So finally we've reached the 9 mana collection, and its almost the end of the mana range. There will be less cards and it will go down further in the following mana. We seldom use 9 mana cards and maybe limit the use on only several recognized cards. Not only because its rare to have battle with very high-mana cap (or even 99 mana cap), but also as we will see, the already few number of cards are limited further with by the number of Legendary type. So how strong and how useful is 9 mana cards? We will check in the next section!
List of Cards
So far there are only 22 cards with 9 mana which available for Modern battle. format. Although its few, its already a great addition coming from the Riftwatchers and Soulbound editions. Half of the collection made of melee cards, while a quarter are ranged cards, and the rest are magic cards. Definitely Non-Attack type will no longer be available for further mana collection. There's a good balance between all attack types, although the number might not enough to encompass all attack types for all Splinter faction.
As mentioned previously, Legendary type started to increase again in number. Epic also follow Legendary, which combined will make half of the collection. Meanwhile the remaining half are made of Rare and Normal type. Magic cards still become a luxury cards, while ranged and melee cards are more affordable.
Magic Card
Magic cards started to put more attention into health. Almost all cards stated with minimum of 9 health. There's quite number of health growth even though there's limited room for progression steps. Then again the higher mana proof to bring more diminished return. The health also supported with the armor aspect, with a great ratio of 2 armored cards (Runemancer Atuat and Djinn Muirat) to a total of 5 magic cards. Speed are not the point of attention having started with decent 2 speed and reached 3 speed the highest. Damage looks very much uniform with all starting at 2 damage and grow into 3 damage. The only exception might be Soriel The Bale where the damage are powered-up by the Double Strike ability. Magic cards as always draw strength from its ability. Mostly gained at least 2 new abilities (except Nerissa Tridawn).
My verdict for this group:
- There's still limited growth even for a 9 mana cards. Mycelic Slipspawn affected by a single drawbacks. And then the Legendary type, Sorriel The Bale gained only 3 growth, but Djinn Muirat gained incredible growth of 5 in total.
- Most of the cards have an almost equal combined parameter (total of health, armor, speed, damage). Nerissa Tridawn have the highest total value, which seemed true since its a raw card without any abilities. Sorriel The Bale are the weakest among others, but this should be offset by Double Strike which double its damage.
- Forcefield is the most frequently found abilities, available on 3 cards in total. Last Stand is a very rare abilities and very dangerous, so its valuable as it make Runemancer Atuat far even more powerful. Other than that, buff/debuff abilities become less impactful because the more diminishing effect it have toward cards with high parameter.
Ranged Card
The 9 mana ranged card have slight increase in health and thicker armor compared to the 8 mana ranged card. Speed looks standard and not particularly exceptional, except for Runic Skyclaw which already start with 6 speed. Ranged damage looks more uniform, the entire card started at with 3 damage and reach 5 damage. Unfortunately there seemed to be less number of abilities.
My verdict for this group:
- We still don't see much different in growth potential if compared with lesser mana cards. There's still several growth drawbacks although limited to single drawbacks on Normal and Rare type. Damage and Abilities are the main growth gained. No dual growth could be seen at all.
- The combined parameter looks very high which mainly due to the high ranged damage. Poseidon have the lowest combined parameter, which is a typical pattern on a cards with Blast abilities (Prismologist and Countes Sinash also have lower parameter among ranged cards with 8 mana).
Melee Card
The 9 mana melee cards looks almost as strong as the 8 mana cards. There's also a lot of room for growth potential. Health looks a bit uneven, since several cards reached only 7 health, while the rest beyond 10 health. There's also less card with armor aspect, and not particularly much in value. Speed looks varies between a low 1 speed to a high 4 speed. The max level bring most of the cards cards to reach 4 speed. The melee damage are beyond expectation, most cards will reached 5 melee damage, with several reach into 6 melee damage. The number of abilities looks fair at around 3 abilities for each cards.
My verdict for this group:
- There's less drawbacks in growth and then there's more number of dual growth scattered among the cards. Legionnaire Alvar, Torhilo The Frozen, and Forgotten One each gained at least 2 dual growths, equalizing them similar to progression step of a Rare type cards. Again the growth are focused on health and abilities.
- The Vigilator and Kulu Mastermind are both have the lowest combined parameter. While the low parameter of The Vigilator could be attributable to the Double Strike ability, Kulu Mastermind seemed more questionable since there no particular abilities which unique for this cards.
- There's no particular unique abilities, except of course Last Stand which possessed by Torhilo The Frozen.
Final Words
Although 9 mana collection not so much stronger or at least equal to 8 mana collection, this collection have far stronger damage output. Lesser health, armor, and defensive abilities might prompt players from using this cards as `Tanker` type. But clearly the high damage could become a powerful firepower to breakdown enemies defense. But care must be taken against opponent which deployed Forcefield. The good side, this is the highest mana cards which would not affected by Giant Killer.