Eredan's World

Thanks for this correction, it means a lot!

Only way I can think to do that much healing would be a Temple Guardian deck...and no, I haven't tried it out for this trophy yet.

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-I'm combining these two questions, because the key points and weak points are integral to assessing the Runic Legion's situation.

-As always happens with a new faction release, the Runic Legion are undermanned and outgunned. Being undermanned isn't too much of an issue, as reinforcements will be on the way...but being outgunned means that even the most powerful characters wouldn't be able to keep up. Their release WOULD have been fairly high on the power scale...a year ago. It's not just a matter of play-style options, though. The issue is power creep.

-STRENGTHS: Certain aspects of the Runic Legion are pretty close to the current power thresholds...their theurgies are solid, and once developed they have powerful card recycling and can build runes on characters swiftly. The Runic shields are an interesting update instead of relying on Runic Armor/Gauntlet, both because they are a craftsman item and can accelerate rune gain. Runic Bigblades can not only provide a good attack boost, they can cycle out enemy items and reduce the need to devote deck-space specifically for anti-item cards. The ability to divide defense by four [even rounded up] is powerful.

-WEAKNESSES: In-guild chain opportunities are sort of reverse to their current strengths...their warriors have many chaining options, but the priests have to rely on luck or out-of-guild chaining options unless using War Cry to recycle. While the runic shields are interesting and allow the craftsmen to provide powerful boosts to the team, they ONLY reduce magic damage by 2. Back before lightning pirates, +spell damage proliferation, and crazy-Noz, this would have been pretty powerful...not so much when an individual spell eats your face for 10+ damage or Wild buds hits your each of your team team for 7+ damage per. In a similar vein, team spirit increases by +1 just don't provide good magic protection anymore. There is also the matter of speed. Unless a craftsman has played the shield on an out-of-combat character, it's hard to get into play without sacrificing a weapon play...and since the weapons don't have speed activation either, their potential both as attack boosts and anti-item/theurgy cards are very limited.

-Put simply, the things that make the Legion strong (priests + craftsman, rune utilization, items, attack/defense) don't put them on even footing with other established decks yet.

Just as Pirates have gradually gained some more uses for Powder Tokens, and more cards that utilize them, the Runic Legion should focus on Runes. I also don't think more TYPES of runes are necessary, though it would be nice to see cards that utilize Rune Yr in some way. Yeah, yeah, I know, the current deck structure really only supports Cor and Nox, but instead of being a place holder Yr might become a differently themed rune, like an augment rune...by which I mean a card that consumed a Yr rune would have no effect unless another type of rune was also consumed. Example language: "Rune Yr: If a Rune Cor is utilized by {Card_Name}, deal one direct damage." I also think this is the answer to allowing the Legion to scale their defenses against different kinds of opponents. Example:

Legion Bastion. Unique. Action. Rune Nox: Until the end of the game, your Runic Legion characters have -1 to magic damage suffered. Rune Cor: Until the end of the game, your Runic Legion have -1 to physical damage suffered. Rune Yr: Until the end of the game, your Runic Legion have -1 to direct damage suffered.

or

Runic Binding. Theurgy. Choose one of your Runic Legion with a Runic Shield attached. As long as Runic Binding is attached to this character, items attached to this character may not be removed from game, discarded, returned to deck, returned to hand, or re-attached to another character. Rune Nox: -1 to magic damage suffered. Rune Cor: -1 to physical damage suffered. Rune Yr: -1 to direct damage suffered.

A card like Legion barrier would provide team wide bonuses, but still be slow enough that it couldn't be cycled every turn [looking at you, War Cry in a Priest deck] and provide an insurmountable advantage. A card like Runic Binding would provide a solid bonus for a single character, but still be susceptible to removal like Clumsiness or another Runic Legion deck's Runic Bigblade + Rune Nox.

It would also be interesting to see cards that affected the amount of Rune a character can have attached at one time...I don't have any real thoughts on this other than an extension of how powerful/cool Archons can be. I can easily see how this could get out of hand and cause UI problems, though, which is why it's more of a 'wouldn't it be neat if...' thought.

Creep is inevitable, and I'm afraid one of the answers is going to be the addition of Mages and Marauders. I'm neutral about berserkers, but a pure Mage is something that should never make its way into the Runic Legion. While a Mage-Priest or Mage-Warrior who utilizes Runes in an interesting manner [at the start of the turn, +1 to spell and theurgy effects until end of turn if {Character_Name} has a Rune Nox] might be accepted, a pure mage simply doesn't fit their theme. Similarly, any Runic Legion spells should be War spells, for obvious reasons. Additionally, a Marauder should be a Marauder-Warrior and thereby gain access to OUT OF GUILD marauder cards [instead of making Runic Legion ones] while retaining the warrior's fire. This might also be an interesting way to give new Runic Legion warriors access not to +attack, but more Mystic Slayer like bonuses against their targets [-X to damage suffered, defense cannot be modified by warriors, or the like].

Yeah, the Yr runes are only good for 'number of runes' or 'different kinds of runes' effects. So far, this means an extra 2 healing from Lania, and I can verify that they beef up all versions of [card]Runic Power[/card]. I'm actually hoping they come out with cards in the first reinforcement that at least use these two mechanics, even if they don't release something that will consume a Yr rune for a different function than Cor or Nox.

This looks like an excuse for another witchblade...thought I'm curious whether her transformation will be like the relatively recent Zil [Saphyra & Telrendar] or like the update to Hares [existing character gains new evolutions].

I suspect that just because the other guilds fought alongside the Nehantists to banish Sol'Ra's avatar means they're going to just sit back and allow them to take over. Unless the Nehants make a strategic retreat, I'm guessing the fight is going to go right from "Guem VS Sol'Ra" to "Guem VS Nehant."

Exciting!

Actually, it's for people who hate the gamble of regular packs and don't want to deal with the hassle of the crystal market to ensure they get the incomplete guild at release, with four bonus cards you can only get from Adventure mode to actually evolve them, and a goodly chunk of xp. But hey, let's not silly things like facts get in the way of complaining about how expensive something is...would be such a shame, right?

It sounds like it doubles the turn-advancing effects of Tempus cards played that turn...although that's pretty powerful in the right situation too!

You forgot 'and a Dragon Knight, the star children of Noz castes'.

Holy crap, a Nehant update! While I certainly appreciate getting to dust them off and try something new, I'm underwhelmed by this update's mercenary offerings. Don't get me wrong, the unguilded cards are interesting, but having a single character, a single Avalonian card, and a single Tempus card (I **LOVE** the art for Heartrending Dilemma, it makes me laugh so much) doesn't really match up to the two-guild combat releases that have come before. Where are the cards that actually REQUIRE being mercenary to play? Yaril's Scythe, Paladin's Hamer, and Good Omen are pretty lonely offerings, even when you consider the technically no-guild cards that belong to Tempus and Avalonia as Mercenary Only...since only one deck type gets to use them.

When I saw the Nehant/Mercenary Battle, I was expecting some cards that would actually treat the Mercenaries as a guild with their own tricks and specialties, not two disparate castes and a smattering of 'we fight for anyone but Nehant' characters restricted to cards without a guild.

Again, please don't get me wrong: it's great that Nehantists got a solid update! The new cards are interesting, and Tempus has always been a personal favorite. But this was NOT a 2-guild update...this was a Nehant update that threw a bone to Tempus and a snack to Avalonia. Personally, I think this was a true ball-dropping moment and could have been the beginning of more variety in the Mercenaries and Merc-only offerings...and in that sense, a dissapointment despite the awesome.

The thunder-cell mission does not require a deck of any particular guild, even, it's doable within reason using only cards with no guild as long as you use single-class mages [the translated game text would be 'non-multiclass mage']. Just get three mages! Then use make sure you have three spells of each of the types Earth, Fire, Water, Lightning, Nature, and War...fill with two items. Admittedly, it is easier using either a Noz or a Kotoboa deck for access to certain spells...the Sap Heart spells tend to be expensive, but hey, if you've got em, a Sap/Pirate mage deck can do it too. The first card listed in each is the one I used

3x Martial Magic OR [Noz] Inspiration OR [Kotoba] Katamaru

3x Devouring Swarm OR [Sap] ...no, I refuse to list that many

3x Sinking OR Destructive Totem OR [Noz] Graviton/Immobilization

3x Static Charge OR [Noz] or [Pirate] deck for options

3x Illusory Reflection OR Fog/Freeze!/Mirage/Ice Barrier OR [Noz] Drowning

3x Smoking Arrow OR Fireball/Rain of Death/Burn in Hell OR [Noz] The Dragon's Breath OR [Kotoba] Fight Fire With Fire

2x Mystic Staff [or...any item, just chain it after a spell]

There's really no reason to complain about the Power Cell mission...the devs made sure all six spell types have not just Common rarity but relatively low crystal cost spells as options! And picking up level 1 Mage characters to complete the task is similarly easy.

Personally, I've been using an Immortals deck...although really it's just Kebek with some backup from Urakia, the Prince ends up dying each time. Under the Sun x3, Life Drinker x2, a piece of armor, Longevity x3, The Pack Spirit, Danger in Delay...then good cards include All's fair... / ...in love and war along with Solaris. Longevity is for reusing the love/war duo and Solaris, but if you don't have it you can still just sit there and tank with Kebek throwing Pack and Danger every turn because of his impressive self-healing.

The construction looks like this:

[card]Wired Thread[/card] + [card]Needle[/card] = Mangled [Body-part]

[card]Mangled Head[/card] + [card]Mangled Body[/card] + [card]Mangled Legs[/card] = [card]Mangled Disguise[/card]

5x Mangled [Body-part] = Emaciated [Body-part] (of the same type)

[card]Emaciated Head[/card] + [card]Emaciated Body[/card]+ [card]Emaciated Legs[/card] = [card]Emaciated Disguise[/card]

[card]Mangled Disguise[/card] + [card]Emaciated Disguise[/card] = [card]With Evil Intentions[/card]

This means completing the basic trophy is free and only requires 30 candies collected in terms of spending for Needles. To get [card]With Evil Intentions[/card] requires 6x the amount of thread and needle [1x for Mangled + 5x for Emaciated], or 180 candies collected. You only get 5 Threads from even trophies, which is enough to create the Mangled Outfit and have two leftover, allowing the creation of two more body parts of choice.

So free players can earn 3 playable cards [Mangled Outfit + 2 body parts].

Full participation requires another 13 threads, which can come from basic boosters totaling 1560 Feez, as Darkstar mentioned.