Tempest Part 2

Variants

Xtreme Prime Wardens Tempest

Base Power Rating: 2.5 / 5

“Thunderstruck” is an interesting power that can prevent certain targets from using their effects. This power is generally useful for minion-heavy decks who have effects that work during the end of their turns. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Chairman’s Under-Bosses
• Matriarch’s “Huginn” and “Muninn” cards.
• Almost every Citizen in Citizen Dawn’s Deck. 
• Almost all of Voss’s Minions and both of his Spaceships
• Apostate’s “Condemnation” and “Corrupted Effigy” cards. 
• Dreamer’s Deck: Whipacorn, Tooth Fairy, Granite Oni, Grotesque Arachnoid, Illusory Demon, Macabre Specter.

You get the point. This card can shut villain minions down. It can be fun preventing villain mooks from using certain effects. Unfortunately, this power has its downsides. Being able to shut down minion effects is nice, but it only works for one target. Minion-heavy decks are good at bringing out multiple minions at a time. Shutting down one effect is okay at best, but it’s usually better to just destroy that target.

Another problem is that this base power is useless against single target villains. This base power only really works against non-character cards.

Prime Wardens Tempest

Base Power Rating: 2 / 5

The base power of Prime Wardens Tempest is lopsided in its usefulness. Playing up to 3 cards is amazing! But being dealt 3 damage each time you play an extra card isn’t. What’s worse is that the text of the power reads “the environment deals damage” so you can’t mitigate the damage Prime Warden Tempest takes with cards like “Mega Computer” or “Mass Levitation.”

This means that “Arc of Power” has to be used sparingly, if at all. Frequent usage of this power forces Tempest’s HP will quickly drop to 0. 

Freedom Six Tempest

 Base Power Rating: 1 / 5

Ew. What an awful base power. The idea behind this power is to destroy a card in exchange for drawing 3 cards. This might sound like a fair trade off in theory, but in practice it’s really flawed. This base power essentially requires Tempest to play a card and then use his power to destroy it. You could argue that Tempest can keep the card and then destroy it at a later time, but that means that Tempest has to use his base power sparingly.

There are ways for Tempest to draw cards that don’t involve destroying one of his cards like Localized Hurricane, Aquatic Correspondence, or Reclaim from the Deep. There’s also the fact that there are multiple other heroes that can provide Tempest consistent cards to draw like Team Leader Tachyon, Freedom Five Wraith, Lifeline, etc.

Having 25 HP also doesn’t do him any favors either. This is the second-lowest base HP of the Tempest variants. When combined with his awful base power, it makes you wonder what the reasons are for using him.

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Synergy  

Synergy # 1 - Damage Buffing

Tempest is the ultimate example of a damage-dealing hero. Like every hero whose main job is to beat down the bad guys, he loves getting his damage buffed. So, Standard Legacy and Parse are the go-to characters here. Legacy in particular can make Standard Tempest’s base power amazing as it can easily turn into dealing every target 3 damage a piece.

Synergy # 2: Deck Manipulation

I already brought this up when I talked about “Into the Stratosphere” so I won’t spend too much time here. Tempest’s “Into the Stratosphere” synergizes really well with other heroes who can manipulate the villain’s deck. The idea here is to send a certain card back to the villain’s deck and then use cards like “like Wraith’s “Infrared Eyepiece,” Visionary’s “Precognition,” or Parse’s “Extraordinary Senses” that can either put the card at the bottom of the villain’s deck or can discard it altogether.

Synergy # 3: Scholar

Scholar has a card in his deck called “Mortal Form to Energy.”

This card lets Scholar deal damage equal to the amount of HP he recovers. Tempest’s “Cleansing Downpour” can easily provide Scholar with a consistent way to recover HP. For Scholar that’s a free 2 damage dealt to any target of Scholar’s choosing during each turn.

As mentioned before, Tempest and Scholar have a great recycle combo in the form of “Reclaim From The Deep” and “Don’t Dismiss Anything.” Tempest lets every hero take one card from their trash and put it on top of their deck while Scholar plays “Don’t Dismiss Anything,” which lets everyone put the card they just put on top of their deck into play.

This combo also works with Omnitron-X and Freedom Five Bunker. These characters have base powers that let heroes put the top card of their deck into play.

Tempest’s Cons

• Low HP: The only Tempest variant who doesn’t have low HP is “Prime Warden’s Tempest.” Having low HP means that Tempest can only take so many hits before needing to heal his own HP.

• Inability to Control Which Targets He Hits:There are some situations where dealing damage to every target is a bad thing, like when fighting against Dreamer. Standard Tempest’s base power and his Grievous Hail Storm card can’t control his targets, which means that he can wind up destroying cards that you don’t want destroyed.

• Variants with Lame Base Powers: For most heroes, it’s not difficult to see which variants are the most useful. That being said, the heroes that I frequently use generally have at least 2 different versions that are fun to play as, and are worth using.

        Tempest is not one of those heroes. I consider Standard Tempest to be the most consistently useful of the bunch by a significant margin. “Xtreme Prime Wardens Tempest” can be fun to use, but his base power comes across as very situational. He also has 2 less HP than the Standard version of Tempest. I don’t even bother to use “Prime Wardens” and “Freedom Six Tempest” anymore as I consider their base powers to be detrimental to them. This means that there’s only one version of Tempest that’s fun to play as, which is a bit of a disappointment.

Overall: Standard Tempest is another example of a hero who’s very fun to use. He’s easy to pick up while also being effective at what he does. If you need a Bruiser that can beat the villain down, then Tempest is a great pick. There’s another reason why Tempest is awesome: “Cleansing Downpour.” That card single-handedly turns Tempest into a one-man medic team. Seriously, it’s the best healing power in the game.

Tempest is another hero that I will continue to use. If you’re new to the game then Tempest is another hero that I recommend using. You will not regret it.

I Was Lightning Before The Thunder: Tempest

So what happens when you combine Storm and Aquaman and actually made them cool? You’d get Tempest. Tempest is a baller who dishes out lightning damage as if he were Thor while also being able to provide some neat utility on the side.

Base Power: Squall -“Tempest deals each non-hero target 1 projectile damage.”

Rating: 3 / 5. This power is a mixed bag. On the one hand the ability to deal each non-hero target damage is amazing. It’s extremely helpful when facing off against villains who summon armies of minions to fight against you as this power can destroy multiple targets at once, making your life easier.

On the other hand, not being able to control who Tempest attacks can be bad in certain situations when you don’t want to attack something (like Dreamer for instance). This power also has issues when facing off against villains with damage reduction abilities.

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Card Guide: For the remainder of this post I will be evaluating each and every card in Tempest’s deck and will then rate each card on a scale from 1 - 5. Here’s the rating scale and what it means:

- 5 / 5: A must use card. Cards with a 5 / 5 rating are the best cards in the hero's deck. If you're playing as this hero it would be foolish not to use these.

- 4 or 4.5 / 5: These are cards you're most likely going to use a lot. They have a few more drawbacks than a 5 / 5 card, but they’re still pretty good overall.

- 3 or 3.5 / 5: This means one of two things:

1. Moderately Useful: The card is decent, but not super good. It’s nice to have but you can go an entire game without using it and you won’t be missing much.

(2)  Mixed Bag: The card’s pros and cons are roughly equal. Usage of these cards needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis and considered carefully.

- 2.5 / 5 or below = These cards are not very good. They have major drawbacks and their usefulness is limited at best.

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Tempest’s Best Cards

These cards are all rated 5 / 5.

Lightning Slash: 5 damage before damage buffs happen, with no drawbacks, is nothing short of amazing. This card will never not see use. It can kill some enemy mooks in one hit and soften up others. 

Chain Lightning: This card is super helpful when dealing with multi target villains like Chairman, Citizen Dawn, etc. 4 damage right off the bat is very good and even 3 damage is still respectable. What makes this card even better is that you get to pick and choose your targets. You can also choose not to deal the 3 or the 2 damage. So this card is still awesome even if you’re only fighting a single target villain.

Ball Lightning: Continuing the trend of awesome damage output with zero drawbacks is Tempest’s “Ball Lightning.” 4 damage is very good, but what tips Ball Lightning into “amazing” territory is that it also gets to destroy two different ongoings. This makes Tempest very useful against villains like Iron Legacy, a villain who has tons of ongoings from the start. Ongoing destruction is also optional, so if there aren’t any villain ongoings you can still use this card without having to worry about blowing up your own ongoings.

Otherworldly Resilience: Hmm….a card that reduces damage by 1. Where have I seen this before?

Oh yeah. “Otherworldly Resilience” is the Tempest version of Legacy’s “Fortitude”. It has the exact same effect and it serves the same purpose as “Fortitude” which means that it gets the same rating as Fortitude: 5 / 5.

Reclaim from the Deep: Oh, what have we here? A recycling card? Awesome! The ability to recycle cards in this game is incredible! “Reclaim from the Deep” lets you reuse your best cards over and over. Did you just use “Hypersonic Assault” and want to shut down the villain’s ability to do damage again? Just use “Reclaim from the Deep.” Did you just prevent the enemy from using cards with “Take Down” and want to do that again? Just use “Reclaim from the Deep.” What’s even better about this card is that it works for every hero on your team while letting Tempest draw the card he just recycled. This card gets even better when it’s combined with cards that let you play the top card of your deck like Scholar’s “Don’t Dismiss Anything.”

Gene-Bound Shackles: 99% of the time the villain with the highest HP will be the main villain that you’re trying to beat. So this card gives Tempest a free + 2 damage against the main villain of the game. And there’s no drawbacks to using it. This card is instrumental to dismantling villains, so you should play it whenever you get the chance.

The “Pretty Good” Cards

These cards are all rated either a 4.5 / 5 or a 4 / 5.

Grievous Hail Storm: “Grievous Hail Storm” is an upgraded version of Tempest’s power. It attacks just as many targets as “Squall” and deals twice the damage that Squall does. What makes this card even better is that the other Tempest variants have some lame base powers, which means that if they want to deal lots of damage, this card is really good for them. The only reason why I hesitate to put this as a 5 / 5 card is that there is one other power Tempest might want to use instead, depending on the circumstance. Even with that taken into account “Grievous Hail Storm” is a powerful go-to card when Tempest wants to deal damage to large numbers of targets.

       Rating: 4.5 / 5

Cleansing Downpour: The “other power” I referred to during the “Grievous Hail Storm” section was this card. “Cleansing Downpour” alone can turn Tempest into a team medic if the need arises. I tend to use this card if everyone on the team has low HP. It’s one of those cards that doesn’t always get used, but when you find yourself in a situation where you need it, this card becomes your best friend.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Flash Flood: A useful card for getting rid of pesky environments. And you get to destroy two environments for the price of one card! Destroying 2 environment cards is optional too. You can use this card to only destroy one environment if you need to.

Rating: 4 / 5

Aquatic Correspondence: Tempest gets to draw 3 cards with no strings attached. The only nitpick that I have is that Tempest is similar to Wraith in the sense that so many of his cards are great that playing a card that lets him draw cards almost feels like a let down. This is usually because Tempest would rather wreck enemies with cards like “Lightning Slash.”

   Rating: 4 / 5

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“Mixed Bags” & Moderately Useful Cards

The Moderately Useful Card

Into the Stratosphere: This is an interesting card in that it can slow certain villains down by sending one card back to the top of their deck. This doesn’t work as a long term solution. but sometimes stalling a villain is what you need. It works better when it’s combined with a deck manipulation power like Wraith’s “Infrared Eyepiece,” Visionary’s “Precognition,” or Parse’s “Extraordinary Senses” that can either  put the card at the bottom of the villain’s deck or can discard it altogether. This cards also lets Tempest deal damage to a villain, which is nice.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Mixed Bag Cards

• Localized Hurricane: This is an example of a card that looks incredible, but has one major downside that hurts its usefulness. This card has the ability to deal 2 targets 3 damage and even lets Tempest draw 2 cards. That should make it an automatic 5 / 5 card, but there’s one major caveat: It increases the damage Tempest takes by 1. This extra + 1 damage is a big deal as it makes it easier for villains and environment targets to drop Tempest’s HP to 0. 

      Tempest can cancel this effect with “Otherworldly Resilience,” but even then you’re still depriving him of much needed armor. I’ve always used this card as a means to temporarily boost Tempest’s card draw. But even then I always make sure this card gets destroyed so Tempest can’t take extra damage.

Rating: 3 / 5

Electrical Storm: Electrical Storm has its fair share of pros and cons.

Pros

• Consistent damage that does not require the use of a power.

• It can bait cards like Spite’s “PL602 Compound Omicron,” reduce the number of cards underneath La Capitan on Ultimate Mode, or also bait out “Glamour” in a Vengeance Five fight.

• Area of effect damage is a plus.

Cons

• It can’t be turned off, which means that this card will hit targets that you don’t want to hit.

• It only deals a measly 1 damage so non-heroes with damage reduction effects can laugh it off.

• It’s effect doesn’t activate until the next turn which means that it’s totally possible for a villain to destroy this card before Tempest ever gets to use it.

Whether this card gets used or not will depend completely on what circumstance the player is in.

Vicious Cyclone: Discard 3 cards in order to deal 1 damage per card discarded. Not a favorable trade-off, unless you put some work into it. This card needs a lot of work in order to be used to its full potential. You essentially need to feed Tempest cards every turn and you need to buff Tempest’s damage. Thankfully, both of these things are easy to do.

Something important to note is that each card that’s discarded is its own attack, so the damage buffs really pay off. This card is used best as a “finishing blow” type of card along the lines of Wraith’s “Inventory Barrage,” only this time the cost is nowhere near as steep.

Rating: 3 / 5

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“Limited Usefulness”

Cards in this section are rated a 2.5 / 5 or worse. This means that at best they’re situationally useful, as opposed to consistently useful. All of the cards in this section have major drawbacks.

Shielding Winds: “Shielding Winds” reminds me a lot of Legacy’s “Superhuman Durability” card. They’re both cards where damage gets reduced once a hero is about to be dealt 5 or more damage. The major difference is that Tempest’s “Shielding Winds” card affects every hero while Legacy’s “Superhuman Durability” only affects himself.

So why the comparison? The main reason why is because “Shielding Winds” has the same problems as “Superhuman Durability.” So I’ll copy / paste what I wrote about “Superhuman Durability” because those criticisms apply to this card:

“The main problem with this card is that the majority of villain and environment cards don’t deal 5 or more damage in a single attack on a consistent basis to make this card worth your while.

There are a few villains who do consistently deal this much damage, like Iron Legacy or Cosmic Omnitron, but in those situations it’s always better to prevent the damage with cards like “Throat Jab” or even “Heroic Interception” then it is to merely reduce it. A - 3 helps, but it’s not a good long term solution, especially when other heroes have vastly superior options on the table.”

Elemental Subwave Inducer: This is my least favorite card in Tempest’s deck. For starters, changing his damage type comes across as unnecessary. It would be one thing if it were like “Twist the Ether,” but here it doesn’t really do anything for Tempest.

You’d think this card was going to be a lot better since it further reduces damage for him, but it only reduces damage of a certain type. As I mentioned in my Legacy article with “Next Evolution/” most villains deal multiple different kinds of damage. So unlike “Otherworldly Resilience,” “Elemental Subwave Inducer” doesn’t consistently protect Tempest. Its effect also doesn’t start when you play it. So it’s possible for this card to get destroyed before it even gets the chance to do anything. It’s usefulness is limited and situational at best.

Rating: 1 / 5

Wraith Part 2

Freedom Five Wraith

Base Power Rating: 4.5 / 5

Freedom Five Wraith is best Wraith. This variant has the highest HP out of all the versions and the best base power. “Clandestine Funding” helps Wraith draw through her deck faster getting to the cards that she needs. It also helps the other members of your team get what they need faster too. This is especially helpful if I want to get Visionary’s “Twist the Ether” + Ra’s “Flesh of the Sun God” combo out. “Clandestine Funding” also makes the best use of Inventory Barrage and Combat Stance, since she can immediately discard them in order to help someone else on the team.

Rook City Wraith

Base Power Rating: 2 / 5.

Wraith is the wrong character to give a base power that controls the environment. She has one card that can straight up destroy an environment card that hinders the player and another card that reduces environment damage. Why does she need to control the environment too? That seems a bit much, don’t you think? At least this version of Wraith has the second-highest HP of the bunch.

Freedom Six Wraith

Base Power Rating: 1.5 / 5.

I can’t help but wonder what this version of Wraith has to offer when compared to the other versions. “Last Stand” is essentially “Throwing Knives” with the extra caveat that it hits one less target. What’s worse is that her damage type isn’t projectile so she can’t take advantage of “Micro Targeting Computer.”

Sure, you could have Visionary use “Twist the Ether” and change this version of Wraith’s damage to “Projectile,” but even then all that does is put it’s damage output to be about the same as “Throwing Knives.” That still doesn’t change the fact that she’ll be dealing damage to one less target anyway, so what advantage does this base power have over the likes of “Razor Ordinance” or “Throwing Knives” again?

Another problem with this version of Wraith is that this version has the lowest HP of the bunch. 26 HP is usually considered to be low by the standards of this game, which means that 25 HP is a noticeable negative. If there’s an enemy who deals damage to the hero with the lowest HP, it’s likely that she’s going to get hit by it. If there’s an advantage to using “Freedom Six Wraith” I’m not seeing it.

Synergy

So what’s interesting about Wraith is that all of her variants have virtually the same type of synergy, so this section is pretty easy.

Synergy # 1 - Damage Buffing

               While it’s possible to use Wraith in a capacity that isn’t damage-dealing, the simple reality is that she will most likely be dealing damage to enemies. This means that it’s beneficial to buff her damage. Standard Legacy and Parse are the go-to damage-buffing heroes. Legacy can provide an easy + 2 damage buff, which is like giving Wraith an extra “Micro Targeting Computer.” Parse has “Critical Multiplier,” which can cause Wraith’s damage to sky rocket. She also has “Reveal the Flaws,” which makes Wraith’s damage irreducible. This is helpful for getting “Throat Jab” or “Throwing Knives” past enemy armor.

Synergy # 2: The Visionary

I’ve seen people bring up how Wraith has anti-synergy with Ra’s “Imbued Fire” card. The argument goes that Imbued Fire changes Wraith’s damage to Fire, which prevents her from taking advantage of the + 2 damage buff from “Micro Targeting Computer.” Normally I would agree with this sentiment, but there’s something worth pointing out here that’s been overlooked: You can have Wraith be on the same team with Ra, and even have Ra use “Imbued Fire.” You just need to bring Visionary with you. Visionary has a card in her deck called “Twist the Ether.”

It’s an awesome card that lets you change the damage type of whoever its played next to. In this instance, you play “Twist the Ether” next to Wraith. Then you change Wraith’s damage type to “Projectile.” This combo lets her keep the + 2 damage buff from “Micro Targeting Computer” while also increasing her damage by 1 so her damage is essentially buffed by 3. Meanwhile the rest of the heroes on your team get to enjoy the + 1 damage buff from “Imbued Fire.”

Another way in which Visionary and Wraith synergize with each other is that they both provide protection from the environment. Visionary has a card in her deck called “Mass Levitation.”

This card reduces damage dealt by the environment by 3. “Mass Levitation” is the equivalent of 3 “Mega Computers” from Wraith. Combining “Mass Levitation” with “Mega Computer” results in shutting down environment damage since environments generally do not deal over 6 damage.

Visionary’s “Prophetic Vision” card also combos well with Rook City Wraith’s base power, since you can have Visionary manipulate the deck, and then have Rook City Wraith discard whatever card you put on top. Having Visionary and Wraith is also nice because they’re both capable of manipulating the villain’s deck.

Synergy # 3: The Shutdown Squad - Mr. Fixer, Chrono Ranger and Luminary

Mr. Fixer, Chrono Ranger and Luminary have cards in their decks that do the same thing as Wraith’s “Stun Bolt”.

So what happens when you combine Wraith’s “Stun Bolt,” Mr. Fixer’s “Hoist Chain,” Chrono Ranger’s “Neuro-Toxin Dart Thrower,” and Luminary’s Regression Turret? What you get is a strategy that shuts down villains who deal the “death by 1,000 cuts” strategy. With this combo, you can reduce villain damage by 5, assuming that you have 2 Stun Bolts and a Utility Belt out. This is one way to shut down villains like Spite, Matriarch, and Chokepoint.

Mr. Fixer even has a card called “Salvage Yard,” which lets all heroes bring back any equipment cards in their trash back to their hands. Since most of these are all equipment cards, this strategy is vulnerable to equipment destruction from villains. “Salvage Yard” will let you bring all these cards (except for Regression Turret, but Luminary has ways of getting it back) back and reuse them.

Synergy # 4: Team Leader Tachyon

Yes, I know I already brought this up in the Tachyon article, but Team Leader Tachyon and Freedom Five Wraith really do make an amazing team together. Use Freedom Five Wraith’s base power first, then use Team Leader Tachyon’s afterward. The result is that one member of your team is getting + 2 cards in their hands while Wraith is also getting to draw through her deck faster.

Wraith’s Pros

• Solid Damage Output: Wraith’s damage dealing-equipment cards plus “Micro Targeting Computer” plus damage buffs will lead to some solid damage on a consistent basis.

• Environment Control: With Wraith around, the environment is much easier to deal with. She can either destroy any environment that’s bothering the players, or she can shut its damage output down. Either way, Wraith is super useful in helping the player deal with the environment.

• Villain Deck Control: Wraith’s Infrared Eyepiece can help the player avoid dangerous villain cards.

• Shutting Down Damage: Throat Jab can save you in a tight spot. Preventing damage is always a positive.

Wraith’s Cons

• Vulnerable to Equipment Destruction: While you can make the argument that most heroes are vulnerable to equipment or ongoing destruction, Wraith is extra vulnerable due to the fact that she cannot recover equipment cards from her trash and 58 % of her deck consists of equipment cards.

• Over-reliant on Impromptu Invention for Set-Ups: If Wraith gets “Impromptu Invention” soon, then great! If not, then it’ll take her a while to get set up.

Overall: Wraith is simple to pick up and really fun to use. She’ll always be useful and she’ll fill whatever niche you need to have filled. I’ve enjoyed using Wraith in the past, and I’ll continue to enjoy using Wraith in the future.

Batman's Bizarre Battler: The Wraith

Continuing the trend with superhero expies comes the Sentinel equivalent of Batman himself: The Wraith. As you’d expect of a character based on Batman, Wraith is pretty much prepared for any situation and can be really useful in a variety of ways.

The first question we should ask ourselves is, “What can Wraith do?” Let’s go back to the amazing chart made by my pal and co-author: Blue-Haired Protagonist.

If you didn’t see the chart, or its legend, then I highly encourage you to see / read it here: https://sentinelsofthebloggerverse.blogspot.com/2019/04/sentinels-suit-up-picking-sentinel.html

For the sake of time, I’ll summarize what Wraith can do:

Field Control

• Ongoing and Environment Destruction: Wraith is capable of destroying villain ongoing and environment cards. This comes in handy because villain ongoing and environment cards can range from annoying to lethal.

• Deck Manipulation:Wraith is one of the few heroes in the game that can control the villain’s deck. By doing this, she helps the rest of the team plan ahead for what the villain is going to do.

• Damage Reduction: Wraith can also mitigate the amount of damage that both enemies and the environment can dish out to your team. This often plays a huge role in keeping your team alive.

Bruiser

• Wraith can also wreck enemies like a boss.

So now that you’ve got a good idea what Wraith can do, let’s talk about her base power.

Base Power - Stealth: “Reduce the next damage that would be dealt to The Wraith by 2.”

Rating: 3 / 5 - Eh. It’s nice for the times that you need it. It will keep Wraith alive longer, which is good. But it only works for one attack. Plus, Wraith has a lot of cards to use during her power phase, so this may not see much use.

Card Guide: For the remainder of this post I will be evaluating each and every card in Wraith’s deck and will then rate each card on a scale from 1 - 5. Here’s the rating scale and what it means:

- 5 / 5: A must use card. Cards with a 5 / 5 rating are the best cards in the hero's deck. If you're playing as this hero it would be foolish not to use these.

- 4 or 4.5 / 5: These are cards you're most likely going to use a lot. They have a few more drawbacks than a 5 / 5 card, but they’re still pretty good overall.

- 3 or 3.5 / 5: This means one of two things:

1. Moderately Useful: The card is decent, but not super good. It’s nice to have but you can go an entire game without using it and you won’t be missing much.

(2)  Mixed Bag: The card’s pros and cons are roughly equal. Usage of these cards needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis and considered carefully.

- 2.5 / 5 or below = These cards are not very good. They have major drawbacks and their usefulness is limited at best.

Wraith’s Best Cards

These cards are all rated 5 / 5.

• Impromptu Invention:This is easily the best card in Wraith’s deck for the following reasons:

1. It searches out 58 % of her deck: There are 40 cards in Wraith’s deck. 23 of those cards are Equipment cards that be searched out by this card. If you round up that equates to 58 % of Wraith’s deck.

2. It provides her with an extra card to draw: This gives Wraith additional options to deal with problems in the future.

3. It sets Wraith up faster: “Impromptu Invention” lets Wraith take a card directly from her deck and put it into play. Afterwards, she can play an extra card from her hand. What’s even better is that this card can be stacked with itself resulting in 3 cards getting drawn and any 3 Equipment cards immediately getting put into play directly from her deck. That’s amazing! “Impromptu Invention” is guaranteed to provide Wraith with whatever Equipment card she needs to handle a given situation. The ability to play between 1 - 3 Equipment cards straight from the deck is unparalleled in this game.

• Razor Ordnance: There are 3 Equipment cards in Wraith’s deck that deal damage to enemies. “Razor Ordnance” is the best one of the bunch. It deals one target 3 damage and it is awesome! It’s the most powerful of the three and it will always be useful regardless of who you’re fighting.

• Micro Targeting Computer: Remember that “Razor Ordnance” card we just talked about? How would you like to add an extra 2 damage to that card? Well, that’s the beauty of “Micro Targeting Computer.” Any card of Wraith’s that deals projectile damage gets an immediate + 2 buff. This card is what lets all of Wraith’s damage-dealing equipment tear enemies to shreds.
  
  “Razor Ordinance” now deals 5 damage per turn. “Stun Bolt” and “Throwing Knives” now deal 3 damage. This card will always be useful in Wraith’s deck and it should be played as soon as Wraith has a damage dealing Equipment card out.

• Utility Belt: Utility Belt gives Wraith the ability to use two powers per turn which optimizes what she can do. Would you like to deal a bunch of damage? Go right ahead! Would you like to deal damage and manipulate the villain’s deck? You can do that too! Utility Belt provides Wraith with options for days. Two powers in one turn is the gift that keeps on giving.

• Grappling Hook: Remember “Blinding Speed” from the Tachyon article? Well “Grappling Hook” does the exact same thing. The difference here is that “Grappling Hook” lets Wraith draw a card instead of being beneficial in the trash. Destroying villain Ongoings or Environment cards will always be useful.

• Throat Jab: Wraith deals damage to one target and then prevents said target from dealing damage for one turn. Damage prevention is one of those effects that will always be awesome because there will always be villains (or environment targets, since this card can also be used against them) that will deal damage to the player. Being able to prevent damage can often be the difference between victory and defeat.

The “Pretty Good” Cards

These cards are all rated either 4.5 / 5 or a 4 / 5.

• Throwing Knives: The next damage dealing Equipment card in Wraith’s deck are her “Throwing Knives”. Being able to deal 1 damage may not look like much on its own, but when you combine “Throwing Knives” with “Micro Targeting Computer,” and damage buffs from other heroes like Legacy, these things rip enemies to shreds. The only reason why it’s being rated a 4.5 / 5 is because this card might not be the optimal choice if you’re fighting a single target villain like “Iron Legacy” or “Progeny.” That being said, there are a lot of situations where this card destroys enemies, which makes it worthy of the overall rating of: 4.5 / 5.

• Stun Bolt: The final damage-dealing Equipment card in Wraith’s deck is her “Stun Bolt.” The interesting part about this card is that it doesn’t need to deal damage in order to be useful. The main function of “Stun Bolt” is to weaken enemies by reducing their damage by 1. Unlike the other damage-dealing equipment in Wraith’s deck, “Stun Bolt” isn’t limited. You can totally play two Stun Bolts in the same turn, resulting in an enemy dealing 2 less damage per attack (or two different enemies dealing 1 less damage).
  
  When it comes to villains, there are two types that deal damage: The first kind deal damage less frequently and hit really hard. The second type dish out “death by 1,000 cuts.” Their damage is more frequent, but will often be by smaller amounts. Stun Bolt is designed to shut down the latter type of villain.

 

Rating: 4.5 / 5

• Infrared Eyepiece: This card is what lets Wraith manipulate the villain’s deck. The main advantage of cards like “Infrared Eyepiece” is that they let you avoid powerful villain cards that could otherwise screw you over. It also helps the rest of your team prepare for what the villain will do during their turn. Wraith also gets to draw a free card after using this power.
  
  There are a couple of drawbacks though. The first that comes to mind is that some villains play multiple cards, which means that manipulating their deck won’t be as useful. There’s also an opportunity cost involved since you using this power means that you won’t be doing as much damage. Depending on the villain, and the situation, sometimes more damage is the better play to make

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Rating: 4 / 5

• Smoke Bombs: Another way in which Wraith reduces villain damage is with “Smoke Bombs.” This card is good at protecting the most vulnerable members of your team. It’s more effective when the heroes with the highest HP on your team have their armor cards in play. It’s most effective when damage prevention cards like Legacy’s “Heroic Interception” or Void Wave Dr. Medico’s “Immunization” are out.
  
  There are a couple of caveats: It’s worthless against villains that deal irreducible damage, like “Iron Legacy” on Advanced and Ultimate mode or “Plague Rat” in a Vengeance 5 fight on Advance mode. It also gets a little weird when cards like Captain Cosmic’s Constructs or Unity’s bots enter the picture, as those targets will have the lowest HP. This means that Smoke Bombs will be protecting them instead of your teammates.

        Rating: 4 / 5

• Mega Computer: “Mega Computer” is a card that doesn’t seem like much, but can make a large difference in the long run. Environments in general have cards that will deal damage to the player so this card will definitely get a lot of mileage. What’s even better about “Mega Computer” is that it is not limited. There are three “Mega Computer” cards in Wraith’s deck, so it’s possible to have three of these out at a time. That becomes a - 3 damage reduction against the environment. - 3 is enough to protect your team against most damage-dealing environments.

   Rating: 4 / 5

Moderately Useful Cards

These cards are rated either a 3.5 / 5 or a 3 / 5.

• Trust Fund: “Trust Fund” is a great way to speed through Wraith’s deck. Having extra cards is another way that Wraith prepares for whatever the villain or environment are willing to dish out. The reason why it’s so far down this list is that Wraith would rather be playing Equipment cards, and given how good those Equipment cards are, this feels like it’s there in case Wraith doesn’t have anything better to do.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

• Suture Self: This is the ultimate “I Have Nothing Better To Play In My Hand” card. 3 HP is a decent heal, but as far as I’m aware, no Wraith player actively likes using this card. Considering how many other cards Wraith would rather play, this card does feel like a sub-optimal play. Still, there’s nothing objectively wrong about regaining 3 HP, though.

Rating: 3 / 5

“Limited Usefulness”

Cards in this section are rated a 2.5 / 5 or worse. This means that at best they’re situationally useful, as opposed to consistently useful. All of the cards in this section have major drawbacks.

• Inventory Barrage: This card is good for one thing: Delivering the killing blow. Outside of that one situation, it isn’t very useful. Getting rid of all your equipment is too high a price and you can finish villains off in other ways that don’t require sacrificing valuable equipment cards. It’s also a terrible card to play if another hero or environment lets you play the top card of your deck. Generally speaking, I avoid this card like the plague.

Rating: 0.5 / 5

• Combat Stance: This card gets my vote for “Worst Card In Wraith’s Deck.” The biggest problem is that if Wraith deals herself damage this card kicks in….and forces her to deal herself more damage. Yeah, no thanks. Another problem with this card is that it deals melee damage, so she can’t take advantage of the + 2 bonus from “Micro Targeting Computer.” It’s also likely that the retaliatory damage that she deals will be less than the damage that she took. Like “Inventory Barrage,” I avoid this card like the plague.

Rating: 0 / 5