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Pojo's
Dreamblade Mini of the Day
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Prince of
Blades
Reviewed March 15, 2007
Constructed: 2.50
Sealed: 2.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating
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Mod-Log |
The two figures
this week seem to be very tough to make
modifications for. Oh well.
Prince Of Blades. The second '--Of Blades'
figure in Fear. And seeing how his name depicts
a higher hierarchy. One would assume he is
better. Correct?
Spawn Cost: 5 F
Power: 2
Defense: 4
Life: 7
: Death Cycle — Destroy target local creature
with spawn cost . That creature's controller may
put a creature with spawn cost or less from his
or her reserves into the local cell. When the
creature is placed, ignore the stacking limit.
For starters, the differences between him and
Jack of Blades is rarity. We go from JoB's
common figure goodness, and then ramp it up to
PoB's rare status.
Both have the EXACT same stats and spawn cost.
Except Jack Of Blades rolls one MORE die and
both have COMPLETELY different abilities.
Here's the kicker though: Death cycle.
It seems that in each set, there is one figure
in the set that disrupts the opponents reserves.
Base set had Night Queen, Baxar's War has
Mangler. Chrysotic Plague has this guy.
It'a also interesting to note that this guy is
one of 2 figures in 'Plague that INSTANTLY KILLS
figures on 2 blades (Medusa being the other
one). However, you get to choose what dies here,
as opposed to Medusas PETRIFY (which allows the
opponent to choose).
The kicker is that the player who's creature got
killed due to Deathcycle can choose a creature
of that spawn cost or less and throw it into
that cell.
Yes, you can kill your own creatures, read the
ability again and come back to this point. I'll
get into that later.
I can see this being good with a bunch of other
creatures and rolling a TON of damage and AT
LEAST the 2 blades for Deathcycle to connect. In
that case, the opponent may not want to throw
another creature in the cell (since the blade
ability happens first, and then you get to apply
damage, ensuring that whatever would jump into
that cell, would surely die).
Keep in mind, THIS IS NOT a 'MAY' ability,
meaning of this is the only creature in a cell
that you are fighting with that has blade
abilities, if you rolls 2 blades. Deathcycle
MUST BE USED.
Here's some interesting things you can do with
Deathcycle, regarding your own pieces. Since you
can kill off your own pieces with this ability:
Bloodcut Behemoth: His ability states it can
make a deathblow whenever it dies. He rolls 7
dice, not too bad. You can Deathcycle him, and
bring in something else that's 10 spawn or less
and you get to roll your 7 dice deathblow.
Ghost Of The Key: Here's where things get goofy.
GotK says (the abbreviated version)' when it
attacks, nothing dies this combat'. If you
Deathcycle Ghost Of The Key, she won't die from
her ability. But the second part of Deathcycle
WILL RESOLVE (That creature's controller may put
a creature with spawn cost or less from his or
her reserves into the local cell. When the
creature is placed, ignore the stacking
limit.)!!! Meaning you can drop a 7 spawn or
less creature and stack 5 of your creatures into
the same cell!!
However, once they move out of that cell,
stacking limit applies once again.
It's one of those goofy rulings, but it makes
sense if you can think outside of the normal
stacking limit rules (no more than 4 of your
creatures in a cell).
I'm not sure on what the ruling would be if you
or the opponent threw a Buzzclaw into play VIA
Deathcycle, it would be worth asking as I don't
know the answer off the top of my head. But if
it could work, it would rock!
It's a goofy creature. I saw one used at the New
York 10K, but it never saw play. You can
definitely do some interesting things with it.
But it's stats hurt it's playability. It's a bit
like Stag Zealot in the sense that it's reliant
on other figures to be able to roll the blades
it needs to work. I'm not exactly a fan of
creatures that have dependency issues as far as
attack power is concerned. If we're comparing
red apples to green apples; I like Medusa better
for being a creature with an instant death
ability. She rolls 3 dice, and rolling 2 blades
on 3 dice isn't as farfetched as 2 blades on 2
dice.
But if you're a combo player, this piece is a
definate winner for you.
I would give the figure a 2/5 as far as
competitive play is concerned.
I would give him a 3/5 for interesting mechanics
and fun playability.
-- Mod-Log
P.S. I'm relatively new at reviewing figures, if
I'm doing anything wrong, post something in the
Pojo Dreamblade forum and I'll jump on it. |
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Chen Wan Lee |
Prince of
Blades
Today’s miniature is the Prince of Blades, a
Chrysotic Plague Fear rare.
Many would know it for its similarities
name-wise with Jack of Blades, a common from the
base set. Ironically, the Prince is similar to
the Jack of Blades in both cost and stats,
except for a minor little point; he lacks one
attack. That puts it right at the bottom of the
5-cost Fear choices in terms of stats, right
along with Genteel Husk, that has one more
defense but one less life, along with an extra
two Aspect costs.
So, with rather poor stats, he needs to have a
deadly, game turning effect, right? Good news
is, yes he does. The problem is, it’s
situational. First of, it is a double blade.
Considering how the Prince only has two attack,
you WILL need an ally (or three) with good
attack values. So that’s problem number one; he
effectively has the ability “Follower”,
something shared by a far bigger piece at the
same cost, Pale Horse. It is not literally as
restrictive as Follower, but seriously, this is
one piece you do not want to send in alone,
unless you desperately need cannon fodder.
So let us say his ability did trigger. Then you
get the nifty ability of being able to destroy
something and spawn something equally, or less
powerful. Imagine your opponent has two
Dreadmorph Ogres, one in play, one in reserve.
You destroy one, and lure out the other.
Effectively, this becomes a Purge. Let us put
this into perspective: Night Queen costs 1
generic and 2 aspect points more, has 1 more
attack, 2 more and life, and Purge is also a
double blade. Sounds like a fair trade.
But there is more. Imagine if it is in the late
game, and your opponent has depleted most of his
miniatures. However, he still has his big, ugly
Ragedrake out. The closest thing he has to the
Ragedrake in his reserves point-wise is, say, a
Bloodthirsty Redcap. I’m pretty sure you do not
need me to mention the sheer devastation this
effect would cause. In a real game I doubt you
would come across such an ideal situation, but
basically swapping a bigger creature for
something smaller is in itself devastating,
especially when the bigger creature is forced
into the graveyard.
To summarize, the Prince has a significantly
powerful ability, but paired with a rather
sub-par body for its cost. It does not see much
play, but I won’t be surprised to see a couple
played around here and there for casual games,
at the very least. To fully utilize him, you
need to find a way to reliably give him that
double Blade – Fear/Passion, anyone?
Constructed: 3/5. Average: not fantastic, not
terrible, and definitely playable.
Sealed: 2/5. I’m unsure about this. If you have
a good selection of Passion figures then you
could try. Its good to note that as far as
Chrysotic Plague goes, this is the only 5-drop
Fear miniature in the set, so you may want to
consider that.
Art: 3/5. I’m not a fan of demons, but I give
them credit for at least making it look slightly
freaky. |
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