Sifu's Most/Least Favourite Card Per Set

Fellow mortals, it’s finally time. After months of seeing less action than the average acne-ridden teenager, our dry spell is finally coming to an end. A new set - “Band of the Wolf”- is approaching and is supposed to launch on March 30. I for one couldn’t be more excited. I went and stocked up on lube, moisturizer, and toilet paper and besides a concerned wife, I got everything ready to party hard.

So in this article, I want to go over the previous big sets and pick a favorite and least-favorite card in anticipation of the new set. Hoping that we’ll see more of what I consider well-designed cards and fewer of cough Imp cough cards that are bad for the game.

I have a clear bias toward control decks. I think they are more fun, have a higher skill ceiling, and are more entertaining to watch as a spectator (compared to the aggro vs aggro coin flip who goes first). My picks will of course reflect that.

Genesis

Favorite: Sulphuric Rain

Price as of this writing: $69

Used in: Board Wipe Death, Heirloom, Rockdrakes

Sulphuric Rain is one of those wonderful cards that enable so many different archetypes and rewards creative deckbuilding. It’s a win condition by itself by milling the opponent and together with a Jason or something similar, guarantees you to win the fatigue game. This is the game plan of the archetype Board Wipe Death that used to be S-tier back in the Divine Order days.

The card can however also give you draw and proc your minions like Siren of the Grave. It makes it super versatile, and at the same time very hard to play optimally. I would be embarrassed to know how many times I have miscounted and milled myself by setting up some big combo with Siren + Rain + Scarabs etc.

Least favorite: Lost in the Depths

Price as of this writing: $49

Used in: Wrangler OTK, Schoolteacher OTK

This fucking card. Where do I even start… Combo decks are an important part of TCG games. I don’t have a problem with them generally. It’s cool to have a deck that can do 30 damage in one turn and keeps control decks in check. But the decks that Lost in the Depths (LitD) enables are just beyond toxic. Examples of “healthy” combo decks would be Arcane Burst with Pyrrhic Knowledge or even Dralamar. They enable some back and forth and give the opponent some room for counterplay and counter tech. But most importantly, they don’t kill you on turn 5. That’s just way too early and makes them able to race aggro decks if they don’t have a good curve.

But worst of all, they are brain-dead (low skill cap) and are pretty much a single-player experience. You don’t give a fuck about what the opponent does. You just pray to draw the right cards and OTK pre-turn 6. Of course, that’s a bit of exaggeration but not by much. The only reason why these decks are not swarming ladder is that the ladder is as always heavily aggro-infested. Do you also dream about a ladder with more than 50% control? Sorry, this card will crush that dream. Maybe in the future with more cards like Dearly Departed, but they have to not suck as a standalone card. Which they do right now.

Even if some of the cards magically disappeared that make the combos viable, this card at 1-mana will forever be a problem since it’s from the Genesis set. If any card will ever be banned by GU, my money would be LitD.

Trial of the Gods

Favorite: Dionysus, the Bountiful

Price as of this writing: $15

Used in: control Nature

Just look at this 9-drop. This is what they should be about. Big AoE + decent body + insane value. This card is just so much fun and one of the few 9-drops that see a little bit of play. Unfortunately, in the past control Nature had a hard time affording to play Dionysus but with the latest expansion, Winter Wanderlands, Control Nature is fairly strong. But just imagine how strong this card would be in control War or control Magic? That would be pretty nuts.

The fun factor of getting a full hand of random cards that all cost one, is really high. It leads to some cool moments and can turn a game in unexpected ways.

Least favorite: Form of Unity

Price as of this writing: $6

Used in: Portal Wrangler-OTK, Form of Unity-OTK

Do you see a pattern? Here is another toxic combo card that just limits the design space so much besides already enabling some of the worst decks that I already ranted about above. Combined with Aether Fox, you can very easily get at least 18 damage with 0-3 mana. On top of the recent Pyrrhic Knowledge, we have a combo grosser than Popcorn and Ketchup.

Divine Order

Favorite: Eva, Baroness of the Dead

Price as of this writing: $3

Used in: BWD, control Death

Miss Eva is just so much fun. It’s a high-skill-cap control card that will destroy aggro decks that like to ignore your non-frontline cards. It’s not their fault, they are not fans of reading. But there’s no better feeling than trading vs a 2-health and then GP the zombie, transforming yet another creature. The aggro player will be confused and it will be an appropriate time to emote with a “hi”-apple.

The reason why I consider it a high-skill cap is that you have to be able to foresee a few turns ahead. You can sometimes end up handicapping yourself because the zombie effect ends up not allowing you to play your draw and ramp cards like Burrowing Scarab or Fanatic of Khnum. Furthermore, calculating your odds of hitting certain creatures with the transform effect, and developing backup lines depending on what happens can be quite tricky.

Least favorite: Thunder Caller

Price as of this writing: $2

Used in: aggro War

Thunder Caller and similar cards are just so frustrating. It’s a win-more card that is quite bad but will sometimes straight-up win you the game. Go first and make sure you can proc the effect on-curve and then pray your opponent can’t deal with it. If they can’t you probably win. But go second and try to fight for the board? Good luck with your 3-mana 3/3 lul.

Is there anything more annoying than losing on turn 3 to somebody that put a bad card in their deck and then got rewarded for it? I doubt it.

Mortal Judgement

Favorite: Serris, Arbiter of the Trial

Price as of this writing: $9

Used in: Rockdrakes, control Magic, control Deception.

This is what the game needs more of in my opinion. Neutral healing that creates comeback potential. Besides Demorgogons (and recently Unexpected Gift), the game has a serious lack of neutral healing. If you’re F2P and priced out of Demos, you’ll have a shit time playing control in Mythic. Serris helps a bit. It also punishes players that keep slamming face without any second thought. I love it. My only complaint is that I think it’s only a semi-strong card. Being a dead card unless you are below 7-heal is a rough condition so I would have loved it if the price reduction would have started at 12. But beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take it. Ty GU.

Least favorite: Nivos, Probing Archeologist

Price as of this writing: $0.7

Used in: Absolutely nothing and will never be

It’s so sad looking at the vast majority of the Genesis Legendaries and realizing how absolutely trash they are. How they will never see play even because even if they had been buffed significantly, they would still be garbage. That’s how bad they are. Such a waste. Nivos joins the crew of forever-useless legendaries. He has a unique effect and could have been a fun card but alas, the stats and effect are just too weak. Why would they not have made him at least a 4/6? Or added another tribe to the mix? Imagine that somehow a Structure/Atlantean/Nether deck was viable (lul). What are the chances you have at least 2 of the tribes on board when you play this guy? And even in that unlikely scenario, he is a 1-off with an effect that is far from game-winning.

Seeing potential fun cards not being able to add anything to the game is just so sad. Thumbs down balance team.

So that’s my hope for Band of the Wolf. Fun, unique, balanced cards that add to a varied Meta. Preferably with high-skill caps that allow to punish misplays. I have high hopes as the latest mini-expansions were very creative and full of fun cards (except Woodcutter Imp). Even though Light’s Verdict was way off balance-wise, the cards at least were fun and unique. And Winter Wanderlands hit the power level really well in my opinion. Hopefully, they’ll nail it again. Good luck opening packs if you’re a degenerate like myself. Sifu out.