Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS

[ringkichard]

I think Dave's got this already.

I mean, maybe I'm just in an enthusiastic mood, but, um, wow?
Guardian Angel is obviously vastly better than Gray Angel.
And I'm willing to believe it's as good as Iron Golem; depending on what the meta looks like when the full set is released, maybe better.

I don't know what hellish agro deck the playtesters have been using that made printing this thing seem like a good idea, but eeeeesh. To me, Guardian Angel looks like it stops agro cold. This is the perfect creature to receive armor tokens from Crown of Protection, and it's just cheap enough to deploy in force.

Maybe it's time to start talking about what the game is going to look like after the next expansion, because the metagame is clearly being nudged away from agro.

[Paleblue]

I also agree, something seems wrong with the cost compared to Gray Angel. I mean sure you can sack the Gray Angel to heal, but chances are with intercept + health regen + aegis + a defense dice your going to absorb a lot more than 6 dice with Guardian Angel.

[isel]

I also agree with that.

I prefer in my mage put this guy that defend me while i throw lightings or make bad things XDXDD

[NerdGuy]

I wasn't running any Grey Angels in my Priestess build, but you can bet I'm gonna put this angel in.

[patrickconnor]

"I'm not dead yet."

[sIKE]

Very nice. A way to bank up a heal for you or your friend. Send them forth and that pesky 2 zone casting limit no longer applies. It is 5 mana for an average of 4 damage healed so not the most efficient use on your mana though.

[Wiz-Pig]

Part of the real benefit, if I'm not mistaken is that this can be played after the dice are rolled for an attack, but before the damage and effects are applied.

[ringkichard]

The obvious comparison is to Bull Endurance, which is the same price and has the same expected value of "healing."

Bull Endurance is better against Taint, and never rolls low.
Healing Charm has 2 keywords, triggers the Priestess's life gain special ability, is much more resistant to dispel, and can maybe roll high.
All told, Healing Charm is probably a smidge better, mostly on the strength of dispel resistance. Once it's revealed, a dispel isn't going to kill your creature, like it could if Bull Endurance was the only thing keeping your creature alive. I don't know if that means it's good enough to play in a competitive book.

I don't play Bull Endurance in my Beastmaster deck, even though it would be nice to let Fellella cast healing spells (especially under the circumstances where I normally would cast Fellella). But maybe a Priestess deck has a use for more healing?

In the abstract, though, I think I would prefer to play any of the following: Vampirism (enchantment or Vampiress), Regrowth (Belt, Gorgon, Unicorn), Death Link, Hand Of Bim-Shalla, Lay Hands, Drain Life, Drain Soul, Wand of Healing, Blood Reaper, Block, Reverse Attack, or Rhino Hide.

If none of those are suitable, maybe give Healing Charm a try?

[ringkichard]

Part of the real benefit, if I'm not mistaken is that this can be played after the dice are rolled for an attack, but before the damage and effects are applied.

I really love last minute enchantment reveals, but I'm sort of at a loss on this one. Why keep the healing a secret? It seems to me like you'd want to use this as soon as your creature takes 6-7 damage and you have the mana available.

Seeking Dispel is much more efficient than normal Dispel, and once the heal is triggered it's permanent. Why wait? To bluff? Out of the hope your opponent will misalocate resources and won't be able to kill the creature because of the secret healing? I'm not sold.

[piousflea]

Healing Charm can triple-dip from Divine Favor (priestess ability), Ring of Asyra and Enchanters Ring. This in and of itself makes it far superior to Bull EndurAnce.

The other notable thing is that while Healing Charm can be seeking dispelled, it is "resistant" to purge/destroy. When a purge or destroy is declared, you can reveal healing charm and resolve the healing prior to the Resolve Spell step.

The main reason you'd keep healing charm unrevealed is if your creature hasn't taken 8 damage yet. (Since there is a 0.4% chance you could roll 8 healing) The other reason is to trick your opponent into not killing your unit, for example if it has 1 health left and is stuck in a poison gas cloud. Your opponent might not bother finishing it off if he thinks it will die anyways, so you save healing charm until just before the next Upkeep phase.

[Wiz-Pig]

Thanks Pious!

*Looks at Ring* What Pious said. Add that to the misallocation and you have a lot of reasons.

[Hale_32bit]

If Healing Charm is destroyed by Seeking Dispel, can i heal, because it automatically revealed when destroyed like Decoy?

[Sarkath]

Seeking Dispel says, "Destroy target hidden enchantment. Controller of target enchantment cannot reveal the enchantment once Seeking Dispel has been cast." So I would say no.

[jacksmack]

If Healing Charm is destroyed by Seeking Dispel, can i heal, because it automatically revealed when destroyed like Decoy?

You cannot reveal decoy in that situation. But since seeking dispel destroys decoy, and when decoy is destroyed it triggers +2 mana to owner you still get the mana.

You cannot reveal healing charm after seeking dispel has been declared.


The confusing part on seeking dispel is "once Seeking dispel has been cast".
When excately has SD been cast? after we pass the counter step? or as soon as the mana is paid? or when we get to step 3 resolve spell?

I believe SD (and all other spells) are cast during step 1 - declare spell and target and pay mana cost.

The irony of SD is that even if it gets countered by jinx in theory the enemy mage would never be able to reveal targetted enchantment due to the wording on SD and the above part. Obviously this is not the case though.

[Aarrow]

If this and Poisoned Blood are attached to the same creature, how does the timing work if both players choose to reveal at the same time?