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Epic TCG Card Preview:
Timewalker
By Darwin Kastle - Feb 12, 2009

One of the hallmarks of the Epic TCG is the high power level of the action cards. Every card is exciting and powerful. Some games make cards knowing full well that players who want to win should never use them in any situation, in any format. Not Epic. We believe the game is more fun and the choices more interesting when every card is powerful and playable. Timewalker is no exception to this philosophy. It is a champion and a very powerful event all rolled into one card.

One of the reasons we chose Timewalker for this preview was because we felt this was a good card to introduce the veiled ability with. A champion with the veiled ability can be played facedown during your Build Step at the cost of an action. When you play it facedown and while it remains facedown, you may look at the face, but it is a secret from your opponent(s).    You may choose to turn it face up (unveil it) at any time. In addition if it ever becomes targeted, attacks or blocks it must be unveiled. If a card or ability is played that requires cards in play to be checked for information, then veiled cards become unveiled. For example if I play Final Battle to break all evil champions and objects, then I need to check the alignments of all champions in play and veiled champions must be unveiled.

There are generally two big advantages to a champion being veiled. First is all about the power of secrecy. There are many veiled champions in Epic.  If your opponent doesn’t know which one they are facing they are at a significant disadvantage. For example if your opponent has a card in hand that they could stop the veiled card from coming into play and they think you are playing a Timewalker they should probably play the stop card. However, multiple veiled cards are unstoppable, meaning they can’t be stopped, which makes playing a stop card on a veiled card risky. There are multiple problems with using a card to try and break a veiled card that’s in play. If you use a card that does damage, how can you be sure that you are doing enough damage?  Even if you use a break or banish card what if the veiled card is untargetable or has some other ability which makes it an unsavory target?

The second cool thing about a champion being veiled is that most veiled champions have fantastic unveil abilities. Timewalker is a great example of this.  Timewalker’s unveil ability allows a player to take an extra turn. This is awesome in Epic for several reasons.

At a minimum it means you get to draw an extra card because you have an extra Prepare Step. If Timewalker’s unveil ability was just “draw a card” it would see some play in Sealed Pack and Draft. Actually taking an extra turn however, allows you to do so much more. You get to prepare all of your champions and objects. Depending on what you have in play this can be quite powerful. Cards like The Archer, Gate Keeper, and Book of Secrets have excellent expend abilities that would be great for you to get an extra use out of. You also get an extra Pre-Battle Step which means things that trigger during that step like Echoes of Despair get to be used again.

Perhaps most importantly, you get an extra Battle Step.  Even if you didn’t have any other champions, now you can attack with Timewalker. Best use of Timewalker will usually involve unveiling her at a time when getting an extra Battle Step would appear to have lethal consequences for your opponent. No matter what the situation, unveiling a Timewalker will usually mean bad things for your foes.