Narziss's Card Ratings

**Fry** · 02-25-2011, 11:08 PM

is the only ally I would play on turn 4 over Portal, and that only because 4 resources (and 5 resources, if you're going second) are very important for many decks, so you can hinder the opponent a ton by preventing them from getting to that critical resource threshold. Sandra

is just disgustingly good if you are ahead on board position.

**Narziss** · 02-26-2011, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by tropireno

I disagree with the 1 rating for Valiant Defender

and similar cards. It's sometimes Warrior's only defense against Portal

and it can let you get back in the game instead of taking the cheesy auto-lose. Even without going against Portal

, it's still useful if you happen to go 2nd that duel, letting you not be as weak against an opponent's setup field.

I agree on most other scores on the list, though.

You make a good point on Valiant Defender, for its cheap cost it is the only viable choice of its type against Portal

. (Cards like Cover of Night, Rain Delay, Into the Forest

, or Holy Shield

have too insignificant of an effect or cost too much.)

**Pzychotix** · 02-26-2011, 02:39 AM

On Rain Delay

, there's also the VERY distinct difference that it stops YOU from attacking on your next turn as well. That one little difference changes it from being an awesome card into an horrifyingly craptastic card.

The ONLY situation this could help you is if you desperately, desperately needed that one last turn to get an extra energy on your hero to activate its ability, and more than likely it would only help you if you were Nishaven

(i.e. board wipe). Otherwise, it's completely useless. It doesn't help you recover, it doesn't help you even win faster, and it takes up a card slot which could otherwise be something useful.

On Valiant Defender

: It's an extreme tempo disruptor, and saves many games from instant losses. A big part of this game focuses on the combat mechanics of first strike, summoning sickness, and ability to choose your targets. If you're behind as a Warrior deck on attackers, it's very hard to get back up without your guys being slaughtered before your next turn. With a Valiant Defender

up, you can drop a bunch of allies without fear of them dying, retaliate, and possibly reverse the entire situation. One key thing to note though is that you really need several allies to drop along with this card. Alone this card isn't that good, but with several 2 cost creatures (which, by the way, humans have some great 2 cost creatures), this card will save games.

**Quorlan** · 02-27-2011, 10:04 PM

Card Advantage is a critical component to many competitive decks. Most folks think about this as simple card drawing. Meaning, if I can draw more cards than you, I have a card advantage. This is very true and very useful.

But card advantage has a subtler side. You can also achieve card advantage and fine tune your deck by using cards that can be used in more than one way. For example, Bazaar

is an okay card but while it looks like it's good for you, it gives your opponent a slight card advantage because they get the benefits of it before you do. However, in a deck designed to run the opponent out of cards, Bazaar

's just feed into the strategy. If that is one of your deck's goals, then any extra card drawing you can thrust upon your opponent helps you.

Another good example is a card like Jasmine Rosecult

. You can use her to dish some nice damage to an enemy ally or hero OR you can use her ability to temporarily render an enemy ally inert.

Cards that can be applied to meet varying needs as conditions dictate grant a more subtle but no less useful Card Advantage without ever having to draw a single card more than your opponent.

**arebelspy** · 02-27-2011, 10:08 PM

Good point Quorlan. That's part of why Aeon

is so good - strong to attack and a good defensive barrier.

Versatility can be quite important.

**AnAdolt** · 02-27-2011, 10:36 PM

Some are dismissive about Bazaar

. My opinion of it is: if you think your deck is superior than the rest, you don't worry about decking Bazaar

. The gains from keeping your advantages afloat with constant card draws from Bazaar

should outweigh the minor loss of taking effect first for your opponent.

**Narziss** · 02-27-2011, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by AnAdolt

Some are dismissive about Bazaar

. My opinion of it is: if you think your deck is superior than the rest, you don't worry about decking Bazaar

. The gains from keeping your advantages afloat with constant card draws from Bazaar

should outweigh the minor loss of taking effect first for your opponent.

In fact, I think Bazaar

is one of the only "counters" to Research

and Blood Frenzy

. So if I was playing anything besides Mage or Warrior, I know I would lose steam without a source of card drawing to compete with Mages and Warriors, but with Bazaar I'm usually able to level the playing field and keep them from playing their Research or Blood Frenzy

.

**Aggro** · 02-27-2011, 10:59 PM

There's a fun combo that works against heroes that don't have the ability to deal direct damage to allies, although in some cases it still works -- Valiant Defender

and Warrior Training. When playing around with Tel Adun, I used that with an Infernal Gargoyle

. As an example, Nishaven

had just wiped the board and put out an ally. I played the Gargoyle and Valiant Defender

, then on my next turn put on Warrior Training and played an ally of my own. When it came back to me, I was able to play another Valiant Defender

, put out more allies, and start attacking. This is obviously counter-able by cards like Fireball

as well, but since a Gargoyle can survive one, I got two free turns where I couldn't take damage at all, and it turned the game around.

**Narziss** · 03-14-2011, 12:06 AM

Update: added the four latest pieces of equipment. Will try to keep this updated as new ones are released.

Ratings are obviously just estimates without actual use of the cards.