Good day to you all realm runners and welcome to another analysis article. Bit of a change of pace to this one as, with Beachhead 2024 just around the corner which will most likely attract newer players to the game, I thought I'd go ahead and look through the set designed as a starter set for newer players; Dexter's Dragon Riders!
As already stated this is intended mainly as a beginner product; something someone could pick up and use to get a basic understanding of the game by playing it against a friend. When going toe-to-toe you’ll find these decks quite fairly balanced for the most part. That being said there are a few cards in this product that stand out even within the already well established strategies within the Draco realm.
Firstly this set introduces the keyword Mount to the game whereby you can Mount a rider onto an unmounted dragon or drake character so that, in combat, they are able to use their combined strength & shard value to erase stronger characters your opponent has on their canvas. Outside of combat they are still treated as two separate cards with their own resolves and abilities, so they are still just a susceptible to removal from cards such as Fireball.
The Dragonriders
In each deck there are two different dragonrider characters.
Both Chroma and Achrom factions have effectively the same types of abilities at their disposal in these characters; a weaker one with the better resolve and a stronger one that draws a card when deployed.
The Dragons & Drakes
In terms of the mounts themselves there is a full range of types within this set. The dragons have a cheap one-drop, a decent two-drop that pays for itself the turn its deployed and an impressive three-drop in Fromp which can give you some strong gain in the right circumstance or, worst case, it pays for itself on the turn its deployed.
The drakes have a little more power behind them in their characters; they still have a one-drop but on top of this they have Thisp and Haskus both as three-drops with some very powerful actions that can give you some real advantage in the game.
Dragons in particular have been given a strong location in Dexter’s Dwelling that pays for itself on the turn it’s deployed whilst also potentially netting you an extra card if you reveal a dragon off the top of your palette.
Both factions have got a good location in their respective palette, Haskus' Den and Cascada's Ridge, whose resolves scale based on how many of their character type you have on your canvas.
There’s also a particularly interesting location in Altari Drift which can bring you back in the game from off of a top-deck if your opponent has the advantage in hand size.
Objects
There's a couple of objects in this set designed to help make your Mount ability easier to pull off; those are Dragon Rider Saddle and Young Dragon Scale which both help you Find what you might be missing to pull it off whilst providing a decent buff to the character you choose to put them on.
Aside from this there is also Dragon Armour which can give you a good buff to your character that's hard to remove whilst also providing you with some prevent as well; and Achrom Bow which gives the equipped character Poisonous; allowing it to take down higher strength characters or erase characters with Protection.
Actions
The actions that come in the two palettes are pretty heavily geared towards supporting themselves or crippling the opposing faction in terms of the interaction that comes with them as seen in Gnaw, Snowstorm and Dismount.
As far as generically good cards go there is a very interesting card in
Scout which allows you to manipulate the top card of you palette; potentially letting you get a game-winning card sooner or forcing a dead draw further back so it doesn’t hurt you as much.
There’s also a couple that feed off your Mounted characters with Unbreakable Bond acting as a good form of burst gain and Offensive Swoop allowing you to drain shards based on how many Mounted characters you have.
The other actions included are Feeding Time, which can be a great source of draw power; Evasive Manoeuvres, which can allow you to crash your character into one of equal strength to erase it; and Take Flight, which gives your character a turn of safety from your opponent’s attacks.
As an introduction to the game of Achroma, these pre-made palettes give you a great start with a good amount of the typal-focus synergies that you can expect to find in Siege of Draco Temple’s factions as well as a decent amount of support for the Mount keyword for its first appearance in the game. With all these in mind this is easily an essential buy for anyone looking to get the best out of their dragon or drake palettes, whether you choose to use the Mount ability as a focus or not at all.
You can get your copy of Dexter’s Dragon Riders from the Achroma online store linked below.
That's all from me for now guys!
If you wish to purchase any product from the Achroma website use my affiliate link that will get you 5% off your purchases. Simply follow the link below or use the code ‘antinomy93’ when you checkout.
Also we are now into the Norso Winter season! Purchase £30 of product from the Achroma store (that’s before discounts!) and get yourself a copy of the limited edition seasonal promotion card Norso Winter!
See ya real soon folks!
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