|
This article is about the recently released uncommon spell Heaven's
Wrath [HW]. This spell costs 4 gold, and has a focus of 2. As an
elemental Fire Battle action, bow the caster to send 2 attacking and 2
defending personalities home. This was probably used quite extensively
by those that got them at the release tournies, and then relegated to the
binder.
Maybe you should pull it out and look at it again. Yes, it is a spell,
so you are going to need to have a Shugenja to use it. But even Lion
have a Shugenja worth using now. Kitsu Tomoe is Good for Lion decks, as
any card which gives a re-usable force bonus is. But sometimes late
game, there is a point in which 2 more force are not going to be enough.
That is when you might wish this spell was in your deck.
For defensive decks, honour runners and the like, this spell is nice.
It is relatively cheap, so is not that difficult to get out. It allows
you to assign the caster and another personality or two to the defense,
use some action on your other personality to slow down yoour opponent,
then use this to send home that spent unit, and the caster, and also send
home 2 of the attacking units. This can be very critical against an
early or early-mid-game battle. Late game it can be even better. You
can send the caster and another bowed out or otherwise less useful unit
of yours home, and send the two opposing units with the most force home.
However, Attack decks can also use this. How so? Often, at least
around here, attack decks flow a little more efficiently, as they pay
less for their personalities, so more of them come out faster. If you
have more units available than your opponent, lots of tricks become
possible. Again, based on what happens around my area, most people try
to assign at least 2 units to battle, so as to prevent Overwhelmed from
just killing one. This spell will allow you to send both of those units
home, without destroying one of yours, just bowing one.
One thing I should note before going further. If there are not at least
2 units in each army, you can not use this spell. However, aside from
that restriction, this spell is very strong. You get to choose which 2
units, not your opponent, so there is less uncertainty.
Also, if the shugenja is one of the ones with the Fire trait, you can
choose to bow any of the cards leaving the battle. Thus, Dragon and
Crane each have one non-unique caster who can do that further thing.
Phoenix currently have 2 unique casters [Chieh and the Master of Fire],
who are Diamond legal and have the Fire trait. In Open, however, Phoenix
have an advantage, as all of their Masters and Acolytes have the various
elemental traits already, while all the other clans will be scrambling to
catch up [with the exception of Dragon, who also have a couple]. Hociu
basic is especially nice, a boxable Fire Shugenja.
One point to mention is that the caster does not have to be one of your
personalities. If you have had a battle go wrong on you, you can use
this spell to send the two most important of your units home. Or
possibly your caster has a Spirit Guide attached, so you send home two of
your bowed units, and his two biggest. Or you are running Shinden
Horiuchi, and don't have to bow the caster at all.
As I mentioned, I think this spell, while not perfect, has further uses
than filling a binder. Maybe you can think up more uses. Try it out and
see what you think!
|