Big Bang Burger Bar

The High Elves and a Portent of Doom

A Warhammer: Invasion Spotlight by Guest Writer Torsten Krämer

It's time I shared something personal with my readers: I might have to break up with my longtime love. Let me explain: I'm talking about the High Elves.

I enjoy all factions of Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game, but if I had to choose just one, the High Elves have always been my favorite. I fell for them early, after taking a liking to their aesthetics and mechanics, even though some of their mechanics like healing led to little more than a dysfunctional relationship. For several cycles, the Asur and I tried to make it work, we wanted to create strong decks together, but we were never quite as successful as we hoped.

That might actually have been the biggest part of their appeal, though; the High Elves always were the game’s underdogs, and like many people, I tend to root for the underdog. For a while, Chaos was down and out and competed with them for that underdog title and, therefore, my affections, but Chaos soon got some great cards and decided to hang with the cool kids and their powerful, tournament-winning decks. Once again, the High Elves were alone in the loser’s corner.

The New Kids on the Tourney Scene

Relationships develop, and the people in them change. The Asur have changed. They have added many powerful cards to their arsenal in recent months and have developed some highly effective strategies. They are doing so well, in fact, that their old underdog appeal has evaporated. I barely recognize them anymore.

They are doing so well that some of you might be tired of reading that they’re getting yet another strong card in an upcoming Battle Pack. Tough luck, kiddos. Not only will Portent of Doom bring us a Hero who is powerful all by himself and also a perfect fit for any deck that can manipulation resource tokens, the pack also contains the mighty Mage of Loec (Portent of Doom, 90), a great addition to just about any High Elf force.

The Mage’s ability to cancel an action can nullify some of the most powerful effects in the game. The number of ways he can interfere with your opponent's endeavors are limitless. Furthermore, most High Elf decks nowadays include quests, and since you often don't need every copy of them in play, it’s not the greatest sacrifice to discard one to keep the Mage sticking around to annoy your opponent some more. And if you can't – or won't – keep him from turning into a development, no problem. There are worse things than stopping a Troll Vomit (Core Set, 80) and getting a development out of it.

It’s worth remembering that your opponent can try to plan around the Mage's ability, but his effort might just prove a minor inconvenience for you. At best, it might lead to a sub-optimal use of resources or actions on his part, when he tries to lure you into wasting the Mage on a minor effect and you refuse to fall for it.

So, now the High Elves are shiny and cool. They’ve got all kinds of new tricks, and you can go ahead and deliberate which powerful High Elf cards you need to remove from your deck to make room for some other powerful cards so you don't break the deck’s optimal size limit. Meanwhile, I'm going to call the Phoenix King. We need to talk.

...

Source: The High Elves and a Portent of Doom (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3524)