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Pojo's
Dreamblade Mini of the Day
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Image from
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Heart Thief
Passion
Baxar's War
Reviewed April 18, 2007
Constructed: 3.75
Sealed: 3.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating
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Chen Wan Lee |
Heart Thief
Today’s piece is Heart Thief, a rare Passion
piece from Baxar’s War. It costs 7 points
(ignoring the aspect cost), putting it right up
there with notables like Infernal Gothic,
Carrion Spiker, Ropestrung Scarecrow and the
now-banned-but-not-forgotten Kitsune. Bad news?
Its stats are poor; its defense/life scores are
the lowest amongst all those miniatures, and its
only higher than the Scarecrow and Kitsune, not
counting the Carrion Spiker.
As usual, pieces with poor stats for their cost
should make it up with a good ability. The fact
that its stats are worse than pieces with
Multiblade Lure, Multiblade Scare and
Thantomancy puts a lot of pressure on this
piece.
The result?
Energy Feed is interesting; if a 1 is rolled by
either player, you still get to spawn, giving
you somewhere between 2 and 7 spawn points, and
an average of about 4-5 (if I’m not mistaken).
This gives you enough to spawn a Scarab Warcharm
on an average roll, a Cannibal Pariah if you are
really unlucky, or an another 7-spawn point
piece if you got lucky. Its not bad, especially
if you somehow keep her alive, and both players
keep rolling 1’s throughout the game. The chance
of either player rolling a 1 is a good 1/3, so
chances are, you would probably get to pull her
off at least once if your opponent’s pieces
aren’t too near to your spawn row.
Overall, the piece is definitely playable, but
it faces some extremely stiff competition in the
7-cost slot, causing it to be left out in most
cases.
Problem is, its effect doesn’t always work, as
there may be times when she is in play that
either player may not roll 1’s. To make matters
worse, in most tournaments, 1’s are rerolled if
it occurs twice in a row, making her effect even
more difficult to trigger.
Constructed: 3.5/5. Definitely playable.
Sculpt: 3/5. Average I guess. Heart-on-a-stick,
anyone? =P |
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Josh
"Thespian" Gatner |
When I first
saw the Heart Thief’s ability, I was stunned to
the point where I was thinking that she was
going to be a completely broken mini that every
player will include in his or her band. Fast
forward three months or so, and my prediction
has not come to pass. Why not?
First of all, her ability to allow you to have a
spawn phase when one’s are rolled is
conditional. You must put her out in a scoring
cell to do so. This would not be so bad if she
had more than four defence and six life. This
means that a single lucky Cannibal Pariah can
dislodge her. Even if you do have her in place,
then someone must roll a one in order for her
ability to trigger. This means that her inflated
spawn cost of seven spawn might not be worth it
if you don’t get her ability going. So many
conditions. It almost doesn’t seem worth it . .
.
ARE YOU KIDDING?! Of course she is worth it! The
key is to make sure to maximize the chances that
her ability will trigger. You need to play her
early and make sure that she gets into position
as soon as possible. If you can spawn her on the
first or second turn, you will almost be assured
of seeing some benefit. To maximize that
benefit, make sure to have some kind of spawn
acceleration. This means have a Heartsblood
Temple or two, or maybe a Rainforest Shaman.
Even the ever-popular Bloodhawk Barag would put
you quite a bit further ahead than your
opponent. These other figures are necessary due
to the nature of rolling ones. When someone
rolls a one, you certainly can’t get anything
significant out. For example, if you roll a one
and your opponent rolls a three, the result is a
paltry four. However, given one of each of the
aforementioned minis, you sit pretty with 11
spawn. Having this much spawn when your opponent
does not is backbreaking. If it works twice, you
should have the game in hand.
So get her out early and have a plan to protect
her so that you might have a chance to gain from
the benefit. She will have a MASSIVE target on
her forehead. What if you don’t roll a one?
Well, you get to look forward to a four dice
deathblow. Maybe.
Constructed: 4/5 – Try to squeeze her into your
temple goodstuff band if you can.
Limited: 4/5 – Very solid piece, but without
spawn acceleration, it is not as effective.
Artwork: 2/5 – This reject drow elf belongs in a
different game. Not so creative.
Dream On!
Thespian
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