Epic: The Card Game Pantheon Maligus vs Furios 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 fourth, and final pack of the released cards so far is the Maligos vs Furios Pack. This is one of the packs that should be available around December. Here we go:

Maligus vs Furios pack

Fiery Demise 
Wild Event
Deal 3 damage to a target.
Draw two cards.

Hey, another draw-2-and card! These are always great. I think I like Wild’s other one Smash and Burn better, but this definitely plays into the burn deck archetype more. It’s a solid card that can either give you removal and cards, or straight damage and cards. Unlike Smash and Burn, you don’t need more Wild cards to fully benefit with this, so it can be included in any deck and be a decent choice. Obviously, this is a great card to have in Limited. This is like the perfect anti-Thought Plucker card, if only it was free, lol. 

Greater Lightning Wurm 
Wild Wurm Champion
12/10
Breakthrough
Loyalty 2 → Deal 6 damage to a target.

Yay more Wurms! I always love the visuals and theme of these guys, so I can’t wait to see the art. This is on the lower end of the stat spectrum for Wurms, which is pretty crazy to think about, but it’s still pretty devastating. Like its Burrowing cousin, it provides a huge, if not slow, Breakthrough Champion, and if you can hit the loyalty, THIS one at least can deal some damage. Using Final Task with this will be quite lovely. That is 6 damage to a target, not just a champion, so defending decks beware. If you can hit the loyalty, this is a decent draft in Limited, but like Burrowing Wurm, I would not go crazy trying to get it. I would rank it higher than the Burrowing, but probably lower than the Rampaging.

Kalani, Woodreader 
Wild Elf Champion
5/5
Blitz
Opponents cannot gain health.

Now that is a much better Elf name than Burger, Or Bagel, or whatever that other guy’s name is. This was also spoiled a while ago, although at the time it was just called Elf Shaman. I like this one better, although the visual in my head of an elf trying to read a piece of bark is not very flattering, but I’m sure the art is amazing. This is a very simple, but awesome, card. 5/5 0-cost Blitzer is going to be tough to deal with without spending gold, and then while it is around your opponent, and your opponent only, cannot gain health. This card sounds like it was made in the days of Kark’s reign, but it will hold its own in the current meta. I think there is a viable strategy in just playing this guy and never attacking with it, forcing your opponent to take him out, or risk never healing. I shall enjoy putting this into my aggressive Wild decks and watch my opponents squirm as they force themselves to Drain Essence the elf, all the while letting some other giant Wild Champion in for the kill. Since this card requires no loyalty, this is a solid Limited draft choice as well.

Herald of Angeline 
Good Angel Champion
7/5
Airborne – Righteous
Tribute → Reveal the top three cards of your deck. You may choose a good card among them and put it into your hand. Banish the rest.

Ok how many angels is this? This is another Scrying-like Champion, this time for Good, I do not like that 5 defense, and although it has Airborne and Righteous, I feel as though it will do nothing other than help you draw a card you need. That is very important for sure, but I think Good has so many other great 1-cost cards, that I doubt I personally could make room for this in my decks. Maybe if it had Ambush or Blitz, now THAT would be Epic. It is a fairly weak Limited choice except for the Airborne, which automatically makes it not-so-bad. 

Angeline’s Will 
Good Event
Gain 10 health
—OR—
If it’s your turn, banish target expended champion. If this is the first  card you’ve played this turn, gain  that may only be used to pay for good costs.

This is the last “Will” card, and the card I got to spoil for this set, a few hours before the entire set was spoiled anyway, lol. Anyway, you can check out my review of it, but in short I love the card. Yes, it doesn’t have a draw 2 option, but it just does so much else. Removal while allowing you to play another Good card, or +10 health? That is quite the swing any way you put it. I don’t usually try to build Good decks, but this card makes me want to try. Could Kark have a revival with this card? This is also a solid choice for Limited, maybe even more so, than some of the other “Wills”. My favorite is Gareth in theory, but we’ll see if that changes in practice.

Knight of the Dawn 
Good Human Knight Champion
6/3
Blitz
Tribute → You may banish target evil token champion.

Another Kickstarter brought to life! This guy hits hard and removes tokens that are not really being used for now. It should be noted that it gets buffed by the countless Good human buffers in the game. I love that Good is getting some offensive power in this set, and I look forward to seeing what people can do with it. This is a solid choice in Limited as well. It requires no loyalty, could possibly take out an opponent, and hits like a truck. In fact, I think it hits harder than any other Blitzing 0-cost Champion. It’s a great way to start off a turn. Your opponent can only take so much damage from 0-costs before they spend their gold first.

Scara’s Gift 
Evil Event
Deal 2 damage to target player.
Gain 2 health.
 → You may banish two other cards in your discard pile. If you do, Recall.

I love this card. This may have been the first card that had my mind racing for combos and breakages. This is just a huge health swing for a 0-cost card. Yes, it does not remove anything from the board, but a 4 point health swing for free is a big deal. Plus, you can get it back for a Recycle-like ally trigger. This and the Steed of Zaltessa make me think they want Evil to start doing more direct damage decks. I’m inclined to give them a try. I think this is a fine choice in a Draft. Without Evil it is greatly diminished, but if you have a lot of Evil, this will cause a lot of havoc. 

Krieg, Dark One’s Chosen 
Evil Human Mage Champion
8/8
Tribute → Put two zombie tokens into play.
 → Put a zombie token into play. Your zombie tokens gain blitz, +1  and +1  this turn.

I hope this art portrays Krieg from Borderlands 2, but I doubt it. Fan art maybe? This is another token generator. I like zombie tribal decks, and I missed out on doing a Halloween themed deck, so maybe this guy can join in for next year. I feel like using this card along with Scara’s Will shall be fun. That’s a lot of zombies and breaking. I’m unsure if this card would make it into a competitive deck, but I still really like the card. I think it’s a nice card for Limited as well. I love the guys that put in tokens, as it is very difficult to get rid of all of them, and you usually can start giving your opponent a death by a thousand paper cuts. Plus, this guy can keep churning out new zombies, while making the existing ones much harder to kill. A 3/3 is so much better than a 2/2. 

Dark One’s Fury 
Evil Event
Draw two cards.
—OR—
If it is your turn, break all non-evil champions.

This feels similar to Raxxa’s Displeasure, except this gets all non-Evil stuff, rather than just all non-Demon stuff. Slightly different ability, although if you are facing a non-evil deck, and that’s what you are playing (like a zombie deck), this card could be amazing. In Limited, unless you specifically have Evil on board, and your opponent doesn’t, this card is a draw 2.  

Erwin, Architect of War 
Sage Human Champion
1/5
Tribute → Recycle
This card has all alignments, even while it is in your hand, deck, or discard pile. (During deck construction, it is only sage.)

I love the adaptability of this card, and it was an ability I have been talking about having in Epic for a while. I am glad it made it. This is the only card in this set that has this, but I look forward to more. This is a weenie blocker of a card, but it Recycles, and it allows you to use it for any Loyalty for any alignment. That will be quite useful. It’s cards like these that will allow deckbuilders the ability to have 4 colors in their decks, and still use Loyalty triggers. I don’t think this card is broken or anything, but it is a welcome addition. This is a great card in Limited as well. In a mode where Loyalty triggers are so hard to come by, this card could be a life saver. 

Ethereal Dragon 
Sage Dragon Spirit Champion
6/8
Airborne – Ambush – Untargetable

I am very happy about another Dragon. In terms of visuals, they are my favorite tribal in Epic I think, and I can’t wait to see what this one looks like. The Dragon Soul from Gems of War anyone? Anyway, this thing is a beast. Such a simple card, but this is a huge pain for your opponent. 8 defense is tough to crack, Airborne along with it and there are very few that can beat it in a fight, and no targeted removal for you. I could easily see this being put in “Reel Steel” decks (Happy, Dixon?). It doesn’t hit as hard, but add in some Winds of Change and you could have a monster. This is also a very solid pick in Limited. Sure, it doesn’t have card draw, so you have to be wary of that, but this card could crush your opponent if they don’t have sweepers or combat tricks or very large fliers. This will be a popular pick in Limited. 

Scrap Golem 
Sage Construct Champion
6/6
Loyalty 2 → Blitz
 : Banish a card from your discard pile: Put a scrap token into play.

 : Recall

Scrap Golem Token 
Sage Construct Token Champion
6/6
 : Banish a card from your discard pile: Put a scrap token into play.

And lastly, another Kickstarter card brought to life. I love the idea of this card. I hope someone can build an awesome deck with this card. I also hope we get enough tokens for such a deck as proxies suck. This gets my vote for the next alternative art card, so we can all build up our stock. It’s also a decent card. It comes in and you can most likely get another scrap golem. If both of them survive to your turn, that’s two more. It could get ridiculous. 5/5 stats are pretty brutal, and it’s the best token we have so far in that regard. I’m also very glad they created a separate token for it, because now all of the alignments have tokens! The deck will probably fail in practice, but I’m looking forward to giving it a try. It’s a decent card in Limited simply because if left unchecked, you will have an army of minions at your disposal. You will be really hurt by discard pile banishing effects, but those are less likely (although there are more and more every release). Recall abilities are always welcome in Limited in case you don’t have gold to spend for some reason.

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Well, that is all the packs of cards that have been released so far. My MVP for this pack is Kalani Woodreader. I plan on trying this elf in a number of decks. However, Angeline's Will is the card I am most excited to see how it can be abused. I think this is a very solid set, and a welcome addition to Epic. I can't wait to get my hands on it, and am very sad it won't be until well into next year. Some year maybe I will qualify and get to worlds.

Just FYI, the reason I said "cards released so far", is because in May/June of 2018, we should get the rest of the packs, which include the god/demigod cards from the kickstarter. I'm guessing there are some other cards as well, and these cards as a whole should give players the opportunity to play Epic in a different way. I am looking forward to what we shall get in those, and you can bet I will write an article or two discussing them. Just so you know they are called:

• Pantheon: Shadya vs Valentia
• Pantheon: Riksis vs Tarken

So thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed these articles and I hope it gets you thinking and excited about the new set. What cards are your sleeper choice? What cards are your MVP? What combos or decks are you most excited about trying out? Anyways, I need to rest my hands. Thanks again for reading, and happy gaming!

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!