After playing in the Main Event of UKGE yesterday, I found out there are a few (and only a few) cards I evaluated poorly. Some I thought were mediocre and turned out to be amazing, and some I thought were good but turned out to be mediocre at best.
I finished 4-2 in the Main Event and while I didn’t open any amazing decks, I feel I did not play to the top of my ability and therefore have room to improve. 4-2 is good enough, though, that I feel like my advice has value, so I’ll keep on writing. Had I had a poorer showing, I may have stopped writing due to lack of confidence that my opinions have value.
Remember, this is in the context of sealed. Some cards may have a completely different value in Archon formats as decks are more consistent.
Cards I underestimated
This is more important when facing opponents with those threats, as you need to know how to prioritize removing them.
I don’t think anybody thinks Professor Sutterkin is a bad card, but boy did I underestimate the impact of this. I had a choice between playing a poor turn and play Zysysyx Shockworm to allow it to go off only once, or play a much stronger turn in a difference house. I chose the latter and paid with the game.
Neutralize this threat as soon as you can, or your opponent might draw their entire deck.
Bingle Bangbang surprised me in it’s effectiveness. My opponent ran him into my elusive creatures and just decimated my board. I might owe my second loss to this card, and not to Soldiers to Flowers into Key Charge as I initially evaluated yesterday. It has just 2 power, no elusive, it should be easy to deal with. Do it.
The Director is amazing. Start of your turn is before everything, so before even charging a key. This is better than Mother, by a lot. If you get a card from a house you want to play, it’s like a card draw. If it’s not, it’s safely tucked away in your archives where it doesn’t stop your end of turn draw. It also keeps working if you have more than maximum hand size, maybe due to the aforementioned Professor Sutterkin. Kill it immediately.
This one is more undervaluing it in my own deck than my opponent’s. I picked the deck despite having Skullion, but it turned out to do good work in my sealed survival side event, in which I went 3-1, losing the last game mostly to fatigue. It has nice synergies with both Dust Imp and Brend the Fanatic, and even just using it to remove my own Æmber Imp on the turn I want to reap proved useful. It’s very beefy and can deal with lots of enemy creatures to boot. I don’t love it, but I’m warming up to it.
Cards I overvalued
So these are cards I was counting on and under-performed for me, or cards I saw my opponents play and they just weren’t the nuisance I expected them to be.
The effect on Duskwitch is bonkers good, everyone knows this. Unfortunately, Age of Ascension is chock full of spot removal and low damage effects. I did not see a single Duskwitch stick around to show it’s effect. Sure, it draws out removal like crazy, which has value, but not quite the value the text on Duskwitch implies. It is just too strong for anybody to make the mistake of letting it stick around for a turn. Unlike say, Mindworm, which is very powerful, but sometimes you just don’t want to deal with it.
I had two Bordan the Redeemed in my deck and they didn’t do anything beside be a 3 power elusive creature that can reap. You’re advertising your ability to capture aember on a highway billboard here. If it’s a problem for your opponent, they will remove it, if it’s not, then it’s not doing it’s work. It is just too slow to be effective, and too fragile to hold that aember.
It may just be the way that I play, but Zysysyx Shockworm and other stun reap hate are not as overpowering as I thought they would be. Sure, you would rather they don’t stick around, but keyforge rewards players for switching between houses a lot, and as such the number of time you come around to the same house to reap a second time are few. You need to play creatures of a certain house, then you need to pick the same house again to reap, and you need to pick it a third time in order to reap again for these cards to have made a difference. In my experience, creatures don’t stick around long enough for that third turn with the same house. Æmberspine Mongrel and Barrister Joya on the other hand, delicious.
Card combos to look out for
These are both for remembering your opponent might drop them on you, and to look out for them when you evaluate your deck.
.Against an empty board, Drummernaut and Ganger Chieftain generates 6 Æmber on it’s own. Be very careful about leaving an empty board against Brobnar. But even not against an empty board this has a devastating effect. Sadly, Brobnar without this combo is still subpar. But in sealed, look out for this, it is very powerful, and the most devastating part of this combo is that they are both commons, so you’re going to run into it sooner or later.
Had Binate Rupture into Interdimensional Graft played against me in the sealed survival when we were 1 to 1 in keys and I had 7 Æmber. They generated enough for 3 keys on a single turn. Luckily, I was able to find my Gatekeeper in time to win, but it was a super close call. It’s not something you can really play around, but just be aware it exists.
Grey Rider with more Grey Riders. Just like the Drummernaut-Granger Chiftan duo, this generates 6Æmber against an empty board. I don’t have much to add over that. It’s a 2 power creature with no Elusive. Kill it.
Good luck!
That’s all I got for now. I had a great time in the main event, and if you’re participating I wish you all the luck. Don’t hesitate to chat me up if you wish to hear some war stories. I’ll be around all day playing side events.
Competition is going to be fierce on Saturday.
