Hey guys! Well, this was unexpected! I didn't think I'd be making a review of another set before we can get to play with the Season 1 cards. But this surprise set of cards just came in, and it will be available to be played with, in two days! The set consists of 70 cards and it is completely free. Meaning that every account will get all of these cards for free and every new account will start with them. All of the cards are not mintable and can't be put on the blockchain, meaning that you won't be able to sell them, well, everyone has them anyway.
This set is meant to teach beginners how certain mechanics work and because of that, most cards are pretty simple, even though there are some quite powerful cards. With the implementation of these cards, starter decks will also change and will only use this set. But there is one big difference. Now you are able to edit these decks so new players will be able to still have some general ideas but as they unlock/buy cards they will be able to build upon these ideas and making their own.
I won't go over every card, because some are just here for the new players and won't have an impact on the meta. So if you want to see all of the cards take a look at the official GU cards page and click on the SET tab and filter out the Welcome set. I'll go over the cards that have the potential to really help establish some new archetypes or strengthen existing ones. Okay, let's jump into the cards.
Amazon Support
Amazon tribe is already quite strong and even though these aren't anything special. Having more options will help tune those existing decks even better. Springbloom Hunter might even find its place in a pretty saturated mana slot because not every 1-drop is an Amazon in those lists. Now this is easily achievable and if the deck can be more steered toward buffing creatures early, this Regen effect might give you a lot of value early in the game which will always be translated into more tempo, something Amazon decks really need to improve.
Hunt Warden, a vanilla 3/4 for 3. Basically making a Dune Cavalry a pack filler in the Core set, this is kinda a confusing decision, but okay. There are actually a lot of Amazon cards on the 3 mana slot but most of them really suck so this pretty standard card with premium stats, actually might have a chance to compete for its place on the decklist.
Underbridge Assailant isn't the most impressive card, in fact, it is on the worse side of 4 mana Amazon cards so I don't think we will see that much of her but you never know.
Wild Hog
I don't want to jump too much ahead but it feels like this little guy might have a big impact on the early game. Netherborne Binder had its appearances in some more controlling decks but because his Afterlife was to heal your opponent, not many aggressive decks would consider including him into their lists. Since Wild Hog has a rather different drawback, that doesn't involve healing their god. This pile of stats might just become a huge part of many full-Aggro decks. I don't think the card is too strong or that it will break the meta, but it will definitely help Aggro. It might even get included in Amazon decks because you are able to remove Confused with one of the Amazon 1-drops. Interesting card nonetheless.
Vanguard Axewoman
A 2/3 Blitz for 2? Looks really strong to me. This card will help so much in combating early tempo loss but then again it will also help the winning side win more. As a Viking, it might even help resurrect that tribe from the dead. Vikings usually buff strength so this having a 2/3 stat line is so good and might become a good way of combating early Skeleton Heavy or even Pyramid Wardens. I don't know what else to say about this card, except that it is damn impressive.
Echocaster
As a 6 mana 4/4, it is obviously a weak card but the Roar effect may be something useful for decks using heavy value spells like Control Death for example. I guess the only problem is, that you might have trouble finding what card to sacrifice in order to run this one. It is quite an expensive card so I'd imagine you'd need to swap some value-oriented card in order to have a chance in returning a really important spell back from the void. The problem is that you can't guarantee what spell you will get back and if you run some cheap spells they can become a liability, making this card harder to fit in into the deck. I find this card interesting but I don't know if it will see much play in the meta.
Late Game Answers
If you read the Charging Oryx's Roar, you can see that these two are pretty much the same card but Oryx has 1 strength more. Anyway, these two might be a new option for Midrange decks that want some solid answers to cards like Demogorgon or Ashen Drakes and many other 7-drops. Not the best card by any means, as you can be sure if you are going to get the desired result every single time but in any case, you will be getting some tempo on the board when playing these. Charging Oryx is also a nice addition to possible high value and immediate impact Forage cards. Its quite possible Midrange Nature will find a spot for the Oryx.
Achillean Dedicant
Another nice immediate impact late game card. Some gods may still prefer their 8-drops, like Grendel and Avatar of War, Anti-Magic Expert. Even Helian Elite is somewhat better in many cases. But since this card also has Ward, it can be played more safely against hard removals like Penitence and you don't have to worry about Charm as much. It might not have a huge impact on the meta, although it has some potential to end up in value heavy lists.
Reckless Flamebreather
A pretty strong board clear that comes with a 5/5 body is nice. Again, not the best card but because it is neutral, it opens up more options to Gods that lack in the board wipe department. The problem might be that it comes a bit too late though as 8 mana is pretty far away to an anti-Aggro card. I don't think it will be seen too much but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Twinhorn Rider
Just to say right away, the card seems pretty weak on its own. I think we won't see it much right away but once the Trial of the Gods expansion hits, there will be more support for buffing cards in your hand and Twinhorn Rider will greatly benefit from this. Even just buffing him once with the Intense Training god power makes him really strong, now imagine when all other hand buffing support cards get introduced into the game.
Fury
It's hard to say if spells that give blitz, at least in War, will ever be useful. The only reason I wanted to mention this card is that it makes Red Fume Dash look pretty silly. I mean, the card was looking pretty bad as it is but now this Basic card is overshadowing a Genesis card. A weird choice from the devs.
Over-proof Brew
It's kinda meh right now. The power level is lower but the flexibility is there, the only thing that is missing is more synergy. Right now, the best creatures you can use with this card are Tamed Mammoth and Tyr, The Just, and maybe even Mountain Greatwyrm. But that is pretty much it. If we get more creatures that seriously benefit from getting damaged we might see an increased appearance of this card. Until then, not so much. If you are looking for a board clear you will always go with the Carnage Sweep and if you are going Aggro, for the most part, a 6-cost spell will be a bit too much.
Ramshackle Hatchet
This card is probably going to have a short "lifespan", as it will be able to open up a nice burst from hand for the face War since you can no longer do that with the good old Slayer god power. Of course, there are better relics with Godblitz already but this is the cheapest one and also does 3 damage by itself, and pairing it with Sharpen and Whetstone gives a huge amount of burst damage for just around 5 mana. The reason that the card will have a short "lifespan" is because the Trial of the Gods features a relic for 1 mana that does the same and that is so much better, that probably you won't even consider this card anymore.
Mystic Support
We've already seen that the next expansion will bring us more Mystic support and these cards will help each of these gods to maybe make something out of this tribe. Light is for sure going to have a lot to with Mystics and Battlement Luminary will help cement it even further. 2 mana for a 2/1 needs a pretty good compensation from its Roar effect to make it worth using. Luckily, Light Mystic decks are going to be of a Zoo-ish archetype so getting 2-3 creatures buffed won't be too much out of reach and so this card will prove its strength.
Third Eye Seer, just as with Light, helps to fill out those slots and enables more options for Magic going into Mystic oriented decks. As a 2 mana 2/3, it can combat most of the early game cards so it's not weak, and Foresee gives you more consistency during the game. Even though its a pretty simple card, it gives so much in terms of deck viability to Magic.
Possessed Acolyte, unlike these two, isn't going to make Death go into the whole Mystic deck archetypes but still it is an option. As a 2 mana 2/2, pretty weak but a really nice card for a Soul Burn deck that goes below 15 health so fast anyway. So this is almost as good as a 2 mana 8/8, which is insane! I'm not sure that this card is fair because Soul Burn is already doing fine, but with this at its disposal seems a bit too much. This card will most likely change a bit of the structure of these decks and if the players find a good mix of aggression and Afterlife procing, this card will cause some havoc.
Aether Package
Aethers really needed additional creatures in the tribe. Especially because using only a couple of them comes with a poor consistency of activating their effects that depend on you holding another Aether already in the hand. Panacean Messenger definitely helps as there are just a few other early game Aether options and as we saw, Magic will be preferring cheaper Aethers when building those Aggro/Tempo decks that will be possible in the next expansion. As a 2 mana 2/3, the stat line is average and the healing effect might just be enough in many early game situations to get some favorable trades.
Radiant Spirit has a similar purpose in Light, helping you get that extra value/tempo, but since you are playing 4 mana for a 3/4, this effect won't be the most reliable way of getting back that tempo. I mean, it looks like a win-more card since the best result that you can get involve your god already being on full health so that you can guarantee that your creature will be healed. It could be an interesting card even in non-Aether decks since it looks like it will fit Zoo Light pretty nicely. It's hard to tell with this one though.
I'm gonna skip Summoner's Guide because I think that other than being an Aether it has a low chance of seeing much play. Come on, a 5 mana 1/5 that can deal some damage to the opponent's face? I'll pass.
Peacebringer is a huge thing for Aether Light to become a thing. This effect is just crazy, it can be an answer to any sizable threat and can even ignore Ward while doing so. On top of that, it is a 4/7 with Frontline, so the defensive potential is even bigger. As a stand-alone card, it's still pretty good but in the combination with Aethers and Light cards that can bring it back from your void to your hand, the value becomes incredible.
Conversion
Light has so many control spells, more specifically removals. This one in comparison seems a bit weak but then again, it is a transforming effect so it has this added versatility against Afterlife creatures. Although the limitation is a bit too harsh in my opinion. You are required to spend 4 mana but then you summon a 2/2 with protected for your opponent, which is worth like 2 mana. So definitely you can't get any tempo from this card unless your opponent spent some time buffing that creature. But if your opponent's deck is about buffing, you just gave them a Protected creature that can use new buffs even better. The card's design is kinda confusing, at least to me but maybe we gonna see it used in some niche scenarios.
Pluck From Fate
Usually getting 2 random creatures would be considered borderline bad for 3 mana but for a faster deck that is running out of cards faster, this might just be a good way to get some more fuel. The problem is that you depend on the rng and on the opponent's creatures to determine the actual value of this card. Kinda risky to include it into the deck, but if you really get out of cards too quickly, you might consider this one to help out.
Crook of Shepherding
An interesting relic right here. If you need it to clear some creatures, well don't use this one but if you need extra value then this is something for you. The preparation take a lot of time though, so you need to be rather safe if you plan to use it. The good thing is that your opponent won't really want to use their relic removal on this one as that will only help you. Newly born Aether decks might include this to get even more way of returning their valuable Aethers to their hand. The effect is quite simple and if you construct your deck in the right way, the effect itself will be consistent.
Aspect of the Axolotl
3 mana for regen +6 is, umm, okay-ish. The problem is that you will have a hard time actually use it for the full effect most of the time. But there is also a good side for this and that is the Trial of the Hydra spell that will come in the new expansion. Meaning that with this you can give a creature you target +6/+6!! This is insane. It might be hard to pull this off, but if you are able to do it somewhat consistently then, wow! That's pretty much it, a solid card if you can use it to maintain already established board control.
Untamed Regrowth
This is something I like to call a good bad card. It is something you really don't want to put in your deck. I mean come on, is it really worth it to put a potential bag of tricks that can't even go over your current unlocked mana. Not really. But if you play Forage Nature and you get this card of the god power, it might at least help you a bit and you wouldn't mind it as much as getting other useless cards that Forage sometimes likes to offer. Confusing enemy creatures rarely actually helps, so this part of the effect is just a tiny bonus I guess.
Best Friends
Okay, getting 3/3 worth of stats across two bodies with only 1 mana? I think this card is so strong that it might be even a bit too strong. Yeah, those two creatures are also confused but that can even be a positive if you are playing Gloam Druid for example. Getting that extra 1/2 really shouldn't be a problem, since you need only 2 creatures on the board before playing this card. Maybe even Amazon decks would like to use this card as their style also goes well with wide boards. I'm really questioning if this card is gonna stay like this for a longer period of time.
I think that no one expected this set to come out so suddenly. It really is a pleasant surprise as not only will this help new players onboard more easily but for all of us that are playing the game for a long time now, this is a nice way to shake up the meta and make things a lot more interesting. And when we figure these things out, there is a good chance we will be entering Season 1 and then again get a bunch of new cards to experiment with. I'm so glad this is happening, thank you GU team!
Gods Unchained Official Roadmap:
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Useful tools for Gods Unchained statistics, meta, deckbuilding, leaderboards, etc. :
https://unchainedstats.com/
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Markets:
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https://opensea.io/assets/gods-unchained
Raffle:
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Thank you for reading!
,z3ll