Game Reviews, Strategy Articles, and More

Dark Draft Card Ratings Edited

It took a while, but I have finally gone through and edited the entirety of my ratings and analysis for each card in Epic Card Game (Core, Tyrants, and Uprising): www.tomsepicgaming.com/epic-card-game-dark-draft-card-ratings/

Let me know what you think. Do you disagree with me on any of my ratings? Did you realize something about a card that surprised you? Did you manage to read it all the way through without having your eyes bleed?

Epic Card Game Page Updated

I’ve been wanting to update my Epic Card Game Page for a long time. Today, I finally did it. I would greatly appreciate any honest feedback anyone has for that page as it is the first thing many Epic players see on reaching this site, and I want it to be both welcoming to new players and practically useful for everyone.

I would also like to take this time to thank all of my frequent readers for continuing to check out what I post. It is an excellent feeling knowing people want to read what I write and enjoy doing so.

5 Core-Only, Alpha Deck Poll (+ Data)

I had some extra time on my hands… I’m up to 10 core-only alpha decks now.

The new decks include (in the order I made them):

  • Tom’S Core Discard deck
  • Core Sky Force
  • Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn list
  • Core Token Control
  • Core Feint

Previous 5 decks (in the order I made them):

I am probably not going to write articles for all of these new decks (at least not immediately). So, I decided to let everyone vote on which deck they want to see. I will write an article on whichever deck receives the most votes by the time the Kickstarter backers get access to the alpha. Below I outline the genesis idea of each deck.

Votes can be cast at Straw Poll here. Trying to convince people to vote for a specific deck in the comments below is encouraged.

Tom’S Core Discard deck

Core Sky Force

Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn list

Core Token Control

Core Feint

Card Choice Data

I started out curious which cards I didn’t use (which partially informed the decks I made next). Then, I wanted to see which cards I used the most. I figured I might as well just compile everything out of curiosity.

Below are all of the cards I used across all 10 core-only decks for the alpha. They are formatted as Card Name: Copies Included (Decks with at least 1 copy). For example, Erase: 8 (3). I included 8 copies of Erase across 3 decks.

Core Token Control

Forward

In a recent article, I created a poll to determine which of my core only decks for the digital alpha I would discuss next, this deck won that poll.

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Token Control deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Other decks in this Epic Card Game Digital series include: Core Incremental Targeted Removal, Core Evil Tokens, Core Sage Army, Core Wild Champion Overload, and Core Epic Humans. They are all built following my Epic Constructed Process.

(Core Sky Force, Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn List, Tom’S Core Discard Deck, and Core Feint do not yet have an article devoted to them.)

Next Deck Article

In anticipation of the Alpha hopefully coming out today, I have gone ahead and posted the decklists and taken pictures of the other 4 core-only decks I have made. Whichever deck generates the most discussion (based on comments below) will be the one I write an article for next.

Current Deck List

As I update the deck list, I’ll update this picture and written list (currently prototype deck list).

Evil (6)

Slow (6)
2x Drinker of Blood
2x Inner Demon

Fast ()

0-Cost (2)
2x Guilt Demon

Good (33)

Slow (12)
3x Avenging Angel
3x Banishment
3x High King
3x The People’s Champion

Fast (10)
3x Inheritance of the Meek
2x Inner Peace
3x Noble Unicorn
2x Secret Legion

0-Cost (11)
3x Courageous Soul
3x Priestess of Angeline
2x Watchful Gargoyle
3x White Dragon

Sage (12)

Slow ()

Fast (8)
2x Ancient Chant
3x Thought Plucker
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (4)
1x Amnesia
3x Forcemage Apprentice

Wild (9)

Slow (3)
3x Pack Alpha

Fast (3)
3x Wolf’s Call

0-Cost (3)
2x Fireball
1x Flash Fire

Prototype Explanation

Conclusion

As with the rest of the decks, I’ll be interested to see where this one goes.

Core Epic Humans (Good)

Forward

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Epic Humans deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Other decks in this Epic Card Game Digital series include: Core Incremental Targeted Removal, Core Evil Tokens, Core Sage Army, and Core Wild Champion Overload. They are all built following my Epic Constructed Process.

This bonus deck is the most interesting one in the series, and I’ve been looking forward to writing about this one the most.

(Extra 5 decks: Core Token Control, Core Sky Force, Core Feint, Tom’S Core Discard Deck, and Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn List)

Current Deck List

As I update the deck list, I’ll update this picture and written list (currently + Board Clears deck list).


*Picture not updated to reflect the -1 Angel of Mercy +1 Divine Judgement change

Evil (12)

Slow ()

Fast (8)
3x Apocalypse
3x Final Task
2x Plague

0-Cost (4)
1x Guilt Demon
3x Wither

Good (36)

Slow (9)
3x Lord of the Arena
3x Palace Guard
3x White Knight

Fast (15)
3x Angel of Light
2x* Angel of Mercy
3x Angelic Protector
1x* Divine Judgement
3x Noble Unicorn
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (12)
3x Brave Squire
3x Faithful Pegasus
3x Priest of Kalnor
3x White Dragon

Sage ()

Slow ()

Fast ()

0-Cost ()

Wild (12)

Slow (3)
3x Kong

Fast (5)
2x Pyromancer
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (4)
2x Flash Fire
2x Lash

Prototype Explanation

Eventful Champions Changes

+ Board Clears Changes

-1 Angel of Mercy +1 Divine Judgement

After succumbing to the all 3 Angel of Mercy early draw, I’ve decided to be a bit less greedy. Therefore, I’m taking out 1 Angel of Mercy and replacing it with 1 Divine Judgement. Angel of Mercy is very strong, but it can be awful if you draw too many of them early, especially when playing against decks that have a lot of banish effects.

Conclusion

I really look forward to seeing how this deck plays. Feel free to discuss/ask any questions throughout the decks development. Always happy to provide answers (usually very long, detailed answers).

+ Board Clears

The deck has been performing well, and it is fun to play. Hopefully the additional board clears will make it even more resilient.

Core Wild Champion Overload (Anti-Sea Titan/Control Shifted)

Forward

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Sage Wild Champion Overload deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Other decks in this Epic Card Game Digital series include: Core Incremental Targeted Removal, Core Evil Tokens, Core Sage Army, and Core Epic Humans. They are all built following my Epic Constructed Process.

(Extra 5 decks: Core Token Control, Core Sky Force, Core Feint, Tom’S Core Discard Deck, and Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn List)

Current Deck List

As I update the deck list, I’ll update this picture and written list (currently prototype deck list).

Evil (9)

Slow ()

Fast (6)
3x Drain Essence
3x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (3)
3x Guilt Demon

Good ()

Slow ()

Fast ()

0-Cost ()

Sage (6)

Slow (1)
1x Djinn of the Sands

Fast (3)
3x Memory Spirit

0-Cost (2)
2x Amnesia

Wild (45)

Slow (18)
3x Jungle Queen
3x Kong
3x Raging T-Rex
3x Rampaging Wurm
3x Sea Hydra
3x Triceratops

Fast (12)
3x Flame Strike
3x Hunting Raptors
3x Strafing Dragon
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (15)
3x Cave Troll
3x Fireball
3x Flash Fire
3x Rage
3x Wurm Hatchling

Prototype Explanation

Conclusion

Pending testing and modifications. I had significantly less to say about this deck, so if you are curious about any of the decisions I did not talk about, feel free to ask in the comments below.

Core Sage Army

Forward

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Sage Army deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Other decks in this Epic Card Game Digital series include: Core Incremental Targeted Removal, Core Evil Tokens, Core Wild Champion Overload, and Core Epic Humans. They are all built following my Epic Constructed Process.

(Extra 5 decks: Core Token Control, Core Sky Force, Core Feint, Tom’S Core Discard Deck, and Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn List)

Current Deck List

As I update the deck list, I’ll update this picture and written list (currently Board Clear Adjustment deck list).

Evil (27)

Slow (3)
3x Army of the Apocalypse

Fast (15)
3x Apocalypse
3x Drain Essence
3x Plague
3x Vampire Lord
3x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (9)
3x Dark Knight
3x Guilt Demon
3x Wither

Good ()

Slow ()

Fast ()

0-Cost ()

Sage (33)

Slow (14)
3x Djinn of the Sands
3x Juggernaut
3x Sea Titan
2x Steel Golem
3x Time Walker

Fast (8)
2x Ancient Chant
3x Crystal Golem
3x Erase

0-Cost (11)
3x Amnesia
3x Forcemage Apprentice
2x Hasty Retreat
3x Warrior Golem

Wild ()

Slow ()

Fast ()

0-Cost ()

Prototype Explanation

Board Clear Adjustment

Conclusion

One adjustment already made and waiting on playtesting in the Alpha for further adjustments.

Core Evil Tokens

Forward

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Evil Tokens deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Other decks in this Epic Card Game Digital series include: Core Incremental Targeted Removal, Core Sage Army, Core Wild Champion Overload, and Core Epic Humans. They are all built following my Epic Constructed Process.

(Extra 5 decks: Core Token Control, Core Sky Force, Core Feint, Tom’S Core Discard Deck, and Tom’S Core Aggressive Burn List)

Current Deck List

As I update the deck list, I’ll update this picture and written list (currently prototype deck list).

Evil (36)

Slow (12)
3x Demon Breach
3x Infernal Gatekeeper
3x Murderous Necromancer
3x Necromancer Lord

Fast (12)
3x Bitten
3x Drain Essence
3x Final Task
3x Medusa

0-Cost (12)
3x Guilt Demon
3x Plentiful Dead
3x Wither
3x Word of Summoning

Good (9)

Slow ()

Fast (6)
3x Inheritance of the Meek
3x Secret Legion

0-Cost (3)
3x Courageous Soul

Sage (9)

Slow ()

Fast (6)
3x Ancient Chant
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (3)
1x Amnesia
2x Forcemage Apprentice

Wild (6)

Slow (3)
3x Pack Alpha

Fast (1)
1x Mighty Blow

0-Cost (2)
2x Fireball

Prototype Explanation

Conclusion

I literally laugh out loud when I get to this section for these deck articles, since they are far from concluded.

Epic Digital Final 24 Hours

Only 24ish hours remain to back the digital version of Epic Card Game on Kickstarter. I absolutely love this game, and it is my favorite TCG/CCG-like game (beating out Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone, Solforge, Duelyst, Shadowverse, Highlander, Yugioh, Pokemon, etc.). Plus, there is no collecting cards/random packs. When you buy a set, you get all of the cards in that set (in digital, you get unlimited copies of each card).

For an explanation about why I love this game, check out my review of it here. If intrigued, and you’ve never played Epic before, I explain some important Epic aspects here. If you’ve played it before and think it is too swingy or random (I personally disagree adamantly), check out my strategy article explaining next level concepts here. Finally, if you just want to consume as much Epic content as possible, I link to most of my articles here.

Tempus Fugit

About me:
My name is Thomas Dixon, though my user name will be Samoht Noxid on the app. I’ve been playing card games since the early 90’s, heavily concentrating on Magic: the Gathering. I’ve spent times with many other systems, but competitively I haven’t strayed much from M:tG until recently. It all started for me a few years ago walking the halls of GenCon where I stumbled across Darwin demo’ing Star Realms. Downloading the App and playing on my off turn through Round 1 let me pick up the game quickly and I ended up winning the tournament, but more importantly learning a lot about White Wizard Games. When EPIC was announced I was excited for an LCG model. I grabbed myself a set and really got to work when they announced the $100,000 World Championship. I organized a bunch of old M:tG ringers and we formed Pluck U. Of the four members to play in qualifiers, we had a 100% success rate of converting to invites (even though it took Sullivan winning the LAST last chance qualifier). I am one of the few players already qualified for 2017’s World Championship by virtue of my win at the First Chance Qualifier event held on Monday while the top 8 was going on. I focus heavily on Constructed, and in that Control as an archetype. One of my favorite aspects of EPIC’s rule structure is the various ways in which the timing of effects take place.

In so many different ways, EPIC is a binary game. It’s not just because of the 1’s and 0’s, but also in how things happen. When one person can cast spells or use abilities, the other can not. It is elegant in design in that this negates many timing issues that present themselves with other games. Yet it doesn’t decrease the complexity level, it just shifts the decision tree points a bit further up the path. Often when describing the timing rules, I reference Captain Jack Sparrow’s speech to Will Turner, “The only rules that really matter are these: what a (person) can do and what a (person) can’t do.” Due to the binary nature of the games interactions, traditional evaluations of card mechanics or interactions from other games fly out the window. Damage based removal is significantly better while pump spells get dramatically worse. A damage spell will always kill the target, where as a pump spell can no longer be used to save a champion that would die to damage. While you can no longer respond to a pump spell with burn equal to the base stats of a champion, you can still use any other number of methods to deal with the attacker like bouncing, direct breaking, direct banishing, or removing from combat. Counterspells don’t even exist at all! It’s a whole new world that you really have to explore to extrapolate maximum value of your cards.

Beyond the timing complexities of playing cards, there is an element of timing that instead focuses on when do you want to be playing your cards. If you understand the game to be a war, and each turn a battle, then the player that uses their gold first in any given turn almost always loses that battle. They have ceded control over the gold resource for the turn and thus lost the ability to heavily impact the game any further while allowing their opponent to make the highest level of impact with their gold while the proverbial defenses are down. Tom has written much content on how to spend your gold effectively from behind or ahead on board, and he captures the essence of the struggle quite well in doing so in his Getting Ahead and Staying Ahead article.

I find the most common mistake of newer players is looking for the most powerful 1 gold cards and then fleshing out their 0 cost cards with cantrips. This is severely problematic in any game that you fall behind in, because your hand quickly fills with 1 gold bombs throttling you to 1 card per turn. I typically start my decks the other way around. I want the most impactful 0’s on the board, and mold my 1’s to keep my hand from running empty or recover from unmanageable board states. By doing this, I can easily pressure my opponent to spend their gold on my 0’s or fall behind.

Further, there is another restriction on when you can play your champions. Most champions in EPIC may only be played on your turn. However, Ambush champions can be played any time you could play an Event. This makes any champion with Ambush very valuable. When constructing your deck, in any of the various formats, making sure you maintain strong off turn plays is critical and Ambush champions go a long way in doing that. Further, they are great ways to punish your opponent for spending their gold on their turn before you. Doing this enables you to likely have your Ambush champion ready to attack and threaten them into using their gold first on your turn too! Certain champions, like Thought Plucker in particular, have punishing effects for allowing them to deal damage to an opponent. Other champions, like Vampire Lord or Angel of Mercy have great on turn abilities that are exploited exceptionally well by waiting until your opponent’s gold is down on their turn and utilizing their Ambush capability.

This power is even contained in one of the most popular Events in the game, Surprise Attack. Initially touted as one of the best cards by many early adopters of EPIC, Surprise Attack has been a main stay in competitive events. After much experimentation, I have found Surprise Attack to be significantly weaker than I had initially evaluated it to be. At first I thought it was one of strongest cards in Constructed like everyone else. My problem became that I was trying to play the strongest non-Ambush champions with it in order to make its use the most potent. Sadly they felt like they were stuck in my hand when I didn’t have Surprise Attack while Surprise Attack often felt stuck or wasted without them. Keeping enough impact champions without Ambush in my deck to get the payoff made me come way down on Surprise Attack as a card. With Tyrants and Uprising bringing a plethora of powerful Ambush Champions and establishing Events, Surprise Attack has fallen out of most of my constructed decks. Heck even on my turn I’m looking to cast Blitz champions, not slow ones in most of my Wild decks. Any deceleration of threat tempo allows many of the control (mostly Kark) based decks the opportunity to turn the corner and establish themselves in the game.

The biggest gap between the high level players is gold management and understanding its impact on timing issues. If you tune into my stream on twitch, https://www.twitch.tv/dazedyoubro I will be playing some decks that exemplify the value of Ambush and timing.