Hey, people! The Harry Potter TCG has been out for about 3 weeks. We
already know which cards are good and which cards are bad. We've already created
our dream decks that we think no one will be able to defeat. We've already
established Pojo's Harry Potter League. We've all probably seen the new
commercial on TV. And we've all probably overlooked some cards in this Base
Set...
Today I'll be reviewing one of those cards that "don't get no respect".
That card is, you guessed it, Dean Thomas. HP readers will know Dean as the
soccer-loving boy who shares a dorm room with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Seamus
Finnigan. His TCG card is quite simple:
Dean Thomas
Character-Wizard-Gryffindor-Unique
Once per game, draw 3 cards.
Now, I'm not a fan of the "once per game" Characters (with the exception of
Snape). I like a Character who can be used all throughout the game. Dean's
ability allows you to draw 3 cards at any time during the game. After that, he's
useless, unless he gets returned to your hand (that is, if he wasn't your
Starter). There didn't seem to be a prominent use for this ability until I
thought about it for a little while. We all know that 4 Privet Drive is the
most-used (and most-hated) card in the set. You have to discard 6 cards from
your hand to get it off the table. However, if you have Dean in play, you can
get half of those cards back (not the exact cards, but you know what I mean
:-p). If you're a constant victim of the Drive (but aren't we all?), Dean can be
a good card for helping you recover. He can combo with Harry to make a good
Privet Drive-recovering team.
I created a deck that uses Dean as its Starter. Check it out...
"Dean's Green Deck"
Starting Character: Dean Thomas
Spells (22):
4 Noxious Potion
3 Burning Bitterroot Balm
3 Dogbreath Potion
3 Forgetfulness Potion
3 Malevolent Mixture
2 Draught of Living Death
2 Shrinking Potion
2 Snape's Question
Adventures (5):
3 4 Privet Drive
2 Peeves Causes Trouble
Items (2):
2 Potion Ingredients
Characters (3):
3 Harry Potter
Lessons (28):
28 Potions
This deck is a Potions Beatdown at heart. A Potions deck's worst enemy is 4
Privet Drive, since these decks usually use only Spells to deal out damage. The
Thomas-Potter duo in this deck works to fight off Privet Drive. Whether you need
to get enough cards to solve Drive or recover from discarding 6 of the cards
from your hand, these two Character cards are up to the challenge!
The Final Verdict?
Dean Thomas' Rating: 3 out of 5
Use It?: He isn't completely useless. If you like to play original decks
with rarely-used cards, Dean can be used to help against a 4 Privet Drive.
Imagine the look on your opponent's face when you beat them with a Dean
Thomas deck!
*~ The Gamelord ~*