Sleeper Power Cards

[Borg]

When a new set of cards is released, you have to reexamine all the previously released cards as well.
Especially those older, totally unused and off-the-radar cards.
Some of them may suddenly have gotten a boost in power and warrant a spot in some or most of your books, yes you read that right

I haven't yet finished my "old cards review" but here are three old cards which have seen little to no play before and who, imho, may soon reach "staple" status.

[mwcard=FWE08] Mind Shield[/mwcard]

This is the card most players already know about.
Totally unplayed before, until Chant of Rage, Song of Love and the Siren came along.
Now I find this card taking at least one spot in most of my books.

The last thing you want is your main offensive/defensive piece wandering off into a den of Vipers due to that lone Chant of Rage your opponent has packed.
Summon Main Creature + Mind Shield on it immediately ( certainly if your opponent has initiative the following round ) qualifies as a good play imo.


[mwcard=MW1I25] Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]

Now here's a real bomb.
Sparsely played before. Lately nearly extinct.

But picture this :
Chant of Rage on opposing creature.
Let the creature move/attack, then Shift CoR to another enemy creature to get two uses out of one CoR in 1 round.

Other situation :
Creature with CoR has double moved towards you and is in great position to be finished off this round, so the CoR, with still one Dissipate token on it, will be wasted.
Solution : during First Quick Cast, Shift CoR to another creature

Chant of Rage is Unique, and as such you can have no more than 1 in play at a time.
Shift Enchantment allows you to work around that restriction and affect two creatures in 1 round.

Forcemaster and dark mages can fully exploit this for minimal sbp's
and think of the Siren's possibilities with her formata.


Ballad of Courage
Another fantastic card to use with Shift Enchantment.
Play BoC on your Minotaur and let him Fast Charge in for 8 attack dice 2 zones away.
Then, Shift BoC to your second minotaur and repeat.
1 sbp and 2 mana to facilitate an 8 dice attack two zones away : what's not to like ?

Shift Enchantment is an absolute power card imo when it comes to maximizing the effect of Unique/Dissipate enchantments.
I'm quite sure they are going to be staples soon in books using those types of enchantments.


[mwcard=FWI04] Force Wave[/mwcard]

Another card with potential star power.
At least 1 copy of this card should go in every book that uses Pillar of Righteous Flame ( who doesn't ? )

Take one of these frequently happening situations :
Opponent is building up an army in his starting zone, or is moving his creatures altogether for protection, or any other situation where the opponent's forces are situated in 1 zone.
Let's consider a Mage + 3 creatures.

The bomb :
QC Pillar of Righteous Flame in a zone adjacent to the enemy army.
Move your Mage in the opposite direction, then cast Force wave on the opponent's zone and push them all into the Pillar's zone. That's 16 dice + potential Dazes and Burns.

If that's a mage + 3 non-living creatures we're even talking 22 !!! dice.

And the fun is not yet over.
They better stay in that zone, to be hammered just once the following rounds ... because if they move out ... you might pull out another Force Wave and "highlight" them again

Hope I've given you something to think about

[iNano78]

Interesting. I agree with Mind Shield (and Clear Mind, which was a "useless" promo but became useful upon its release) and I've been a big fan of Force Wave for a long time (it's a must-have card in Domination, but PoR made it better in Arena). But I fail to see how Shift Enchantment is better than Enchantment Transfusion, which was already amazing and can do your Shift trick - and a whole lot more!

For further analysis, see here: http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=17224.0

*edit* I forgot [mwcard=MW1I25]Shift Enchantment[/mwcard] was "Novice", so maybe a Warlord who can't justify the sbp's for [mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]... but there is so much more that you can do with ET that I mainly see it getting stronger with the new Song spells and doubt we'll see much more of SE.

[Reddicediaries]

I've had a few ideas for a siren that uses enchantment transfusion to get more dice from ballad of courage/ extra effects from chant of rage, song of love, etc. If the opponent has swarms, get them into a shallow sea zone then push them into pillar with force wave.

[jacksmack]

CoR must be revealed before the opponenet chooses to flip an action marker.

This makes it extemely unlikely that he will use the CoR'ed creature as the first.

I think its much stronger to put an enchantment transfusion down on the creature with CoR. When the opponent Flips the action marker of something else (a familiar / Archer ?) then BAM transfuse it over without him having any chance to respond - he cannot even QC at this time.


I still dont find Mind Shield very strong. It suffers from the same problem as other specialized enchantments.

In a game where your opponenet doesnt do a single dissolve / corrosive Orchid / crumble - Your Armor ward is a waste of an action and mana.

There are several other niché enchantments like this. Im not saying each of them is worthless, but its important that the opponent falls for your trap in particular in short games where each action matters.  In long game it's less critical with a wasted action and also the chance that the opponent will do the play you are trying to bait will increase the longer the game is.


I'm starting to hate Pillar a bit So far i have found that the best way around it is to accept it and stay in the zone. Perhaps (semi) counter with Madrigal or Mohktari - or even both.

[bigfatchef]

Mind shield definitely got an auto-include to every body book or “few big“ that uses living creatures.

Force wave has ever since been a staple for me as answer for swarm/flying with its possibilities to mass-wallbash or mass-passage-attack. The Pillar-combo is an awsome addition.

Shift enchantment is good and got better, but it's not a potential card for every book.

[Biblofilter]

I´ve always liked Shift Enchantment

If you run Mage Wand(s) and Zone Enchantments its nice to have a Shift Enchantment.

[Borg]

So far i have found that the best way around Pillar is to accept it and stay in the zone.

I agree.

Perhaps (semi) counter with Madrigal or Mohktari - or even both.

Madrigal seems like a good answer to me as well.
Mohktari would work too but doesn't fit into as many books.
I find creatures with Intercept like Panzerguard or Guardian Angel to be effective in this situation.
Panzerguard has 6+ defense chance and Angel can heal while guarding/intercepting.

I think its much stronger to put an enchantment transfusion down on the creature with CoR. When the opponent Flips the action marker of something else (a familiar / Archer ?) then BAM transfuse it over without him having any chance to respond - he cannot even QC at this time.

ET definitely allows for more tricks but costs more mana and sbp's.

There's also the possibility that you're perfectly happy with letting the CoR creature activate last and use Shift Enchantment the following round.

I still dont find Mind Shield very strong. It suffers from the same problem as other specialized enchantments.
In a game where your opponenet doesnt do a single dissolve / corrosive Orchid / crumble - Your Armor ward is a waste of an action and mana.

Again, you make a good point that I can only agree with but sometimes that one potentially wasted action is worth it imo especially if it can protect you from a situation you absolutely don't want to end up in.
Better safe than sorry so to speak.

[Borg]

*edit* I forgot [mwcard=MW1I25]Shift Enchantment[/mwcard] was "Novice", so maybe a Warlord who can't justify the sbp's for [mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]... but there is so much more that you can do with ET that I mainly see it getting stronger with the new Song spells and doubt we'll see much more of SE.

I do think however that a Siren with Shift Enchantment on a Mage Wand could potentially do nasty things.

[farkas1]

Great write up. Very interesting thoughts about some older cards.  I have been using force wave a lot more in my books for those purposes mentioned.  Such a strong card at the moment.  The other two I will be considering more in my books.  If u also notice the use of chant of rage and how it's targeting range units and or familiars so mind shield is effective if you know that they could be potential targets.  Shift enchantment I use rarely and will look into including more as well.  I use it more for some zone enchantments.

[Reddicediaries]

When a new set of cards is released, you have to reexamine all the previously released cards as well.
Especially those older, totally unused and off-the-radar cards.
Some of them may suddenly have gotten a boost in power and warrant a spot in some or most of your books, yes you read that right

I haven't yet finished my "old cards review" but here are three old cards which have seen little to no play before and who, imho, may soon reach "staple" status.

[mwcard=FWE08] Mind Shield[/mwcard]

This is the card most players already know about.
Totally unplayed before, until Chant of Rage, Song of Love and the Siren came along.
Now I find this card taking at least one spot in most of my books.

The last thing you want is your main offensive/defensive piece wandering off into a den of Vipers due to that lone Chant of Rage your opponent has packed.
Summon Main Creature + Mind Shield on it immediately ( certainly if your opponent has initiative the following round ) qualifies as a good play imo.


[mwcard=MW1I25] Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]

Now here's a real bomb.
Sparsely played before. Lately nearly extinct.

But picture this :
Chant of Rage on opposing creature.
Let the creature move/attack, then Shift CoR to another enemy creature to get two uses out of one CoR in 1 round.

Other situation :
Creature with CoR has double moved towards you and is in great position to be finished off this round, so the CoR, with still one Dissipate token on it, will be wasted.
Solution : during First Quick Cast, Shift CoR to another creature

Chant of Rage is Unique, and as such you can have no more than 1 in play at a time.
Shift Enchantment allows you to work around that restriction and affect two creatures in 1 round.

Forcemaster and dark mages can fully exploit this for minimal sbp's
and think of the Siren's possibilities with her formata.


Ballad of Courage
Another fantastic card to use with Shift Enchantment.
Play BoC on your Minotaur and let him Fast Charge in for 8 attack dice 2 zones away.
Then, Shift BoC to your second minotaur and repeat.
1 sbp and 2 mana to facilitate an 8 dice attack two zones away : what's not to like ?

Shift Enchantment is an absolute power card imo when it comes to maximizing the effect of Unique/Dissipate enchantments.
I'm quite sure they are going to be staples soon in books using those types of enchantments.


[mwcard=FWI04] Force Wave[/mwcard]

Another card with potential star power.
At least 1 copy of this card should go in every book that uses Pillar of Righteous Flame ( who doesn't ? )

Take one of these frequently happening situations :
Opponent is building up an army in his starting zone, or is moving his creatures altogether for protection, or any other situation where the opponent's forces are situated in 1 zone.
Let's consider a Mage + 3 creatures.

The bomb :
QC Pillar of Righteous Flame in a zone adjacent to the enemy army.
Move your Mage in the opposite direction, then cast Force wave on the opponent's zone and push them all into the Pillar's zone. That's 16 dice + potential Dazes and Burns.

If that's a mage + 3 non-living creatures we're even talking 22 !!! dice.

And the fun is not yet over.
They better stay in that zone, to be hammered just once the following rounds ... because if they move out ... you might pull out another Force Wave and "highlight" them again

Hope I've given you something to think about

I don't shift enchantment on chant of rage is as good as you say it is. Smart players will use the CoR creature at the end of the action phase, so new transfusion targets for using CoR in the same round most likely.

[drmambo23]

Very good points.
I have started putting mind shield in all of my 1-3 big creature books!

And the force wave into the pillar is nice! Just hope when they move out of that zone they dont move away from you or all go different ways :/ if you figting bloodthirtsy creatures just run a friendly creature in there so they can get out pf the pillar zone

And shift enchant mage wand is something i havent consodered but i agree shift enchamt in a warlord book can do great things with zone enchants and BoC

[DaveW]

Shift Enchantment is also useful to drop Corrodes: Rust friendly creature with zero armor from the corrodes, then shift to enemy armored creature.

[littlenog]

I am becoming a big fan of Knights Courage.

2 to enchant
1 to reveal

+2 melee +1 pierce against the strongest creature
knight only enchant

[silverclawgrizzly]

I'm sweating by Shift Enchantment in my Warlord and Paladin books.