Greetings! The end of the season is always an interesting time. It’s a moment when we get the chance to reflect upon past seasons and evaluate what we’re about to lose. Season 5 has now been officially confirmed (and my wish for a new LotR-orcs warband has been heard!) and this means one thing - soon we will kiss the cards from Beastgrave goodbye.
In today’s article, I’m going to go over some of the more notable cards from Beastgrave season. I’ve separated them into two groups - the ones I’m going to miss. And the ones I will gladly see go and never come back. Yes, I have some strong opinions.
Initially, my goal was to get 10 of each: objectives, gambits, and upgrades. For each of those categories I wanted to have 5 cards I’ll miss and 5 I will gladly send on a one-way trip into Relic-land. But frankly speaking, I’ve failed. There were more than 10 cards in some of the categories - especially objectives. And in some cases, I’ve struggled to stay within “5 of each” boundaries. Because of that, I’ve made an effort to get 30 cards - 10 of each, but the ‘hate list’ is shorter than the list of stuff I’ll miss. I guess this is sort of a good thing - after all the lower the number of hated cards, the better the state of the game is.
The list is of course my personal preference and I’m certain some readers will disagree in certain cases - I know for sure some would happily swap ‘missed’ cards into a ‘hated’ bucket and possibly vice versa, but it all boils down to our preferred playstyle and experiences. Some cards were probably so problematic/broken that they’ve earned universal dislike, but most of them are probably a more fluid matter.
The “You Will Be Missed” List
First, let’s talk about the cards I’ll genuinely miss. Some of them are considered a problem, but still - I feel they’ve had their place and an important role to play in the decks.
Gathered Momentum - a staple element of the Speed Package. While the entire package might have been a little bit too good, I’m going to miss this particular card. It does offer a very reliable inflow of glory but has its requirements. Making a charge action of at least 5 hexes did require at least a minimal level of setup and sometimes an investment of a ploy to bump the speed up to the required level. It’s not a hard card to score, but very predictable and controllable objective. This is also a very important piece to ensure aggro warbands have some initial glory to kick-start their engine.
Bold Conquest - card similar to Gathered Momentum. But it has a twist to it - it doesn’t care for the distance traveled, but instead, the charge has to be made by your leader and he had to hold an objective after that. Again - not completely free, but fairly easy and predictable surge. I used to love this card while playing Profiteers. It was glory and an inspiration package for those slow dwarves. Super solid card.
Absolute Stillness - a really cool design for a 2 glory end phase card. While I’m not a fan of hold objective playstyle I do actually like this card. It has a good balance of requirements and can be counter played nicely. It also has an approach to holding objectives that I like - focus on holding 1-2 tokens with specific fighters, instead of sandbagging yourself on as many tokens as you can.
Set The Tempo - I think this is a cool card that did require building your objective deck around it. It’s a kind of a glory multiplier card, but it does award a very good amount of glory for being able to score your other objectives. There was a time when this card was the backbone of some of my decks - especially aggro builds in Beastgrave and early Direchasm, when end phase glory was hard to come by if you were not holding objectives for a living.
Master of Battle - this is an amazing card for big boys and Rippa. It is almost guaranteed 1 glory in the end phase - something that can come very handy in situations where you’ve been hardpressed to score anything. It did save me some games by enabling me to upgrade some fighters and let them do the work.
Team Effort - similar to Master of Battle - a low-scoring, but super reliable, end phase objective. A very solid option for any elite warband. What made it even better was the fact that it is also a Dual objective, so it does support Set The Tempo. Since I love elite warbands and I did play STT, I will miss this one.
Uncontested - I did hate having an opponent score this against me. Oh boy, I did. But I think it’s an excellent card - a very fun design. Not only do you have to hold 2 objectives, but you also need to make sure your opponent doesn’t hold anything. Get out of your trenches and do some work! What’s also fun is the fact that this card is forcing you to think about holding an objective even if you’re not planning to do it usually. If you know this card is in play, you should do a preventive action and try to disrupt the scoring of 3 glory for your opponent. Really good design.
Blindside - this is a very cool card. Similar to Countercharge, but more flexible. I think it’s a super cool design that helps you get supports - both offensive and defensive. It’s a card that rewards good positioning and playmaking and as such it will be missed.
Buried Instinct - so… while I knew this card will make the list, I wasn’t 100% convinced on which of the two it should end up. It’s a fantastic defensive card that has saved my fighters many times. At the same time, it did screw my plans out of the blue too many times. Overall though I think it is a cool defensive card. And good defensive cards are equally important to getting enough offensive tools. It’s also good it’s not some bullshit where you have to roll a single dice to negate the successful’s attack’s effect.
Snare - good old extra damage staple. It has filled an important role of the card that allowed early aggro to find that one extra point of damage to get an early kill. Or to try to win the war of power cards, where the opponent would seek to negate a portion of your damage (or provide extra health as a buffer). Many sources of Guard have shut this card down a bit, but it is still super relevant and useful. It will be sad to see it go.
Victimize - one of the best accuracy cards in the game. Probably the best if you’re playing Hrothgorn. Direchasm has seen a lot of accuracy cards being added, but most of them were upgrades or horde fighter support. Victimize though has offered very strong support for any hunter, who isn’t a range 3+ fighter. And that was fantastic about this card. You could bump your dice count on one of your boys -and- get full rerolls for him while at it.
Distraction - with this and Nightmare in the Shadows being gone… I fear we’re headed back into the dark days of early Beastgrave, where we had no Distraction effect and we’ve had Temporary Victory to deal with… I truly hope it’s not the case, but then I realize that the Grymwatch is still out there and they do have In The Name Of The King among other “fun” objectives. My next item on the list is reinforcing this worry…
Mischievous Spirits - I’m fairly sure lots of people will be happy to see it go. This card, when played at the right moment, could wreck the hold list. Its potential to influence the board is massive. Yet at the same time, it’s a card that was a very important factor that has kept the hold objective playstyle at bay. While having it Restricted was probably something I could accept (albeit without enthusiasm)... seeing it go, along with both Distraction cards, is going to be a big blow to non-holding warbands. Especially seeing that there are plenty of friendly push cards still available.
Amberbone Mace - most of the amberbone weapons were great. Mace and Sword were especially cool among those. But in general - having a weapon with a great attack profile and ability to grand extra glory was good. I think it’s easy to say that amberbone was one of the best weapon groups in the game.
Cryptic Companion - it’s a card no one has asked for, but everyone who would consider standing on an objective would gladly take it. Over time it became quite an important piece for some more interesting flex builds, like hold Profiteers. With this card hold 2 or even hold 1 archetype had a place in the meta. Because of the quarry, this card has amazing synergy with other hold-based objectives.
Hunter’s Talisman - it’s a staple accuracy upgrade for hunters. Extra dice without range restrictions with a possibility of getting a reroll? What else to ask for? This card is providing loads of value and it is on a restricted list for a reason. Especially for Hrothgorn - I’ve loved this card for his turret build. I love playing ranged warbands and this card was one of the very few good supporting cards for this playstyle. I’m going to miss it.
Strength of Terror - here situation is similar to Hunter’s Talisman. An excellent accuracy card, that also provides Quarry keyword. What’s important about this card is the fact, that it could support range 2 fighters - something that Direchasm accuracy cards tend to shy away from. Pure +dice is nothing super unique in Direchasm, but that range limitation being more relaxed is awesome.
Vision of Glory - a must-have card for any elite warband, or a warband that relies on a Voltron-style fighter. It’s a restricted card, that is one-time use only and has a glory cost to trigger it. It feels like a quite reasonably priced effect given its power. Given my preference for playing elites and big boys, I will miss this card dearly.
The “Yippee-kai-yey, MFer!” list
Now time for the fun part - cards I’ll be happy to wave goodbye. And cards I hope won’t come back via any sort of reprint, gift pack, or anything like that. This list contains very strong effects and ones that I’ve found super annoying and damaging to the game.
Hidden Purpose - when first hold surges were introduced at the very end of Nightvault I’ve been enthusiastic about them. Problem is that we’ve started getting things like this one - basically free glory. It’s been so easy to score that almost any warband took it. Super easy, tough to stop, and what’s worst about it - having tons of synergy with other hold objectives. Even while restricted it was well worth its slot.
Temporary Victory - as it turned out, decks playing it enjoyed victories that were not so temporary. Thanks to this card The Grymwatch and Thorns reigned supreme for months. Ghouls absolutely dominated the big events thanks to this card combined with their in-faction copy of this and with Hidden Purpose (+some other hold surges). And all that while we haven’t even had a single Distraction available to try to coun-- delay this being scored. In modern days this card is restricted, but it is still worth the slot - 2 glory surges tend to be very difficult to score and this one can be done in a single activation for some warbands…
Swift Capture - I guess it’s not hard to see the pattern here. To be fair - this card is the least offending one from the lot. It has some requirements that make it slightly less desirable and a bit easier to play around for the opponent. Still - it’s on the “easy” side of the difficulty and its synergy with other cards is through the roof.
Show of Force - the first scoring condition is perfectly fine and has been a savior in some games where my objective hand was… let’s say far from optimal. So for that reason, it did hurt to put this card here. However… the secondary scoring condition is simply absurd. A bit later into the game and this becomes essentially an auto-score that requires zero work to get it done. I don’t think it is healthy for the game to have surges working like that.
Quick Search - ever since BG started to introduce draw cards I’ve been saying that those effects are simply too strong for this game. It did baffle me to see that most of the reviewers were rather cold when it comes to cards like Frenzied Search. I’ve played tons of Magic The Gathering in my past and one of the things it did teach me is how strong the card advantage is. And while having the card like Frenzied Search was okay when it was an only option, it became less okay when more of those started to appear. Quick Search is an offender because it has 0 downsides. Having to hold an objective is a minor hindrance at best. Most of the warbands would satisfy this condition while trying to score their objectives anyway.
Unnatural Truce - this one is here for the same reasons as Quick Search. No real downside for 2 cards being drawn and zero requirements to be able to play this one. Simply too good - especially when coupled with things like To The End, Frantic Exchange, Unexpected Cunning, etc. Sure - this has been a great tool for control decks, but overall I don’t think this has been good for the game as a whole.
Rebound - so… this card is like cancer. No one really wants it to happen to them. And it has this annoying habit of coming back when you thought you’re clean. We’ve seen it go once already, but GW decided it will be cool to bring this card back in Gift Pack. Now it’s going again for the second time and I’m somewhat nervous that we will see its return in some random S5 pack. This card is an antithesis of competitive play. It’s super random and provides the largest swings this game has ever seen. It requires zero setup, no skill, just play it when some big attack lands, and you’ve got 33% chances to not only negate it but also potentially kill a key fighter with it. So much power in a single ploy is inexcusable. On a 33% chance, you get punished for playing the game right. And you don’t even get to score surges that require a successful attack to lessen the blow you’ve just taken. Luckily restriction on this card makes it far less prevalent than it used to be, but still… seeing it once during a tournament is seeing it too many times already. I think the only other card I despise more is Expendable. Seriously, screw those cards. /angryrant
Restless Prize - this one might not be such a huge offender, but pushing an objective by 2 hexes has amounted to a lot of feels bad moments in my games. It’s very difficult to push a model far enough that Restless Prize won’t be able to fix the issue. An attack with Knockback(1)? Not enough. Regular drive back + Distraction? Restless Prize is on its way to fix that too...I feel I might be venting a bit of Beastgrave frustrations here, but this card has helped to cement hold objective dominance in that season. My only fun memory with this card was me sparking a quite wide discussion about it being able to move an objective token through a blocked hex during my featured game at Warhammer World Grand Clash in October 2019. So… while I might not have a super strong feelings about this one, I’m glad to see it go.
Survival Instincts - this card is simply too good. It gives a quarry keyword and on top of that provides a permanent guard. Slap it on some multi-defense-dice fighter and your opponent is most likely not moving it. It has amazing synergy with cards like Absolute Stillness but is also very strong for some of the offensive fighters. You can ensure their survival and try to score objectives that require a quarry to make a kill for example. It’s also a potential Everything to Prove scorer. Simply too much value from this card.
Deserved Confidence - when I first saw this card I was thinking that this is an amazing card that provides tons of value. Again its reception in most of the reviews was rather skeptical due to the upgrade stacking requirement, but I’ve been confident this card will shine. And shine it did. Even the first benefit is very powerful - extra wound and drive-back protection? That’s already a huge defensive boon. This alone would make the card very strong. But instead, we’ve also got options to gain +1 Move and innate offensive symbols. The innate option has rarely seen the play and feels like a “win more” kind of a thing, but the +1 wound, +1 Move scenario was very common. And that’s a lot of value from a single card. Probably a bit too much, since this card has made its way into virtually every deck out there.
Gauntlet of Command - arguably the weakest of all the Mortis Relics. It gave the ability to “buy” a Sidestep effect after the fighter’s activation. It’s a very strong thing if you’re playing Hold warband. On top of that when combined with other relics it would give your fighter an extra wound. A perfect item for your commanding figure.
Gauntlet of Dominance - an offensive twin brother of Gauntlet of Command. It allows you to buy a Distraction effect for glory. It also turns into a Giant Strength when combined with another relic. Super good. This card alone has stopped hold warbands in their tracks. A very strong and disruptive effect on a single card. I don’t believe this is too healthy for the game.
The crown of the Dead - yes, you’ve guessed it! Another Arena Mortis card and another Mortis Relic. This time we’re getting a re-roll while combined with other cards plus an amazing way of cycling through your power deck. Even though the cost for this has been quite steep it was still worth paying for. With this upgrade, some warbands were able to draw 4 cards in a single activation. And you’re getting an offensive re-roll as a bonus. That’s probably a bit too much.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! My list of cards I’ll miss and cards I’m very happy to see them go. I’ll miss seeing some of the easy, but not 100% free surges. Losing access to some of the quick accuracy that is not limited to range 1 will also be painful. Some of the tech cards will also be missed. Cryptic Companion + Absolute Stillness combo was a huge boon to Thundrik Profiteers.
At the same time, I will be happy to see hold objective surges go. I feel that they did offer too little counterplay while offering too high rewards and too much synergy. I am however a bit worried that hold objective playstyle will be hurt badly after those cards go away (unless you’re… let’s say, ghouls). HO is losing lots of core cards and unless the new season will patch some holes up it will be a rough time for many of the HO warbands. Best positioned will be the ones with good in-faction support and the ones who are most interested in the flex approach (which is not a bad thing at all).
I’m also glad to see so much of card draw go away. There has been too much of it and for a too low cost. That meant players could feel certain they’ll draw all the cards they’d need to beat their opponent.
Looking back at the Beastgrave set I have to say it’s been a pretty good set that had 2 core issues:
It was not a Nightault. I really loved NV cards and their support for magic.
The order in which universal cards were delivered has been something that did hurt the community and the season for many people.
Should Arena Mortis not happen Beastgrave set would be widely recognized as a very good set of cards that had some balancing issues, but still provided a lot of very good cards to play with. But since it happened, the reception is somewhat worse.
How about you? How do you feel about Beastgrave as a season? Are there cards you’ll miss or gladly see them go? Let me know in the comments!
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