Welcome back to another Weekly Battle Challenge submission and strategy tips - this time something different, a card I really don't like using, the Temporal Master. In fact, I only used it as it's the featured card and thought I missed something about how to play it.
As much as I like Back to the Future, the lore nod to it can't sway my opinion of this card. Why am I so opposed to using this card? For a master of time, the Temporal Master certainly takes its time attacking - once every other turn due to its Recharge ability.
In fact, I typically don't use cards affected by the Recharge ability, they're hard to keep alive in some cases and plan on where they'd hit. If I'm optimizing for Damage Per Turn (DPT), it's not ideal to reduce the frequency of attacks for a potential larger one in my opinion. In Back to the Basics rulesets, where there's no abilities, these cards may be more useful and reliable.
(Yes, a regular foil that's underleveled for gold this week - I told you I don't like playing this card)
At level 2 for a cost of 3 Mana, the Temporal Master will hit for 3 Magic Damage every other turn - assuming it survives. With 3 health and a slow speed of 2 points, it may find itself a target of Opportunity attackers or Sneak attackers given it's in no position to be in front. The redeeming quality of the low mana cost means it's a good "filler" card, or in the case of Back to Basics battles, a cheap magic attacker.
The Battle
The battle we'll take a look at is one with both the Fog of War and Spreading Fury rulesets - focusing damage upfront with no Sneak or Snipe abilities, and allowing every monster to become enraged once damaged.
With a budget of 42 Mana, I was able to pull in a heavy hitter tank and fill out the backline with some Mana to spare.
 | Originally, General Sloan felt like a pretty weak Summoner buff-wise for 4 Mana compared to the other Chaos Legion Summoners. I've since come around on that, though I suspect that may be more due to the higher level of Summoner and monsters it can summon than a direct result of the ranged damage buff. | ||
 | Wait a minute, didn't I just go on a rant about not using cards with Recharge? Uriel is the exception - a big beefy tank that can self heal, having him front and center allows him to soak up damage in the first turn and deal it all back in the second. | ||
 | Adelade acts as support here - being able to repair the armor that gets damaged and deal out 2 magic damage per turn. The resurrect ability is helpful, though it takes some luck to ensure it's not wasted - I've resurrected Chickens and Fiends more than I'd like to admit. | ||
| A bit of a struggle to put this here, but in hopes of getting a battle to write up I used it. This isn't an ideal spot to be honest, having it tied for lowest health and being closer to the front means it'd be targeted by Opportunity - thankfully that didn't happen. Dealing 3 damage every other turn isn't great, really counted on some luck with this one. | ||
 | A solid part of the ranged attack strategy, the Crystalsmith not only can hit for 3 damage every turn, but can heal Uriel, helping keep him alive a bit longer in battle - balancing out the Recharge lag. | ||
 | A much more favored time-aligned magician of mine, the Time Mage helps fill out the back. By slowing and removing the armor of enemies, they help the rest of the team speed up (relatively) just a bit. Dealing two magic damage every turn, while being faster than the Temporal Master is great - even despite the extra mana cost comparatively. | ||
 | All the way in the back, the Gargoya Devil helps round out the lineup and shoots for 4 ranged damage per turn with the bump from General Sloan. I'm always a bit hesitant to put ranged cards at the end of my line ups, despite the Splinter Bite that suggests the order of melee - magic - ranged. One scenario that sucks is having a unit on the field, but can't attack - thankfully the Gargoya Devil has Close Range to avoid that scenario. Being the last unit, it also has a higher chance to leverage its Deathblow ability, and deal a whopping 8 damage. |
Uriel the Purifier is my main tank here, with a healthy amount of support via healing, repair, slow, and rust from the backline. I'm up against a rather stacked line up, including a maxed for Gold League Chanseus the Great.
There's a lot of Recharge in this battle, both sides have a Uriel and Temporal Master, meaning more action happens every other turn. At the initial look and even after the first round where I was at a 5 health deficit with my tank compared to my opponents, I was pretty sure I'd lose. The resurrection via Adelade came in clutch with reviving Uriel with full armor. Likewise, the speed differential introduced by the Time Mage shifted the battle in the later rounds where my Temporal Master was able to attack first. Without the slow, the higher leveled Temporal Master on my opponents side would have gone first (equal speed and attack type defer to rarity and level for determining attack order).
Funnily enough, my opponent found themselves in the exact situation I try to avoid - having units alive but no way of dealing damage - with their Crystalsmith at the front, backed by their Scavo Hireling. Unfortunately, without armor, there was nothing to repair.
Final Thoughts
I feel like I've given Recharge cards enough of a chance, Uriel is definitely the exception to the rule here. Temporal Mage and Ifrit Rising both are pretty trash except in very specific circumstances, including the Back to Basics ruleset.
Am I wrong here? Maybe, but I can't see this being a card I'd play again.
Speaking of rulesets, with the introduction of Thorns, Return Fire, and Reflect, I'm surprised we haven't seen an inverse of the Earthquake rule. "Thunderstorm" could be a ruleset that deals 2 Magic damage to flying enemies per turn, could be neat!
So does anyone feel like the Recharge abilities are better than I'm making them out to be? Let me know in the comments - thanks for reading!
