. Wait, this is also ultra rare? Instead of fixing the problem, you made it worse.
Psychopathic Brute
Power: 4.5 of 5. I love Rend, and this gives you a 5/5 to boot. Plus you can play it on your turn, then wait and kill their guy with it on their turn. Oh, and if they try to stop it they waste a card and you STILL get to break something. I'm pretty darn close to giving this card a 5.
RI: 2 of 3. Not having this card probably hurts your mono-evil deck. But is Dark Assassin that much worse? It's not unstoppable, which is a very significant disadvantage, but if left alone it seems alot better. For me to be 3 of 3 indignant, you need to do something no other card (except maybe another ultra rare) can compare with.
Righteous Leader
Power: 2 of 5. The only time you'll have enough good champions for this effect to matter is if you're playing tokens, and only human tokens. I just haven't seen a powerful version of that deck. You know what's good against tokens and really common in Epic? Board sweepers ("break all" or "banish all" effects). You know what makes those effects even better? Killing one of your opponent's free cards as well. Evil Ward prevents some of these effects, but not the really good ones (New World Order, not Dawn of Time, which I originally wrote, Divine Decree, Obliterate). If this card was paced I'd give it a 3, because you could play it and attack with boosted guys before your opponent could play most sweeps.
RI: 1 of 3. I'm tempted to give it a 2 because for many players it's a disappointment to get as your ultra rare, but it doesn't seem quite that bad.
Righteous Paladin
Power: 4 of 5. I think this card is a fantastic sideboard option, because both mono-evil and discard-based strategies were popular decks before Time Wars. Don't put it in your deck unless you know your local metagame really well, but having it in your sideboard will make you very happy in some matches, regardless of what deck you're playing.
RI: 2 of 3. This is such a strong sideboard card that it seems like a card every deck would want to have. I hate when those cards are made ultra rare.
Slash
Power: 4 of 5. Hey, look, it's an instantaneous answer to some very good cards (Facilitator, Echoing Mage, Dominator) that gives you two extra cards. Worst case, it's an unstoppable draw 2 and a little damage to your opponent at the end of their turn. Burn decks should also really like this, because it can't be countered and draws them into more burn (or answers to pesky hate cards like Mithril Armor).
RI: 2 of 3. You could look at this as an instantaneous removal spell plus two cards in the right situations. I haven't seen anything that can do that among non-ultra rares.
The Negotiator
Power: 4 of 5. This seems like a great card for the free champion decks, which try to play only free champions and leave all their action points to deal with opponents' cards. This stops a card and then gives you a threat on the board. Cool. Control decks in general should like it for the same reason. All the usual objections to non-instantaneous stops apply, though you still get the 3/3 range guy most of the time.
RI: 1 of 3. A great card for a popular deck, but I don't think you'll be that upset if you have to play Can't or Won't instead. You've still got plenty of free dudes in that deck.
Time Capsule
Power: 5 of 5. Ok, Charmed is a guaranteed win when played against this card, and Obliterate shuts it down. But otherwise it stockpiles an action for one turn (which may be a good thing, and is almost certainly not a bad thing) and then it draws you 3 cards, or 4 if you want to use you action on your opponent's turn. That's REALLY good. Oh, and this card plus Graft-Steel Builder? That's decent, I guess.
RI: 2 of 3. Maybe this should be 3 of 3, but it's not crucial to a whole archetype like Graft-Steel Seer is, and as a gift it doesn't go into EVERY deck the way Maul or Peaceful Exile do.
Troublemaker
Power: 4 of 5. It's a free card that almost always requires a \1/ answer. That's really good. Your opponents can't really ignore it, because sooner or later they will want to target your champions or objects, or at least point burn at your face.
RI: 2 of 3. As usual: alot of decks will be significantly worse off without it, but the fact that you get to replace it with a different free card cushions the blow.
Wronged
Power: 2.5 of 5. A four card swing is really good, but being build speed hurts it alot, and all of the good answers to discard effects hurt it alot. Still, if you can resolve it, I can't imagine your opponent just shrugging it off.
RI: 1 of 3. An option worth considering for control decks, but it doesn't take them to the next level, so it's fine.
Looking back, we see that there are only a few cards that I hate seeing as ultra rares (I might go back and give Maul a 4 of 3. Or 5 of 3.) Many of them irritate me a bit, but I'm a player who wants to build competitive decks without spending a ton of money, so obviously hard-to-get, important-to-have cards irritate me. But purely casual players won't mind most of these, and really serious players will get them if they need them. So if they help Epic succeed, I'll suck it up and support them.
Some quick comments that I implied I'd discuss in the first post:
1. The Price Factor. The most expensive ultra rare is around $20-$30, which is cheaper than the best cards for other CCG's. But it's Maul, and everyone needs three Mauls, so that's disappointing. On the bright side, ultra rares seem to have made Time Wars commons and rares cheaper, which is great for casual and semi-casual players.
2. Effect on Deckbuilding. I've seen decks on the epictcg.com strategy forum that use 15 ultra rares, plus 4 more in the sideboard. And I've played against decks on Magic Workstation that use at least 9. But there are many decks proposed in the forums that don't use any. We won't know their significance until we get decklists from a designed deck event, and I don't know when that will happen.
Join us next time for a mini-Q and A with renowned Magic pro (and if 5K San Jose is any indication, future Epic pro) Luis Scott-Vargas! Seriously, LSV answered my questions about Epic. How cool is that?
A quick aside: Please use Magic Workstation!! It's free, and for those of us without local Epic communities, it's the easiest way we can enjoy this great game. Instructions and links are on the epictcg.com forums; if people are interested, I'll make a mini-post explaining it here.
Food for Thought is brought to you by Epic on Magic Workstation. Epic on MWS: What are you, too good for the internet?
Maul
Power: 5 of 5. This card should be in every deck. Period. Almost every opponent you play will have free champions or objects that they want to keep around: Seaside Cave, Sage, Druid, Prophets/Oracles, Headless Horseman, and Tranquil Grove/Ring of Will. All of these cards are amazing in their respective decks, and cards like cave, grove, and the prophets/oracles will always draw a card to replace themselves if you try to kill them. Unless you have an instantaneous answer that also draws a card. Basically, this card turns some of your opponents' best advantages into an advantage for you.
RI: 3 of 3. Like I said above, every deck should play this. So not having ultra rares makes every deck you play worse. Ouch. Plus, this card is basically a free gift that takes up neither a free slot nor a gift slot, so people who can afford them get to play more frees and more gifts than people who can't. Now that's an advantage.
Peaceful Exile:
Power: 4.5 out of 5. The fact that this card doesn't replace itself means that it only breaks even against the cards mentioned above. And there are almost no unbreakable free cards, so banish isn't a significant advantage. But it's still trading a non-free slot for an opponent's free slot, which is pretty good. The reason this card doesn't get a 5 is that Maul is so much better, and you probably don't need six cards like this against most decks.
RI: 3 of 3. Oh, ok. Players with ultra rares get Maul, but people who don't have it get this weaker substitute so they're only a little outclassed. Wait, this is also ultra rare? Instead of fixing the problem, you made it worse.
Psychopathic Brute
Power: 4.5 of 5. I love Rend, and this gives you a 5/5 to boot. Plus you can play it on your turn, then wait and kill their guy with it on their turn. Oh, and if they try to stop it they waste a card and you STILL get to break something. I'm pretty darn close to giving this card a 5.
RI: 2 of 3. Not having this card probably hurts your mono-evil deck. But is Dark Assassin that much worse? It's not unstoppable, which is a very significant disadvantage, but if left alone it seems alot better. For me to be 3 of 3 indignant, you need to do something no other card (except maybe another ultra rare) can compare with.
Righteous Leader
Power: 2 of 5. The only time you'll have enough good champions for this effect to matter is if you're playing tokens, and only human tokens. I just haven't seen a powerful version of that deck. You know what's good against tokens and really common in Epic? Board sweepers ("break all" or "banish all" effects). You know what makes those effects even better? Killing one of your opponent's free cards as well. Evil Ward prevents some of these effects, but not the really good ones (New World Order, not Dawn of Time, which I originally wrote, Divine Decree, Obliterate). If this card was paced I'd give it a 3, because you could play it and attack with boosted guys before your opponent could play most sweeps.
RI: 1 of 3. I'm tempted to give it a 2 because for many players it's a disappointment to get as your ultra rare, but it doesn't seem quite that bad.
Righteous Paladin
Power: 4 of 5. I think this card is a fantastic sideboard option, because both mono-evil and discard-based strategies were popular decks before Time Wars. Don't put it in your deck unless you know your local metagame really well, but having it in your sideboard will make you very happy in some matches, regardless of what deck you're playing.
RI: 2 of 3. This is such a strong sideboard card that it seems like a card every deck would want to have. I hate when those cards are made ultra rare.
Slash
Power: 4 of 5. Hey, look, it's an instantaneous answer to some very good cards (Facilitator, Echoing Mage, Dominator) that gives you two extra cards. Worst case, it's an unstoppable draw 2 and a little damage to your opponent at the end of their turn. Burn decks should also really like this, because it can't be countered and draws them into more burn (or answers to pesky hate cards like Mithril Armor).
RI: 2 of 3. You could look at this as an instantaneous removal spell plus two cards in the right situations. I haven't seen anything that can do that among non-ultra rares.
The Negotiator
Power: 4 of 5. This seems like a great card for the free champion decks, which try to play only free champions and leave all their action points to deal with opponents' cards. This stops a card and then gives you a threat on the board. Cool. Control decks in general should like it for the same reason. All the usual objections to non-instantaneous stops apply, though you still get the 3/3 range guy most of the time.
RI: 1 of 3. A great card for a popular deck, but I don't think you'll be that upset if you have to play Can't or Won't instead. You've still got plenty of free dudes in that deck.
Time Capsule
Power: 5 of 5. Ok, Charmed is a guaranteed win when played against this card, and Obliterate shuts it down. But otherwise it stockpiles an action for one turn (which may be a good thing, and is almost certainly not a bad thing) and then it draws you 3 cards, or 4 if you want to use you action on your opponent's turn. That's REALLY good. Oh, and this card plus Graft-Steel Builder? That's decent, I guess.
RI: 2 of 3. Maybe this should be 3 of 3, but it's not crucial to a whole archetype like Graft-Steel Seer is, and as a gift it doesn't go into EVERY deck the way Maul or Peaceful Exile do.
Troublemaker
Power: 4 of 5. It's a free card that almost always requires a \1/ answer. That's really good. Your opponents can't really ignore it, because sooner or later they will want to target your champions or objects, or at least point burn at your face.
RI: 2 of 3. As usual: alot of decks will be significantly worse off without it, but the fact that you get to replace it with a different free card cushions the blow.
Wronged
Power: 2.5 of 5. A four card swing is really good, but being build speed hurts it alot, and all of the good answers to discard effects hurt it alot. Still, if you can resolve it, I can't imagine your opponent just shrugging it off.
RI: 1 of 3. An option worth considering for control decks, but it doesn't take them to the next level, so it's fine.
Looking back, we see that there are only a few cards that I hate seeing as ultra rares (I might go back and give Maul a 4 of 3. Or 5 of 3.) Many of them irritate me a bit, but I'm a player who wants to build competitive decks without spending a ton of money, so obviously hard-to-get, important-to-have cards irritate me. But purely casual players won't mind most of these, and really serious players will get them if they need them. So if they help Epic succeed, I'll suck it up and support them.
Some quick comments that I implied I'd discuss in the first post:
1. The Price Factor. The most expensive ultra rare is around $20-$30, which is cheaper than the best cards for other CCG's. But it's Maul, and everyone needs three Mauls, so that's disappointing. On the bright side, ultra rares seem to have made Time Wars commons and rares cheaper, which is great for casual and semi-casual players.
2. Effect on Deckbuilding. I've seen decks on the epictcg.com strategy forum that use 15 ultra rares, plus 4 more in the sideboard. And I've played against decks on Magic Workstation that use at least 9. But there are many decks proposed in the forums that don't use any. We won't know their significance until we get decklists from a designed deck event, and I don't know when that will happen.
Join us next time for a mini-Q and A with renowned Magic pro (and if 5K San Jose is any indication, future Epic pro) Luis Scott-Vargas! Seriously, LSV answered my questions about Epic. How cool is that?
A quick aside: Please use Magic Workstation!! It's free, and for those of us without local Epic communities, it's the easiest way we can enjoy this great game. Instructions and links are on the epictcg.com forums; if people are interested, I'll make a mini-post explaining it here.
Food for Thought is brought to you by Epic on Magic Workstation. Epic on MWS: What are you, too good for the internet?
Total Comments 2
Comments
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You don't like Righteous Leader because it's bad against DAWN OF TIME? What planet do you live on, that people actually play Dawn of Time?Posted 09-22-2009 at 08:31 AM by CitizenFry 
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Wow is my face red. I meant to say New World Order, since it's fast, banishes, and affects objects as well. You're totally right, I've never seen someone play Dawn of Time. The worst part is, Righteous Leader isn't even bad against Dawn of Time, because you replay it for free. I'll correct this, but my shame cannot be edited away.
Posted 09-22-2009 at 02:46 PM by Rawiswar
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