Revisiting Gift of the Ethereals

It’s time for another in my series of Warlord cycle re-reviews. Today we revisit the third War Pack, Gift of the Ethereals. When we first received this pack I think the members of the Squad were all very excited about getting to play with Aun’shi and exploring a new style of Tau deck. What I don’t think I realized was just how many cards in this pack would become commonly played in competitive decks. So without further delay lets get into the cards.

Tau

As usual, we start out with our signature squad of the pack. This time around we have Aun’shi, a new leader for the scions of the greater good. While many were initially excited to bring Aun’shi to the table, he unfortunately hasn’t lived up to the my original hopes and expectations. His ability, while tremendously powerful, is difficult to use to its fullest without having the right support in play or holding the combo cards you need. Because of this it can take a very high level of finesse required to find success with this warlord.

045-aunshiAlongside this enigmatic leader we are also given a number of very powerful cards in his signature squad. Starting out with the signature event, Ethereal Wisdom, we get an interesting combo card that plays into the tricks that the Ethereal deck is building toward. It can be combined with Kauyon Strike or Ksi’m’yen Orbital City to help chase down enemy warlords or armies with unexpected units. Outside of the combo potential offered by gaining the Ethereal trait, the +1 ATK can put you over the edge when it comes to bloodying an opposing warlord or winning a battle in a pinch.

The army unit that follows Aun’shi into battle is the Ethereal Envoy. At first glance this unit seems unexciting, but if you look deeper you will see that it is actually be a candidate for best signature army unit to date. The Ethereal trait opens up a number of powerful combos, but this unit offers a number of additional benefits. First, because it is a one cost, one command unit it occupies a very beneficial space on the cost curve of your deck. Additionally its HP of 3 means that not only is it an efficient command unit but it is actually fairly resilient, able to stick around as long as many commonly used combat units. Because the Envoys have the Ethereal trait you can spread them out to win command at any number of planets and then use Kauyon Strike to gather any number of them to a planet to participate in combat. Finally, when supported by Orbital City you can use this unit to truly abuse the effective power of attachments like Ion Rifle and Gun Drones.

Next, Aun’shi comes with his signature attachment, Honor Blade. This card isn’t essential to a successful strategy, but it is powerful enough that I would only recommend using it for its shield icons in a dire situation. If you can get it out and onto your warlord in the early game you will likely gain a tremendous long term value. Honor Blade is definitely a target to dig for with the ability of Earth Caste Technician.

047-aunshis-sanctumFinally, the signature squad is rounded out with Aun’shi’s Sanctum. Sanctum allows a unit coming from HQ to ready and attack in the first round of combat. It can help a ranged unit make multiple shots before the regular combat begins. And it can help mitigate the negative impact of exhaust effects from cards like Eldorath Starbane or Suppressive Fire.

I definitely believe that Aun’shi is a warlord to look out for, though perhaps he not yet powerful enough to win on a consistent basis in high level play. If you’re interested in hearing some of my thoughts about how Aun’shi plays and seeing a deck list, check out my War Journal – Ethereals and Torture.

Space Marines

052-crushing-blowIn this War Pack, Space Marines receive a mixed bag of cards. We get White Scars Bikers, the Space Marine’s warlord groupie. This unit is strong but may fall a bit short compares to some of the other choices it competes for deck space with. The faction already has staple 3 cost army units with cards like Blood Angels Veterans and Honored Librarian filling that space. That aside, the Bikers are still an excellent target for many Space Marine card abilities like Drop Pod Assault and Indomitable. It addition the Soldier trait makes it a prime choice for Colonel Straken.

Space Marines were also given two events in this War Pack. The first, Know No Fear, unfortunately has a lacklustre ability that is not worth the steep cost of exhausting your warlord. However, the second event, Crushing Blow, has become a staple in many Marine decks. This card means that opponents playing again a deck including a large number of Space Marine units need to be much more cautious about letting units take damage. If caught unaware or helpless, Crushing Blow could cause an attack that didn’t seem overly threatening to become devastating.

Astra Militarum

The first two War Packs in the Warlord cycle were both reasonably eventful for the Astra Militarum and this War Pack continues that trend. Mystic Warden arrives as a particularly interesting unit. While it has a fairly typical stat line for AM, its cost of 0 and its Forced Reaction mean that it plays very well into the many sacrifice focused abilities that the faction has available. In addition, it can be a hard to predict target for deployment with Staging Ground and if you have an opportunity to retreat and return the Warden to your HQ then the Forced Reaction won’t trigger. Even though the Mystic Warden isn’t a star card, or even really a staple for that matter, it is a useful for inclusion in many decks.

054-to-armsThe second card that Militarum receive in the pack is To Arms!. This is a card that I would dare to say is possibly the one of the best non-signature cards in this War Pack and probably even one of the best cards Astra Militarum received all cycle. To Arms! provides a great efficiency opportunity to AM, allowing them to unexpectedly ready supports when needed and providing a two shields when necessary. This card’s Action can be particularly effective with Catachan Outpost, Staging Ground, and Formosan Black Ship.

The faction’s last card is a second double shield card, Honorifica Imperialis. This card has a very strong effect, allowing you to be very aggressive against enemy warlords. Unfortunately, due to its cost of 2, it ends up being too slow. Most of the time an AM player would prefer to get another combat unit on the battlefield, I don’t think Honorifica plays into the Militarum battle plan well enough yet. If bigger non-vehicle units start becoming available to AM this may become a more favourable include.

Orks

Unfortunately our fungal green skinned friends they have not been given many power cards at this point the in the Warlord cycle. Even though that may be true the cards released in this War Pack are definitely at least interesting, if not useful.

The first card given, Mekaniak Repair Krew, is an example of this. As an army unit it doesn’t really excel in either command or combat by itself, but its ability can allow you to more effectively utilize some of your powerful supports such as Tellyporta Pad and Kustom Field Generator. If supported by Nazdreg this unit could become a decent combat unit and is a good target for Hostile Environment Gear.

057-goff-big-choppaThe next Ork card in the War Pack is the Goff Big Choppa. Armorbane is still one of the most powerful keywords in the game. Despite this fact, Big Choppa still has many of the same problems that Honorifica Imperialis does. However, unlike Astra Militarum, Orks have more large units that could effectively make use of this attachment. I don’t see this card being used often, but in an Ork Elite focused deck, or possibly other circumstances, the card will undoubtedly be very powerful.

And rounding out the Ork cards in this pack is Ammo Depot. This card created a large amount of buzz when it first come out. Unfortunately, I have found that Ammo Depot suffers from many of the same problems that other alternate economy cards do. Being able to circumvent choke is good, but allowing your opponent to win more command unchallenged by relying less on the resources given by planets can dig you into a hole. In addition, if you are winning enough command or aren’t gaining enough resources Ammo Depot may end up being effectively useless. All of that said, if this card fills the right space in your deck it can be a very powerful ability, allowing you to more effectively play from behind or draw more army units to help build a large swarm.

Chaos

059-rotten-plaguebearersOpening up the War Pack for Chaos is another Nurgle Daemon, the Rotten Plaguebearers. This unit is quite unnassuming at first glance, but upon further examination it proves to be very versatile. Because the Plaguebearers deal damage as an Action they are able to activate during any action windows in any phase. This mean you can use them during deployment as a Deploy Action to try to destroy opposing command units or as a delay tactic. You are able to use this ability at the end of the command phase or the beginning of the combat phase to help counter or preempt early enemy abilities and attacks. Because the ability doesn’t specify a target beyond “unit” you are able to damage you own units to help power up Brutal, prime Ku’gath Plaguefather, or trigger other combos. It is worth remembering that when played with Zarathur, High Sorcerer the Plaguebearers instead do two damage due to Zarathur’s Reaction. This plays very well into the burn style of control often used in the High Sorcerer’s decks. Rotten Plaguebearers are definitely a great unit for inclusion in many Chaos decks.

061-throne-of-vaingloryWe also get a second Nurgle card in this War Pack, Nurgling Bomb. This is another powerful and potentially versatile ability allowing you to not only rout or damage enemy units, but also effectively retreat your own units by routing them and powering up other units that may benefit from having damage. The catch to this card though is that its high cost puts it in competition with a number of other popular Chaos events. I definitely think this is a card worth considering for inclusion but players should be conscious of the resource investment and their over all game plan.

Lastly we are given the very strange Throne of Vainglory. This fairly janky card is most certainly still developing its utility so I won’t comment on it much. At this point I don’t see the Throne being included in many decks, but maybe after Ba’ar Zul the Hate-Bound and other cards in Planetfall are released this may change.

Dark Eldar

062-sslyth-mercenaryIn this War Pack Dark Eldar only really received one card worth discussing, the Sslyth Mercenary. The second card, Despise, has little utility in the game currently.

When I first saw the Sslyth Mercenary I was generally unimpressed but remained open to the possibility that it could be effective, in part because of the way my understanding of Heretek Inventor evolved. That instinct proved correct and the Sslyth has turned out to be a very solid unit. While it is especially good for gaining an early game lead in command it can sometimes be a liability in the later game, turning on its owner or ending up as a dead card if your opponent has enough of a resource advantage. I often include two copies in any deck using Dark Eldar cards.

Eldar

Last, but certainly not least we have three cards for the Eldar. They receive one of the best cards released in the Warlord cycle, the Warlock Destructor. Without a doubt this army unit is very strong, filling out the underrepresented two cost slot for Eldar combat units. You are provided with a great degree of flexibility with your resources if you look at the Destructor’s Forced Reaction as a utility opposed to an upkeep. Often times I have found myself playing it out to a planet where I know there will be combat and making peace with its death before battle ends. Paying two for such a strong unit is one of the most cost effective contributions to a fight in the game. If you end up paying the upkeep once then you are breaking even as the Warlock Destructor would likely be worth three resources if it didn’t have its Forced Reaction. Even paying the upkeep over multiple turns can be worthwhile if you have the resources.

066-foretellEldar players also see their warlord groupie introduced in this pack but because of the wide availability of flexible and powerful three cost combat units in the faction the Eldritch Corsair isn’t worth giving much consideration.

Finishing things off, Eldar continue to develop their control game with Foretell. When adding this to the other options Eldar have like Superiority, Nullify and Archon’s Terror this card provides Eldar players with one more way to shut out their opponent. The ability to cancel a battle ability can be game changing at the right time. With the extra bonus of drawing a card, this becomes a very solid include. I usually throw a single copy into any deck that includes Eldar.

 

So, in reflection, this was a major release for the game. Even though it has a large number of excellent cards I would say this is probably not the first pack a new player should buy. I do think it would be be  a good second purchase though. Seeing just how exciting a pack can be has me looking forward to how much this game will evolve in the coming Planetfall cycle.

Until next time, may the Emperor protect!

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