Ranking the Overlords
Welcome back, Kryptik TCG Kommunity! My name is Donald, and today in Talking Kryptik we are looking at the 4 Overloads for Kryptik Genesis and ranking them on how impactful they are to the game!
The Overlords are the champions and leaders of the 4 factions currently represented on Kryptik Island. Her Greatness, Charlie, the champion of the Human faction and their allies. The Ascendant’s are united under the towering Overlord Dookraka. The Mystic Faction is ruled by Queen Juturna
who is torn between the material and magical worlds. Leading the horde of shambling masses with a blade imbued with the souls of his enemies is Overlord Wulfric . The Overlords are meant to be fearsome and menacing - forcing me to ask the question “how well do they pull that off in gameplay?”
From a design standpoint, all four of the Overlords seem to have received a similar basic layout. The casting requirements are the same across the board with each costing 3 generic soul, 2 of one color and 1 of the other for 6 total soul energy. Juturna and Dookraka both receive equal stats at 14/16 while Charlie and Wulfric are the complete opposite at 16/14. All 4 Overlords received the keyword Sidestep as well as a Short Time 2 ability.
At the surface, they seem pretty similar, but when we take a deeper look, we can see how some may be better than others.
Wulfric
Wulfric’s ability lets you take advantage of enter the island effects as well as on death abilities which fits right in theme with what the Undead are trying to do. The problem with Wulfric is he does nothing to affect the board the turn he comes down. Paying 6 soul energy and then passing the turn hoping he lives until your next turn is always a big gamble. If you are able to make it back to your turn and attack with him then you will likely get some good value from his ability, but you still must have some good value citizens in your Limbo to pull this off.
There aren’t any highly reliable ways of cheating Wulfric in to play to take advantage of this ability early other than Hecatomb
and chances are you were probably on turn 5 already to be able to sacrifice the 4 cost citizen to return Wulfric. Overall, I just don’t think Wulfric is worth the soul curve investment. I would rate Wulfric 4th out of the 4 overlords.
Charlie
Charlie’s ability allows you to cast cards from your hand for free whenever you destroy an 11 year card. If your opponent is on short time 2 and you cast a creature this way, it gains Eager. While casting cards for free is always a great payoff, this feels to be a “win more” ability. If you have enough soul energy to cast Charlie, chances are you don’t have many cards left in your hand to generate any kind of value from her ability, especially considering that her faction plays very aggressive and low to the ground. The best way to take advantage of Charlie’s ability, in my opinion, is to hope she makes it in to your 11 year row and cheat her out with a Ferocious Ranks
. This provides a ton of value in the early game, but unfortunately there is no way to guarantee getting a copy in your 11 year row to pull this off. Overall, Charlie is okay value if you’re already ahead but fails to impact the board in any significant way unless you are cheating her out early. I would rate Charlie 3rd out of 4.
As the game evolves, Charlie could see a significant bump in value. Particularly, I think that Charlie could become much more useful in the multi-player format: Krucible.
Juturna
Juturna has a lot of text to break down! To start, when she enters the Island she makes each opponent put one of their 11 year cards into their hand. This effectively speeds up the clock on knocking them out with one less card to worry about destroying. Her 2nd ability allows you to use the top of your deck like an extension of your hand. Being able to cast spells from the top of your deck adds a lot of value if you can chain several spells back-to-back without expending cards from your hand to do so. Finally, if you have Short Time 2 then those spells will cost either 1 blue or green less. This is fantastic value and all of these abilities will affect the state of the board the instant she comes down. THIS is the kind of value that I would expect out of your 6 cost cards! Overall, any spell slinging Mystic deck will love some copies of Juturna! I would rate Juturna 2nd out of 4.
Dookraka
Dookraka has the least amount of text of all the Overlords, but big things come in small packages! This kind of card is exactly what you’re looking for when you spend 6 soul energy: something that will immediately impact the state of the game! His static ability gives all your opponent's citizens -3/-3 which can be devastating for some board states. If that wasn’t enough, on Short Time 2 he gives all those citizens -5/-5 instead. If you are playing against a low to the ground aggro style deck like the current humans builds, this will likely wipe their entire board and keep them from playing any new citizens to the Island because they will just die instantly. Adversely, if your opponent is playing larger citizens, a major reduction of power and toughness will put attacking and blocking heavily in your favor. Overall, Dookraka can swing games in your favor immediately when he hits the Island, giving you the most bang for your buck. I give Dookraka my highest rating of 1st out of 4!
I look forward to the future design of these big bad leaders of the factions and wonder what we will see in future sets with possible leadership changing hands! Maybe we will even see another faction featuring a fifth overlord?
What are your rankings for these 4 Overlords? Let me know in the comments below how you think they fall. Maybe we will even be able to discuss at the March 4th event in West Virginia! And remember, if you’re looking to pick up any of these heavy hitters for your deck then head on over to Kavdaens Market and use my promo code "TalkingKryptik" to save 10% off your singles purchase!
Until next time!
Im Donald, and this has been Talking Kryptik.