Voidcursed Thralls
Welcome to our rundown of the new Voidcursed Thralls universal Rivals deck. Make sure you catch our podcast coverage and blogs. For everything out with this release window, follow these links:
Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.
First Impressions
[D]AVY, [B]RIAN, & [S]KYLER
S: Our fourth universal plot card deck. Voidcursed Thralls may contain the most cohesive, self-contained game plan for a universal Rivals deck to date. And yet, has also struck a balance that is sure to see this deck finding a home in Rivals, Nemesis, and Championship play. Prepare yourself for a guided journey through the journal entries of one Tynis von Artzen, a scholar on the edge of eerie discovery.
B: Glorious. A full art card.
S: Yeah, it’s rad. Sets that theme stage. More of these please!
S: A fascinating start and a lot to digest! Defining what it means to be Voidcursed and guaranteeing you’ll have at least one friendly Voidcursed fighter going into each round. A few initial notes:
This plot doesn’t care how many enemy fighters are currently Voidcursed.
Voidcursed fighters lose access to on-card actions and Range 3+ attacks. Spicy!
Voidcursed fighters cannot use an action to go on Guard but already have the benefit of not being able to be driven back.
With a set Defence characteristic this could be a benefit (to a 1 Dodge fighter), a non event, or a detriment.
D: On my first pass through I forgot several of the caveats of being Voidcursed. This is the meatiest plot card we've ever seen.
S: Meat enough to toss onto that deckbuilding grill and cook to a well-tuned, juicy masterpiece. An exercise awaits in figuring out precisely how many card inclusions are needed to get this up to desired temperature for your Nemesis and Championship connoisseurs.
He's known as Obryn the Bold, not Obryn the Observant.
S: Cards that ask you to manage the position of all enemy fighters are generally challenging, especially when playing best of three. In that same vein, I don't see Siegebreakers from Fearsome Fortress played much and this is Siegebreakers with extra steps.
D: Even tougher then Siegebreakers positionally, since an enemy in neutral territory will burn you for this too.
S: Our Two-Glory Surge for this deck. Have you noticed that every universal Rivals deck since the start of Gnarlwood includes one of these? This one is a strong consideration for focused Voidcursed builds and I really like that about it.
S: Ope. Fearsome Fortress does not have its own two glory Surge. Well 6/7 decks so far then!
D: Mmmm. If you lean hard into this deck, this gets pretty tempting.
S: Perfectly fine kill Surge.
D: Notice that it doesn't have to be a *friendly* Voidcursed fighter's attack action. So you can put it on an enemy bruiser like, say... Klaq-Troq? Thanks art!
S: Ohhh! That definitely adds a fun layer to it. Good catch!
S: Cool card! In most cases you'll want to ensure you can reliably get friendly Voidcursed online for this to be worthwhile. Then it gets better the faster you can pull that off. For those with access to free repeatable Move actions though, this could be a breeze.
D: I mean... everyone's got repeatable move actions now, but that's low efficiency normally. You could still make headway towards other things if you had someone like the Sepulchral Warden. Or Gitz/Exiled Dead/Reapers.
S: Making one of Hexbane's dogs Voidcursed at the start leapt to mind. Or Mannok ordering a minion to run circles around him, haha.
You're not gonna use that crossbow, are you Hroth? There's a plot card in play!
S: Succeed an attack from an objective as a non-beast fighter. Is this more or less difficult than a kill Surge? Both look for a successful attack, but here positioning matters as well. Either way, I like it!
D: Voidcursed not being driven back make it more likely that you can stay on an objective once there to score it. Charging onto an objective makes this pretty doable, but Voidcursed not being able to make Range 3+ attacks limits some of the first warbands that came to mind for this sort of objective.
Thrummm
S: Love this as a goal card for Voidcursed builds. Really dig the art too.
D: Four glory? I can work with that. Rad art!
S: Great surge. Bring an enemy fighter into the game plan. You'll need to bring card support of course.
D: Whoa! Yeah, if you're leaning into this deck's jam, then totally great.
S: This cards seems strong! I like the request of the player here. Skews towards higher count warbands. You’ll likely already have one territory meeting this condition naturally. Then there’s only a single hex between a fighter helping you jockey for either no man’s land or the neighboring territory for your second one.
D: If this wasn't locked behind the plot card, I think this would find it's way into a number of Champs decks.
S: Maybe it’s the Voidcurse getting to me, but this deck has me strongly considering plotting into it for some Champs experimentation. Come Tynis, towards madness together we descend.
S: Narratively, I love this card. From scoring condition to name, art to flavor text. Unfortunately I don’t think you’re scoring this in R1 majority of the time, so might be too slow to make the cut.
D: Need a lotta casualties or a lot of gambit support.
S: Extremely reliable. Exactly what you want from a 1 Glory End Phase. You can score this off your Voidcursed or theirs, and you’ll have at least one at the start of each round from your Plot Card
D: Yeah, rock solid. Tough to stop.
S: Probably not scoring this R1, but for 2 Glory this seems like a slot in for Voidcursed builds.
D: Yeah. I like it in the deck. Gives some disincentive against the enemy killing your Voidcursed.
S: Another reliable 1 Glory End Phase. Give Mollog what he wants, a cozy spot in your objective deck.
S: Excellent gambit. Can be used as a closer or Charge retreat.
D: We'll see this as a theme. Very powerful gambits... if you can line them up with voidcursed.
S: Wow! Make that two excellent gambits. With a little prep, this has flexibility to be a Distraction or a Sidestep.
D: Oh man. Earth Shakes on Voidcursed is so hot.
Thrummm
S: Gorgeous art. Potentially explosive effect. You have a 1/3 chance to roll Focus with each roll.
D: Love that art. You're only taking this is if you're going *all in* on this deck. That's a big radius and you're going to want to catch as many enemies as possible when you trigger it.
S: That window means you aren't surviving this attack, but it also means no drive back will occur before you reshape those around you. Discourages Range 1 attacks and supporting fighters. Provides some hidden game plan fuel for Voidcursed builds. Another solid option for the Voidcursed puzzle.
D: Doesn't even have to target one of your *Voidcursed* fighters!
S: Dig that. The reaction also opens way up in multiplayer, for those dozens of you out there throwing down at player counts of 3+.
S: Interesting value proposition here. Game plan fuel, yes. Curious though, could we see this taken simply to give out "no drive back" for HO support?
D: Didn't think of it that way. Can use it to deny enemies with range 3+ attack actions from using that part of their card.
S: Or denying Deintalos his dance. Mind your footing!
D: ERMEGERD
S: Nice defensive boost if you’re only focused on turning your own fighters into Voidcursed, otherwise you’re making your targets harder to kill.
S: Final Say can block this! That card is in my brain like a voidcurse. Anytime I see Choose on a Gambit, it immediately hijacks my thought process.
S: Alright, putting my personal voidcurse aside, if you've ever been hit by Dark Command after a Charge or otherwise then you know how good this card is. But Final Say can't block Dark Command... thrummm.
S: Second domain. +2 movement with no limitation against charging is pretty crazy, especially when it can work for you in subsequent activations. As with all domains, you want to be careful of when your opponent can benefit from it as well.
D: If you have multiples domains in hand, I suppose you could play them in an order that minimizes your opponent’s benefits while maximizing your own…
S: Wow wow wow. This card just reads “fun”. Big fan. Seriously, look at it! Do you want to have fun? This is how to have fun.
D: There are going to be some pretty amazing moments with this one.
S: Well, that’s what I get for saying all domains provide their benefits to both players. This card is nearly all upside. Take this card. It being a domain is the only falter.
D: No range limitations, but with the Voidcursed restrictions, this is effectively for Range 1 & 2. Real solid. Works with the previous gambit too!
S: Sometimes this is all you need to force a Charge or a gambit out of your opponent.
D: Kind of some weird limitations on this one.
S: I like how a supporting friendly fighter can be the fighter you push away from. That feels potentially useful. You could also Barge a single target, then use this to push away from them since you don't get a shot at drive back there.
D: Oo, I like that. Though I suppose you won’t be barging with Voidcursed.
S: This card jumps out at me quite a bit. First, that healing trigger is nuts! Second, it’s restricted to Voidcursed fighters. Love that.
D: Not restricted away from large fighters? Well, well, well.
S: 3/3 on reaction based upgrades so far. This is a hard one to gauge from a power level. It’s great that it triggers before success is even factored, but a Charge token is not as punishing as it once was. Still I think this certainly has play.
D: It'd be pretty high on my list to swap out in constructed formats, though it is situationally powerful.
S: Agreed.
S: 4/4. Holy smokes. “After another fighter’s…” That window is fantastic. The ability is fantastic. This card slaps.
D: Yeah, hard not to find a way for a free move to come in handy. Big likes.
Jagathra, no! Run!
S: 5/5. Refashioned from our last card. Less rigid landing criteria. This card slaps too!
D: Yeah, I liked that one a lot, and like this one even more so.
S: Singularly breaking the reaction streak. I want to love this card but I’m not seeing anything that says your opponent cannot give this to a fighter that is already Voidcursed. Otherwise it’s a really fun idea and I hope it makes for some great moments!
D: In a pinch, give it to one of your own dudes. I've been waiting for the release that allowed upgrades to be played on opposing fighters.
S: Good call out! Overlooked that on first read. You *can* pick an opponent. Don't have to.
S: Dig the flexibility here. Game plan fuel if you need it or Grievous if you don't.
D: Yeah, I like the design of modular cards with modest options but decent flexibility.
S: 6/8. Most of these reaction windows aren't even stepping on each other’s toes, so that alone is cool to see.
S: Card support like Thrallmaker is great to see as an option for leaning into keyword builds, even if it doesn’t offer much outside of those builds. Ironically, you can use Range 3+ attacks to deliver this.
D: Riiiiight. Put it on someone who *isn't* Voidcursed to hand out the curse from afar!
S: When you’re only on one shield, attacks are going to sneak through. Damage mitigation can go a long way there.
D: In the style of those hot gambits, here's a hot upgrade restricted to Voidcursed.
S: 7/10. One last reaction to take us home. And what a fun one to end on! This would obviously be a bummer to draw in Round 3 and that alone will see it cut from a lot of decks, but a teleport without a token cost is pretty crazy!
D: As a rule, the cards that only work at the start of a round are *bad* mm'kay? But this is a pretty boss effect.
D: That's some real keyword soup there, too.
S: Right? No aid for minions, beasts, wizards, & priests until they join the club and grab another keyword.
Summary
D: I think we see a few likely ways to play this. There’s the modest, make a powerful fighter Voidcursed and couple that with powerful gambits. There’s using the Voidcursed status to disrupt what opposing fighters can do and how they defend. And there’s the all-in, going for the goal cards route. Maybe others? Can’t wait to see the mad scientists get their Tynis von Artzen on with this one.