Epic: The Card Game Pantheon new set examination (1)

At Origins 2017, we were introduced to the new Epic: The Card Game expansion called Pantheon. It will be another 60 card set similar in the vein of Tyrants and Uprising. Several cards were spoiled for us and this is what my article will be talking about.

Steel Titan - 13/9 1-cost Sage. Untargetable. Unblockable to champions with strength less than this card's strength.

My first thought is here is another card in the steel/titan category that I will inevitably confuse with the originals. As if I did not already have issues. I am looking forward to some better pictures but I can already tell I'm gonna love the art of this card. It is suitably epic. The card also seems quite awesome. I am unsure how much play time it will see in constructed, but my mind is already racing with using this card with Surprise Attack or Final Task, in order to attack with it sooner. Right now, the only champions that can actually block this guy without help are Burrowing Wurm, Kong, Mythic Monster, Rampaging Wurm, and Steel Golem I believe, That is a short list, and being Untargetable certainly makes things more difficult. Luckily he is very slow, but he will be a very strong pick in Limited I would imagine.

Steed of Scara - 6/7 1-cost Evil. Airborne Blitz. Loyalty 2 - Deal 5 damage to target player. Players damaged by Steed of Scara can't gain health this turn.

When I first saw the art I thought we might have our first Evil dragon, but oh well. Still, this card is hopefully the first of many anti-Kark cards in the new set. This has many similarities to Strafing Dragon. The 7 health will really help its longevity, and although I miss the Ambush, the secondary ability of no health gain could be a difference maker against Kark. The loyalty factor will hurt its use in Limited, but I feel as though Airborne Blitz will always have a place, and I never mind going into Evil in Limited.

Elf Shaman - 5/5 0-cost Wild. Blitz - Opponents cannot gain health.

Now this is the kind of anti-Kark card I was waiting for. This is the exact ability I have mentioned several times that we need against Kark, and I am so glad it was made. I may not even attack with it. Just having it around and forcing my opponent to play a sweeper should be game changing against Kark. I think Wild has a decent chance at beating Kark already, so this should be able to be easily placed in a deck. You would have to invest a decent amount of Wild cards in order to get 3 in a different color since it's a 0-cost card, so that will have issues. In terms of Limited, this will definitely see play. A 5/5 0-cost Blitzer is always a welcome addition to a Limited deck. I really hope this isn't the only card that does this in the new set, though. I think thematically, an Evil card, maybe a 1-coster, with the same ability, should also be in this set. We shall see.

Will of Scara - Evil Event 1-cost. Draw two cards - or - If it is your turn, target player breaks a champion they control if able. You gain 1 gold that can only be used to play an evil ability or card.

This is the first event that we've seen. I love cards that allow you to play additional cards on your turn, and I love cards that encourage thematic decks. You will want to play a lot of Evil cards in order to get the most out of this card. There are a lot of fun tricks one can use with this, too. For one, it's a good way to get rid of the above Steel Titan. You can also use this to break your own Soul Hunter and still have gold leftover. I am sure we will see some other awesome combos with this card. As a removal and draw two option, this will definitely see Limited play, even without an Evil investment. I love the Evil faction, so I am looking forward to making some decks using this card.

Battle Angel - 7/7 1-cost Good. Airborne Blitz. - Tribute - You may return a good card from your discard pile to your hand.

Our first Good card from the new set, and it is of course another angel. I am not sad about this, as I love the angels, and the the art is pretty fantastic. I can practically see the drool through the internet from Tom Sorenson, as this will fit right in with his favorite faction. The 7/7 is a great statline, and having Blitz and Airborne are solid abilities. I really like the ability to grab my favorite 0-cost Good events like Blind Faith and Brave Squire and replay them. I am hoping we get some more Good support in order to have a more consistent aggro Good deck. Besides Kark being the most dominant deck in Epic so far, there really aren't any other representations from Good decks, which is sad. This is also a solid Limited pick, although without a strong Good investment (which is usually a bad idea), this card loses a lot of its merit. But hopefully that will change.

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Well that is it for the spoilers so far. I can't wait for more to roll out. I think we've seen some awesome cards so far. Considering the title of the new set, I would imagine we will be seeing at least some names, if not the same characters, that we have from the kickstarter variant cards. I always have liked the Greek-god-like theme, so I'm looking forward to seeing what White Wizards can come up with.

I hope you enjoyed this article, I hope to be making more as more of the set is revealed. I am sorry for the long drought of articles, but getting a new job has taken more time out of my schedule. Have a great week and happy gaming!

Epic Card Game Worlds 2016 - Afterthoughts From a Spectator

Well it certainly was an exciting Worlds. Lots to talk about.

I wrote an article about my predictions here: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-worlds-predictions.html

For those of you that don't know, this was the format for the weekend:

The World Championship will consist of 7 rounds of Swiss on Sunday, followed by a cut to the top 8 on Monday. Each round is 60 minutes and it is a best of 3 rounds.

The Tournament begins with an Epic Cube Draft with 8 player pods.

Rounds 1 and 2 will be played using decks created in the Cube Draft
Rounds 3 and 4 will be played using the Dark Draft Format
Rounds 5 through 7 will be played using full Construction rules.

The Top 8 will be single elimination, and it will be the best 3 out of 5 games each round.

Games 1 and 2 will be Dark Draft
Games 3 through 5 will be Constructed

Everyone loves giant checks!

There were 12 Last Chance Qualifiers which contributed to the 64 total players in the World Champion Event! 64 players battled it out and the top 8 advanced on to Monday. Several games were streamed and they were a blast to watch. The Dark Draft rounds especially were exciting. So many great plays and epic turn-arounds and come-from-behinds. I was one of like 5 people chatting on the Twitch Channel. At any given time though there were 90 spectators, which seems pretty decent for the first run. If anybody wants to watch or rewatch all the videos are here: https://www.twitch.tv/whitewizardgames/videos/all

While the streams were going on, we chatted about strategy, the future of the game, funny stuff involving the poor Minotaurs, and how WE would have won if we had just qualified, lol. It was lighthearted and good-natured, and was a true testament to the great community that Epic is getting. The play by play analysis was great and enjoyable. They offered some genius insight into the game, spoiled some new information, and even interacted with us lowly spectators!

I am so envious of that swag bag. Every qualifier got this stuff!

My feel good moment of the stream was when I correctly guessed every single one of John Tatian's (the eventual winner of the entire tournament) picks during his Dark Draft in the semi finals. I felt so vindicated. I guess some of my Dark Draft Decision articles are paying off. Now I'll just have to find a way to apply that to the real world, lol.

There were a few snafus when it came to the videos and audio but they were few and far between. It seemed like the majority of the streaming went smoothly.

We got to hear the announcement that an Epic App will be coming soon! This means that we can play our favorite game digitally. WW mentioned online play, some kind of campaign mode, real time and slower tournament play, and that the kickstarter would be coming around January I believe. This is quite exciting. This may even be enough to push me over the edge and get a smart phone. For those of you that don't know, I've been proudly sporting a flip phone all these years, much to the chagrin of my friends and family. I shall go kicking and screaming into the smart phone age, but this app may be enough to do me in.

I got to cheer on my good friend, Josiah Fiscus. He won my local qualifier and represented us here in Pittsburgh very well. I believe he finished 39th. He was sad to start out 3-0 and then drop so many after that, but placing in the 2nd reward bracket is quite the accomplishment so congrats! I also had to cheer on Gabriel Costa-Giomi. I played him at Origins where he beat me soundly. Then he came to my other local qualifier and we played against each other in the final Dark Draft game where he beat me again. Since he finished in the top 8 I feel proud to have contributed in some small way to his greatness lol. Also, that means that Pittsburgh qualifiers put out some serious competition. Both our finalists performed very well, and one made it to the top 8, that is pretty sweet!

Epic App!

When they moved onto the Constructed portion of the tournament, that is where we would see if my predictions would come true or not. Now I don't have the statistics of all the decks that were being played, but we do know of the top 8 decks at least here: http://decks.epiccardgame.com/decklists/tournament

I feel pretty good at my predictions for the tournament. We did indeed see a smattering of Wild/Sage, Evil, and Kark decks. I did not see a Drinker of Blood deck do too well, or at least it didn't make it to the top 8, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given my luck with them at tournaments. The most talked about and controversial decks were of course Kark decks, and that's what I'd like to spend some time on.

When Kark was spoiled tons of people cried out "OP!", and soon after tales of playtesting of the unbeatable Kark deck was making the rounds. I definitely was worried about Kark, but I was hoping it wouldn't ruin the game and would just become another archetype. I think we are still not sure, even though the eventual winner used a Kark deck. One thing, and something White Wizards is quick to point out, is that Constructed is only 1 format that was used to get to the top 8. In order to qualify, you needed to perform well in a variety of situations and a Kark deck would only take you so far. And while that is true, playing a deck that gives you a huge advantage definitely helps. We had 3 Kark decks make it to the top 8. I read somewhere that someone said there was another Kark user in the top 16. Kark was the most used deck in the top 8, and Kark won the championship. You can guarantee that we'll be seeing a lot more Kark in the future. Now is that a good thing?

White Wizards has said they wanted to create Kark in order to give a win condition to control decks. In the past if you wanted to play a slow or controlley deck, the games would last forever and usually go to time. If there was a mirror match, it wasn't fun at all, as both players basically did nothing all game. So Kark was put in to give an alternate win condition that would allow the Control matchup a way to win.

I got to watch several Kark matches as they were streamed. Although Kark wasn't as dominant as some people feared, it still won most of its matches. I don't know if WW planned this, but a lot of the Kark games were mirror matches, which made it a lot worse. We didn't get to see Kark try to beat other types of decks as much, but we did see games of "who draws Kark first?". Those matches weren't very good and it sucks to lose because one player happened to draw a card first. Sure they were exciting as for some reason every Kark vs Kark matchup had all Karks at the bottom half of the decks, so it was quite the race, but it didn't make for very good gameplay. It was very non-interactive. The Kark players would wipe the board or play stuff that gained health, and as long as they kept doing that and managed to draw enough cards it was a race to grab Kark.

In the top 8 we did get to see Kark decks play some other decks, and they finished on top. Kark did not go undefeated, and that must be said. The decks that beat Kark were extremely aggressive and had to continue to wear Kark down. They usually had to attack both the life total as well as the hand of the opponent, to keep them from winning. Since there were 2 rounds of Dark Draft to start out it does throw off some of the statistics, but Kark mainly won.

The original Hateful Eight

In the semi finals there were 2 Kark decks and 2 identical Evil decks. If they had split up and Kark had gone to both matchups, then we could have easily had a Kark vs Kark final, which would have been awful. As it turned out, the Karks played each other and we had an exciting Final game. John Tatian (deck - http://decks.epiccardgame.com/decklist/view/115/kark-john-tatian-1-seed-1.0) and Will Morgan (deck - http://decks.epiccardgame.com/decklist/view/116/evil-thoughts-jonathan-lewis-2-seed-will-morgan-6-seed-1.0) played some of the best Epic I've ever seen. They went 1-1 in Dark Draft, and then went all the way to game 5 where John Tatian finally beat Will down for the win with his Kark deck. Will showed that Kark can be beat, however it was just not enough.

So here are my thoughts about a Kark deck right now:

Kark is undoubtedly very powerful right now. He can win very easily, or at the very least, not lose. Kark won most of his matches in worlds top 8. I would love to see the statistics of Kark decks at Worlds in general, as I would wager they did quite well. We did see Kark lose, but it was always to a very aggressive deck. Does that mean that only aggressive decks and Kark decks can be played? That's a shame. Derek Arnold's 4 color deck that qualified him for Worlds had everyone excited because it was a different type of deck, now that deck is completely nonviable. It is way too slow to beat Kark. I would love to see how long those Kark matches were too. I know that they weren't timed in the top 8, and so players purposelessly played slower to make sure they played correctly, but man did Kark games take a long time. The decks that beat Kark went well over an hour. I fear that anyone playing against a Kark at a timed setting at a tournament, is doomed to either lose, or run out of time and draw. Kark has just way too many ways to gain tons of health. That will make for some pretty annoying games. Now the games that Kark lost were testaments to great play. They were slow, but looking at the strategy as a whole they were very exciting. Great plays and rushes to try and keep that life total and hand size down, and slowly whittling Kark down where they could finish him off. I just don't think most decks can do that in 50 minutes, and if you playing for fun, be ready to play just 2 games in an entire night, lol.

John Tatian, our winner, with the bigwig himself

If Kark wins, he crushes. Even though most people would say that the final games were exciting, but how exciting is it really when you step back and think about it that Will Morgan was nowhere close to winning when John played Kark for the win? In so many other Epic games, it comes down to the wire, where the person with initiative pulls out the win and would have lose had they passed to their opponent? Those are real nailbiter games and are very exciting. We got to see that during the Dark Draft formats. However, with Kark, the only exciting plays a lot of the time were the unique ways Will managed to NOT lose by lowering John's health a bit. When the game ends with the winner at 60+ life, you don't get the feeling that the opponent was close to winning, and I think that really hurts Epic. And when Kark loses, it will most likely take forever. As I said I hope those games can make it in time, but I highly doubt a deck is going to beat Kark 2x in the span of 50 minutes. Unless the Kark player makes some serious mistakes or has some really bad luck, I just don't see it.

Look how epic that is? Also, cool playmat

So what does that mean? We are going to see a lot of Kark decks in the meta in the meantime. I hope we can find some stuff that can really crush Kark so to discourage a ton of people from playing him. I don't mind him being in the meta, as I like variety, but a tournament full of Karks sounds dumb. It's similar to a token swarm deck. A Human token deck can win a game on even the first round if they go second. However, Epic has a lot of counters to that deck (perhaps too many), and so we don't see a ton of them, but I am still excited when I see one attempted. I hope we can get the same thing with Kark. I'm not sure what the fix is. I think some kind of champion that while in play, prevents health gain, might be a decent answer, but I don't know for sure.

However, don't let that get you down. I really enjoyed myself even though I didn't get to participate. It was a lot of fun to watch the streams and continually hit refresh on Facebook to check for updates. I loved going through the posted decklists and trying to figure out what a player's next move was on Twitch. You better believe I will be trying my best to qualify next year.

A side note: I want to commentate on a match next year. Somehow make it happen WW gurus.

But anyway thanks White Wizards for such an awesome Worlds event. I had a ton of fun and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next year! Thank you for reading and happy gaming!

Epic Card Game: Uprising - Will of Zannos pack Analysis (4)

This is the 4th, and final analysis for the recently spoiled Uprising expansion to the Epic Card Game. I hope you've enjoyed the read so far. I've worked very hard to get this out quickly to begin the theorycrafting and build the excitement for this newest expansion. it will be released at World's later in November, and hopefully soon after that for retail so the rest of us who haven't qualified for Worlds will get it.

If you missed the previous entries, here they are:

Part 1 Kark's Edict http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-karks-edict.html

Part 2 Flames of Scarros http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-flames-of.html

Part 3 Velden's Wrath http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-veldens-wrath.html

And here we go!

Will of Zannos pack contents:

Zannos, Corpse Lord
Corpsemonger
Plague Zombies
Citadel Raven
Reusable Knowledge
Siren’s Song
Avenger of Covenant
Bodyguard
Gladius, the Defender
Entangling Vines
Pyrosaur
Savage Uprising
and a Wolf/Zombie token.

Zannos, Corpse Lord - Our last titular character is quite a thematic fun one. He's like a miniature Drinker of Blood that requires no build up other than Evil cards in hand. He doesn't hit nor heal as hard so he won't be ending games most likely, but it's a wonderful swing card to bring you back from the brink of death, as well as hit your opponent. He's also quite the establisher. Not only do you get a large 9/9, but for every loyalty you show, you get a zombie token! Playing this card even in your opening hand could be devastating. With a full hand of Evil cards you are talking about an 8 health swing, with a 9/9 and 4 zombies with a single card! Say nothing of a turn or 2 later when you have a full hand.

Constructed - Drinker of Blood decks rejoice! I'm not sure if this is the card to truly catapult that deck archetype to the forefront, but dang it it will help. This is an awesome card. This should be put into any deck with a decent amount of Evil, as it is an Epic card worthy of the game title. The shift in board position and even health for players makes this quite the turn-around card.

Limited - This card is a very strong pick, as long as you can hit the loyalty. Even showing 2 loyalty might make this worth a play. I can't wait to see what people can do with this card.

Corpsemonger - More discard pile manipulation, it really isn't a safe place anymore. Gotta say my favorite Soul Hunter is gonna take a hit. This card is very simple, but I doubt it'll be good enough to earn a spot.

Constructed - This won't be making its way into many decks. It just doesn't do enough as a 0 cost. Discard pile manipulation is great, but Evil has much better cards. The health gain is very negligible.

Limited - If one is strapped for discard pile removal then this might be chosen, but there are better options all over the place.

Plague Zombies - Yay for more themed stuff. The art feels out of place, it looks like the zombies are trying to do a superhero pose. I do really like this card for a zombie deck though. It's like having a mini Drinker of Blood without needing all the bits and pieces. Just straight damage.

Constructed - This will definitely see play in Drinker of Blood and other zombie decks. Just 3 zombies may not be enough to make it worth it, but Evil has a lot of ways of getting lots of zombies on the board cheaply (Hands from Below on the previous turn, Plentiful Dead, etc). Attack with them, and then maybe break them at the end for double the damage. Or just destroy them without giving your opponent the priority for guaranteed damage.

Limited - This isn't an awful card for limited, as it can mean 6 direct damage or even more if the zombies get through. And since there are so many zombie cards in Epic (and your opponent may even give you some with Zombie Apocalypse or Necrovirus), you will most likely be able to do more. It's not a guaranteed addition but it could be added without too much trouble.

Citadel Raven - Simple and elegant. It's an easy way to grab events back from your discard pile. I'm unsure that's worth a gold but then again I love Lesson Learned, and this puts a body on the board.

Constructed - I can't imagine this would replace Lesson Learned as I use that on defense half the time. However maybe I would use it in addition if there were events I felt like I needed to play a ton like maybe Drain Essence. But still, even though you put a body on the board it's hardly anything special. Every little bit can count though and if it can attack multiple times (it probably won't), then maybe it will be worth it.

Limited - If you are finding yourself with some really good event cards like Flamestrike or a board sweeper or Drain Essence or something, this might be worth taking so you can double up, but it's far from a guarantee.

Reusable Knowledge - Here's another card similar in vein to the Citadel Raven, except I think I like this better. Raven will most likely not get a chance to use its ability again. This lets you get any card and it replaces itself. Much more useful.

Constructed - If you love a small amount of cards in your deck, then including 3 of these should be easy. You get card draw and your favorite card back. There is a lot you can do with this card and it will be a valuable addition to many decks.

Limited - This will also see a lot of play in Limited. Your opponent finally figured out a way to deal with your Sea Titan or Steel Golem? Sorry, but you'll have to deal with it again. Thought you were out of direct damage options? Sorry, I just grabbed that Flame Strike again. Fun stuff.

Siren's Song - I'm not really getting this card. Yes it removes a blocker or some other decent 0 cost card for the turn, but that's it. It doesn't remove it, it doesn't let you use it, it just expends it essentially for the turn. The card draw option is hardly anything special. I think I'd much rather draw cards or actually destroy something or do any number of things other 0 cost cards can do. It's so restrictive too. Might be one of the worst cards in the set.

*Edit - It was brought to my attention that I somehow missed that you get the champion permanently. That definitely makes this a better card.

Constructed - Although you get the champion permanently, I still can't help but think I would be better suited simply to add the champion of my choice rather than wait for my opponent. I could be wrong, but I still probably won't play this.

Limited - This is definitely better than I initially thought, and since there will be so many 0 cost champions most likely in your opponent's deck, this is not a worthless card. I still think there are better options though.

Avenger of Covenant - Boy these guys sure are active in this set. Taking a not so subtle bow to a certain video game series, the Avenger of Covenant seems very similar to the Palace Guard, except it can be used defensively. It's quite a restriction though, as you have to take damage. I don't really like that. Also, stuff like Zannos above doesn't actually deal damage, it only makes you lose health, so that wouldn't even count.

Constructed - Someone might want to put this in their deck, although I think there would be better cards. Banishing can be nice but it seems so restrictive. You do at least have an ambush 8/8 body which is fairly decent.

Limited - Sometimes just taking the hit and putting out an 8/8 to strike next turn might make this a worthy pick. it would be a later pick for sure, but at least it doesn't require a loyalty trigger.

Bodyguard - Mr. nothing-but-keywords. I kind of like him. He's very simple, and he'll keep coming back.

Constructed - I could see this in a human token deck. He will benefit from a lot of those cards and he can do whatever is needed, and you will most likely keep getting him back. He can do a lot of little damage and it's a way to goad your opponent into spending gold when they are tired of taking a hit. I have dreams of grabbing 3 of these guys from my discard pile when spending gold.

Limited - Only take this if you have enough Good so to grab him several times in a game.

Gladius - Unbanishable is one of my least favorite keywords, as it never really seems that good. Luckily, the rest of him is fairly decent. The lack of speed means he will most likely not be able to put 3 tokens into play, and I'm not sure you'd always want to. 6/11 is a decent amount of damage. Boosting all of your other good champions is very nice though.

Constructed - This is obviously built for a human token deck. I'm unsure it's worth spending your gold on this as you probably won't be doing much with whatever tokens you have considering they won't have any evasion at all. But if they get through that could be a lot of damage. I just think there are cheaper and better cards that boost your token's attack. There was a little confusion with the wording since I think it originally said they "have" +3 strength. I think it was changed to "get" to avoid confusion. I see this image is fixed but the original as well as the one used by Epic Foundry (awesome deck building service by the way) http://decks.epiccardgame.com/

Limited - Not likely to see any play. Human token cards are not very good in Limited as you have to have a lot of them to make it worth it. And even then this card won't help you that much.

Entangling Vines - This one I like. This feels very out of place for Wild, I would have thought Sage would have gotten this ability, although I wont complain as Wild could use it. A strong, Ambushing champion is already nice, but to be able to expend target champions, and then KEEP using it whenever you play Wild, that's very impressive. I think the key will be to spend your gold on events right after an opponent ambushes what they hope is a blocker, only to have it expended.

Constructed - This is a very good card for Wild. I'm unsure it will find its way into burn decks as they have plenty of cards already, but large monster dinosaur decks could use something like this to remove blockers to allow the biguns in.

Limited - This isn't a horrible card even if you only had this in Wild, but it gets much much better with a large Wild contingent. it doesn't help against lone enemies, but if your opponent wants to use more than one attacker on the board, they are gonna have trouble. And then on your turn if you have to spend your gold you can expend a defender.

Pyrosaur - This was one of the earliest spoiled cards, and I think it's great.

Constructed - This will most likely be included in burn decks. You will most likely be able to deal 4 damage to each opposing champion and player, AND have a 6/3 attacker. If it survives it can keep doing it although that most likely won't happen. He's a little mini Scarros. This will go great against the inevitable Demon token deck.

Limited - As much as I love the card and the art, I doubt this will see much play unless you have a decent amount of Wild. But since Wild is so popular and has great cards for Limited, perhaps that will happen often.

Savage Uprising - This has one of the most entertaining card arts in the game. It encompasses Epic perfectly. Two giant, some could say epic, monsters duking it out. It's not the best card though.

Constructed - This is a decent card to go into a token deck, since it acts as an off turn board wipe to 1 costers. It's a decent board wipe in general although obviously Hurricane is just better in that regard. Dealing 5 damage to a player and drawing a card is nice, but it's a little low. In a pinch maybe it's ok, but I think burn decks have better alternatives.

Limited - This is a better Limited card, though. Board sweeps can be hard to come by, so this can give it to you, and it can give some direct damage, which is very useful in Limited. That card draw will be even more loved.

Final Thoughts

Well that ends the new Uprising cards.We still have a little surprise left in waiting to see what the tokens look like, and as a collector I can't wait to see new tokens (crosses fingers for a zombie Minotaur). I really like this set and I think it will add a lot of great stuff to the game.

I really like all the thematic token strategies that are added. I still think Kark might be the biggest deal and will have the biggest impact on the meta as it exists for Worlds, but time and testing will tell. I can't wait for Worlds and the chance to see what people will bring. I have another chance this coming weekend to qualify so wish me luck.

I hope you enjoyed all of these and happy gaming!

Epic Card Game: Uprising - Flames of Scarros Pack Analysis (2)

Here we go, part 2 of 4! This time we are looking at Flames of Scarros. I will be going through each card in the pack and offering my thoughts including what I think they give in terms of Constructed and Limited. I hope you enjoy!

If you missed the first one, Kark's Edict, here it is: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-card-game-uprising-karks-edict.html

Flames of Scarros pack contents:

Scarros, Hound of Draka
Hunting Pack
Go Wild
Little Devil
No Escape
Saren, Night Stalker
Force Field
Reset
War Machine
Brand, Rebel Fighter
Master Zo
Silver Dragon
and a Wolf/Zombie token.

Scarros, Hound of Draka - As with Kark, and the other titular champions in Uprising, Scarros continues the new trend of the Loyalty X keyword, which is just a slight modification of Loyalty. Now your loyalty is only limited to the number of cards in your hand. If you go full Wild with this guy, you better watch out! As with most Wild cards, Scarros has a little bit of everything to offer. He deals damage to the board, damage to the opposing player, and he's a huge champion by himself. Boasting stats higher than even his owner, Draka, he will definitely be seeing a lot of play. I don't think his art fits with Wild as he looks more like a Demon than a wild creature, but I was assured by someone at Epic that Scarros may be "mutated by energy from an evil source, but he's Wild at heart"

Constructed - Scarros will be in most Wild decks, especially burn. He just does so much damage. He can wipe the board and hit your opponent in the face. Sure, Draka's Fire may be more consistent, but it can sometimes hurt yourself, and it definitely doesn't leave a giant 11/11 on the board for your opponent to deal with. I can't wait to have like 9 cards in my hand from card draw on my opponent's turn, and then hitting my opponent's board and face with 8 damage.

Limited - Scarros will see less play in Limited but that completely depends on what other cards you get. If you have a decent amount of Wild, he's a must have. And considering how popular Wild is in Limited, you will probably see a lot of him. I don't think his slowness is that much of a factor. He's awesome.

Hunting Pack - Wow, Wild gets all the awesome art. I really like wolves, and I'm so glad they are getting so much love in this pack. I think this will be a decent card but we'll see.

Constructed - If you are running a wolf deck, which I hope everyone who plays Epic does at some point, then this is probably going to see play. We'll see how competitive it is but I think it could be quite good. If you have a handful of wolves already out on the board and expended from attacking or something, this card could take out a lot of different Champions. You can definitely get something with 3 health, which is probably not great, but if you can hit something with 6+ life, then you got something. Adding 3 other wolves into play is important as an establishment. It may not be consistent enough for most people though.

Limited - I doubt this will see much play. It's just not consistent enough to spend your gold to just put out 3 weenies and maybe kill a low life champion. Other free cards can do a lot of that, and the wolves don't even have blitz. However, if you have enough wolf support and can find a way to give the wolves blitz, this could be good.

Go Wild - Haha, Wild also has the most hilarious art in Epic. This card just drips with testosterone and I love it. It's too bad the card itself is rather bland. When you have Lash and Rage in the same faction, this just doesn't hold any weight. Recycle is nice, but I'd rather have Lash and Rage almost in every case.

Constructed - Not much to say, I sadly think this card is a dud. maybe I'm missing something, but Rage and Lash are much better choices

Limited - Same thing here, although it may see more play if people don't have access to the 2 better cards. Recycle is always nice.

Little Devil - Here is another Evil 0 cost blitzing champion. The Airborne is nice, but I think Evil already has enough of these and they do a better job. I'd much rather have a Dark Knight or Guilty Demon. However, if the meta favors fliers more then maybe this will see play.

Constructed - Guilt Demon and Dark Knight are much better. Maybe if you are running a really specific 0-cost blitzing deck you will find room for this but I doubt it.

Limited - He could see play. A surprise 4 damage after your opponent spent gold can be nice, but he probably won't do too much else. 4 defense is at least annoying enough that it might draw out your opponent's gold though.

No Escape - I always like direct removal, so this card catches my eye. However, I prefer my removal on my opponent's turn, and this card just gives my opponent way too much flexibility. I like some of the shenanigans you can do on your turn, and there are situations where this card can save you, but I'm thinking there will be better choices. Tom from Tom's Epic Gaming Blog got to showcase this card and he does a great job of analyzing it. http://www.tomsepicgaming.com/epic-uprising-spoiler-no-escape/

Constructed - As I said I think there are better cards out there for Evil in terms of removal. There are some trick decks that I'm sure could use this card though. My Drinker of Blood and Soul Hunter deck comes to mind. Break your own Soul Hunter, dealing damage to your opponent, and then get a Drinker of Blood back to your hand for future use. Not the greatest play, but it could be fun.

Limited - Since there is a huge need for removal in Limited, I think this can always find a place in a deck. It's not the best card out there, but you can help yourself in a lot of ways on your turn, and it could save you in a pinch on your opponent's.

Saren, Night Stalker - This guy is very big, very hard to kill on your opponent's turn, and has the potential to stay around a little longer since he has the magic life total of 6+, but he's not amazing.

Constructed - I will be surprised if this sees a lot of play. I predict him being bounced or weenie blocked most of the time. He crushes if he can get through, but I don't think you could take a chance with him in Constructed.

Limited - This is definitely better in Limited, but sadly most of the bounce cards in Epic are must-haves so I fear the same thing will probably happen to him as in Constructed. However, your opponent doesn't automatically get bounce cards or weenie blockers, so Saren might work. He is awesome if your opponent has already spent their gold on your turn.

Force Field - This might be the first card to give us 2 "Or" options, although they are very similar. I do like the flexibility, but I doubt this card's usefulness.

Constructed - This is obviously meant for a control deck, but with Sage having so many good sweepers and bounce effects and such, I find it hard to justify spending my gold on a stall tactic. And the times that you really need to lower offense, is usually not before your opponent spends their gold. Usually the situation is that you are against the wall and you need the offense lowered immediately. Only now they will spend their gold AFTER you play this and you will be in trouble again. The 2nd option can be nice if the opponent has flooded the board and you need to stall a ton of units, then save your blockers for attackers that actually have any offense left, and it's nice to draw a card to replace it, but still. Fumble exists and is a 0 cost card that allows you to draw a card with Recycle.

Limited - Meh. There are better cards out there for Sage especially. Certain situations may call for it and if you have no sweepers I guess this will have to do, but you're in trouble already if that happens.

Reset - A similar Hasty Retreat and Vanishing, but this card costs 1 gold, and hits everyone. Could be good against tokens, but those decks aren't very popular right now. I hate giving my opponent a card and why would I want to do this on my turn and rob myself of doing anything really productive?

Constructed - The why is if I have a ton of 0 cost attacking cards. If I have a board/hand filled with Dark Knights, Ambush Demons, Shadow Imps, etc, this card could do work. Play this to return everything, including blockers, then attack with all your 0 cost stuff. Outside of that and only in desperate situations would I recommend this in another deck.

Limited - For the same reasons above, it can be a good finisher if your opponent has a ton of blockers or tokens, and/or if you have a lot of blitzing 0 cost champions, but other than that I wouldn't play it. I love seeing Minotaurs in the art though!

War Machine - I like this one. It reminds me of Frost Giant in that it can be good at removing blockers, but it's less consistent. Or maybe it's just different. Banishing is very nice. If you can manage to Surprise attack this guy you get around Dark Knight attacks which is nice. You have to hit that Blitz though or else this guy is a weak sweeper. I am happy it only hits the opponent though. I really like the card though

Constructed - I think he will go into a lot of decks, and not just because the art is amazing. We need a similar thing to chant when it comes in like "Grond!" from Lord of the Rings. This card can get rid of a ton of nasty stuff, and get rid of them forever. Sweeping banishing stuff without any drawback is practically unheard of in Epic, so this guy will fit it. In a strong Sage deck the loyalty shouldn't be a problem either.

Limited - You really need the loyalty to make him work, but I wouldn't blame an auto inclusion either, as it can be a decent sweeper for certain stuff and leave behind quite the body. The Blitz could wreck though (hahaha siege puns).

Brand, Rebel Fighter - Adding to our impressive list of 0-cost Good champions, the hardcore brand joins us. I am torn with this guy. I love ambush, and he can boost himself when he comes in, and the Loyalty thing is very nice if you can hit it, but I don't know where to put him. I'm probably missing something?

Constructed - I don't think he really fits into a human token deck as he just doesn't do much to help the engine like other 0 cost champions do, and he isn't amazing to be put into a combative big Good guys deck or a dragon deck. I dunno, I'm sure someone will figure out some amazing combo with him but at first glance I can't see it.

Limited - I really doubt this guy's inclusion in anything besides a heavy Good deck, and even that is in question. There are just so many better 0 cost stuff in even Good, let alone in other colors.

Master Zo - This guy looks like he will have some amazing background lore. He also looks like a huge pain to get rid of, but he might just not do much otherwise.

Constructed - He is quite the big body, and ambush is awesome, but your opponent will get a chance to remove him when he's played, and that would be awful. Meanwhile, if you play him on your turn, he will just sit there waiting to be killed too. I think there are too many ways to get rid of him before he can have some evasion, and he's just way too slow to be that great. However, if you expect or see that your opponent doesn't have direct removal, then he could last forever.

Limited - He has no faction loyalty, so that's a big plus. He's very big and has ambush, which are more pluses. And then if your opponent doesn't have a good answer for him, he can survive all over the place, so that's nice. I do worry about the many windows of opportunity an opponent has to remove him, and I hate how slow he is, but we'll have to see how he does in real life.

Silver Dragon - I love dragons, and this one looks different from the others, so that's cool! This dragon is very big, and can go toe to toe with almost every other flier in the game, and most likely will defeat them all and stand a good chance of surviving except for Draka (but at least it's a trade). it is slow, but it replaces itself and can remove some pesky tokens. Great stuff.

Constructed - I think it'll be in a lot of decks. It doesn't require loyalty, and there are so many good cards that add tokens that we need some good removal, and this thing does it in spades. It's a huge body with the natural evasion of flying, so it will be very hard to take out. Most other fliers cannot beat it and survive. The card draw really puts it over the edge as it is an amazing ability to have. I am sure I know of at least one Worlds Qualifier who will find a place for this thing in his deck.

Limited - This card is an auto include for me for the same reasons I said above. No loyalty needed, a huge body, a flier, it replaces itself, and can even remove so harmful stuff in addition. Great card!

Ending Thoughts

Well that wraps up Flames of Scarros. As I was going through this pack I definitely felt like it was weaker than Kark's, but there are some solid cards in here in the Silver Dragon, Scarros himself, and War Machine. Hmmm, actually that might be it. Oh well. Stay tuned for next time, when we go into Velden's Wrath! I hope you enjoyed this and as always, happy gaming!