Wednesday, April 17, 2019

MND Regional Review: Arderial


Magi-Nation Card Review
Arderial
by Kroodhaxthekrood
Rating Scale
Magi-Nation Duel has only one traditional format, Constructed, where all cards are legal except for a limited few. Cards will be rated in this context with the rating scale shown below. These grades do not tell the whole story and should be viewed in the context of the writing which accompanies them.

1: Unplayable. Actively bad or detrimental to your board own board in some way.
2: Low-Impact. Not actively bad but doesn’t do a whole lot.  
2.5: A little better than “meh”.
3: Role Player. Cards which are simply not played as much but either could be good given
    support or are at least decent or fun options.
3.5: Very strong with the required support.
4: Staple. Strong cards which see lots of play (or should) but are not completely busted.
5: All-star. Practically an auto-include in most if not all of decks from that region. 

Now, on with the show:

Magi

Adis – 2
Adis has a exactly average stats at 15/5, and two of her three starting cards are good enough. However, she has no additional effect on the board other than energy output and magi just need to do more than that. She was made even worse in later sets as 2i printed more anti-discard tech.

Amara – 3
Amara has a lot of interesting things going for her. Her numbers are slightly low, but good enough. Her starting cards fit in a Hyren theme. Soothing Song is a great effect and one that encourages playing spell-heavy decks (also making her starting Shooting Star actually great). Finally, the ability to play KT spells without penalty could lead to some interesting stuff. She gets a 3 because no one has found a way to really break her yet.

Arderian Adept – 5
Shimmer got BUFF. This magi is one of Arderial’s most powerful options to try and win with. Her play pattern is to spend all her energy then Undream her Sandstorm Orshaa at the end of turn, also triggering the Storm Shield she starts with. If she is not disrupted, this means she is effectively energizing for 9 each turn (5 from her normal rate + 8 from the Orshaa – 4 from actually playing the Orshaa). This is more than Nar magi. When you take into account her souped-up Storm Shield, she probably energizes for about 13-15 on average (2-3 creatures in play). This is more than anyone except All-High King Korg. As a direct result of this play pattern, Adept decks are encouraged to play straightforward, board-centric games and are incentivized to play out lots of creatures (gaining more energy from the Shield).

Aula – 4
Aula is an amazing setup magi. The combination of Windsight and Cloud Sceptre means she can churn through your deck to assemble a huge hand of ideal cards for whoever comes next. Her only drawback is that she’s not Delia, and is therefore only really used in non-Arderial decks or decks that don’t want to spend the card slots on all the Vellups.

Aula, Mindseeker – 3.5
Mindseeker is dual-region, which is inherently busted by itself, and in the best dual-region combo in the game. She’s a little harmed by the 4 energize and the two potential drawbacks on her version of Windsight. First, she is forced to include lots of big spells (Cataclysm and Typhoon mostly) which takes up deck space. Second, she has the potential to create awkward situations (like drawing a Tradewinds after using Windsight). Still, very fun and powerful given the right deck.  

Defender of the Sky – 3
On one hand, she has great starting cards and a great effect. On the other hand, she has 10 starting energy and is only playable in an Xyx theme deck.

Delia – 5
It’s rare to see an Arderial deck that doesn’t have Delia in the first slot because she’s so good at what she does, which is to play Vellups, profit from Strengthen, get more Vellups, and draw a billion cards while actually putting pressure on the board.

Elios – 3
I’ve been trying to break this guy for years but I haven’t been able to do it, in either mode. I don’t think it’s really possible to make great, but a Lady of the Sky + Elios deck would be really fun.

Jaela – 2
Jaela has a similar story to Adis: 15/5, decent starting cards, and a terrible effect.

Kalius – 4
Kalius has terrible stats at 12/4. Awful. Thing is though, his starting cards are great and Wind Spawn is one of the better magi powers in the game. The ideal role for this guy is as a finisher in a highly aggressive Arderial deck (of which there are plenty), because his sheer speed can usually finish off at least one magi. Try to build Kalius decks with creatures that have powers that make them discard themselves or find some other way to make use of the leftover energy before it falls off your board.

Klynn – 3
She wants to be played in spell-heavy decks so she can make good use of Seer and her starting Robes of the Ages (her best feature). Not much else to say.

Lady of the Sky – 3
Above average energy numbers at 16/5. Legacy is quite powerful, but only if she goes in the first slot. The problem with that is her starting cards stink, so she will be very inconsistent in her ability to affect the game. Most competitive decks will be able to steamroll her as a result.

Lasada – 2
Look, magi without additional text are not good. Lasada is at least a slice above the others in that his effect draws you cards, but the price is still much too high. At least Nightmare’s Dawn gave him Heart of the Sky, so if you start Lasada you get to immediately look through your opponent’s deck to see what kind of shenanigans are coming your way.

Lasada, Emissary – 3
This guy has some amazing starting cards. Still gets Heart of the Sky as well. Diplomacy is also potentially a powerful effect, only requiring ways to discard cards (Tradewinds is a good start). He’s not consistent enough to be great, but certainly not a terrible setup magi.

Niffer – 4
Allies is an outrageous effect, allowing Niffer to play relics from any one other region she wants, including Core. Many newer players will underestimate the importance of this ability, but it breaks the rules of the game in a drastic way and can create some pretty absurd situations. Even if she only chooses to be an Arderial/Orothe magi to round out that deck, it’s still nuts.

Nimbulo – 2.5
Nimbulo is only 1 starting energy below average size, which is fine. His starting cards are pretty good, though not amazing. Energy Drain does turn a profit and can act as small removal, so hooray for one of the few Unlimited Arderial magi who actually does something! Also, Nimbulo wants to splash Quallon.

Ora – 3
Ora’s energize is fine but her flip turn will leave a little to be desired since 12 is a bit low on the starting energy side of things. Still, her starting cards are great and Strengthen is a very good mechanic. Ora wants to play lots of smaller creatures so she can get more value out of Strengthen, and some Arderial decks do exactly that.

Shimmer – 2
Shimmer has an effect that actually does something, but Creature Bond requires her to put herself in danger of being killed to gain a minimal benefit. Her starting energy is also a low 12 and when you combine these things she simply has too low of a board impact.

Shivara – 3
Shivara has not really been explored by the community but has powerful effects in aggressive Arderial decks.

Sorreah – 5
Starting: Sorreah’s Dream + any two Arderial spells. Incredible flexibility, though it must be said that if you have spells in the discard pile you will be forced to choose from there first. Suppress shuts off what makes most other magi great and reduces them to a stat block. Combine the two and you have an A-list bad-boy. Yes. Sorreah is a man.

Sorreah, Warrior – 4
Almost as good as his normal version. He loses 1 starting energy, and effectively has the same amazing starting cards. Dream Block has the potential to be even more annoying than Suppress but the problem with it is some decks’ creatures don’t have a lot of powers on them.

Stradus – 2
Arderial wants to attack. Backlash doesn’t do nothing, but it’s pretty close. Add to that some below-average stats and starting cards and we have ourselves a dud. He wasn’t even good before the errata to Bubble Xyx.

Voice of the Storm – 5
This is one of the most busted magi in the game. First of all, we have the best possible dual-region combination so already she is great. Second, her energy numbers are solid. Third, Hurricane Orish is a strong card and the ability to cherry pick any Arderial or Orothe relic makes her more flexible than Dhalsim from Street Fighter. If that was it she’d still be a 4. Diplomacy, however, is incredibly powerful and will save metric tons of energy over the course of her time in play. It was even better before errata, when she could double dip on the discount.


Magi: TLDR

5
Arderian Adept
Delia
Sorreah
Voice of the Storm

4
Aula
Kalius
Niffer
Sorreah, Warrior

3.5
Aula, Mindseeker

3
Amara
Defender of the Sky
Elios
Klynn
Lady of the Sky
Lasada, Emissary
Ora
Shivara

2.5
Nimbulo

2
Adis
Jaela
Lasada
Shimmer
Stradus

Creatures

Aerial Flist – 4
This guy is great in Arderial while not being overpowered in any particular way. He is flexible thanks to Dreamwarp, aggressive thanks to Charge, and benefits from certain corner cases involving dual-region creatures (Voice of the Storms). While the latter is true of all dual-region creatures, Arderial has a lot of them as well as access to powerful dual-region magi.

Alaban – 3
Alaban has a big effect on the table, being able to essentially Shockwave a creature with its Undream power. The thing is, Arderial decks have spells that can do this without less investment and their spells usually synergize more with things they’re trying to do. Add to the fact that most Arderial magi cannot play an Alaban after a single energize step, and you have a creature that does not see a lot of play despite its power.

Alaban Kit – 2.5
Mostly what this does is draw the first attack of an enemy’s turn, but it is just annoying enough to make them deal with it before attacking your more important creatures. It’s also usually small enough where attacking it won’t be too big of a problem and it can die to a lot of incidental removal.

Ayebaw – 3.5
Double Strike is a good effect. To players not as familiar with the flow of Magi-Nation games, it looks like a great effect, and it can be. The problem with all additional attack mechanics though, is that attacking creatures in this game reduces the strength of further attacks that creature makes. Ayebaw needs plenty of support to give it enough energy to keep making attacks that matter, but thankfully Arderial has lots of options to do just that.

Ballistic Baldar – 3
This is basically an Alaban that goes wide instead of tall.

Barreling Vemment – 2
I’m not gonna lie, One-Two would be a great power if you swarmed the board with a lot of Vemments. Thing is, this is the better of the two Vemment creatures and they all cost 4 so swarming with them is very difficult and not really worth it.

Brannix – 2.5
This guy is fine but just too expensive for too low of an impact unless you’re guaranteed to face another Arderial deck.

Bubble Xyx – 2.5
Formerly a 5, the errata hit this guy pretty hard. Burst is a very good power. Drawing one card in Magi-Nation is roughly worth two energy, so drawing three cards is roughly worth six energy and Burst allows you to do it for effectively four. That’s a big deal. The fact that it has to survive and can no longer be copied with Sorreah’s Dream brings this guy down quite a bit.

Cloud Narth – 3
By itself, this guy doesn’t do much. With a Pharan, you can spend two cards to generate three energy. Most of the time this is too much cost, but some magi have ways to make it cheaper and then it’s a pretty big deal.

Cloud Orshaa – 1
A zero-cost eight energy creature! Sign me up! This card is a trap. It only seems good if you’ve got useless, low-impact spells to pitch to Mystic Binding but why is your deck playing spells you know are useless and low-impact?

Comet Hyren – 2.5
What are you possibly attacking where Bright Tail will come into effect on a 7-energy body? Then again, there’s always Kalius. And hyren theme decks.

Cyclone Vashp – 3
I like this card. It’s got an effect you can build around and it’s aggressive about it. There’s no real problems with it either. Its only shortcoming is that Arderial has better removal options to work with.

Cyclone Xyx – 2
This card costs seven and isn’t very powerful, even against Arderial.

Elder Vellup – 4
Good body + a tutor effect = staple creature. Also, Delia exists. The only reason this isn’t a 5 is that it’s sometimes the only thing you can do in a turn.

Elder Yark – 2.5
Good defensive creature in an aggressive region.

Ember Vard – 4
Two energy for five damage is a fabulous rate. You can even control when Scorch triggers by playing spells in your second PRS Step. Plus it’s a “may” ability to begin with so you don’t have to lose a blocker if it’s not beneficial to do so. Not sure why more decks don’t run this creature.

Epik – 1
Sorry Epik, your name does not match your effect on the game. This is as close to a four-energy do-nothing as it gets. In a game where good decks didn’t draw five cards a turn or whatever, maybe this card would be good enough.

Firestorm Orish – 2.5
Bit of a weird one. Firestorm nets your board one energy, which is fine but nothing to write home about. In practice, it’s a little better than that because you get to put three energy onto something that can really benefit from that. You still need to discard two in order to gain the three. No cheating, because that would be unfair… or something.

Flutter Yup – 3.5
All you have to do is grow this thing a little and it becomes very annoying to deal with. You do have to invest into it though. It’s not very good by itself.

Flying Darbok – 3.5
Airlift is an extremely powerful ability. All that is required to make it work is having a Flying Darbok already in play. But they’ll kill it right? Well, Arderial has access to Jetstream and Warrior’s Boots and Kalius. So no. They won’t have a chance.

Flying Hinko – 3
In Arderial, this usually doesn’t trigger that much, as a lot of the energy-adding powers are a bit janky. Mostly a Naroom card.

Galiant – 2
This guy is so situational it’s almost as if Riding Tall does nothing. A lot of the time it doesn’t even turn a profit, and not being able to decide where the energy goes is a big drawback.

Grand Epik – 2.5
This card is interesting for sure. Let’s examine the average case: 5 energize. Mind Feast will reduce your energize to 3 (ouch!) but Dream Binge means that your total field gains 6 energy that turn. That’s pretty bad since magi is much more valuable on a magi and you’re only really gaining one overall. The potential here is to synergize with Elios.

Hurricane Orish – 4
This guy is a big deal. There’s not a single competitive deck in the game that doesn’t play Relics or Spells, meaning Spell Drain will often trigger at least once. If it ever triggers twice, this guy more than pays for itself. The real bonus is that a five-energy creature is big enough to merit a serious resource commitment to actually kill, meaning that trigger is all the more likely to happen. Also, VotS.

J’lith – 2.5
People don’t play this card because Coveting is an enormous drawback and because the benefit of Collector got reduced to “once per turn”. However, having had this thing in play, it can get pretty big pretty fast. This is my kind of bad creature.

Lightning Braggle – 2
This card does nothing. I don’t understand why it even exists. Poison Baloo Root, which can also be played for 3, has a better version of the same power … that only costs 1!

Lightning Hyren – 2
Shockstorm costs way too much. See above.

Lovian – 3.5
The only downside to Lovian is that it’s too small to be scary by itself. In decks that can grow it up, this guy is annoying to deal with. Not everyone splashes Shockwave (although some do).

Night Hyren – 2.5
This thing is too expensive.

Orathan Flyer – 3
This card actually does work and is fine in any deck that wants to play creatures (all of them). The problem with it is its slow, defensive nature in a region that wants to be fast and aggressive.

Orish – 3
Good, solid creature. Nothing to write home about. Much better than Epik.

Pharan – 3
See Cloud Narth.

Rainbow Hyren – 2.5
Shining Light really only affects Thunder Hyren in a meaningful way (unless we’re getting crazy and doing some oddball Yerthe hyren stuff). Gift only affects Monarch Hyren. Those cards aren’t great so boosting them isn’t great. It’s very pretty though.

Rayalon – 4
While Rayalon is a tad expensive, Study is an incredibly strong, unique effect. Arderial cards in later sets want to synergize with spells, and the region has a lot of good ones. So does Core. Plus, Rayalon incentivizes attacking, which is right on theme.

Renegade Epik – 2.5
Incredibly narrow, very strong ability.

Sandstorm Orshaa – 3
In Arderial, this card doesn’t do too much. Stinging Sands is a good power that will rarely be useful, and an eight-energy Illusion has its ups and downs. In Arderian Adept decks this becomes a 5, but not because it actually does anything itself.

Shock Vashp – 2.5
I actually like this card. The problem is there are exactly three Arderial Vashp creatures and committing six to nine deck slots to this “combo” isn’t worth it. Really it’s not worth it because none of the Vashp are that strong. They’re all pretty medium. Still, the Shock on this card is actually not a bad rate.

Spray Narth – 3.5
This is a Cloud Narth that is sometimes one more energy to play for one more energy generated and sometimes completely busted.

Tempest Hyren – 3.5
Lightning Storm is a very strong effect. The hyren does have to survive the attack with enough energy to cast the spell, but casting discounted spells during the Attack Step is really good. Like some other creatures in region, it just needs to be topped off every now and then. Thankfully, Storm Ring boosts it by 2.

Thunder Hyren – 2.5
I want to like this one. It’s got two interesting powers, especially Replenish. It’s just too awkward. Its pieces don’t fit together well. If you use Shockstorm, you don’t have enough to also use Replenish. If you use Replenish, you’re wasting five energy or something else has to go very right. You don’t really want to have to grow your seven-energy creatures before they become effective either. Basically, this needs exactly Rainbow Hyren to work out well.

Thunder Vashp – 2.5
Too narrow. Good when you can target an annoying 3-energy creature but just not worth the slot.

Vellup – 5
My pick for second-best creature in the entire region. See Delia. Even without her though, this thing is worth it.

Vemment – 2.5
Unless you’re guaranteed to face Orothe, this does mostly nothing. You’re never guaranteed to face anything.

Warlum – 4
Arderial has some nice relics and tutoring for them is also super nice. This is an example of a great errata. They took it from a 5+ down to a 4, as opposed to Bubble Xyx which they hammered until it was dead.

Wind Hyren – 3
Invigorate is a great effect. This guy will therefore have a huge target on its head. Good luck. There’s a hyren subtheme in Arderial though, and this is one of the better ones.

Wyle – 3
Tap Strength is really cool. Energy Transfer is a good power. The opponent has to play into this for it to work out really well, but it’s just good enough on its own where it’s reasonable.

Xyx – 5
This is my pick for Arderial’s best creature overall. The region is so darn good at attacking and removing creatures with spells that a well-timed Xyx often kills magi. Like, very often. There’s nothing fancy about this thing. It’s just a workhorse.

Xyx Elder – 3.5
I used to run at least one Elder in all my Arderial decks. I also used to play Ora a lot. This card can be extremely powerful but there are enough conditions on its power that it doesn’t belong in a lot of decks.

Xyx Minor – 3.5
Any time you can get out multiples and boost at least one of them, these things put in some work. The issue with them is one of them by themselves does next to nothing.

Yarothis – 3
Powerful. Narrow.


Creatures: TLDR

5
Vellup
Xyx

4
Aerial Flist
Elder Vellup
Ember Vard
Hurricane Orish
Rayalon
Warlum

3.5
Ayebaw
Flutter Yup
Flying Darbok
Lovian
Spray Narth
Tempest Hyren
Xyx Elder
Xyx Minor

3
Alaban
Ballistic Baldar
Cloud Narth
Cyclone Vashp
Firestorm Orish
Flying Hinko
Orathan Flyer
Orish
Pharan
Sandstorm Orshaa
Wind Hyren
Wyle
Yarothis

2.5
Alaban Kit
Brannix
Bubble Xyx
Comet Hyren
Elder Yark
Grand Epik
J’lith
Night Hyren
Rainbow Hyren
Renegade Epik
Shock Vashp
Thunder Hyren
Thunder Vashp
Vemment

2
Barreling Vemment
Cyclone Xyx
Galiant
Lightning Braggle
Lightning Hyren

1
Cloud Orshaa
Epik


Relics

Abwyn’s Quill – 3.5
The biggest interaction with this card is against enemy Ormagons, where the Quill is the best possible card to have. It’ll never actually reverse-Devastate your opponent since they see it coming, it just protects your board from the mass removal, which is great. To make it offensively strong on the offense, you’re mostly looking at Forgotten Dancer. There are lots of random interactions for this relic though, and it’s a great tech card as a result.

Alaban Gloves – 2.5
Offensively, it puts the energy back on their magi. It’s an Arderial relic so what exactly are you trying to combo with this?

Arderial’s Crown – 2
The definition of low-impact.

Cloud Sceptre – 5
This card is quite silly, allowing players to dig very far into their decks to find the perfect cards for their strategy. Five cards is two-and-a-half turns worth of the normal card draw. For one energy. Repeatable.

Dreamthread Bracelet – 1
Why does my magi want to pay for the power? It already paid for the creature…

Eye of the Storm – 1
Most of the time this card does what it says: “Do nothing”. Now that the errata says you can’t alter the die roll, you’re as likely to discard your hand as you are to draw five cards, and the former outcome is way worse than the latter is good. This card was too good as printed, but alas, those days are gone.

Eyes of Arderial – 3
This card does things. It just does weird things that aren’t obviously great.

Hand of the Sky – 3
Often this is a worse version of Mask of Abwyn, since it costs 1, but sometimes you can gain access to a powerful spell you wouldn’t otherwise have and that’s quite nice.

Heart of the Sky – 4
Looking through your opponent’s entire deck for the low cost of one energy is a very good ability. Being able to play a spell from it is nice, but not really what this is for. Much more likely to be able to play a removal spell at a key moment than Hand though.

Kalius’ Ring – 4
The Purity rings are generally good cards and this is no exception. Arderial has lots of good spells and creatures so not being able to splash isn’t usually a big deal for them. For instance, Arderial doesn’t have to splash Tradewinds, they just have it. Repeatable small-dude removal is a good thing to have.

Mask of Abwyn – 4
Information is underrated. This card lets you see your opponent’s entire hand every turn. You’ll know what they can do to you and will be able to optimize your play. Also, this card is free.

Orathan Amulet – 2.5
Before Daybreak, this card was a meme. There were only 2 Orathans and the Flyer already has an energize of 2. Arderial/Orothe decks just have better stuff to do. Gets a little better after Daybreak. Still kind-of a meme.

Shock Ring – 1
This card’s text is fine. Certainly not a 1-level card, though not amazing. The thing is, this card replaces cards that could otherwise be Storm Rings. This is a mistake. Storm Ring is the best. Also, much of the commonly played Arderial removal doesn’t actually discard energy (Shockwave, Abwyn’s Gift, Kalius’ Ring, Cataclysm), so Shock Ring doesn’t synergize with a lot of it.

Storm Ring – 5
This card is free and will trigger a lot of times if your Arderial deck is doing what it should: attacking stuff. It’s really quite deceptive how much energy this will net you over the course of a game.

Storm Shield – 4
In Arderian Adept decks, this is a 5. Outside of that, this is a 3. That averages into a nice 4.

Storm Wings – 2.5
What is this card supposed to be doing? I’ve never figured it out.


Relics: TLDR

5
Cloud Sceptre
Storm Ring

4
Heart of the Sky
Kalius’ Ring
Mask of Abwyn
Storm Shield

3.5
Abwyn’s Quill

3
Eyes of Arderial
Hand of the Sky

2.5
Alaban Gloves
Orathan Amulet
Storm Wings

2
Arderial’s Crown

1
Dreamthread Bracelet
Eye of the Storm
Shock Ring

Spells

Abwyn’s Gift – 5
The Gift spells are generally very strong, this one included. Arderial has enough cheap creatures to make the additional cost of bouncing one of your creatures minimal, and there are even a few ways to turn it into an upside (Vellup, Kalius, etc.). Other than that, Shockwave is already a 5 so who wouldn’t want one that costs 2 less?

Cataclysm – 4
Expensive and symmetrical, this still blows up everything. And you’re in the region with Xyx. And Jetstream. And everyone gets Warrior’s Boots.

Crushing Winds – 5
The Crushing spells are all pretty much the nuts. Winds is even one of the better ones of the bunch. The printing of these spells in Nightmare’s Dawn was a very warping effect of Magi-Nation, since small creatures (especially those who have exactly 4 energy) are no longer safe, no matter what region one faces.

Cry of Thunder – 3
You have to have three guys out (or two Xyx) before the Attack Step to make this efficient. Then they must attack, but that’s not really so bad as you want to do that anyway most of the time. Powerful, conditional effect.

Eclipse – 3
This is too expensive to really abuse but is quite an annoying effect. Again though, Arderial wants to be the aggressor.

Fog Bank – 3
The old combo was to put this on a Lovian to create a mostly-invincible defensive wall. That’s still decent but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, Arderial wants to be the aggressor. Cheaper and situationally more powerful than Eclipse.

Jetstream – 4
This only gets a 4 because not every deck is set up to take advantage of it. In decks that are, this is Warrior’s Boots 4-6, making whatever deck that is fast like … lightning? The wind? Assorted sky stuff.

Lightning – 2.5
It’s flexible. It’s fine. It doesn’t do a lot.

Sandswirl – 4
This card is often played as a one-of tech because it can shut down a lot of annoying things, including some pesky unnamed effects (like a Cawh). It has a multitude of uses, including the often overlooked mode of playing it for 1 on a big creature to help your team of small guys punch through.

Shockwave – 5
The OG. This card is still probably the single overall best removal spell in the game because there are no strings attached.

Shooting Star – 3
On power level, this is probably closer to a 2.5. I rate it a 3 because so many Arderial magi include it as one of their starting cards that most decks will probably benefit from playing Shooting Star as a one-of.

Shrink – 3
Situational but powerful effect. This simply needs to target a 6+ energy creature to become efficient.

Solar Flare – 3
If you only have one creature to buff with this spell, it’s not even that bad. If you have two or more, it does get pretty insane. Very conditional though.

Sorreah’s Dream – 5
This card has so many uses it’s unreal. Funnily enough, these uses are less common in Arderial decks than they are in other regions, so this will often be splashed in non-Arderial decks, where it’s still great. In Arderial, the Xyx creatures are typically the best things to target (RIP Bubble).

Spirit of Arderial – 2.5
Kind of weird. Potentially backbreaking against a ton of decks out there, but the symmetry hurts you too. The theory is that Arderial is (probably) the best region at drawing cards so it won’t hurt you as much as it hurts them.

Starlight’s Genesis – 2
By itself, this is a 1. With Sunbeam’s End it turns into a Tradewinds. Sunbeam’s End is bad. This is bad without a bad card. The fact that this isn’t a 1 shows you how good Tradewinds is.

Storm Cloud – 3.5
This is a tech card against Colossus effects or Cawhs. Against anything else, it’s really not that much worse than a Shockwave either (except vs Burrow I suppose). Great include but not necessary to play tons of them.

Sunbeam’s End – 2
By itself, this is a 1. With Starlight’s Genesis, this is a Submerge. Starlight’s Genesis is bad. This is bad without a bad card. The fact that this isn’t a 1 shows you how good Tradewinds is. Because let’s be honest, that’s really what you’re going for. Not the energy. You want the cards man.

Tradewinds – 5
This is the best card draw spell in the game and my pick for the best Arderial card in general. You don’t even need to play discard pile strategies to make this card insane. That’s just a possible bonus and a reason for a lot of other regions to splash this card.

Tranquility – 4
This effect is backbreaking against Cald and d’Resh and situationally powerful against everyone else. It does a lot for its 2 energy investment, and will always pay you back for the card spent. Use this to protect a big board you’ve just built up.

Updraft – 3
After the errata, you’re not really playing this in Arderial. This is a Bograth card. Bograth has Mist Hyren.

Volt Shield – 2.5
I’m not in love with this build-a-Lovian effect. It costs you a whole card and then they just target something else with their spell…


Spells: TLDR

5
Abwyn’s Gift
Crushing Winds
Shockwave
Sorreah’s Dream
Tradewinds

4
Cataclysm
Jetstream
Sandswirl
Tranquility

3.5
Storm Cloud

3
Cry of Thunder
Eclipse
Fog Bank
Shooting Star
Shrink
Solar Flare
Updraft

2.5
Lightning
Spirit of Arderial
Volt Shield

2
Starlight’s Genesis
Sunbeam’s End




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