Legends of Norrath Ethernauts card preview: Vicious Assault
We announced the upcoming expansion to Legends of Norrath just a little less than two weeks ago. Already the release date for the new card set is approaching, and for the next few weeks we'll be offering up a preview-card-a-week to familiarize you with the expansion's new game elements. The art for the new set meets the standard set by previous expansions, and this time around we'll be trying to include comments from card designers along with the actual art itself.
Today we're previewing 'Vicious Assault', an early-to-midgame ability that starts an avatar-on-avatar combat. SOE Denver's Evan Lorentz walks us through the card and its use; despite the ability itself being fairly straightforward, the new set offers up some different takes on tried-and-true LoN strategies.
Read on below the cut for the full card art and Lorentz's take.
Vicious Assault
by Evan "Heimlich" Lorentz, Game Designer at SOE-Denver
Ethernauts is a set in which faction matters, where going light or shadow plays a very important role. Yet every Legends of Norrath expansion includes many smaller themes, perhaps less flashy, but just as interesting for the right deck. In Ethernauts, one of these themes is your hand itself, and how many cards you're holding onto.
There are quite a few ways to begin an avatar-vs.-avatar combat, but this way packs a serious punch. You begin a Vicious Assault already leading your opponent in the combat by the number of cards in your hand. Mind you, that's not counting Vicious Assault itself – you've played it already by the time you're counting cards in your hand. Still, this can easily amount to a very large attack bonus if you play your cards right.
...or don't play them, as it were. Ethernauts various "card counters" perform most strongly when you're hording cards. Because of this, the typical approach of stocking your deck with the least expensive cards possible might not be the best for these kinds of decks. Sure, in one turn you can play several cheap units and free tactics. But soon you'll find your hand nearly empty, and cards like Vicious Assault become a lot less impressive. You'll also want to consider the order in which you play your cards a bit more than you have before.
This boost to Scout attack strategies is just one of many "card counters" in the set. You'll find them for every archetype and faction, made to support a variety of strategies. Look for more of them here, leading up to the Ethernauts release.
