Epic: The Card Game Pantheon Gareth vs Lashnok Pack Analysis

So we finally have the full spoiler list for the new Epic: The Card Game Pantheon Expansion! I am very excited to pore over the new stuff. Just like last time we shall have to wait for the art to come in, but in the meantime we can speculate and analyze the new cards. I will have an article for each of the new packs. The first up is Gareth vs. Lashnok. This is one of the packs that unfortunately will not be available until February/March 2018 (unless you qualified for Epic Worlds). But anyway, here we go:  

Gareth vs Lashnok pack

Fairy Entrancer Sage Fairy Champion
2/1
Airborne – Blitz
Loyalty 2 and/or when this card attacks → Put a +1  +1  counter on this card.
Remove two counters from this card: Gain control of target champion.

When I first read this, I was underwhelmed. A very weak flier that has to be played on turn, requires loyalty, and requires it to attack to do anything. You do, however, get to gain control of a target champion. So it is a similar, if not less flexible, Turn (even though you get a body on the board). But then I thought about Winds of Change, which allows you to place 2 or 5 +1/1 counters, depending on which one you use. Now your Fairy Entrancer has to survive a turn of being out there before getting to do this, but if it works, you could be gaining control of a lot of champions. This could find its way into “Real Steel” decks, but my gut feeling is that this is just too difficult to pull off. As long as you can hit the loyalty, this isn’t a horrible draft in Limited. As I said, you do gain control of a target champion and put a body on board at least. 

Gareth’s Juggernaut 
Sage Construct Champion
5/5
Loyalty 2 → Blitz
 → This card gains unbreakable this turn.

This is another card that didn’t blow me away. It has similarities to Warrior Golem and Dark Knight, although you have to spend your gold in order to trigger this guy’s unbreakable. That being said, 5 health for a 0-cost is a lot harder to deal with than 2 from the Dark Knight or Warrior Golem. Plus, if you use something like Gareth’s Will (another Pantheon card that we’ll discuss later), then you haven’t really spent your gold for the turn (plus, the similarity in names seems to have screamed for synergy). This is a solid pick in Limited, as just putting any 0 cost bodies out there can threaten an opponent and will eventually force them to spend gold or their own 0-cost cards to deal with it. 

Master Forcemage 
Sage Human Champion
4/7
Ambush – Blitz
 → Prepare this card.
 : Deal 2 damage to each of up to two targets.

Hellion’s apprentice. If you like to use Hellion in order to blast 2 targets for 2 damage, then this is a better option. This champion requires no loyalty in order to use his/her? Ability, and anytime you play a 1-cost Sage card, you get to prepare it. Looks like our Forcemage Apprentice may have received a degree. This is a solid card that could easily find its way into death-by-ping decks. It’s also a solid draft choice in limited on par with Pyromancer. It’s a nice, simple, variant on cards that already exist. I love it when games do this. 

Forbidden Research 
Evil Event
Draw two cards.
 → You may break a champion you control. If you do, Recall.

This card got some errata since the last time we saw it. I think at the time you could simply break a champion you controlled to recall it, but now it requires an evil 1-cost card spent in order to recall. This was probably a good choice considering how important card draw is. The ability to simply break a zombie token in order to get back a draw 2, not to mention the ease in getting another card to help with loyalty, was probably a little too broken. Still, this is a decent card, especially when combined with Soul Hunter, which could actually benefit you by doing damage as well as getting Forbidden Research back to hand. If you have a lot of Evil cards, this isn’t a horrible draft card, simply because you never want to be stuck not being able to draw cards, and being able to get this one back could be quite useful. 

Run Riot 
Evil Event
Draw two cards.
—OR—
If it is your turn, you may break target champion and your evil champions get +3  and +3  this turn.

I’m not a huge fan of this card. It seems like a weaker Battlecry, mixed with basic on-turn removal. When compared to Battlecry you don’t get breakthrough, it ONLY boosts Evil champions, and if played on your opponent’s turn, you don’t get the boost AND the card draw. You have some removal, but it's only on your turn. Now, just like the previous card, if you can manage to play this while having a Soul Hunter on board, it becomes much better. That being said, I’m still not a big fan. This is a very weak card in Limited. If you are desperate for removal then I suppose go for it, but there are much better cards.

*thanks to friends who pointed out I neglected to talk about the removal portion of this card*

Scarred Priestess 
Evil Human Champion
9/7
Loyalty 2 → Blitz.
 → Prepare this card.
 : Break a champion you control: If you do, break target champion.

Evil sure likes to break its own guys doesn’t it? As long as you run a bunch of tokens, this is an ok card. It has a similar purpose that any of the tap-to-kill champions have. This requires a little more on the board, but once she’s there, she could really lock down an opponent. That 7 health is not easy to take away. The 9 strength is rather silly since you would only attack with her in desperate times. She is much more of a control-type of character. I don’t like that loyalty cost, nor does it have any kind of defensive keywords, nor Ambush. This card could find itself in a control Evil/Sage deck, perhaps with Drinker of Blood and tons of zombies, but not much else. This card is decent enough in Limited simply because it can put a body on board and destroy an opponent’s. You have to exhaust her to do it, but she stays there and her ability can be used again. And of course, once again, if you have Soul Hunter, she gives you more flexibility. 

Brak, Fist of Lashnok 
Wild Minotaur Champion
14/11
Unblockable by champions with  less than this card’s  .
Loyalty 2 → Draw a card. This card gains unbreakable this turn.

I don’t care what else is on this card, this is another Minotaur so I love him. I kind of hope the art is him about to be killed by something, but I’m guessing he is doing ok by himself. This is one of the set’s giant, unblockable champions. Everyone but Evil (for some reason?) gets one, and they all have big stats, and unblockable by champions with strength less than this card’s strength. It’s worth noting that this guy has the highest strength, which means the only champions that can block him unmodified are himself, Rampaging Wurm, and Burrowing Wurm I think? That’s scary. I have a feeling decks are going to have a lot more bounce and sweeping stuff to deal with these guys. Also worth noting that as long as you can hit the loyalty, this guy gets to draw a card (which is always needed, and especially so with Wild), AND he gets Unbreakable, which is just a suitably Epic combination. I expect to see this guy a lot. He’s a solid pick in Limited as well, just because your opponent may not have a way to deal with him. He is very slow though, so unless you can Surprise Attack him in, expect him to get wrecked on your opponent’s turn. But, I do like cards that force my opponent to react. 

Lashnok’s Will Wild Event
Draw two cards.
—OR—
Target champion gets +5  and +5  this turn. If this is the first  card you’ve played this turn, gain  that may only be used to pay wild costs.

This is one of the set’s “Will” cards. Everyone gets one. This one is for Wild and it helps you boost a champion and allows you to play an additional 1-cost Wild card. I think all of the Will cards could see play as long as you have enough in the various alignments, but I do think this is the weakest one. Just increasing stats by 5 is not that worth it in my opinion. There are plenty of cards that can help in that regard, and even though it may not cost much, it is still a card out of your hand, something that Wild already has issues with. Not to mention that the champion that is buffed is still vulnerable to any number of bounce, break, banish, etc. That being said, it seems fitting this is next to Brak, considering the buff would help him be even more Unblockable. This is also a solid Limited choice, because getting some more Wild is usually desirable, and at worst you could just draw 2 with this. 

Rybas, Canopy Sniper 
Wild Elf Champion
5/2
Loyalty 2 → Blitz
 : Deal 3 damage to a target.

Meh. A 2 life champion that requires loyalty and tapping to be useful. Direct damage is nice, and the fact that he can keep doing it if not removed is nice, but there are so many ways to deal with 2 life 0-cost cards, that I don’t think he’ll be that useful. There are so many other great Wild 0-cost cards that I seriously doubt this will be used in Constructed, and most other cards would be more useful in Limited. This gets my worst-card-of-the-set so far.

Hand of Angeline 
Good Angel Champion
2/3
Airborne
 → Recycle

This is a very generic, and weak angel. I love themed decks, so more Angel tribal inclusion is always welcomed. I think I would just prefer Watchful Gargoyle, who has Ambush, and who automatically gives me a Recycle, rather than having to wait to spend gold on a Good card. But still, another airborne body that can help with cycling and drawing cards is a good thing. This is a decent pick in Limited, but as I said, I think I’d rather have Watchful Gargoyle. 

New Dawn 
Good Event
Draw two cards.
—OR—
If it is your turn, banish all champions and then (starting with you) each player may put a champion from their hand into play.

This is one of those cards that people keep talking about breaking the game. Now, I believe that has to do with an infinite loop win combo, but a lot of the cards needed for that were not released in this set. Still though, I still like this card. Board wipes are always important in Epic, and banishing is becoming better and better, since it slows down decks by not filling up their discard pile. It is on turn, which is a shame, but I guess we can’t have everything. That second part of the ability is what causes all the ruckus. Although you have to put a champion into play first, I believe you get to choose the order of the inevitable tribute abilities. That means that dropping a Sea Titan, or a Kong, or any number of champions that do something to opposing champions, are great choices, as you have a chance to do a broad sweep, and get a huge body on board, with your opponent getting nothing. I expect this card to be abused at worlds. It is a solid choice in Limited as well, especially if you have any of those huge guys.  

Silver Wing Savior 
Good Angel Champion
7/7
Airborne – Blitz
Tribute → You may return a good card from your discard pile to your hand.

Another Angel! Man, this set is going all out. This card was spoiled earlier in the year, but it has remained good (hehe, get it?). As I said in my initial review of this card, I can practically hear the drool dripping from Tom Sorenson’s mouth at the possibilities of this card. A 7/7 airborne blitzer is a difficult thing to deal with. It trades nicely with almost all of the existing fliers, and to top it all off, you get to return a good card from your discard pile into your hand. The abuse with Good 0-cost cards will be rampant. I personally love Brave Squire, so I plan on bringing that bad boy back again and again, but there are a lot of options there, including powerful 1-cost cards. For those people looking to make an aggressive Good deck, this card could definitely make its way into your deck. This is also a very solid choice in Limited, even if you draft no other Good stuff. Fliers in Limited can win you games if your opponent doesn’t have a way to deal with them specifically.

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So that is it for the first pack. A lot of solid stuff. I think the MVP for the pack goes to New Dawn, just because it shall make for a lot of new interactions, if not be a little confusing to new players. Plus, if some other cards that were teased in the Kickstarter become legal, this card has the potential to allow for some crazy shenanigans. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this. Agree or disagree with my assessments? Are there any cards that stick out to you? I understand that most of the people who are qualified for Worlds shall not comment, for fear of leaking some awesome new strategy, but since I currently cannot even attend, I'll stir up the flames. Enjoy! And watch out for the remainder of the pack analyses. And happy gaming!