Ravenscrest: Valley of Secrets

[oggtheman]

Just realized, judging by this card's artwork, Dinosaurs exist in Balor, lol.

:0 jurrasic world 2 set In balor confirmed

[Kip thorp]

Just realized, judging by this card's artwork, Dinosaurs exist in Balor, lol.

It's a proto Sleestack from "Land of the Lost". Or an Ewok who didn't use conditioner

[ShrapnelFox]

It's a proto Sleestack from "Land of the Lost". Or an Ewok who didn't use conditioner

Is "Shadow Era:Lost Lands" actually finding the island "Jurassic Park: The Lost World"?

[Delay of Game]

I think this should be the only Location card in the entire game.

I strongly endorse this card.

[Umbra7]

Alrighty, time for my full analysis.
First, I shall lost the support abilities I feel to be the most relevant and useful.
They are: valiant defender, portal, reconnaissance, full moon, bloodlust, rain delay, battle hardened, pay day, bloodmoon, call of the pack, blinding storm, natural advantage, stand firm, reverberate, And grave resist. (Did you know shattered fates only had 2 support abilities? Only two! I don't feel very supported)

Now let's start some combos
Firstly, we'll start with wulves. For millstalker, this card can mean great draw. Bloodmoon, rain delay, and full moon are all staples of the deck, so having this out will make for great draw. Bloodmoon individually will result in a two card draw when not in stealth. The resource renewal might also be combined with jewlers dream for increased play options. (Looking at you darkclaw.)
Sticking with wulves, we also have a previously non-used card in the form of call of the pack. This always looked like a good ability to me, as there is no tempo loss in playing it T3 because you can then use it to summon a 3 cc ally. (Providing you didnt play an ally t1 or2.) However, I think the reason it doesnt see any play is deck size balancing, and loss of hand. With this location, the loss of hand becomes a no factor, as youll be replacing it the summoned turn, and then playing an ally. (And if we can get a 1cc wulven ally, we can actually get two allies on the field for the price of one ability.)
So going first, T1 no drop.
T2 location and bloodmoon. (Hand count 5)
T3 cotp and ally (hand size 5)
In this way, you keep your hand throughout. T4 can be something like wrath of forest, and summon a new ally if previous has been killed.

Next, lets go for rogues.
Rogues have two abilities that stand out: pay day, and reconnaissance. Recon is interestingly a three effect ability, that sees almost no use. Raised attack, seeing opponent hand, and drawing a card. With this location, you would be drawing two cards, and could then play something like chritoff for a hasted 2 attack. (Can somebody say Garth?) Not to mention, you'll be looking at your opponents hand, an ability someone like serana might want to utilize. You know what else serana can utilize? Rain delay. And pay day.
Speaking of payday, now thats an interesting card. It works well with aetherborn wisp, and more importantly, lyra blackrose. If the opponent decides to activate ravencrests ability while lyra is on the feild, theyll pay the price. In combination with payday, and maybe the cutlass, you should be getting a nice bit of hand destruction going on. (Better pick up a bazaar for payday. Or better yet, loom of fate)

Now warriors have two pretty good support abilities that just don't see any use. One lasts two turns, and completely prevents your allies from being attacked. The second only lasts for one turn, but it discourages allies being attacked, and can help denote ability damage. With access to jewlers dream, this could very easily mean amber benefits the most from this, and can rack up huge armies of allies. This also means that rothem might actually have a better chance at usage (if only there was an ally that returned target warrior ability in graveyard to your hand. Sadly its only attachments)

Now, lets talk about praxix. Reverberate is an amazing card, it really is. However, it doesnt see as much use as I think it should. Well, this location might change that? Praxix can also benefit from rain delay, and hopefully any other support abilities that enter the world from the lost lands. But, playing reverberate T4 means you can also play harbinger of the lost on the same turn. Or, with crystal shards played T2, reverberate can be played T3, and either temporal disturbance or voidwalker gauntlets can be played T4.

Now for the grand finish, and best combo for this card I can find. You guessed it, the undead.
Oh lord the undead, where to start...
Lets start with a portal to the underworld deck im already constructing in my mind. Your T3 drop will be the tombstone beacon. Now, assuming the opponent has more allies than you...your T4 drop is portal. (After playing location) next play a frostmare and activate beacon. Then play grave resistance. You'll now have 3 unspent recources. Well, drop a 3cc ally, who can now enjoy the benefits of portal, the exact same turn it's summoned. Completion of this combo will result in 5 cards being played, and three cards being drawn, plus x damage being dealt in a single turn. Youll have allies on the board, and grave resistance protecting them. If course, draw will be your biggest problem for this combo to be pulled off. All three shadow mages can utilize this in one form or another. Raika in first place, since you're playing with allies (and her ability + grave resistance is pretty damned good) second is majia, because draw can be an issue, and she can help establish board control with your portal. Then gravebone, because hasted courpse shifter sacing dakrath. All mages can utilize bone saber, and all can play with charred cowl.

But wait! There's more!
Remember me talking about warriors? Bet you forgot that weapon and armor I just mentioned can also be used by them. (For some reason...) well, battle hardened and garve resistance on the same turn combine for a -2 damage reduction for free. No hand loss because draw, and their recourse usage balances out with recourse renewal. Then we have beacon, and also have that jewlers dream. (Have you met rothem?). They dont have to worry about draw as much, since they have arguably the besy draw card in the game. (Bloodfrenzy) and, like previously stated, they have charred cowl of the damned and bone saber. (Seriously though, when did undead become associated with warriors?) Of course, warriors ALSO have access to haste but, thats a 7cc drop thats not a support ability (though its one heck of an armor nevertheless)

Oh and, wouldnt you know it. Thise damned wulves still have jewlers dream. Will the zombie dogs start a takeover? Maybe. They have supurb draw with bloodmoon, and wrath of forest. But, they also feature a protective support ability that might just be the greatest ally protection combo in the game. Its just a tad expensive...and requires plenty of shadow energy. Still, blinding storm+grave resist+stealth. -3 damage from abilities, and not attackable physically in most cercumstances. (4cc cost for blinding storm however is just rubish. 3 seems perfectly fair)

Remember me mentioning praxix? Well, he has some synergy with undeads as well. Im quite curious to see how well an undead mill deck would work...after all, theres plenty of cards benefitting from undead allies in your graveyard. While not the greatest of combinations, it may be competitively viable (and honestly, probably a bigger troll deck than a millstalker. Undead shenanigans combined with consistant mill, I can smell the rage quits.)

[oggtheman]

Cool write up

[Airact]

*Snip*

So basically, most of the time it's better to be on the receiving end of this card.

[Umbra7]

So basically, most of the time it's better to be on the receiving end of this card.

Not quite. I went through a long analysis, but...I actually missed a few combos. And, I didn't really redress much at all the repercussions of this card. I may get to those later though

[Airact]

Not quite. I went through a long analysis, but...I actually missed a few combos. And, I didn't really redress much at all the repercussions of this card. I may get to those later though

You still need to play a reasonable number of those cards in the same deck as this. I doubt people want this card in existing decks and the average resource cost of support abilities is a bit too high for the resource renewal to have a significant impact. You need to build a lower power level deck for this card and this card has to then pull the deck over par. I doubt that's going to happen, especially when your opponent can fetch abilities.

[Umbra7]

You still need to play a reasonable number of those cards in the same deck as this. I doubt people want this card in existing decks and the average resource cost of support abilities is a bit too high for the resource renewal to have a significant impact. You need to build a lower power level deck for this card and this card has to then pull the deck over par. I doubt that's going to happen, especially when your opponent can fetch abilities.

Ahh thank you, those were basically the drawbacks I had in mind. The enemies ability to seek any ability is really the main drawback in this deck. Maybe the opponent needs that tidal wave or supernova to regain board. Well, not much stopping him from getting it. A low of strategy will be needed ti effectively play this location