Gods Unchained's newest expansion, Fallen Age, is coming out on February 18 and introduces 56 new cards designed to to shake up the meta and add support for old archetypes.
With it comes two new mechanics: Wither and Raid. Cards with wither are obliterated at the end of the owner's turn, providing you with a temporary resource or disrupting your opponent by giving wither to cards in their hand. Raid is triggered when a second card is played during your turn, this can be triggered if the Raid card is the second card played. This mechanic incentivizes saving cheap cards to play right with your raid card to trigger the raid effect immediately.
The tiers below are based on how impactful I believe each card will be in the meta. The stronger the card and the more decks it can fit into, the higher its tier. I’ve also considered the strength of the decks the card supports. While I might be undervaluing Raid for repeated uses, most Raid cards lack protection, so I don’t expect them to survive long.
Here’s how I rank the relevant decks in the current ranked meta:
Easy inclusion in multiple decks or mainstays in top meta decks.
Gerhardt, Shadow Ranger - He is above curve with a 3m 3/4 body and hidden. It is easy to use raid since he isn't expensive and deception has lots of cheap spells (e.g. Dark Knives, Pocket Pair, or Stoneskin Poison) to double up on. Being hidden also makes it likely to be able to use raid on the following turn. He easily goes in multiple decks like hidden rush deception, mayday, or control to double on buffs, draw, or removal.
Tears of the Mountain - Excellent removal, especially since War has several 1-mana AoE spells. More flexible than Carnage Sweep and Reckless Dive, it slots into Control War or Carvings.
Magma Dancer - A 3-mana 5/1 with Protected is comparable to Raid Reveller and can have an immediate impact with an easy condition. Primarily for Aggro War, but could see play in any deck with cheap cards.
Knives Out - A versatile card for creature-based Deception decks. Offers two pings and a creature buff, allowing for favorable trades or face damage.
Mainstays in semi-meta decks, flex slots in top-tier decks, or cards with potential in multiple decks.
Dro, Ruin Raider - An extra Undertow Striker for atlanteans, it is kind of niche outside of that. You can't expect Dro to live a turn so you want to use raid the turn you play him. The play line is Dro, 1 drop, get a 2mana or less spell and play it immediately. So you want cheap creatures and cheap spells to use immediately, which only fits atlanteans currently.
Sian the Forsaken - Solid stats as a 3-mana 2/2 with Protected, growing to a 4/4. Excels in decks with multiple Protected creatures, but only fits in Aggro Light.
Hall of the Chosen - Interesting addition to aggro light with a couple of Chosen One cards. Pack Priest choosing the Chosen One depending on the matchup: Vexing Vicar is generally good, Viking Axewoman if you need blitz, or Lowborn Knight for frontline. Fill your hand with Call of the Light and other acolyte generators, then use Hall to transform your hand, and spam board with your Chosen One.
Remnant Thrall - Good stats 4m for 2 frontlines 3/3s with a easy conditional. War has good relics and creatures that give you a relic: Blade of Styx, Dragonfang, Dragonshard Plate, Leviathan Hunter, or Valka's Captain. Could go into aggro war or dragon war.
Lowborn Knight - Armor and Protected make this card incredibly strong, especially with buffs. A must-include in Aggro Light.
Great Dragon Hunter- A decent card with a meta-dependent ceiling. Its playability hinges on the number of viable targets in the meta.
Demolishing Stomp - Solid removal with card draw on an easy condition. A natural fit for Dragon War.
Crater Kincaller - A scaling 1-drop with an easy condition. Playing Kincaller into a 1-drop to trigger Raid and buff itself results in a 2/3 on turn 1. Viable in Aggro War and Dragon War.
Good cards in semi-meta decks or flex options in meta decks.
Dragonshard Plate - This could be useful in dragon war, it can give your god up to 20 extra health which is useful against aggro or combo. However, it’s slow and low-impact, needing to be played early to be effective.
Wasteland Lawbringer - Essentially Censure on a 2/4 body. Play him, use the Edict, and trigger Raid for a second Edict. Could see play in Aggro Light or Olympian Light.
Thanakris Wayfarer - Multiple bodies to use for anubians and draws a card eventually.
Eternal Rest - Reminds me a little of Necroscepter summoning guys every turn and getting value. It needs an appropriate deck but I see potential for it in anbuians or perhaps a new aggro death deck.
Elixir-head - Vanilla stats with the potential for two pings. Could fit into Guild Deception, though it might be too expensive for the deck.
Mantic Shuttle - A sticky 3-drop with some upside. Atlanteans already have strong 3-drops, but this could find a niche.
Earthmover - A big wall for slow decks, only useful against Aggro. Could fit into Control War or slow Dragon War decks.
Sapless Cactid - Another pinger for Anubians, though weaker than Priest of Takhat or Raving Necromancer.
Manastarved Scavenger - Mediocre 2/2 that is primarily to be repeatedly summoned as a 3/3 frontline that protects your other anubians.
Fae Defector - Easy conditional pinger. Amazon has a lot of cheap cards to trigger raid. I don't expect Defector to ever live more than a turn.
Gladeguard Assault - Good flexiblity to clear board or push damage. It has a low floor and mid ceiling dealing 1 to 4 damage for 2 mana.
Wasteland Justiciar - A solid body and is a relevant tech card so could see a potential slot in any deck. It hits a lot of different things: Dreads, generated Coronets, That Which Feeds Us, Bombs, Candy Links, Jason legendaries, Werewolfs etc.
Played in non-meta decks or fringe options in meta decks.
Cressida, the Anomalous - Good in midrange nature, has potential for big stats, and has minor void hate. You want to run it in a deck with big bodies since you want to reliably have her live. I don't think wild nature is gonna see play though.
Reef Lurker - A 4/2 that draws a card and sometimes cheat on mana out looks good but not sure if it is worth it. Could be useful with Dreadtouch cards for immediate use. Might find use in wild nature.
Whiteland Wanderer - Vanilla stats with an easy upside. Might find use in wild nature.
Serpent Oil Salesman - Decent body, it can buff shiv god power or stack buffs on Makeshift Shiv. One Salesman buffs turns Makeshift Shiv into 10 damage over time. Has potential in aggro decks.
Dismantling Truth - Comparable to Elderyth Blast as 2-mana removal with a conditional upside. Truth is less reliable and as a spell messes up atlantean synergies.
Scavenged Contraption - Potential for 12 damage in an aggro deck.
Deathwatch Herald - Good stats, a bit difficult to remove. 5 mana is slow for what current anubian decks want.
Manastarved Impling - Decent card but not sure what deck wants to find room for it. Control decks care about their health and have better removal. Most aggro decks are tribal. Perhaps aggro war or nether death.
Werewolf Sheriff - A solid body with conditional removal. A little expensive for aggro light.
Enclave Crusader - Good for going wide in aggro light.
Aberrant Augur - It has potential. You can cheat out a big guy and use shines to reset the stats or get the guy in the void for Cressida.
Draka Wasterider - A sticky card with healing and reach. Versatile but not exceptional, making it a niche pick for decks
Anoint in Ashes - 1m to recur a creature could find a use.
Unlikely to see play.
Adusa, Scalecult Survivor - Highly situational, only useful if the opponent is above 15 health or relies on healing. Its afterlife can be bypassed with transform or obliterate effects. Aggro decks will likely have already reduced the opponent’s health below 15 by 6 mana, and control decks don’t care about health totals. The only decks that rely on healing are Heal Light, and Control Nature which use regression to avoid the afterlife or just use Winter's Bounty after to raise their max health to 40.
Scrappy, Wasteland Hydra - A strong card, but by 8 mana, games against Aggro are usually over, and it doesn’t do much against Control.
Black Isle Heir - Outclassed by better 7-mana options and unlikely to have 7+ cards in hand when played.
Remnant Looter - Unlikely to see play due to its niche role and lack of board impact. Ideally, you’d want to save it until 6 mana to trigger Raid immediately, but this doesn’t align with most deck strategies.
Oni Empath - On par with Oni Spellsword, but Magic lacks a creature-based meta deck.
Wild Runeasp - Difficult to trigger Raid in ramp decks. Outclassed by Fanatic of Khnum or Runed Asp.
Drywood Vermin - Potential scaler. Too RNG-dependent and often trades poorly.
Armorless lurker - A potential buff target but outclassed by Felid Assassin for trading or Shadow of Lethenon for damage.
Plaster Saint - Doesn’t fit into any deck. Aggro decks generate the most favor but want finishers at 5 mana.
Bombardment - A situational board wipe or a 4-mana draw 1. Too inconsistent to rely on, making it a weak choice in most decks.
Dust Collector - Too slow and fragile. Even if it does survive, it might hit a irrelevant card.
Lingering Toxin - Situational buff and removal. Very few situations where you want those effects together.
Mausoleum Rites - Requires too much setup for middling payoff.
Carpet Raider - Starts understatted and takes too much work to grow.
Exile Chief - Too expensive and has no immediate impact.
Kinetic Vespid - Too squishy.
Magus of the New Age - Spell boost is better on cheaper creatures.
Applied Theory - Too RNG-dependent and mana-intensive. Pure generation cards are rarely played either.
Withering Draught - 2 mana for little to no impact often. Aggro decks are going to play out the withered card, it is likely to hit removal against control, and is not likely to land on a combo card.
