Two weeks to go before we finally unbox the Rebellion packs. Several cards have been revealed and more will be shown in between now and the next two weeks. My first though, these cards looks fresh and more vibrant in colors; although I'm not particularly prefer with the cell shading style. The background color help to identify their Splinter's faction, just like previous editions. But still, the vibrant background color overshadow the monster artwork. They should put extra shade, so the artwork gain better highlight.
Nevertheless of my opinion regarding the artwork and frame. So far 3 (three) sneak peak posts have been released, which revealed 3 cards from Fire Splinter, 5 cards from Water Splinter, 1 card from Earth Splinter, 2 cards from Death Splinter, 2 cards from Dragon Splinter, and 2 cards of Neutral. So let's now talk about the profile of these cards.
FIRE SPLINTER
Fire Splinter have revealed 2 high mana cards, which probably will shift the battle landscape on the high mana cap battle. Chaos Golem will be a great contender for Forgotten One. Not only because Chaos Golem had a better armor and speed, but also Return Fire might be a preferrable ability with its more frequent use compared to Immunity.
Fire Splinter doesn't have much magic cards option, while most of them are mid to high mana cards. Caladuum is the only magic cards in close similarity to Infernal Firestorm. Although Infernal Firestrom are inferior in term of damage and number of abilities; but with the departure of Untamed editions, Infernal Firestrom will come as the best substitute for Caladuum.
The first thing to notice about Gobalano Soldier is its Sneak attack and one mysterious ability to be revealed. It cost 3 mana and will remind us of the meta card Uraeus. Although Gobalano are superior in term of speed, its fallen behind in term of damage. The damage growth happened all at once near the final level which is unprecedented in any profile growth (most growth happened in rotation between parameter). With inferior damage, its difficult to judge if Gobalano might be as worthy as Uraeus. The mysterios ability will be the break even point.
WATER SPLINTER
Only low and mid mana cards are revealed for Water Splinter, both for each attack type. Anasth Soothsayer are your typical magic cards, having 1 magic damage at 4 mana cost. It seemed unfair that Anasth Soothsayer is bestowed with Cleanse ability and of a Rare rarity level. This card will entirely set aside River Nymph for good. Even at max level, Anasth Soothsayer are still having superior health more than two times of River Nymph. Its even more elusive that Anasth Soothsayer will have a total 5 abilities. There should be more explanation and perspective over this discrepancies.
There're not much cards possessing Snipe ability. Thus Mar Torren Seeker is a great addition to this arsenal. So far Water Splinter only have Sniping Narwhal for its Snipe attack, which would depart after Rebellion release. But the intriguing thing about Mar Toren Seeker is its Dodge ability. Dodge ability clearly put Mar Toren Seeker on the top of the game. Mar Torrent Seeker are comparable in parameter with Sniping Narwhal, Ferexia General, or Lone Boatman. And it excelled over them not only from Dodge, but also from 1 less mana! This is the second peculiar thing which made me questions the balance of the game. Let's hope that this isn't the final status.
Its almost like finding a sand in the desert to find a melee card possessing Blast ability. Pirate Of Eight could even be one of the few Blast card with quite low mana cost. In addition, this card possessed not only Blast but also Reach, which means it would be able to strike directly from the 2nd row. But the overall parameter at Level 1 are too inferior if compared with melee card on the same mana cost. This might discourage you from using it at earlier stage. Luckily this card gained no new ability, and will grow on parameter entirely. The final level showed a tremendous growth as this card able to reached 4 damage.
(to be continued)