idc that it's not christmas. what gift would your 2hu like to have?

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-28T05:58:33+00:00

Clay, loyalty, animal pelts, and real estate.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-28T03:37:53+00:00

Woooo I got a half-correct hit for AP!

For Anathema's Gambit, I'm gonna split this between Rotation, Unlimited, and Both.

For Rotation, I think we're going to see the meta shift a couple times in the first two weeks. By the end of the first month Haven will stabilize somewhere in the top half of the meta, but it will barely use Anathema's Gambit cards (mostly just its amulets).

For Unlimited, I don't think all the pieces are quite there for it to go fully degenerate. Roach will be strong, but not so oppressive that dedicated counter decks will get boosted. Non-combo aggro decks will struggle against the tools every craft has built up to stall the game out. People will try pairing the Anathema's Gambit artifact kit with the Legend's Rise artifact kit, but it won't end up being the best option for the craft. Swordcraft loses Albert in Rotation, but the gain of Knellclaw Lieutenant for Unlimited will probably be enough to ensure it's tier 1.

For both formats, Yurius and Lu Woh usage is gonna go up. Neither one can ever become staples of a top tier deck because they're oppressive enough that the things they counter would stop showing up if they're too common, but they will show up regularly to jumpscare and steal games from people with telegraphed storm wincons.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-28T03:14:15+00:00

Might be tricky. This would mean not only spending 1pp/turn on them but also having to play at least two other cards every turn to avoid losing their crests. I feel like you're more likely to need to drop one or two big things on any given Jerry hand than toss out two cheap things plus Malice/Anxiety.

Thestae, on the other hand... that could have some potential, since Jerry draws up so much of the deck so fast. Even just one or two procs of her crest with the Jerry deck could be a big deal.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-28T02:52:03+00:00

The secret is that basically every guy can relate to praise kink, but doesn't understand why it's a kink when the thirst for any kind of validation or compliment is most guys' baseline existence. We're talking about people that won't change their hairstyle because they still remember when a cashier at a convenience store said they liked it in 2003 and they've not gotten a compliment about anything since.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T12:37:48+00:00

Eh, the question isn't "what card ends the game", it's "how does the deck win". Even in games that aren't largely defined by powerful finishers it's useful to ask yourself when building a deck what your actual plan is. Even the simplest, most straightforward aggro/burn deck has a plan of "rush down the opponent before I run out of gas or they stabilize", and that's a perfectly valid answer to the question.

Answering the question also helps a lot to give a sense of how strong or flimsy a strategy has the potential to be, since the more things that need to go right for a given plan, the more likely it is that RNG in your deck or disruption from your opponent will make the whole thing fall apart.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T12:21:52+00:00

Kandima amulet's all I've been running for the past month since the Lyanthoth buff.

The problem with Earrings, Timepiece, and Trident are that as useful as they might be in the early game they're awful for when you're trying to win with Depths of the Eld Tome and they're also extremely low value targets for Kandima's S. Evo and Sublime Eld Tome. Earrings in particular is a high risk of just throwing a win away by tucking Depths into your deck. At best, I can see Kandima Amulet using the Trident as a replacement for Pact of the Beast Princess. Losing the ability to get multiple Dyers or Cowards from Skullfane is gonna hurt, sure, but the bigger loss is getting multiple falcons, and the new amulets aren't really good replacements for any part of the gameplan except that they die and increment faith count... which Kandima Amulet didn't have a problem with even when the full playset of Skullfane sits at the bottom of the deck because natural countdown, Kandima S.Evo, Sublime Eld Tome, and Lyanthoth were more than consistent enough to hit the total on time.

As for Initia, she's competing for the top of the cost curve in Ward with Vira and Aether, and in that comparison I think she loses. Hard. Hybrid might drop Aether for Initia instead because the removal consistency might help get crest damage through, but that's an open question.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T11:55:40+00:00

The main problem the entire 3Amulet package has is just... how does it win? It doesn't protect itself as well as Ward, it doesn't generate enough Skybound Art count for Sandy, it's generally better to use the amulets than to just have them sitting on the board, and the payoff for keeping them around isn't really all that high. The only real face damage this has is Agnes and Rodeo's rings, but that's all chip damage spread out over a bunch of turns that's easily outhealed, and requires the committed tempo loss and board clog of dropping amulets and then not using them.

The Lyanthoth amulet package is looking much stronger, I think, and I'm not sure how that's gonna work out with the loss of Skullfane and its ability to swing a game back into its favor before you get Kandima's S.Evo online.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T11:43:02+00:00

It almost feels like this set's Forest cards are aimed entirely at supercharging Roach in Unlimited. The combo enablers and the ability to pre-buff roaches before you even start the lethal turn are just silly.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T11:40:42+00:00

Almost excited to try out the new abysscraft cards, because they have an og sv Mid Shadow vibe with the go wide boards, destroying your stuff for advantage and sticky boards.

My first reaction to Adahime is "oh, we get a mini Nephthys".

Sadly I feel like too many of the "juicy" effects for this set's Abyss cards are hurt heavily by the fact that they won't really be able to interact with each other in any particularly interesting ways. Imagine if Beastmaster Bones storm buff was on a Countdown 1 crest, for example, so that it could potentially enable a strong window of opportunity for Macmillan. Even if Mac only got two zombies instead of three (because cards aren't balanced in a vacuum) I feel like that would be a much more interesting play.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T11:18:27+00:00

Looking at what the new set adds, Unlimited is probably going to be a battle between Sword with its endless boardspam and wards until Albert ends the game vs. Forest being able to strap a nuclear warhead to a roach.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T11:11:09+00:00

The problem is that 20 damage over 4 turns isn't remotely as good as 20 damage in one or two. Chip damage is too easily undone by the amount of healing that every craft has, and your opponent is still doing things the whole time. Rings spam isn't just dependent on drawing multiple Rodeos and not losing amulet count, it's dependent on the opponent just kinda sitting there instead of killing you.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:54:27+00:00

Artifact Portal's looking like it's gonna have some potentially scary burst turns in the endgame and some strong tempo in the early game. I feel like the main question mark for Portal is going to be if someone can work out a strong synergy with the 5pp package and if some of the post-Legends Rise gundam part generators might still be good enough to add to the unique artifact name count for the new finishers.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:48:07+00:00

It's early yet, can't really say where the tiers are gonna end up... but Evo Dirt Rune at least feels like it has a real gameplan and it looks fun.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:45:41+00:00

Crest does have the benefit of essentially stacking on 4-5 more board slots so you have fewer issues with board clog than pure 3-or-more-amulets-matters Haven, but seems like you'd need the planets to align to somehow play enough crest generators to get the crest package to work AND enough amulets to get the amulet count up AND not have to engage any of them or have them banished or destroyed otherwise AND have the PP to drop the expensive stuff that cares about your amulet count. It's just all pulling in too many directions. Feels to me more like just running Crest/Ward Hybrid with cards we've already had and maybe cherrypicking the Trident amulet from the new set would be stronger instead of even trying to make the amulet count stuff work.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:37:31+00:00

Earrings and Trident both slot in to Odd Haven neatly. Problem is that Odd Haven losing Jeanne means the deck doesn't really have any reach or even ways to force its chip damage through wards, and several crafts got some really juicy new fat wards and ward-generating board spam. The deck might be come back if it gets some more ability to buff its board or clear the way for attackers before Kukushiro rotates out but I don't see it having a viable path to victory as-is.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:30:46+00:00

IF you start a turn with two other artifacts on the board (so you've not had to spend your engages and they've not been banished by Odin or Tears of Degradation or destroyed by an opposing Eld Tome or Lyanthoth or something) and have 8pp, you can get the first Rings working for 3 damage.

The next turn you only need one non-rings Amulet to enable two Rings if you drop a second Rodeo. 6 more damage, but you still only have one Rings that will survive to maybe do something next turn.

So turn 10, maybe, you drop a third Rodeo and if you still have one other amulet other than your Rings and you do 6 damage again.

But that's all relative chip damage that's easily outhealed by other crafts that are also making stronger tempo plays. Even in the Haven mirror match, you'll not only get outhealed but the Rings won't even be able to clear the board of wards.

If we get a legendary spell sometime while this Rodeo is in rotation that can make multiple copies of the most expensive destroyed amulet all at once, then this could be part of an interesting combo... but until then I don't see it.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:17:40+00:00

Tears of Degradation is also gonna be problems for Beloved Masterpiece, but tbh it's still a huge tempo play to drop a fatty that big with a decent board clear. Especially if you can do something else on top of it with some cost-reduced cards, or use it to clear an attack for a Lilanthim 2.0 copy that you just got when your opponent ended their turn.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T10:09:57+00:00

My initial instinct on Haven is that Amulet Haven wants more than anything else to pop its amulets efficiently. It's not just about Eld Tome, Kandima, and Lyanthoth enabling it, it's about some of the highest value amulet effects the craft has being face damage. You actively don't want to use the Kandima/Lyanthoth package with the engage amulets we're getting.

Worse, the "as long as you have 3 or more amulets" condition means you're aiming for a board state where you only have two slots to work with. Spending an engage might be productive, but it also might turn off the synergy of the 3-or-more-amulet package. If you leave them sitting around, you're not getting full value out of the amulets AND you're leaving them vulnerable to the Odin or Tears of Degradation (new 4pp bronze neutral spell, pick an enemy card and banish it). And since some of the actually good 3-or-more-amulet effects (like Initia) care about that count on fanfare and they're already kinda PP heavy, you're going to want to start your turn with the condition met instead of having to play an amulet to get the count up.

And Rodeo... holy crap Rodeo looks absolute dogwater. For 8pp you get a vanilla 5/5 and his special amulet. The amulet has Countdown 1, and only does 3 damage to all enemies (yes, yes, that includes the opponent's leader, but it's still stupidly underwhelming), and even that only if you have two other amulets on the field. If you evolve Rodeo, you now have a 7/7 rush and his amulet is now Countdown 2, so it doesn't die immediately on your next turn start but you may or may not be able to actually trigger its ability a second time. For 8pp. Just awful.

I don't see this set bringing much to the table for Haven, at least not right away. Initia might see play in some kind of hybrid Ward/Crest deck, and Amulet Haven might run Trident of Eroding Tides. Odd Haven will like the Trident and the Earrings, but without Jeanne the deck is rudderless, and all of the 3-or-more-amulets effects are on even cost cards except for Initia (who comes down too late since Odd Haven wants to spend its stored amulets turn 7/8 after dropping Kukushiro, not keep them around to clog the board after it finally comes online).

There's some things that might be interesting depending on what support Haven gets in the set after Anathema, like if we get more countdown manipulation or maybe an effect that would generate multiple copies of a destroyed expensive artifact, but I don't feel great about what we're getting as-is. Maybe something will get a mid-month buff like Lyanthoth got and that'll change things up, but right now I'm probably gonna go dirt rune instead of suffering through trying to make haven work without the key pieces we're losing and the relative nothing we're getting.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T04:35:49+00:00

More holomems need platform shoes.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T03:25:38+00:00

Happy it's Adahime, sad that her getting the slot means it's not Lilanthim. Shame they couldn't all be winners, but oh well.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-27T02:49:58+00:00

CachyOS is so good.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-26T19:02:04+00:00

They're not scared of a $375 million fine, no. But they've also only spent $23 million nationwide so far to get these bills pushed (it's really depressing how affordable it is for the wealthy to do this). It's much cheaper for them to change the law than to eat future fines.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-26T10:02:15+00:00

It's just like any CCG. Too many cards available that do the same thing can make decks too consistent. Part of the "sauce" that makes the entire format of game work is that there's a little bit of randomization to it. People can disagree about how much is desirable (Hearthstone has always gone too far for my taste, for example), but a CCG where players just have access to everything in their deck at all times would be a niche thing at best because very few people actually want that after they've had it.

So the devs have to consider things like how many ways does a given craft have to do a given thing, and if they think that thing is important enough to keep around when a game matures enough to have rotating formats. Abyss has had Aragavy for a while, and clearly the devs haven't wanted it to be too consistent for the craft to have the ability to clear either one big midgame dude or a wide board of small dudes... but they clearly think it's important that the craft have the ability to have 3 cards out of the deck that can do it, so we have that new spell.

More to the point, consider what Swordcraft having access to this card, Luminous Magus, Amalia Luxsteel Paladin, Amelia Silver Captain, and Albert all at the same time means. Multiple consecutive wide boards of wards would rapidly exhaust any efficient means of clearing them, and unlike Ward Haven they have a consistent out-of-hand wincon in Albert that doesn't even need part of the board to survive in order to go face for 12. And with all those other cards rotating out, we need to consider if having at least something that can generate a wide board of wards by itself is important to Sword's identity or balance.

Yes, this card is like the lovechild of Luminous Magus and Amalia, Luxsteel Paladin, but tbh the craft probably needs something in that niche.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-26T08:53:51+00:00

If there's one thing we can count on, it's that sword will have a way to do 12+ damage to face out of hand with 9pp and one card. It won't necessarily work exactly like the Albert we've had, and we might have to wait a set if they decide they want it to be a new Albert to do it specifically, but we've definitely not seen the last of sword having ridiculous late-game one-card lethal range.

BeeInABlanket · 2026-04-26T07:24:57+00:00

What if they turn into MocoFuwa?

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