If you haven’t read Part 1, please check there first for the introduction and discussion of the first CoW ultra-rare!
Next, Broken Covenant. Its usefulness will depend on how many brigades your opponent is running. The cost of discarding an evil card from hand is quite high, actually. You could discard a DAE that is easily recurred by the right hero, such as Razor/Isaiah, Forest Fire/Ezekiel, etc. There are cards that can take advantage of its random discards from deck, such as Wizard, King Amon, Rebellious Spirit, recursion heroes, etc. Pithom can hold it, which is awesome, and Covenant Keepers and Battle Prayer (Wa) can search it out from deck.
Where Broken Covenant will really shine is 50-card T1 decks, and almost any T2 deck. In a 50-card T1 deck, you not only have the best chance of getting this card early, but you also have the highest ratio of LS to non-LS cards in deck – about 1/7, or around 14%. Therefore, if you pay BC’s cost by discarding a random card from deck, you have the highest chance of discarding a LS. If you happen to be a few turns into the game and have drawn a less-than-average number of LS compared to the number of cards you’ve drawn, BC’s chance of hitting a LS goes even higher. Now, BC also has a greater chance of hitting a Dominant in a 50-card T1 deck. You have to gauge the risk and reward for yourself. Second Coming can mitigate this a bit, on the off-chance that you hit SoG. Using BC would be ideal after you play Death of Unrighteous or Suicidal Swine Stampede.
Broken Covenant could also be played for its ability to shuffle your deck. This would help Foretelling Angel in a Daniel deck for sure – if your top card isn’t a Daniel card, use BC to shuffle it. This could also be used in conjunction with underdecking recursion characters, such as James, Leader in Jerusalem, Jude, Ezekiel, Scribe, Demon behind the Idol, Luke, etc. Shuffling will make the recurred cards return much quicker than if left on the bottom of deck.
And of course, if there is a Covenant or GE in play that is causing you fits (Peace, I’m looking at you), you can use BC to snipe that card.
And finally, Second Coming! This one will be game-changing for sure. I agree with Gabe that it will bring more strategy and variety into Dominant play, especially in T1. Some of the potential benefits of using SC instead of NJ off the top of my head:
- Stops the hand clog that waiting for SoG/NJ, or waiting to use them, causes.
- Lets you use SoG more strategically as a LS negate. With the new powerful CoW Lost Souls, plus some that might put the hurt to your deck (Punisher, Hand Discard, etc.), you can be more free to play SoG earlier to negate that LS giving you problems.
- It might not be used as much, but if you are 1 away from winning, SC becomes a second copy of SoG, because it can search your deck for SoG.
- Reduces the “risk” inherent in a deck with both SoG and NJ; if SoG is discarded by Confusion (and the new Confusion is nasty!), or Desecrate the Temple, etc., it costs you 2 rescues. Using SC instead of NJ, a discarded SoG only costs you 1.
- A second discard with AotL. AotL is strictly better than SoG whenever it wins you a rescue, since you also discarded one of your opponent’s ECs. If you run Grapes of Wrath too, that’s a potential 3 discards with Dominants outside the normal initiative process during battle. Couple that with Holy Grail and Jephthah, and that is a lot of territory destruction. AotL/Second Coming becomes way better with the new Wool Fleece, as Wool Fleece stops basically all EC banding, even CBN. However, Grapes/Second Coming works better without Wool Fleece, as you want to hit banding chains with Grapes – either use Gomer/Messenger of Satan/etc. to band to your opponent’s EC and hit that EC with Grapes, or you want to shuffle your opponent’s huge EC banding chain back into deck.
- I might get crucified in the comments for this idea, but stick with me here: In a dedicated Kings of Judah/Solomon’s Temple Priests deck, you might want to use Second Coming as a way to tutor Glory of the Lord if you don’t get any other STemple tutors in your opening hand. It would all depend on your hand; if your 7 cards other than SC are just begging you to have STemple in play, then go get it! SC to Glory to STemple thins your deck 2 cards and gets 2 valuable support cards in play that are very hard to get rid of. With the new Brown support that is coming with CoW, who knows? Maybe giving up a guaranteed rescue later in the game will be worth getting Glory/STemple out early in the game!
What about counters to Second Coming? Hezekiah’s Signet Ring is already basically a staple in any deck these days, and it renders SC useless if not dealt with. Removing cards in discard piles will be stronger – think about cards like Ashtaroth Worship, Sing and Praise, Reverence and Awe (another new CoW card), Philetus, etc. Ironically, any card that could potentially remove your good Dominants in discard pile from the game is also stopped by HSR. So if you plan on running Second Coming, that’s all the more reason to use HSR. Not that you needed more reason to use HSR.
So… That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the 3 URs from CoW. Tune in next time for more random musings on the CoW expansion!
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