I'm excited that the new set cards have been revealed. If you scroll down a bit at this link, you can look at each one in detail:
https://godsunchained.com/expansions/set-band-of-the-wolf
(Also the source of any/all images.)
Firstly, I don't see any insane power creep, which is a big positive. Instead, it looks like they have decided to use this set to make some tribal decks more viable (olympians, amazons, and even structure magic). Of course there's also the new keyword: Ally. No one knows what it means, but it's provocative! It gets the people going!
So without further ado, let's jump in.
So what's this about? My best guess is that it's a spin on the Roar keyword. When a card with "Ally" is on the board, the effect will trigger when you play another creature from the same tribe. This occurs once.
Why do I think this? Let's look at some cards:
So, we know from the Rabbit that this effect can go off when you summon another creature that meets the Ally requirements. Master of the Mill makes it pretty clear that Ally happens only on a subsequent card play. That's why this card uses both Roar and Ally. Shrike would simply be OP if Ally can occur more than once. Especially given that's hidden, making at least 2 activations likely. That just about guarantees it's a 1x effect.
Pretty cool new keyword!
Olympians are getting lots of love. I might actually be able to play my Flame-Touched Paladin again!
Mentioning here, but also a solid card for Olympian Light. If you can play 2 1 drop olympians on turn one, you've got a better Hog. Putting olympians in your void combos with other cards.
OK remember when I said no power creep? This one pushes the limit. I think it's OK because the creature is chosen randomly, but A 5 mana 4/6 blitzer by itself is great. At least being leggy means it can only be 1x. Great card.
Nethers is the tribe they are helping for Deception. The idea would be that the Lantern can cycle the new nether creatures to take cards from your opponent or take control of creatures (hopefully trading them into your opponent's remaining creatures).
It doesn't look that strong to me, but never forget that Demos are nethers. In fact, Deception has quite a few nether-friendly cards that could help make aggro nethers or control a thing.
Speaking of Aggro Nethers and Shadow Cats, how about this guy?
Shadow cats hit 2x per turn. You'll actually have to be careful not to draw too many cards.
A beefed up Canopy Sniper mechanic. Importantly, can go face. The traditional amazon mechanic was to get a wide board, buff, and then kill your opponent. This card helps that play style by not being completely dead on a small board like Arkmonian would be. It's a 4/4 creature and its ability can go face making it a solid finisher.
Cool card! Can be easily blight bombed, but it completely destroys a relic when played which gives it some value even in that case (think zombies). This set has a lot of strength-heavy cards (e.g. 3/2), so we may find magic running more 1-mana, 2-damage cards. That would allow them to clear Eiko for 3 mana (GP + the card). So this card definitely has some bad matchups, but being able to go face (past frontliners) has to be worth something, right?
Assassin's Aim anyone?
Poor man's Demo. I've got mixed feelings on this one. Giving more neutral healing makes control Magic/Deception stronger. On the other hand, Deception is already running Demos + Wither (and the sleep is better). This also gives F2P players a better option at 7. It's much worse than a Demo, so Genesis players can rest easy.
Some fun new cards for Light.
Not sure how strong this will be (it's very expensive), but note that it doesn't lose durability. Starting at 4 means that a lot of the usual relic hate won't remove it. Finally, the roar gives it an immediate impact to make up for the high cost.
It could be just what healing light was looking for, and even if not, Sern would love it.
Potentially a very fun card for aggro light. Importantly, though, summoning this way won't trigger roar effects. So you're looking to summon things like.
I'll just mention it here. I could easily be proven wrong here, but I just don't see it. Structure magic can be a fun meme deck, but structures in general are really bad.
Those are the highlights for me. I'm sure as the community mulls things over, people will discover interactions I haven't spotted. Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! We'll have to see how the set actually plays, but in general, I'm happy to see some love being given to tribal synergies outside the current meta.
