Guardians' Creed Spoilers Review #3

Written By - Thomas Neilson & Hunter SmithMay 29, 2024

We've covered 6 of the realms so far, so let's break down the Heroes and the Orcs, as well as the fantastic new Bounty pickups, and the final cycle of the Guardians of the Creed!

Heroes - Variety Archetypes

As usual, Heros has received a smorgasbord of archetypal support pieces, especially with the highest number of Future Drops. Most of this support only entails a single card for the respective archetypes, but they include some fantastic pick-ups.

Rogue Dynamite Dice offers some absolute high-roll potential to the Rogue archetype, especially in more midrange/tempo versions of Rogues. With Angelica's Special Ability or Angelica's Emerald Luck Charm, you can boost up the result of the first die roll, turning it into a significantly more consistent win-condition. With Marovin's Ancient Text, you can consistently find both Rogue Dynamite Dice and Angelica's Emerald Luck Charm exactly when you need them.

Call Upon The Shield Wall offers an Exalted option to the fan favourite Hero Statue archetype, providing a consistent way to setup your "Wall" cards, and to enable your Valley Of Timeless Kings to strip your Statues of Blockade. Additionally, Fandorian Darkwood Dryad, Fullilia's Propagate ability offers a unique option to support the archetype, by cycling your Hero Statues into warriors from hand.

Heroes - Fandorians

The classic Fandorian Midrange archetype is receiving a few different pieces to help out the deck. Whilst there are only 2 archetype named cards in the set, they're powerhouses that offer some incredibly useful new options to the ever-versatile deck.

Whilst Hood Oath To The Bloodline is an instant inclusion in any Hero deck, it gets a little extra value alongside The Mystic Druid, and the other Hood/Dark Wood cards able to gain additional value from your Hood cards.

Fandorian Darkwood Dryad, Fullilia offers two brand new keywords to support two different Hero archetypes. The Flourish ability has the potential to provide a ton of additional damage and utility to the Fandorian package, being able to trigger the destruction effects of Forgotten Fandorian Keep or Fandorian Outpost, or removing a Betrayal From Within to reset, all the while buffing up your board to push in even more damage.

Fandorian Ferocity is the second pickup for the deck, providing a way to easily break up your opponents boardstate without needing to setup a Betrayal From Within and Dark Wood Archers Of Evergreen. Additionally, Fandorian Ferocity can be tutored by both Forgotten Keep and Fandorian Outpost, making it incredibly easy to find when needed.

Heroes - Sapphire Storm

Sapphire Amulet is one card which has seen quite a bit of attention since the start of Creed's spoiler season, with it's potential to enable a brand new Hero Archetype. With the ability to use Sapphire Amulet to conscript warriors form hand for free, the deck utilizes card draw warriors and March Of The Resistance to churn through cards, and setup an early lethal with Ancient Relic - Sword Of Sacrifice.

The creator of the archetype, Hero & Combo aficionado Hunter, had some thoughts on the deck coming out of GCD.

"Amulet Storm is a deck that I personally have been really excited about throughout spoiler season because it combines everything about Heroes into a sort of "Best Hits" Album, drawing inspiration from every single Hero Warrior Archetype currently printed. As such, the deck only gets better as more powerful Warriors get printed."

"Amulet Storm doesn't really draw parallels to any current decks in the format, except maybe Blastforge (in spirit). The unique Warrior-focused playstyle and hyper-layered combo structures make for a deck that really rewards a great pilot that can adapt their strategies on the fly."

It's exciting to see a potential new archetype spawned out of a single card, and it'll be interesting to see how this deck survives in the Guardians' Creed metagame.

Heroes - Magi/Generic

The Magi package, previously only represented by Magi-Swordstorm has seen a great selection of new cards, powered by the Hero Creed Guardian: Marovin, Ancient Arcane Magi. Marovin's second turn player ability tutors out 2 "Magi" cards, offering a wide selection of new control/interaction pieces. Additionally, Marovin gives you access to Unwavering Devotion. The first two abilities of this devotion provide a little bit of additional board power and resiliency, but the final ability is where a lot of power comes through, providing you with access to three fortified cards on your opponent's veil pierce, even through bounce effects or destruction effects used by decks like Quartzheart Frost Tempo and Castiel Lost Messiah Burn to disrupt your backline.

Magi Temporal Barrier is one of the new Magi control tools, offering a powerful Fortified negate for hero decks not leveraging The Mystic Druid. Whilst Temporal Barrier can be played alongside Fawdon Raspy, The Rogue Gambler, it's at it's best with Marovin in a Magi package.

Magi-Shieldstorm is another solid option for any list utilizing Marovin. Whilst it's potentially more useful as a sideboard card, the fact that it can be tutored by Marovin and activated when your opponent is going first makes it a great option for

With Recover 10 and the Spellbound keyword making your unified cards un-negatable, Cornelius, The Magi Changeling is a fantastic addition in any Hero deck. Having the Magi archetype in deck makes him especially powerful with Marovin, being able to tutor Cornelius at the start of the game and reuse the other powerful Magi control tools with his Perish ability. As many of the current Hero decks focus on leveraging the best of several packages, Cornelius is a great connective piece to tie your Magi tools into your more central synergistic archetype.

Orcs - Duxvox

Despite being the poster-boy for Empires On The Rise, Duxvox's rise to power was only just beginning, and here in Creed we're seeing a variety of powerful pieces to help further push the Duxvox archetype in a variety of ways.

Duxvox's Doomsday Reactor Core is the flashiest new card in the set for Duxvox, being a great piece for generating Doomsday Counters and threatening negates. This is a great backline addition for Duxvox, giving him some generic power that isn't reliant on the rest of his engine already running to work. Duxvox Doomdrill is another great generic piece which is likely to also find it's way into builds of Sharn as a retrievable fortified negate.

Apart from these more generic options, Duxvox is also seeing a few new additions to let the deck setup it's important lines and engine pieces consistently, and provide more routes to blast down your opponent. Tor'Vox, Mad Duxvox Scientist is a a sweet option for bringing back your Duxvox Bombs, Boots, and the brand new Magnetic Duxvox Doom-Helm. Doom Helm itself offers some great control power for Duxvox, being a tutor for your other Duxvox Armaments, and potentially a fantastic recovery tool with Mechanical Duxvox Doom-Boots, offering a potential whopping 20 DCM of healing per turn, and some extra card draw to boot.

Past the control tools and Armament synergies, Duxvox's Propulsion Punch and Duxvox Operation: Initiate Buildout are some great consistency pieces to give the deck more ways to generate Doomsday counters and Doomsday Scorpions. Duxvox's Propulsion Punch even offers the potential for some added burn damage to get the clock ticking towards Doomsday.

Whilst Duxvox may need more pieces to compete at the highest level, he's currently my pick for the biggest potential wildcard deck in the upcoming metagame, with the potential to find some impressive performances.

ORcs - Generic

Sharn has received enough love from previous sets, and the new cards to consider largely fall outside of the most common Boars aggro archetype. Rather, a few of the tools in the set are pushing for an incredibly interesting Burn damage style of Sharn. Sildud's Blood Majik Blight is the most obvious of these, pushing 15 damage at your opponent. With three copies, you can threaten over half of your opponent's DCM in a single turn from your backline. Gar'Tork, Consumed By Blood is another fun option for this style of deck, being a slightly beefier version of Fearless Archer, Dazzling Sunrise, especially one which can be found using the various Orc tutor options. Emerald Amulet is another interesting option, doming your opponent whenever they try to remove your warriors from play.

Whilst it's unlikely that this build upsets Boars' position as the best aggro deck, it's possible that a burn version of Sharn may be able to threaten faster kills, albeit with a higher degree of variance to carve out a unique spot in the metagame.

Gnabandok, Blood Majik Envoy is an interesting Guardian option for both Orc Warlords. The start of game ability lets you start to fast-track your discard accumulation, and potentially go up 2 cards in hand, although unlike Serenasada, this only works when going second. Whilst neither Orc deck has historically been the most interested in losing the first turn advantage, both Aggro and Control decks alike have found success leveraging Galterius in the past. Unconscious Devotion as well is a fascinating piece to build around. Whilst the effect damage buff is likely more interesting for Sharn Burn, it's notable that Duxvox does have some solid effect damage pieces to potentially build around.

Bounty - Generic

Bounty is receiving a load of power in this set, with a few distinct potential packages of cards. the Twilight and Majik Void archetypes are picking up some pieces with a lot of control power, but as always, decks will have to consider the push and pull of supporting different archetypes in their lists. For the ones that can effectively tap into this power however, there is an incredible amount of flexibility and value.

For decks less interested in taking a deep dive into Bounty support, there are a few options for pieces in various archetypes. Mysterious Mechanism for one is a great piece in a deck focusing much less on a significant degree of Bounty support, shutting out Bounty unified cards completely, whilst also offering the utility of shuffling back cards from eradication. I predict this to be an unassumingly fantastic piece for any deck that can leverage legion based unified negates, being able to shut out Dismantle, Seal Their Fate, Majik Void Collapse, Majik Void Aurora, and many more powerful unified pieces. The shuffle effect is additionally uniquely powerful. Whilst it isn't as flexible as Mists From The Fata Morgana, being able to use the shuffle repeatedly is great for decks interested in recycling and reusing cards from their eradication zone.

Okora's Grand Spire is another bounty fortified that may see a significant amount of play. Whilst the floor of tutoring for The Twilight Gardens, Majik Void Hollow, and Mists From The Fata Morgana is solid, it's likely the card will largely be used in any deck interested in a specific Bounty Fortified, potentially Mysterious Mechanism in the right deck.

Bounty - Twilight

The Twilight archetype of cards has found an incredibly strong setup piece in Twilight Princess, Hyacinth. On play, Hyacinth finds a Twilight unified card and fortified card, and retrieves up to two Twilight cards when leaving the field. At base, this can tutor for a wide variety of options, whilst recycling and retrieving itself as a great, if consume expensive, blocker.

The new Twilight Thorn is likely to be a key addition in any deck looking to leverage a Twilight package, alongside Twilight Rose to offer a consistent flow of Twilight unified cards and Twilight fortified cards.

Twilight Magnolia is the unofficial Bounty entry into the Amulet cycle, as an interesting control option for any deck light on Warriors, or for anyone looking to punish decks trying to conscript and revive to their hearts content.

Bounty - Majik Void

The Majik Void package doesn't have an equivalent consistency piece to Hyacinth, but there are some great reprints of key Majik Void cards, and some brand new control tools.

Majik Void Beast is a mirror to Majik Void Collapse, shutting down keyword abilities in discard and eradication. Whilst it's ability won't be live whilst Majik Void Collapse is in play, it is a great option for hating out the abilities that Void Collapse misses, largely perish and rift abilities.

Majik Void Dark Portal is another piece that may pop up, burning out decks that dig too greedily into their deck, and forcing them to toss out most of their hand.

Majik Void Cluster is one existing piece from the Majik Void collection with the potential to pick up more attention with more strong Majik Void cards to tutor for and retrieve.

~ The Guardians' Creed ~

Genhildr, Sage Of The Stormclan & Azrael, Golden Angelic Requiem

Out of the 8 Guardians, they all offer unique strengths and weaknesses to their respective decks. For Genhildr, Sage Of The Stormclan and Azrael, Golden Angelic Requiem, their devotion cards are two of the most interesting options to leverage.

Azrael and his devotion offer an incredibly appealing option for the various Sanctify synergy pieces, such as Pious Orchard, and the new Radiant Orb Of Divine Light. It's likely that this archetype will see the most potential in a Michael Seraphim build, where Unrelenting Devotion, Virtuous Oasis, and Ascension To The Seraphim can stack up for a load of counter generation. Azrael's going-second ability is notably easy to play around for most decks, so Sanctify decks using the guardian will likely ignore the ability in lieu of turn one setup.

Genhildr, Sage Of The Stormclan and Unweathered Devotion offer a really cool build-around option, with the second ability of the devotion rewarding you for conscripting Warriors from Deck. Whilst this could be an interesting build-around with Darffine and Darffone in Alehouse builds, the first deck that immediately comes to mind for this synergy is Blastforge Aggro: A rogue build that can threaten somewhat consistent, but vulnerable, turn 1 and 2 kills when going second. Unweathered Devotion and Into The Blastforge can offer a monumental amount of potential card advantage for the deck. Since the list already wants to go second to potentially push a turn one kill against an unprepared opponent, Genhildr's second player ability is a fantastic option to find the cards you need, and potentially setup warriors on top of deck for Into The Blastforge. Whilst Genhildr may not be enough to push Blastforge aggro into a higher tier, it certainly makes the deck a more interesting prospect.

These two lists jump out at me as the two most likely to utilize Commitment To The Creed, since the second Static ability of their devotions hold the majority of the power for the decks to try and leverage. Commitment helps to boost the devotions to their second ability just a little faster, especially if you're the first turn player.

Zenacon, The Magnificent Marvel & Abigor, Lord Of The Superior ORder

Whilst Genhildr and Azrael offer side-archetype build-arounds, Zenacon, The Magnificent Marvel and Abigor, Lord Of The Superior Order provide some great sidegrade guardian options for Myth Beasts and Demons to potentially overthrow the powerhouse of Serenasada.

This largely applies to Sh'Lara and Onoskelis, as two lists which have continued to leverage Serenasada, but some builds of Merrisod and Adramelech may also be interested in these new options, if they're not be as reliant on their EOR guardians.

Zenacon's second player ability doesn't help setup card advantage or starters, but it does completely shut your opponent out of their Bloodbourne abilities. As such, you may not necessarily want to go second with Zenacon, but it may push your opponent to let you go first. Zenacon's Unimaginable Devotion is great on all three steps, but even the first alone is fantastic. Whilst a reduction of 2 on your Bloodbourne costs may not sound like a ton, it adds up quickly with all of the Bloodbourne activations that Sh'Lara can use to setup. Giving your tokens Charisma also helps to avoid flooding with Warriors in hand to help avoid dead draws, a crucial consideration when losing the mulligan control of Serenasada. Additionally, Zenacon's consume ability is great for either Mythical Beast Warlord, retrieving any two Mythical Beast cards, wherever in discard or eradication they may be.

For Demons, Abigor's second player ability offers your opponent an ultimatum, threatening an unbelievable amount of card draw against a cocky opponent trying to brute force his draw ability. Unspoken Devotion once again provides a Bloodbourne cost reduction, making your Advance Of The Fallen Armies, Fall Of The Fallen, and more, just that little bit better. The second and third abilities of Unspoken Devotion offer some solid utility, and niche upgrades, and Abigor's Consume agility seems to be likely better on average than Serenasada's in Onoskelis. Ultimately, the start of game ability will likely be the most appealing factor for running Abigor, although there is the additional upside of being able to run Hex Of The Hell-Plains, as a cantripping version of Michael's Proclamation. Ultimately, the playability of Abigor will likely be largely contingent on the number of cards it can consistently draw. If you're able to average around 4 or higher, then it offers more value than Galterius alongside its other slightly stronger abilities. If unable to make the cut in the maindeck however, Abigor is still an appealing sideboard option that can drown Warrior heavy decks like Angels and Undead in card advantage early.

Kasavaka, Soul Forsaken Veneficus & Crius, SHimmering Starborn

Kasavaka, Soul Forsaken Veneficus and Crius, Shimmering Starborn offer more interesting sidegrade options for the OG warlords. Whilst Abigor and Zenacon offer more generic power, Kasavaka and Crius offer more potential build around power with their incredibly unique second turn player abilities.

Whilst Welcome To The Grimm Graveyard remains fully Suspended, Kasavaka's second turn player lets you relive the power of Welcome, setting up your mill synergies and triggers even before the game begins. With cards like Haunted Labyrinth and Windmill Of Corpses in hand, you can easily net back the cards in hand you had to lose, whilst setting up even more mill value to kick things into action. Undying Devotion offers some solid utility on the first two, helping to avoid warrior flood in hand and Bloodbourne reduction, similar to the Mythic Beast Devotion. Whilst the Mythic Beast devotion concludes in a protective element however, Undying Devotion provides you with an aura that doubles your Perish effects, letting you churn through value if you make it through your opponent's veil pierce. Additionally, having 80 Consume on an Undead Guardian is huge for allowing you to activate more copies of Denial By Doomfire, and opens up the possibility of other high-consume investments such as Altar of Affliction to be more easily playable, without taking AP away from your negates.

Crius's Unfettered Devotion offers some fun utility alongside Prometheus' half of Reformation, providing some burn potential with the Pummel keyword, but the most interesting part of Crius is with his second turn player ability, doubling the keywords of all of your first turn warriors. For Prometheus, this largely lets Primordial Prophet Of Light, Phoebe turn into a great starter and value engine on it's own, drawing two cards off of wisdom, and retrieving two different cards. With the Titan's ability to tutor and revive their warriors from eradication, this can offer some crazy turn one potential. This is especially useful for Prometheus, as the deck is already interested in going second to leverage Pandora's Box, and to make use of being able to attack on the first turn. For Gaia, this provides more potential card advantage alongside Jasmine, The Unstoppable Water Beauty, but that does require the list to cut Erebus, The Unstoppable Chaos, and as a result, Unstoppable Momentum. As such, I expect Crius to currently be more appealing in Prometheus lists, rather than with Gaia.

Ultimately, these three articles are entirely speculative, and only so much can be assumed going into a metagame with an entirely new set release and SRL change list. Still, many of the cards highlighted in these articles have fantastic potential to push new and existing archetypes into competition with the old guard of the tier list, and things will undoubtedly be shook up immensely. I've still got a little bit more to cover on Guardians' Creed soon, but until then, what cards from Guardians' Creed are you most excited for?

Snapshot Exclusive GCD Spoilers | Snapshot Guardians' Creed Spoiler Review #1 | Snapshot Guardians' Creed Spoiler Review #2

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