Pojo's Dreamblade Site
Dreamblade Home
Message Board
Dreamblade News
Mini of the Day
Rolf's PDF Spoiler
2-4 Player Board
Upcoming 10K Tourneys
|
 |
Pojo's
Dreamblade Mini of the Day
|
Image from
Wizards.com
|
|
Steelborn Griffin
Valor
Reviewed September 06, 2006
Constructed: 3.2
Sealed: 2.2
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating
|
|
That Guy That
Plays DreamBlade |
STEELBORN GRIFFIN
We continue the theme of the Underplayed Valor
rares with the big griffin. A 10 cost really
only makes it useful as a 1-of in your deck,
while yesterday's Falcon Solider might fill up
to 3 and work fine. Its rival for the aspect is
Inscribed Axebeast. While Axebeast has far
better stats, its alot easier to pull off
recruiting Griffin because of the lack of a
Vengeance ability. For 10 of our spawn points,
We get a 4-9/9. 4 is very understated for the
cost, and so is the 9/9 to a degree. But with
this slight downside comes the equalizer aka
what makes this guy a sweet piece. Reinforce
Valor. Yep, no need for the spawn row. This guy
can be recruited in any cell you have a Valor
piece in. Not too shabby. Especially when your
Runetagged Brawler is being looked down apon by
a Thunder Sultan and a Horrid Poltergeist. This
makes Griffin an excellent guy to play on a turn
you have initiative, so that you can add in the
4 extra dice without having to get killed right
away. So give it a shot. I think a warband with
multiple Reinforce characters could be good. Of
course, if you want to use the Lion however,
you're gonna want to splash some Bloodcut
Passion pieces.
Constructed - 3.5/5 - its stats make it easy to
take down by bigger guys, meaning this guy is
alot more useful early on. Its high cost
restricts him from that.
Sealed - 3/5 - an even score because depending
on your Valor pool, its usefulness varies.
Artwork - 3/5 - though of Hedwig (Harry Potter
series) when I saw this guy.
|
|
King
Sephiroth |
"Steelborn
Griffin"
With our second inclusion of pieces for this
week, we look at "Steelborn Griffin". This piece
is definitely one of the better looking pieces
in the Base Set, but once again this piece
doesn't really deserve the cost that it has.
This is one of 3 "Reinforce" pieces, all of
which are Valor, but one reinforces "Bloodcut".
Two of those 3 pieces in my opinion aren't worth
their cost, and this is one of those pieces.
Sure, for 10VV you get to "Reinforce" one of
your pieces on the board, but what about after
that? You get a 4 9|9 beatstick that won't be
around too long. The defense and life, once
again this week, is what pushes me away from
this piece. For that much investment I want to
make sure that the piece will stick around and
do it's job for a few turns, before giving me
two extra spawn points.
The other 9+-drop creatures for Valor are
"Inscribed Axebeast", "Loyal Stragglemaw",
"Noble Dragon" (which we'll be reviewing on
Friday), and "Zungar Bodyguard". The Bodyguard
is just about the only piece not worth it in
terms of pure statistics and pieces that can
quite simply put: do its job better. Both
Stragglemaw and Axebeast are easily much better
than the Griffin, and the Dragon can be debated
as it is in a different cost range.
Wouldn't you rather spend those 10 spawn points
towards a "Dreadmorph Ogre"?
Overall Constructed: 2/5
Overall Sealed: 1.5/5
Artwork: 4/5 (Definitely a kewl looking piece.
=))
|
|
Charninja |
Steelborn
Griffin
Looks like Valor can call in air support :D
Reinforce is such a kickrear ability. Obviously
you don't play this guy in anything but a
dedicated Valor band for two reasons: 1.) The VV
Aspect cost and 2.) The fact that he only
reinforces your other Valor figures. However, I
don't imagine anybody could miss those two
things, so... moving on.
There is, sadly, a problem with this little
jetfighter-that-could: 4 power for 10 spawn
points is nothing short of "meh." The 9|9 D&L
does help a bit, but that just means that your
opponent will just kill it if he is given the
chance (unless he has some sort of plan in mind
to deprive you of spawn points at the cost of
his conquest points or something). Frankly, a 5
power would have made this guy a must play.
Thing is, he doesn't really have any competition
in Valor with a converted cost of 12. There are
a few figures for roughly that cost that are
better though (Whirlwind Dervish, I am looking
at you) though, and frankly, I would probably do
some playtesting before making a decision
whether to use him or not. The low power is his
only problem, and since his ability begs you to
spawn him with some buddies, the EXTRA 4 power
he provides could prove very useful.
Constructed: 2.5/5 I can think of several
figures that are cheaper and help a bit more,
but I can easily see where he could prove very
useful.
Limited: 2/5 Entirely dependent on whether you
have several more Valor figs to pay for his
spawn cost and to let him get a move on. If you
don't, he is nearly neutered, but if you do...
he could definitely do some damage...
|
|
king atlantis |
Steelborn
Griffin
10VV
P: 4
9/9
reinforce valor
Another valor piece! woopy! (sarcasm...valor is
like, my least favorite aspect...) anyway, this
is an intresting piece. its cost is
high...10VV...and its defence/life is like,
perfect. 9/9? very few pieces can disrupt
this...
its power is lacking, but not all that low...but
what makes you whant to play this?
The reinforce valor, thats what. whats better
than gettin' 'deep' into enemy territory, then
leaveing this puppy their? lets see your
opponent get rid of this! whahahahh!
constructed: 4.5/5 (look above)
limited: 2/5 (what if you get no valor???)
sculpt: 3/5 (pretty neet- just not 'da coolest')
~*The King*~
like me' reviews? hate em'? have dreamblade q's????
reach me on the pojo forums as king Atlantis, or
e-mail me at king_atlantis@earthlink.net
|
|
Rolf the Ruf |
Steelborn
Griffen
10VV
P: 4
D/L: 9/9
Reinforce Valor
Reviewed by Rolf the Ruf
The white griffen is a beautiful piece just on
looks -- really cool sculpt. But how does it
stack up as an effective member of your warband?
Well, the short answer is, not bad. This is
basically the big brother of Eagle-Feather
Warrior, and on the bang for buck scale, is
about equal: 4 more spawn points buys you an
extra die in power and 3 extra points in both
Defense and Life. But on the whole I have to
say, I like this guy a little better than the
Indian maiden. His big trick, like her's, is to
drop into the Dreamscape just where you need him
instead of having to slowly make his way to the
front lines, like everyone else. This is a
pretty nice ability. From my experience it can
effectively turn the tide for you -- making a
bad situation into a good one. The reason he
gets my vote over Pocahontas is that when you
call for the cavalry you like it better when the
whole brigade shows up instead of a few scouts.
This guy brings the heat. At 10VV he is priced
like a fatty, so it begs the question, is he
fatty worthy? Well just generally most of the
similarly costed monsters tend to be a bit
bigger and stronger, but trade-offs make this
fact less than compelling. Take the Inscribed
Axebeast, rolling 6 dice with a Defense/Life of
11/13. But that two-ton gorilla doesn't exactly
come galloping over the ridge when you need him
since you can't even spawn him until you've lost
three turns. All things considered, this
airborne avenger gets a solid thumbs up -- not
an MVP, but a solid first teamer. Death from
above, baby!
Constructed: 3.5/5
Sealed: 2.5/5 (requires a decent Valor pull to
make him work well)
Artwork 4.5/5
|
|
