Posts

A First Look - Monsters of Norso

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 Hello and welcome realmrunners! As we’re now well into sneak peek season for the up and coming Monsters of Norso the content creators of the community are starting to get our own individual cards to look over. So here’s the first piece I have - just some artwork to get us started off; The Minotaur’s Domain . Along with the artwork I’ve got the following little bit of lore to go with it - “The Minotaur resides here when he isn't out wandering the labyrinth.”  So what we know for sure is that it’s a Location that directly relates to ‘The Minotaur’ whom I suspect features in the set’s cover art. First impression I get from this art is that it’s very dark and misty, so most likely Achrom-leaning if not fully Achrom. It’s also giving me a very similar sort of feel to cards like Murky Manor  or Throne Room from the other realms; a very foreboding and shadowy building that’s most likely to be related to a very dark Character. With this similarity in mind I’m getting the feeling it’s goi

Card Highlight - Cordyceps

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Hello to you all realmrunners and welcome to another Card Highlight! This week I thought I’d shed a bit more light on a Rare card from Secrets of Spirata that has the potential to be a real hassle to deal with - the Infesting parasite Cordyceps . Unlike most of the other parasites from the set, Cordyceps can’t be used to Infest a Character straight from your hand; instead you deploy it like a normal Character and it jumps around whenever another Character is deployed afterwards, Infesting them and gaining you shards equal to their cost. Versus any opponent with big hitting resolve abilities, like those pictured below, this can really throw a spanner in the works for them since not only do they need to consider the fact you’ll gain shards off of them deploying a Character, but they’ll also lose its ability and resolve effect as well. So versus a reckless player you’ll be approaching 30 shards quickly whilst your more cautious opponents will be less willing to deploy Characters, ther

Chapter Analysis - Secrets of Spirata

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 Hello to you all Realmrunners and welcome to another chapter analysis, this time we’re looking at Spirata’s second chapter, quite a heavily anticipated one among a lot of us more competitive players; The Secrets of Spirata. Chapter Overview From a Keyword perspective, this is quite a polarising set;  Menagerie  focuses very heavily on having multiple Character types on board and rushing for an aggro-esque victory whilst  Infest  is very much a control-based ability that’s main aim is to stun your opponent’s key cards, so overall, it’s a mix between Aggro and Control strategies. The other direction of the Chapter, coming from the Pixies, is very much Object-focused with several support cards for this card type within their Palettes. The main Legendaries show this off well with all of these themes having strong Characters to lead them. Removal & Interaction In this set we see one of the strongest removal Actions to date in Unfathomable Hunger ; not only can it Erase any card on the

Card Highlight - Dyrnwyn

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 Hello all and welcome to another Card Highlight! Today I thought I’d look into a real underdog of the Realm Relics that has some real potential, especially if your Palette already has a lot of Object synergies; Dyrnwyn . On face value it already adds a good amount of Strength to your Character whilst also being a decent option for Trade fodder should the need arise, but its the ability it brings that is quite unique. Making Locations as valid attack targets really changes the dynamic of the game as suddenly it becomes a lot easier to remove them, especially since they don’t hit back as they don’t have any Strength values. Even putting this on something as little as a Character with just 2 Strength allows you to run over all of those really powerful locations that some Palettes often rely on.  On top of this it can also be a reasonable source of gain for you when you do manage to attack your opponents Locations as well, even if its just knocking those smaller value ones down. I person

Competitive Talk - Interaction in Wishwell

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 Hello realm runners and welcome to another of my competitive talk series. With Monsters of Norso on the way I thought I’d highlight a unique aspect of the first chapter, The Warriors of Wishwell, and that is the main interaction pieces in it. Traditionally, in most card games, you’ll find cards such as Fireball , Breath of Fire or even the more recently released Unfathomable Hunger which allows you to remove threats from your opponent’s Canvas.  Outside of a few cards that either take up a Rare slot or have a limiting condition, this doesn’t seem to be as widely accessible in a Norso Palette at first glance, however this isn’t an area they’re lacking in, just one that needs you to look at it slightly differently. One aspect of The Warriors of Wishwell is its heavy Object focus and this makes quite a big contribution to its methods of removal. From utilising cards such as Torstein’s Gauntlet and Gisle’s Sash to give a more permanent buff to your Characters as they’re harder to remo

Chapter Analysis - The Last Snow Dragons of Altari

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 Welcome to the next Chapter Analysis guys - today looking at the follow-up to the fan favourite Draco realm; The Last Snow Dragons of Altari. Chapter Overview Where the first chapter was quite Typal focused, this one instead leans a lot heavier on its Keywords, Hunt  & Freeze , and experiments with the idea of spreading them through both sides of the conflict. As is becoming quite typical of the Draco realm in general, although not all the Legendaries support the new Keywords, they are all very control-oriented. Removal & Interaction Both of the new Keywords in this chapter are heavily based on interaction with your opponent's cards so there's heaps I could put under this topic, however if you're talking generic removal pieces there's a few options that give you ways of Erasing troublesome Characters and Locations outright. Aside from this you'd have to tap into one of the abilities previously mentioned, what's worth noting is there are some key ones th

Custom Palette Showcase - Lacringi’s United Front

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 Hello realmrunners and welcome to another showcase of one of my Custom Palettes! Carrying on with the Norso theme, since I'd previously shown my  Brisgavi  and  Traders  Palettes, I thought I'd complete the set of factions today and go over what I use as my Lacringi build. So here's the full list. The overall strategy is pretty basic; Get a load of Hulder Trolls down to benefit off all the resolves that scale based on the number you have. With it being Norso there's a smattering of Object support in there to help deal with your opponent's cards as this is generally the most effective route in this realm. Thanks to several cards in the Palette that can Find  them easily, we can run a lot of Objects as one-ofs So let's look at the individual cards themselves. Chieftess Astrid of Lacringi  - Legendary of the Pallete. Gives your Characters decent protection with a strong Shield Wall   ability and can be a huge source of gain for you in the right circumstance. Best