Hey guys! I know, it has been a while since part 1 but I finally managed to find time to review this sets remaining cards. As we already have seen, this set is mainly focused to explain common keywords and mechanics to new players but there are still some quite powerful cards that might affect the meta on the competitive level.
Once again, in this review, I won't go over all of the cards but only those that I find interesting and worth mentioning, meaning that those cards will have an impact on the game for players on all skill levels and not just for beginners. So if you want to see the whole list, this is now already possible in the game, well you can play with the cards as well.
In part 1 we went over, Neutrals, War, Light, and Nature. Which means for today, we are left with, Death, Magic, and Deception.
Stygian Collector
Just to be clear this is definitely a bad card but if you like to play some hyper-aggressive strategies with Death, primarily Soul Burn decks. This could possibly find itself as an option. I mean, for a 4-drop, 6/4 stat line is obviously amazing but the drawback is something that is hard to justify. Of course, the best-case scenario is that you already used your whole hand before the Afterlife goes off but then again, that also means that you are already in the top-deck mode and you want to finish the game as soon as possible. In the end, the biggest problem with this card is that it dies to most removals and can hardly provide board control in a better way than other 4-drops can. But if you are already winning the game, Stygian Collector will get you there faster and reduce the number of turns your opponent has to crawl back into the game.
Corpse Swallower
As a 6 mana 5/6, Corpse Swallower can easily justify its cost if you are able to draw at least one card. It won't be always as good as the Helian Blademaster because of the lack of the Ward but the potential value goes much higher. This card definitely could find a spot in the Midrange/Zoo style of Death decks that want to have more consistent hand size in the later stages of the game, there is also this factor of potential synergies with the Anubian tag that we could see become more relevant with future expansions. A solid card I should say, but it isn't something that is going to affect the way we play Death in a drastic way if at all.
Soul Bargain
I can't say I necessarily see where to use this one but it sure is an interesting card. It's hard to find a reason why would you want to have this card in the first place unless your deck is based on reviving random creatures from your void. One "real" use-case that comes to mind is breaking the cycle of reviving your Thanakris Spell-Locusts if it becomes too expensive to obliterate cards from your hand. Other than that, it is a cycle card and if for some reason you need to thin out your deck maybe you would include this card but its hard to says since there are other options, like Untold Greed and Fleshbind, even though these cards kill your own creature.
Rebuild Differently
I'll just quickly mention this one. Okay, yes it is a hard removal and even potentially a strong one since you could end up with a pretty huge creature afterward. But the problem is that it is a Death card and we already have sooooo many Death removal cards and they are also really strong, even stronger than this one. Especially on 7 mana, we have Apocalypse and on 8, End Times so fitting this into a deck is a hard task. Can't see this one being used, solely because Death's already saturated removal slot.
Rune Writer
In part 1, I mentioned that we are getting more Mystic support, which could create its own archetype when the Trial of the Gods hits. A 5 mana 3/3 is definitely a weak stat line but being able to almost guarantee the rune you want gives a lot of flexibility with proper planning. Mystic decks are "steering" toward some type of Midrange strategy so this might be the biggest problem for this card to see a moderate amount of play. Anyway, it is a new rune generating card, and if we see more ways of Magic being able to develop the Rune archetype also, it creates more opportunities for this card as well. I have to say, it is a meh card, but still not the worst one either.
Versatility Over Power
This is a kinda weird set of cards to give to beginners for one reason. All of these cards have multiple choices and involve a lot of preparation in order to use them well so it can be overwhelming for a new player to recognize what to do with them. I can't imagine that a newbie would feel comfortable playing these cards but okay.
Other than that, these cards could be implemented in Combo/Control decks that most of the time just try to clear the board and wait until they collect their pieces and turn around the game. With these decks, the common scenario when your opponent isn't putting a lot of pressure, you just can't use your cards and end up passing the turn without doing much. These offer you alternate functions that still let you do something, even though you pay more mana than usual.
Illuminate doesn't do much but it still is a 1 mana spell that can either help you versus early Aggro pressure or in the slower matchups, serves as an "upgrade" for your topdecks.
Versatile Conjuration is a weak removal spell but then again, if you can't do anything on your turn but wait, maybe you could cycle it to get some better options on the next turn.
Mind Jolt, well, follows the same principle. It is an inefficient removal mana-wise but you can refill your hand when you need to or you just have enough time so you go faster through your deck.
Lambasting Wand
Do you really like playing Aggro, and want more damage output? Well, then this is a good card for you. For only 2 mana you can deal 6 damage to your opponent's face over three turns so, in terms of damage per mana, this card is awesome. The problem is of course, that you need a lot of turns to get the full value out of it and if the meta demands a lot of relic removals, this card will have a hard time being useful. Still, I think that we will see it used a lot if Aggro Magic becomes a thing again in the future.
Glider Assailant
Not much to say about this one. A 2 mana 3/2, solid stats, Flank is just a bonus for Aggro. Since it has a Guild that, we might see it used when Guild decks become a thing. That's pretty much it.
Bedeviled Shadow
Now, this is one of the better Hidden creatures we have. It does nothing spectacular but as a 3 mana 3/3, this card has a good chance of trading up when played on curve, so aggressive Deception strategies will definitely use it to gain early board control. I'm not saying that this will become a staple or anything but a good option for an early game creature that does a great job of providing value and even almost guaranteed face damage. This card is solid and simple.
Secrets Broker
I'm kinda divided on this card. On one hand, it can be a 5 mana 3/5 that draws a card. Which is nice, as you get a solid 4 mana body but you don't lose hand resources. On the other hand, you are pretty much forced to play a fast deck to use this effect and in this case, I dislike the 3/5 stat line. If the body was stated more aggressively the card would be perfect but in this case, it looks like a value giving body that requires you to be behind in the value game to give you value. Yeah, confusing. The way I would "fix" this card is by giving it a Guild tribe tag and then it would get more synergy with the Deception cards in the future. But then again, it is a Welcome set card so it probably won't get better.
Ransom
Definitely the strongest Deception card in the set if not the from the whole set. It is really strong for two reasons. When you use it on the more expensive cards, 5+ mana. Even though you are just returning the creatures to its owner's hand, they won't be able to play it for multiple turns and even when they could, the creature is so expensive so they most likely won't. When you use it on a creature that costs 8 or 9 mana, if they can't lower its cost, it's like you destroyed the creatures, even better, they can't return it from the void and it also reduces their hand size. On top of that, it doesn't matter how much health the creature has and the Afterlife effect doesn't activate. So many things make this card great, I'm a bit surprised this is in the beginners set.
Stack the Deck
This is sort of a tech card that can work really well, specifically versus Control decks. Because you can build Deception decks to have such a favorable position versus slower decks, the only thing that can screw you is that you can't find those cards you needed. This helps you minimize this problem and also puts on the pressure on your opponent to use their cards unwillingly to avoid milling. In some cases, this card can "extra screw" the opponent if they happen to draw their 9-cost cards, most notably their Echophon but you shouldn't count on that. Stack the Deck is an interesting card and it is hard to imagine all possible implications it can have but certainly could find its place in the tournament format (when that becomes a thing).
This is pretty much it from this set. Yeah, there are some cards I skipped but I just thought that there was no point in covering them as they won't really affect the game too much at all. Once again, I'm so surprised the GU team released this set, as this is such a good move to attract new players so that they can test out the game before deciding if they want to invest more in it.
The winner of this set, in my opinion, is Magic, because there are so many cards that could potentially get implemented in the existing decks and make them more consistent. And the close runner-up is Deception solely because of the Ransom card, that is unbelievable strong, so strong in fact that it is possible we will see it receiving a nerf at some point.
What do you guys think about this set? I know getting free cards can't be a bad thing, but do you feel like it gives value to the game? What are your favorite cards? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
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,z3ll