Shadowverse Segments: The Other Bloods

Hi guys. Sorry for the two week hiatus. I was extremely busy with some personal matters. Plus I was a mom for  week. That did not end badly though. Anyways, I did say I'd do another Bloodcraft Tempest breakdown so here it is.

Trivia: These are all cards that I have.

Starting With The Gold

Soul Dominator is quite an amazing card in the sense that it takes advantage of mobs dying to power itself up. Its a Storm card too so that's the cherry on top. The 7-cost it has is actually pretty adequate to what she brings into the fight (Imp Lancer is a 3/6 Storm at 6-cost so I think its fair).

I just love these nice Bloodcraft ladies

However, it is definitely hard to actually maximize her potential. There are area spells strong enough to hit the field and feed those corpses to this girl but the cost makes it impossible to do so. You either utilize that storm with its base attack this turn and hope it doesn't die the next turn or set the field up with area damage cards and then set them off next turn. Both are hard to do. Very hard.


Staple Silvers

I'll talk about the more useful person first. Dark Airjammer has the effect of summoning 1 (2 if Vengeance) 2-cost or less monster from your deck to the field. This is useful for a lot of stuff. One example would be to use them to bring Blood Wolf into the field. The wolf's Fanfare effect won't activate because its summoned from the deck and you'll have a 2/1 Storm creature on the field (again, 2 if vengeance).

Reminds me of those Goblin Zeppelin in Warcraft

I know this doesn't really help much but its sort of a wildcard that could help you in sticky situations I guess?

Not impressed. Need to evolve to look like a Vlad

Next you have Vlad. In a way, this is sort of a cheaper Flood Behemoth (but in a way I think its sort of worse?) as its a 5-cost but it deals 1 damage to all other followers at the end of your turn if its evolved. Up until now, I've only ever use him in extremely tight situations believe me you, Flood Behemoth does it better.


Interesting Bronzes

Yeah. Definitely a very interesting set of bronzes. I think Tempest has got a lot of unique bronze cards that can help people build more solid low-cost (as in vial cost) decks especially beginners.

Colorful for a Bloods card ain't it

First of all, I have been waiting for a low cost Bloods Ward card and here it is. Spiderweb Imp makes for a good safety net in tough spots as it is low cost and its 1/4. That is definitely enough to tank up some damage. Plus, if you manage to call it up using Dark Airjammer's ability, you don't have to worry about that self-damage.

Another favorite art

Then you have Assault Werewolf that has a conditional Bane. We all know Bloods have quite a few Storm cards and its annoying when wards block you way to Stormapalooza. This is a cheap way of countering it (yeah well for immediate effect you're gonna have to evolve him) and pressuring the foe from putting up wards. It definitely has that psychological effect.

Look at him. Even he doesn't care about this. Look.

Another pressure-styled bronze card is the Frogbat. Its weak (2/2), cheap (3-cost) and yet you really don't want to ignore it. This idiot gets a +1/+0 every time your turn ends so the longer the enemy leave it be, the stronger it gets. Yes wards can definitely block Frogbat's damage but you can always put Assault Werewolf on the field to counter that. Pretty synergistic if you ask me.

I ran out of caption materials. Lol.

Last one. Stolen Life. A control spell that deals 3 damage to an enemy and gives +3/+3 to an allied follower. Its a bit costly but its a buff+control in one card. Best used to clear a ward and make way for a Storm while buffing it up.

So yeah. I still haven't gotten to testing the whole Belphegor+Bloody Mary combo. My friend who has the deck to test it is a tad busy right now I guess. I'll definitely update on that.

If any of you tested it, do tell me if it works or not. I'm curious myself. Wolvenciel, signing off.

Shadowverse Segments: No More Suicidal Vendettas

Hey there people. I liked the views on my posts so here I am again. Thanks for reading them. Ahem. Today I'll be talking about the new Bloodcraft cards from the Tempest expansion. There are quite a few of them so I'll be doing some of them later on. Here goes.

Vengeance? What's That?

Now lo and behold the card that breaks the whole "high risk high return" play style of Bloodcraft, the Blood Moon.

Yeah all the cards are going to be Black/White. I don't have them. Sorry. T-T

The ability description is short and sweet, "Vengeance is activated even if you're above 10 health points". That's it. But damn does this change a hell lot of things. The amulet in itself is a cost-3 but strategically, you might want to place it down at turn 6 or higher when you can place it along with some other vengeance cards. You know, in the event that something bad happens to the amulet.

So imagine that. No more "I have to deduct my own HP to activate bad ass abilities" and no more waiting for people to reduce your HP to 10 and below just so you can pull off your combos. This one card here just made Bloodcraft a hell lot faster and stronger than it already is.

The possibilities are endless. You can now use those cheap vengeance cards for an early power spike or go for a control deck without actually needing to damage yourself to activate those bigger effects that comes with playing them.

My Baphomet/Serpent Combo

One such card that goes really well with Blood Moon would be the Legendary card Maelstrom Serpent. Serpent has this scary effect of multiplying (YES IT PULLS A KAGE BUNSHIN) itself until the field is full if vengeance is active.

That's a lot of snakes. Yeesh.

However it has one huge drawback and that is its whopping cost of 8. This means that you can only play him late into the game when the enemy either has a Bahamut or a Themis's Decree or worse, that accursed Lightning Blast (which I will talk about later on a different post) in which all of those can wipe every single Serpent you have on the field.

I like him a lot. I just didn't get any of him yet. Probably need to craft him later.

"So how can I counter this?", you may ask, and the answer would be the new silver card, Baphomet. Yes, if played at a 5-cost, Baphomet becomes the first ever ramping card for Bloodcraft. Yes I know this is exactly the range of Themis's 6-cost but you just have to pray sometimes.

Its not only limited to Maelstrom Serpent. There are quite a few older cards that could benefit well from Baphomet like Abyss Beast or Frenzied Juggernaut. Do note that Baphomet only works with Bloodcraft followers. No neutrals allowed.


Damage Dampening Amulet

With the introduction of Blood Moon, some of the self-damaging cards might lose their utility value but I think if you're smart, you can still make use of them. This silver amulet will help you do just that.

I hate that mask. It creeps me out. A lot.

This card acts as both a safety net and a substitute if you're using self-damaging cards but you don't actually want to damage yourself. What it does is that any damage taken by the leader is subtracted to the countdown of this amulet. The amulet has 5 countdown so at most it would block 5 damage, right? Wrong.

The thing with Mask of the Black Death is that it reduces its own countdown based on the damage dealt. Say it has 1 countdown left, it can still block one attack that deals 5 damage. It doesn't deal the remaining damage to the leader.

People on the net is debating about this card and how it'd change a lot of things on Bloodcraft and to be honest, I think it will. You can play Dire Bond safely without any damage. You can stall aggro decks early on in the game. Block monstrous damage during the late game phases. The possibilities are endless.

People kept comparing this card to heals. I, for one see that they're looking at it wrong. This isn't a heal card. Its an immunity to damage. You can block a cost-6 Storm Black Dragoon Forte with this measly cost-2 card. Of course, there are ways of getting around this card but still, now people have to figure out how to do that first.


A Not-So-Cheap Azazel

Last one for today. A cheap alternative to sweet old Azazel. Belphegor is a cost-4 card with quite an intriguing effect.

First time I saw this card I kind of looked at her for 5 minutes just because I can (yes I have her in my alternate account)

At first I thought to myself, "Oh nice. It increases your hand while enabling vengeance". I mean, that is as handy as a Bloodcraft card can get. But then I got to thinking. If Belphegor was to be played when there's a Bloody Mary on my side of the field and vengeance is not activated for me, would that be an infinite loop of damage to the enemy? I tried looking at the net but I got nothing.

Not as attractive as Belphy but maybe, just MAYBE make a great combo with her.

I'll get back to you guys as soon as I try this with Rkidzzz. Wolvenciel, signing off.

Shadowverse Segments: Heavenly Piece Of... Aegis

Hi there people. This will just take a few minutes. I know this is sort of late considering every other gamepress/blogs have already blabbered about this thing, but hey I'm always late aren't I.

So without further ado, the elephant in the room, Heavenly Aegis.

Ability Breakdown

What the heck is that. I mean really.

Heavenly Aegis is a Havencraft Legendary card released in the Tempest expansion and if anything, it is MONSTROUS. Its cost does not affect its abilities at all. For one, this card cannot be damaged. Like it literally will stay on the field indefinitely.

Its second, crazier ability is that it can't be affected by any other card's abilities except the ones that change it's attack or defense. This is what makes Heavenly Aegis so strong. You can't beat it to death, you can't bane it, you can't banish it, heck you can't even use a "target random enemy" effect or an area effect to remove it from the field. Any and all effects will be nullified if it hits him.

Me and my friends unleashed all sorts of destruction onto this piece of armor and it just won't budge. Not even the Legendary Bahamut. Not even then.


The Test Of Strength Debate

Now if you search online, there are a lot of discussions about this lump of godly metal right here and the most common debate is this:-

    "Does Test of Strength affect Heavenly Aegis?"

Neat art though.

The answer is no. Heavenly Aegis is not affected by Test of Strength (a.k.a. Test). The main problem here is that Test's ability acts upon a follower's ability to attack and not actually giving leaders damage immunity unlike Timeless Witch and Durandal The Incorruptible thus giving Aegis free pass to clonking you in the face.

A cheap sort of, kind of, deterrent to Aegis I guess.

The not-so-cheap deterrent. It'll not stop Aegis, but it'll at least slow him down

The Only Hope

Now now. There are ways around this thing. I mean everything have their weaknesses. Aegis has a whopping cost of 9 (though I really think they should make it 10) so it'll be a while before it comes into play, unleashing hell unto you. So make it fast. Do it before then. Though... This will be a problem for control decks. Aegis is specifically a counter for control decks anyway.

I can't find a decent colored art for this so... Ahem.

A real counter to Aegis would be Kaguya. Before Aegis, I have never even thought of using this card though. The Ephemeral Moon amulet that Kaguya summons when she dies has the effect of reducing the attack of a strongest enemy follower on the field to 1. This effect changes Aegis's attack to 1, rendering it sort of useless. I mean, the guy is still there, but he deals 1 damage to you anyway so you can ignore him now.

That's not much to go on but hey, its not TOTALLY impossible. Its just a tad hard. Okay its very hard. Seriously speaking, I wouldn't know what to do if my opponent puts that thing on the field.

Though you might want to see Rkidzzz stick it up to Aegis users using his awesome Dragoncraft deck when he goes live on Twitch. If you're lucky that is.

Wolvenciel, signing off.

Shadowverse Segments: Of Commanders. Round Tables and Frogs

Hey there guys. As promised, because the Shadowverse post got a lot of views, I am going to make it a regular thing (probably). Today I'll be going through the new expansion, Tempest of the Gods and talk about some of the cards that I got from the expansion packs.

As you know, there are 7 factions so I'll be doing separate reviews on each factions. So be patient please.


Albert--- I Mean Gawain

Starting this off is Gawain of the Round Table. No this is not Albert, Levin Saber. Gawain is a Legendary rarity and a pretty well-balanced one at that as well. As you know, a lot of them commander cards are kind of costly so he's your go-to for reducing their costs.

Ignore those borders. My phone... is kind of a failure at taking screenshots.

Though for him to be useful you have to attack so he's not going to be useful early. You either evolve him or play him for a 6 cost. Don't risk leaving him there on the field not attacking anything for a turn.

This will benefit you the most if you're building a commander deck. No this isn't a joke. A commander-only deck is definitely viable since the introduction of the Tempest expansion. There are a lot other useful cards that support commanders that are not... of Legendary rarity. So don't worry if you don't get this guy.


The Luminous Set

Moving on to more craftable cards, here we have the Luminous Mage and the Luminous Standard. As you can see, the Luminous Mage is another awesome card if you're going full commanders. Its similar to Titania's Sanctuary from Forestcraft but with commanders. You can immediately rush a commander as long as this card is on the field and save on a lot of evolution points this way.

Read it. That's just too awesome isn't it? Its crazy good.

The only drawback to this card is that it's a 5-cost and its not an amulet. It means it can die easily. You'd have to have something else backing her up. Say a Captain Lecia to protect her from spells or wards to divert the enemy's attention. Other than that, this is just a very stellar commander support.

Oh and need I not remind you the Luminous Knight she summons is also a commander that has great synergy with her. Unlike a certain card that summons Megalorcas.

The commander version of Royal Banner

This is another support for commanders and its sort of an improved version of its officer counterpart, the Royal Banner. That's because the Royal Banner costs 4 to play and it only gives +1/0. The catch is that Luminous Standard only gives a boost to cards "coming into play". This means that cards already on the field will not get a boost. Keep that in mind.


The Staple and The Wild Card

Now these last two cards aren't exactly what I'd call essential but they have "commander" in their description so they're somewhat useful anyways.

Because its gold and it damages a random follower, I'm not liking this card much

Support Cannon has quite the effect. It deals damage as much as a commander being played that turn. This gives another extra edge to those high-cost commanders that have high attack values as they can fire off an extra attack to any and all monsters on the field. Be it an "ambush" monster or an "effect/spell resistant" monster as its under the "random" clause.

If there aren't any monsters on the field, it damages the leader instead. Sounds scary doesn't it? I guess that's why you need to pay a 5-cost to play it. Goodbye aggro, hello control.

Reminds me a lot of Beelzebub from Shadowcraft

Now this. This card. By no means do I deem this card necessary for the creation of a solid commander deck but you will have fun anyways if you like to gamble on your luck. Its a rather cheap card for its stats because of those random buff it gains but other than that, I have no idea why you'd want to push your luck with this. But it'll definitely be fun anyways.


The Other Guys

Now that the major supports are out of the way. Here are some other cards I pulled out and tested.

A mini Mordecai.

Tristan is like a mini Mordecai. His effect sounds good on paper but in actuality it isn't. You need to have a commander on the field before summoning him. His effect only activates once because if he revives, it doesn't activate his Fanfare effect again.

Second of all, the effect clearly said "allied commander" but it doesn't mean that. It means that you have to have an allied follower with a commander trait on the field. An amulet doesn't count. I tried.

I don't get it.

Simone is drawn beautifully yet... I can't stress how I hate high attack stat wards. He's useful to have around but I'd only ever use him for his initial 2-cost.

Cute, but that's it.

Another card that I think would be dangerous for swordcraft. This card is similar to Golden Dragon's Den but slightly more viable I guess? It doesn't stay on the field too long and it will be incredibly helpful when you're trying to mill your hand or when you have no cards in your hand.

Yes even if you don't have any card to discard, the draw effect still activates.

It is what it is

 It has Bane and Ambush. What more can I say?

Read that effect carefully

OKAY IF YOU GOT TO THIS POINT, STOP. READ THIS ONE. Ahem. Vagabond Frog looks like a stupid ridiculous 3-cost bronze card but if it was up to me I'd make this a Legendary rarity card. If you look at this card carefully, it GAINS Ambush every time you end your turn. Means it will never die as long as there are no area spells or "random" clause effects and hits your opponent constantly every single turn without worry.

Now you might say "eh its just 1/2 that's not even scary". Swordcraft lives on buff cards, man. Royal Banner, Forge Weaponry, Rogue's Creed. Just to name a few, that is. All these cards will spell your doom the moment it buffs this card here. The moment you lose your wards and your area effects, get ready for a round of beating.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.


Anime Slump

That's it for Swordcraft I guess? A lot of Commander support cards and one killer Officer card.
I'll start reviewing other cards as I play test them and if you're wondering whether I'll ever start reviewing anime again. I'm taking a little break from that.

Oh and if you have any thoughts on the cards or any tips you'd like to share, feel free. Or if you'd like, come give me a beating. Holler me down at the comments and I'll give you my ID and be your punching bag.

Wolvenciel, signing off.