Epic Card Game: Uprising - Kark's Edict Pack Analysis (1)

Uprising for the Epic Card Game has finally been spoiled! Players around the world clamor to try and find the best combination for their decks in preparation for Worlds. The rest of us simply marvel at yet another promising expansion to the already venerable and fun game. In the next couple of articles I plan on going through each pack and what they get in this new expansion, called Uprising. I will show each card, and give my impression, including what I think it offers in terms of the Constructed and Limited formats of play.

If you missed my initial review of the game, check it out here: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-review.html?spref=fb

Anyway, onto our first pack! Keep in mind that although they come in packs, they are not random, and I don't know anyone who just buys one, and not the rest.

Kark’s Edict pack contents:

Chamberlain Kark
Justice Prevails
Martial Law
Mythic Monster
Fires of Rebellion
Spore Beast
Consume
Grave Demon
Winged Death
Citadel Scholar
Fairy Trickster
Knight of Elara
and a Human/Demon token.

Chamberlain Kark - Oh boy, starting off with the most controversial card in the set I am betting. We have our first alternate win condition in Epic. Before you could only win by dealing lethal damage to your opponent, or drawing your last card. But now, you can win by gaining tons of health! This guy is a beast. He has strong attack and defense, although it's his abilities that cause the most ruckus. His tribute ability can just win you the game. You do have to double your health, but no faction can do that better than Good. His Loyalty trigger can just help you finish that push over the edge for the alternate win. He is scary.

Constructed - This is where this guy will shine. You build a deck centered around health gain and defense, and we could very well be seeing the card that helps win the first World Championship. This card could break the game. I surely hope not, but this is the first real instance of me seeing a card and worrying. It just doesn't seem that hard to get to 60 life. I have already read reports of people playtesting this card and it remaining undefeated after even 50+ games. Time will tell, but this card has the potential to be huge

Limited - Kark gets a significant push to the bottom of the pile in Limited. You are very unlikely to win because of his Tribute ability. However, if you have a ton of Good cards, he is not a pushover. He could easily gain you 6+ health, and then your opponent will have a 9/12 champion in play to deal with after that. I doubt he will be chosen very often in Limited, but with the right number of Good cards, he could still make an impact.

Justice Prevails - Another attempt at helping out the human tokens deck. That deck saw a huge boost with Tyrants, and they are clearly attempting to help it further. I do like this card. I always love drawing cards, but the second ability is the difference maker. Not only do you get to replace the card (something the human token deck needs badly), but all your little guys gain a significant boost to their attack and defense, AND all of a sudden they could gain you a ton of life to boot. My personal opinion is that this card won't matter that much simply because tokens can be eliminated a little too easily, and this card gives tokens no kind of evasion other than some increased stats, but we'll see. I think it would be cool if someone brought a token deck to worlds just to try and throw everyone off.

Constructed - This is the format this card was made for. Since tokens decks either win or lose very quickly, I don't think the righteous part will help that much, but it may be enough to keep one alive. Typically though, if your tokens manage to get through, you want them winning the game, not just prolonging it.

Limited - I don't think this card will see much play at all. If one were to get a ton of 0 cost champions and events that spawned tokens, this card may be useful, but I'm pretty sure there will be better stuff out there.

Martial Law - Another human token spawning event. You get a handful of tokens, but it doesn't modify them in any way like Insurgency or Secret Legion. The 2nd option is one of 3 off turn board wipes we have in the game, but it's drawback is pretty steep. Sure you might get rid of your opponent's stuff, and banishing is great, but giving your opponent 4 tokens to either block with, or slowly attack you and try to force your gold out doesn't seem worth it to me.

Constructed - I just don't think this can replace Insurgency and Secret Legion, and although it can be a board wipe, it seems extremely counter productive to what a human token deck is trying to do.

Limited - As a board wipe, I think it definitely warrants a second look if it is in your list or hand in Dark Draft, but there are better ones out there.

Mythic Monster - Well that is some beautiful art. Arguably the prettiest thing we get in this set for sure. This is a wonderful example of what Wild loves: A huge raging monster (excuse me, mythic monster). He replaces himself and provides a ridiculous body that will be hard to get rid of. Fun

Constructed - Unless you plan on running something that will give this guy some evasion or breakthrough, I can't imagine he will see much play. He does replace himself which is nice, but he can too easily be blocked or removed or bounced. That 15 health does spare him from any direct damage lethality though, which is something.

Limited - If you happen to have Lash or Rage also in your deck, I could see maybe adding him. If you can surprise attack him in or get help from the Jungle Queen, it could be better. But without some support I doubt he will be amazing, but I always have a fondness of giant dudes that require your opponent's attention. That tribute ability really makes up for his shortcomings.

Fires of Rebellion - Another direct damage spell, as if they needed anymore, lol. I do like this card, except for the art which is rather lackluster. I like the flexibility it offers and I imagine it will see play. I also find it funny it has a clause for multiplayer in that it affects each opposing player, and not just an opposing player

Constructed - This will find its way into most burn decks I'm sure. It does force a conversation between it and Flame Strike. You do 1 less (or fewer) damage, but you get more flexibility. In those times you feel like you have to use it on an opposing champion, it is nice that it will replace itself.

Limited - I think this is a very solid pick. As I said above it's only 1 less damage and it's nice to have the flexibility. Since there are no loyalty issues I don't see why one wouldn't want to pick it. Great card.

Spore Beast - Ooooo, more wonderful card art. Our first 0-cost of the set, and it is quite good. Ambush is always desirable, and if you can hit that loyalty, this has the potential to really turn games around.

Constructed - I really like this card but I am unsure what deck it will go into. I doubt you will have the room for it in a burn deck. It could do well in a big dino deck or a deck that tries to use Rage or Lash. it's definitely a very good card though. A 0-cost card that has ambush and the potential to remove an opponent's 1-cost attacker for a turn? Awesome. This card can win you games. I really like that it doesn't return the champion to a hand, it just keeps them expended. You could do some fun shenanigans with Rage and Lash after removing a blocker (read it's health), from a battle, then playing that event for some great breakthrough damage.

Limited - This card can definitely find play as long as you have the loyalty. Without the loyalty trigger, this guy isn't very good. He will fall to almost anything and unless you get to use his tap ability, I doubt he'll be very good.

Consume - I do like this card a lot. It's so simple and elegant. Deal damage and gain health. It of course begs the comparison between it and Unquenchable Thirst. Although UT has higher potential, you do have to banish your own stuff, which is never a good thing for Evil. This is just more consistent.

Constructed - For players who do not want to remove cards from their discard pile, and simply want a card to deal with a Muse, Thought Plucker, or off turn Juggernaut, this is the card for them. Very solid.

Limited - This is a very solid pick. You will most likely run into 3 life champions that could cause you great harm, and every little bit of health gain can help. I would have to have a good reason not to pick this card, it has a lot of flexibility.

Grave Demon - It's hard not to love the guy I got to spoil (http://www.epiccardgame.com/epic-uprising-preview-grave-demon/), and I stand by that analysis. This is a very solid card that could easily be put in a variety of decks.

Constructed - He will be in a lot of Evil decks because of Ambush, his ability to not be trashed by Raxxa's Displeasure, and his ability to remove a discard pile. In other faction heavy decks I think he can still find space because he requires no loyalty, is a huge establishing champion that can ambush, and unlike every other discard pile removal card, he does not require at least 2 1-cost cards in order to be placed like Amnesia, Heinous Feast, Keeper of Secrets, Guilt Demon, Corpse Taker. That being said, Evil does have a lot of discard pile removal, so that might be a detractor. But still, come on. It's a giant demon with ambush! Why not?

Limited - This guy is pretty much an auto include in any deck. Discard pile removal is very important in Limited due to the lower deck size (30 cards), and so any card that removes the whole deck (previously just Amnesia and Heinous Feast), is highly sought after. The fact that you get an ambushing establishing champion is some serious icing on the cake. Plus that art is amazing!

Winged Death - Despite the card's very cool art, I'm actually not blown away by it. It can in theory be an amazing card, especially when your opponent only has 1 big champion out there, but what if they have a Soul Hunter? What if they have a bunch of tokens? That sounds like gold wasted to me. 3 defense will get killed by a lot, and 4 attack isn't much.

Constructed - I doubt this will find much play. I do like airborne units, and yes it could win you a game, but it could also easily be a dead card in your hand against certain opponents.

Limited - I think this card gets a little more utility in Limited. For one, you are less likely to be facing Soul Hunters, or reliable ways of getting a ton of tokens. For another, it doesn't require loyalty, so it can be splashed without issue. And since Limited favors the big giant attackers already in my opinion, this guy could be quite devastating.

Citadel Scholar - This little nerd vexes me a little. Sage can draw a ton of cards, so he has the potential to be quite big, but there are already a lot of very big 0 cost champions, some even in this set. Sure they might not be in Sage, but I'm not seeing the worth here. I do like that he will gain at least 1 counter at the start of your turn no matter what else you do, and of course most likely 1 when he comes into play.

Constructed - I doubt this will see much play, as there are better 0 cost Sage cards out there, but I will have to see how he does in practice. Sage draws a lot of cards, so he definitely has the potential to get quite big. If you can get him big enough that your opponent has to spend gold to kill him, that will be well spent. I do love recycle triggers.

Limited - I doubt he will see much play. yes he doesn't require loyalty, yes he has recycle, and yes everyone gets to draw cards, but when your deck is only 30 cards, surely there is room for something better. As I said time will tell though because Epic has a lot of card draw in it, and if he gets big enough to require gold to remove, he can be amazing.

Fairy Trickster - Nothing makes players more mad that using their own cards against them. In typical Sage screw-you-ness, this annoying little bugger can really mess things up. It's more likely he will be banishing the top card of a player's deck when he comes in, but if he can stay around, he could cause a lot of damage. I doubt that he'll actually be used very much, because you do have to pay the cost, meaning your gold will be spent randomly, and I hope you didn't just accidentally use a board clear or something else that can't really help you.

Constructed - As I said, I doubt he will be used much. He is just way too random. I'm more intrigued in his natural evasion with Airborne, combined with Ambush AND Blitz! I love that combo.

Limited - For the same reasons above I just don't see him being played that much, although fliers are significantly better in Limited. However, with yet another expansion giving us more fliers, this little guy will probably see even less time. I do find it rather silly that this little fairy is a 5/5. Hardly seems like he could cause any harm to a dragon or an angel, but maybe he has strong magic.

Knight of Elara - I like him. Besides the very cool art and theme to connect him with Elara, a Blitzing champion that can replace himself, and then even do more stuff! Sign me up. His blocking ability is something new to Epic I believe, and man is it devastating. You will be looking to remove him with other means rather that facing him. I do find it funny though that you can block with a human token and essentially upgrade it. So blocking with 4 human tokens will actually get him killed when for any other character it would not.

Constructed - In a control deck, I think this guy can find his way. He hits very hard so he needs to be taken care of. He will most likely replace himself with a card draw, and if your opponent doesn't have a way to get rid of him, he can really start to ruin their defenders.

Limited - I still think he will find his way into a lot of decks. Hitting that loyalty trigger really goes a long way, but he is hard hitting and has high enough defense to warrant a position. His ability could really wreck certain decks too if they don't have sufficient removal.

Ending Thoughts

And that is all for this pack, stay tuned for the remainder as we celebrate a new set for Epic! I am really excited about the set and cannot wait to see what people come up with for Worlds. My biggest game changer from this pack is definitely Kark. We'll see how crazy he gets. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this article, and happy gaming!