Card Highlight - Detestatio, the Chimera

 Hello realmrunners and welcome to another highlight coming from The Monsters of Norso.

Today I wanted to visit, debatably my favourite Rare in the game to date, a real beast with so much potential and synergies with other Characters; Detestatio, the Chimera.

On face value it already seems really strong; 5 Strength and Shard Value, decent drain 2 resolve and an ability that gets you a free Character out of your Dregs if it survives Shard Drain!

To trigger that ability is a lot easier than you’d expect, which I went into a good amount on my article on Vengeance; there’s several cards that can inflict Shard Drain, alongside standard damage from combat.

What I want to focus on specifically is their Shard Value of 5, as this allows them to take a couple of hits from the more powerful

cards as they inflict 2 Shard Drain, one of which being Cerberus which is a Character itself so you can Dig it and then inflict further Shard Drain, through its own ability, to Detestatio, the Chimera to give you the second trigger instantly.

So now we’ve got the ways to trigger it multiple times a turn, how do we set it up quickly? Well enter Achroma’s answer to self-mill; Fishing Dock.

This card allows you to not only throw some good Characters into your Dregs, ready to Dig back with Detestatio, the Chimera, but also gives you a decent source of gain in the process. 

So what exactly do we want to be looking to Dig back? Well here’s my main standout ones that can really be abused with this ability.

Any decent Character with the Keyword Rebound can dodge being Erased at the end of the turn, aside from Aries who has to Rebound a different card but it’s definitely still worth the mention here; especially given you could use it to Rebound the previously mentioned Cerberus to drain 4 shards off your opponent and then Trade the same Cerberus to gain 4 yourself; stealing shards the complicated way!

You can also make extra use of any good Action ability, especially the likes of Magnus of Lacringi who essentially becomes a reliable way to Dig back any Character so you can use it as repeatable Trade fodder, or just enjoy having Characters that are harder to permanently deal with. A bit reminiscent of the combos from other realms; like Salum or Spirata that are able to utilise Occultist Den or Mrs Potts respectively.  

One final special mention is any Character that has the Guard ability stapled onto it as, with the way that keyword works, it will remain on the Canvas even after the turn’s over since it will be protected from being Erased by its own ability. This means you could get out Ceralius to Reveal and deploy even more Characters with Guard from your Palette, or you could bring back Athen who pulls double duty as another way of inflicting Shard Drain on Detestatio, the Chimera if you want to as well.

Detestatio, the Chimera is a real stand-out card for me when it comes to Norso Palettes going forward, even just temporarily bringing back Characters for their abilities and Resolve effects can be hugely beneficial no matter which way you’re aiming to win; Chroma or Achrom. The only real challenge with it is triggering it repeatedly and consistently. This Character has so much potential, this is just a quick dive into what it can do; what other combos can you all think up for it?

That's all from me for now guys - if you want to pick up any of the Achroma product currently available on the Five Realms website, don't forget to use the code ACHROMACRAIG10 when you checkout for 10% off your purchase! Don’t forget to grab yourself some of the new set, The Monsters of Norso, to get your hands on this fantastic card!

See ya real soon folks! 

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