Dromm's Universals

Dromm and his Gorechosen have delved into the Nethermaze to rend the realm asunder. Let's check out what universals they brought with them as sacrifice. You can find the other cards in this release at these links:

Gorechosen Faction Cards

Deadly Depths Cards

First Impressions

[D]AVY & [P]HIL

Some wacky designs here, along with some real gems! These cards will likely shake a few decks up, mostly in the power card department. But before we can get to those sweet treats we need to eat our objective veggies.

D: Surges that score during your opponent's turn always deserve a closer look, but unless you have high health and guard tech going on, this seems like a bit much to ask, since the attack must be successful.

P: Basically an on guard fighter survives a hit? This is... okay but probably not amazing. I'm struggling to think of an order warband that really loves this. Maybe steelhearts?

D: A card like this warms our cold, skull collecting hearts at WTH. The non-Khorne half is very meh. But if you're one of the three Khorne warbands currently in the game, this is as lenient a kill surge as you can get.

P: Always be choppin' if Khorne. otherwise this probably is out-classed by many other kill surges

D: Always be leavin if not Khorne.

D: Ooooof. Neither half is great, and for one glory, you're gonna pass. Getting to four gambits is no guarantee. If you pick this to score first in the end phase, the second half is easy... if you scored no surges during the round. In which case... you have problems my friend.

P: Death finally gets something bad! I kid, but seriously they have been on a tear recently. This is hard pressed to be scored at all in a competent champs deck and if you are scoring this things have probably gone very wrong.

Yep, definitely the warband that scores this.

D: Uh, wut? If this said "two or more friendly fighters have one or more Scything Attack actions", you could do it, but this is a big ask for even Krushas, who can inspire to a printed scything attack action.

P: Are there even enough scything upgrades to make this possible? not really... there are 3 in total. So, it's technically possible but what in the world are you doing?

I think we've all played against these dice at some point.

D: On first read, I missed that this was a third end phase card and got psyched. Alas, however.

P: Probably scoreable but for a third end phase you will likely want more. I think this is a pass

D: Our first. Ever. Three glory surge. Exciting for that reason at the very least. I think... this might have play? Especially in something like Grymwatch which can make sure an early key holder isn't killed, and *then* to bring that keyholder back for an end-game score. You'd really need probably want Bag of Tricks, though? Or aggressive card draw? It's probably not good enough but there's going to be some great stories from this one. AND- I love the storytelling flair this three card combo has.

P: Crazy crazy card. 3 glory surge is a lot but the setup is intense. I originally was going to write this off completely but then Davy mentioned bag tricks and that made me think the Zombois can probably dig up the combo if they really want to... is 3 glory worth it though? it honestly might be.

More importantly, we have reached the tragic (presumable?) conclusion of the Redkap and Dibbz saga

D: I believe this is the first card we've seen that interacts in anyway with Domain *upgrades* and not just Domain gambits, which makes it... fine?

P: With more domains being played this might just happen but it probably isn't great either way. that map was a trap ladz!

Are the Exiled Dead pulling in Ardskull, or is he just being dead Kunnin?

D: Huh. You can score this with power cards. You can score this with your opponent's power cards. You can score this with a drive-back. I think... there might be something here.

P: Seems pretty doable and can likely just happen incidentally a lot. I like it. Warbands that can push 2 or more hexes make this very likely.

D: Easy for Gitz, but I don't know if they even have time for a one glory end phase these days.

P: Just don't and save yourself the trouble. fun call back to Not Lost?

D: Yeah! More card art sagas!

So say we all, Drusylla. Well… all but Diablerist.

D: Maybe a meta choice? A one glory end phase score has to be very reliable, and this feels like your opponent has a little too much control over it.

P: This is fine against swarms but even then it just might not come up much. Lengthening Shadows is basically the opposite of this and scores more so you can't even use this as a counter to that play.

D: There's an awful lot going on here. A double guard could come in handy in double dodge warbands? Ordered Defense and Patience of the Mountains tech? The stagger seems like a occasional nice to have.

P: Going on guard with gambits can surprise people but overall this is probably pretty niche since your fighters can't have moved or charged yet

This looks... not great for Mr. Skittershank

D: Wow. What a weirdly laid out card. A mutation gambit is new. But at gambit speed, the +1 defense is great for protecting a risky early charge.

P: I think there is some missed templating here. It doesn't say it persists so it would make me think it only lasts one activation but it also doesn't say it lasts until the end of the next activation either so maybe it does persist? if it does persist then this is crazy strong.

That’s a lot of magic scythes for one damage.

D: I like this quite a bit- though there's always the risk in single caster warbands that this will be dead. Still... that's great range. Death decks have huge competition in gambits, though.

P: A long range ping is nice but it only is possible on a vulnerable fighter and that is one too many things to line up in my opinion. I think you generally leave this at home but maybe this is the only time you would want to ping anyway? I'm not sold but could be decent in vamps maybe?

D: Any time you've got a double push, you need to sit up and pay attention. This is restricted in application and has a downside, but quite possibly worth it. I think Krushas might be particularly interested?

P: Solid double push but the stagger could come back to bite you. Almost certainly some solid applications though.

D: Hot. This is unlimited range. You're going to see this *a lot*. It always makes me a tiny bit sad when a warband's unique flavor gets spread around (Despoilers and Reavers have versions of this). (!)

P: Oh my... this has always been amazing for Reavers but felt balanced because reavers are not amazing themselves. Now Mollog gets to go nuts lol. I think fighters that don't mind taking damage will be happy to always have this. Some companions can make use of the second criteria but ultimately you just take this for +2 dice. Calling a R slot for this right now.

D: Super bad. Slightly more likely to heal than damage you, but you have no idea how that's going to happen. (You aren't supposed to take it).

P: No

D: Ooo lala. This is a domain I can get behind, especially in warbands that make multiple moves in an activation (Hexbane, Reapers, etc). A nice fill in for when Eternal Chase rotates out.

P: Solid. Plenty of warbands like this and the domain games continue. It will be interesting to see how much stock domains lose when they are constantly being countered.

Who hasn't wanted to see Hrothgorn choked out once or twice, amirite?

D: Well then. This blocks enemy *and* friendly pushes, and you can be adjacent to any fighter, friendly or enemy, effectively stopping R1 attacks from driving back. This is a beaut for setting up Overhead Smash.

P: Plenty of reasons to want this in play. anything that disrupts pushes is good. Stopping them completely can be back breaking. This combined with center of attention could very easily end games for hold warbands.

D: Or provide them extra safety once they’re where they wanna be.

D: So... if you can get a crowd around someone, there's only a 4% chance you hit three damage, there's a ~30% chance you get nothing. And I believe a ~26% chance of 2 or more damage. That's a lot of math to say... this is a gambler's card, even if you can get the positioning. Don't take it.

P: Only zombies can reliably use this and even then there are better pings. Onto the next pinger!

D: You’re a pinger.

D: Hey! A priest restriction, cool! A fighter's characteristic is just the speed, wounds and defense though right? Attack actions are separate? That really limits the application here.

P: So this disrupts movement reducers aaaand that's about it? does anything play those?

D: Pretty situational. But I've still got that bounty out on the domain deck. The Gorechosen have a ton of them, yes?

P: Eh, it could do something but I think most of the time this doesn't come up

D: The solution to a problem you didn't ever have. Or haven't since Beastgrave. We can finally really stick it to Thundrik's reaction.

P: This card almost does nothing. next

Wait, this isn’t the end of the Redkap, Dibz saga, is it?

D: Can't see taking this outside of Khorne. Really asking for trouble to need to be vulnerable. When Direchasm's damage cards rotate, we might all be scrambling for this kinda thing, though.

P: I think this is best for fighters with low wound counts where putting them down from 2 to 1 is fine, but even then it doesn't feel like a great use of an upgrade slot. Cleave is... okay I guess?

Kainan's just showing off here. If anyone ever figures out how to stagger a skink with Kainan *without* killing it... send Phil an email

D: A buncha caveats here. Might be tasty for Exiled Dead? Staggering to boost other's damage? Course... target needs to be wounded in the first place...

P: I'm having trouble seeing it. a conditional reroll might be fine but it doesn't seem like it will be coming up enough to make this take a slot over a better accuracy boost.

D: Awww, yeah. Whirling Wreckers build here we go. I guess this could have a lot of card draw against hordes? But you'll need to combo with accuracy boosts.

P: Not half bad. It's not very accurate but it can be modified so that isn't a huge issue. even getting one card here is pretty great

You know what else is a tasty snack? Dat Gorehulk!

D: Wow! 4 fury at range 2 is a tasty snack! This is really good.

P: Hello staple weapon for post rotation. Reach 2 accurate attack is very very nice. Anything with grievous is pretty happy about this.

We all agree that Dromm is super weird looking, right?

D: Urm. Hrm. There's just a few folks you can even put this on. Seems too gambly for me.

P: So this is on average just a bit worse than -1 damage on an attack but you had to lose a wound to get it... I don't think kixi ever wants this because he becomes too vulnerable and Dromm might? it would take him out of large range so maybe that is actually good? I kind of doubt it though

Those worms just want front row seats to the gun show

D: Okay, okay, okay. This is kinda crazy, but I can see it. Again, once Direchasm rotates damage boosts like Savage Strength, this stock will go way up.

P: Interesting that this gives a bonus to range 1 & 2 for your fighter and only range 1 for enemy fighters. There is definitely play here. Big fighters or fighters you don't mind losing will definitely like this.

D: Yeah, hold on +1 damage *and* grevious? Get in my suicide reavers, boys!

D: Mmm, we're still waiting for something to interact with Metalith as a keyword. Weirdly whoever this is on can get pushed all over the place. But other folks are restricted. More anti-Starblood Skittish tech. Get it.

P: I have to imagine this will disrupt lots of hold objective play. I like the design space but I'm not yet sure just how impactful it will be.

Between this and the parasites, Gorehulk really needs to have a chat with his dermatologist.

D: These damage bubble deterrents are situationally great, but often dead into R2+. It does occupy the "after a move action" window, so can mess with Hexbane's dogs, Kainan's Reapers and the like.

P: This is okay and a domain. Big fighters can take advantage of likely getting multiple bites at the apple here. Odds are still not amazing.

D: Khorne fighters even read angry. P: I think he’s mad about needing to read at all!

D: The actions on these remain consistently very bad. I don't know if all these maps combined can get you a passive build going that's worth anything, but... maybe. To the Steelhearts! Someone put up the Carlin Janksignal!

P: Don't like this at all. There is not actually a good chance of landing this and since the token needs to be an objective prior to the push it may just not be possible at all

D: This is restricted to moves that aren't part of a superaction, but doesn't say that it can't be used *during* a super action. So if this was on a Ratspike, you could shove a fighter while you were reacting to a friendly Hunter's charge. And it that scenario it's repeatable. Janky but good. Just how we like it at WTH.

P: This probably has some play but I think you generally want your upgrades to be more impactful.

Summary

Get ready for a lot of Corrupted Companion! There is a lot of other utility here in the power cards but nothing that jumps out as obviously to me. A few head scratchers as well, which I think we have all come to expect at this point. Hope to see some of these weirder cards in some mad scientist builds soon enough.

DavySeptember 10, 2022Comment