Seeds of Unity has now been fully revealed but we are a little way off from actually getting our hands on the cards to play with them. So, here at the Altered TCG Blog we thought that we’d get our collective heads together to take a look at what we think will be some of the top cards in each faction. In part one we’ll be looking at Axiom, Bravos and Lyra. Don’t worry Muna, Ordis and Yzmir fans; we’ll be looking at those factions in part II coming soon.

Axiom

1. Axiom Exhibit

Powering up your cards in the reserve is good, however it’s the rare here that really shines as with Della you can add a boost to a card in rare and exhaust it before using Della’s ability to starighten the Exhibit. Then you can activate the exhibit again to ready the character and add another boost. This means you get two free boosts on a character in reserve that you can play out before your opponent gets to sabotage you. With the Machinist below, you don’t even need to use Della’s ability on the Exhibit that turn.

2. Axiom Machinist

The Machinist lets Della make her machine work another time. Della wants tapping Permanents and this card gives the tapping permanent a potential third activation which should really power her up. This pick is very specific to Della, but I think it will be a key piece in the Della ‘machine’ that she will set up.

3. Failed Demo

Finally a cheap, potentially reusable, removal spell in Axiom is something that the faction really wants. It is possible that the common here will see play as a 2 cost spell that can take out low-cost boosted characters.

4. Reka Magnate

Other than Armored Jammer, Axiom lacks good sabotage options at a reasonable cost, and this can be just that. It also potentially gives you the flexibility to create a mana seed to make your next card cheaper either this turn or next with the rare, making the card effectively cost 2 from reserve. With Foundry-like tricks you could get this sabotage twice on the rare at a very good rate as well as a 2/2/3.

5. The Shell.

Treyst likes to dump stuff in his reserve. Treyst likes to draw cards. Who do you think will like this? Subhash? Okay, Treyst might like this also but I think both would ‘shell’ out the mana for this beauty!

OOF 1. Mothcaller Wand

With lots of ways to exhaust cards in your and your opponents’ expeditions, the wand could easily be making three 2/2/2 moths a turn for 3 mana. Then Della can untap it and you can do it all again. I feel that the wand may end up being better in Axiom than in Yzmir, making six 2/2/2’s for 6 mana.

OOF 2. Moth Decoy

The wand needs cards that are exhausted. You know what, the Moth Decoy gives you another of these exhausted cards for your wand and gives you a 2/2/2 for 2 mana. Then you can do it again for 1 mana and fire up your Mothcaller Wand. Someone really needs to get some moth repellent in quickly I think!

Bonus Big Bad Robot

What Axiom really wants is the occasional big bad robot to stop your opponent in their tracks, Okay so it does cost 5 mana, but Talos is a 4/4/4 gigantic meaning you have 8 points of stats for your 5 mana. Okay so you need to have two permanents to advance but what self-respecting Sierra, Isaree or Della deck isn’t going to have that, especially with all those Aeroliths and Muna giving away free Mana Seeds as well?

Bravos

1. Haven Trainer

This one looks like it would go into a Sol deck pretty easily, but it will also go into a revived Axiom Foundry deck. With several good options in Bravos to rush a card in reserve that has a low hand cost and a high reserve cost, you will regularly be cheating out those fantastic reserve abilities for a cheap price. The rare lets you do it all again from the reserve a second time – so you get twice the fun!

2. Bravos Cloudhog

With all the ways to activate reserve abilities, the Bravos Cloudhog can let you sabotage for 2 mana and potentially get a 3/3/3 – and that is just on the common. The rare can do the same and potentially give you a 4/4/5 for you 2 mana sabotage. Please tell me why this isn’t good.

3. Reka Fisherman

With playing Haven Trainer as well in an Axiom Foundry style deck this can be a three-mana 3/3/4, create two mana seeds and draw a card. This can be quite bonkers and it could possibly be the best card in the set! The only issue with this card is that sometimes it will be a 5 mana 3/3/4 with two mana seeds and draw a card which is not the worst ever. I see a bright future for the fisherman.

4. Deep Cloud Instructor

See my comments above on an Axiom Foundry deck revival. It’s a little understated in stats at 1/3/1 from hand but with some bonkers reserve abilities on Uniques, it could be really good. The slight stat loss is more than made up by the ability to activate the rushed characters reserve abililty. Indeed another member of the blog thinks that this will be the best card in the set!

5. Flying Squirrel

With so many ways of either paying less from reserve or activating your reserve ability it seems the days of mass squirrels has finally come to Bravos. Bravos lacks good one-cost commons and with Tiny Jinn now banned, the Flying Squirrel can join the Fire Rabbit in the one-cost arsenal. Ratatoskr always felt bad paying three from reserve and I think it being two instead will make this much easier to play if you don’t have some way to cheat on the mana cost.

OOF 1. Fab Lab Unit

See all my discussion above about using reserve abilities on the top cards in Bravos. The Fab Lab unit is another way to do this that costs less than the Axiom Foundry that also doesn’t clog up your landmark permanent zone. For some reason these reserve-ability activating cards seem to play better in Bravos than they do in Axiom, and I feel there will be good things for this card.

OOF 2. Muna Botanist

The botanist can combo really great with the Burrowing Noosh in Basira decks allowing the Noosh to get a boost when the opponent exhausted resupplies and then it can anchor down your newly boosted critter.  It also can work well with cards like the Blade Dancer or other large boosted up cards to keep them around another day. I think it’s a solid rare that is way cheaper than Parvati ever was to provide anchoring for the Bravosi.

Bonus Cool Combo Card

My esteemed collegue has pointed out a fun interaction between Skybound Odyssey and Diocles. If one of your expeditions is at the starting region, you can use Skybound Odyssey to avoid paying the extra tax of 3 mana on Diocles and he will not move the expedition back (as you can’t go back from the starting region) then move your expedition forward one. If you win the expedition then you move forwards again. Certainly a cool combo, but it’s not going to happen that often.

Lyra

1. Pinocchio

He has some magic words on him: “Draw a card.” Pinocchio also has some zero stats on him which means you then only need one more other zero stat in play to get that card. Auraq says “Yes, thank you!” to all of these things. With 3 water he’s a reasonable Turn One play as well, but you do need to play the rare.

2. Nyala Night Reveler

Lyra is the master of swapping cards between hand and reserve. Being In Contact is something that Nadir should be good at, so this mini switcheroo card should be good. The rare is even better with the extra stat point making it on par for its cost and also a reserve ability that is a repeat of its effect  but this time not needing to be In Contact. So if played well you can recover your magical training twice and get a 3/3/0 for your trouble.

3. Cheshire Cat

This card is ‘hooked’ on a magical cat with a reasonable sized body at 2/2/3 or 3/2/3. Yes it needs to be In Contact, but as a last play this could really screw up your opponent’s math and win you both expeditions. I don’t even think you need to play the rare on this one. With this in mind you’d be grinning just like a Cheshire Cat!

4. Nightclub Bouncer

A decent sized body for three mana and a way to sabotage your opponent if in contact. The rare even gets double the ability to sabotage with a consolation prize if you can’t be in contact of exhausting an opponents card in reserve. Both are decent options I feel for a 3 mana Lyra card.

5. Reka Headset

You know all those cards above that want to be in contact above? Well listen up to the mantra being given on the Reka Headset. For the low price of one mana from hand and two mana from reserve, we have a way of automatically achieving that quest. Most of the decent cards in Lyra need to be In Contact and this card can guarantee it, whereas the Cable Car station can’t guarantee it. There is a danger this card will suffer the same fate as Winter Outfits in the long term, but I think until Roots of Corruption rolls around we’ll see this a lot.

OOF 1. Foul Faker

That Reka Headset above will be combining with the Foul Faker to bring cheap sabotage to the Lyra. Most sabotage costs at least three mana, so being able to do it for just two mana seems good. Being able to sabotage twice for the cheap cost of 2 mana is very good.

OOF 2. Flore, Fuming Gardener

Exhausting a card in the other player’s reserve we know is good and can be very annoying when they have to overflow their reserve and discard one. That isn’t all with Flore though. She also exhausts a permanent in play. With Nilam, Mothcaller Wand and lots of Axiom tap permanents around she will definitely get use out of tapping a permanent down as well, meaning both her abilities are going to be super relevant in the environment.

Bonus Fun Cards

Phoibos, Reka Hexarch and Romantic Encounter both let you play opponents’ cards for free. The problem with them is that what you get is essentially random and you may just get some junk for your seven mana. I expect to see a lot of Romantic Encounter rares in 2 vrs 2 games though. How about getting four free cards for your seven mana!

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