Epic: The Card Game Pantheon Zaltessa vs Helena 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 third is Zaltessa vs Helena Pack. This is one of the packs that should be available around December. Here we go:

Zaltessa vs Helena pack

Ambush Party 
Good Human Event
Put three human tokens into play.
Your human champions gain Blitz this turn.
Your good champions get +2  this turn.
Draw a card.

Yay, more human token love! I still don’t really see them becoming competitive, but one of these days someone is going to bring a human deck and people will have forgotten to be prepared for it, and it will win. Heck, at this past Gencon, I made it to the top 4 in Limited using a bunch of drafted human token cards. I actually really like this card, and will be adding it immediately to my fun human token deck. It gives you more tokens, gives them Blitz, makes them stronger, and most importantly, replaces itself with a card, which is always the bane of these decks. Now it doesn’t give your tokens any defensive help, which is probably the number 1 reason why these decks don’t do well, but if your opponent already spent gold, dealing 9 damage and drawing a card is pretty good. This is also a decent card in Limited as well. It requires no loyalty or anything, and just puts bodies on the board and draws a card. It is a solid choice.

Cast Out 
Good Human Event
Put two human tokens into play. Banish target champion with  less than or equal to the number of humans you have in play.
—OR—
 : Draw two cards.

This is a card that definitely gives some fun options to the human token decks. You can quickly have the ability to get rid of some major champions for a 0-cost card. At the very least you can get rid of any 2 or less health champion for a 0-cost card, PLUS put 2 weenie blockers into play. This is a solid card whether or not you play human tokens. This is an excellent choice to draft in Limited as well, probably more so than even Constructed. You can pretty much guarantee that you would need/use this card during play, and any card that removes a threat, while putting threats on the board, is a key to success in Epic. Plus, you can always use it to draw 2. This is one of the best cards in the set in my opinion.

Helena’s Chosen 
Good Human Champion
6/5
Tribute → Draw a card
Loyalty 2 → Blitz.
Your other good champions have +2  .
 : Put two human tokens into play.

Here is another helper for human tokens. This feels similar to a lot of those guys like Rabble Rouser, Gladius The Defender, The People’s Champion, Paros, Standard Bearer, etc. Helena’s Chosen draws a card, which is very important, but is rather bland for everything else. I just think there are a lot better 1-cost Good token generators/buffers. For Limited, any card that draws a card while putting a body on the board is ok, but there are just so many better cards in Epic. Ironically, I can’t imagine this would ever be chosen. 

Alchemist Assassin 
Sage Human Champion
3/1
Blitz – Unblockable
 : This card gets +7  this turn.

This card seems like fun. By itself I don’t think it is great, simply because it can be killed too easily, and it is competing with other Sage 0-costs, of which there are many great ones. However, if you combine this with Brave Squire or the new Force Lance ( +2 strength and unbreakable if it is your turn), then this card gets scary. It is unblockable, which seems to be the theme of this set, and since this is a 0 cost with Blitz, this can threaten more quickly and cheaply than the others. I’m not sure it can replace the Shadow Imp in my opinion, but I could see this card being abused. Spending your Gold along with Brave Squire on this guy after your opponent spends gold for example has a 15 unblockable, unbreakable champion going in. That is crazy. I’m sure there are others that could abuse this card. It’s a worse card in Limited, as I said without some support, this card dies too easily to other stuff. But still, anything with unblockable can be powerful.

Gareth’s Will 
Sage Event
Draw two cards.
—OR—
If it is your turn, return target champion to its owner’s hand. If this is the first  card you’ve played this turn, gain  that may only be used to pay sage costs.

Ooo, how fun! I love these new “Will” cards! This card was spoiled by Tom Sorenson, who pretty much covered everything you need with a ton of detail. I highly recommend checking it out. However, in my quick review: I really like this card. Yes, it is a 1-cost Vanishing, but triggering those Sage ally abilities is huge. I can play Gareth’s Will after I attack with a Shadow Imp or do damage with a Forcemage Apprentice, then return a target champion (which could also be my own), AND then untap the apprentice and return the Imp safely to my hand. And THEN still be able to spend my gold on a Sage card. The potential for abuse here is awesome. I can’t wait to try it out. It may not pay off in the end but I am probably the most excited about this card. In Limited this is a solid card as well. It’s a draw 2 in a pinch, and on offense, with almost any other Sage card, it will be a positive swing. I expect to see a lot of this card at worlds.

Mystic Researcher 
Sage Human Mage Champion
3/2
Tribute → Draw a card.
Loyalty 2 → Blitz
 : Draw a card.

As long as you can hit the loyalty, this card can give you a draw 2 with a body on the board, with the potential to draw multiple cards. Since you have to exhaust it to get that second card, the body hardly counts, and that defense is so very horribly low. I do not think I could afford to put this card in a competitive deck as there are just too many better options. However, it is a decent choice in Limited.

Bruger, the Pathfinder 
Wild Elf Champion
5/6
Ambush – Unblockable
Tribute and/or when this card damages an opponent → Your Wild champions get +3  and +3  this turn.

Although Bruger has the worst elf name in history, and will be called Burger, or Bruger’s Bagels, or some other levity-inducing name, it’s actually a pretty decent card for specific decks. I could see this guy in wolf decks, and with Kiera becoming legal (that sounds dirtier than it is), I could see this being a solid addition. I love Ambush, and I love Unblockable, and this has both. He has fairly generic stats, but giving a boost to your other (hopefully plenteous)  wolves on board, this guy earns back his gold. I look forward to seeing what Tom Sorenson can do to improve his wolf deck that he managed with which to do well at Gencon! Since this specifically only helps Wild champions, I don’t think it’s a great choice in Limited, but Ambush and Unblockable is still something your opponent will have to deal with. 

Herald of Lashnok 
Wild Beastman Champion
8/6
Blitz – Breakthrough
Tribute → Reveal the top three cards of your deck. You may choose a wild card from among them and put it into your hand. Banish the rest.

I want to see the art for this guy, as beastman seems awfully similar to Minotaur, and I am sure I would rather just have him be a Minotaur. I am reminded of the Bellowing Minotaur with this card. You get another Blitzing/Breakthrough Champion with similar stats, and although he cannot be recalled for gold, and he does not boost your other wild guys, I actually think I like this better. Card Draw is so important in Epic, and not only do you get to draw a card, but you get to choose which Wild card you want (provided you have multiple Wild cards in the deck). This does mean you give your opponent some information, and it means you have to fairly heavy in Wild in order to make sure you get to draw a card, but I love Champions that draw cards while coming into play. I think this is a solid choice in Limited as well for the reasons I stated above. You will want to draft some more Wild cards to go along with him, but those are usually desirable anyway. 

Hunting Pterosaur 
Wild Dinosaur Champion
4/3
Ambush – Airborne
Tribute → You may break target champion with 2  or less.

I remember when I first saw this guy I thought he would change the game. Now, several expansions in (this was a Kickstarter promo FYI), there are a lot of cards that do similar stuff, but this is still a solid card. You will run into 2 health champions a lot in this game, and not only does this dino get rid of them most likely, but you get a hard hitting 4/3 flier on top of that! Not mentioned that it Ambushes, which means you can use it to remove blockers, be a blocker, or use it in response to anything such as Muse and Thought Plucker. This is an awesome card, and although Wild has a lot of solid choices, this card could easily find its way into competitive decks. I think it’s even stronger in Limited, for the reasons above. It also does not require any loyalty or any other requirement, so it’s a top draft choice. I’m very glad to see this “little” guy become legal (again with the unintended inuendos). 

Dirge of Scara 
Evil Demon Event
Draw two cards.
 : Recall.
When this card leaves your discard pile → Put a demon token into play.

I want someone to write this dirge, or maybe the flavor text will have it. I’m sure it’s hilarious and not mournful at all. I’m pretty excited about this card, as it’s a nice punishment to Thought Plucker. If you have to discard it, you do so, then spend your gold to pop it back to your hand for no card loss, and get a demon token for your trouble. This is in the same vein as Ancient Chant, where you get to draw cards, and then when it leaves the discard pile, you get something else. Which means, it shall have the same weird rule when it combos with Lesson Learned, which is really cool. So while this card is in your discard pile, and you target it with Lesson Learned, you will get 2 cards and 2 Demons tokens due to it popping out of the discard pile before resolving, and then being banished, which nets that demon trigger twice. That is a pretty awesome deal. Demon Tokens are very hard to deal with, and you get 2 cards on top as long as you use Lesson Learned? I will be adding 3 of these to my demon token deck along with 3 Lesson Learneds for sure. This is also a solid Limited card as well since you always need card draw, you always need anti-Thought Plucker, and cards that allow you to draw 2 and then something else are always good. I hope to see someone abuse this at worlds.

Steed of Zaltessa 
Evil Demon Champion
6/7
Airborne – Blitz
Loyalty 2 → Deal 5 damage to target player.
When this card deals damage to a player → They cannot gain health this turn.

Now we’ve seen this before, although it has had a name change. It was called Steed of Scara, so I’m not sure why it got changed, since we see Scara in this set as well, but whatever. It does all of the same stuff as before. It is similar to Strafing Dragon, except it has slightly better stats, can only target a player, is missing Ambush, and prevents health gain for the turn. In the days of Kark this would be better, but now-a-days I think I would prefer Strafing Dragon. However if you need some direct damage in your Evil deck, this is your demon. I think it could be a solid choice in Limited despite it being Evil, simply because of the Airborne and decent statline. With more Evil it becomes very good.

Necromancer Apprentice 
Evil Human Champion
1/1
Blitz
 : Banish target card from any discard pile. If that card is a champion, put a zombie token into play.

We have seen this before, as it was a Kickstarter Promo, as well as a participation promo in tournament kits. I could field an entire army of these things, although I’m not sure I want to. It’s not an awful card, as any discard pile banish is good, plus you can create a token out of it, but those measly stats along with a lot of other fine 0-cost Evil champions, just leaves me wanting more. It’s a solid choice in Limited though, as discard pile banish and token generation becomes a lot more important.

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And there we go for pack three. My pick for MVP is Gareth's Will. I can't wait to include this in my deck and see how it does! What do you think? Do you have a favorite card? Did I miss an obvious interaction or play? Are you as excited as I am about this set? I hope you enjoyed reading this, stay tuned for the last pack for the cards revealed so far, and happy gaming!