The next batch of Splinterlands promo cards were teased during the Town Hall, and although an official post hasn't gone out yet the initial stats were shared so I wanted to give a quick reaction & review of each card based on what's been shared so far.
Let's dive in!
NIGHT STALKER
The first card is a Rare Death/Fire card that costs 4 mana and, at max level, packs a MEAN punch with 4 melee damage, 4 speed, and the combination of Sneak, Execute, and Blast. It's a bit squishy at only 5 health, but clearly the goal of this card is to swiftly kill your enemy, ideally before they're able to fire back.
Before digging into synergies and strengths/weaknesses I just want to say that I find the art of this card absolutely fantastic. It draws you in, has personality, the colors work beautifully with the Splinters while also really popping off the background. Terrific work by @nateaguila and the art team.
STRENGTHS & SYNERGIES
Ok, on to the Night Stalker's skills. Clearly the Sneak/Blast combo is a deadly combo with other Sneak cards such as the Tenyii Striker, Silent Sha-Vi, Gobalano Soldier, Uraeus, and others. Paired with 2-3 of those and a summoner like Jacek or Akane, the battle can be over before it even starts.
Execute is a particularly interesting ability here and can work especially well if Night Stalker doesn't go first, to all but guarantee he'll either finish off the enemy or land an Execute. Gobalano Soldier, with Ambush, can break the enemy's armor before Night Stalker comes in for the finish. Alternatively, fast units like Silent Sha-vi can hit first before the stalker comes in for the kill.
I'm not entirely sure how Blast & Execute will work - I assume the blasted unit (not the target) won't trigger Execute if it's health drops to <=2, but I'm not sure.
Don't forget Tarsa and even Skargore as good fits to summon the Stalker, as both will increase this card's already impressive melee damage.
Furthermore, it can benefit from various Inspire cards in Fire/Death such as the Nimbledook Scout and Ravenhood Warden to give it even more punch. Note that at 5 damage, the blast goes up to 3, so that inspire (or Tarsa's melee boost) goes a long way.
Given that the Night Stalker is squishy, one way to give him more survivability is to pair him with Lorkus and give him Life Leech, which could be particularly powerful when Execute lands.
Another potentially interesting option is to use Drath as the summoner and Taunt a backline unit to maximize the Night Stalker's blast damage.
COUNTERS & WEAKNESSES
The first and most obvious counter to the Night Stalker is Tofu with his Thorns. It's actually quite nice that Night Stalker's and Tofu's splinters don't match and I feel like this was a deliberate choice from CMT. Good call.
Other counters will largely involve backline thorns, so we're looking at cards like Tokatag Conscript or Porcupine who'll typically be in the back line or, if you're expecting a sneak play, someone like the incredibly strong Dumacke Orc.
You could also look for very fast cards in the back line, including Delya coming up next, though these are typically a bit weaker so if they do get his the Night Stalker's likely to eat through them.
The Blast is harder to predict and could be pretty deadly, though there are several choices for second-to-last position units with Reflection Shield, the most recent option being Sanctus Vicar.
NIGHT STALKER TIER: A+
Night Stalker's punch-to-cost ratio is one of the highest in Splinterlands, and so for that he gets an A+ tier. He's not S tier to me as I think he's shy of "game-breaking" status (think of Grim Smith, Venka, Olivia, and Rage as S tier) but he's as close as an A tier card can get to S tier in my opinion.
DELYA
Next up we have Delya, a Neutral Legendary unit who packs a massive punch with 4 ranged attack and double strike. She's fast and will be hard to hit, with 5 speed and Dodge. Finally Amplify and Backfire give her some counters for when she's targeted (EDIT: note that Amplify is being considered to also boost the damage of Backfire, but it's not yet implemented at the time of this writing).
I'm a bit less impressed by the art on this one to be perfectly honest. I think it's good, but it doesn't quite feel Legendary to me.
STRENGTHS & SYNERGIES
The first thing that really pops for me is that Delya directly attacks two of the most powerful metas in the game today: the Cryptic/Oshannus meta and Tofu.
In Cryptic Oshannus you typically find a very fast Oshannus up front who negates 5+ damage units with his Forcefield and reduces magic damage with his Void. Delya's 4 ranged damage, particularly with double strike, is perfect against Oshannus. Led by Cryptic herself, and with a few other speed units in the lineup, she has a chance of going first and can soften Oshannus up enough to let the next units deal the final blows.
Against Tofu, Delya will be useful simply due to the fact that Tofu lineups typically don't protect against ranged attacks very much. When faced with a Tofu who has Grim Smith up front, Delya will need Cryptic's Expose to power through the smith. In fact I wonder if Delya could've had Expose on her own, but that probably would've made her too powerful.
Delya will be a good pairing with Nidhoggr as she'll benefit from either Blast or Execute.
She'll also be deadly with Drath, who gives her +1 ranged for a total of 5 ranged with double strike. She hardly needs True Strike, but the Double Strike will benefit from Impede by lowering the enemy's speed twice per round (assuming she doesn't outright kill it...).
Sthispa could be a great match for Delya, particularly in Close Range rulesets where you could have Delya be a great backline tank and last resort front-line tank, kind of like a Modern day Phantom of the Abyss.
Theoretically she might give General Sloan some airtime, but I think that's reaching a bit.
COUNTERS & WEAKNESSES
I think Delya's main weakness is her lack of versatility. Despite being powerful against two metas, she's expensive at 9 mana and even though she packs a punch, ranged is objectively weaker than magic and there are fewer cards who can buff her (only summoners currently buff ranged) so while ranged is useful in the backline it's also less potent than melee in many cases. She'll be handy in some specific circumstances, but I don't see myself constantly considering Delya as an option for a lineup.
There are also many quite commonly seen cards with Headwinds who'll put weaken Delya, such as Anachron Bolter, Riftwing, the new Mar Toren Trader... Due to her Double Strike, you can think of each debuff to her ranged damage as -2 damage.
I would also say that while Amplify/Backfire/Dodge are nice additions to Delya, you kind of don't want her to be targeted as her primary role is a damage dealer. So if she's in a position where she's dodging attacks, that means things may already not be going exactly your way.
In terms of Return Fire, there are certainly some options in Modern today, notably Ilthain, but in general it's not as prevalent as Thorns and Magic Reflect. I would say that Iidri and Wave Brood get a boost from the arrival of Delya due to their combination of Taunt + Return Fire. Combined with Amplify, they'll essentially guarantee the Delya kills herself on the first turn if she doesn't have any other protection on her.
DELYA TIER: B+
Due to her relative lack of versatility, I give Delya a B+. She's powerful, and will be a key card against powerful metas, so she's still a terrific unit, but she lacks the near-every-game utility required to be in the A tier.
As stated before, nothing's final until it's live (and even then it might not be) so there's a possibility these still change. But for the time being, this is my assessment based on what's been shared.
Let me know what you guys think of the new cards. Do you agree with my tiers? Will you buy these when they show up in the shop? Would you hope for any adjustments?
Images in this post were made with the help of ChatGPT Dalle, using the original art as references