Set 3 Spoiler Series!

Continuing with our spoiler series for Scars of Fury, I am happy to be able to share with you our second preview card, Arcanabeast-Paira. This is the second article in our six part series. Throughout the month of January, we will continue viewing many of the cards that will be released in Set 3. You can find the first article here.

Arcanabeast-Paira

Yellow has sprung onto the scene once more by adding another Arcana spirit to its growing collection. Along with its 'awe-inspiring' name, this card sports Yellow's new keyword, "Brilliance"; allowing spells that you play while this spirit is battling, to return to your hand at the end of the battle step. If that wasn't enough, this card also sports a built-in Arcana boost; giving all Arcana spirits an additional 2000 battle points during your battle phase.

"Brilliance" is Extremely Useful

When I saw this effect, my brain imploded a little while thinking of all the possible applications. Yellow already has a lot of effects that allow you to use, abuse, and recycle spell cards. The keyword, "Brilliance", continues that trend by allowing us to recycle spells played during the flash step (under specific circumstances). The obvious choice to abuse this is cards that increases battle points. Meaning, you could use all your pump cards, create a monster of a beat stick and have them all returned to you for your next attack.

"Brilliance" of Angel Voice

Angel Voice is one of the most potent Yellow cards that we have been introduced to thus far. It is especially useful when combined with the effect of The BlossomChild Lip. These cards together allow any spirit you have that is level two or higher to gain automatic victories in any battle. The problem with this combo is that recovering Angel Voice every turn could prove difficult and the lack of pressure on the opponent while recovering the card was far from aggressive. However, with "Brilliance" available, we will now be able to continually use Angel Voice each and every turn that we are attacking.

Arcana Theme Keeps Growing

The Arcana theme deck was established in Set 2, but didn't go far thanks to the difficultly in pulling off their combos. Whether it be costs, amount of cards required, or even cost of leveling up a spirit in order to get the effect you needed, Arcana has proven to be difficult in all of those areas. With the addition of Arcanabeast-Paira, Arcana is getting one step closer to being a competitive themed deck.

Not Too Costly

With all the praise I've given this card, you might be a little weary of finding out how much it actually costs. Don't fret, the cost is reasonable compared to what it is capable of. The card has a cost of 4 and a reduction cost of one; allowing us to play the card for a minimum cost of 3. Placing three cores on this spirit allows us to receive its effect at level 2. Such a useful effect could have cost much more to use. Michael Elliott was also nice enough to allow us to place only one more core past level two in order to achieve Arcanabeast-Paira's friend pumping, level 3 ability.

Three In Any Yellow Deck?

Playing three of this card in any Yellow deck is a bit of a stretch. However, the card is definitely good enough to warrant use in any Yellow deck that wants to re-use flash step spells. A deck revolving around the use of Angel Voice with The BlossomChild Lip would be very devastating. That type of deck is similar to Hermit Wise Tree (level 2) with a field of Green beatsticks.

This card will further contribute to developing the Arcana theme and might even be able to push it to second tier deck. Arcanabeast-Paira is an amazing card that will most certainly see play in Set 3.