Shadowfist player, Simon Strange, shares with you his card-by-card commentary on the Empire of Evil booster set. Have fun reading and share your thoughts at Shadowfist_forum@yahoogroups.com.
My rating system explained:
1.0 - Totally lame card which I expect will never see play.
2.0 - A reasonable card in some cases, but in general there are better options.
3.0 - A solid card with a good variety of applications.
4.0 - Over the curve. Expect to see these cards early and often.
5.0 - Use it now before it gets nerfed.
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Architect:
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Abomination Serum
This card has great art, and fits the Shadowfist universe really well, but unfortunately it comes to as us as more of a novelty than a workhorse-type card. On its own it's a high-resourced 3 for +3 fighting state. If you have a scientist in play it sort of acts like a Unique Shadowy Mentor - but it's fragile because it requires that the scientist be maintained. For the same power investment I could probably just play CHAR, and in most cases I probably would.
Rating: 2.5
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Alpine Squad
We've seen that 3-for-4 ambushing characters are pretty good, and these are 4-for-4 which makes them... a bit less than good. Yes, they can get a modest fighting bonus sometimes, and yes they are soldiers so you can combine them with the various soldier tricks to try to get more use out of them. But I doubt I'll be fielding these guys very often.
Rating: 1.5
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Arcanowave Feedback
As a free alternative to Nerve Gas - I think this card fits the bill nicely. I like the magic resource, and I like that it can be used to damage sites - although most FSS will prove to be immune since they don't provide or require and resources. I also just like good cards which deal non-combat damage, since the recent trend has been so focused on making non-combat damage dangerous to rely on. I'm also a fan of punishing cards which provide lots of resources - it makes sense that the art depicts a tricked-out Syndicate guy in agony.
Rating: 3.0
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CDCA Spies
This card is a trick-deck lover's dream. Three interesting designators, three resource provisions, and a handy smoked pile-manipulating ability. Unfortunately, they don't do much on their own. Probably a good fit for several Archie combo decks.
Rating: 2.25
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Combat Engineer
I love new foundation cards, and the Architects have sorely needed a 1-cost tech provider like this one. This guy can still turn to attack sites, so the limitation isn't nearly as harsh as it might seem at first. Just off the top of my head, here are a few of the sickest cards this guy lives to beef up: Napalm Belcher, ArcanoTank, Zeppelin, Smart Gun, Wave Disruptor. I believe you can also use him to do double duty if you like to field the Big Red Button. And he's a scientist, which is becoming more and more useful.
Rating: 3.0
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Commandant Barkhorn
This guy is an excellent example of how to make states more attractive - he's totally playable without any states, because it's the _threat_ of a state which makes him fearsome. So his ability is working to your advantage on every attack. Tactics is also a good fit for him, because it lets you use that threat to your best advantage. And even without all that goodness, he's a low-resourced 4-for-7 soldier. Expect to see this guy in every vehicle deck, and even a few decks without them.
Rating: 4.0
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Dao Biotech Headquarters
You know how I can tell this is a good card? Because I'm already trying to trade for more copies of it. It's a beefy NFSS which usually earns you the equivalent of 2 power each turn, it cannot be seized, and it gives all scientists +1 fighting. Compare to the anemic Biomass Reprocessing Center (NW2) to see how good this card is.
Rating: 3.25
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Desperate Measures
It's an event which provides and requires that you toast one of your little dudes. So it turns your second (or subsequent) foundation character into a free resource, as opposed to whatever you paid for it initially. Free resources are good, and the card's theme is totally in line with the Architects. But unfortunately, I just can't feel good about this card - maybe it's the art. I can't help but feel that sacrificing a more likeable subject would give me that evil glint I need to play Architects. Still, this card will probably be the fuel for some staggeringly strong early-game plays.
Rating: 4.25
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Dr. Hans Wulfjaeger
Here we have yet another Unique scientist with a reasonable ability. These are the sort of cards which let you do silly things sometimes, and just die miserably sometimes. You know how to use this.
Rating: 2.5
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Gnarled Annihilator
Ever since Red Wedding created Bribery & "Is That All You've Got?", the 5-fighting point has become a lot more interesting. Here we have a very interesting dual-purpose thug who can give a beating to foundation and mid-sized characters, and also act like an Assassin Bug to bigger characters. Add in the useful Abomination designator, and I can't see any reason not to include this guy in most of my Architect decks. He's all upside.
Rating: 4.0
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NeoBuro Field Medic
This is my 6-year-old son's favorite card - because he loves Guts, and finally he has an easy way to give it to any character at will. This is a mediocre ramp card - it would have been much enhanced by the soldier designator. Still, threatening to give guts to one of your wounded characters makes interception calculations for your opponents much more difficult, which is a good thing.
Rating: 2.5
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Overzealous Assassins
This is a pretty interesting multiplayer card, because it lets your jedi mind tricks take fruit as character kill. It's also a fine comeback card. But in more cases than not, you'd rather have Nerve Gas or Imprisoned. This is a one-of card, not a replacement for the excellent takeout the Architects already have. Which I suppose is a fine role to have.
Rating: 2.5
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Ascended
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Compromised Security
Empire of Evil has a not-too-subtle focus on encouraging aggression, and this card is one of the strongest pushers. It's a free state you can play at any time, which gives you power every time the site gets hit. Remember how Moonlight Raid made that Manchu deck so much better? This card is even stronger, and fits in any Ascended deck with lots of characters. Which is... all of the good ones. This is the stand-out card of the set as far as the Ascended are concerned.
Rating: 4.0
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Delaying Tactics
Delay is correct - this card seems designed to stop an opponent from attacking for one turn. It's a sacrifice card, which might lead to some interesting combos with Rama Singh or the like. But since it's dependent upon your opponent playing a character, and they can see it coming - I doubt this is going to be helping players much at all.
Rating: 1.5
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Embrace of the Snake
This card is a little bit weak, but that's exactly why I like it so much. Strong cards get played around, but cards like this are always useful. When I play Ascended people just don't BfP at all, because Bite is a very strong card. But I doubt people will stop playing with boldfaced abilities because of Embrace of the Snake. Functionally, this card feels like a mix of Return to the Center & Larcenous Mist. I'll totally play a few of these to see how well I can disrupt my opponents.
Rating: 2.25
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Horus
Horus is one of the better Reascended hitters, and that's really saying something. Instead of combat tricks and abilities, Horus just has a very high fighting. And instead of some conditional ability you have to build around, Horus just has the Gold Standard of strong abilities - "Cancel and smoke target card". Sure, he still has many of the event vulnerabilities all characters do, but he also packs a wallop that few 6-costers can match. And he doesn't require any setup to shine, other than the whole semi-janky Reascended thing.
Rating: 2.5
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Hunger of the Jackal
This card isn't flashy, but it's Some Good. 4-for-6 plus Stealth is solid. Throw in a moderately reliable power gain mechanic, and it's no stretch to imagine that we'll be staring at this Jackal's grimace a whole lot in the near future.
Rating: 3.5
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The Petrified Man
This guy is interesting - but doesn't really feel like a Ascended character. I guess they just get all the non-resource-providing mercenary characters. Not providing a resource seems like a liability, but most mercenary cards seem to be pretty average in power, and this guy is no exception. Toughness:2 is pretty strong, but playing with all-netherworld sites just to juice this guy up once a turn doesn't seem like much of a bargain. Paying the power seems fine if it is going to earn you a site, but I think I'd rather just play a guy who had stealth in the first place.
Rating: 2.0
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Red Tape Assault
Ugh. I like Blue Meditation, but this watered-down version is inferior not only to the hand version, but also inferior to existing Ascended evasion events like Moonlight Raid. Turning your characters is just too high a price to pay for this sort of effect. I'm sure someone could create a hypothetical situation where this card is the perfect solution, but I'm going to avoid it at all costs.
Rating: 1.0
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The She-Wolf
This card is pretty good. She's a 5-for-8 Transformed character, which is playable if a bit uninteresting. But her ability is sort of unique and compelling, which I really like. Worth investigating, certainly.
Rating: 2.5
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Spy Network
Here we have one of the first real challengers to the ubiquitous Covert Op. The downside is that you only get to see 2 cards, but the upside is that you could get up to 2 discards and 2 power. I'll have to get more games in to be certain, but I think this is a card worth throwing 2 - 3 of into every Mono Ascended deck.
Rating: 3.0
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Tentacles of the Squid
These guys aren't especially flashy, but they have muscle and reliability. Expect to see these guys hitting as 3-for-7 or better more often than not. In multi-faction decks or trick decks they could easily hit for much, much more. And I love the Eastern Promises reference in the art.
Rating: 3.25
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Whelps
New foundations again! These guys are at least playable as vanilla 1-cost foundations, although when playing Ascended you really should be doing much better. But copying abilities is pretty compelling, and the Leopard Clan and Rat clan abilities chain together nicely with it. Or just drop Grey Mountain for Toughness: 2 on everybody! The Transformed Animals deck has been struggling to get off the ground for a while now, and this might finally be the key to make it viable.
Rating: 2.25
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Wisdom of the Owl
Is this card going to win you any games? No. Do you want +1 hand size? Yes. Are there some crazy tricks that this card makes possible? Absolutely. You want cards which discard as a cost to activate some ability. Off the top of my head we have Bouncing Benjii, Artillery strike(!), Boot Hill, Monkey House, Palace of Virtual Light, Gold Lion, Ho Chen, Broken Wheel Brigade.... Heck, it might even be worthwhile to make that Asc/Hand deck with Wisdom of the Owl, Billy Chow, Fatty Cho, and Rebecca Dupress with a free Shadowfist. Deadly Hands wouldn't be too bad, either!
Rating: 2.5
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Dragons
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Alexandre Chen
I like traitor cards, and this one is certainly playable. 3-for-5 Independent is playable, if not quite a world beater. 5 fighting means he can come back cheaply with "Is That All You've Got?" and gaining power for joining attacks is a bit of fun.
Rating: 2.0
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The Blood of Heroes
Have you ever tried playing Out for Blood? I've found that it works amazingly well, but has the unfortunate anti-synergy of toasting your own characters. The Blood of Heroes works for you every turn, and is playable Hand or Dra to boot. Not an automatic inclusion, but any sort of weenie Hand or Dragon deck would probably do well to include it.
Rating: 2.75
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Brave Villagers
New foundation again, and this one gives you a mini Petal's Attendant on a 1-cost foundation. Interestingly, this means that Dragons might prefer to give up first-turn advantage to push some aggressive first-turn attacks. Obviously the archers won't replace decks looking to use student designators, but otherwise I expect to see lots of Dragon decks fielding archers for some quick early removal.
Rating: 3.0
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Equal Opportunity Butt Kicking!
Have you ever used Wind on the Mountain to pull a Final Brawl? This is just like that, only better. Presumably the three resources, Toast It, and Limited restrictions were all added to the card to keep it from being overpowered. They probably did just about enough.
Rating: 3.25
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Escalation
This is an interesting card, and time will tell if the circumstances to make it useful come up often enough for inclusion in many decks. There are two times that this card is good - as temporary punchthrough (especially with healing effects or guts), or as a way to inflict lethal damage to a character you intercept, albeit after the attack ends. The dragons have a long history of situational events which never see play, and this seems a bit better than most of them. Is it better enough? We'll have to wait and see.
Rating: 2.25
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Heroic Converts
This is mostly just a 2-for-2 character with a provisional fighting boost which is usually much worse than the Good Ol' Boys (which are excellent). Only decks which really need the Chi or the designator will field these guys. If they provided Dra and Hand (as the tagline implies) _then_ we'd have something really interesting.
Rating: 1.25
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Iron Jim Colson
Immunity just gets cheaper and cheaper these days - now we have a 5-for-8 Guts hitter with immunity to sites and states. Not much to build around here, but expect to see Jim taking sites at a game near you soon. This card would be rated higher if the Dragons weren't already flush with good cards in this vein.
Rating: 2.75
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Nomad Army
These guys look like they know something about efficiency. The first time they attack they're low resource 4-for-6 with Toughness:1, and they just get better from there. Bring them back cheap with "Is That All You've Got?", use the Bandit designator for some janky tricks, and generally get your licks in before anyone else has a chance.
Rating: 3.0
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Preserving Chi
This is an interesting card. It can act a bit like a permanent Blood of the Valiant, but it can also be used to put lots of damage on a site you control. That might be awesome enought with Bamboo Forest, or maybe you want to create a Mountain Fortress combo with Security + Portal Nexus. As either a novelty or the keystone of a janky combo, this is a card that will only see limited use.
Rating: 2.25
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Secret Warrior Training Base
We have here a new template for Battleground Sites - they cost a lot, generate power, work in the back row, and don't reward seizing. On the other hand, they now have much more useful abilities. Weenie Decks will get a lot of use out of this regardless of faction, much like the Dragon Throne.
Rating: 2.5
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The Spirit of Kongxiangsi
We all know how good Golden Comeback is. Is it worth 3 power for the same effect without the need for a card? I suspect it is. And 4-for-7 with regenerate isn't too bad at all. He's not a punchthrough machine like other dragon hitters can be, but consistency goes a long way.
Rating: 3.0
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Guiding Hand
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Blue Master
I've found the Blue Monk to be very useful in the 3-for-4 slot. This guy is somewhat better, but is his ability as good as Superleap? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. You're always going to get by at least one problem interceptor, but these days I expect a bit more for 5 power. Still totally playable, and don't overlook the fact that he's non-unique!
Rating: 2.75
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Blue Meditation
This is a new staple card for the Hand, no question. Low resource, zero cost, can be used on any character (not just your own) - this is flexability and function all wrapped up in a tidy package.
Rating: 3.0
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Difficulty at the End of Things
This is an excellently designed card - it's a good companion to Confucian Stability but doesn't replace it. A free event counter which sometimes doesn't work is still pretty good. And notice that it has the key text "Play in response to an Event." That's what allows it to cancel those tricky Establishing Shot events like Pocket Demon and Violet Meditation. Players won't pack 5, but expect to see one or two in most Hand decks.
Rating: 3.0
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Liu Jian Lang
Here we have a Lotus Traitor, and he's pretty excellent. 3-for-4 with Superleap is pretty high on the curve, and tactical card toasting can't hurt. In fact, I wish the Lotus had such an excellent example of free reusable toasting! Add in funky resource provisions and a Eunuch designator, and you've got a card which is brimming with flavor and utility both.
Rating: 3.25
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Meditative Flight
I'm torn on this card. The Hand have long been envious of Flying Kick, and here they have a card which is pretty much better all around, as it also grants Mobility and +1 damage. But I can't quite shake the feeling that in many cases Blood of the Valiant would work better. I like the chrome of turning the effect into a state, and maybe there are some ways that the self-sacrifice can be used in a Hand / Mon deck for some crazy benefits... but that seems like a lot of work for what could be a defining feature of the Guiding Hand.
Rating: 2.5
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Mountain Monastery
The Hand have a new foundation site, and it's offensive in nature! Non-FSS have always been quite strong, but for some reason they've never seemed to really make the cut in many people's final decks. Hopefully this card will help turn people around. Bomb Factory has proved to be pretty popular, and this card is clearly stronger, so I've got my fingers crossed.
Rating: 3.0
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Resistance in Numbers
Well, EoE has been pretty kind to the Hand overall, so I guess they had to get at least one stinker. Turning several characters to give a site toughness until the end of the turn seems pretty marginal in most cases, so you're mainly playing this for the reactive protection against Blow Things Up, Nuked, Orbital Laser Strike, and so forth. A classic example of a specific counter card that will clog up your hand all game. To be fair, hand-clogging cards are at least in favor for the Guiding Hand.
Rating: 1.25
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Shihong
5-for-12? Yes, please. This card is so strong, it might actually NOT be overpowered, because of all the uniqueness auctions it will be creating between Hand players. The Magic resource probably gets you to Larcenous Mist, which (along with other text blankers) will be seeing significant play with this beat-stick.
Rating: 4.5
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Stoic Wanderer
And at last we have an Orange Monk worthy of the name. At worst, this guy is a vanilla 3-for-4 with Chi and decent designators. At best, he's a beating and a half with no drawback. Depending on your metagame, this guy could be one of the most prominent new faces in the Hand.
Rating: 3.0
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Strength of the Land
Not only will we be seeing Strength of the Land in almost every Hand deck in the future, but I predict that we'll be seeing lots of Dragon and Syndicate deck splashing Hand to play this card. Expect this card to be +3 hand size or better most of the time, which is just ridiculously good.
Rating: 4.0
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Willow Warriors
Golden Candle Society has long been the staple Hand foundation, and Little Grasshopper provided an interesting alternative. But the Willow Warriors just flat-out top both of them, with a significant advantage and no drawback to speak of. Ouch.
Rating: 4.0
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Yuan Chonguan
I always like to see a new Mastermind in the game, especially when their ability is worthy of the designator. This guy is going to eliminate an interceptor or two on your attacks, and can also be used on defense to cancel your own declared interceptions. The mind-games this can cause in multiplayer situations are potentially brain-freezing. I sort of wish this guy had Tactics, just for flavor. He's potentially useful in both weenie and big-hitter decks, which pretty much guarantees we'll see him on the board soon.
Rating: 3.0
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Jammers
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Andy Di
Free fighting for everyone! Andy is a solid card - maybe even an excellent card - in a weenie or Rebel deck. Outside of that, he's nothing special. So you know where and when to expect Mr. Di to show up.
Rating: 2.5
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Auspicious Thermite
Disco Inferno has shown itself to be a very useful event, and this sacrifices just a bit of punch for significantly more versatility. I don't expect to see people use the second ability much, but in some situations it might prove useful. I'd slot a few of these in any deck which wants to spread around site damage, which is a fair number of Jammer decks.
Rating: 3.0
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Back in Black
Jammers have a few excellent semi-random character return events already, so how does this compare? It's slightly better or worse than In Your Face Again, depending on how many characters you have in your smoked pile. In a multiplayer game, your opponent might actually help you bring back something good, so in some cases it's better than mysterious return. I suspect that combo deck tweakers will swear by this card, and casual players will stick with the predictably unpredictable solutions we already have.
Rating: 2.5
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Cocktail Waiters
Here we have a really great general purpose utility character. It's most at home in a weenie rabble deck, sure. But it's a fine card in any deck which uses characters, which means it's just a fine card anytime. I'm not sure I quite understand how rebel Chinese can be Jammers from the future - even with flammable liquids in tow - but I'll overlook that and just slot some waiters for faster site destruction.
Rating: 3.0
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Explosive Motorcycle
This is a powerful, risky card. In other words - perfect for the Jammers. Lots of players will use this for a surprise +5 damage at the expense of their attacking character, but don't overlook the fact that it can also be used to make sure that an opponent's character will get smoked if they attack a site. Even if you play this card in the most conservative way possible, you're still getting 6 damage of fighting for an investment of just 2 power - and that's good anytime.
Rating: 3.0
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Jayne Insane
I love the feel of the Jane and Johnny cards, which is very important for a Jammer card. Add the fact that Jayne will usually be a monster hitter, AND that she feeds off of the primary Jammer mechanic of site damage, AND that she's got silly Monarch chrome to boot - and you've got one of the biggest name cards of the set. Well worth the wait.
Rating: 3.25
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Johnny Amok
Oh Jayne, why do you love this bad boy so? Johnny had better be a game-winning card when you play him, because otherwise he's pretty much guaranteed to become a game-losing card as he flits all around the board, taking sites for your opponents. The good news is that I think his tremendously low cost is justified. The bad news is that his drawback is so harsh that I can't imagine ever being so desperate as to put him into my deck.
Rating: 1.75
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Out of the Barrel
Did anyone ever play with Too Much Monkey Business? (Flashpoint) - That card was super cool, but just never really did much. I kept packing a few copies game after game because the idea of playing a character as a surprise reaction to an opponent's event was just too thrilling to pass up. So the card just sat in my hand forever.
Well finally we have a card which might make good on some of that potential with Out of the Barrel. This time we can play characters during an attack. This is primarily useful after we burn for power, blowing up all our apparent defenders in the process. Is that that the way you're already playing Jammers? Me too.
Rating: 3.0
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Potemkin's Brigade
This is the sort of vanilla reactive card that might be useful in certain metagames, but generally I'd rather be the one that my opponents are reacting to - as opposed to worrying about countering their tricks. Yes, these guys might be able to ignore Fox Pass, or prevent some characters from changing location, but wouldn't you rather play a character who can overcome more mundane threats, like interceptors? Limited usefulness, at best.
Rating: 1.25
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Suicide Squad
Hooray for new foundations! These guys don't have the glitz of some, but I think they'll get the job done. Nice to know that these guys will get a point of damage onto a site, no matter what! Also expect these guys to crop up in new sacrifice decks, competing with Darkness Warriors for the most eager foundations to off themselves. And their nature can work even more in your favor if opponents don't bother to kill them - expecting them to die quickly anyway.
Rating: 2.75
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Thingshot
This is a pretty swell idea - but it either never quite lived up to its promise, or somewhere along the way it got relegated to the coaster box. It's a weapon that you play on a site - but you need to sacrifice other characters or states you control to make it do anything. And it turns, so you can only do it once. And it can only damage characters. Since it's a weapon it can fuel Battlematics, but I think everyone would be much happier if they replaced their Thingshots with Fusion Rifles.
Rating: 1.5
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Tunnel King
This guy might appear to be reactive in the same way Potempkin's Brigade is, but he's actually an effective (and efficient) headache for your opponent. Four interesting designators, provides tech, and can attack back-row sites. He cancels only when he damages the site, but it's a permanent cancel, so he's probably better than Palm of Darkness. The fact that your opponent can cancel the cancel by paying 2 power is just the cherry on top - because it's almost always a losing proposition for them to do it, but you know that some people will be suckered into it anyway.
Rating: 3.0
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The Wrath of Kong
The concept of this art is good, but I wish it wasn't so dark... in any case, we'll be seeing a fair amount of this Big Angry Monkey in many a Jammer deck. He's not over the curve, but he's certainly on the high side of it. 5-for-8 with partial CHAR-nature is totally playable already, but seizing any site he damages is just rude to your opponents. This plays well with Jammer tricks which enjoy damaged sites, and don't forget to use your monkey tricks. This guy will be a ripe target for damage redirection, so maybe pack your Petroglyphs when you field him.
Rating: 3.0
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Lotus
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Abysmal Behemoth
Demon vehicles are an interesting concept, and thus far they've been a mixed bag. This Behemoth is hopefully more like Hell Charger (good) than the Demon Tank (bad.) Forget the largely negligible secondary abilities and focus on the fact that we've got a 2-for-4 fighting state. Better than Thunder Sword, which has been excellent for more than a decade.
Rating: 3.0
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The Alabaster King
Without the discount ability, this guy is strictly mediocre. But the Lotus have so many excellent 3+ Unique characters you should have no trouble dropping this guy for just 2 or 3 power, and often out of turn when his regeneration will really come in handy. He's not someone you build a deck around, like Xin Ji Yang, The Emperor, or Agathon - he's the beefy plan B. He'll be a fine card to put into many Lotus decks, even if he doesn't come out every game.
Rating: 3.0
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The Alabaster Palace
This card seems like it should have the subtitle "Monkey King v2" - this is a way to return cards to your hand which lets you get around lots of disadvantages, like not being able to heal. Unique NFSS which cost 3 and generate 2 are pretty solid, especially for Lotus decks with palace guards to protect them. Note that you can return any card you own, even if someone else controls it. So Shaolin Hoedown away some big hitter, then take him and play him again.
Rating: 2.75
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Drowning in Blood
This is an interesting card - the implication is that you can effectively deal 2 damage for each character you get smoked. But half the time or more you won't be able to make things play out just as you hope, and you'll end up using the card for just a quick 2 damage to some character. But the real problem isn't the uncertainty inherent in the card - the problem is that taking down big characters has never been a real difficulty for the Lotus, so Drowning in Blood doesn't really fill any void. Throwdown in Chinatown, Shattering Fire and Shrieking Witch Heads would probably all do a better job of what you want Drowning in Blood to do.
Rating: 1.5
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Hell Hound
Hmmm... it looks like the Lotus really have the highs and lows in this set. Hell Hound is a great of example of a card which fits well thematically, but just never really does anything worthwhile. Paying 2 power to protect an expensive character from a potential threat does not seem like a good idea - especially when that protection requires the survival of a 2 fight character, and only extends to effects which remove a character from play. Avoid this doggie.
Rating: 1.0
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Imperial Sycophants
More new foundations! No magic provision, which is increasingly viable these days for the Lotus, but what do we get in return? We get two things - a Eunuch designator which fuels the classic Ghao Zhang / Emperor / Imperial Boon Lotus deck, and a potential to come out for free when you play the unique characters you were already going to play. Unfortunately, I think that these benefits are limited to just a few Lotus deck types. So the Sycophants will probably get only limited rotation among players who have a choice of foundations.
Rating: 2.5
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Infernal Army
Wow! This guy is the nail at the end of a big stick, which is to say that he's going to make the beating you receive hurt significantly more. He's resourced interestingly, has plenty of fighting to take sites, boosts the Bloody Horde designators, and looks damn near impossible to kill by conventional means. Healing after every combat is so good, I also expect to see this guy featured in decks designed to copy abilities around. And the Army will be a huge opportunity for some Evil Twin action I'm sure. Expect to see a horde of these in play around your table.
Rating: 4.0
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Prefect's Guard
More new foundations for the Lotus. Another non-magic foundation, but this one is a bit more versatile. Sacrifice abilities are hard to stop, and preventing interception is pretty handy in the late game, when foundations become less handy in general. Most interestingly is that cops designator, which opens up the Lotus cop deck wide.
Rating: 2.75
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Under the Knife
Getting +3 damage from a state is good, and getting it for free is Very Good. For extra utility, you can use this to kill 1-fighting utility characters. For extra utility again, you can create more Eunuchs for your Imperial Boon deck. This card goes in every deck, period.
Rating: 4.25
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Underworld Coronation
This card is clearly strong - very strong. But is it any good? This is a Lotus-themed Neutron Bomb, with a twist. I think it's less useful than the classic Bomb, because of the One-Shot restriction. But in some situations, such as a deck with Kong Jun She, it's perfect. Lotus decks might have some trouble getting the three power together, but this is a worthy consideration for a 1-of inclusion in almost any Lotus deck.
Rating: 3.0
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Unholy Legionnaires
This card combos with itself, and looks like it will do so tremendously well. Since it's also an Undead card, and also a soldier card, these Legionnaires could be making the rounds in a number of theme decks. What I like about these guys is that they combine a conditional fighting bonus with a conditional cost reduction. So they might be 2-for-2, 1-for-2, or even 1-for-3 fighting. All of those are excellent, which means this is a fine card which only gets better.
Rating: 3.0
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The Withering of Souls
Here we have yet another reasonable character damage event. This one is very cheap, but comes at a pretty significant opportunity cost. I personally won't be playing this one very frequently, as I rarely see 3 characters on my opponent's side. But in some metagames this will be an easy replacement for Shrieking Witch Heads.
Rating: 2.5
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Xin Ji Yang
This queen is excellent, in that she fits into existing Demon-themed decks, rather than requiring a whole specific deck to do her trick. 4-for-7 with regenerate is pretty reasonable even without the ability to ping interceptors. Xin works well with both of the new foundations, but you'll need to get your magic from somewhere, so I suspect people will still be playing with their Sinister Priests. And although theme decks are fun, notice that Xin has anti-synergy with the Underworld Coronation, because she requires demons in play to do her thing.
Rating: 2.75
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Monarchs
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Baron Volund
Unturning Characters is strong, and Thunder has had an interesting "juice up one character at the expense of everyone else" theme for a while, so I suppose we've been due a card like this one. 4-for-7 Tactics is playable, if a bit vanilla, so I suspect we'll see this card only in limited rotation. Don't forget that you can unturn other player's cards as well, if that suits your purposes.
Rating: 2.5
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Consuming Darkness
This is a pretty good Darkness card - I expect that this one will mostly be seen as a benefit, as opposed to the similar Uncontrolled Mutation, which has always been more of a takeout card than a fighting boost. I don't think this card will be a first-turn drop to rival Claws of Darkness, but it's probably something worth putting a few of into any deck which doesn't mind the Darkness Designator.
Rating: 2.75
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Darkness Golem
That toughness:4 looks pretty amazing, until you realize that most of the time this guy is just a 5-for-8 with a moderate deterrence ability. There might be some utility in throwing some site damage around, but in most cases I'd rather take a character who had some sort of evasion ability. This is by no means a weak card, but there are so many strong hitters for the Monarchs that this card will probably only make the cut in pure Darkness decks.
Rating: 2.25
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Fire Engineers
This is an interesting mix of ideas - You'd play these guys over Fire Soldiers for the Magic resource, but they only shine in decks which also use Chi tricks - so I guess you're trying some sort of Fire-Mag-Chi deck. Fire Soldiers are so good that I suspect I'll only use these guys in Peacock decks, possibly replacing Darkness Warriors as the go-to Monarch splash.
Rating: 1.75
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Fire Falx
Ice Sword already cemented Monarchs as the master of swords, and this just pushes them further in that direction. +3 damage is pretty good as the Buro has known for years, and this card will often come out much stronger. And the fire designator doesn't hurt a bit, either.
Rating: 3.75
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The Keeper of Hearts
Darkness sacrifice decks have been strong for years, and this card is an easy add to all of them. You've got the priestess and darkness designators, an excellent sacrifice ability which stands on its own, and in combination with the existing sacrifice strategies becomes a slam-dunk. Interestingly the Assassinate ability is actually a weakness here, as it might encourage players to attack characters with this awesome card.
Rating: 3.5
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Netherworld Librarian
I'll admit that I have a soft spot for alluring librarians, but even without that bias I think I'd admire this card some. Useful designators, Excellent ramping potential (which has long been the bane of Monarch decks) and an ability which is always useful, if not quite earth-shattering. This card will at least warrant consideration in most Monarch decks.
Rating: 2.75
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Darkness Assassin
This is an overcosted character with a free Nerve Gas built in, which doesn't sound like much of a deal in general, but might be worthwhile in the Monarch faction. It is harder to cancel characters than to cancel or mess with events, so that works in your favor. But you can't play it during an attack, so that removes much of the usefulness.
Rating: 2.0
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Skin and Darkness Hunter
There isn't much to say about these guys, and even less of it good. They are independent, which is pretty good, but otherwise they are just high-resourced 3-for-4 characters, which is below the curve for Monarchs. Their ability to come back to your hand just means you can overpay for them over and over - which just makes a losing proposition worse.
Rating: 1.5
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Spartan Warriors
If you build a deck to take advantage of the special ability, these guys are pretty solid 3-for-5 with toughness:1. Otherwise, they aren't worth playing.
Rating: 2.0
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Stolen Thunder
A conditional event which gives a free fighting bonus, and is playable only during your main shot sounds... not very compelling. I'd rather play some of the excellent power gain Monarch events, and use that power for more permanent fighting.
Rating: 1.75
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Wriggling Skin Suit
Copying abilities out of your smoked pile has shown itself to be pretty good, and adding a fighting bonus on top of it sounds even better. This is even more flexible than Occult Kung-Fu, because it's not restricted to non-unique characters, and you can play it out of turn. Don't overlook the fun of copying limitations onto opponent's characters!
Rating: 3.0
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Purists
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36-Legged Horror!
The horror is a pretty solid character for the purists - their spirits are their big hitters, and this is an excellent character to fill their ramp-up spot. It's abilities are somewhat defensive, but that works well for the Purists, who often like to just turn characters for power with Quantum Sorcery, and save attacks for their win attempts. Mobility is a perfect power to reinforce that strategy, so I think the Horror will be a go-to choice for people who don't need the offensive punch through of Memory or Cognitive Spirit.
Rating: 3.0
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Bending Chi
Purist decks always have a ton of Magic resources, so unturning 2 or more sites should be no trouble. But paying 1 power to unturn sites isn't a worthwhile bargain most of the time. So will anyone ever play this card? Yes, but only in janky turning-site-heavy combo decks. Imagine putting Haunted Forest next to the Palace of Virtual Light, turning one in response to another, and playing Bending Chi in response to unturn both of them. That's the sort of Jank this card begs for.
Rating: 2.0
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Damon Winter
Card drawing in Shadowfist has never been especially strong the way it is in other games. But that doesn't mean card drawing is bad - it's just not especially strong without a specific purpose. There are combo decks which will make some use of Damon Winter, but he's certainly less generally useful than, for example, Mutator.
Rating: 2.25
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Echo Spirit
A one-cost Destroyer seems pretty interesting, and since they are non-unique, there isn't much opportunity cost to putting them out. They also help push forward the "unsacrificed deck" which uses characters which cannot be sacrificed, along with effects which (normally) would force a sacrifice. The "cannot play states" restriction hurts a bit, but these give you lots of chump blocking opportunities. If that's what your deck has been lacking, then you'll be pleased to include some Echo Spirits.
Rating: 2.5
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Kisa Serkov
We've see variations on this theme before, but this is one of the best. Kisa is tailor-made to play when you have three sites out, and win you the game in one fell swoop. Unfortunately she can be a liability to play if you're not going to win, but that's a minor gripe.
Rating: 3.0
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Paradox Archives
The quote on this card is awesome. A NFSS with 7 body is excellent, and +1 hand size is a no-brainer. The only reason this card might not be in every Purist deck is because so many people still don't seem to realize how handy NFSS can be.
Rating: 3.5
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Origami Handguns
These are pretty cute - weapon states which automatically move to a new owner. And they provide Magic to boot! People will try to use these in decks featuring Spirit of the Gun, but I think they'll work fine in almost any deck which needs a bit of offensive power. You sacrifice power for reliability, which is probably a pretty good trade-off.
Rating: 3.0
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Probability Shift
For me, this is the stand-out Purist card of the set. Cycling two cards is good - potentially clogging your opponent's hand is good too. And the more copies you play, the better off you might be. Without the Magic provision, I'd probably rate this card at a 3.0. With the Magic provision, it's significantly better. Put five of these in every Purist deck.
Rating: 4.0
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Uncertainty Spirit
This is a pretty good stick for the Purists - he can attack back-row sites (sort of...), he almost never fails his attack, and you can hit multiple targets in a single go. You give up any sort of punch-through ability in exchange for some targeting tricks. Not the most exciting card ever, but not at all bad if you think you can make good use of it.
Rating: 2.5
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Vitality Shunt
This is more excellent character removal for the Purists - even though they really didn't need any more. Unfortunately, this version comes with two big restrictions - you have to toast a FSS, and it can't be one under attack. That's a big price to pay, and it means that this will be emergency takeout only. I'll probably put one or two of these in a few of my Purist decks, but it won't be replacing Glimpse of Brief Eternity any time soon.
Rating: 2.75
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Zen Ritualist
New Foundation! I like the geomancer designator, though there isn't much to do with it as far as game effects (yet...). Site swapping is fun, and in faction for the purists, but you might want to do it at most once at a give column, so you're not actually getting a lot of use out of it. More importantly, most Purist decks tend to draw cards and gain power rather than attack aggressively, which means you're generally better off with Arcane Scientist.
Rating: 2.25
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7 Masters
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Jade Willow
Holy Cow! Another 7M hitter, and she's possible the best one yet! 5-for-8 with Guts is a site-taking machine, and conditional superleap is very strong. You have the option to reload her when a site is burned, so already she's significantly stronger than Jack Donovan. But then *insanely* she ALSO comes out for free if you haven't played her yet.
Totally nuts.
Rating: 4.5
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Mountain Hermit
This hermit is just chock-full of chewy combo goodness. He's a foundation, so you can use him in any Chi or Magic deck. He unturns any Magic card - Edge, Site, Character, and he can potentially unturn multiple cards in a single turn if you're running both talents. His ability is ripe for copying to other characters, and he already provides the resources for Occult Kung Fu. He's also a Sorcerer, which never hurts. Imagine this guy in a Fire Chi deck to get a sense of how many potential advantages he could create. And when all else fails, he's still three fighting.
Rating: 3.25
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Syndicate
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Akamatsu Mitsusukue
We've seen this guy before, as Lui Yu Min in the Guiding Hand. 5-for-8 with CHAR nature is still a beating, and his gravy abilities might come in handy as well. This is pretty on par for the Syndicate flavor, so I expect that we'll see Mr. Mitsusuke fairly often.
Rating: 3.0
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Data Mining
This is an excellent power-gen event. Offhand, I'd say that it's better than IKTV Special Report. This is a good defining card for the Syndicate, and I expect it to see a ton of play.
Rating: 3.25
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Hiroshi Kata
It's nice to see more characters attacking out of turn. Combining attack out of turn with "can attack once without turning" gives a nice combo of abilities. I don't think this guy would be my #1 pick for the 5-cost slot, but he's probably second or third, so he'll make the cut in a bunch of Syndicate decks. He's also a Martial Artist, which could be significant sometimes.
Rating: 3.0
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Mars Program Executive
I remember playing with lots of Swiss Bankers back in the day, and this card is a dozen times better. Assuming things don't go horribly wrong, you've played a 2-fight resource ramp for just 1 power at the end of your turn, and you have the potential of getting even more power in future turns. You get power at the end of EVERY turn, so in multiplayer games you'll often get all 3 power before you even draw up for your next turn. This guy is such a good ramp that I think the Syndicate have been pretty much set in stone as a Tech faction, with modest access to Chi.
Rating: 3.75
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Platinum Upgrade
The power efficiency of this card is great. 4 fighting and toughness:3 for 3 power is a fine cost. Unfortunately, states are still weaker than other types of cards, so you need to be ready to accept the fact that sometimes you'll be spending 3 power to have your character killed before the state resolves. I actually think that Street Racers might be a good subject for this card - it's a truism that the risk of playing a state can be mitigated by putting it on a smaller character, as opposed to your beefy hitter.
Rating: 2.5
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The Price of Progress
See all those characters in the art, getting ready for something which might or might not happen? That's how I feel about this card. This might be a free Snowstorm, or it might just net you a 1 power theft. Or it might sit in your hand, wishing it were some other card. This is the sort of card you want to go easy on, because it only helps you when you are behind.
Rating: 2.25
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Smoke and Mirrors
This is a low-resourced Flying Sleeves, except that you need to pay influence to make it work. In exchange, you can potentially affect several characters at once. There is really only one good card which gives Influence (Corporate Warfare), so without that this card is useless. Assuming you have a reliable source of influence, I think this card is passable. But for most Syndicate decks Influence has not yet become a reality.
Rating: 1.75
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Street Doc
This guy is almost as good as the Chinese Doctor, and he provides Tech as well. Almost every Syndicate card is a Tech card - the notable exceptions are Nihilist, Salaryman, and Inside Man. Most Syndicate decks use Nihilist as an important hitter, so we'll see whether people favor him or the Street Doc more.
Rating: 2.5
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Street Racers
These guys sort of beg for a state-heavy deck, especially free states. There are plenty of those around these days, and the Hood designator probably doesn't hurt these guys any. I don't think these guys will be the go-to foundation for most Syndicate decks, because most Syndicate decks field only a couple states at best. But we'll probably see at least a few Street Racers in Peacock decks, and in dual-faction decks with Rancher or Thugs.
Rating: 2.5
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Synchronic Beam Emitter
This state is reasonable - it's a free +1 fighting, and a Blue Meditation rolled into one. To make it a surprise you probably don't want to play it ahead of time - so we probably won't see this played for the fighting bonus alone very often. The trick with this card is the Chi requirement - it's very tempting to play the Syndicate without Chi foundations these days, so you're either playing with substandard foundations for early access to Chi, or you're playing this only after you've dropped a Chi-providing hitter.
Rating: 2.5
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Tattooed Man
This guy is crazy offensive. If unblocked, he can hit for 11 damage, which is tremendous. This is the sort of Offensive card which begs for reliable healing - which isn't something the syndicate have been geared towards too often. Expect to see these guys paired with Street Docs. I think these are going to be replacing Nihilists in many Syndicate decks, at least for a while.
Rating: 3.0
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Underworld Contacts
Forget about the Influence-powered reload effect - this is a free event which turns characters. It's like Delaying Tactics, except that it's free, and can be played on opponent's turns. Pure Syndicate decks might add a couple of these, but I think they'll be most prized in Syndicate/Hand decks where superleap is a major focus.
Rating: 2.5
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The Wireless
This is an interesting site - it's a cheap NFSS that generates 2 power, with a moderate drawback. Maybe the idea is that you can work around the drawback better than your opponent, so they won't want to seize it? Part of the beauty of a NFSS is that people generally don't want to attack them. But anything that generates 2 power a turn becomes a pretty tempting target, so that's not working in your favor here. Since this is unique, I think it's a one-of in a deck at best.
Rating: 2.25
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Neutral
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Bandolier of Throwing Knives
The trick with this state is that it gets better when you play it on higher cost characters. That's pretty good as a trend, but I'm not sure it's going to put the Bandolier on everyone's list of favorite states. It deals damage without turning, so you can get some use out of it on Street Racers, and it has a pretty cool flavor which should give it some legs. So while this card might not light the world on fire, let's hope it's indicative of a growing trend.
Rating: 2.5
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Superior Tactics
Remember Stand Together? You should, because it's tremendously good. This is a weaker version of that, which has the advantage of not being limited, so theoretically you can have several copies boosting your attacking characters simultaneously. But fighting boosts while attacking have never been especially good, since they just encourage people to smoke them on defense. And working a multi-faction deck for this bonus just doesn't sound like good planning. These might be semi-useful in multifaction decks with no common designators, maybe.
Rating: 1.5
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Chi
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Awesome Presence
Here we have another state which gets better on more resource-intensive cards. Half damage from most sources is pretty good, but is that conditional disclaimer enough to get people to play this over Walk of a Thousand Steps? Maybe. And hey, if you play both on a character, they might take no damage from any source. Not the worst trick.
Rating: 2.0
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Magic
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The Becoming
This is a very useful event - it lets you do Dr. Timbul-style tricks on any unique character, plus give them regenerate. This could foil attacks, save your hitter from Imprison / Nerve Gas / Bomb / Whatever, or any number of other things. Not the sort of card that people will be rushing to slot into their decks, but I suspect that most people who try it will find that it comes in handy.
Rating: 3.0
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Bonebow Army
This is a neutral Magic character who also provides Magic, and rocks pretty hard on his own. +1 damage to characters is solid, and throwing around 2 damage after a successful attack is totally worthwhile as well. These guys are also Demons, so I think they'll see lots of play in Lotus decks, though they stand pretty well in any deck with Magic. And wouldn't it be a surprise to see these guys pop out after a DNA Mage?
Rating: 3.25
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Withering Touch
Free fighting is good, and an Alabaster Javelin-style ability is also good. The danger here is that you might accidentally smoke a site you damaged. But if you can work around that problem I think folks will have a really good time with this Touch.
Rating: 2.75
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Tech
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Fingertip Razors
Anti-healing cards like this one don't excite me, because I'm always worried that the bookkeeping aspect of remembering which damage came from which source will drive people away. But this is still free fighting, and tech decks will probably take that where they can get it.
Rating: 2.25
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Feng Shui Sites
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Ancient Stone Arch
This is a very viable alternative to the Mobius Garden, which has been a decent FSS for years. I like this one more in some ways, because once the Mobius Garden is revealed people will sometimes just discard their powergain events, while FSS in play are harder to stop using, even when you share the benefit with your opponents. Obviously this is metagame dependent, but I think lots of people like free power. If both players have these, can that cause a cascade of power? I like to think so.
Rating: 2.5
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Bamboo Forest
This card is great - it's very strong in many situations, but not impossible to deal with. I think lots of people will be playing these instead of Diamond Beach, which is a good thing. It also doesn't hurt that the art on this card is fantastic.
Rating: 3.0
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Endless Corridor
Rearranging Sites is a good trick, but with so many other amazing FSS available these days I doubt we'll see much of this Corridor in play.
Rating: 2.25
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The Great Wall
I like this card - beefy and defensive, encourages larger site structures, and thematic. I think this site will be a big target for site-ability-copying cards like Haunted Forest, and all the Purist tricks. And don't overlook the madness that Escher Hotel can bring when combined with the Wall!
Rating: 3.0
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Hanging Gardens
This card is a wet dream for all the fans of Fox Pass, K-house, and the like. Not only does it let you double up on your site effects, but it also helps weaken Whirlpool. And it does it over and over. Some people will be fighting to include this site in all of their decks. I expect this card to become highly sought on e-bay.
Rating: 3.5
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Martyr's Tomb
Reloading characters isn't something you'll want to do all the time, but I certainly wouldn't sneer at the option. And some decks which rely on cheap character costs or Simian Liberation Army tricks will be totally psyched to turn all of their characters into Martyrs. This could even help thin the smoked pile for Netherworld Return tricks. Lots of applications == lots of decks packing this Tomb.
Rating: 3.25
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Mirrored Lake
This card looks pretty good at first blush, but I think that it will fail to pan out in practice. Non-combat damage is an annoyance, but punishing it is hardly the goal of most decks. FSS tend to stay in play for a long time, and you'll get maybe one good use out of this card, at best. You're not even canceling or redirecting the original damage, so I think people will learn pretty quickly that this card should be avoided more often than not. And no, I don't think this card lets you get more use out of your Chaos Spirits, since you still control the source of the damage.
Rating: 1.75
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Mountain Sanctuary
This is a pretty solid defensive card for several reasons - it has high body, obviously. It gets stronger as you get less able to defend it (unlike the Big Red Barn), and you can smoke it by playing characters when it gets dangerously low on body. I think we'll see this replacing Inner Sanctums in many decks.
Rating: 2.5
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The Shangshu Mansion
This is a power card, make no mistake. It's a gambling house that keys off your play, not your opponent's play. Dragons and Lotus will make the most of this card, though the Purists will probably also find a way to field a few.
Rating: 3.0
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Weeping Willows
At best, this card will earn you 1 extra power per turn. And because it's limited, you can't play multiple copies, so you can't really plan on drawing this card when you really want to (when playing your third site.) There are lots of other sites which provide power more reliably, and I think people will figure out quickly that they should stick with those options. This card gets somewhat better if you can reorganize your site structure at will and/or copy site abilities around, so some Purist decks might try to use a few. Maybe.
Rating: 1.5
Special Thanks to the Shadowfist Secret HQ, which provided me with contrasting card-by-card commentary for years. And thanks also to all the people who keep caring enough to bring us this set, and hopefully more sets in the future!