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Pojo's
Dreamblade Mini of the Day
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Temple Lion
Baxar's War
Rare
Reviewed March 8, 2007
Constructed: 3.25
Sealed: 3.40
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating
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|
That Guy That
Plays DreamBlade |
TEMPLE
LION
Ok now we go back to Baxar's for another rare
piece. Initially I thought this lion would be a
great addition to Passion or Madness due to
their weak stats as I read the preview for it.
Unfortunately in testing, it proved to be
underwhelming. With the stats being 4 - 7/7, it
has slimmer chances of living than most Valor
pieces in general. I honestly would not play
this guy in Valor, but using it as a splash type
may seem good. 4 is average for the cost, but I
would expect him to be an 8/9. In order to see
if he is worth it, try him in place of
Bodyguards such as Akiza Guardian or Zungar
Bodyguard. See which effect helps the most,
because it differs from band to band. For
Passion bands, I can honestly say Bodyguards are
better. However, like yesterday's piece, Madness
can couple well with the Lion. Not so cowardly,
but in some senses risky. Depends on the playing
style I suppose, because the local part of the
ability usually means you have to group attack
with him to get the most out.
Constructed - 2.5/5 - Underwhelming from my
games...
Sealed - 3/5 - Never gotten him in sealed, but I
see him being decent
Artwork - 3.5/5 - Cool art, but didn't expect
him to be so small |
|
Chen Wan Lee |
This is my
first Dreamblade review, and hopefully the first
of many reviews to come. I honestly hope
everyone can benefit from my opinions :)
Today's miniature is Temple Lion. A rare Valor
piece from Baxar's War, this miniature deserves
quite some attention. First off, it has a
casting cost of 8V, putting it right up there
with the likes of Brighthammer Avenger, Saint of
Roses, Whirling Dervish and Valkyrie Moonrider.
The Temple Lion is significantly more vulnerable
than most of these, and/or hits for less,
although admittedly in the case of the Avenger
and Saint, they are not the easiest pieces to
utilize.
However, the lack of survivability and
average-at-best attack power of this piece is
complemented by one of the most interesting team
abilities ever; Protect. This basically forces
your opponent to destroy your pieces if they
want the pieces out of the way, not counting
effects like Lure or Expel.
Whats better is that this ability stays that
turn even if the Lion bites the dust!
This piece is definately not a solo piece - it
was designed with the sole intention of being
played with other pieces, especially Madness
pieces.
Madness creatures are generally known to have
almost no defense but amazing life points,
making them difficult to destroy and
undisruptable with the Lion. Oddly enough it
also combo's well with the previous reviewed
piece, Windborne Blademaster, effectively
nullifying the Blademaster's negative Blade.
All in all, I think this piece is great in the
correct warband (Valor/Madness anyone?), but due
to its nature of being a teamplayer, it is
situational, in that it really needs an ally to
shine.
Constructed: 8/10 if in the correct warband,
7/10 otherwise
Sealed: 7.5/10. Keeping your pieces in the
action is important in Limited, but you won't
know how effective this would be, as it depends
on what you have.
Art: 9/10. Nicely colored and detailed, very
oriental. |
|
Hurley |
Temple Lion.
One of the first pieces and first rares spoiled
when Baxars War was first introduced. Here's
what it's about:
Spawn: 8 V
Power: 4
Defense: 7
Life: 7
Ability: PROTECT: Local allies can't be
disrupted. If this creature is disrupted or
destroyed, local allies can't be disrupted this
phase.
Temple Lion can be lined up with other pieces
with bodyguard. Which makes the opponent JUST
attack that creature before they go after
anything else. Lion has solid stats of 7/7.
Which is cool because the opponent has to hit 7
just to disrupt. It sucks that the opponent can
roll 7 damage and kill him just as easily.
Most of the Bodyguard pieces have near nothing
for power, but Lion changes that a bit with 4
dice (the highest being Zungar Bodyguard at 3
Power), so he's at least a solid attacker that
helps out your pieces if they are grouped
together.
PROTECT is a bit different from Bodyguard in the
sense that your opponent can't assign damage to
disrupt until Lion is gone, and once Lion is
disrupted/destoyed, they can't disrupt anything
else. NICE!
This DEFINATELY helps madness, as their defense
is LOW, but their life weilds stupid high
numbers.
HOWEVER, Protect DOES NOT protect your creatures
from being destroyed. This hurts against
coupling Lion with Passion pieces and low spawn
figures.
Lion definately has a nice ability is you splash
him with Madness. I have never used one myself,
but I'd use 1, maybe 2 with the grey-based
aspect of Madness. Lion seems to do best when
he's coupled with mid-priced spawn creatures.
Somewhere between the 5-8 spawn range so your
opponent can't pick them off as easily.
I don't think the Lion is bad, but I don't think
he's outstandingly good either. I think due to
Lion having 7/7. The opponent will kill it 99%
of the time. So Protect will end up being a one
trick pony.
It's a figure who's life expectancy is a bit
short for my tastes.
2/5
--Hurley |
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