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Well it looks like we all enjoyed Weapons Week
so much that we're following it up with a look
at armour and other pieces of equipment.
Chariot of Victory is an interesting card,
and one I was hoping we'd get a chance to
review. The abilities it can give to your
creatures are very relevant, and the cost -
especially the equip cost - are definitely
reasonable.
Readers with strong minds and sharp memories
might see this card and be reminded of things
like Helm of Kaldra, or maybe even Sword of
Vengeance. There are two main ways Chariot of
Victory can help you out: speeding up your
attacks and aggression with Haste, and improving
the quality of your hits with First Strike and
Trample.
Granting a creature haste cheaply and
repeatably will always have a place in aggro
decks. Many times when you cast a really awesome
or powerful guy, you're hoping in your head
'please don't have removal, please don't have
removal.' Because you know that if they don't,
then you can really go to town and have some
fun. Once Chariot of Victory is out, you can
almost look at all of your creature cards and
imagine they have haste if you spend 1 extra
mana on them. The 3 mana to cast the Chariot in
the first place hurts here the most, as aggro
would really like to keep up the pressure with
more guys or damage. But this is a reasonable
investment in the future if you expect the game
to last into or past the midgame.
First strike is probably my absolute
favourite combat ability, and trample is a close
second. Combining both of them is often a
devastating combination. This works really well
on literally anything with a lot of power, as
their toughness almost becomes meaningless
(except against burn) and they can't really be
chump blocked anymore. If you've ever wondered
"How can I make Scoria Elemental not terrible?"
then you've found your answer. Something that
can normally be stopped by a measly 1/1 now
takes something with 7 toughness just to survive
long enough to strike back. Everything else just
dies, even if its got deathtouch. It's really
quite powerful to be able to take out opponent's
creatures easily in combat, or hit them in the
face if they don't want to lose their guy, or do
a little bit of both if they block with
something weak.
The only real downsides to this card are the
3 mana casting cost, which is low enough to
ensure that casual and limited players can still
put this card to good use, but high enough to
keep it out of very competitive constructed
decks, and also the fact that Chariot of Victory
gives no boost to the equipped creature's power.
If it did, the 3 mana casting cost would
probably be a little more acceptable, plus the
card overall would be even more awesome.
If you play this, and you have big guys,
there's a good chance that one of them can ride
in this to the win.
...Now I'm just imagining a hydra or dragon
or something riding around in a chariot. There's
your fun mental image of the day.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3
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