Call It Shadespire!

Decision: Should You Play Branching Fate/One Fate? TL;DR: Do you stride far? Then you should probably be playing Branching Fate.  Other warbands with high dice counts should consider playing Branching as well.  If you can manage to regularly roll 3 magic dice on spell attacks, One Fate is quite good.  Otherwise, pass on it. Prelude:Double Feature! This week we're taking a look at two different cards for Cardiology; rest assured this departure from standard operating procedure is for good reason.  Namely, the math required to analyze One Fate is very similar to the math required to analyze Branching Fate.  We couldn't see a reason to stretch the same work into two articles, so this week you're getting a two-for-one special. Factor: Warband In order to score either of the Fate objectives, you've got to be rolling three or more dice on attack or defense.  Rolling three dice on attack is pretty common (defense - less so), but some warbands ...

Decision: Should You Play Curse of the Dwindling? TL;DR: Is there a Mollog? Then, yes.  Are you already playing Cruel Taunt and want more control? Also, yes. Are you playing upgrades/ploys that boost your chance to get Channel results on magic rolls?  Still yes, then.  Otherwise, put in Cruel Taunt first. Factor: Wizardry As we've discussed before, the utility of Gambit Spells is tied directly to the likelihood that you'll be able to cast them successfully.  Spells that require 2-Channel are among the more difficult to cast, having an only a 44% chance of success off an unmodified level 2 Wizard.  At the current state in the preview cycle, we haven't seen any warband restricted cards that will help Ylthari cast Dwindling, so she'll be dependent on universal cards to bump her chances of spellcasting successfully.  With a single innate Channel or one of the many "replace-result-with-channel" effects available, Ylthari's chances of successfully c...

Decision: Should You Play Shardgale? TL;DR: Orcs and Fiends almost certainly should.  Farstriders and Reavers may want to try it out in specific decks.  Everyone else is likely better off playing something else. Factor: Playstyle Shardgale is perhaps one of the most controversial cards in the Shadespire meta.  It's high risk, high reward effect all but insists on an all-out aggro playstyle that had largely fallen by the wayside prior to the release of Mollog's Mob.  However, with the big fella reigniting players' desire to smash indiscriminately, Shardgale may once again be entering the meta in a big way.  If, that is, you're playing the right kind of deck. Simply put, if you're playing anything other than aggro, Shardgale probably doesn't belong in your deck.  There's virtually no benefit to be had from including it in a defensive deck - in fact, Shardgale will likely mess up some of your objectives, something we'll talk about more late...