Yeah. I need to make up my mind :P I got another Illexia code, hopefully this one will work! Even if not, I have a backup :P And remember, once you upload it, it will be locked to your account! No tradesies!
Anywho, rules are the same, everythings the same! Actually, no, it's not. Slight change in the rules.
"Originality: (You can use the same old Nimmei build, but if you put an original spin on it, you will get more points)
Effectiveness: (Using random cards is original.. will it win a match?)
Mechanics: (Does it really work? Be sure to brush up on your rulings before you submit a deck!)
Consistency: (Does everything work together? Do your attacks, elements, locations and creatures mesh together? Do you have control-tendencies in an aggro deck that dont fit?)
Rules!
1 - These decks can be hypothetical. You do not have to actually have the cards. However, keep it practical. If there is an ultra in somewhere where a common could be used, you could lose marks.
2 - Please do not copy decks. This is almost impossible to police, but to reinforce this, do not show anyone else your deck! If you do not show anyone else your deck, and it's original, then no one can have copied you.
3 - Tournament ends 20th November.
4- I WILL not Accept decks from people who have not read the rules, So to confirm this in you message any put, Long Live Illexia!
5 - PM all submissions to me in 6v6 Master rules format on Chaotic. Screen-name is MandibleMuge
6 - The decks can be mixed decks, so long as it includes at least one Danian creature, and it must center around using the Danian. For example,Using a Gorram deck with two Xaerv Monsoon Defenders is fine , using a Grantkae deck with two Neekwins is Not.
7 - Do your best and have fun!"
Quoted from Chaotic Campaigns, which quoted it from Danian Hall.
So that's it!
Prize 1 - Illexia
Prize 2 - Danian-Associated Ultra
Prize 3- Danian-Associated Ultra
Good luck! Remember, before November 20! Hurry, and tell your friends ;)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Calling it Off
Unfortunately, that Illexia Code I had no longer works, so I've had to call of this competition. Sorry for anyone who planned to enter. I only received one deck anyway, so it shouldn't be too bad. Sorry again.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Hallowe'en!
Ah, Hallowe'en.. My favourite holiday! I just love it.. So why don't we have a chaotic hallowe'en? Because Hallowe'en is only the start of the week of All Soul's, my Hallowe'en banner will be up all this week :D Here are some Hallowe'en sigs I made. Didn't do much, just cropped and added text/borders. Banner should be up soon, if not now, while you're reading this :D
My personal favourite..
My personal favourite..
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Danian (Combo!) of the week!
Ulmquad is this weeks danian of the week!He is the first minion to be made danian of the week thus far, but believe me, this guy ROCKS! He has a slightly improved ability to Lore from DoP - Lore healed the energy, whereas Ulmquad actually gains it - Though he only has two counters instead of three, it's well worth it whn you consider his decent stats (55 energy, 75 Courage, other stats hover around 50) and two elements. He fits in well with neekwin/klencka builds due to his elements, and battlegear serves him better than the Orb of Unda. Say you use his ability twice - 20 heal, 20 deal. Then heal with orb of unda - 30 heal, 20 deal. Now use your extra counter for unbalancing battlesong. 45 heal, 35 deal. That's an awesome way to start a battle, right? My Ulmquad has average energy, 55, so that bumps it up to 100 energy, and takes the other creature down by 35. Imagine facing a tank who has around 70 energy - Now it's only 45! All in all, this is a combo that kills in 1v1. Cards like witnerclaw, essential evaporation, flood force and airsault all make for a good attack deck, and mugic and battlegear is simple enough. It's also a good idea when making a 1v1 to throw in gear grind - Your battlegear is sacrificed already, so just take their's out. Simple enough, and a solid build.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Adapting to your Enemies: Retaliatory Strike
So a while ago I did an article on Adapting to your enemies, something danians are masters at. The tribe does this by using Compost, Infecting, and Element Proof, but the new set brought a real gem - Retaliatory Strike. An attack I was more excited about than Combustion Carnage or Grounding Grapple! Retaliatory Strike is all about using your opponent's strengths against them. Like when fighting a bigger opponent, you use their weight against them to succeed.
Let's look at Overworlders and Underworlders. Sworn enemies, because they have almost completely opposite fighting styles - Underworlders are totally destructive, whereas Overworlders focus on helping and healing.
But it's not a solitary incident - Mipedians and Danians are also immersed in a gritty rivalry - Why? They too, have very different styles. While mipedians do use mugic and battlegear to control the game, their main power lies in their attacks. Think about it - With two owaykis, maliph, a vlaric shard and a storm tunnel, that's strike: 25, with earth 5 and air 5, bringing a simple attack like thunder shout up to 55 damage! Mipedians repeatedly use these kind of attacks, and they work independently. Owayki helps other mipedians, but if he gets taken out, the rest of the mipedians still have a good shot at winning. Why? They are more independent. They don't need as much support, because of their devastating attack power.
Now look at danians - Typically, the attacks aren't as important. Look at Fliandar - Even if he were to use nothing but spirit gusts, with the right support team he'd still wear his opponent down because of his healing ability. But danians do rely heavily on support and resources - Meticulous planning and combinations are important. Now I'm not saying there aren't exceptions - There are complex mipedians and aggro-tank danians, but that's how it usually is.
So I was playing a match yesterday, and boom. One attack, from Rasbma Darini, and boom - 55 damage, I'm at 5 energy. I know that there's no attack in my deck that could deal 60 damage to take out a Rasbma Darini with no damage done to it, and I'm out of mugic. Then I pull retaliatory strike. Talk about a game-changer! Having a wild card like this one is awesome, and although 3BP is a little hefty, it is definitely worth it. When you can't rely on your own strength, use your opponent's against them!
I just see this as a good weapon against mipedian decks. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a danian player and I love the lizards, but there is definite rivalry there.
Rate this attack? I suppose it may as well be a featured card. I myself give it an 8/10, because it's truly spectacular - And if it comes up at the wrong time, you can always wait till later on when it's more useful. Really versatile, and your opponent rarely sees it coming ;)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
AU review: Danian Mugic!
Alright, it's pretty late, but here is the review on Danian Mugic from Alliances Unravelled!
Elemental Counterpoint.
Nice and simple - You can shave a lot of damage of off most elemental attacks, and completely negate things like Apoc-Eclipse, Purifying Mud or Land-Gore. A really handy one-cost mugic, just watch out for those new 30 damage attacks that do 10 base, 10 for a discipline and 10 for an element.
Ancestral Anthem.
This is a great mugic, more or less free hive! I like that now you can use the discard pile without being tied down to the typical Makanaz/Ivelaan combos. Imagine this with Lore HMotH! Four free hives, as long as you don't need to use your discard creatures.
Empowering Encore.
Awesome mugic! I like this one a lot - Now picture you ARE using that clichéd makanaz/Ivelaan combo. Now you can give a creature with no elements, like Ketun, three elements, fire, earth and water. It's like an updated version of Danian Elemental Choral (a mugic which, by the way, is a reliable card even in the modern metagame) Again it's only one counter for cost, which is always good. I could see this fitting in some new compost decks, since it's rare you can make a full fledged elemental deck out of those. An added note: It goes great with Gorram!
Ah, the danian battlesong. I like these new battlesongs, it encourages us to get our muges in battle, which spurs some interesting deck builds. Of course, it also goes well with cards like Odu-Bathax, Hiadrom and Neekwin. Four things - Hiadrom, hive amber, unbalancing battlesong - 1v1! That's 30 gain, 30 deal. I think this is probably the simplest, most usable of the five battlesongs.
Rocky Refrain.
The rarest mugic for danians this time round. It's not astoundingly good, but it could come in handy. When you are looking for a caster with earth who has easy access to 2MC, either of the two most recent Lore's spring to mind. I suppose it could go from a 20-30 damage heal, 40 at the best. So it's in between a song of resurgence and a harmonious highsong, at worst, a mere minor flourish, at best two songs of resurgence in one tidy little package. Very doable, but it's one of those things that are very situational, and could easily go wrong. Still, the danians needed a good new healing mugic, and since elemental decks are becoming more popular, this is just another way to use your opponents strengths against you.
That's the end of the mugic review! Hope you enjoyed ;)
Elemental Counterpoint.
Nice and simple - You can shave a lot of damage of off most elemental attacks, and completely negate things like Apoc-Eclipse, Purifying Mud or Land-Gore. A really handy one-cost mugic, just watch out for those new 30 damage attacks that do 10 base, 10 for a discipline and 10 for an element.
Ancestral Anthem.
This is a great mugic, more or less free hive! I like that now you can use the discard pile without being tied down to the typical Makanaz/Ivelaan combos. Imagine this with Lore HMotH! Four free hives, as long as you don't need to use your discard creatures.
Empowering Encore.
Awesome mugic! I like this one a lot - Now picture you ARE using that clichéd makanaz/Ivelaan combo. Now you can give a creature with no elements, like Ketun, three elements, fire, earth and water. It's like an updated version of Danian Elemental Choral (a mugic which, by the way, is a reliable card even in the modern metagame) Again it's only one counter for cost, which is always good. I could see this fitting in some new compost decks, since it's rare you can make a full fledged elemental deck out of those. An added note: It goes great with Gorram!
Ah, the danian battlesong. I like these new battlesongs, it encourages us to get our muges in battle, which spurs some interesting deck builds. Of course, it also goes well with cards like Odu-Bathax, Hiadrom and Neekwin. Four things - Hiadrom, hive amber, unbalancing battlesong - 1v1! That's 30 gain, 30 deal. I think this is probably the simplest, most usable of the five battlesongs.
Rocky Refrain.
The rarest mugic for danians this time round. It's not astoundingly good, but it could come in handy. When you are looking for a caster with earth who has easy access to 2MC, either of the two most recent Lore's spring to mind. I suppose it could go from a 20-30 damage heal, 40 at the best. So it's in between a song of resurgence and a harmonious highsong, at worst, a mere minor flourish, at best two songs of resurgence in one tidy little package. Very doable, but it's one of those things that are very situational, and could easily go wrong. Still, the danians needed a good new healing mugic, and since elemental decks are becoming more popular, this is just another way to use your opponents strengths against you.
That's the end of the mugic review! Hope you enjoyed ;)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Assimilated Article: Finale
Hammerdoom Chantcaller
70 40 55 55 55
"The boy who cried wolf" and "the scout who cried hammerdoom" - Hammerdoom was supposedly the brutish underworlder who terrorized danians. Though he never really got to do much damage before he was instantly buggified.
If you look at his stats, the only thing that jumps out is Courage,a nd even that's not that great.
With decent energy, and the ability to lay the beat down on Underworlders, he's not a bad card. His Hive: Fireproof ability isn't a bad addition to his repertoire, but all in all, the best case scenario for this guy is 10 extra energy and an additional 5 damage with attacks.
Of course, you could always put him with his signature gear, the doomhammer. Leaving him at 10 damage against Underworlders, 5 against danians, 10 extra energy, earth 5, 60 energy, 60 speed, 60 wisdom, 50 power, and 80 courage. That's a fully maxxed Hammerdoom with a doomhammer, hive active and an opponent with fire. Even with all of that, he's not spectacular.
Even so, back in the day he was one of the first solid warriors for danians. Though he might only scrape rare in today's market, he is a good addition to the Assimilated ranks of the Danian tribe.
That concludes the assimilated articles :) You've seen Kolmo, Raznus, Hammerdoom, and Nunk'worn. Every tribe so far has been assimilated into a bug!
My rankings would be:
1 - Nunk'worn Assimilated
2 - Kolmo Assimilated
3 - Raznus Assimilated
4 - Hammerdoom Chantcaller Assimilated
*click click*
~Mandible
70 40 55 55 55
"The boy who cried wolf" and "the scout who cried hammerdoom" - Hammerdoom was supposedly the brutish underworlder who terrorized danians. Though he never really got to do much damage before he was instantly buggified.
If you look at his stats, the only thing that jumps out is Courage,a nd even that's not that great.
With decent energy, and the ability to lay the beat down on Underworlders, he's not a bad card. His Hive: Fireproof ability isn't a bad addition to his repertoire, but all in all, the best case scenario for this guy is 10 extra energy and an additional 5 damage with attacks.
Of course, you could always put him with his signature gear, the doomhammer. Leaving him at 10 damage against Underworlders, 5 against danians, 10 extra energy, earth 5, 60 energy, 60 speed, 60 wisdom, 50 power, and 80 courage. That's a fully maxxed Hammerdoom with a doomhammer, hive active and an opponent with fire. Even with all of that, he's not spectacular.
Even so, back in the day he was one of the first solid warriors for danians. Though he might only scrape rare in today's market, he is a good addition to the Assimilated ranks of the Danian tribe.
That concludes the assimilated articles :) You've seen Kolmo, Raznus, Hammerdoom, and Nunk'worn. Every tribe so far has been assimilated into a bug!
My rankings would be:
1 - Nunk'worn Assimilated
2 - Kolmo Assimilated
3 - Raznus Assimilated
4 - Hammerdoom Chantcaller Assimilated
*click click*
~Mandible
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Branching Out: Smildon
Welcome to another branching out. This guy is my current favourite of the tribeless creatures.
60 90 35 60 60
So first he has Defender: Earth. This is useful for defending earth-elemental casters, without investing in getting an Illexia, creatures such as Tharc, or either of the new Lores. Of course, he can also defend against your fighters that have earth (handy if you are running a noaz, too) to mess with your opponents.
And his second ability makes him even better. Since you won't be casting with him much, as he can't play tribal mugic, you can use both counters for his ability. I can think of a few times when I would have been thankful for it. For example, in a crucial battle with a minion, and invisible walls comes up. Or when I needed my ambolx to infect, and a Lake-Ken-I-Po Ritual Site came up, stopping me from expending elements. Or what about when my Aureban had 110 energy with hive, and then an open doors of the deepmines sprung up, making his ability useless. Locations can be REAL game changers, and though smildon may not stop lore's chamber, he still has endless uses. With cards like Orbaat and Grounding Grapple, the danians have a lot of location-manipulating cards, and they, of course, are best with using earth, so Smildon fits in perfectly.
While his high power and low wisdom isn't exactly pure danian, he does have good courage and speed. Did someone say Ghundac combo? Though mono-elemental, that does fit in with the new AU attack decks, couple that with his dual-ability (one innate, one activated) and his well-balanced disciplines mean he is a good solid creature, lightly styled towards fitting in with danians.
Interesting, how he himself holds the power to stop the "Blight" in the card. Just an interesting side note :)
8.5/10
60 90 35 60 60
So first he has Defender: Earth. This is useful for defending earth-elemental casters, without investing in getting an Illexia, creatures such as Tharc, or either of the new Lores. Of course, he can also defend against your fighters that have earth (handy if you are running a noaz, too) to mess with your opponents.
And his second ability makes him even better. Since you won't be casting with him much, as he can't play tribal mugic, you can use both counters for his ability. I can think of a few times when I would have been thankful for it. For example, in a crucial battle with a minion, and invisible walls comes up. Or when I needed my ambolx to infect, and a Lake-Ken-I-Po Ritual Site came up, stopping me from expending elements. Or what about when my Aureban had 110 energy with hive, and then an open doors of the deepmines sprung up, making his ability useless. Locations can be REAL game changers, and though smildon may not stop lore's chamber, he still has endless uses. With cards like Orbaat and Grounding Grapple, the danians have a lot of location-manipulating cards, and they, of course, are best with using earth, so Smildon fits in perfectly.
While his high power and low wisdom isn't exactly pure danian, he does have good courage and speed. Did someone say Ghundac combo? Though mono-elemental, that does fit in with the new AU attack decks, couple that with his dual-ability (one innate, one activated) and his well-balanced disciplines mean he is a good solid creature, lightly styled towards fitting in with danians.
Interesting, how he himself holds the power to stop the "Blight" in the card. Just an interesting side note :)
8.5/10
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Exploring Alliances Unravelled.
So I thought to myself "Boy, I really love Valban, but I've ranted about him enough."
Then I thought "But wait! I've only ranted about him once in my blog, in the AU review", so OFFICIALLY it's only been one rant. Which definitely allows me one more.
But this isn't just gonna be about valban. Because I want to slow down danian of the weeks, I'm just giving general strategy tips here. Anyway, here goes.
This is a great combo - Citadel Fragments are quite the versatile gear. Make your elementalists tanks and your tanks disciplineers. Now, back to Valban's stats:
75 40 65 40 55
That's the average valban. To show you where I'm coming from, mine has:
80 50 70 45 50
So as long as you have average or up on courage and wisdom, you'll do fine. So, with the full effect of citadel fragments, my Valban would be:
100 70 90 65 70
And he would have all four elements. That makes him a really well balanced fighter, great disciplines, all elements, and he can pull of almost any kind of attack. Now how do you get him all four elements? It's not such a strain as it might seem. In fact, it fits in well with the same cards that make up an ordinary infection/aggro danian deck.
Ambolx and Orchis Undin. Need I remind you that, if you flip up his gear with a gear glissando, for a measly one mugic counter you have double infection every turn for no cost. Infect once at the start, once when combat begins. That is an infection tank! Imagine that with a Fliandar! You have an invincible creature!In fact, imagine two of those with fliandar! Four free infection? Each turn? Sure, you may get thwarted with a gear grind or pulse beacons every now and then, but even so you might be able to re-flip, or just use their ability without the gear. With Valban, one is enough and you can get your elements in no time. Don't forget ambolx has two counters too, so you won't be wasting a muge spot.
Why these two? Ghundac and Nunk'worn are the perfect partners for Valban. Give Ghundac a shard of the staunch or Orchis Undin for water, and use Nunk'worn as a muge. Now you have muge, scout and warrior. But the main reason is because between these two guys, Valban can get all four elements. Fire and water off of nunk'worn, Aire and Earth off of Ghundac. Of course, you could also use something like Yondaf or Drazz with Tarbok, but these three blend together perfectly.
Also, picture a Yondaf SI with an Ambolx. Not necessarily with Valban, but with Nimmei in an infection deck. Say you've managed to infect the whole board - Use Yondaf to uninfect three creatures and deal 10 - The next turn, Ambolx can re-infect two, and Yondaf will re-infect himself. It's nice to have some quick burn ready at any time.
So these are just a few combos I got out of AU, and they are just scratching the surface. Remember, be creative with your decks, look for those cool combos and secret strategies that you can call your own!
~Mandible
Then I thought "But wait! I've only ranted about him once in my blog, in the AU review", so OFFICIALLY it's only been one rant. Which definitely allows me one more.
But this isn't just gonna be about valban. Because I want to slow down danian of the weeks, I'm just giving general strategy tips here. Anyway, here goes.
This is a great combo - Citadel Fragments are quite the versatile gear. Make your elementalists tanks and your tanks disciplineers. Now, back to Valban's stats:
75 40 65 40 55
That's the average valban. To show you where I'm coming from, mine has:
80 50 70 45 50
So as long as you have average or up on courage and wisdom, you'll do fine. So, with the full effect of citadel fragments, my Valban would be:
100 70 90 65 70
And he would have all four elements. That makes him a really well balanced fighter, great disciplines, all elements, and he can pull of almost any kind of attack. Now how do you get him all four elements? It's not such a strain as it might seem. In fact, it fits in well with the same cards that make up an ordinary infection/aggro danian deck.
Ambolx and Orchis Undin. Need I remind you that, if you flip up his gear with a gear glissando, for a measly one mugic counter you have double infection every turn for no cost. Infect once at the start, once when combat begins. That is an infection tank! Imagine that with a Fliandar! You have an invincible creature!In fact, imagine two of those with fliandar! Four free infection? Each turn? Sure, you may get thwarted with a gear grind or pulse beacons every now and then, but even so you might be able to re-flip, or just use their ability without the gear. With Valban, one is enough and you can get your elements in no time. Don't forget ambolx has two counters too, so you won't be wasting a muge spot.
Why these two? Ghundac and Nunk'worn are the perfect partners for Valban. Give Ghundac a shard of the staunch or Orchis Undin for water, and use Nunk'worn as a muge. Now you have muge, scout and warrior. But the main reason is because between these two guys, Valban can get all four elements. Fire and water off of nunk'worn, Aire and Earth off of Ghundac. Of course, you could also use something like Yondaf or Drazz with Tarbok, but these three blend together perfectly.
Also, picture a Yondaf SI with an Ambolx. Not necessarily with Valban, but with Nimmei in an infection deck. Say you've managed to infect the whole board - Use Yondaf to uninfect three creatures and deal 10 - The next turn, Ambolx can re-infect two, and Yondaf will re-infect himself. It's nice to have some quick burn ready at any time.
So these are just a few combos I got out of AU, and they are just scratching the surface. Remember, be creative with your decks, look for those cool combos and secret strategies that you can call your own!
~Mandible
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Danian of the week!
Ah, at last I got around to it.. My laptop charger is currently broken so I had to do this on another computer.
60
35
60
25
40
This is Orbaat, a new composter muge from Alliances Unravelled. There are a bunch of reasons why I like this guy, actually. First he has fair stats and the water element. Second, he comes with two counters to cast a tricky mugic like adaptive progression or ode to obscurity. Third, he is a compost creature, but not the kind of composter that your whole deck revolves around, he is more of a bonus than an essential.
But he can be used oh so well. First he works great whenever you flip your location. He also works great with the new Blazier and with Biakan from RotO, as well as with the new Earth attack that gets a new location, grounding grapple, and terraport and mirthquake. Plus the new danian league reward, Gazarbash, infecting terraformer. Not to mention an Olkiex/Fluidmorpher/Telebracers combo. This guy is great for getting ultimate control over the game, which, though it usually isn't my style, is pretty darn useful.
So just a quick one this week, tell me what you think :)
60
35
60
25
40
This is Orbaat, a new composter muge from Alliances Unravelled. There are a bunch of reasons why I like this guy, actually. First he has fair stats and the water element. Second, he comes with two counters to cast a tricky mugic like adaptive progression or ode to obscurity. Third, he is a compost creature, but not the kind of composter that your whole deck revolves around, he is more of a bonus than an essential.
But he can be used oh so well. First he works great whenever you flip your location. He also works great with the new Blazier and with Biakan from RotO, as well as with the new Earth attack that gets a new location, grounding grapple, and terraport and mirthquake. Plus the new danian league reward, Gazarbash, infecting terraformer. Not to mention an Olkiex/Fluidmorpher/Telebracers combo. This guy is great for getting ultimate control over the game, which, though it usually isn't my style, is pretty darn useful.
So just a quick one this week, tell me what you think :)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A new video
Wednesday was a BIG day for me.. Exam results, which turned out great. So I was Celebrating.. Then I went camping for the weekend, and I'm only back now, so I missed out on a danian of the week, sorry.. Anyway, here is my latest video.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Continued (P)review
Okay, so there won't be any stats this time, because apparently the mods can't decide whether we can see collection or not. Sorry.. Supers and ultras this time.
Valban
This guy I love.. Along with Ambolx and Mhein, he is one of my favourite cards this set. If I remember right, he has pretty good stats.. But as most of you may know, I love both danian elementalists, and infection. So I couldn't really get a better card. Fancy a third Nimmei on your team, or like the look of your opponents heptadd? Valban is just plain awesome.
Combat/Elementalist
Practicality: 8 (its easy to infect someone like drazz or lendai and have a dual benefit)
Diversity: 8 (any elements you want!)
Overall: 9 (Yup, my second and last nine)
Yondaf, Symbiotic Infector
A stronger focus on infecting this set.. I love it. Can't say the same for this particular guy though. His first ability is great, and I anticipated someone having it, but 3 uninfected creatures is worth ten damage? I think not. Sure, he has much better elements, mugic and stats, but beyond that.. meh. I thought this kinda weak, high cost burn had stopped by now, but I guess not. At least he works well with Valban, automatically giving valban earth and water on your turn.
Support/combat - Hybrid
Practicality: 4
Diversity: 6
Overall: 6
Tarin
This guy isn't "Whoa!" or "Bleh!" I guess he's sorta "meh", but his ability could be awesome. He has few restrictions.. Considering he isn't loyal or unique, so he works well with Majjcan (10 energyand earth 5), another Tarin, (20 energy to almost all danian combatants!) and Rock River Canyon (30 energy! O_O) Since it isn't Hive-dependent, he's pretty flexible.This is the one from TCGplayer. review, so you have his stats there. Not great, only one above 60, but its the one that counts (courage). Earth, and 45 energy pretty cool, all in all. Still, with no mugic he is unreliable as a support card, unlike his OW counterpart, Rellim WM
Support
Practicality: 7
Diversity: 7
Overall: 7
Nunk'worn Assimilated
I already reviewed him, but I didn't rate him fully. So as you know, been waiting for him all along, blah blah. Awesome. :D Unique and loyal is troublesome, but who cares, he rocks. And as always, his flavour text is epic. W00t for infectionists.
Support
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 5
Overall: 8.5 (cant remember what I gave last time, hope they are the same xD)
Nimmei, Expedition Overseer
Bleh, the second card I shall negatively review. I hate to rant negatively, but.. Well, here goes. Why I do NOT like the new Nimmei.
Combat
Practicality: 6
Diversity: 4
Overall: 6...
Lore, High Muge of the Hive
Yay! Third Lore! :D I won't rant about how I don't think he is as good as the last Lore, because the point of the high muges isn't to be mugical or burn tanks, its to use mugic creatively unlike ever before, and I love to see a way of mixing mugic with compost! He might not be the most effective of the High Muges, but I still say his ability is damn cool! What I am most excited about is Strain of Infection and Makrabon. You can get six mugic counters absolutely free. That is just epic. He has earth and I think, 80 courage? 2 mugic is meaty enough for most mugics you would want to re-use, and give him a balladeer's flute for more. Plus, With a little help from Nunk'worn Assimilated and a Lot of help from Inner Flood, this guy can be the ultimate mugical battery. Your opponent can play six mugics whilst you can play twelve. That is the essence of Lore, High Muge of the Hive.
Valban
This guy I love.. Along with Ambolx and Mhein, he is one of my favourite cards this set. If I remember right, he has pretty good stats.. But as most of you may know, I love both danian elementalists, and infection. So I couldn't really get a better card. Fancy a third Nimmei on your team, or like the look of your opponents heptadd? Valban is just plain awesome.
Combat/Elementalist
Practicality: 8 (its easy to infect someone like drazz or lendai and have a dual benefit)
Diversity: 8 (any elements you want!)
Overall: 9 (Yup, my second and last nine)
Yondaf, Symbiotic Infector
A stronger focus on infecting this set.. I love it. Can't say the same for this particular guy though. His first ability is great, and I anticipated someone having it, but 3 uninfected creatures is worth ten damage? I think not. Sure, he has much better elements, mugic and stats, but beyond that.. meh. I thought this kinda weak, high cost burn had stopped by now, but I guess not. At least he works well with Valban, automatically giving valban earth and water on your turn.
Support/combat - Hybrid
Practicality: 4
Diversity: 6
Overall: 6
Tarin
This guy isn't "Whoa!" or "Bleh!" I guess he's sorta "meh", but his ability could be awesome. He has few restrictions.. Considering he isn't loyal or unique, so he works well with Majjcan (10 energyand earth 5), another Tarin, (20 energy to almost all danian combatants!) and Rock River Canyon (30 energy! O_O) Since it isn't Hive-dependent, he's pretty flexible.This is the one from TCGplayer. review, so you have his stats there. Not great, only one above 60, but its the one that counts (courage). Earth, and 45 energy pretty cool, all in all. Still, with no mugic he is unreliable as a support card, unlike his OW counterpart, Rellim WM
Support
Practicality: 7
Diversity: 7
Overall: 7
Nunk'worn AssimilatedI already reviewed him, but I didn't rate him fully. So as you know, been waiting for him all along, blah blah. Awesome. :D Unique and loyal is troublesome, but who cares, he rocks. And as always, his flavour text is epic. W00t for infectionists.
Support
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 5
Overall: 8.5 (cant remember what I gave last time, hope they are the same xD)
Nimmei, Expedition Overseer
Bleh, the second card I shall negatively review. I hate to rant negatively, but.. Well, here goes. Why I do NOT like the new Nimmei.
- Nimmei has always been the relatively cheap but reliable option for danian decks that even newer players could use, and older players could trust. Now he is ultimate high end.
- The old Nimmei, in his cardart, was "Young" and "untested" and looked friendly. This one is old, mean, and bossy. Alright thats a bit off topic but still..
- His ability is just lousy if you ask me. First off, what if you have an earth/water/air attack deck and they have primarily fire/air attacks? Two thirds of your attacks are now useless? Nuh uh! That is such an unreliable strategy! Hello?!
- He has no mugic counter and isn't an elementalist.
- His ability cant be extended in creative ways like many danian abilities.
- He isn't unique or loyal..
- His ability, if used right, can be quite lethal.. I dunno if he retains the element 5 if hes hit by two attacks of the same element, and then gets element 10.. Probably not, but if so, cool.
- His stats are quite good.
Combat
Practicality: 6
Diversity: 4
Overall: 6...
Lore, High Muge of the Hive
Yay! Third Lore! :D I won't rant about how I don't think he is as good as the last Lore, because the point of the high muges isn't to be mugical or burn tanks, its to use mugic creatively unlike ever before, and I love to see a way of mixing mugic with compost! He might not be the most effective of the High Muges, but I still say his ability is damn cool! What I am most excited about is Strain of Infection and Makrabon. You can get six mugic counters absolutely free. That is just epic. He has earth and I think, 80 courage? 2 mugic is meaty enough for most mugics you would want to re-use, and give him a balladeer's flute for more. Plus, With a little help from Nunk'worn Assimilated and a Lot of help from Inner Flood, this guy can be the ultimate mugical battery. Your opponent can play six mugics whilst you can play twelve. That is the essence of Lore, High Muge of the Hive.
Alliances Unravelled (P)review!
Yep, it's a (P)review. Part preview, part review, because I have all danian pics saved, but the set technically isn't out yet. But I figure why not, might as well give my readers an early look at my opinions on the new set. Unfortunately just the commons and rares for now, or I would die of exhaustion! Stats are C/P/W/S/E
*ahem*
Common
Ambolx
60/40/80/40/40
Anyone who has made even brief contact with me in the last few days knows that I think this guy is AWESOME! Basically, he is an amped version of topar. Better stats than topar, an element, unlike topar, two counters, like Topar, and he can infect on each of your turns, like topar, but also on your opponents turn. If you get water for him again, maybe even twice. For no cost. This guy ROCKS. Awesome flavour text too. Note that he could fight if he has to.. He has Elementalist and Muge as his creature types, so the pauldrons work for him, as does Muge's Edge.
Support/Infection
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 7
Overall: 8.5
Gareep
70 50 70 30 40
Okay, so if you took part in Kerberos' Create-A-Card contest back on Chaotic Insider, you might be asking yourself if this guy looks familiar.. Well yep, back then the art wasn't used, but now Gareep is a fully fledged Danian Muge.. Basically, once your first creature goes, he becomes a Rebant with Earth elment. Thing is, he gets a counter for it each turn. And in a compost deck, you lose a creature for at least the first three turns, turning this guy into quite the mugical Hive battery. Even if you don't use him for hive its a good way to get more counters handy. He is sort of a less powerful kind of "Reverse Lore AC" Not bad
Support/Hive
Practicality: 6
Diversity: 5
Overall: 6.5
Hiadrom, Rock Ripper.
75 50 60 30 50
The first remake I get to review! I'm really glad they remade Diligent old Hiadrom, a favourite for danian budget decks and 1v1. His old ability was solid and independent, and so is this one. Problem is, to get the energy you need to sacrifice his earth, and without earth he has only his stats to fight with.. Hence two ivelaans go great with this dude.
Combat/Tank
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 5
Overall: 7
Mhein
80 60 40 30 50
Mhein is my favourite guy from the set. For danians at least. He is that good. An additional 5 energy for each creature in ALL discard piles? Three elements? Awesome courage and power? This guy is a really solid creature whom the danians have needed. Being a mandiblor and getting energy from discarded creatures just has to be put with Compost in some deck. From just two makanaz, he gains 40 energy! And if those two took out two of your opponents creatures, its 50! Still, I wish we could do something about those Lore's Chambers.
Combat
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 7
Overall: 9 (yes indeed, 9)
Nom
70 30 60 30 45
The elemental servant of earth.. Simple enough, just like the other servants. Still, you could think of a use for him, like with the new Tharc.
Practicality: 8
Odu Bathax, Reservoir Reclaimer
90 50 30 30 55
Yay! New Odu-Bathax, and he isn't super or rare or ultra or anything, huzzah! A really solid, all round creature, this guy. He excels in using his stats, elements, and mugic. Earth and Earth 5, 90 Courage and outperform courage 5... Pretty sweet. And if you expend his earth before he enters combat, you can use the gear that gives earth at the beginning of combat, or Nom, and get Earth back. That way, you just got free earth 5 and outperform courage 5. Pretty sweet.
Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 6
Overall: 7
Rare
Ghundac
80 40 40 80 50
Wow, I really like this guy. Danians badly needed a jumper.. He has great courage/speed, air/earth and range/swift.. This guy just screams "Put me with Noaz and Majjcan" Braveglint and Whirling Wail and you have yourself a solid deck.
Range/Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 8
Overall: 8
Ketun
80 60 80 55 50
This guys stats are great, which is good because he has no elements. 80 courage and wisdom is great for danian decks, yet again I recommend directed bravery, and you can also use powercut with his 60 power. He has no elements, but can get them from the pauldrons, and has a counter. His ability is really awesome, and that 5 damage all adds up. Really great card.
Combat/Defensive
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 7
Overall: 7.5
Makromil
65 25 35 70 50
Ooh, those sneaky card designers! He gets 5 energy for your danians and 5 for your past creatures.. But there is only one past danian creature.. So his energy won't be soaring to impossible heights or anything, it's either a danian or a past creature deck for him, not both. Ah, pity. But if you can include a Northrange, that works too. Also, he isn't unique.
Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 6
Overall: 7
Orbaat
60 35 60 25 40
This guy is interesting. Two mugic, water, fair enough stats, and while a lot of cards here interact with the discarded creatures, this is the first real composter. Nice ability, it could be used in lots of sneaky ways!
Compost/Support
Practicality: 6.5
Diversity: 8
Overall: 7.5
Tharc, Tablet Translator
70 30 80 30 50
The final card I'll review today. If you ask me, its amazingly good. Tharc is a fairly good fighter with good courage/wisdom and earth. Plus he can give himself 100 courage.. Basically his ability rocks. Use him with cards like Drazz and Elhadd, I really wanted a good danian Stat-raiser. Danian tablet translator really set the standard for them.. Yep, I love this guy, and his one counter is nothing that a mipedian balladeer's flute and some chimegrids wont fix ;^)
Plus, I think his flavour text is the first time that danians have been called "the bugs" officially in chaotic :P xD
Extreme Support
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 7
Overall: 8
And that's it for now. I'll be doing supers and ultras soon. Thr33trib3s, I'll contact you ASAP about your authorship..ness.. But I am busy atm! Anyway, other authors, feel free to review mugic/BG/locations/attacks or do more focussed reviews on cards you like.
*ahem*
Common
Ambolx60/40/80/40/40
Anyone who has made even brief contact with me in the last few days knows that I think this guy is AWESOME! Basically, he is an amped version of topar. Better stats than topar, an element, unlike topar, two counters, like Topar, and he can infect on each of your turns, like topar, but also on your opponents turn. If you get water for him again, maybe even twice. For no cost. This guy ROCKS. Awesome flavour text too. Note that he could fight if he has to.. He has Elementalist and Muge as his creature types, so the pauldrons work for him, as does Muge's Edge.
Support/Infection
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 7
Overall: 8.5
Gareep70 50 70 30 40
Okay, so if you took part in Kerberos' Create-A-Card contest back on Chaotic Insider, you might be asking yourself if this guy looks familiar.. Well yep, back then the art wasn't used, but now Gareep is a fully fledged Danian Muge.. Basically, once your first creature goes, he becomes a Rebant with Earth elment. Thing is, he gets a counter for it each turn. And in a compost deck, you lose a creature for at least the first three turns, turning this guy into quite the mugical Hive battery. Even if you don't use him for hive its a good way to get more counters handy. He is sort of a less powerful kind of "Reverse Lore AC" Not bad
Support/Hive
Practicality: 6
Diversity: 5
Overall: 6.5
Hiadrom, Rock Ripper.75 50 60 30 50
The first remake I get to review! I'm really glad they remade Diligent old Hiadrom, a favourite for danian budget decks and 1v1. His old ability was solid and independent, and so is this one. Problem is, to get the energy you need to sacrifice his earth, and without earth he has only his stats to fight with.. Hence two ivelaans go great with this dude.
Combat/Tank
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 5
Overall: 7
Mhein
80 60 40 30 50
Mhein is my favourite guy from the set. For danians at least. He is that good. An additional 5 energy for each creature in ALL discard piles? Three elements? Awesome courage and power? This guy is a really solid creature whom the danians have needed. Being a mandiblor and getting energy from discarded creatures just has to be put with Compost in some deck. From just two makanaz, he gains 40 energy! And if those two took out two of your opponents creatures, its 50! Still, I wish we could do something about those Lore's Chambers.
Combat
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 7
Overall: 9 (yes indeed, 9)
Nom
70 30 60 30 45
The elemental servant of earth.. Simple enough, just like the other servants. Still, you could think of a use for him, like with the new Tharc.
Practicality: 8
Odu Bathax, Reservoir Reclaimer
90 50 30 30 55
Yay! New Odu-Bathax, and he isn't super or rare or ultra or anything, huzzah! A really solid, all round creature, this guy. He excels in using his stats, elements, and mugic. Earth and Earth 5, 90 Courage and outperform courage 5... Pretty sweet. And if you expend his earth before he enters combat, you can use the gear that gives earth at the beginning of combat, or Nom, and get Earth back. That way, you just got free earth 5 and outperform courage 5. Pretty sweet.
Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 6
Overall: 7
Rare
Ghundac
80 40 40 80 50
Wow, I really like this guy. Danians badly needed a jumper.. He has great courage/speed, air/earth and range/swift.. This guy just screams "Put me with Noaz and Majjcan" Braveglint and Whirling Wail and you have yourself a solid deck.
Range/Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 8
Overall: 8
Ketun
80 60 80 55 50
This guys stats are great, which is good because he has no elements. 80 courage and wisdom is great for danian decks, yet again I recommend directed bravery, and you can also use powercut with his 60 power. He has no elements, but can get them from the pauldrons, and has a counter. His ability is really awesome, and that 5 damage all adds up. Really great card.
Combat/Defensive
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 7
Overall: 7.5
Makromil
65 25 35 70 50
Ooh, those sneaky card designers! He gets 5 energy for your danians and 5 for your past creatures.. But there is only one past danian creature.. So his energy won't be soaring to impossible heights or anything, it's either a danian or a past creature deck for him, not both. Ah, pity. But if you can include a Northrange, that works too. Also, he isn't unique.
Combat
Practicality: 8
Diversity: 6
Overall: 7
Orbaat
60 35 60 25 40
This guy is interesting. Two mugic, water, fair enough stats, and while a lot of cards here interact with the discarded creatures, this is the first real composter. Nice ability, it could be used in lots of sneaky ways!
Compost/Support
Practicality: 6.5
Diversity: 8
Overall: 7.5
Tharc, Tablet Translator
70 30 80 30 50
The final card I'll review today. If you ask me, its amazingly good. Tharc is a fairly good fighter with good courage/wisdom and earth. Plus he can give himself 100 courage.. Basically his ability rocks. Use him with cards like Drazz and Elhadd, I really wanted a good danian Stat-raiser. Danian tablet translator really set the standard for them.. Yep, I love this guy, and his one counter is nothing that a mipedian balladeer's flute and some chimegrids wont fix ;^)
Plus, I think his flavour text is the first time that danians have been called "the bugs" officially in chaotic :P xD
Extreme Support
Practicality: 9
Diversity: 7
Overall: 8
And that's it for now. I'll be doing supers and ultras soon. Thr33trib3s, I'll contact you ASAP about your authorship..ness.. But I am busy atm! Anyway, other authors, feel free to review mugic/BG/locations/attacks or do more focussed reviews on cards you like.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Danian of the Week/Assimilated Article Crossover Special!
I've got a very special Danian of the Week lined up for you today, as it is crossed over with an Assimilated Article. Straight from the Collection Page of SL:AU, it is the one and only assimilated M'arillian.
Yes, that's right. We endured. We endured the m'arillians taking our reservoir, diminishing our courage, invading mount pillar - Looks like the Danians couldn't take anymore. From the flavour texts, we can see that the mipedians and Underworlders are still locked in combat with Ihun'Kalin and Milla'in, whilst Erak'tabb and Neth'uar have been defeated. The riverlands have gone to ruin, but thanks to Odu-Bathax, the Reservoir Reclaimer, the danians got back their foothold in peak condition. Basically, the danian tribe recovered from the m'arillian attack in the best and quickest way: Not only did they fight off the m'arillians, they even assimilated one.
Nunk'worn thought he was so invincible, in both of his cardarts, attacking mandiblors. Well it caught up with him, and the danians fought back. Now Nunk'worn, the mighty m'arillian, is a Danian lacky. I can't tell you how gleeful I am to see this.. The m'arillians haven sunk to this level. I wanted an assimilated m'arillian for so long, and to think it is one of their most treasured warriors, it's a really big hit.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting on that, on to the actual card..
70c 60p 70w 40s 35e
Alright, so, as you can see, great courage and wisdom, fair power, not great speed and poor energy. Unlike the last Nunk'worn, it's not quite built for combat. But I can see one with +5 or max courage being used with an Evergreen Tunic to bring it's energy up to a fair 55 or 60. Attacks like Directed Bravery, already popular with danian decks due to their typically high courage and wisdom, work great. He can also pull off a Powercut, which isn't a bad 0BP attack if you can pull it off.
Unfortunately not a Mandiblor like the other Assimilates, but still a very good card. He has water, a great element for danians, and fire, which isn't too bad, and fits in with cards like Makanaz. His fluidmorph ability fits in perfectly with the Danians being experts at gathering mugic counters in lots of ways. Sure his counters get depleted after each turn, but with cards like Liquid Thought Evaporator and Storm Tunnel Ki'bro's Foothold, you can get and use counters very quickly. Careful though, don't plan any mixed decks with him, this guy is loyal, ironically.
I love this guy, as he shows the awesome power of Danian Infection!
7.5-8/10 (rather high for me)
Also, coming soon is a Review of the SLAU Danians. There are considerably more than last time (Last time 8, this time 16!) so I most likely won't do a video counterpart like I did for FUn, but I will probably make a video showing some of the set highlights for me.
After that, I will finish the last installment of the Assimilated Articles (unless any other author would like to) maybe some more non-creature SLAU articles (also, Nainad or PC, feel free to review mugic, BG, Attacks, Locations, etc.,) one or two more branching out articles, and I will keep up the weekly wednesday Danian of the Week. Enjoy, and don't forget to rate the new Nunk'worn!
Yes, that's right. We endured. We endured the m'arillians taking our reservoir, diminishing our courage, invading mount pillar - Looks like the Danians couldn't take anymore. From the flavour texts, we can see that the mipedians and Underworlders are still locked in combat with Ihun'Kalin and Milla'in, whilst Erak'tabb and Neth'uar have been defeated. The riverlands have gone to ruin, but thanks to Odu-Bathax, the Reservoir Reclaimer, the danians got back their foothold in peak condition. Basically, the danian tribe recovered from the m'arillian attack in the best and quickest way: Not only did they fight off the m'arillians, they even assimilated one.Nunk'worn thought he was so invincible, in both of his cardarts, attacking mandiblors. Well it caught up with him, and the danians fought back. Now Nunk'worn, the mighty m'arillian, is a Danian lacky. I can't tell you how gleeful I am to see this.. The m'arillians haven sunk to this level. I wanted an assimilated m'arillian for so long, and to think it is one of their most treasured warriors, it's a really big hit.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting on that, on to the actual card..
70c 60p 70w 40s 35e
Alright, so, as you can see, great courage and wisdom, fair power, not great speed and poor energy. Unlike the last Nunk'worn, it's not quite built for combat. But I can see one with +5 or max courage being used with an Evergreen Tunic to bring it's energy up to a fair 55 or 60. Attacks like Directed Bravery, already popular with danian decks due to their typically high courage and wisdom, work great. He can also pull off a Powercut, which isn't a bad 0BP attack if you can pull it off.
Unfortunately not a Mandiblor like the other Assimilates, but still a very good card. He has water, a great element for danians, and fire, which isn't too bad, and fits in with cards like Makanaz. His fluidmorph ability fits in perfectly with the Danians being experts at gathering mugic counters in lots of ways. Sure his counters get depleted after each turn, but with cards like Liquid Thought Evaporator and Storm Tunnel Ki'bro's Foothold, you can get and use counters very quickly. Careful though, don't plan any mixed decks with him, this guy is loyal, ironically.
I love this guy, as he shows the awesome power of Danian Infection!
7.5-8/10 (rather high for me)
Also, coming soon is a Review of the SLAU Danians. There are considerably more than last time (Last time 8, this time 16!) so I most likely won't do a video counterpart like I did for FUn, but I will probably make a video showing some of the set highlights for me.
After that, I will finish the last installment of the Assimilated Articles (unless any other author would like to) maybe some more non-creature SLAU articles (also, Nainad or PC, feel free to review mugic, BG, Attacks, Locations, etc.,) one or two more branching out articles, and I will keep up the weekly wednesday Danian of the Week. Enjoy, and don't forget to rate the new Nunk'worn!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Full card Analysis: Fliandar
Okay, so while there are the featured weekly danians, I'm also gonna start doing full card analysis', for the more complex cards that have a bit more depth in them and need more focus than what they get in the danian of the week articles. This week, its one of the two danians who have been dominating my mind. I really want to make a deck around them. For now, I'll just show you one, Fliandar.
So this guy is the Rise of the Oligarch Ultra Rare Danian. This really is a "Full card analysis" as I'll be covering every aspect of this guy, formatted like so:
1: Stats
2: Elements
3: Energy
4: Mugic ability
5: Ability
6: Rarity
7: Subtypes
8: Flavour text
9: Cardart
Yes, I'm even gonna review the art.. I know it seems like a lot but some of it will probably only be one sentence or two.. So let's get started with the first full card analysis!
1) Stats: 85 Courage, 45 Power, 75 Wisdom, 35 Speed. High courage, typical of the danian tribe, and high wisdom, also useful, probably the danian secondary discipline. Attacks like directed bravery and Charge of the Brave are perfect for Fliandar.
2) Elements: Earth and water, staple elements for the danian tribe, he fits with almost any danian attack deck. Cards like swarming destruction and Ice Disks are perfect for fliandar.
Discipline/element crossover attacks like Deluge of Doom and Geyser gush are also must-haves for fliandar decks.
So far it's a typical danian. From here on is where fliandar distincts himself.
3) Energy: An average of 60. Pretty beefy energy all in all, coupled with an evergreen tunic and it can soar to spectacular heights.
4) Mugic Ability: One mugic counter. Not bad, it makes him very balanced. Two elements, two strong stats, high energy and a mugic. The mugic can give him an edge by letting him bring a simple one cost such as song of symmetry or unisong.
5) Ability: Here's where Fliandar really sets himself apart. Uninfect 3 Infected Creatures: Activate Hive and heal all damage to fliandar. There are quite a few levels to the depth of this ability, so let's take it in small steps. Uninfecting 3 creatures. This might seem pricey, but when you think about it, with current cards like a brainwashed tabaal, illexia, topar and ode to obscurity, infecting three is really pretty easy. Since tabaal's brainwashed ability is "Sacrifice a Mandiblor: Infect 3 creatures", for all intents and purposes it becomes "Sacrifice a mandiblor, heal all damage to fliandar and activate hive." This is definitely worth it, sacrificing a mandiblor who can't fight to heal your deck's main supporter, in full, is monstrously good.
Also note, if you are facing another infection army using, say, nimmei, you can uninfect the creatures they infected to heal fliandar and bring down nimmei's ability. Just another useful bit.
Second, let's look at the commonly overlooked part of his ability: Activate Hive. Fliandar himself doesn't use hive, so this is rarely implemented. But use a card like stingblade or unisong with it, and you have yourself an awesome combo.
Finally, heal all damage to fliandar. No other card just yet can heal "All Damage" to a creature indefinitely. So let's say Fliandar has 65 scanned energy, he's equipped with an evergreen tunic and the location is doors of the deepmines. That's 95 energy. Fliandar is brought down to 5 energy. You have nine creatures infected. Heal him to full, that's a 90 energy heal. You can do this three times.
All in all, that's a 270 energy heal. While it was done in an idyllic situation, which you won't have all the time, it's still pretty serious stuff. That's the equivalent of over 5 husk armours.
So you can see how devastating an ability Fliandar has. If used right, it can be an absolute game-changer.
6) Rarity: Definitely deserves ultra rare. Why you ask? Did you not just see the "270 energy heal?" That is reason enough in my ever humble opinion.
7) Subtypes: Danian creature squadleader. Pity, he's not a mandiblor so can't benefit from compost. Still, who needs compost when you can heal like that? Also note that he isn't loyal or unique. If you are lucky enough to be able to get two, Do.
8) Flavour Text: "Part Squadleader, part Parasite, all Danian." Gotta love this flavour text. Fills you with danian pride.. xD So we can see his a Squadleader who not only uses parasites, but is actually bonded with them, interesting. So maybe fliandar isn't a "he", but a "them".
9) Cardart: I'm gonna post the full art. I dunno if blogger will downsize it enough to make the difference barely noticeable, but oh well.
Clickify for full art.
Eh, I guess it's a bit better than what you can make out on the card. Seeing it like this lets you see more detail though, sucha s his eyes and the massive bull-horn like mandibles he has. It's currently my desktop wallpaper.. xD But this art is really awesome, and it inspired me to actually analyze the art too. Props to Khary Randolph. So he has 8 limbs - Your typical mandiblor has 6, four legs, two arms, but some nobles, controllers and squadleaders have another set of arms. Fliandar here is one of them, but his arms are actually a bunch of parasites. It makes me think of how ants work together with "swarm intelligence" to make a ladder out of ants or something to bridge a gap. He draws power from the parasites.. He's like a giant symbiote. Plus, we can see him owning two guys simultaneously with his supreme bugginess. Hence I really like this guys art.
So there you have it, the first full card analysis. Some cards to remember that go well with Fliandar:
So this guy is the Rise of the Oligarch Ultra Rare Danian. This really is a "Full card analysis" as I'll be covering every aspect of this guy, formatted like so:
1: Stats
2: Elements
3: Energy
4: Mugic ability
5: Ability
6: Rarity
7: Subtypes
8: Flavour text
9: Cardart
Yes, I'm even gonna review the art.. I know it seems like a lot but some of it will probably only be one sentence or two.. So let's get started with the first full card analysis!
1) Stats: 85 Courage, 45 Power, 75 Wisdom, 35 Speed. High courage, typical of the danian tribe, and high wisdom, also useful, probably the danian secondary discipline. Attacks like directed bravery and Charge of the Brave are perfect for Fliandar.
2) Elements: Earth and water, staple elements for the danian tribe, he fits with almost any danian attack deck. Cards like swarming destruction and Ice Disks are perfect for fliandar.
Discipline/element crossover attacks like Deluge of Doom and Geyser gush are also must-haves for fliandar decks.
So far it's a typical danian. From here on is where fliandar distincts himself.
3) Energy: An average of 60. Pretty beefy energy all in all, coupled with an evergreen tunic and it can soar to spectacular heights.
4) Mugic Ability: One mugic counter. Not bad, it makes him very balanced. Two elements, two strong stats, high energy and a mugic. The mugic can give him an edge by letting him bring a simple one cost such as song of symmetry or unisong.
5) Ability: Here's where Fliandar really sets himself apart. Uninfect 3 Infected Creatures: Activate Hive and heal all damage to fliandar. There are quite a few levels to the depth of this ability, so let's take it in small steps. Uninfecting 3 creatures. This might seem pricey, but when you think about it, with current cards like a brainwashed tabaal, illexia, topar and ode to obscurity, infecting three is really pretty easy. Since tabaal's brainwashed ability is "Sacrifice a Mandiblor: Infect 3 creatures", for all intents and purposes it becomes "Sacrifice a mandiblor, heal all damage to fliandar and activate hive." This is definitely worth it, sacrificing a mandiblor who can't fight to heal your deck's main supporter, in full, is monstrously good.
Also note, if you are facing another infection army using, say, nimmei, you can uninfect the creatures they infected to heal fliandar and bring down nimmei's ability. Just another useful bit.
Second, let's look at the commonly overlooked part of his ability: Activate Hive. Fliandar himself doesn't use hive, so this is rarely implemented. But use a card like stingblade or unisong with it, and you have yourself an awesome combo.
Finally, heal all damage to fliandar. No other card just yet can heal "All Damage" to a creature indefinitely. So let's say Fliandar has 65 scanned energy, he's equipped with an evergreen tunic and the location is doors of the deepmines. That's 95 energy. Fliandar is brought down to 5 energy. You have nine creatures infected. Heal him to full, that's a 90 energy heal. You can do this three times.
All in all, that's a 270 energy heal. While it was done in an idyllic situation, which you won't have all the time, it's still pretty serious stuff. That's the equivalent of over 5 husk armours.
So you can see how devastating an ability Fliandar has. If used right, it can be an absolute game-changer.
6) Rarity: Definitely deserves ultra rare. Why you ask? Did you not just see the "270 energy heal?" That is reason enough in my ever humble opinion.
7) Subtypes: Danian creature squadleader. Pity, he's not a mandiblor so can't benefit from compost. Still, who needs compost when you can heal like that? Also note that he isn't loyal or unique. If you are lucky enough to be able to get two, Do.
8) Flavour Text: "Part Squadleader, part Parasite, all Danian." Gotta love this flavour text. Fills you with danian pride.. xD So we can see his a Squadleader who not only uses parasites, but is actually bonded with them, interesting. So maybe fliandar isn't a "he", but a "them".
9) Cardart: I'm gonna post the full art. I dunno if blogger will downsize it enough to make the difference barely noticeable, but oh well.
Clickify for full art.Eh, I guess it's a bit better than what you can make out on the card. Seeing it like this lets you see more detail though, sucha s his eyes and the massive bull-horn like mandibles he has. It's currently my desktop wallpaper.. xD But this art is really awesome, and it inspired me to actually analyze the art too. Props to Khary Randolph. So he has 8 limbs - Your typical mandiblor has 6, four legs, two arms, but some nobles, controllers and squadleaders have another set of arms. Fliandar here is one of them, but his arms are actually a bunch of parasites. It makes me think of how ants work together with "swarm intelligence" to make a ladder out of ants or something to bridge a gap. He draws power from the parasites.. He's like a giant symbiote. Plus, we can see him owning two guys simultaneously with his supreme bugginess. Hence I really like this guys art.
So there you have it, the first full card analysis. Some cards to remember that go well with Fliandar:
- Unisong
- Evergreen Tunic
- Stingblade
- Tabaal + Deep Dirge
- Ode to Obscurity
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Adapting to your enemies!
So by now, in the metagame, each tribe has a very defined role.
Overworld has it's defensive qualities. Heal the energy, up the disciplines, give the elements. Overworld is all about being constructive - They win the battle by pumping up your creatures instead of bringing down their creatures.
Underworld is the destructive side of things. Where Overworld gives elements, underworld removes them. Where Mipedians manipulates battlegear, Underworld destroys it. Stat and energy destruction helps the Underworld - Instead of making up for their own flaws, such as exhaust and recklessness, they just give their enemies bigger problems to worry about. Their abilities are the opposite of overworld - Intimidate brings down your opponent whilst support brings up your skills. These are outdated examples, but look at Maxxor PoP and Chaor TF - Maxxor is all about making himself hit back harder with a good defense, and Chaor, with fire 10, is all about making monster attacks.
Mipedians are quite unique in that they control the game. With cards like notes of neverwhere, melody of mirage, melodic might, they can control your attack deck, locations, your opponents attacks.. Most of all though, is their supreme battlegear control. Gear glissando, Disarming Theme, Armament Adagio, Tune of Xerium... They can use invisibility to shut down your opponents gear with disarm, or gain initiative with surprise, and manipulate attack damage with strike. Not to mention air is the "control" element. Look at sirocco, ravanaugh ridge, tornado tackle, aerodrone, etc., and they even control the battleboard positioning with things like switch riff and vigorous gust Mipedians are most comparable with the overworld, both of whom share "control"-esque strategies, such as garv, viqtarr, rhyme of the reckless and lomma.
=====================================
So I don't want to bore you with a massive article, and I don't want to go on and on about the other tribes. How do danians work? First thing that comes to mind is teamwork, the individual working for the group. But how does it show in the actual gameplay? Danians are about adapting to your opponents. Look at some DoP cards, which are some of the most telling cards there are. Danians have hardly any jumpers or swift-users in the tribe, so they adapt to their weaknesses with song of surprisal. But how else do we do it?
Ahh, Katharaz. The guy revolutionised Danian Elementalists. But what's important here is his elementproof. Elementproof is pulled off the best by danians, and it's because we can adapt to our opponent's strengths (their elements) and use it to our advantage. It started off simple (with cards like kelvedran, song of resilience, HammerDoom Assimilated) but even in modern sets there are great examples of elementproof users (klencka, aureban, tarbok, lobanne)
Illexia is an amazing card, for a bunch of reasons, but for fear of being side tracked, I'm going to stick to her first ability. "Adjacent creatures gain "Defender.""
The reason this is so good, is because danians are very resource-dependent. Our muges can be integral to the whole game, and leaving them unguarded is chaotic suicide. Sad, but true, our decks can often (but not necessarily always) have this as a main weakness. Illexia gives all adjacent creatures defender, meaning your nimmei or katharaz can step in instead of your lobanne. This is, again, adapting to a weakness and making it a strength.
Infecting creatures - How is this adapting to your opponents? Simple. If you are outnumbered, outgeared, outmugiced and outdone in every seemingly possible way, how do you fight back? You take your opponents creatures and turn them into resources for your creatures. Taking opponents and using them for your own benefit couldn't be more danian.
And finally..
So you are losing a battle bad, half your creatures are in the discard pile and you have one little mandiblor left. How do you turn this situation around? You tap into the power of the fallen - You use your opponents victories to defeat them. Talk about using their skills against them, huh?
So this is an article on the nature of danian gameplay. Use your opponent's strengths against them, and you'll be in sync with the hive! Sorry it was so long, but I wanted to write this for a while.
~Mandible
Overworld has it's defensive qualities. Heal the energy, up the disciplines, give the elements. Overworld is all about being constructive - They win the battle by pumping up your creatures instead of bringing down their creatures.
Underworld is the destructive side of things. Where Overworld gives elements, underworld removes them. Where Mipedians manipulates battlegear, Underworld destroys it. Stat and energy destruction helps the Underworld - Instead of making up for their own flaws, such as exhaust and recklessness, they just give their enemies bigger problems to worry about. Their abilities are the opposite of overworld - Intimidate brings down your opponent whilst support brings up your skills. These are outdated examples, but look at Maxxor PoP and Chaor TF - Maxxor is all about making himself hit back harder with a good defense, and Chaor, with fire 10, is all about making monster attacks.
Mipedians are quite unique in that they control the game. With cards like notes of neverwhere, melody of mirage, melodic might, they can control your attack deck, locations, your opponents attacks.. Most of all though, is their supreme battlegear control. Gear glissando, Disarming Theme, Armament Adagio, Tune of Xerium... They can use invisibility to shut down your opponents gear with disarm, or gain initiative with surprise, and manipulate attack damage with strike. Not to mention air is the "control" element. Look at sirocco, ravanaugh ridge, tornado tackle, aerodrone, etc., and they even control the battleboard positioning with things like switch riff and vigorous gust Mipedians are most comparable with the overworld, both of whom share "control"-esque strategies, such as garv, viqtarr, rhyme of the reckless and lomma.
=====================================
So I don't want to bore you with a massive article, and I don't want to go on and on about the other tribes. How do danians work? First thing that comes to mind is teamwork, the individual working for the group. But how does it show in the actual gameplay? Danians are about adapting to your opponents. Look at some DoP cards, which are some of the most telling cards there are. Danians have hardly any jumpers or swift-users in the tribe, so they adapt to their weaknesses with song of surprisal. But how else do we do it?
Elementproof
Illexia
Illexia is an amazing card, for a bunch of reasons, but for fear of being side tracked, I'm going to stick to her first ability. "Adjacent creatures gain "Defender.""
The reason this is so good, is because danians are very resource-dependent. Our muges can be integral to the whole game, and leaving them unguarded is chaotic suicide. Sad, but true, our decks can often (but not necessarily always) have this as a main weakness. Illexia gives all adjacent creatures defender, meaning your nimmei or katharaz can step in instead of your lobanne. This is, again, adapting to a weakness and making it a strength.
Infecting
Infecting creatures - How is this adapting to your opponents? Simple. If you are outnumbered, outgeared, outmugiced and outdone in every seemingly possible way, how do you fight back? You take your opponents creatures and turn them into resources for your creatures. Taking opponents and using them for your own benefit couldn't be more danian.
And finally..
Compost
So you are losing a battle bad, half your creatures are in the discard pile and you have one little mandiblor left. How do you turn this situation around? You tap into the power of the fallen - You use your opponents victories to defeat them. Talk about using their skills against them, huh?
So this is an article on the nature of danian gameplay. Use your opponent's strengths against them, and you'll be in sync with the hive! Sorry it was so long, but I wanted to write this for a while.
~Mandible
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
A very late Danian of the Week: Makrabon!
This week is a favourite of mine! Makrabon!
Makrabon
A common controller from Silent Sands, makrabon is like a reversed form of tabaal. Instead of spending a mugic to infect, he gains a mugic to infect. Makrabon is sorta like the poor man's Illexia, when you think about it. He can gain lots of counters with cards like Strain of Infection, and you benefit from it. He and strain of infection are a deadly combo. Infectious melody and tabaal infects four cards, uninfect three and Makrabon gains 3, and then you reinfect them. Then sacrifice a balladeer's flute, and use Rao'Pa Sahkk Chimegrid, or Dibanni, or Inner flood... The possibilities are endless and you can have mass infection in no time. He is a great partner to Illexia. Either you can let him activate hive and allow Illexia's counters to be used for your mandiblor count, or use Elna for hive, keep Makrabon for mugic like adaptive progression or choral of the apparition, and use Illexia for the mandiblor count. I'm currently running a pretty sweet infection deck using the latter combination, and he works a treat.
So here's to Makrabon, he's versatile, he's deadly, and best of all he's just a common! Hats off to one of the best controllers out there, and most controllers are to do with infecting (Dubin, Yondaf, Makrabon) so this guy is no exception.
Makrabon
A common controller from Silent Sands, makrabon is like a reversed form of tabaal. Instead of spending a mugic to infect, he gains a mugic to infect. Makrabon is sorta like the poor man's Illexia, when you think about it. He can gain lots of counters with cards like Strain of Infection, and you benefit from it. He and strain of infection are a deadly combo. Infectious melody and tabaal infects four cards, uninfect three and Makrabon gains 3, and then you reinfect them. Then sacrifice a balladeer's flute, and use Rao'Pa Sahkk Chimegrid, or Dibanni, or Inner flood... The possibilities are endless and you can have mass infection in no time. He is a great partner to Illexia. Either you can let him activate hive and allow Illexia's counters to be used for your mandiblor count, or use Elna for hive, keep Makrabon for mugic like adaptive progression or choral of the apparition, and use Illexia for the mandiblor count. I'm currently running a pretty sweet infection deck using the latter combination, and he works a treat.
So here's to Makrabon, he's versatile, he's deadly, and best of all he's just a common! Hats off to one of the best controllers out there, and most controllers are to do with infecting (Dubin, Yondaf, Makrabon) so this guy is no exception.
Monday, August 24, 2009
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