Releasing the Pre-Release!
Traitor heroes and insane new cards were flying across tabletops yesterday as the pre-release event of Servants of the Betrayers gave us true WoW TCG fans our first chance to play with the new cards. The format, sealed of course, with 2 packs of MotL and 4 packs of SotB. There was only one game per match, instead of the usual best 2 out of 3. This worked out great because you had the chance to play against more opponents and see more of the new cards at work.
They ran two flights in Richmond, and I was lucky enough to get to participate in both of them, scoring a 3-3 in the first flight and a 4-1 in the second. Rather than go over all the games I played, I'm going to review some of the more common cards that performed well in the sealed environment. I'll leave the 8+ drop bombs for another time, as its more obvious that those are going to win games if you can get them down and keep them in play.
Hulok Trailblazer, Cost 2 Horde
Ally - Tauren Druid
When you place a quest, Hulok deals 1 arcane damage to target hero or ally.
Attack 2, Health 2
I ran alliance for both of my flights, but everytime I ran up against this guy he was a problem. The versatility he provides is great, and if you have two of them in play, and run a decent number of quests, then you'll be able to trade your smaller guys for larger enemies without a 2-for-1 card loss, and kill 1 health allys with just a quest. In games where my opponents had one of these on the field, I typically found the game to be a toughter matchup than most.
Breen Toestubber, Cost 5 Alliance
Ally - Gnome Warrior
Opposing Allies have -1 ATK.
Attack 4, Health 5
I ran two of these in my second flight deck, and they worked out really well. Not only is a 4/5 ally a pretty good beater in sealed, her effect makes it notably harder for your opponent to continue trading allies with yours. In one game where she hit the board, my opponent didn't want to make the 2-for-1 trade to take her down, and chose to sit on defense, which allowed me to pick off his allies with my own and ended up giving me the tempo needed to push a win through.
Magistrix Dianas, Cost 4 Neutral
Ally - Blood Elf Mage
Scryer Reputation
When Dianas enters play, look at the top card of your deck. Either draw it or put it on the bottom, if you draw it, out Dianas from play into her owner's hand.
Attack 4, Health 3
I didn't run Scryer, but one of my friends from Comic Kings was running this and showed it to me (fear the mighty Adam). I had to read the ability a few times, but once I got it I was quite impressed. Not only is this a 4/3 ally, but you can play her, choose to draw the top card after looking at it, and bounce her back to your hand.
While 4 can be a high cost to pay, having the ability to see the card before you decide to draw it really makes a difference. You can decide, based on the board state, if it's worth the tempo loss to take the draw, or if you'd rather keep your 4/3 beater in play.
Myriam Starcaller, Cost 4 Alliance
Ally - Night Elf Druid
Untargetable
Exhaust Myriam deals 5 arcane damage to target hero.
Attack 3, Health 4
This lady wins games. I had her in both of the decks I ran, and was very happy with the threat she creates once she's in play. An automatic 5 damage a turn isn't easy to ignore. Not to mention if you drop an Aldor ally with Inspire: Ally, then you up the stakes to 10 damage a turn. They've got to answer that fast, and her Untargetable attribute makes her that much more resilient once she hits the board.
And the card that just flat out won me several games:
Earth Mother's Blessing, Cost 3 Druid
Instant Ability - Restoration
Attach to target Ally.
Ongoing: Attached ally has +3 ATK / +3 Health.
When attached ally is destroyed, draw a card.
I had two of these in my deck when I went 4-1. Normally, cards that attach to another card in play are viewed as bad, because they create the potential for an easy 2-for-1 trade. Your opponet kills the ally, and the ability attached goes away at the same time. For 1 kill card, your opponent has removed 2 of your cards from the board. That kind of trade can swing tempo away from you and then you've got to try to catch up because you've lost 2 cards while your opponent has only lost 1.
Not so with Earth Mother's Blessing. When the ally its attached to dies, you get to draw a card to replace the loss. The ability on it's own is amazing, turning a 2/2 2 drop into a 5/5 monster on turn 3 is very impressive, but wait... there's more. It's an instant. Yep! You can wait until your opponent decided to protect, then drop this ability down for some serious combat shenanigans.
My final game of the day, I had two of these in my hand. One went onto a 2/2 ally with steath, making him into a 5/5 with stealth, and the other dropped onto a 4/2 ally, turning him into a 7/5. This setup went into motion in the early turns when you're still making ally tradeoffs, and I just rolled over my opponent. This card is a great reason to go druid.
That's it for my pre-release data dump. I look forward to watching the way SotB will cause our meta to morph, and hope to bring you some interesting thoughts on constructed combos over the next few weeks.
Vindictus is a member of Team F.A.M.E., based in Virginia Beach, and he often wishes that smacking people who deserve it was considered socially acceptable behavior.
Tags: Pre-release SotB Warcraft Sealed
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World of Warcraft TCG
