We Have Ascended: More Spoilers from KeyForge – Age of Acension
The first load of new cards were some of the new set's cards and themes. We've seen new mechanics, and the strength of the placement matters themes. Let's take a more general look at some of the sets new cards. Sadly, nothing new has been confirmed for Sanctum, but there's cards worth discussing in all Houses and we'll do just that.
Interesting design on an elephant from Untamed. It follows the Untamed theme of using stun as a tempo play like Bigtwig or Inka the Spider. The fact that it only deals 2 damage despite its power makes it somewhat of a nonbo-combo with Grovetender's counters or Blood of Titans but stunning regardless of whether the 2 damage connects makes all the difference.
People who are terrified of this card for being Key making in Shadows clearly have forgotten that Key of Darkness exists. This is much better than Key of Darkness. Making a Key for 9 on most turns is a lot better than making a Key for 12 (8 if you've cleaned out your opponent).
The rate on this card is pretty steep. Gaining 3 on first play of a turn is quite a power play. Putting two random cards into archives is the risky part. Your hand could be made of Logos gas, and all of a sudden they just vanish for a later turn. I can see this being the only card played in a turn, followed up by farming a Logos board. You're set to see more cards that turn anyway and gaining 3 isn't a sniff either.
The highest armor value ever printed. Only double Bulwark can even thing of coming close. The effect on it is ridiculous. Such high armor means it'll survive most fights and archive so many guys with impunity.
Now this is a card with a lot of variance to it. Untamed is known for having some big guys, and these squirrels can be big if you go off on a heavy ramp turn, but if it has any significant damage on it - it probably dies when you forge a key.
Now that's a very large man. Sure he deals no damage on the crackback, but he'll take out pretty much anything on their side very reliably. Your opponent is incentivised to attack this because 11 is enormous and their guys have Skirmish against him. What's interesting is that this boi is a Common. The average size of Brobnar creatures is going up - especially when you slap traits on him usually reserved for Artifacts like Screaming Cave and The Howling Pit.
Now this is the premier removal action for Dis. I love this card a lot. Gaining an aember is nutty considering this card will almost always have a target. The layers of play this card could have is endless. Imagine if you're playing against Logos who's been filling their Archive consistently. Putting something off house will really offset their tempo. Imagine if you're against Mars and they've filled up their Archive with your Creatures with Collector Worm; would they really want to give you your guys back?
Another card from the 'this probably had Deploy during the design phase but lost it during development' because making your opponent's keys cost 10 just for dropping a creature anywhere is stupid. The armor is a step towards greatness that would keep this creature around for a little bit longer.
Elusive on a huge guy is just weird, but I really really like this card. Attack him once nothing happens, twice and deal with a 6. It's hard to see the uses for big guy with Elusive, as a big guy with Skirmish is nuts. I can see two ways that this large, shy man, is useful. Voltron. If your deck has lots of Upgrades, slap them all on Culf here and get reliable value on a creature that's very hard to take out in a fight. Capture. Fill Culf with your opponent's aember and they'd need a hard removal Action or board wipe to get it all back. I'm glad the flavour of a pacifist Giant in a warrior society can spawn an interesting card like this.
Steal 3 is one hell of a swing. Bait and Switch this is not, but this is a close equivalent given the tone of the set. The real tough part of evaluating this card is down to the fact it's both Alpha Dog and Omegalomaniac. The fine print says that an Alpha card must be the first thing you do on a given turn - no Using cards and no Discarding cards. This means your whole turn is to play one card and Steal 3. Sure if you're ahead on board and aember, this takes half a Key from your opponent, but if they're ahead - if they have a bunch after a crazy Untamed turn, then this is pretty anemic. Strong in circumstances.
As more cards get revealed, we can expect to paint a picture of what each House is doing in Age of Ascension compared to Call of the Archons. It'll be interesting to see if Mars keeps up with their 'stun a reaper' theme in this set, and the tone of the 'not on a flank' matters creatures. Keep up with Fantastic Universes to see all the new cards as we see them in ready for the set to drop in June.
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