Set 4: Ascension of Dragons - SPOILER SERIES!

Spoiler season is upon us once again, so I will be working hard to bring you coverage on every card in set 4. That's right, I'm going to provide a review on absolutely every single card in Ascension of Dragons. It will be a lot of work, but I'm prepared for it. Are you ready to take on this arduous journey with me? I sure hope so, because I look forward to bringing you these previews and reading your comments.

Without further delay, on to the latest wave of previews!

The JewelBug Scaraveil

I wonder if there was an error at the Bandai card creation studio when they drew up the plans for this card. I always got the impression that certain characteristics wouldn't cross over into other colors; I thought that the realm of specific colors dictated the characteristic of those Spirits. Well, I was wrong! The JewelBug Scaraveil has the Shell Insect characteristic, which belongs to six other Spirits; all of those six Spirits are Green. What Michael Elliott might be hinting at here is a collaboration between Green and White. Actually, that's exactly what he wants us to do!

JewelBug Scaraveil's abilities deal directly with a keyword that only Green possesses. There are a lot of doubts as to whether a dual deck is competitive enough to be played against mono decks. This card might work to qualm those fears. The first ability of this card is nice; who wouldn't want to gain extra battle points when they are attacking? I certainly wouldn't mind if all my High Speed Spirits gained one-thousand battle points when they attacked. The kicker to that is you can send one core from your reserve to your trash in order to place a defeated high speed Spirit back into your hand! That is fantastic for anyone who was skeptical about high speed Spirits. You can now attack with all the high speed Spirits you want and not worry about them being destroyed. This would work wonders with cards like Mogrunner or The CavalryBeast Sleiphorse. Core generation may be a problem, but Green is full of core generation and we now have Fullmingo to reduce their cost. Things are certainly looking up for Green's high speed Spirits.


The KingSnake Quezalcoatl

The name of this card is incredibly difficult to pronounce, or at least I had difficulty with it. I challenge anyone reading this article to reply with a phonetically correct way to say this cards name.

We have an eight cost Purple Spirit; that should immediately ring bells in your head that it probably won't compare to The SevenShogun Desperado. Regardless, we will examine him on the slight chance he may be usable in a theme deck. Yes, I know; how callous of me to consider dismissing a card right off the hop, simply because it is Purple and has a cost of eight. One merit that I will give this card is that it has an extremely high cost reduction. You can reduce this guy all the way down to a cost of three; that rivals The TwinSnake Hydram as one of the highest cost reductions in the game! It's too bad that Purple tends to not keep a lot of Spirits on the field at once. Otherwise you might actually be able to take full advantage of the cost reduction.

The abilities of this card are sub-par to a lot of other cards with the same or lower cost. Drawing two cards is a great thing. However, it isn't worth replacing a devastating eight cost Spirit for another with card draw. The level two ability is interesting to say the least. It could prove useful in eliminating specific targets. You could combine it with Sheyron or Cobraiga to get the best results. I find it hard to say that with a straight face, though. The SevenShogun Desperado has a similar ability that doesn't require you to discard cards and it will wreck your opponent's entire field. This card isn't anything special. Forget it was released and keep running SevenShogun Desperado in your Purple control decks.


The Spinner Harfelicite

I absolutely love that the characteristic on this card is creator; it makes the flavor of this card infinitely better. The best place for this card is a Nexus Control deck. "I see you guys leaving in the back. Get back here! Don't walk away, yet!" Nexus Control may have been a pipe dream when set 3 released. However, this card is one step closer to making that deck a reality. It does everything you would want it to do in that type of deck. Nexus Control had a horrible time because it lacked core generation. This Spirit provides you with Core Generation that you desperately need. It also works as a method of playing Nexus onto the field. The secondary ability of this card allows you to play a Nexus onto the field without paying its cost when this Spirit is destroyed. The two effects work in tandem with each other. Discard a Nexus, gain one core, destroy this Spirit, and play the Nexus you discarded for free!

I know I made that sound good. However, there are a couple problems with this card. The cost of playing this Spirit and leveling it up is atrocious! The cost reduction is a measly one; this gives us a minimum cost of two. To top it all off, we are forced to place four cores on this Spirit to make him level two. I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, but this card is a stretch for playability in any deck. Not to mention that Blue is awful at Core Generation. The only chance this card will see play is if Blue gets a favorable draw card. Strong Draw is supposed to release sometime in the near future; it is possible that it could force this card into the playable realm.


The Tyrant Fuhjaus

This card has a lot of different abilities; I'm actually surprised at the design this card sports. Most cards are good for one job and need to be combined with other cards to get devastating results. This card has a couple effects that don't work together, but they increase the probably of creating combos with many different cards.

The ability to destroy all Nexus cards is one sported by a several cards. Flame Elk and Buster Phalanx are cards that come to mind. The problem with these cards is that they destroy your Nexus cards as well; this can be disadvantageous in some circumstances. The Tyrant Fuhjaus gets around this small hitch those effects. He destroys all Nexus cards on the opponent's side of the field when he enters play; this is a much better scenario.

I don't mean to be a downer when discussing the level two ability of this Spirit, but I have to say it. There are no other Winged Dragon Spirits! At least nothing came up when I searched for them using the Bandai card search. It's rather unfortunate that no other Spirits with this characteristic exist yet. The effect is quite useful if we were to get a Winged Dragon Spirit who had some oomph behind him. I'll reserve judgment on whether this will be usable or not. Hopefully we will get several Winged Dragon Spirits in set 4 and beyond!

The level three effect of this Spirit is exceptional. I seriously can't see someone declining the ability to destroy a Spirit of three cost of less every turn. I certainly wouldn't deny the possibility. Whenever The Tyrant Fuhjaus defeats a Spirit, he is able to destroy an additional Spirit with a cost of three or less. Is there anyone out there who doesn't see how awesome that is? Did I mention that it you have to play a meager six cores on him to gain this effect? This card is extremely affordable and it has a plethora of useful effects for you to use when Set 4 releases and possibly in future sets.


The Vampire Dampeel

Wow, I think we might have a replacement for The SevenShogun Desperado (Desperado). This card has a lower key version of Desperado's effect, but its ability will hit at least eight percent of your opponent field. Most people don't run more than six Spirit in their deck with a cost higher than four. It is reasonable to assume that this card will hit four out of five Spirits on your opponent's field with its first ability.

Okay, we have a Desperado-like ability and we are getting a level two effect that benefits from the level 1 ability? Isn't that going a little too far? I think it might, but I am not going to complain. Gaining an extra 1000 battle points for each core in my opponent's trash is amazing. I wish Caprihorn had that effect instead of the one he currently has. We are essentially getting a card that will defeat almost anything on your battle phase and nuke your opponent's field.

Did you guys think I was done? Absolutely not! This card has another effect that will make Purple control players grin from ear to ear. We established that this card will defeat most things when it's attacking. Might as well throw in an effect that benefits us when we defeat a Spirit, right? If you answered, "yes", then you think alike with Michael Elliott. When this card defeats a Spirit during your battle phase you are rewarded by drawing one card. Purple really didn't need additional draw and this Spirit didn't need another effect.

We essentially have a new Desperado here folks. This Spirit has three effects that are amazing and they all work extremely well with Purple control. Purple players can enjoy their new Desperado and everyone else can cringe at the idea of playing against it.


The ZombieDragon Zom-Sauru

Okay Michael Elliot, we get it already! You want us to use dual color decks. We will start if you stop making cards like this one. I always like the idea of Red and Purple working together. Rib-Reaper is a great card from the first set that requires Red cards to reach its full potential. The ZombieDragon Zom-Sauru (Zomb) is a card that will attest to that potential and surpass it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving all your Purple Spirit an extra one-thousand battle points. We've all been there using The Old Castle to gain that little extra advantage. You are now able to solidify that battle point bonus in the form of a Spirit with Zomb. He also has an ability that allows you to destroy a target exhausted Spirit while he is at level three. It probably isn't worth putting six cores on him to attain this ability, but it's a nice thought.


Conclusion

We saw some interesting cards today; I can definitely see some of these cards popping up in the meta next set. The Jewelbug Scaraveil may give light to a new White Green High Speed deck. It certainly has the potential to give us that type of deck. The KingSnake Quezalcoatl is a useless card when compared to the other 8 cost cards. The Spinner Harfelicite may give the old Nexus Control deck a breathe of fresh air. It would be nice to have that type of deck in the meta. The Tyrant Fuhjaus is an amazing card for Red that will only get better as sets release. The Vampire Dampeel is the shining star in this set of previews. I believe this card is better than The SevenShogun Desperado. It definitely will take priority of it in my Purple control deck. The ZombieDragon Zom-Sauru isn't anything special, but it may stem into a fun Purple Red deck with Rib-Reaper as a headliner. Thus concludes another review of set 4 spoiler cards.

I hope everyone is getting the most they can out of spoiler season. Check back at Eye Of The Vortex daily for more reviews and spoiler previews from Set 4: Ascension of Dragons. Good luck to all my readers in all your future deck building ventures!

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