Epic: The Card Game Pantheon Scara vs Angeline 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 second is Scara vs Angeline Pack. 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:

Scara vs Angeline pack

Angeline’s Favor 
Good Event
Target Champion gains airborne, +2  and +2  this turn.
—OR—
 : Draw two cards.

This card is very intriguing. I always love combat tricks, and although it would not be the best to play this while there is a blocker, I think it still qualifies. Adding wings to something makes Faithful Pegasus, but it was always limited to humans. Now we can add wings to anything! That 18/18 Burrowing Wurm now has a thousands of tiny centipedal wings, Velden the giant Viking can now take his attacks to the dragons in the sky! Anything that gives a champion some evasion can be abused. Where Brave Squire makes you Unbreakable, you can still be chump-blocked, but getting Airborne makes it far less likely. The stat gain is minimal but can something make a difference. And the option to draw 2 cards is just icing on the cake. I expect Tom Sorenson to make good use of this card since he loves combat tricks probably more than I do. 

Silver Wing Guardian 
Good Angel Champion
6/6
Airborne – Ambush – Righteous
Tribute → Gain 4 health

Yet another angel, although this might be favorite. 6/6 stats with Airborne is tough to kill, and the combo with Ambush and Righteous is unheard of. That is a lot of keywords. Plus, no matter what, you are gaining some health. You could easily gain 10 health on the turn you play this thing, and then it’s around for your opponent to deal with later. This is a solid champion that does not require any dedication to Good either, which is huge. For that reason, this card is a great Limited draft pick. Everything about it is desirable in Limited. And although it doesn’t break the game, it can give you a significant edge to survive and win.

Silver Wing Lancer 
Good Human Knight Champion
10/8
Blitz – Unbanishable
Unblockable by champions with  less than this card’s  .

If I had to guess, I would guess this card is the sliver of a card image we see on the main spoiler page as the image of one of the packs. I think we see a knight riding a unicorn? I could be wrong, but I’m expecting some sweet art with this card. This is another one of the big Unblockables in Pantheon. This knight is more easily blocked by various creatures, but that added on Unbanishable begs to be abused with banishing sweepers. Like New Dawn perhaps? The slightly lower, but still intimidating stats, are required due to this thing also having Blitz. That alone could make this the best of the large Unblockables. Unblockable, Unbanishable, and Blitzing 10 strength will be very hard to deal with. If you add some Unbreakable or Untargetable like Good is fully able to do (Priest of Kalnor), you could be looking at some very short games. Also, without needing any loyalty, this is a top tier draft choice in Limited. If your opponent plays gold first on your turn, this is quite the punishment. Plus, those large stats makes it difficult to remove it. I expect great things from this card. 

Force Lance 
Sage Event
Target champion gets +2  this turn.
If it is your turn, it also gains unbreakable this turn.
Recycle

This may get my reward for most anticipated card. It is so simple, but so important, especially in this set. I greatly value combat tricks and card draw, and this gives us both. That is a hard thing to come by. As much as I love Brave Squire, Rage, Lash, and even the new Angeline’s Favor, they still cost a card. Force Lance gives you one of those wonderful combat tricks in Unbreakable, but also allows you to recycle. There have been times in deckbuilding where I want to fit in Brave Squire, but just couldn’t justify throwing in a bunch of 1-cost Good cards. Those same decks frequently have room for Sage cards though, and this now serves a very similar purpose (Thought Plucker anyone?). If people don’t think this is a great card initially this is definitely my sleeper pick of the set. This is on par with Spore Beast in terms of what it will do to the meta (maybe slightly less, but still). Great card. This is also an absolute beast in Limited and a first pick in my opinion. Watch out for this one!

Steel Titan 
Sage Construct Champion
13/9
Untargetable
Unblockable by champions with  less than this card’s  .

This was one of the first spoilers we got of Pantheon, and it was a great precursor to what this set brings: Giant Unblockable Champions! Due to a autocorrect faux pas, this card will be forever known as “Steel Tits” in our play group, and the immature little boy in me laughs every time. That being said, this card is a beast. This is another poster child for the “Real Steel” decks. Although it is incredibly slow, it is awfully difficult to get rid of. Untargetable is the most difficult evasive ability to deal with in the game, and only indirect removal can get at it. Thank heavens for board sweepers. But still, this card will cause a lot of problems. If you can draft this in Limited, you will be on your way to victory. I love Steel Golem, but it can be blocked too easily, and the same is for Sea Titan. Not so much with this. Plus, a little Winds of Change, and all of a sudden Hurricane can’t even get you. Plus, the art is sweet. I can’t wait to see what people do with this. 

Teleport 
Sage Event
Remove target champion from play, then return it to play prepared (as a new champion) under its owner’s control. It gains Blitz this turn.
You may expend that champion. If you do, draw a card.

Here is another Kickstarter promo that finally made it to the set. We are one step closer to the infinite loop win that is way above my pay grade in terms of understanding the mechanics. However, we can breathe a sigh of relief for now, as we are still missing some  components. This card was also changed (probably in response to the winning combo). The card used to allow you to draw a card at the end automatically, which I think was a pretty important part of that combo. Now, you at least have to expend the champion. I still really like this card though. I am sure there are a lot of cool shenanigans that can be used with this card. You can use it to bring Helion back to steal a champion for a turn, you can bring back your Strafing Dragon for more damage, Your Marcus can banish more tokens and draw another card and attack, and the list goes on. You can also use it against your opponent. As long as the champion doesn’t have too much of a negative on it, you can pop it back to play, expend it (possibly freeing up space for an attack), and then to top it off you can draw a card as well! Very fun. I can’t wait to pop my opponent’s Kong back when it’s the only champion out there, forcing it to damage itself, expend it to draw a card, and then finish it off with a Wolf’s Bite or something. You can also use this as a combat trick if your big guy gets chump blocked. Just pop him back and attack again! This is a solid card in Limited as well, since there is no loyalty or other alignment requirement.

Herald of Scara 
Evil Demon Champion
9/7
Airborne
Tribute → Reveal the top three cards of your deck. You may choose an evil card among them and put it into your hand. Banish the rest.

We have a couple of cards like this. It is a very useful ability that allows you to filter your deck, choose what card you want, and then banish the rest. Before, I believe it was only Sage that had this ability like with Arcane Research and Mist Guide Herald, but now Evil has it too. This is quite a huge flier. Only Thundarus has more strength, and Draka ties it. Although it doesn’t have Blitz, or any other keywords, that Airborne with 7 defense will help it survive, but it’s that card draw that I really like. In a competitive deck, you will most likely put a lot of Evil cards in there to make sure you get what you need. This is a very good establishing card that doesn’t set you back in terms of cards in hand. I think this is a solid choice in Limited as well, provided you have some Evil to fully benefit. If not, it’s a still a giant flier. 

Scara’s Will 
Evil Event
Draw two cards
—OR—
If it is your turn, target player breaks a champion they control if able. If this is the first  card you’ve played this turn, gain that may only be used to pay evil costs.

Here is another “Will” card. This one allows you to force your opponent to break a champion they control, a great way to get around those pesky Untargetable Champions, provided they don’t have some dumb weenie token that they can break instead. Evil does have some desirable ally triggers that can benefit from this, and heck, you could use it on yourself to break your own Soul Hunter and still have Gold to spend on Evil stuff. I think all of the “Will” cards can have a place in decks, as doing something for essentially free, is always going to be good. I think the ally triggers are going to be the best part of this card. You can get more zombies out with Plentiful Dead, you can trigger almost every other Evil card in this set multiple times as well like Scarred Priestess, Scara’s Gift and Krieg (which we’ll get to later), and any number of other stuff. I love a good themed deck, so I look forward to seeing what people do with this. As with all of the other “Will” cards, this card is good in Limited, and much better with more cards in its alignment.

Scarred Cultist 
Evil Human Champion
6/5
Loyalty 2 → Return target  champion from your discard pile to your hand.

This is harder hitting, harder to trigger Corpse Taker. At worst this is a 6/5 0-cost body, which is decent, and if you can hit the loyalty you can get another champion from your discard pile to your hand. I don’t particularly like this card. I think I’d rather have Corpse Taker. The same goes for Limited, but if you can hit the loyalty, it’s always nice to do the Sea Titan combo: ie play Scarred Cultist and bring back your Sea Titan, then target the Scarred Cultist and return it to hand, giving you unlimited Sea Titans. This combo is devastating in Limited, and although it is harder to pull off, it is still something to keep in mind.

Flames of Furios 
Wild Event
Draw two cards
—OR—
Deal 7 damage to each champion. Deal damage to each player equal to the number of their champions broken this way.

I always like board sweepers, but 7 damage misses a lot of Champions, or at least, a lot more than Hurricane, with which it compares. If your opponent is playing a ton of tokens, this card wrecks, but right now the meta hasn’t favored that style of play. When it does, expect this card to be prevalent. I think this card has more utility in Limited, as going wide, or at least having lots of bodies in play, is very desirable, and you should usually be able to wipe the board, and deal some damage to your opponent. At least it has the draw 2 option as well, so it can never be too bad of a pick.

Keira, Wolf Caller 
Wild Human Champion
4/4
Ambush – Blitz
Your wolf tokens have blitz, +1  and +1 .
Tribute → Put two wolf tokens into play.

Yay, Kiera is allowed! Wolf-tribal enthusiasts rejoice. This was a promo card and has been drooled over for a while, because it finally allows you to really put a wolf token deck into the forefront. Tom Sorenson used wolves to do well at Gencon in the Constructed Event this year, and I’m sure he would have done much better with this card in his deck. This is just a fun card and I’m very glad it’s getting into the game. She is also a solid choice in Limited as well. I love tokens in Limited, and she creates some, and boosts the existing ones. Playing her on an empty board when your opponent has already spent gold on your turn can let you inflict 10 damage to your opponent and have 3 bodies on the board. That is quite nice. 

Stampeding Einiosaurus 
Wild Dinosaur Champion
11/11
Blitz – Breakthrough

Yay for more Dinosaurs. I have yet to look up what this Dino looks like, as the kid in me cannot recall (probably not found/named yet). This guy hits all of the Dino checkboxes: Big stats, Blitz, Breakthrough. Simple and devastating. Great Horned Lizard is obviously a good comparison. You get 1 more strength, although lose the Tribute of helping your other Dinos. However, you retain these stats after your turn, while GHL becomes paltry in comparison. This is an awesome gold punisher, and will fit into a lot of aggressive decks. Since it has no card draw though it will compete with GHL, and the Ambush and stat boost on that makes it better than this Dino in my opinion. Still a fun card though. This is also a solid pick in Limited. This guy could cause your opponent a lot of issues. 

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So that is it for our second pack. I think the MVP of this pack for me is Force Lance, but all in all this is an awesome pack. What do you think? Do you agree? Did I miss something? Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and happy gaming!