By Dimos K

With any new set of cards comes a new set of opinions, evaluations, and hot takes. This article is going to look at some of the cards that I find most interesting or potentially impactful in Dynasty. I won’t discuss too much about the Legendary-rarity cards as those are always unique and interesting and usually see enough airtime in online discussions. I think the cards in this set heavily favour some classes and leave others out, and I wonder if this was intentional for metagame-balancing purposes. The clearest example of this is the absolutely amazing support that Ranger received in contrast to what Guardians received (not that they needed anything). There are also some clear design shifts that are moving classes in entirely new directions (Illusionist), or providing full and new archetypes (Mechanologist and Ninja). 

I’ll start with a prediction: I think that defense reactions (or other functionally similar cards like Reinforce the Line or Oasis Respite) will become necessary in more decks as a result of Dynasty. Guardian still has access to all the power it previously had, there is a new Assassin class full of sneaky attack reactions and on-hit effects, Ranger got an amazing new suite of arrows and buffs with devastating disruptive effects, and the Overpower keyword was introduced. It has long been my opinion that the Ranger class, specifically Azalea, was one good arrow away from being very good. Rangers received four excellent cards in this set that provide them relevant on-hits, which will be the hardest to block in the game outside of Pulverize. Hemorrhage Bore is an easily buffed and dominated attack that destroys an arsenal card, Dead Eye is a fantastic buff that allows you to discard a card of your choice from your opponent’s hand, Immobilizing Shot is similar enough to Red in the Ledger to be fantastic, and Heat Seeker effectively offers a draw on hit. Combine these effects with the existing suite of powerful Ranger buffs like Release the Tension and Seek and Destroy, and you have the makings of a very dangerous class. Sandscour Greatbow is likely the new bow of choice as it provides the Aim counters required to make these effects work, and I am glad to see the pieces come together. Ranger went from having too few options to possibly now having too many. Even the new armor-shredding arrow is strong, and compliments the rest of the class’ on-hit effects very well. If you haven’t put together an Azalea deck before, I think now is the time to try your hand at it.

Illusionist received a whole new side to its design in the form of Auras (and an Ally!) with Ward that provide fantastically powerful effects if they survive to your next turn. Blessing of Spirits is a strong option, and Tome of Aeo is a powerful resource card. I am very glad that this is the direction that the class is moving, as I think everyone has now realised some of the inherent issues around creating further Spectra cards. These new cards definitely incentivize the doubling-down of the popular defensive Illusionist playstyle, as you will need enough defense reactions or other Ward effects to keep the beneficial ones around. This cements the duality of the class that can defend to set-up a robust board state or just keep pumping out ultra-efficient attacks for raw aggression. I think this dynamic puts Illusionist into a good position to be ready for the new hero.

Ninjas have received a whole new archetype that can either provide discard fodder for Katsu’s hero ability, banish fodder for Art of War, or lead to massive combo turns with literal dozens of attacks. Katsu has finally received some non-attack actions (even if those actions create attack action cards), and they all block for three, which is great to see. My favourite part about the new Tiger cards is that the entire archetype is not dependent on hit triggers. The largest, most snowballing part of the combo (Tiger Swipe) is, but everything else is independent. I think a Katsu deck that focuses on Crouching Tigers and the Blackout Kick combo line would be effective against both decks that block well and decks that block poorly. It may not be the silver bullet Katsu needs, but it is a fantastic improvement. It leads to a lot of flexibility in deckbuilding, as Crouching Tigers are easily generated in small numbers and are the ideal discard targets for Katsu’s ability to find Combo cards from other combo lines. There are also some strong reasons for Fai to look at Crouching Tiger cards as options if his deck continues to shy away from being purely Draconic. If it turns out that Crouching Tigers are the silver bullet that Ninjas needed and the deck becomes wildly strong, Amulet of Echoes is a reasonable counter to consider.

Although Mechanologists received an entirely new archetype and a new card type in the form of Hyper Driver support and the Nitro Mechanoid, I think their real strength in this set comes from the Boost support they’ve received. Pulsewave Harpoon is an all-around amazing card that is the perfect one-cost for a Mechanologist deck and could tip the scales into creating an overpowering critical mass of efficient Boost attacks. Hanabi Blaster also adds to the strength of Boost decks with its unparalleled efficiency. The new Nitro Mechanoid is very cool and I love the concept, and I am curious to see how it performs in both casual and competitive play. It is an amazing boost to a slower Dash deck and is still playable in a faster Dash deck that is willing to run Blessing of Ingenuity. I would advise that any deck that runs this card also runs some strong defensive options as an opponent could have a Smashing Good Time with your very expensive item.

Some classes just got more of the same, such as Brute. Which is fine, as the class was in a perfectly fine place, but it isn’t exactly exciting. Brute got cards that really just cement the class into revolving even more around Bloodrush Bellow. The new cards that can only be played after you’ve discarded a card this turn are efficient, but will be difficult to play without the draw effect of Bloodrush Bellow. Until that card leaves the pool, I think Brute design space will be very limited. Primeval Bellow got an indirect buff from these cards, as it is the only zero-cost card with Go Again that discards a random card. LSS has reinforced that a discarded card is worth an additional two damage, or an extra two resources of pitch through the lackluster Madcap Muscle. Berserk in particular disappointed me. While it is a nice effect, I think this will join Poison the Tips as a card that looks decent but isn’t actually worth losing a card in hand to play out.

Lastly, everyone has auras now, in the form of class-specific Blessings. This is a new direction for FaB, as Auras had been previously restricted to certain classes. Wizards and Runeblades got some very useful Blessings that directly and fantastically synergize with existing and popular class mechanics. Some classes got dull plus-three damage buffs or some build-around life gain. The gulf between these cards is one of the clearest indications that this expansion set was not made equally for each class. I think these Blessings will be better in classes with more action points who can play them at the end of the chain, or those who can play them at instant speed.