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Epic TCG Card Preview:
Echoes of Despair
By Darwin Kastle

                The debut set for Epic will include a series of event cards called echoes. Echoes cards  have a modest effect when you play them, but they will repeat their effect every turn, making them extremely powerful over the course of the game. Allow me to introduce you to Echoes of Despair.

                Echoes of Despair is an evil, magical event that you can play anytime, but it costs an action to play.  When you play it you choose a player to be the target and as it resolves that player discards a card from their hand of cards. While certainly useful, using your action for the turn to make a player discard a single card is not particularly impressive by Epic standards. However during your Pre-Battle Step the Echoes of Despair will go onto the line again, but this time it doesn’t cost an action! This process will repeat during all of your future Pre-Battle Steps as long as the Echoes of Despair remains in your discard pile. Having to discard one card one time can be annoying, having to discard one card every turn can be excruciating.

                There are several ways to make Echoes of Despair even more powerful, as well as some ways for it to backfire.  The most basic way to make any echoes card more powerful is if you have a way to get it into your discard pile without having to spend an action to actually play it. For example, some cards have abilities that require you to discard a card from your hand in order to use them.  How convenient if the card you discard happens to be Echoes of Despair. It would be great to make someone discard a card every turn without ever having to pay an action to get the process started.

Discard is often more powerful in large quantities.  Fortunately there are several evil cards that can be used to make your opponent discard cards. After going through the trouble of making your opponent discard most or all of their cards, Echoes of Despair is great for keeping their hand on the ropes. Also, imagine drawing two copies of Echoes of Despair. The ensuing teeth gnashing and wails of agony (the despair mentioned in the card’s title!) as your opponent is forced to discard two cards every turn can be quite entertaining.

Echoes of Despair can also be a convenient way to get cards directly from your hand into your discard pile. There are some cards that are more powerful if you can put them directly in your discard pile. If you have tried the free demo decks available at epictcg.com you will be familiar with some of these cards. If not, you should start downloading them now; I even give you permission to take a break from reading this… Okay, as I was saying, some cards would love to start out in your discard pile, such as other echoes cards. The champion Jason, as seen in the demo decks, is another great example.

As is often the case with evil magic, Echoes of Despair can have its drawbacks. Just as you may have cards that you want to put directly into your discard pile, your opponent may also have some. Having your opponent put a Jason directly into their discard pile when your hit them with Echoes of Despair can leave you as the one doing the teeth gnashing. Better luck next turn.

It’s usually pretty safe to play Echoes of Despair in Sealed Pack or Draft, not only safe but usually pretty awesome. It is a little more of a double-edged sword in Designed Deck play however, when many decks can be packed with things yearning to be in the discard pile. This can usually be addressed by making sure that your deck includes a decent number of cards that can be used against your opponent’s discard pile. Echoes of Despair is just one of six echoes cards in the debut set for Epic, have fun exploring the possibilities for all six of them.