Hello all, it is my pleasure to bring you new and exciting info regarding Epic! I know I am personally very excited for any news regarding the upcoming Kickstarter and new cards, and I am sure you are too. So today we get to do just that! The cards we will be spoiling are from the upcoming Duels Starter Deck, which is a complete two-player game geared towards new players. This starter only uses four keywords (Airborne, Ambush, Blitz, and Tribute), which should help new players grasp the game and ease on into the gameplay. Not that the game is incredibly complicated, but jumping into a new game with a bunch of keywords can be a bit of a challenge for some. I remember when I had to have a little cheat sheet in front of me when I first played, just for a couple of games, until I learned them. So this new starter sounds like a great way to introduce the game of Epic. But, I hear you say, “What about me, a veteran of Epic? What good is this set for me?”. Well, unlike other games whose starter sets provide very few new stuff for veterans, I’m here to say that this starter set includes all new cards, all of which are great for my personal favorite card game experience in Dark Draft, as well as many cards that I can’t wait to try in my Constructed decks! So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Okay, starting off strong for Evil! Despite weak stats, this summoner helps Evil with one of its favorite pastimes: swarm and swarm assistance! Demons are no joke, and we’ve seen them be competitive in all Epic formats. These are the most powerful tokens at 4/4, and with this summoner, they (and all other Evil champions) gain +1/1 as long as she sticks around. Even if she dies a turn later, she still got to drop 2 of these Demons, which could be the difference between victory or defeat. I also really love Abyss Summoner having Ambush, which really helps with her flexibility. You can play her to protect yourself on your opponent’s turn, and then she will be ready to send her minions at your opponent on your next turn. I, personally, can’t wait to use this card to fuel a demon/zombie token deck! This is a solid pick for both Constructed and Dark Draft.

While the previous card could be Ambushed in, in order to block an opponent’s attack, it would most likely die in the attempt. This card, however, stands a good chance of coming out on top. 8/8 is enough to stand toe to toe with most champions, and its Tribute ability allows the flexibility to either boost itself if necessary, or even another champion. You could also play this in a pinch on your turn as a combat booster surprise, and you know how much Wild loves its combat surprises!

Unlike most doomsday predictors, this guy seems like he can put his money where his mouth is. He provides a very strong punishing body at 12/9, which is enough to take quite a chunk out of your opponent’s health, or simply force them to block and most likely lose on the exchange. But he also has a unique Tribute ability as an on-turn board wipe. I love the flexibility of this card. I really like this card in Dark Draft specifically, as it fills many roles in a given deck. It provides a large threat that must be handled. It has Blitz, so it can punish your opponent if they spend their gold first. And lastly, it gives you a board wipe, which is crucial to every Dark Draft deck.

Hopping over to the all-important 0-cost contributions to this new Epic set, we have Ensnaring Rune. Like a good 0-cost, this provides a lot of utility. Dealing 4 damage could be enough to stop an attack from a 1-cost champion all together (Looking at you, Knight of Shadows and Thought Plucker). If it doesn’t, it further lowers the champion’s strength, which may be enough to safe you (or one of your champions), from death. This card also offers the choice of just flat out Banishing a 0-cost champion. Targeted removal is always nice, and Banishing ensures there won’t be a card to help fuel a Recycle trigger later. This is a powerful card in Dark Draft, where the power of 0-cost champions has been meta-dominating for a while. Look to draft this card pretty quickly.

For our last card, I didn’t want Good to feel left out. Sporting my personal favorite art of the cards previewed today, this solid 10/7 human champion benefits from all of boosts available to those weak human tokens. He also does a little boosting himself, providing a serious strength increase to your Good champions. While 5 1/1 human tokens may not cause you to bat an eye, 5 4/1 tokens will cause you to lose two-thirds of your health in one swing. Plus, he provides the Tribute ability of drawing a card, which is one of the most important things in the game of Epic, especially for a human token deck. Will this guy be enough to boost human token decks to the forefront of the Constructed meta? Time, (and our resident fan-favorite Tom Sorenson), will tell.

So that is all for the previews for today. I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. Please let us know what you think in the comments. Which card is your favorite? Which card do you think is the best to draft if this is the 5-card pack you opened in Dark Draft and why? What are you most looking forward to in the Kickstarter? Thanks for reading, and let’s get excited for the Kickstarter!

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Note: these cards are not final and are subject to change