The Versatility of Outsiders’ New Generic Cards.

By Dimos

Outsiders provides some fantastic and accessible options in its Generic cards. While these are not all new or game-breaking effects, they make certain staple effects accessible to any hero and any player. This article is going to dive into the ones that I think are most interesting for constructed formats, including Classic Constructed, Blitz and Commoner. Like any set, the Generic Majestic-rarity cards are always worth discussing, but before I mention those, I want to talk about some Generic Rares and Commons in the set, which have me very excited. The fact that they are universally-accessible disruptive options open up so many doors for both budget decks and non-meta decks. Rares, even with their altered appearance rate in Outsiders (which I’m not exactly jazzed about), will still likely be selling below the $1 price point. Any budget player can put these into their deck instead of Command and Conquer (CnC) or other pricey Majestics. The three low-rarity cards that I am particularly looking forward to throwing into budget sideboards are Wreck Havoc, Cut Down to Size, and Humble.

The combination of Wreck Havoc and Cut Down to Size pieces out what CnC does. Currently, CnC does three things, and it does two of those things uniquely. Firstly, it blocks for three, which neither Wreck Havoc nor Cut Down to Size do. This is a downside for our budget-friendly replacements, but we aren’t running them to defend with, we are running them to be proactive and counter an opposing strategy. The second thing that CnC does is naturally beat defense reactions, particularly those that are held in arsenal. Wreck Havoc addresses this perfectly, as it can’t be defended by defense reactions and destroys them on-hit if they are in arsenal. The third thing that CnC does is help to slow down aggressive decks that refuse to block. By unconditionally destroying their arsenal on hit, CnC nearly guarantees that your opponent will not be able to play a five-card hand (unless they defend with Crown of Providence or have an intellect bonus). This is addressed by Cut Down to Size, which does this job a bit better in some respects. Cut Down to Size guarantees at least one card out of the opponent’s hand, and can’t even be avoided with effects like Crown of Providence. The opponent is forced to lose at least one card, which will slow down their aggressive deck. Additionally, both of these cards work fantastically with Pummel, just like CnC does. The major drawback to Wreck Havoc and Cut Down to Size is that each one only does 50% of what CnC does (but at 1% of the price), so you will have to be more deliberate about exactly why you are bringing in this disruption. Are your local armories plagued with 27-defense-reaction Dashes and Araknis? Bring Wreck Havoc. Are you struggling to overcome the Ninja players on the block? Bring Cut Down to Size instead.

Humble has a frequently relevant on-hit effect that has only been accessible to the disruption-oriented Ranger and Guardian classes so far. I think that the nature of Ice disruption and aggressive decks, which have been at the top for a long time, has skewed the amount of competitively viable heroes. By offering these Generic tools to everyone, it may reduce the number of decks that are otherwise invalidated. Being able to render a hero’s textbox blank is useful, just maybe not today. Maybe Levia becomes too strong when Dusk Till Dawn releases and this card becomes a staple to try and force her to take Blood Debt damage.

The Generic Majestics in this set fall in what I think is the right place for them moving forward. There are plenty of them, and they generally have situational effects or are sideboard options. Even with their reduced appearance rate in Outsiders, I expect that they will generally remain affordable since they are not universally useful. I see more parallels to Erase Face here than I do to Enlightened Strike.

Amnesia is a 3-block that can trigger Phantasm, and the text may become more widely relevant as the game evolves. Overall, I think that the situational uses of this are close to Snag. Snag saw use to target a single deck (Chane with Rift Bind), even though it is theoretically universally usable. I think Amnesia will do the same if name-based effects become out of control with Ninjas. It is also possibly relevant against future Illusionists if we see an evolution of the Miraging Metamorph-style effects that this could apply to. For now, it will keep Combo-focussed Ninjas in check. That last sentence would have sounded like a joke a couple weeks ago, but not so much any more.

Down and Dirty is a very versatile card that can pop Phantasm. This is a great way for decks that run few poppers naturally to be able to still play their game without having to make the annoying decision to keep a six-power card in hand and forgo arsenal. Instead of playing with an effective three Intellect, now Warriors and other classes can just arsenal Down and Dirty and make decisions with their full four-card draws. The two points of defense that this card offers may be enough to get around key breakpoints of Dominated attacks from Rangers and Guardians. However, I think the fact that this can still be used offensively if you are not pressured is a fantastic boon. Getting defense reactions stuck in arsenal is never a good feeling, and I think Down and Dirty provides options for decks that are looking to avoid disruption while maintaining offensive pressure. The card also helps provide more options for counteracting Command and Conquer. Even though the best counter to Command and Conquer (Reinforce the Line) has existed for ages and is still underutilized for that niche purpose, additional options are nice. Just be careful using this card against attacks with Overpower, as it is still an action card.

Give and Take is a card that looks very appealing to me. Even without the effect, the fact that this is an attack with unconditional Go Again and three points of block is notable. I like the fact that the opponent has an opportunity to interact with this card through their own potentially challenging decision-making. The effect itself is interesting and has some details that make it better than it reads initially. The condition of cost versus power makes this card universally usable by every class except Guardians. The fact that the card goes to the top of your deck while conserving your action point is excellent. So many heroes now care about what is on the top of their deck, and even those that don’t are getting more ways to draw into it anyways. I also like the expansion of universal recursion options beyond Remembrance which don’t make block-only fatigue strategies stronger. While I don’t think block-only fatigue strategies are particularly strong, and that there are enough existing tools to counteract them, I don’t think they’re the pinnacle of fun FaB.

Gore Belching reminds me of Ravenous Rabble with higher highs and lower lows. I’m not sure what the use case for this is, but that only makes me like it more. It means there is some discovery to be had with it. Uzuri can swap it in with her ability, which is nice, but she can also do that with other big attacks that block. It may be a good Snapdragon Scalers target, like Enlightened Strike. I think Kano may have some dumb fun with this, running a single Gore Belching and a single Rouse the Ancients, while filling the rest of the deck with standard Wizard non-attack actions.  

Burdens of the Past is another three-block Generic non-attack action with niche applications, like This Round’s on Me. This card parallels heavily with Snag in my eyes – it has some very specific niche uses that will be entirely predicated on the meta. Snag never really saw use outside of countering Chane, and I don’t know when Burdens of the Past will see its day. This is especially the case since decks that are running defense reactions aren’t running as many as they used to. I can however see this being useful to help get yourself out of a tricky end-game situation. If I’m playing Bravo and I know my opponent has their last red Unmovable in arsenal, it makes it challenging to play out my last Crippling Crush to seal the game before Dash’s pistol shots become overwhelming. Would that be worth playing a card that has no other synergies with my deck? Doubtful but possible. Which is why I like a lot of these Majestics, they are answers to niche problems which may not even have occurred yet.

With how many good six-power Generic attacks came from this set, should we be worried about the power level of the upcoming Illusionist? Is LSS trying to give us the tools we need to prepare for Chane 2.0 and Illusionist Bravo Star of the Show? Or maybe it’s a sign that the new Illusionist will care more about Ward than Phantasm. Either way, reading to far into things can be fun. Finally, why is it called Wreck Havoc and not Wreak Havoc? Is “Havoc” going to be revealed as the name of something relevant in the lore of the Pits? I certainly hope so, because until more information comes out, I will Wreaking Havoc, not Wrecking Havoc.