Epic Card Game: Uprising - Velden's Wrath Pack Analysis (3)

Halfway there, here is part 3 of 4 on my analysis of the new Epic Card Game expansion called Uprising. Like before, I will go through each card, and offer my thoughts on the cards and how I think they will perform in both the Constructed and Limited formats.

Here is part 1: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-karks-edict.html

Here is part 2: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-flames-of.html

Velden’s Wrath pack contents:

Velden, Frost Titan
Erratic Research
Frantic Digging
Angel of the Gate
Rescue Griffin
Village Protector
Den Mother
Flame Spike
Winds of Change
Demonic Rising
Raxxa’s Enforcer
Rift Summoner
and a Human/Demon token.

Velden, Frost Titan - Man that's a cool name and even better art. Sad that I actually am more intrigued by the guy who is attempting to go up against Velden, and I think we should know more about him. He seems to be the bigger deal and the more interesting one. Anyway, I think this is the weakest of the titular characters in Uprising. Actually, I take that back, he is amazing. Although he is custom fitted to be killed by Kong, he is a game ending character in the same vein as the Frost Giant. He is also very similar to the War Machine I previewed in the last pack. a 10/13 Blitzing champion is harm enough, let alone that he can completly remove all blockers from play, and in the case of tokens, destroy them. Great stuff.

Constructed - He'll be in most Sage control decks. He does what they love to do, mess with people. You thought Sea Titan was annoying when he popped someone back to your hand, try all your stuff! Oh, and I hope you have removal or else it's 10 to the face!

Limited - He'll be around in Limited for sure. Sage is extremely popular in Limited and even if it wasn't, he'd warrant an inclusion. A big guy with Blitz that removes a couple of blockers or kill some tokens? Yeah that's gonna be powerful.

Erratic Research - Sage does love its researching. This is an extremely simple card, and it does 2 of the things Sage love to do most: Disrupt your opponent and draw cards. I think there are much better cards out there though. Most cards have a draw 2 option, and although banishing a target player's discard pile is great, Sage already has those.

Constructed - As I said I think Sage has plenty of better ways to draw cards (Lesson Learned and Ancient Chant), and although Banishing a discard pile is nice, I don't think it warrants simply drawing cards. Amnesia banishes a pile and lets you draw 1 card with Recycle and it costs 0! Is 1 more card really worth it? This is awfully restricting for a gold.

Limited - This will see some play simply because most decks in Limited need to have discard pile removal. I think there are better options, but you will take what you get. As a side note this set seems to have a lot of discard pile removal, I am wondering if we will see less Draw Out wins than in hte past (although I've never seen it personally). It also makes me wish there were better strategies to make a draw out a more viable option in Constructed.

Frantic Digging - Oh man is this a good card. One of the best in the entire set in my opinion. I am always up for Biggs Darklighter art, although I wish I could see why he's franticly digging. Is that something in the top left? Not sure. I would have liked some Cthulhu-like tentacle in the background as motivation (and for Cthulhu to make it into Epic in fact). The text says it's Demons, but I wanted to see them, and Cthulhu could work. But anyway this card is amazing and will see a ton of play.

Constructed - I think most decks will have to think of a way to include this in their deck. just like in Magic, sifting through your deck is important, and this does a lot of it at 0 cost! This is the first card in Epic I believe to give you a card for free. Yes, you have to discard a card as well, but that's not always a bad thing (Soul Hunter, Ancient Chant). THEN, you get to recycle and draw another card! Ridiculous for a 0 cost!

Limited - Of course this will see play, it's an amazing card. I'm sure people will find all sorts of fun interactions to use with this card, but it's such a cheap way to draw 2 cards essentially. This is an auto pick for sure.

Angel of the Gate - I'm always up for more angels, they always look so cool. Angel of the Gate is also a very decent card. Airborne and Ambush is a great combination, and a health of 7 means she's staying around, and if she does, you will never die. +5 health at the start of your turn is amazing.

Constructed - Kark decks be praised. heck, any deck be praised. This angel has no loyalty requirement, and she's an ambushing flier! If you don't deal with her, she will give health every turn, and in the case of a Kark deck, she will much more easily help you to win the game via life gain. Fun stuff.

Limited - Angel of the Gate will see Limited play for sure. She's so easy to add in a deck. Bounce definitely hurts her as she's very slow, but like most angels if she can manage to survive, she will do a lot of damage, or in her case, do a lot of health? Sure.

Rescue Griffin - Is it just me, or are 0 cost cards getting huge? I know we've had Ankylosaurus but still, a 0 flier with 7 health sounds like more for some reason. I actually don't think this card is very good, but it has awesome art.

Constructed - I doubt this will see too much play. Griffins have no synergy with other cards right now like humans do, and although it is a flier and it has ambush, it doesn't do anything else. That 3 attack is awfully low so it's not likely to kill anything. It makes a good blocker to other 0 cost stuff, but I think I'd rather have those other 0 costers.

Limited - It's possible this will see more play in Limited, as its keywords are very desirable. It won't win you games, but it could save them in a pinch. It almost surely will require someone to spend gold to kill it or at least stall for a turn, but then again it's lack of punch means the threat will most likely stick around.

Village Protector - That's some really good art, and it is just dripping with theme. It also has errata built into it, lol. That little tidbit at the end really makes it a good card. As long as you have tokens on the board, any break all board wipes won't get her.

Constructed - I think she may be too slow for a human token deck. She doesn't remove anything, and although she is a threat, a human token deck relies on its tokens, with support from other champions, and she doesn't really do that. In a combative humans deck though, putting out some blockers and being very hard to get rid of should be a good thing. She will definitely be annoying

Limited - Without a good amount of human tokens she really isn't good at all. She at least comes with a couple, but you won't want to use them or lose them. I think this card more than most will show it's strength through actual play, rather than theorycrafting. We shall see.

Den Mother - What a wonderful card. My good friend, Josiah Fiscus got to spoil this card and offered some wonderful insight and strategy for this so you should go read it: http://www.epiccardgame.com/epic-uprising-preview-den-mother/. In general though, this card is amazing. Time will tell if it can live up to Raxxa, with whom she shares a lot of similarities.

Constructed - Oh man I hope wolf decks become viable. I always love a good themed deck, and the wolves have been on the periphery, never really viable until hopefully now. We are still waiting for Keira to become legal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/202502/epic-card-game-keira-wolf-caller-promo-card, but until then, this Den Mother could very well be what allows us to have a wolf deck. Wolf decks aside, this is still a decent card in and of itself. It puts out blockers and a large body. Only board weepers take care of everything just like Raxxa. Unlike Raxxa, you actually want to attack with the Den Mother. If you remove her wolves she can get scary big. The tactics and choices one has to make when it comes to whether or not you should kill her wolves before attacking or whatever will keep players very entertained. I love Breakthrough so she is definitely a card I will have to think about adding to some decks. And just like Raxxa, I don't mind if she gets bumped (although I will be sad if she is like 20/20).

Limited - Den Mother will definitely be played. I think she is a strong choice, maybe even stronger than Raxxa. She puts out more blockers, and the annoyances with dealing with her vs her wolves can force an opponent to make a mistake. She can win games with breakthrough, and bouncing just means you can have more blockers. Be wary of Drinker of Blood decks though (to be fair, DoB doesn't see a lot of Limited play).

Flame Spike - This is a fun card. It of course reminds me of Wolf's Bite. This has a little more flexibility as you can target anybody, not just a champion. It has Recycle just like Wolf's Bite. It doesn't put out a wolf though which makes me think I would rather have that than this. I doubt 2 damage to the face will make this worth it, but then again, I've lost plenty of games with my opponent at 1 health. I also find it funny that the art on this card practically is a direct challenge to Wolf's Bite.

Constructed - In burn decks this definitely warrants a look-see. If every bit of direct damage counts, then even 2 can make a difference. I think I personally would prefer Wolf's Bite simply because having a blocker or a weenie attacker seems better, but I would not be surprised if this saw more play.

Limited - This will definitely see play. Considering how popular 2 and 1 life champions are like Muse and Thought Plucker, you will always have a need for this card. Heck, 2 damage to the face isn't bad either. Plus, it replaces itself so no worries!

Winds of Change - That art is awesome, and there should be a video game based on it alone. I think that's about as far as I will take this card, but maybe I'll be surprised.

Constructed - I can't really see me spending gold for this card, even though it permanently improves your guys. There is just too much bounce and removal in Epic to make me think anything will like that long. Breakthrough is amazing though and this card could win you a game, so I guess time will tell. The second option at least lets you draw a card.

Limited - For the same reasons above I doubt this will see much play. I think this is worse for Limited, as you really have to build around this and make sure your opponent has already spent their gold before playing this. And even then, you'll probably just be Hasty Retreated. I have been screwed by bounce effects too much to warrant also losing my gold.

Demonic Rising - Ok this looks straight out of Diablo 3 and that's awesome! This definitely tugs at the imagination strings. It is a board sweeper with a draw 2 option, fairly typical. I think this isn't a great card though.

Constructed - If a deck is built around this card it could be quite good. Attack with all your stuff, and then play this card to give you a second attack with demons! This could be awesome in a human token deck for that reason. Upgrading human tokens to demons AND attacking could end a game real quick (excited to try this out). However, it is just awful on defense and should never be done, and that's a shame for an off-turn board sweeper as there aren't many of them.

Limited - This is in the same vein as Army of the Apocalypse. It could win you the game, or just sit in your hand. I think it has some more utility than AotA as it is an off turn board wipe that in a pinch could downgrade some big guys like Sea Titans and the like which could definitely be worth it. On second thought, yeah that's pretty good. And if you can get a lot of attackers on the board, you can essentially have a double attack.

Raxxa's Enforcer - Who said Draka and temporals were the only ones with enforcers? This guy is an odd one. A weenie board wipe with an ongoing debuff. Sounds like fun but doesn't seem great for a gold. You have to acknowledge the amazing art though.

Constructed - I doubt this will see much play. It isn't killed by Raxxa's Displeasure, and it adds to a fun themed Demon deck, but it doesn't seem great. Draka is a flying 9/9 that does the same damage and although does require loyalty, just seems like a much better card. 5 health also really hurts, and he's so darn slow. A 1 cost Wither just doesn't seem great even though it's a body.

Limited - No loyalty cost is nice, and he can function as a weenie board clear so that's a great thing. I do like his defensive capability in that after he attacks, he still affects his opponents and can really slow down an offense. Since this is the first time we've seen an ability like this on a champion card and one that lasts forever (unlike Wither), I could be way off base in regards to how good this is.

Rift Summoner - More Demon stuff! There sure is a lot in this set, not that I'm complaining, as I said I love themed decks. This card is awesome.

Constructed - This is a must have for any Demon deck, and is a great addition to any deck with a decent amount of Evil cards in it. Ambush and Blitz is always fun, but that Loyalty trigger helps put out a total of 13 damage/life with 1 card! Heck, you can use her ability to break 1 of the demons and get 2 more, for a total of 17 damage/life spread out among 4 cards! That is insane! I love how this can be used on offense or defense, not to mention it is wonderful with Soul Hunters.

Limited - This isn't quite as good as it is in Limited, simply because the lack of a Loyalty trigger really takes this down, but I would be tempted to keep it anyway. You can guarantee a use of its ability as long as you have a target. In a pinch maybe you destroy your expended champion. Maybe you simply break a human token and get 2 demons! That's a heck of a deal! And the ability to use this on yours or your opponent's turn makes this pretty close to an auto pick for me.

End Thoughts

This was an amazing pack with some really great staples that will see play in all formats. This pack has me the most excited for some themed decks around wolves and demons. I hope you enjoyed this article and come back for the last bunch of cards. Until then, happy gaming!