I know it's been a while since I've written anything here. And now I am doing so as a guest. What gives?
Truthfully, I kinda got burned out on creating content. And I could only say so much about Mythgard when I had been talking about the same cards over and over again. So rather than ruin a game I enjoy by doing something I didn't really want to do, I stepped away from the whole content creation thing.
So I may not be creating content like I did in the past, but I still enjoy the game very much. When the Rings of Immortality set dropped, oh boy was that a breath of fresh air.
Now that I have had some time to play around with the new set, I want to share my thoughts on it, fake award style. I wouldn't be so crass as to call them the Lonkys, but I've got nothing else to go with.
And please note that I am looking at these cards through a constructed point of view. I really don't do draft or 2v2, so I'm going with what I know.
So without further ado, here are my Lonky Awards for the Rings of Immortality expansion.
Most Unsurprisingly Good Card
Jaza’eri Aequebus
This is one of the cards that I looked at during the previews and said, “you know what, this could easily be a format staple staple.” I didn’t say it to anyone in particular, which was odd, but it doesn’t matter because I ended up being right about this one.
Separately, Jaza’eri and Parsa Divinity Cannon are pretty mediocre on their own. But what makes the card so good is you have one immediately replacing the other for no additional cost. In most instances, your opponent will be forced to commit to a 2-for-1 exchange, if not more, in order to remove it. This can be a huge hurdle for smaller aggro decks to overcome if it’s played out on curve, while still being a solid play in the mid to late game. There are a few cards that provide a clean answer for Jaza’eri, but in the majority cases, this will net you card advantage by forcing your opponent to commit multiple resources just to remove it.
In addition, the 4 strength on Jaza’eri means the opponent has to answer it sooner rather than later, lest they get beat down with it. On the flip side, Cannon doesn’t hit as hard, but the 6 health makes it the tougher one to trade with. And the Cannon’s damage ability gives you a good tool to help control the board. So even though its forge ability is pretty negligible, this is overall a very good card that has rightfully found its way into a lot of orange builds.
Most Surprisingly Good Card
Diehard Dreni
First of all, the flavor on this card is a huge win in my book. It’s not as good as Hopeless Necromantic, but it's up there.
Green has never been an aggressive color, and it still isn’t. But looking at the other green 1-drops, it does provide a more aggressive option than what is currently available. Grinning Kolobok and Media Autocam are definitely meant for a control build, Mothmara and House Elf are a little too niche to find a lot of good use for them, and Dora, well, Dora is awfully cute and fuzzy.
A 2/1 for 1 mana is about as good as it gets stat-wise. But the fact that it turns into a 4/4 spirit when it hits the boneyard is what really lets this card shine. It makes it good with the Journey of Souls path, Spirit decks, or even some Reanimator builds. Green is very friendly to the boneyard, and Diehard takes advantage of that fact.
This was one that I definitely overlooked when it first came out. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s great, but it definitely fills a need that I didn't realize green even had.
Most Unsurprisingly Bad Card
Doubling Dice
There is random variance, then there is this card. As you can tell from the flavor, this is all about gambling. While gambling can be fun, it’s not a good thing for constructed play.
There really is very little strategy with these Dice. You’re basically just guessing odd or even and hoping the opponent makes the wrong choice so you can do a little bit of damage. In the 50% chance it doesn’t work out, you lose card advantage. So you need to have the dice roll in your favor a few times in order to start dealing significant amounts of damage, but you will get punished with card disadvantage every time you lose. There’s too much risk and not enough reward in my opinion.
Plus, cards with this much variance are just not all that great for competitive play. Not every card may be the answer you need, but at least you will have some idea what it will do when you play it. So save your dice for the Craps table, not the competitive ladder.
Most Surprisingly Bad Card
Banquet of Buphonia
When I first saw this card, I thought it would provide a good top end finisher for a red-based aggro deck, or even in some midrange decks. You could sacrifice one minion, and then smash them with someone in an open lane for that last bit of damage.
But from what I can tell, this card has seen little to no competitive play. On a clogged up board, Alacrity is still a better finisher because it is cheaper, it does give you minions a small boost, and it allows your minions to dance around the blockers as opposed to smashing into them. If Banquet boosted both strength and health, then we’d be talking because you could a couple of unfavorable trades into favorable ones.
Maybe I just got over excited at the sight of new cards to play with, but I honestly thought Banquet would find a home somewhere in the meta. Perhaps this award should be titled “The Card That I Find Most Surprisingly Bad” because I completely misevaluated this one, but I do find it kind of sad that a card with a potentially powerful effect such as this one can’t seem to find a good home anywhere.
Best Card at Providing A Much Need Tool For a Particular Faction
Bragi’s Ballad
Norden is just not very good at drawing cards. There is Brainstorm, but paying 3 mana to draw 2 cards feels like a tempo killer when other cards such as Ichor Feast or Raid The Tombs exist in other factions and can provide 1 card per mana with a little additional resource cost (3 life for Ichor, and banishing the bottom 2 cards of the boneyard for Tombs).
Bragi’s Ballad is still not quite on par with those 2, but it’s definitely a huge step up from Brainstorm. For 3 mana you now get to draw 3 at the “cost” of having to put 1 card from your hand back into your deck. Sure, the net gain is still just 2 cards, but if you draw 3 good cards you can use and throw back 1 you don’t need, you’ve just greatly improved the quality of your hand. At worst, you’re drawing 3 cards and throwing the worst one back into the deck. This at least gives you some agency in choosing what to keep as opposed to just drawing 2 and hoping for the best.
Blue is still very much an aggressive- midrange faction, but a nice soft ballad to slow things down and give your more midrange-y and controlling builds some additional longevity shores up a weakness within the faction.
Best Use Of A New Keyword
Ruby Raider
Hey look, red got a sweeper effect! At first glance, it's easy to think aggro to slot the Raider into since it has 3 strength, costs 2 mana, and has the word rush on it. But the fact that it has forge changes the dynamics of this card in a good way.
In my opinion, aggro did not get as many useful tools in the Rings of Immortality expansion as midrange and control did. Forge is a key reason for that. When you are trying to knock out your opponent by turn 5 or 6, the odds of you drawing a copy of a card you forged, even on turn one, are very low. So aggro decks are just not a good home for the Forge keyword.
But when it comes to midrange decks such as Red/Green or Red/Orange, then Ruby Raider is almost a must have. On turn 2 when Raider is not forged, he’s just kind of meh since your opponent will likely be able to put something down to block him. But if you can get him down when he’s forged later in the game and rush in to get a hit on your opponent, that’s how you get your gem’s worth out of him.
Best Card That Helped A Particular Archetype
Gloombringer
Pre ROI, Purple/Green Spirits were kind of on the fringes of being competitive. Post ROI, they were definitely competitive. We’ll see how they fare with the nerf to Racer In Shadow, but my gut instinct is telling me that they won’t be going anywhere.
Gloombringer had a lot to do with why the spirits suddenly rose from their graves. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend a card that only draws you cards in an aggro deck because it can slow down your tempo. But this card is an exception to the rule. Not only are you getting an additional card each of the next 3 turns for just 3 mana, but you are guaranteed to draw a spirit on each of those turns which means you’ll be able to continually improve your board, which is exactly what aggro needs to do to stay ahead. It’s also an effective tool for recovering from a sweeper effect.
So ironically, Gloombringer has managed to make a lot of Spirit players very happy.
Most Gorgeous Artwork
Risen From The Deep
There is a lot of great artwork in this set, but I am glad they made this one into a background. I mean, just look at it…
Best New Design That We Should See More Of
Doper
Pretty much all of the minions with a modal ability (meaning ones where you have to choose which you're going to use) have been ones with an energy cost tied to them. Could you imagine if Bragi Runesinger could just give a minion frenzy every single turn? Requiring an energy cost allows minions to have powerful abilities while preventing them from being abused.
Doper flips this convention on its head. It's abilities are much smaller, so no need for an energy cost. But more importantly, both modes keep each other in check. You can boost his strength at the cost of health, or boost his health but not it's strength. It's fair, balanced, and gives players a good deal of agency in deciding what to do with it.
I get the sense that Doper is just a big dumb meathead. But the design behind him is smart and I hope we see more cards like this going forward.
Most Improved Card Due To A Buff
Locked In Ice
Mirror technically was not a keyword added from the expansion. It was actually added after the fact during the big November patch in order to prepare and test things out before the next new set. I honestly didn’t pay a whole lot of attention when they added Mirror onto Locked In Ice, but after I got punked the first few times with it, I most certainly started paying attention.
Removal is another thing that blue is not great at, and Locked is about as close as it gets to just straight up removing something. There are very few minions that won’t easily be destroyed by simply tapping on it while it’s stuck with fragile 9. It also gets around warded minions quite handily. After all that, it puts another copy right into your hand so if the mirror keyword doesn’t get removed, this card may be a force to be reckoned with in the coming days.
Most Glorious Jank Card in Existence
Victorious Podium
Is this card actually competitive? Nope.
Is it going to lose a majority of the time? Most likely.
Is going to be gloriously sweet and kind of hilarious when it does work? Hell yes.
So there are my awards. Feel free to add your own in the comments. Enjoy the new set and I'll see you on the ladder.