Creature Spotlight: Battle for Arazineth
Battle for Arazineth - the first Invasion TCG set - is dominated by powerful creatures, but when you're building your deck, it can be tough to figure out the right ones to form a strategy around... and how they all work together. There are so many good options, but only 30 spaces!
In today's blog post, Dave walks us through his in-depth review of four of the most popular creatures from Battle for Arazineth, though the full range of creatures is seeing competitive play!
Hurtheri, The Fire
Where else would I start other than Hutheri, The Fire? As the only creature in the set that rolls more than one dice when it attacks, it's quite rightly seen as one of the most powerful creatures in the set.
Aggressive decks that look to hit for splashy amounts of damage is a natural home, as rolling two dice instead of one puts you ahead of the curve of damage you'd normally be on - one creature, one dice is the norm!
Sun Dragon is worth a mention here as a good combo play. Sun Dragon's card effect draws you a card when you roll five or more dice in your attack step, and Hutheri, The Fire will help you get to the five dice mark at a faster rate than any other creature.
Control players are also starting to find space in their decks for Hutheri, The Fire too. Control decks are great at keeping an opponent pinned down, but they usually struggle to close out games with damage before a more aggressive strategy spots an opening to win. Adding copies of Hutheri, The Fire to a control deck might just give it enough of a boost in potential damage to start taking the win against aggressive decks.
Ajuna, The Seeker
Ajuna, The Seeker's card effect means you can play your most powerful spells and creatures over and over again, so it's no surprise to see a full playset in pretty much every deck!
Whether you want to be playing Fatal Blow to kill off your opponent's creatures each turn, or you want to finish the game with Hutheri's Rage, Ajuna, The Seeker lets you do it by returning the already played cards to your hand after it's summoned.
The ability to reuse key cards to help you execute your strategy not only faster but more consistently will help you increase your chance of winning the game. And because it's card effect targets any card in your graveyard, not just a specific type of card, it's incredibly versatile.
Whatever strategy you're trying to pull off, Ajuna, The Seeker is likely to be a big part of it because it's such a powerful card!
Ethella, The Brave
In decks of just 30 cards, you'll find yourself going through your deck pretty quickly in a typical game. If you can increase the pace you go through your deck, you're in with a shot of building up your board position before your opponent does and sneaking in with an early win.
When Ethella, The Brave is played, it's card effect means you draw a card from your deck. You can't attack with it next turn, but you're forced to send Ethella, The Brave to the graveyard and then draw another card. Because it can't attack, it's not an offensive weapon, but it's a great tool at helping you dig through your deck for the cards that will help you win the game.
In a set filled with creatures with big, splashy card effects, it could be easy to overlook something like Ethella, The Brave, but it's worth taking a second look to try and figure out if it can help you up your win percentage!
Grathen, Prince of Men
Grathen, Prince Of Men is a massively popular creature. It's seeing a lot of play across a wide range of different deck styles, but its natural home is a control-focused deck. In control decks, it's very much an all-star!
When Grathen, Prince Of Men is played, it can destroy any card in play, which is a very powerful effect, especially if you can take out one of your opponent's best creatures. Interestingly, Grathen, Prince Of Men can destroy itself with its own effect, but there's no pay off for that at the moment... but watch this space in future sets!
Decks that are more aggressive rather than controlling are starting to try and work out how they can find room in their deck lists for a copy or two of Grathen, Prince Of Men. That's so that when they go up against another aggressive deck, they have a way of taking out one of their opponent's key creatures while using things like Countermand and Fatal Blow to protect their own.