I
am Kyle Dunne. I am sure you don't know who I am. Let me tell you a little bit
about myself before I begin. I am an avid card gamer, though I have not been
able to partake in events such as the Pro-Tour due to my location and being
enrolled in school. I know how to play over 20 card games, most of them
competitively and I have a good understanding of how to play card games.
I started playing NeoPets shortly after its release and I must say that
I really enjoy the game. I decided to write a review article on the cards in the
base set. I will evaluate each card and consider in which ways they can be best
used in a deck (or if they should be used in a deck). This will be part one of
my review; there will be a total of three parts. Before I begin there is one
thing I must say. Yes, the fruits and vegetables don't give bonuses that are
very good, but to make a comparison, they are like the basic land in Magic: the
Gathering. They aren't necessarily good cards, but you can't win without them.
In this game if you expect to win you are going to need a decent amount items
with a bank value of four, or else your opponent will likely win before you. If
you play with all items that are 2 or 3 in bank value, it will take you much
longer to win. Playtesting shows that a deck does better with about 8 to 12
items that have a bank value of four. Now onto the cards!
Aisha
Myriad
To start off the set we have an excellent light card. Of course this
card is not excellent on its own. Put in the proper deck, this can be a
devastating card. Combine this card with some of the potions, everlasting apple
and anything that returns to your hand if you win the contest. This card can
pull off a bit of card advantage when used in a deck with cards such as those.
To top it off it has a bank value of 3, which is not bad at
all.
Commander Garoo
The Villain cards seem to be a lot better than
the heroes. This air card is not one of the better villains. None of its stats
are extremely high. One of the bad things about villains is that your opponent
can just avoid the arena that you place him in. This may be good if you do not
have any neopets with high stats for that arena. The Garoo is well rounded on
his stats, but none of his stats are extremely high and no special abilities.
There are better villains such as…
The Darkest Faerie
This dark
villain is much better. It has a good ability, has a really high magic and
decent agility and intelligence. Villains should be used to lock down the board
and this villain is very capable of doing so.
The Ensorcellator
I do
not like this card. It takes times to play, doesn't boost any stats very much
and its effect is not that great and may even help your opponent. With a bank
value of three I would probably leave this out of my deck.
Faerie
Slingshot
This is a nice piece of equipment. No faerie type requirements to
play it. Magic is one of the harder stats to boost in the game and this thing
can pump to very high levels. It is another great combo card with things such as
everlasting apple and the potions. You should not lose many contests with this
equipped to your neopet. With a bank value of only two, this should rarely be
banked.
Ferocious Negg
It's good with a negg theme. It's even better
when you win. But other than that, it isn't quite as great as it looks on paper.
It doesn't give any outrageous stat bonuses and doesn't have a high bank value.
It's a good card with supporting neggs, but I don't know that the theme of neggs
is worth the loss in overall card quality… at least not yet.
Fire
Shoyru
The experienced neopets are generally good and this is no exception.
It has two faerie types, allowing you to have more card options in your deck. It
has a high agility and its other stats are solid. To top it off it has a
powerful ability. Chase down a neopet with a powerful piece of equipment and it
won't be able to attack unless it loses the equipment next turn. It also
prevents more equipment from being played.
Fyora the Faerie Queen
I
don't really like heroes, my experience in playing with them has not been great
on most of them. They are discarded at the end of turn and you have to tap
neopets to play them. The faerie queen is as close to an auto-win you can get,
but that's only for one turn and you have to tap not one, but two neopets! Play
with experienced neopets; they have high stats and often a good ability as
well.
Ghost Lupe
This experienced lupe has high magic and
intelligence. It has two Faerie types and a good ability as well. The lack of
strength is the only down side, but overall this is a decent card. I like the
experienced neopets, though do not put too many into your deck or they will just
sit in your hand.
Grarrl Gladiator
Grarrl Gladiator is one of the best
experienced neopets in the set. With unmatchable strength and doubling your
chance to automatically win the fight you can't lose. The drawback is that
strength is its only high statistic, but it is a price well worth
paying.
Grimoire of Thade
Books have a theme going in this set. On its
own this card isn't that great. It doesn't add much to your bank, which is what
it's most likely going to be used for. Drawing two cards is very good in this
game. It also gives decent intelligence when played. This is a good card to use
if the deck is made to exploit card drawing and/or books, but other than that,
leave this card in your binder.
Hubrid Nox
High intelligence and two
faerie types give this villain some flexibility. He can lock down the
intelligence arena. But with no other abilities, Hibrid Nox is nothing to
celebrate over.
Hubrid Nox Statue
His statue is better than he is. A
bank value of three (because you lose two from the puzzle box) isn't bad and if
you are able to bank it, it has a great ability. It is also very useful to play
as well, adding four to everything gives this card a lot of
versatility.
Illusen
She isn't bad, you get to move your neopets,
which justifies the tapping to play her and she is powerful. This is one of the
better heroes as when you play her you are not losing any resources. An
excellent addition to any earth-heavy deck.
Illusen's Staff
Here we
have a good boost in magic and a possibility of a high amount of intelligence
when put in the right deck, a good piece of equipment. As it should go without
saying, use it with lots of card drawing and items that return to you
hand.
Jeran
This hero is not very good. Its special ability is
extremely situational. The fact that heroes only last for one turn makes me not
to want to use this one in any deck, though it does have a very high value in
strength. There are better heroes.
Jhudora
The dark faerie is pretty
good if you are able to play around her disabilities. She has very high magic
and intelligence as well as two faerie types. Play her when you have very few or
no cards in hand. If you do play her you may also want to have a way to defeat
her yourself as defeating her yields a great reward, though it may be difficult
building your hand back up from zero.
Jhudora's Wand
This should be a
staple in any dark deck that can afford it. The bonuses it gives are insane and
working around the drawback is well worth it. You shouldn't be losing any magic
or intelligence contests with this wand. This is a card that you should be
prepared to face and have some way to deal with. Never bank this card unless you
will win that turn or if you have more than one in your
hand.
Kadoatie
The best piece of light equipment. In a deck heavy with
light neopets this is an excellent piece of equipment that has no drawbacks. The
fact that is has a bank value of only two should not be much of a
concern.
Korbat Researcher
If you are using books, then this guy is
for you. There will be lots of card drawing going around. Just be sure not to
deck yourself, as many of the books do not have high bank values. A high
intelligence is also good on this experienced neopet.
Lord Darigan
I
like this guy. He fits well into a dark deck, which has the best selection of
villains. He pumps up the stats on all of your neopets and is difficult to
defeat. His drawback is slightly greater, but it I worth the extra power that
this villain has.
Magnus the Torch
This card is bad. There is no card
advantage here. There is no advantage of any kind. You will probably win the
contest, but it is at too high a price (you lose two cards). Do yourself a favor
and leave him out of your deck.
Malevolent Sentient Poogle
Plushie
This is one of the better heroes. This little possessed toy is very
good at taking out villains, which your opponent will likely have in his deck.
If you are playing either of those faerie types it is probably a good idea to
include him into your deck.
Master Vex
At least you will know for sure
whether or not you will win. This hero is average, he isn't great, but he isn't
horrible. He is just good. But there are better heroes to play with if you are
earth, so I probably would use this guy.
Moltenore
The rare petpets
are good. This is very similar to Kadoatie, but for fire neopets. Not much else
to say about this card.
Rainbow Paint Brush
Bank this card; don't use
it during a contest. It will get you any experienced neopet, and that is good.
There are some very good experienced neopets and this will dig them to the top
of your deck. The two point bank value isn't great, but the ability is more than
worth it as you will be winning more contests.
Rainbow Swirly
Thing
What a weird name. This is not a great piece of equipment. I don't like
equipment that much due to the fact that it uses resources and I don't like many
cards that rely on the chance of a die roll or flip of a coin and this is no
exception. You may never roll that 6 and it does not give good statistic boosts.
It has a bank value of 3 though. It isn't completely useless, but it is not a
good card.
Siyana of Talador
Another hero… and this one isn't very
good either. It will win most of the time against dark, but other than that
there is nothing special about her.
Vira
This is one of the worse
villains. If you are going to play with a villain choose something other than
Vira if you can. There isn't anything special about this card and most of the
villains outweigh it.
Vira's Dagger
Here we see a fairly good piece of
equipment. It is good as long as you have an experienced neopet. Putting it onto
a hero is a waste. It gives good stats and can move between untapped neopets,
which can be useful at times. Only use it if you have enough experienced neopets
to support it as banking this item is not very profitable.
Blue
Poogle
Done with the premium cards and now into the rares. We start off with
a very good basic neopet. It has very well rounded statistics totaling up to 21,
with nothing very weak. And during you turn it gets a bonus. Not bad at
all.
Blue Shoyru
I don't like him that much. If you aren't going
against earth then this guy sucks. His stats only total to 18, with 7 in agility
being the only high statistic.
Green Kacheek
I like him better than
the Blue Shoyru, but he isn't much better. A total of 16 for all its stats, but
he does have agility and magic which are both decent in amount.
Red
Grarrl
Has the highest strength at 9. Is slightly better than the Green
Grarrl because of his ability and his stats are not much worse. Strength is the
only stat worth anything on this neopet though.
Red Lupe
Not horrible,
he has average stats in everything except agility (funny, seems that a hunter
should be agile). His ability isn't that great as it is situational like most of
the rare basic neopets.
Yellow Poogle
Poogles are good. Average
statistics in all four arenas. This one seems strictly better than Red Lupe.
This one is good, use him.
Acara Acrobat
A high agility and a good
ability. It doesn't really matter what arena this experienced neopet is in. You
have a chance to change stats after you see what items are played. A very good
card, definitely worth consideration.
Acara Treasure Seeker
The
acrobat is better. The stats are pretty similar, but the acrobat's ability is
far superior. Don't use this one.
Aisha Enchantress
A high amount of
magic, decent intelligence and a good ability. Overall a strong experienced
neopet.
Apple Lantern
This card is trash. There are better items to
boost strength. The ability you get when banking is not worth it at only 2 cards
being revealed and only having a bank value of two. Find a better card to
play.
Balthazar
A Romeo and Juliet character in neopets… well, not
quite. He is good, he is strong, and makes dust out of faeries. For an earth
villain, this lupe is pretty efficient.
Battle Eyrie
Rolling an extra
die is good. It doubles your chance of getting a 6 and an auto-win. Add that to
its well-rounded stats and Battle Eyrie can occupy almost any of the four arenas
effectively.
Brain Tree Root
Root and air? I don't see it… I thought
roots were in the ground, you know the earth, the enemy of air. That weird brain
tree. Anyway, this gives lots of intelligence. It also moves the rival neopet.
It is not a bad card, the bank value of two is not that great
however.
Cackling Negg
In a negg themed deck this can be devastating
in agility, easily giving as much as 12 or 15 agility. In a deck that isn't negg
heavy though, this card is junk.
Calabrus, Cloud Aisha
Another hero
card that isn't good. Play an item instead, you can a least bank those if you
don't choose to use them and if you do use them they are just as
good.
Cardboard Enemy
What an appropriate name: it is made of
cardboard and when it is in your deck you're your enemy. Unless you are packing
quite a few villains or can manipulate the top of your deck, do not play this
card as it will most often be a waste.
Copier v2.0
This is pretty
good. For the most part it stops your opponent from being able to easily win any
contests for a turn. Though he does have the choice of where your neopet ends up
when he is finished. A good card for a board control deck, which water seems to
be most fit for. Otherwise, nothing amazing here.
Darigan's
Blight
Wait a second here, this card is fire? It seems fit for a dark deck
instead of fire, oh well. It really isn't that great of a card anyway. You don't
usually want to let you opponent search his deck for anything. There is a chance
his villain is better than yours. Don't play with this card, it is not worth
it.
Dark Faerie Sisters
I like this villain. The worst thing about
villains is the drawbacks they have. These sisters have a good chance of
avoiding their drawback. Their stats aren't as high as the typical villain, but
the lesser chance of a drawback is very appealing. Too bad dark has such a wide
variety of villains. This might have actually seen some play if it weren't
dark.
Dissent
I like the copier much better. But for air this is the
best we get. It stops one contest as long as there is more than one neopet,
which may not be that often depending on your opponent. It probably isn't a good
idea to play with any of these.
Eliv Thade
That drawback really hurts
if your opponent defeats Eliv Thade. Though he is an air villain, which is not
as easy to come by. He will probably see some play due to his high intelligence
rating, but he is by no means great.
Ghost Korbat
The Ghost Lupe is
better. None of this experienced neopet's stats are very high and it needs to
win in order to use its ability, which isn't a spectacular ability as it
is.
The Giant Grarrl
His strength is his only stongpoint. If you are
playing with dark you should already have grarrls in play which have high
strength, so don't play with this hero.
Grarrl Guard
He is strong,
even without equipment. If you do decide to play with him do not focus your deck
on equipment. Equipment does not typically have a high bank value and it takes
time to play. Also if you are focusing on him, there are three other arenas that
you aren't focusing on. Play him for his stats, not the ability.
How to
Cheat
You better have a lot of books in your deck if you plan to bank this.
It does give out decent stats though, but don't play this card unless you going
with a book theme.
Hubrid's Puzzle Box
Good in the late game, horrible
in the beginning, hardly worthy of banking except to utilize the Hubrid Nox
Statue. Don't play with this card unless you also have the statue, this card is
not very good on its own.
Illusen's Ring
An additional four magic is
good, especially when the ability that goes along with it is decent, even if it
only works some of the time. Magic is difficult to add to in this set and this
item excels at it. A solid card indeed.
Jerdana
This hero is only good
because it can change the location of a villain to make it less effective on you
so you can defeat it or put it into the way of your opponent. Not a bad utility
card, as long as there is a villain on the board.
Jerdana's Orb
This
item mutilates a villain, and its stats aren't bad either, giving to magic and
agility. A bank value of three and the ability for any faerie type to play it
makes this a substantial card.
Jhudora's Storm
This card stinks. Do
not play with a card that lets your opponent do the same thing that you do
unless you are going to put yourself into a winning position by doing so. This
card does not put you into a winning position.
Kacheek Thief
This
neopet's statistics are not extraordinary. Its ability looks good, but it is bad
for two reasons. First, it lets your opponent choose which card in the bank to
discard, which makes the ability less powerful than it could be and second, it
is difficult to keep a neopet in an arena unchallenged, (especially with an
ability like that). This is one of the weaker experienced
neopets.
Kauvara's Potion
This item can be very useful in the right
circumstances. It adds quite a bit to magic, but that isn't where its
magnificence lies. It lets you play any one item from your discard pile. Use
this in a deck that contains items that give useful effects when they are
played, or even as a utility card. You might not have the right bonuses in you
hand, but do in the discard pile, or you may just need the extra
magic.
Koya, Korbat Huntress
If your deck needs some way to manipulate
the top of your deck, then use this hero. Right now there aren't many
game-breaking uses for doing so. Koya's stats aren't very good for a hero. There
should be no real need to be using this in your deck.
Lucky
Coin
Strictly for banking purposes, end even then there isn't much to see
here. Rearranging the top three cards is not really deep enough into your deck
to make this worthwhile. The bank value of three is not bad though. Most of the
fruit and vegetables give better bonuses and have a bank value of
four.
MAGAX: Destroyer
Average statistics for a villain. The ability
is something to consider. You should always have fire neopets when this villain
is out and moving him around at you whim can prove to be beneficial and a very
good card. But if your opponent has fire neopets, then this card is next to
useless. If you play with it you risk it not being affective all of the
time.
Magic Lottery Ticket
The low bonuses do not justify the ability
to this item, which works less than twenty percent of the time. Don't play with
this card, even with a bank value of three it isn't that
great.
Meuka
Nothing special here. Just your average villain that is
horrible against fire.
Mirror Shield
This seems like it should be
good. It isn't. In order for this to be successful, you cannot play items in
this contest. Furthermore, you opponent's item may have benefits that you deck
aren't suited for, such as Happy Negg. There are many better pieces of equipment
out there.
Morphing Runes
This isn't bad. It nearly guarantees that
you will win that contest and unlike a hero you can use it during your
opponent's turn. I like it, don't know that it is worth using, but something to
consider if you have neopets with several high statistics.
Night
Stone
This card is all ability. This eliminates automatic wins for your
opponents during your turn and you will more easily know whether or not you will
win the contest. The fact that it only works during your turn, doesn't help any
stats and that it only works in one arena makes this item less valuable than I
first appears. It is still a good card, but don't overestimate its
power.
Noil
Talk about adding some power to your neopet. With an
additional 5 points it is difficult to lose except to roll of 6. That actually
happens every few turns, so Noil isn't going to last forever. If I were to use
equipment, I would want to keep it around for more than a turn or two. If you
are going to play with equipment make a better choice than Noil.
Poogle
Racer
This is possibly the best experienced neopet. High agility, good
strength and the ability to mover to any arena without tapping are very
powerful. With only three opposing neopets there will almost always be an arena
this neopet can win each turn. Try combining it with Escape Rope to put Poogle
Racer back on defense after it wins a competition. Basic Poogles are strong
neopets as well.
Potion of Sludge
This is a very good item for fire,
though I don't see the connection with sludge to fire. And it isn't wasted if
you roll a six. It is even better if you roll a six. A bonus of 5 to magic and a
bank value of three make this a very playable card.
Pressure-Pad
Puzzle
Three neopets in the same arena?! How often is that going to happen?
Sure two items is very nice, but there aren't any items that are going to win
you the game on their own. Instead of playing with this card, put another good
item into your deck. If you draw this and don't have all your neopets in the
same arena it is a dead card. You can't even bank it and it would be too much
trouble and time consuming to work around its cost.
Red Clockwork
Grundo
Not a bad piece of equipment. It can give you a crucial win when you
need it, and if not the stats are nothing to sneeze at. There might be something
better to play than this though. But overall it is a decent card.
Red
Scorchstone
It is all right. For all the cards that get bonuses (or
penalties) based on the type of your opponent's neopets it is not known how good
they will be until we see which type of decks become most popular. Then some of
them will most likely be worth playing. But This item isn't bad.
Scorchio
Warrior
Free Equipment! That sounds pretty good. This card is good, but don't
play with too many equipment cards, they have low bank value and without this
guy will be time consuming to get into play. He has some solid stats and this is
a good card.
Scroll of Recall
I like this item's ability. It is
simple, useful and has many possibilities. It also means that you aren't losing
any cards when you bank the scroll. It's bank value of two is low, however. You
don't want to play with too many items that have bank values of two, but playing
with a few is fine.
Shadow Usul
I like the returning to hand ability,
it is very nice. The price of discarding a card is tough to pay, but with the
couple of high stats on this villain, it shouldn't be getting defeated too
often. A decent villain if you have ways of drawing cards otherwise I would
probably avoid it.
Slorg Trails
No attacking or item playing or
anything else for those neopets. Its best when you move your neopets out of the
way first and you can keep tapped all, or most, of his neopets and giving you
some free swings before he can get back on his feet. It is even better when you
draw multiples. A good card and definitely helps with lockdown.
Sloth's
Master Plan
This is no good. That is a very high price to pay and your
opponent will have needed to play at least two villains for this to even be
somewhat worthwhile. You do not get the prize for defeating these villains.
Don't use this card.
Spyder
I don't like it. It doesn't boost any
ability and it has a special ability that is not useful very often. It has a
bank value of 3 though. This is not unplayable, but is not very powerful
either.
Spyder Bites
If you are losing by 10 or more, maybe you should
think about moving your neopet to a different arena instead of playing with this
card, which is not even worth banking.
Striped Negg
Bank it, it is
worth four points (and a different negg type). Play it when you don't have any
neggs in the bank. Not anything spectacular.
Sword of the Air
Faerie
Four magic is good. The moving ability isn't that great as it only
gives a reliable bonus in one arena. Much better when going against earth.
Otherwise this is only average.
Thyora's Tear
Just like the sword, but
for intelligence and it can't move from neopet to neopet. It is also good
against fire, but less of a boost.
Tinka
It's a hero with an
additional drawback. It is not good.
Tishi and Goliath
Good for moving
a villain to it's weak arena and taking it down. Try this card in combination
with Jhudora to get some extra banking. This is a good card.
Torchac,
Shoyru Scout
I kind of thought the point to heroes was that they didn't need
items to win. Torshac's stats are decent enough, he doesn't need an item. One of
your neopets already wont be able to start a contest. Don't play with
this.
Travelling Library
Can you believe it? They misspelled the name
on this card! Anyway, it is a pretty good card if you are playing with books.
But if you have a lot of books that usually means two things, that you already
are drawing cards and that most of your bank values will be low. Yes, this is an
extremely powerful card with books in your deck, but it's not at all necessary.
Additionally you don't want to deck yourself before you can win.
Wand of
Nova
It nukes items. It gives decent magic and agility and has a good bank
value (3). Not a bad item, but not great either. It depends on how popular
equipment is, which I don't think will be in any sort of abundance due to having
to tap neopets to play most of them.
Werelupe King
He doesn't do
anything special and none of his stats are close to 20, which means he can be
taken down fairly easily. Not a great villain here. Just plain and
boring.
Wocky Beast
This hero devastates any deck that has more than
one light neopet in play. Other than that he is pretty bad.
Woodland
Bow
This is pretty basic. It gives 5 extra agility. Quite a lot with no
drawbacks and a decent piece of equipment.
Yellow Clockwork
Grundo
Take a look at what I said about the red one. Just about the same
applies here.
Zombify
If you didn't have to tap the darn neopet this
would be good. Unfortunately you do tap a neopet. Wait, this card is still good.
It is the same as moving your neopet to an unoccupied arena and then having him
still play some defense. I like this card, it turns a dark neopet into a Poogle
Racer with an Escape Rope for a turn.
This concludes the rares in the set
and the end of my first section. I should have my next reviews written in a few
days. Until then, may your neopet decks be strong.