by Schattenreiter

When I agreed to write this preview article I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The problem wasn’t writing the article itself, I was confident I could do that; it was the cards that I would have to introduce you to…

When I first saw the new heroes my first thought was: Ouch!  How was I going to keep my excitement about their powers in check, so that I wouldn’t accidentally spill the beans to my friends and the players in the Seeker League?

After a few days, I was able to take a step back and think carefully about the new power and how to make the best use of it.  And somehow I managed to keep my mouth shut too!

Forceful

Breaker and The Professor, Cursed Seeker on the EVIL and Sentinel on the GOOD side have always been good at forcing your battle tactics onto your opponent. If he ever forgot that those heroes were on the map, he got a painful reminder when some or even all of his attacks were removed from the combat.

When playing against a GOOD deck, you could never be sure that Honorguard or Bubblelift would not show up during the next battle to undo all your careful planning and shift the equilibrium of the fight in favor of your opponent.  Now, with Omens and Legacies, a group of GOOD heroes can enter the picture and fight this type of combat action from heroes and action cards, all on their own.

Forceful: Attacks I add to a combat can’t be removed.

Strategy

The new ability Forceful will inevitably lead to a new style of fighting. As the heroes are now immune to powers which remove attacks, many such cards will vanish from decks and give way to other combat actions which can remove or stun the new heroes.

In most cases a forceful hero will advance into the opposing zones alone to ensure that all attacks can be distributed among the opposing heroes.  But things on the mission map can also be turned upside down in combination with other forceful heroes, or with Fire Kappa and the exhaust action Never Travel Alone.

Teien Makes New Combos Possible

Another combo – which will soon be one of my most favorited – is Kipperin, Carrier with Teien, Masked Seeker. Together they can move through rows of opposing heroes and split up their defense line.



With this new seeker there is finally a GOOD hero with 6 DEF. This is something the GOOD side has been waiting for, as so far the EVIL side has had a big advantage in that regard with Sunhawk, Ashtoreth and especially Anubian.

The GOOD side already had 2 heroes with 6 DEF at their disposal, but they can’t really be used for blocking because of their costs (Caliban, Dante’s Titan) or their laziness (Kyroptero). Teien, Masked Seeker with her 3 ATK boasts enough attacks to be able to KO a good minor hero, or even give Sabriel a hard time, without putting herself in danger.

Additionally this GOOD seeker has yet another ability – which easily makes her eligible to become one of my favorite heroes: Focus Attack. She continues to have only 3 ATK herself – and thus can fall victim to Darkvoid – but even the additional 3 attacks can’t be removed, as she adds them to the combat herself.

Even More Forceful

Luckily Omens and Legacies delivers a new version of the strongest and hugely popular fighter for the GOOD side with this extraordinarily useful power: Caliban, Superb Warrior.



The major hero has, once again, 8 ATK and can deal a lot of damage to your opponent – which can only be prevented by removing the hero himself from the combat! The titan’s DEF has gone down to 4 though – too much for the average minor hero, but not enough to withstand one of the typical major heroes. To balance that, Caliban, Superb Warrior has another especially useful ability: you can play him directly from your hand into zone 2. This allows for a considerable extension of his reach and more than makes up for the lower DEF compared with his predecessor Caliban, Dante's Titan.   

Even Minor Heroes Can Do It

The third forceful hero – this time a minor hero – is Feyone, Sophie’s Titan.



With her 4 ATK she has one more attack at her disposal than her earlier version, Feyone, Celtic Warrior. That means she cannot be eliminated by Darkvoid any more. Like the first Feyone she only has 1 DEF, a fact which makes her survival in a fight more than unlikely. Nevertheless, with these stats she poses a serious threat to nearly every major hero.

Of course this new minor hero has a second ability as well: Cleanse! Not only does it spell doom for Sand Snakes, but the owner of the minor hero himself has to carefully consider if and when this ability should be used, as his own discard pile could contain useful cards which he might miss later!

I think that Forceful will be a great boost for any GOOD deck, but we can assume that the EVIL side will have some surprising powers at their disposal too.