Aligned Stars Pack Preview
Team Apoka is at it again with a new pack coming out in the next few weeks and I once again get to spoil some awesome cards for you! Are you ready for some crazy cards? I hope so because today’s spoilers are really freaking awesome. So without further ado let’s look at some juicy spoilers!
One of my favorite things about conquest is the Cultist Tokens. I used to have a Throne of Vainglory deck and with Vha’shaelhur’s appearance at the end of the game we were about to see some crazy Chaos builds with cultists at the center. This card above is a card that affects cultists in multiple ways. One of the worst parts about cultist tokens is that without Zara at a planet they don’t do much but die. Dead Cultists are not good cultists. Getting cultists and not having daemons to summon was alleviated by Ominous Wind, but it would still be nice if we could get them a little more gumption when it comes to having to use them to fight. In walks Sivarla, a daemon of Slaanesh who is all about cultists and making them do things they would never normally be able to do . Her ability initially limits the number of cultist tokens you have in play, but that price allows for all your cultist tokens to get stronger! Also, as a combat action, you can move ANY cultist unit to target planet. Need to set up for next rounds command struggle? Why not move a cultist? Need to buff your elite units? Move a Disciple of Excess to a planet! Need to leverage more bodies at HQ? Move a cultist to a planet! This ability to move units makes Chaos even more mobile than they were before. With a 2 cost / 4 HP unit, she should be in play for a while. Uniqueness aside, this unit does some really great things for her spot in your deck.
Our next card is another Chaos card, a two-shield attachment card to be exact. No faction is ever going to be sad about a two-shield card unless you are talking about Doom Siren, which we still haven’t really found a use for… Anyway, this card should not even be mentioned in the same vein as that aforementioned card. Medallion of Betrayal is a 1 cost attachment that gives a unit 1 more attack and 1 more hit point, but it is doubled if it is a cultist. This is one of the first attachments you might actually think about equipping to a token. Also, when it enters the discard pile, if you control no cultists, you get 1 for free. Hot damn! Any card that can be put on a cultist who you sacrifice for more cultists is great. Let me explain. The buff ability is nice and all if you need it, but the ability to play a Promise of Glory (action one) , pay one resource for this on a cultist token (action two) , then for action three play a daemon sacrificing a both cultist tokens and getting one more to use to reduce the cost further. This means you could easily play some of the most hardcore daemons on turn one. This alone is a 3-of include in my deck and I have never seen a card that makes me question this much if I want two shields of the effect.
With the Chaos cards being so fantastic at supporting an archetype I truly love, it was hard to find other stuff to be excited about in this pack, but I always get excited when my main man Gorxod takes the spotlight. With that, let’s take a look at the ork cards from Aligned Stars.
Our first card is a wonderful bit of love for one of my thematically favorite warlords, Gorzod. Yes, I know this is non-loyal, so other Warlords can use this and will like it more (Grigory Maksim), but this is my happy time to enjoy the wonderful world of Orks. The flavor text is great, the name is even greater, and the effect is even greater still. When a vehicle unit is destroyed and it is readied, you can exhaust it to deal one damage to a non-warlord unit! Excellent, but if it is exhausted we get to ready it for another go next time! So Orky! This works well with a lot of the dinky ork vehicle units like Wagons and War Buggies, but also gives you options for killing off people and wasting your opponents’ shields. All jokes aside though, I can see some really gross combos here with Grigory, Death Serves the Emperor, Fall Back, and Searchlight. And just in case I didn’t already say it, this card is a fantastically thematic card!
Our last spoiler of the pack is Kamouflage Expert. I am a sucker for seeing Deep Strike on a card. It is one of my favorite mechanics in the game (thank you, Vezuel), but for a long time Space Marines were the only faction able to do it. NO MORE! With the introduction of Snagbrat, we have seen a new faction able to sink their teeth into one of the most interesting (and confusing) mechanics to date! So as with most Deep Strike cards, this card is cheaper to lay out in th deploy phase if you don’t wanna use it until the combat phase. A solid 1/3/3 body for 3 isn’t the worst ork unit, but you will most often want to Deep Strike this guy. Because when you do you get to treat a card in reserve as a 0/3/3 ork enemy until the end of the phase. Yesssss… Getting two 3/3 units as a surprise in the combat phase is something that can easily swing the battle in your favor. If you’re feeling particularly sneaky, use Kommando Cunning to Deep Strike it after a warlord is exhausted and murder it! This card is also the best friend of Patient Infiltrator. What is better than having a 3/3? How about getting a 3/2 that moves 1 of its damage? Moving damage is a huge deal and one of the best sneaky things ork cards can do.
Thank you for reading today. I hope you enjoy these awesome spoilers from Aligned Stars, the final Team Apoka pack of their first cycle. Up next for Apoka is their Sisters of Battle Deluxe expansion! I cannot wait to see what they come up with for that. Did you see anything you liked or that I missed? If so, leave it in the comments! Living Card Guy Out!