Hi Mortals,
The second Gods Unchained mini set has arrived. All cards of this extension are shown here and are tradable on IMXTools.net. Check out the official buyer’s guide for further info. We had a look at each of the new cards and came up with a deck idea for some of them that you can find here.
Frozen Rest
Worth a try in Control Death. Choosing between sleep and an absolute relic removal can be an answer to Aggro decks, relic war and Necroscepter/Skull Scepter decks. Having an option is expensive in mana cost, considering the Deception card Spell Bound that has the same sleep effect for 1 mana. Frozen Rest is the only relic removal in the Death domain so far.
Pallas’ Wanderwagon
Worth a try in Control Magic. Having a frontline at 4 mana with decent stats could be valuable against Aggro decks. Swapping the strength and health in the next turn can easily push 6 damage if Pallas’ Wanderwagon remains at full health or can serve as a further frontline with 3 health in the next opponent’s turn.
Curious Wandercats
Worth a try in Aggro Deception. This card has decent stats for a 3 mana card and removes most relics in one turn. Aggro Deception had a hard time against Zombie decks and Necroscepter was a problem. Curious Wandercats gives advantage to Aggro Deception in this matchup without losing tempo. Interestingly, it removes also durability of the controllers own relic which is an downside if e.g. Makeshift Shiv is equipped.
Woodcutter Imp
Worth a try in Aggro War or Relic Combo War. Godblitz is a very seldom key word in Gods Unchained and as a 2 mana card Woodcutter Imp is probably one of the strongest cards in the Winter Wanderlands set. Bloodthirsty Spear (1 mana), 2 x Whetstone (2 x 1 mana), Lead the Charge (2 mana) plus Woodcutter Imp could easily push 20 damage in one turn at turn 5 using the mana pip. It deals self damage and if both players die in the controller’s turn at the same time, the controller wins.
Unexpected Gift
Worth a try in Magic and Deception Control Decks. Both archetypes lack healing capability. Unexpected Gift has some decent stats for early game trades in Aggro matchups and at the same time adds a potential useless card into the opponent’s deck, which when played involves further healing.
Frost Queen Neferu
Worth a try in Aggro Death. Frost Queen Neferu is also one of the strongest cards of the Winter Wanderlands set. It has okay stats for a 4 mana creature with an additional auto ability and deals at least 4 damage and up to 8 damage per turn to the opponent’s god (as far as we understood the text). The opponent definitely needs to deal with it in their next turn. One more card that requires immediate action against e.g. Zombie Death and increases pressure
Sleigh Master Valka
Worth a try in Aggro War. Our Winter Wanderlands' strongest card is Sleigh Master Valka. It pushes Aggro War into meta again and together with Woodcutter Imp it provides additional options to damage face from hand by playing bodies with good stats. The condition to have just fewer than 2 cards in hand is not that difficult to fulfill if Valka is your top end.
Thawed Heart
Worth a try in Control Light: At first sight a good answer to Heirloom Death or any other void interacting decks such as Magic decks with Pyrrhic Knowledge, Resurrection Death or Control Light matchups. It is a good alternative for Gleamweaver coming with additional healing but without body for board trading.
Orfeo in Wanderlands
Worth a try in Control Decks. Orfeo in Wanderlands reduces tempo in the opponent’s turn. It can be countered by random damage or if the opponent plays creatures with armor. In most cases the opponent loses at least one turn before they can deal with Orfeo in Wanderlands. Additionally, it is a tech card against fatigue unless it is obliterated or transformed.
Fir Tree’s Fury
Worth a try in Midrange and Control Nature. Control Nature’s major problem is to deal with fast filling wide boards. Fir Tree’s Fury might address this issue and be the solution to it. With 5 mana it can be played way earlier than other Nature AoE such as Enchanted Vines or The Hunt, which enables Control Nature to keep board control in early game. It can also be played on almost empty boards as it summons Frosty Fruits for each damage not dealt. Interestingly, Frosty Fruits are Wild creatures which synergies with a lot of other nature cards and potentially makes Fir Tree’s Fury even playable in a Midrange Nature archetype as a comeback option with subsequent Wildfire buff.
Spirit Storm
Worth a try in Rockdrake Death and Mill/Control Death. Spirit Storm will probably see a play in a controlish Mill Death archetype together in combination with Burrowing Scarab and Vrock. Rockdrake Egg might see more play for the meme sake. It also synergizes pretty well with resurrection decks consisting of Sacrophagus and Pallbearer and give additional sleep possibilities.
Avalanche Watcher
Worth a try in Combo Magic. Avalanche Watcher could be played in Lost in the Depths deck using Friendly Mimic and Clone to fill the board early in the game with big creatures. As Friendly Mimic copies the stats and Avalanche Watchers gets buffed again when played the following scenario could be worth looking at.
- Get key cards early by playing Lost in the Depths.
- Reduce mana cost of Friendly Mimic with Warp Engineers (optional).
- Play Avalanche Watcher and copy with Friendly Mimic
- Clone Avalanche Watcher and play them.
Guiding Light
Worth a try in Chosen One Decks. If the Chosen One Deck will be viable at some point this card would be an auto-include in this archetype. It is probably a better replacement for Fated Arrival and a good addition to Forge into the Light.
Snowshaper Pallas
Worth a try in Control Magic. Snowshapper Pallas will replace ratify and perhaps Nythos in some Control Magic Decks. It seems to be quite mana expensive for what it is as it is a easy to remove target in the subsequent opponent’s turn.
Merry Kadmos
Worth a try in Midrange/Control Light/Chosen One Deck. Merry Kadmos is a quite strong card of the Winter Wanterlands set. The possibility to return either an opponent’s creature or one of your own creatures on the top of its controller’s deck makes it flexible. Additionally, the Chosen One buff can be considered as an option. A creature with a strong roar effect such as Theriel, Jason or Radiant Embalmer being targeted, gives a lot of value.
Winter’s Bounty
Worth a try in Control Nature. Another card that strengthens the Control Nature archetype is Winter’s Bounty. It is the first card in Gods Unchained that enables a god to have more than 30 health, which is an interesting new mechanic. Winter’s Bounty in combination with Helmna, The Spear of Life can be very strong and result in an OTK in case Helmna survives one turn and combat face damage is possible.
Take the Reins
Worth a try in Midrange War or Aggro War. This card is also one of the stronger cards of this set. It enables War with the steal mechanic and as already known from Aggro Deception can be very helpful to get rid of frontlines for one turn. Valknir Outrider and Archangel Bruiser synergize pretty well with the card. Laters overkill ability could be triggered with face damage dealt by the stolen creature, which requires 7 mana though. Of course, the condition of having already a strong creature on board is not that easy to fulfill. In Midrange or Control War decks it can be a real surprise. Empowered it has a super strong effect.
Candy Chain
Worth a try in Control Deception. 5 Candy Links in a deck can be pretty annoying unless one plays a casino resurrection deck. As the opponent’s hand card being discarded is randomly chosen, it is probably not that powerful. Could be fun if it hits a Thaeriel or Demogorgon though.
Reinkeeper Selena
Worth a try in Midrange Nature. Reinkeeper Selena summons two 2/2 creatures without “confused” which can be quite useful to keep the board. Nevertheless, at 6 mana it is a bad option in control decks as there are better alternatives in the 6 mana slot. It is unlikely that Reinkeeper Selena survives a turn at 6 mana to gain additional value from her ability. In the 6 mana slot there are certainly better options to keep or gain board control.
The Reinnapper
Worth to try in Tech decks. The Reinapper effect seems to be very close to the one of Dearly Departed. It is not applied to creatures in hand but on the board, which makes it actually interesting in combination with Dearly Departed. Any creature on your side of the board that has a negative afterlife effect can be targeted beneficially (best example Pyramid Warden) and vice versa any creature having a positive afterlife effect for the opponent could be a good target for The Reinnapper. Transform effects such as the one from Reflection Elementalist can be handy as it would avoid triggering the afterlife effect of The Reinnapper.
We hope you liked our thoughts on the new Gods Unchained miniset and enjoy browsing through IMX Tools' Winter Wanderlands deck proposals!
See you in the arena!
Yours IMXTools.net