Force of Frost
Welcome to our rundown of Force of Frost. Make sure to catch our podcast coverage of all things Deathgorge too! For everything out with this release window, follow these links:
What the Hex!? - Episode 116 - Deathgorgeous
Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.
Introduction
[D]AVY, [P]HIL, [B]RIAN, & [S]KYLER
P: The leaves begin to fall. There is a nip in the air. The Everwinter is coming! Don't try to run (actually do). Don't try to hide! (no really, you don't want to be around this thing). It's the most wonderful time of the year (said no one ever).
If you have stuck around this long you have either frozen solid or embraced the Force of Frost, a truly tricksy magic deck that wants to freeze your opponents, the board, and you!
The deck is going to want a wizard to be sure, but with all the tools at your disposal to control the board how this deck plays out will likely look different from game to game and warband to warband.
Noteworthy as we dive in, there are a few rules updates that will impact this deck a fair amount. Alongside Deathgorge bringing Blocked/Cover hexes as our initial available feature tokens, the universal Plunder reaction now allows you to place any available feature token after a kill and the facing of this token is up to you! Additionally blocked hex tokens will clear at the end of the round as their ice columns melt away.
Objectives
P: As this is entirely out of your control I don't love it. For one glory I really don't. I think I leave this one at home most of the time.
D: I agree that it's not making the cut at one glory, but you do have *some* control on who you choose to target and/or drive back.
P: Fair. My hyperbole is rescinded. You have very little control to score this.
P: Surge for two always has my attention but casting four spells in a round can be pretty tough. I still think it is worth considering in a wizard/spell casting warband.
D: I think with this deck and Seismic Shock, you can probably build towards this pretty decently.
B: This will be nuts in championship. By no means an easy score, but Domitans already are striving for this sort of casting prowess.
S: He is the Bitter Storm… the Bitter Stormsire.
P: Huh, kind of like Strong Start but just damage instead of a kill. I kind of like it for Nemesis but it can brick pretty hard if you get unlucky.
D: Has that same Strong Start issue, where you can draw into it too late in the round as well.
P: Cards like this are probably only really playable in Nemesis but I do like them there. It is pretty likely you can pick up two kills in most matchups. This might end up being like a third end phase but it should be reliable more often than not.
D: Putting this in a deck that isn't plot locked gives a useable 2 glory EP for aggro decks which is solid.
P: You are right, Davy. Aggro bands should be able to do this most of the time, even into elite bands. This is probably just a staple post rotation.
P: As a kill surge this is fine. I don't love having additional conditions on kill surges but this one isn't too much to ask. I think if you are going aggro you almost always end up charging towards enemy territory.
S: The catch is hoping your opponent feels incentivized to stay in their territory until this card comes up and out. I’ve had some hilarious luck with this condition before where my opponent has abandoned their home territory and are content staying away.
P: Hello Alone in the Darkness! I think this is harder to score now than it was in shadespire but I think it is still a solid option that can catch people out. If you have good pushes this can become quite reliable.
S: It adds an extra layer of positional tension in best of three matches too. Obviously more difficult to score going into hordes though.
P: Yeah, this is solid if you have spell attack actions. If you are going to take a kill surge you can't do much better than this. Convenient that it can score in the power step with spell pings.
D: Yeah, for a casting warband, this is about as generous a kill surge as you can get.
D: My girl's got some big hands here.
S: Double snap!
P: I think these kind of positioning objectives can be tough, but it doesn't require dice which I like. If you have a good way to control positioning this could work out.
D: This is what Soulraid wished Unseen Menace was.
S: Can confirm.
P: The timing makes this a bit less reliable. You also have to put your leader in danger to do this. I don't love it but if you can give your opponent lots of options to consider they may not be able to focus on preventing this. Special nod to Stormcoven for making this a lot better.
D: Nice synergy with things that Kainan is doing already too.
P: Something else nice with this window as opposed to the after an opponents activation is you can push into position to score this during your opponents power step.
S: Good callout! If a surge is going to score after something in your opponent’s turn, I strongly prefer it be after the power step than after that activation step.
P: The power card options in this deck make this feel doable. Still you need the right draws to get there so this is a Nemesis only option in my opinion. Unless there is some mad science ice build that shakes out, which I'd be a big fan of.
S: Once your opponent knows or suspects this is in your deck, they can make things much harder for you by Plundering a cover onto the board. And Fearsome Fortress decks will make this tougher right out the gate.
P: Another two glory surge! If you can flip tokens or set up the board to only have one objective to hold this becomes pretty great. However, if anyone can see what you are doing they might be able to deny this too easily. I'm excited to try this though.
D: Totally take this. This is potentially a more forgiving window than after an opponent's activation because you may be able to set it up in the power step.
S: Word. Loving this window.
B: Wow wow wow. Love this, but it’s a card that will easily blind side new players and potentially cause feel-bad "gotcha" moments. Try not to take advantage of a newer opponent in that way.
P: Two glory end phase that can, in theory, be scored very passively feels great to me. Power deck has to be built to support this but there are lots of ways to get icy.
D: Yeah, can't pass judgement on this without some playthroughs.
Gambits
P: Wow... this is, I think, the closest to Shardegale we have seen since Shadespire. In theory I love this, but you do have to be very careful about damaging your own fighters. This feels a lot better on offense than defense on paper.
D: Wow, gross. Does this play well in Stormcoven?
B: Yikes, as if ping wasn't already too prevalent. Worried especially as this is not plot locked.
S: O_O
P: Placing blocked hexes could be very disruptive if you were able to offset or longboard. I don't know that this is always useful, but the times it is it should be very useful. The ice counter seems like a nice side benefit too. If this card does nothing else for you tactically at least you could use it to stack ice counters.
D: I think some of the problem with these will be that the supply of available tokens might well run out quickly?
P: I agree. Probably will run out of feature tokens because of Plunder, which is too bad really given how much this deck cares about blocked hexes.
P: An on death reaction to deal two is nice punishment, but the variance probably makes it one to fade. I think I take it in nemesis when I have multiple wizards but that is likely the only case.
D: Whoa, no range restriction. Yikes. It's good, but I think this is one that sits awkwardly in your hand too often and might get cut.
B: Seems like a solid contingency plan for Domitan's Stormcoven, furthering the number of casting attempts they get while using a spell Khan would respect.
P: Any push enemy fighter card will have my attention. Having a blocked hex restriction does make this a lot worse though. Maybe the flip mode is useful but I'm struggling to think of a scenario where that would be especially good.
D: Push *any* fighter- friendly or enemy gives more utility for sure.
S: With how much this deck wants available blocked tokens, it’s curious seeing an effect in house that flips tokens from blocked to cover (and not vice versa). Thematically I get the Flash Flood element, but I imagine you will often want to keep blocked hexes in play and in rotation. Gotta be meant to create an unexpected opening.
P: This is pretty cool. Can place cover or blocked hexes which I think has a lot of utility. Then having the ping mode not be tied to the placed token opens up lots of situations for sniping fighters that are out of position.
D: That's hot fire. Huge board reach with that. I think because it's a spell and you're choosing an enemy fighter in the second half, you have to have line of sight, yes?
P: I do believe so, something to keep in mind while placing blocked hexes for sure.
P: Very cool control card! It doesn't stop you from moving, which can often feel too oppressive, but it certainly makes you think before taking that damage. Really could hamper bands that plan to move fighters multiple times.
D: Ew! I do like that they get to complete their whole activation. So you could choose to charge with a vulnerable fighter if you really, really needed, and then just fall over after the attack.
B: Very brutal against Voidcursed Thralls.
P: Not sure it hurts Voidcursed that much, only triggers after the affected fighter’s activation so it doesn’t catch out of sequence movement.
D: Good catch, sir.
P: I love the flexible design of these spells. You can place the feature token but if you don't need to or want to you can just get the second mode. Blocked hexes I think will look very scary when someone is playing this deck.
D: Yeah. Crazy. Good way to make life miserable for ranged fighters. Here's a move token and blocked line of sight. You're welcome.
P: I have to think this card could only be printed now that the charged out rule exists, it seems so brutal. Lock down a fighter or lose two power cards... that is quite the choice. Elite warbands will hate seeing this card.
D: It's the Smothered Memories synergy we've all been waiting for!
S: Can confirm. XD
P: I think there are a lot of failure points for this card. If everything lines up though it's pretty punishing to remove all of a fighters upgrades. However, make a note to not use this against a fighter with a charge token because they could just get a second and lose nothing.
D: We don't often see things that penalize "Voltroning". I like seeing that explored.
P: Uhhhh... weird card. I'm not sure what you gain here though. Delay your turn to take two back to back? That essentially opens the window to your opponent getting two back to back actions. I don't see how that helps you. Guard and ice tokens I don't think are enough to justify it. Definitely want to experiment in this space though.
D: I think this might be hot fire, actually. Especially in early rounds. Like- I don't want to charge in to the Nest o' Changers and get shot to death, so this lets you delay when you expose your fighters. It's a little tougher to picture great use cases when everyone is all tangled up. But Rippa loves to get on demand Guard. I guess the other issue is that it's a bust when you're down to one fighter.
B: I think this has great potential, both for colossal misplays, and masterful combinations.
P: I only just realized but if a chosen fighter has an action that lets you do things with other fighters this suddenly seems better to me. Sepulchral Guard move, then have one of the moved fighters attack for instance.
D: Oh snap!
Upgrades
P: Seems like a solid defense boost since getting ice counters doesn't look too hard. Not being able to be on guard hurts a little bit but I'm not going to scoff at two block. Getting to boost wizard level just feels like icing on top of an already decent upgrade. The action feels like a true failure mode. If everything is going wrong at least you have a way to turn this on. Probably not worth doing most of the time though.
D: Do the Crimson Court like this? Defense buff, and pop one of their Level 1s up?
S: I’d say so! Ice Court when!?
B: Dope art.
P: A weaker version of all the previous darts weapons. Still fine if you need a ranged attack or another way to make ice.
P: I've always liked the key upgrades even if I've had a hard time finding a home for them. The flexibility of scoring this on a feature or by having an ice counter makes this feel better to me. Maybe it doesn't make the cut in Champs but I like it for Nemesis. Extra glory is hard to come by sometimes.
D: Ooo, more tools for passive scoring... look out!
P: This kind of does it all huh? Just a casting reroll would be good but a casting reroll, a wizard level boost, and a way to get said ice counter makes for a complete package of an upgrade for wizards.
D: Gives an extra spell action if you're farming spells too.
B: Dope-er art. lol
P: Here it is! The first upgrade to turn a fighter into a full fledged wizard, and a level two wizard to boot. The weapon isn't too bad either so all around this seems like a solid option in Nemesis and a niche build around piece for some wizard shenanigans in Champs. I love it. Davy and I have been talking about this design space since back in Nightvault. So happy to see it finally make the game.
D: (video clip assistance needed)
B: Incredible that Karthaen is on the art. Now he can be a real wizard!
S: A real wizard… 😑
P: Dang. A minus damage upgrade is good. One that allows you to build towards your ice synergies essentially for free makes it that much better. I'm taking this in a lot of warbands I think. This might be my vote for an R card in this deck.
D: Yeah, concur. That's really easy to set up. It's at least slightly delayed if you take the first activation in the round with this in hand.
P: I like this a good amount. Great fortitude but you need to work a little for it. Then upside if you can do a bit more. You really don't need this to be anything more than plus wounds, but a range unlimited stagger and grievous is quite good.
D: Makes me very glad Frostwyrm Cloak breaks on large fighters. I like that it's a strong effect, but you need to do a little more than just dip into the Ice mechanic for this to do you any good.
P: Not super into this. Range one is not often where wizards want to be. Two damage and cleave isn't bad, but it isn't really a draw to throwing my wizard into harms way. Getting access to more ice doesn't hurt but I think there are enough other ways to do it that you don't need this.
S: Ice Court!
P: Yikes! Spooky scary. Power cards are such a valuable resource that losing potentially a couple across a game feels very punishing indeed. Very excited to see this design space get used more.
D: But I was planning on using those cards! It's good that there's no "surprise factor" here. You know you're going to trigger this when you are deciding whether or not to approach.
B: A lot of upgrades are spoken of as "their presence controls the opponent's decision making". This takes the cake in that division.
P: Fun little call back to tomes. Not sure this one can make the cut though. I like a repeatable spell action but since there have to be enemy fighters within three with upgrades to use this it becomes much too situational in my opinion. I suppose there was a fear of giving a passive spell to gain ice as it might have made it too easy to stack and cast spells but as it stands currently I think this card is unplayable.
D: Maybe I'm just always tempted by the opportunity to do something that I generally can't get elsewhere. I can think of individual upgrades that would be totally worth busting (Hi Writhing Tentacles!) But in that example, you're somehow already within three of Eph and just hanging out there, soooooo.... yikes.
D: Make Librarians Great Again!
B: Let Ol' Mollog get those reading glasses out again, eh?
Summary
P: And that's it, a flash freeze of disruptive and potent icy magic that any warband with a wizard (and maybe even without!) could take advantage of. Whether your game plan is to disrupt your opponents with the likes of Frozen to the Spot, Falling Shards, and Iara's Frozen Bonds, blast them off the board with Abasoth's Avalanche, or even freeze time itself with Time Freeze you are sure to leave your opponents guessing. The world is your snow-globe with this deck. From some choice objectives, potent gambits, and unique upgrades you can go a lot of directions with this one.
Nemesis
In Nemesis, this deck is fairly limited to warbands with potent spellcasters. However, the upgrades to add a wizard or raise a wizards spell casting level leave the door open to using this with a wizard band we wouldn't normally think of like Crimson Court.
My personal choice after initial read would be Stormcoven or Cursebreakers. Sit back, disrupt your opponents game plan, and reap the rewards of casting your utility spells. However, objectives like Chill of the Grave (sick art!) and Cold of the Void get the cogs turning for some very different looking options. Like I said, you should be able to do a lot with this deck.
Championship
In Championship, I think this deck will get drawn on a lot. While most non-wizard warbands probably only like a couple of cards here, there is no plot lock so they can just get a quick taste of the cold. There are tools for every play style to some degree and some control pieces we have never seen the likes of before.
If I had to bet money on it, I'd say we see Frostwyrm cloak, Armor of Ice, Cold of the Void, and Stranglehold quite a bit.
The only thing that gives me some pause for Champs is that with this and Seismic Shock not having a plot card the magic heavy strategies can draw from all their best cards without restriction. Hopefully my fears won't come to fruition, but I can see a world where we have a wizard winter, if you will, until a new release can shake things up more.
—
Got a frosty brew from the Force of Frost? Share it with us!