Rimewyrm's Bite
Welcome to our rundown of the Rimewyrm’s Bite universal Rivals deck. Make sure you catch our podcast coverage of the release. For everything out with this release window, follow these links:
Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.
Introduction
[D]AVY, [P]HIL, & [B]RIAN
D: Rimewyrms are the spawn of a Ghurian god beast, Fangathrak. Fangathrak is apparently the patron godbeast of ping, ‘cause here we go… There’s a lot of chaotic damage happening throughout this deck. Who was asking for more ping? Was it you?! How dare you.
D: For the record: 5 domains in this deck and . That’s going to be important for evaluating cards going forward. Oh, and 8 (!) gambits that can set up ping-style damage (though much of that is for drive back, and some of that is on your own stuff). Your tolerance for this may vary.
B: Ping degeneracy! This deck stans hard for Force of Frost and decided to pull aggro for it. A despicable amount of pings in this deck.
D: TBD if it’s controllable enough to be a problem. No plot card either, which is, I’m sure, exactly what Championship players wanted- a dump truck full of pings to dump into the meta.
Objectives
D: At first blush this seems terrible. At second blush, this deck makes it a little easier... but still a tall order.
B: Is there a Abasoth's Avalanche in this deck? Ufdah. With new Gitz around this is practically a 3rd end phase at times. Maybe Thricefold's ping builds love this idea.
D: There kinda is, Brian.
D: This also essentially reads: enemy warband is at one fighter left. Can be hard to control- I kinda like the idea of making your opponent worry about this, even if you don't run it. But a tough one, no doubt.
B: I like that this is a non-matchup dependent Conquest/Denial, in the sense that if you brought Denial and faced GSP, good luck. With Corralled Like Sheep you're picking off the odd man. But also just kill all but one fighter is the simplest way lol.
D: That needs a successful scything, a charge through a lethal, or pretty specific power cards. Not a huge fan.
B: Horrifying art. Nice? lol.
Oooh, interesting that your own fighter counts. Huh, I dont hate it. Hard pill to swallow if you're an elite warband without access to scything.
D: Can't mix and match to close this out, which drops it in value. But in a small warband with ranged attacks or high threat range in general, that's potentially pretty reliable.
B: Fairly simple in elite warbands, but caution about your opponent running Toxic Terrors or similar ways of dispensing tokens to your fighters.
D: Eugh. A little too matchup dependent to make the cut on the regular.
B: Yeah not loving this. Niche if you can achieve this reliably. Exiled Dead probably love it.
D: Weird that it could be your own fighter. All five Domains in this deck can score this though, btw.
B: Oh boy. I was instantly on guard by the art as Vexmor is holding Vashtiss' staff, and yup it fits the goal here.
Wild to see another take on Sudden Demise in a certain sense, that is willing to accept your own fighter's sacrifice.
D: There’s a lore-hound right there.
D: I think leaning into this deck makes this not too unreasonable. Even better if you come with a little healing.
B: Oh yeah, Dread Pageant fit right in with this card. Without innate healing this will likely be cut or included with a groan as your best worst option.
D: This also may appeal to horde warbands whose fighters just die instead of hanging around damaged.
D: Hrm. The right power cards really set this up. The Domains last till the end of the round, which is after objective scoring. But otherwise, that's a potentially pretty big ask.
B: Some of the boards will support this. Luckily your opponent wont know your deck(since there is no plot card) and thus wont necessarily play a featureless board to counter. Really wish cover and blocked hexes were included in this. Likely you're relying on power deck.
D: It'll sometimes encourage you to drop Domains inefficiently to trigger this, but I'll generally take the trade of a power card to score a surge.
B: Mirror matches will make this so easy I imagine.
D: Ugh, don’t make me think about mirror matches with this deck.
D: Ooo, harder Cold of the Void. I like that card, maybe more than it deserves, but hordes coming back in Rivals of the Mirrored City and a lack of distractions, drops this to a pretty low value, in my opinion.
B: Hilarious to give two glory for crowding into enemy territory and still keeping distance. Yeah good luck, funny but probably not good.
B: Shiver-Hulud?
D: Kill surge with a caveat that will sometimes be easy and sometimes completely brick the objective. Probably replace if you can.
B: I think I like this. Might learn to hate it.
D: I usually found the opposite (has a move or charge) more appealing because it works with counter-attack style which is often more forgiving.
D: Could be friendly or an enemy fighter if you really want to force the issue.
B: Self damage is nice in a matchup against a warband that doesn't care to stand on objectives. Would rather self-damage than this card be dead in hand.
Gambits
D: So this is a little better than I first thought. Both sides of this are side-agnostic. So either of you can pick a friendly or enemy. But you determine the push direction on both. You're pretty certain to take the damage on your fighter, though. Can pop off your Threatening Rumbles?
B: Don't use it when you have a vulnerable fighter. Or do if you have a fighter you really don't want them to move and the vulnerable fighter is the bait they're happy to take instead. Some fun head games here.
LOVE the art here.
D: Good lord, someone is getting hurt. This is a ton of lethal. Just translating to one damage though, so probably not persisting for long.
B: Holy wowza. Easy use prior to the end phase to score Nowhere to Run.
D: Yeah, if you’re running that card you about have to combo it with this one.
D: Too much random stuff for me! Thematically? sweet. Quote? Choice. Mechanicaly? Pass.
B: Best against Gitz/Hoards, otherwise hard pass.
D: If you can hand out a lot of stagger, (and avoid it yourself) this can potentially generate multiple extra damage over the course of a round. Especially attractive if you're stunning people naturally (Cyreni?)
B: Padpaw and Skabbik's Befoulers love this. I'm getting really tired of ping damage. I feel that Heaving Ground would've been a perfect opportunity to re-implement a new "Mischievous Spirits".
D: (Editor’s note: This is the part in the review where Brian starts to realize just how much gambit damage is in this deck).
D: Did you like to gamble? Cause I heard you like to gamble. Getting close to Shardgale territory here.
B: Since I'm playing the card I should at least have an innate single support, just something!
B: Looking for a win-win case? You're Thricefold Discord and you have "all your friendly fighters are wounded" surge? Arenai bring this to score "In Praise of Khaine"? Idk, this seems dumb.
D: I guess the top end on this is crazy good. I’ve run 50/50 cards in the distant past (Forceful Denial, Daylight Robbery) that were worth it, but didn’t necessarily blow back as hard.
D: Wait, check that duration- last power step in the next round. So dead if you have it Round 3.
This is Fjul-Grimnir’s preferred style of art exhibit.
D: I don't know that Gitz like this deck, like, at all. But this card would be snazzy to lock in a good Whirl. I do like the ping protection too, and appreciate the design that disables it if it would be killing.
B: Feels awfully niche as most pings are used for kills. Why?
D: I thought the same, but that may be trauma-bias. Thinking now, the heavier decks go into ping, the more they have to use them early.
D: So this could be the same fighter twice if you can engineer the set-up.
Uh, this is a non-persisting Domain. Say what?!
B: Why is it always ping damage!?! Why can't we get cool reposition tech, wild magic deck manipulation, push tech, etc.
D: On a re-read, this is actually pretty hard to force your opponent to double down on. You have to choose someone within one of a hazard hex (that’s cover, snare, lethal), but they can pick within one of a hazard or a lethal.
D: I've really come to like card recycling. Combine with Puncturing Ice Shards and the perfect positioning to ping a 4 wound fighter to death. No big deal. That’s magical Christmas fairy land, though.
B: I do like these re-draw mechanics like in Malevolent Masks, they've been nicely limited. Sadly this will see even more ping usage.
D: Just a good ol' ping with some modest upside. Get it. Yeah, actually, this is really good. Better Dark Command. Sorry Championship format.
B: Very solid. More ping, boooooo.
D: Do you want stand-offs? Cause this is how you get stand-offs!
B: Fantastic art!
D: It's Frozen to the Spot with more steps. Either they eat the ping and charge anyways, or they have to pivot their action economy. Stagger Warbands and Brethren of the Bolt love this.
Upgrades
D: I don't know that the rest of the deck at *all* plays into a hold style, but in champs, this is going in hold style decks. Work onto a dangerous feature token and get guarded up.
B: Would love this card in so many hold builds like Rimelocked Relics, why is it here?!
D: I can see scurrying Gitz liking this? They probably hate most of the deck though. Works on out of activation moves.
D: Nine Lives cries tears of jealousy. Great tech card, especially in champs, but also in this deck.
P: Get out of here wizards, I've got my fancy boots on!
B: Finally, less ping!!
D: Whoa! Create a defensive damage bubble after charging? This affects friends too, though, FYI.
B: I feel like this deck just wants to be the most loathed deck by the community. Danger zone defence, but lots of ranged fighters nowadays won't care one bit.
D: I guess this also helps set up Nowhere to Run. You basically turn a fighter into a mobile choke point.
D: Oh man, Rippa loves. Hard to hit or defensive teched fighters can really benefit. If Ephilim ever stops taking Force of Frost, this is a great one to keep the boss healthy.
B: Very solid. Love the large fighter caveat.
D: Well, now there's incentive to run multiple Domains!
B: Oh dang, that's awesome fun!
D: I’m not generally in love with Gorechosen’s Domains, but this would definitely raise their value.
D: See above. Again, five domains in here. Most times free push at the end of the round? Hell yeah.
B: So in most cases it's at least Quickening Grieves. Yes please. But what hold warband likes the rest of this ping madness deck? I'm not too sure yet.
D: Well, most Domain’s are expiring at the end of the round, not the action phase, so this won’t help with End Phase positioning. But it will help with setting up your next round? And that’s setting aside any Domain cycling.
D: Again, some tech for warbands that want to hold in enemy territory, but the rest of the deck isn't too crazy about that.
B: This feels disjointed, I don't get it.
D: I can hear AC/DC's Brian Johnson now.
D: Super random, especially for a full action to use. A scatter four into a crowd is best case scenario, but still pretty out of control.
B: As a Snirk enjoyer, I cannot condone this as a wise choice. Snirk is usually a desperate move or a stall tactic.
D: Lovely. Lovely indeed. Warbands with damage reduction otherwise can stack for really nasty stuff.
B: There's been a lot of damage 1 attack actions on fighter cards since Stab Ladz, this feels cruel to them and similar fighter profiles.
D: Range unlimited? Bring Domains from this or elsewhere? Are Dromm getting down on this action? For +1 dice, I'm thinking maybe so...
B: Wow. I thought we were pinging, then holding, now every Mollog/beefy fighter wants this accuracy.
Summary
D: Potentially very polarizing. I wish we could have found a way to play some of these domain games without all the extra ping damage. Play testing will help determine if the random and chaotic nature of some of these will keep this from getting too crazy. In Nemesis, it may be that it’s too hard to dip lightly into the deck given that man of the objectives are looking for in-deck power card support. Some early candidates for pairing could be Gorechosen, certainly. Perhaps Shadeborn would enjoy the extra splash of damage to set up inspires? And any decks that enjoy some resistance to ping, like Mad Mob or perhaps Crimson Court. This is the one that we had the hardest time getting our head arund, so looking forward to seeing what the community does with it. Okay… we’re mostly looking forward to that.