Keyword Highlight - Divert
Hello Realm Runners and welcome to another instalment of my Keyword Highlights series!
Today I thought I’d look at one that can often appear confusing at first to some people and also, I feel, is one that has more strength than you’d initially think; Divert. As always let’s start with the definition from the Achroma site.
Notice how the card with Divert must be a legal target for the action or ability it is reacting to; this means if your opponent is using a card like Breath of Ice you can’t try to Divert it onto a character to save the location, however if they used Fireball you could react to it as Fireball can target either a character or location.
It’s also worth noting that Divert has a specific interaction with Hunt, one of the newer Keywords. When the Hunt target is initially declared that’s your window for using Divert to alter the target; if you play a card with Divert when this has already happened then you can’t change the target when the Hunt ability resolves as that part does not involve selecting a target. This may well prove relevant versus the cards which use Hunt as character removal like those below.
So now let’s talk tactically - as stated in the definition, Divert allows you to change the target of your opponent’s actions and abilities; this means you’ll be aiming to mess with their plans by forcing them to hit your less valuable cards and protect your stronger ones or, when combined with Protection, nullify their ability all together if it would cause your character to be erased.
On a competitive level, you’ll find players will want to use a lot of actions that are flexible in what they can interact with or erase, this means a single card with Divert on your canvas could well be the difference between winning or losing, especially when you take into account cards such as Captain Cassius or Hinkley who can give you a variety of Divert options, or Kelby Knotner who can render your board almost immune to a card that would erase a character once per turn.
With a little more of a push, or in a palette heavily devoted to it, Divert can be a very tough Keyword to work around with its ability to severely weaken your opponent’s interactions and counter-plays. Currently it is only present in Salum, within the Veil Chasers faction from the A Conjuring at Curdle Cove chronicle, but this is a keyword that will eventually be spreading across the realms so it will become a lot more relevant over time. If you want get your hands on them, there’s still First Edition sets and collection boxes available from the Achroma store linked down below!
That's all from me for now guys!
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