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. 

--

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!

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.

-

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!

Epic Deck Tech Theory: Championless Deck

I have been trying to think of a new theme for my Deck Tech series, and while thinking of the worst decks to create for my new Bitter Draft variant, I was thinking of an event-only deck that gave very little card draw, as well as provide no champions in order to win. But that got me thinking, can I create a decent deck using only events, with the only champions either coming from tokens, or stealing them from my opponent? Sounds like a fun challenge.

So my initial thinking is that I will be going with Evil and Wild, since they deal with the token cards I like. I could go Good, but they really require champions to be really good, and Evil and Wild are more in my wheelhouse. First I grab the obvious Evil token generators like Demonic Breach, Necrovirus, Plague Zombies, and even Inner Demon. While I'm in the color I also grab the obvious Evil 0-costs as well like Word of Summoning, Raxxa's Curse, and Plentiful Dead. I figure I will want some sweepers so I grab Apocalypse and some Demonic Rising for a surprise card that can finish a game for me. I also decide to give The Risen a chance, since I have so many Evil tokens running around. I finish off with Drain Essence, which is just such a good removal spell that gives me lifegain. I have two more spots for 0-costs. There are lots of options but Heinous Feast might be better for some discard pile hate.

 


I then go over to Wild, and I quickly see that I actually don't want that much from it. I could go into some burn spells but I decide to keep the token theme going. Hunting Pack and Wolf's Call seem fairly obvious, especially since I want to include Wolf's Bite. I then think about sweepers and direct damage, and Savage Uprising fits that bill quite nicely.

I am wondering about card draw and since I run all events, I imagine I will want Lesson Learned. So I quickly grab those, the obvious Ancient Chant to go along with it, and some Frantic Digging as well. I could go with Amnesia, and that would also be fine. 

 

Lastly, I decide I would like to put in Blind Squire for some trade-up options, and then I remember that Inheritance of the Meek is a pretty awesome sweeper when you run tokens, and Urgent Messengers is always a fun Draw-2-And card. 

Deck: 60 cards

Packs: Set One (3), Tyrants (3), Uprising (3)

EVENT (60)

3x Ancient Chant

3x Apocalypse

3x Brave Squire

3x Demon Breach

2x Demonic Rising

3x Drain Essence

3x Frantic Digging

2x Heinous Feast

2x Hunting Pack

3x Inheritance of the Meek

3x Inner Demon

3x Lesson Learned

3x Necrovirus

2x Plague Zombies

3x Plentiful Dead

3x Raxxa's Curse

2x Savage Uprising

3x The Risen

3x Urgent Messengers

3x Wolf's Bite

2x Wolf's Call

3x Word of Summoning

Even though this deck may not be tournament worthy, I think it's an ok deck with a fun shtick. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there that could improve upon this deck. Thoughts? Comments? Let me know what you think, and as always, happy gaming! 

Epic: The Card Game Variant Idea

Swapskeys (better name pending?)

This is a new variant for Epic: The Card Game. The concept isn’t new, but it turns common deckbuilding/drafting strategies on their heads, and opens the door for a fun, new way of playing Epic. The concept at its most simplistic terms, is swapping decks with your opponent before playing.

Depending on what format you want to play, after you create your deck, you will swap decks with your opponent, and then you will be forced to play with the deck they created, against the deck you created. Give both players enough time to look at their new deck before starting, and then start as normal. I call this format Swapskeys (spelling?).

This format forces you to rethink your strategy from the very start, before going back to try and win with a subpar deck. I think it sounds wonderfully different. My hope is that it will allow certain cards to see play that usually do not, as well as cater to a different set of deckbuilding skills.

Every player naturally uses the skill of what cards don’t fit in a deck, but this makes you actively search for them, rather than know when to avoid them.

Another great thing about this format is that since it’s such a simple concept, it can be applied to every aspect of current Epic play. You can try and construct the worst 60-card deck ever. You can Dark Draft and go for the worst cards and combos you can, while trying to stick your opponent with amazing cards that you will eventually get to use. You can deal out random 60 cards, or those random 60 sheets you can get at tournaments, and then draft your horrible concoction. I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

For example, this first pack for Dark Draft would be much different if you were playing Swapskeys:

 

 

Now you don't have to be so depressed when you pass your opponent packs!

One recommendation, in terms of construction, is that I would think the best way would be to make a 30-card deck, singleton only, with a minimum of 15 champions in it. You can choose to abide by regular deck construction rules or not, I don’t think that matters as much. The reason for this is to stop someone from just taking all events, and turn the matches into a race to draw out first (it still may look like that, but at least there will be some champions to go for the win). Another reason is that with only 30 cards, you won’t be spending a ton of time before the game looking through your new deck before playing it.

I, personally, think that Dark Drafting this format would be a ton of fun, and could lead to some very interesting games.

The one negative about this format is that you have to let your opponent handle your cards. This can be a huge turn-off for some people. But then again, if you play Dark Draft, someone is using someone else’s cards already, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Another related, but slightly different way of playing this, and what initially inspired me to this format, is what is called Reverse the Whip. I got this from the game, Heroscape, from someone who probably got it from somewhere else, but I am not sure. In this format, you play a tournament, preferably constructed, except that when you cut to the top 4/8, you switch decks with your opponent for the match. You now have to beat the deck that got you to the top cut. This leads to some interesting deck-building quandaries. Do you purposely hinder your deck, in the hopes for an advantage in the top cut? You had better make sure you make it that far. Do you just try to build an amazing deck, and then hope for your superior playing skills to take you the distance? Or maybe, you come up with a unique deck that only you can pilot, and hope your opponent can’t figure it out? Could be interesting.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments. Any further suggestions? Advice on a better name for the format? I could honestly see this format becoming something official, as it does require skill, and a different skill than what has been used for Epic so far (in a more indirect way), and White Wizards has said they wanted their big tournaments to showcase the biggest variety of skills in the game.

I hope you enjoy this new format(s) and I hope you enjoyed this article. Until next time, happy gaming!