This is a guest blogpost by Josiah Fiscus. Josiah Fiscus is a 31-year-old gamer from Pittsburgh, PA who has been playing CCGs and designer board games for over two decades. When he’s not at the game table, you’ll find him playing drums and serving as a deacon in his local church or enjoying time outdoors with his wife, Erin, and two kids (ages 5 and 4).

It is worth noting upfront that there really are no truly bad cards in Epic. Every single champion and event has at least some degree of usefulness in some situation. In fact, this is one of the things that makes Epic one of my favorite games. Nevertheless, there will always be cards that are simply more flexible and powerful than others. These ratings are an initial impression. I’m excited to see in the coming months which of the cards from the bottom of this list actually end up having great success or applications I had initially missed. Without further ado, onto the rankings.

The Bottom 20 (but still good!)

  1. citadel_scholar 48. Citadel Scholar – Well, somebody had to be the worst. Most of the time, Citadel Scholar is going to be worse than Ogre Mercenary, a card that isn’t exactly lighting up the charts anyway. Both are 0-cost recyclers. Ogre Mercenary is a 4/3 no matter what. Citadel Scholar is a 1/2, but only IF you hit the recycle trigger. Then, IF you spend your opponent’s turn drawing 2, by next turn he will be a 4/5. That seems like a lot of work for a 2-point defense boost over a card that, as mentioned, has not made an appearance in constructed decks.
  1. gladius47. Gladius, the Defender – In some ways, Gladius reminds me of Thundarus. The Unbanishable, the boost to other champions, the good alignment. But Gladius seems to have more of a home in a token deck. He’s like a triple Paros, albeit one that costs your gold for the turn. He has no evasion of his own, meaning the times when he can really attack for damage will be few. Ultimately, he seems just a bit too slow to really allow his stat boost to be helpful (a problem that plagues Thundarus as well). Gladius may well have a home in a certain niche deck, but I haven’t yet been able to figure out what deck that will be.
  1. demonic_rising46. Demonic Rising – The times when you will want to use this as anything but a draw 2 are few and far between. If you’ve already attacked with all of your champions and have more out than your opponent does and haven’t spent your gold yet you might be able to finish them off with this card’s second ability. But attempting to use this to stabilize an unfavorable board state is going to go very poorly for you. Demonic Rising is a serious downgrade to Wave of Transformation.
  1. go_wild45. Go Wild – While both Lash and Rage can give +4 attack for free, and have the option to get card advantage by spending gold, Go Wild lets you have your cake and eat it too. If you hit the Recycle, this is an absolutely free boost. Of course, if you DON’T, it’s quite a bit worse than either of them. Don’t be deceived by the name; if you see this card in draft, it actually presents precious little incentive for you to “go Wild”.
  1. rescue_griffin44. Rescue Griffin – Almost purely a surprise blocker, Rescue Griffin doesn’t add any additional value other than often surviving to block another day. In certain cases that may be good enough, and in certain cases being able to attack for 3 in the air the next turn might be good enough, but those cases are rare enough that this will likely not be a priority to add to your deck.
  1. fairy_trickster43. Fairy Trickster – I’m going to let you in on a little secret: that whole “target player” thing on Fairy Trickster is a trap. This is a card whose ability you should only ever use on yourself. There are currently no cards that give you any indication about the top card of a player’s deck, and a random card from your deck is almost certainly going to fit better into your plans than a random card from your opponent’s. When you first Ambush in Fairy Trickster, using the ability will be awkward. It will essentially only work if it reveals a 0-cost card and you want to play it right then. If you are digging for a certain 0-cost card, perhaps it has merit, but in most cases you will want to wait until your turn. From that point on, it functions as a pseudo-Muse, essentially drawing you a card every turn. The difficult part about is when to activate it. If you reveal a sweeper, you will want to have attacked with everyone first. If you reveal a combat trick, you will want to be mid-battle. If you reveal a removal event, you may want to do it first thing on your turn. These choices could certainly be described as skill-testing, but I have a feeling they are more likely going to be frustrating. While the ability to swing for 5 in the air is nice, Muse is head and shoulders above our diminutive friend here.
  1. saren_night_stalker42. Saren, Night Stalker – For Evil decks attempting to break the synergy of “break all” effects, this card could be a boon. This is also the kind of card that will make a player on defense think twice about playing a “draw 2” effect if you still have unspent gold. Still, Saren can too often be chump blocked with a single token. I think he’s in the same vein as Rampaging Wurm, which hasn’t seen much tournament success for this same reason. Would it have been too much to ask to have him be simply Unbreakable, regardless of whose turn it is? Compared to many of the other excellent champions in Uprising, this vampire, well, bites.
  1. mythic_monster41. Mythic Monster – Mythic Monster? More like Average Monster. It’s difficult to imagine drafting or choosing to play this card over Fire Spirit, for example. Yes, it replaces itself, but there are many other threats you would rather slam onto the board, whether you are ahead, behind, or at parity. Splashability may help it in draft compared to the usually-much-better Raging T-Rex, but I anticipate Mythic Monster being a generally late pick in most cases and not making the final 60 in constructed.
  1. village_protector40. Village Protector – Like the previous two cards, this will mostly be a hard-to-kill but easy-to-block champion. Getting a couple tokens along with her gives her the slight edge though. Damage-based sweepers and removal will have a hard time with her as she essentially has a couple layers of protection. However, it doesn’t seem likely that more token-focused decks want to spend gold on a slow champion who doesn’t boost her brethren. She may just be a simple and generic threat with little synergy.
  1. little_devil39. Little Devil – This is a simple addition to the stable of Evil’s 0-cost Blitz champions. Unfortunately, I don’t think it compares very favorably to them. Dark Knight doesn’t have any form of evasion, but it hits harder and works well against break effects. Guilt Demon sacrifices an offense and two defense, but it gains Ambush and has some excellent discard pile disruption, which can be quite crucial. Little Devil is possibly most comparable in terms of power level to Thrasher Demon, which hits not quite as hard at on the first turn but harder on subsequent turns and swaps one type of evasion for another. It’s possible I could be proven wrong, but this seems like more (but not better) of the same. In summation, Little Devil’s biggest weakness isn’t the card itself, but the plethora of other options on a similar axis.
  1. corpsemonger38. Corpsemonger – Trading the evasion of Little Devil for the option to banish a card puts these two very close together in ranking. And the incidental health gain can be a factor for sure. Still, much like Little Devil, this is going to be worse than Guilt Demon in most cases. Guilt Demon can attack WHILE banishing cards; Corpsemonger must choose one or the other.
  1. reusable_knowledge37. Reusable Knowledge – This is an event whose only option is to draw 2 cards. Actually, it’s even better than that because it lets you choose what one of the two cards will be! Well… actually, it’s even worse than that because with an empty discard pile (or a discard pile of things you don’t want), it basically just replaces itself for 1 gold while not affecting the board at all. Much like Final Task, I assume Reusable Knowledge will find a home in decks that rely on specific cards but in general will be weaker than many other options.
  1. winds_of_change36. Winds of Change – We are still waiting for a Wild stat-boosting event to really make waves in constructed, but if any card is going to do it, it just might be this one. The second mode will likely be used the most as it very often reads “draw a card, kill an attacking champion, gain +5/+5 forever”. But the first mode can be absolutely brutal in a more token-focused deck. If there is a problem with this card, it’s likely that it is almost TOO flexible. Rare is the deck indeed that can regularly make use of both of the modal options. But if you already run Deadly Raid, you will probably run Winds of Change too.
  1. savage_uprising35. Savage Uprising – While Savage Uprising certainly has an illustration that will make you giggle with delight, the text box leaves a little more to be desired. This is kind of like a worse Hurricane (can’t hit zero-costs) stapled to a worse Forked Lightning (can’t hit a champion, draw instead of second target). This gives the card a decent amount of flexibility and especially the second mode can be a blowout on certain boards. But I have a feeling that a lot of the time, this card isn’t going to be the answer that you really need, and it trades digging 2 cards deep for an answer (draw 2) with digging 1 card deep and 5 to the face. Again, in certain situations (opponent at 5 health for example), this will work great, but most of the time there will be direct damage events you would rather run over this one.
  1. citadel_raven34. Citadel Raven – If Fairy Trickster could be considered “worse Muse”, Citadel Raven could be considered “worse Winter Fairy”. Instead of drawing a card, you get a card back from your discard pile. Obviously this can sometimes be just what you need, but there will also be times when you can’t get anything useful at all, and even if you do it makes you less likely to be able to recycle. Additionally, while you may get a bit of damage in sooner than with Winter Fairy, you don’t get a card when Citadel Raven dies. It’s by no means a bad card, but there are many card drawing champions you would prefer over it.
  1. rift_summoner33. Rift Summoner – There is a lot of text on this card, but it doesn’t amount to a ton of power. Without the loyalty trigger, this is going to be pretty bad (though if you break your own Soul Hunter…). With the loyalty trigger, it’s kind of a like a one-shot Infernal Gatekeeper. You can’t even abuse Rift Summoner by breaking your own Unbreakable champions or you simply don’t get the tokens out of it. The best scenario I have come up with is ambushing in as a blocker, then breaking himself to create two more demon tokens prior to damage being dealt. That’s decent when it works, but it’s a lot of effort to get it to play out just the way you want.
  1. master_zo32. Master Zo – Master Zo won’t die when blocking. Master Zo won’t die when attacking. If your opponent wants him gone, they will have to deal with him outside of combat. That is a new and interesting ability, but it’s not quite enough to push this monk into the upper echelons of Uprising champions. Part of the problem is that while you really want him to be a blocker, he doesn’t help block evasive champions. And on the attacking side, he doesn’t have any evasion of his own. This means that essentially he will stop one non-evasive attack from your opponent each turn while presenting no actual threat of pressure. If you are attacking with Zo, your opponent will be all too happy to throw a token in front of him and not have to worry about him being a blocker next turn. The next card on the list can essentially serve this same function, but for 0 gold.
  1. spore_beast31. Spore Beast – I’m ready to be proven wrong about this one (brand new abilities are hard to assess), but I just don’t see its abilities working together in a sensible fashion. In a pinch, you can ambush it in, even without the loyalty trigger, to chump block. But that’s true for lots of better cards too (Muse, Watchful Gargoyle, Guilt Demon, etc.). If you do get the loyalty trigger, you can avoid all the damage and keep your Spore Beast too. But he won’t remove blockers for you in a way that allows damage to get through, unless you are attacking with a Breakthrough champion. Because of this, he’s really only good as a defensive card who can essentially lock down a targetable attacker once per turn. Wild being the least control-focused of the factions, I’m not sure this fits into their usual game plan.
  1. entangling_vines30. Entangling Vines – Another addition to the fledgling “plant control” archetype, I anticipate this card will suffer similar problems to Spore Beast. It won’t live through your own Hurricanes, and yet it doesn’t generate a ton of tempo for you either. In some cases, you can at least use its ally trigger to push damage through on your turn, which Spore Beast cannot do. But even so, Entangling Vines seems like a card that won’t really excite you the way that many other champions will.
  1. brand__rebel_fighter29. Brand, Rebel Fighter – Brand is a remarkably potent combat trick. Whether he is pushing through surprise damage on an unblocked champion or surprise killing an attacker, his ability to also gain some health and leave behind a body are what really set him apart. Most combat tricks are powerful but often leave you at card parity or disadvantage. Brand might actually leave you ahead while also healing you.

 

The Next 20

Don’t let lower rankings fool you; every card in Epic has a place. Even so, we are now getting into some of my very favorite cards from Uprising.

  1. raxxa_s_enforcer28. Raxxa’s Enforcer – This demon can provide a way to get back ahead when you are behind to a board full of tokens. And in comparison to Raxxa himself, he hits for an extra damage and doesn’t need the loyalty trigger. Giving your opponent’s champions an ongoing Wither effect slots well into control while also neutering things like Thought Plucker. Just be cautious if your opponent has a way to remove the Enforcer after blocks are declared; you don’t want to open yourself up to an incidental combat trick due to the Enforcer dying mid-combat and your opponent’s champions gaining +3.
  1. force_field27. Force Field – This is the first modal event to provide three options instead of two and it’s this flexibility that is Force Field’s greatest strength. An admirable choice in limited as a draw 2 or combat trick or both, Force Field should also find its way into more controlling constructed decks as a way to prevent damage and keep your hand full. Placed side-by-side with Fumble, there is no clear best.
  1. bodyguard26. Bodyguard – Despite the name, Bodyguard is going to be better used as a shock troop than a guard. Sure, he can be a surprise blocker who comes back for more. But at his best he is going to be attacking with a boost to his offense, trading with a blocker, then coming back to attack again in the same turn. On his own he’s not a standout, but as part of an aggressive Good deck, he will shine.
  1. flame_spike25. Flame Spike – This card is a very close analogue to Wolf’s Bite. It simply trades gaining a wolf token for the option of targeting a player. In nearly all situations (except the opponent being at 2 health) this is a bad trade-off. This is even truer now with the potential tools being in place for a wolf-focused deck. That said, Wolf’s Bite is a very strong card, so Flame Spike too is quite draftable, if a bit of a lower-tier option in constructed.
  1. siren_s_song24. Siren’s Song – This card reminds me a lot of Raxxa’s Curse, and that’s a good thing. Both of them deal with a 0-cost champion while simultaneously establishing a 0-cost champion of your own. The real question in comparing them is going to be whether or not you’d generally rather have a demon token versus a 0-cost champion from your opponent’s deck. If the “on your turn” clause was not here, I think this would be clearly better than Raxxa’s Curse, but such as it is, I am still looking forward to immediately stealing the Muse my opponent tried to sneak in at the end of my turn.
  1. consume23. Consume – I’ve spent a lot of time playing with Unquenchable Thirst and I can say it is rare that it can/will deal more than 3 damage. In light of that, and in light of how many new cards are banishing discard piles, it seems advisable to run Consume instead. Don’t forget that in a pinch it can be used just for the health gain (though you have to target something if possible). Sometimes sacrificing flexibility for consistency is the right thing to do, but this comparison could certainly be debated.
  1. knight_of_elara22. Knight of Elara – The nearest comparison here is Juggernaut, which has Breakthrough instead of this card’s ability to transform blockers into wolves. A blitz champion who draws a card can certainly put pressure on. But Juggernaut is generally better at forcing damage through. If Knight of Elara is getting chump blocked anyway, transforming the chump blocker into a token has little relevance (though it keeps it out of the discard pile). That said, if the opponent’s only potential blocker is something like Sea Titan, obviously Knight of Elara is going to be a lot more appealing. In other words, Knight of Elara is strongest against one large threat and weakest against lots of smaller ones.
  1. winged_death21. Winged Death – You know who else is strongest against one large threat and weakest against lots of smaller ones? This guy. In nearly every case, he is going to be a 2-for-1 and often even better than that. If your opponent can’t block an airborne attack, there is no choice but to kill this guy as soon as possible. He will absolutely take over the game if left unchecked. But even if he is dealt with immediately, if he forced even a single 1-gold champion to break, you have already come out ahead.
  1. martial_law20. Martial Law – Sweepers that can be played on your opponent’s turn are hard to come by. In most cases, giving your opponent some tokens is going to be a fine trade-off, in the same way that Wave of Transformation does. Of course having the option to do it on your own turn and establish a token presence of your own isn’t bad either. If the first option was a draw 2 instead, I think this would rank higher; token decks would certainly prefer Inheritance of the Meek as sweepers go. But it’s hard to find negatives about an off-turn sweeper (my comments on Demonic Rising notwithstanding).
  1. erratic_research19. Erratic Research – Draw 2 and Banish is an excellent play during your opponent’s turn when you are ahead on the board. Even if you are a bit behind it can help you stabilize. But in cases where you are in trouble, you need to be able to spend your gold to affect the board. A card with the option to draw 2 or the option to deal with a champion is going to provide better flexibility in a variety of game states. Nevertheless, Uprising is the first set in which we have seen a 1-cost discard pile banisher, which is important. Let’s look at our next card to find out why:
  1. grave_demon18. Grave Demon – This is perhaps the card with the greatest discrepancy between its constructed value and its limited value. In limited, discard pile banishing is a first-pickable ability, and Grave Demon doesn’t require a loyalty trigger which makes him very splashable. For constructed, however, given the amount of discard pile hate that Evil already delivers, I’m not sure that this makes the cut in most decks. Ambushers like Helion, Ice Drake, Medusa, Pyromancer, Noble Unicorn, etc. seem generally stronger for their added abilities. If Grave Demon was a Wild or Good card, I would be significantly more excited about the addition of discard pile banishment to those alignments. Still, as a 1-cost discard pile banisher, if you are playing heavy Good or Wild, you can play just 3 copies of Grave Demon as your only off-color cards, a role that cannot be filled by any other discard pile banisher (Amnesia, Keeper of Secrets, Heinous Feast, Corpse Taker, and Guilt Demon all cost 0).
  1. avenger_of_covenant17. Avenger of Covenant – On the other hand, here is an 8/8 Ambush champion with a Tribute trigger I can really get behind. An answer to most any champion that has either attacked you or dealt you damage in some other way this turn, the Avenger can also sometimes drop in as a surprise blocker as well. The best case scenario on this card is that it essentially functions as a double removal event that also leaves behind an 8/8 body which can attack immediately on your turn. And I predict the best case scenario will not be an uncommon occurrence at all. Avenger of Covenant would still be a solid card if the Tribute trigger was a Loyalty 2 trigger instead (in the vein of Medusa), so the fact that this can be splashed into any deck makes it just that much better.
  1. reset16. Reset – Returning all champions to hand is an elegant sweeper effect that no other card has done. Combining with option of being a “draw 2” makes this a card that I simply love the design of. As with most sweepers, breaking the symmetry is the key. If you have 0-cost/Ambush/Blitz champions in play, you are almost certainly going to get the better end of this. On the other hand, if your side of the board is full of 1-cost slow champions without Tribute/Loyalty abilities, this is going to seem really bad. For constructed, as with a card like Raxxa’s Displeasure, you need to make sure that your deck is built around breaking the symmetry. For limited, draw 2s and sweepers are always solid picks and Reset is both of those things.
  1. plague_zombies15. Plague Zombies – With no other board presence at all, Plague Zombies nearly guarantees you push through at least 6 damage to your opponent. And if you have other Zombies in play that can also benefit from the Blitz and/or break trigger, this just gets better. This card slots very nicely into Drinker of Blood combo decks of course, but should see play in other decks as well. Ambushing in token blockers, killing the attacker, and still getting to hit your opponent in the dome is really nasty.
  1. war_machine14. War Machine – The comparison between War Machine and Frost Giant is a very interesting one. Both can come down and swing for serious damage while first clearing away potential blockers. War Machine does this permanently, but leaves any 1-cost blockers alone, whereas Frost Giant is only temporary but deals with all opposing champions. War Machine hits for 2 extra damage, but requires dedication to Sage to consistently hit the Blitz trigger. For this reason, Frost Giant gets the slight edge, but “slightly worse than Frost Giant” could hardly be considered an insult.
  1. silver_dragon13. Silver Dragon – If you’ve ever played with Noble Unicorn, you already know this going to be a useful card. Noble Unicorn still does work even if it never gets its Ally trigger. Trading Ambush for Airborne and token removal seems like an acceptable bargain. And compared to Markus, trading the discard clause for Airborne seems like it will be generally more relevant (and no loyalty needed). Silver Dragon is never going to be an all-star (it’s not like Airborne champions really struggle against tokens anyway) but it’s a solid card that you will never be unhappy to run. It’s just good value.
  1. justice_prevails12. Justice Prevails – If you are a Good tokens fan, this is the card you have been waiting for. Let me count the ways. First of all, unlike a lot of token boosters, it boosts the defense as well. The potential for your tokens to survive and hit again the next turn is no joke. Secondly, it replaces itself. This is crucial as token decks can have problems running out of gas the longer the game goes on. Finally, it represents a ton of health gain. Even if you are on the brink of death, a large attack from multiple tokens like this can practically reset your health total. Time will tell if cards like Justice Prevails are enough to see Good tokens make an appearance in tournament-winning decks, but it is certainly a possibility.
  1. denmother11. Den Mother – Den Mother is a lot like Raxxa, and I’ve explored the pros and cons in my preview article here: https://www.epiccardgame.com/epic-uprising-preview-den-mother. The bottom line is that anything that can be compared favorably to Raxxa is automatically a great card. I love how Den Mother threatens to swing for near-lethal damage with even a few of her pups on the board. There is almost no right way to block an attack from her; damage is going to get through. You deal with her or you die. And when you deal with her, you still have a bunch of slathering wolves just waiting to finish you off. Yikes.
  1. no_escape10. No Escape – This was the venerable Tom Sorenson’s spoiler card, so I’m not sure I can say much that hasn’t been said already. The comparison to Banishment is apt. Both deal with a single champion, any time, at the cost of putting a card in your opponent’s hand. Conversely, you can do it on your turn and get a card of your own. Much like Erase, you need to use this card wisely so you gain tempo rather than lose it. (Obviously using this on a zero-cost Ambush Champion is a bad play.) But the flexibility to use this as a draw 2 instead is what really pushes it over the edge for me. Look, it’s hard to get as excited about a simple removal event as you would for a flashy champion, but No Escape is really, really solid.
  1. hunting_pack9. Hunting Pack – And here’s the payoff card the wolf deck really needed. At a minimum, this is 6 to a champion and gain 3 wolf tokens, which is already really quite good. But as a follow-up to Den Mother, this card is completely absurd. Imagine if Chomp gave you 3 tokens instead of the dinosaur boost! On defense, Hunting Pack kills or blocks almost anything and still leaves behind some tokens. But perhaps the craziest part about Hunting Pack is that it isn’t even the best Wild Event in Uprising. Stay tuned.

 

The Top 8

The cream of the crop. These are the cards that you will love seeing on your side of the table and hate seeing on your opponent’s side of the table. Get excited. I know I am!

 

  1. angel_of_the_gate8. Angel of the Gate – There’s a certain Chamberlin later in this list who is really going to appreciate the Airborne assistance this Angel provides. Like all powerful champions, it absolutely has to be dealt with and the longer you leave it around, the worse it gets. Angel of the Gate is going to be a removal magnet on the level of Thought Plucker and Fire Shaman. This is a card that your opponent simply cannot suffer to live.
  1. zannos_corpse_lord7. Zannos, Corpse Lord – While I’ve ranked Zannos as the weakest of the four face cards of this set, he is still an extremely strong champion. Like all of the Loyalty X champions, you will be rewarded for both running a deck with lots of the same alignment as well as for keeping your hand full of cards. Drinker of Blood combo decks will obviously love this guy, as he not only drains just like the Drinker, but also sets up a bunch more tokens for him. But even as a simple first turn play with loyalty 4, it will be difficult for your opponent to recover from an immediate 8-health swing and 17 attack across 5 bodies the following turn.
  1. velden_frost_titan6. Velden, Frost Titan – I know this isn’t the first card I’ve compared to Frost Giant, but come on. This is basically like Frost Giant and Sea Titan had a baby, even in the name of the card. This would still be a very playable card if it only had the ability to return one opposing champion to owner’s hand. If you hit this Loyalty trigger for 2 or more, the game is all but over. Frost Giant is still more splashable, but if you are able to consistently get even Loyalty 1, you probably should be running this card.
  1. pyrosaur5. Pyrosaur – Hey look, it’s Draka’s cousin! Pyrosaur doesn’t hit as hard and doesn’t have the evasion of his winged predecessor, but on that first turn he hits all opposing champions for 4 instead of 3. Not only that, but his ability hits opposing players as well, which somewhat makes up for the lower attack and lack of Airborne. Most importantly, when running low on cards and unable to Blitz, he can still clear away any 2-defense or lower defenders. Any deck that wants Draka wants this fellow too. And if you thought facing a deck with three Drakas was bad, wait until you face a deck with six!
  1. fires_of_rebellion4. Fires of Rebellion – This card is arguably better than Flame Strike. ‘Nuff said.
  1. chamberlain_kark3. Chamberlain Kark – The very first card spoiled, Chamberlain Kark generated the expected amount of buzz. For cube or draft formats, he provides an alternate win condition that can be easily drafted around and provides a very different angle of attack than most other decks. For more controlling decks, which already lean heavily on Good cards, he can also provide some health gain against aggressive opponents. While powerful, this is not a card that fits into every deck. It’s bad in your opening hand in most cases and it doesn’t present much of a threat other than the win condition. And yet, like most cards with the new Loyalty X ability, knowing when to play him versus when to wait is going to be a crucial skill. Cards like this that reward skillful play while also opening up new archetypes are a welcome addition.
  1. scarros2. Scarros, Hound of Draka – Hey look, it’s Draka’s pet puppy! Seriously though, this is one nasty beast. There are already competitive decks that can be composed almost entirely of Wild cards that deal lots of damage. And whether such a deck leans more to the control side or the burn-your-face side, it will want Scarros as a 3x. He finishes the game, he clears the board, he makes julienne fries! One of my favorite things about Scarros (and the Loyalty X ability in general) is how it can sometimes mean that the correct play is to simply do nothing and try to draw more cards for the loyalty trigger. You think Chamberlin Kark is the only alternate win condition in this expansion? Pshaw I say. You forgot about “play Scarros with a hand full of Wild cards”. Game over.
  1. frantic_digging1. Frantic Digging – Don’t judge a book by its cover. With its illustration of both hurtling books and flying covers, this unassuming free event is sure to be a 3x in every deck with enough Sage cards to support it. For starters, this is the first card ever printed to allow you to unconditionally draw a card without spending gold. Oh sure, lots of 0-cost cards have a Recycle ability, but none simply say “draw a card” (though Arcane Research is close to this). What’s that? You think the discard clause makes this worse? Quite the contrary. With only a SINGLE other card in your discard pile, this discard allows you to hit your Recycle trigger as well. Meaning this is very often going to be a free “draw 2”. And that’s not even getting into the times where you can discard your own Soul Hunter or some such nonsense. Whatever your best card is, whatever answer you need, Frantic Digging gets you there faster. Like bacon or chocolate, Frantic Digging makes everything taste a little better.